Category: From Your Pastor

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. – ^ESV 1 John 5:13

As God’s people, we can be grateful that those who are truly believers will never be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus! NOTHING—absolutely NOTHING can separate you from His love for you!! (Romans 8:31-39; John 10:28-30). As believers, we can truly be joyful and confident in God’s love for us in Christ and so gain assurance of our salvation.

 

The Bible teaches us that assurance is a fruit of our faith in Jesus Christ, but assurance does not necessarily belong to the essence of faith. One can be a true believer in Christ with the slightest and smallest faith because they are taking hold of a great Christ! Salvation is about the greatness of Christ and His saving power, and willingness to save the repentant, not about how much faith we have (“Lord, I believe, help my unbelief”)!

 

Assurance of salvation is a fruit of our faith in Jesus, and it grows out of our faith. Assurance of salvation in Christ comes out of faith growing up and maturing in our walk with God (notice the goal of biblical teaching and preaching is to grow up in Ephesians 4:11-16 so that a Christian will not be tossed around).  We should remember that all obedience in the Christian life is in no way meritorious, but it is a concrete manifestation of the faith that we claim to have in Christ (2 Pet. 1:3-11). As both Paul and James teach, we are saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone; we are saved by God through faith alone, but it is a faith that works (Eph. 2:8-10; James 2:18ff).

 

Our Scripture from 1 John 5:13 tells us that the Apostle John wrote His first epistle to the churches so that they would have assurance of God’s love for them in Christ: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”  We can know that we know HIM, that is, we can have assurance John tells us in four important ways(1) Loving Obedience to Jesus: “We know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments”(1 Jo. 2:3). (2) Love to Our Brothers: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love other Christians” (1 Jo. 3:14). (3) Fruit of the Spirit: “By [loving in deed/action and in truth] we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him” (1 Jo. 3:18). (4) Witness of the Spirit of God: “By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1 Jo. 3:19, 24). This is how we gain assurance in our faith as believers.

We must acknowledge that there are many hypocrites and unregenerate persons in the visible church who presume that they are in an estate of salvation, although they show no evidence that they have had any work of grace in their hearts. Therefore because we know that our hearts can deceive us, and that there are truly hypocrites, and that we can easily play the hypocrite, we must seek to examine ourselves as Scripture teaches us (2 Cor. 13:5; cf. Matt. 7:14-24).

 

You should never want your pastors or elders, nor anyone else to ever grant you assurance in the faith if you are not living by faith. To give assurance to one who is not living like a Christian may be to condemn one to hell. If you’re living unrepentantly right now in a sin, it may be that you’re a Christian who has fallen into a trap and you need immediate help through repentance, but you may also be coming to realize you have never been converted. Seek God for help on this. When you’re in this kind of struggle, you need to hear all of the Gospel promises for believers in Christ, but you do not need anyone to assure you first; God may be convicting you in your conscience to inform you of grieving the Spirit and calling you to repentance (John 16:8-11). You may truly be a Christian, but just have weak faith, and you need to be assured of God’s love. Don’t focus on yourself and your failures, but on Jesus Christ and His promises laid out in Scripture. Remember that all of our works, though weak and tainted with sin, are acceptable to God through faith in Jesus (Rom. 12:1; Phil. 4:18; 1 Pet. 2:5).

 

Assurance was described by one of our Reformed forefathers in this way: “Assurance is glory in the bud, it is the suburbs of paradise, it is a cluster of the land of promise, it is a spark of God, it is the joy and crown of a Christian” (Thomas Brooks, Works, Vol. 2, 333).

 

Seek Christ Jesus through HIs Word to find assurance through the Spirit’s help. Remember it is the Spirit of God who not only regenerates us and unites us with Christ in our new birth, it is the Spirit of God who empowers us to live for Christ and become like Christ, resisting our sins, the flesh and the devil, and growing up into our salvation in Jesus. It is the Spirit of God who witnesses with our Spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-26). If children, then we are heirs, and we should live as in the very suburbs of heaven, rejoicing in Christ no matter what difficulty, trial or tribulation, knowing that it will only strengthen our endurance, hope and assurance (Romans 5:1-5). For further study with the family, see Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation.

In Christ’s love,

Pastors Biggs and Halley

 

“…Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” ~ 1 Peter 1:13

 

The Apostle Peter desires for God’s people to be sober-minded. Three times in his first epistle, Peter tells God’s people of the importance of being sober-minded (1:13; 4:7; 5:8). Two of the times are imperatives that teach that this is an important truth that God commands for His people in light of His grace to us.

 

Sober-mindedness can mean to be self-controlled, to think sensibly, or seriously, or what we might call being realistic about life. It is to think Christianly ultimately. This means God’s people are to have a biblical understanding about their own sinful hearts, the right perspective and expectations of living in a fallen world, and to be able to grasp at the same time God’s immense love and mercy that He has for His people in Jesus Christ. We are to think realistically about our lives.

 

What particularly are we to be sober-minded about? Peter teaches us to be sober-minded about our hope (1:13), our utter dependence upon God to endure faithfully (4:7), and our agonizing conflict that we are engage in as Christians (5:8). Our hope is to set our hope fully upon the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1:13b). This is thinking soberly. This is not putting your hope in earthly dreams and seeking to be satisfied here in this world. Rather, it is to realize that your great inheritance, and your fortune of grace is with Christ “kept in heaven for you” and is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1:4-5). This is your hope.

 

We are utterly dependent upon God as we live our lives in this fallen world. We live in the last days, the final chapter of God’s redemptive story, and we must be sober-minded for the sake of our prayers (4:7). Christ’s work has been fully completed for us and we are to pray continually to Him, learning to be ever dependent upon Him. Our sin in Adam has always been self-dependence, and seeking independence from God. Being sober-minded is to know we have a tremendous need of Him, and to learn to have deeper and greater communion with Him. Because He loves us!

 

As God’s people we are to be sober-minded because there is a great conflict in which we are engaged. The Christian life is a great cosmic battle (Eph 6:10-20). We need to think realistically about our own sinful tendencies, the “sin that so easily besets us” (Heb. 12:2), living cautiously and circumspectly, knowing that although Christ has dealt the mortal wound to the wicked dragon, he still seeks to pursue Christ’s Bride and harm us by his evil schemes (Rev. 12; Eph. 6:11; 2 Cor. 2:11). Our enemy is like a roaring lion seeking to devour and so we need to be watchful and prayerful at all times against him; we need to pray continually for one another (Eph. 6:18-20).

 

Surely Peter is drawing on his own experience having sinned against the Lord throughout his life in trying circumstances when he did not have a healthy sober-mindedness. Peter’s faith never completely failed him because our Lord Jesus prayed for Him and forgave Him when he confessed his sin of evil carelessness and unbelief. When our Lord Jesus forgave Peter and restored him, He told Peter that he would go and strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:32). Being sober-minded is one very important message with which God’s people need to be strengthened.

 

Let us be sober-minded, and confess our sins to Christ when we fail, and seek to ask Him for greater faith to know where our hope is, how effectual our prayers our as we remain dependent upon Him, and to trust Him to help us overcome our evil adversary, resisting him and standing firm in the faith.

 

In Christ, Pastor Biggs

 

(Adaption of an application from last Lord’s Day sermon)

 

Our Lord Jesus reserves his harshest criticisms for the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a conservative sect in Judaism whose mission statement was to live pure lives before God and to keep Jews separated from the world by their conformity to God’s Law. The problem was that although the Pharisees knew a lot of the Law of God, they were in fact lawless (Matt. 23:28). They merely kept the Laws of God externally, and they sought by their traditional interpretations of God’s Law to make them “do-able”, not realizing that one of the purposes of the Law of God was to reveal to them their need for Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:15-28; Rom. 2:21-29).

And so while they spoke of God and His Word, their hearts were in fact far from God (Matt. 15:7-9). Although these professors claimed to know God’s Word, they actually did not really know it; they were described by Jesus as those who: “preach but do not practice” and those who made “void the Word of God for their traditions” (Matt. 15:3-6). Jesus said to them that they were religious posers—they were hypocrites, and the condemnation of God awaited these Christ-less, religious men if they did not repent and receive the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord (Matt. 23:24-28). Jesus clearly revealed that He was the only righteous person acceptable before a Holy God. Only Jesus Christ had perfectly kept the Law of God that required perfection (Matt. 5:48).

A popular notion today is that those who seek to be holy and live out God’s law are ‘Pharisees’ but this is incorrect and very unfair. Sure, there will always be those who try to live out the Law of God through their own self-righteous efforts, rejecting Christ (Rom. 10:3; Gal. 1:6), and these will be damned (Matt. 7:23). But those in Christ, who seek to uphold the Law of God through obedience because of Christ’s love and grace extended to them (Rom. 6:17), should not be called Pharisees. This is very unfair.

How can we be “phunctional Pharisees” then? We can intentionally and unintentionally “shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces” in our carelessness as Christians (Matt. 23:13). We can send a message to our community that what is most important to us is not the Gospel and seeking and saving the lost, but our need to stay free from contamination, to categorize those we think are safe and unsafe, or those we think might respond to the Gospel and those who will not, and to subtly make our convictions commands that others are to follow.

I think there are three ways that this is revealed in to us in Scripture as we look at the practices of the Pharisees: (1) Thinking unbelievers are “contagious” in their sins; (2) Unfairly categorizing people; and (3) Making our convictions commands for others to follow.

 

“Sinner: Are you contagious?” The Pharisees would not fellowship and show compassion to folks lost in sin. They thought that folks like tax collectors and prostitutes were “too far gone” to be recipients of God’s grace (with which they themselves were unfamiliar). They thought if they got too close to notorious sinners, then they would be contaminated. One of their interpretations of God’s Word (which was contrary to the mercy and steadfast love of God in Christ) was that if they got too close to sinners, then they would be made unclean before God, so they tried to keep themselves, their family, and their synagogues “sin free” merely in this external way.

Isn’t this how we can behave, too, if we are not careful?! Yes, we must be wise in our interaction with sinful people, and there may be some people and places that would prove too much of a temptation for us, but do our hearts deceive us into thinking that we cannot get near sinful people? Do we not even pray for them? Our commission by our loving and merciful Lord is “Go…making disciples…teaching…” (Matt. 28:18ff). As we learn in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (and throughout Luke 15), we are to imitate Jesus in His grace by “seeking and saving the lost…” by bringing the healing Gospel of the Great Physician to sinners who are sick (Mark 2:17). Have we extended a hand of friendship, or an invitation to table fellowship (Mark 2:13-17), or even an invitation to worship to a notorious sinner in the community lately? Could it be we think that they will contaminate our families, our congregations, etc.? Be honest about this.

We can also unfairly categorize people. We inevitably must use categories, but do our categories that we make of others place them in conditions that we functionally believe they are “too hardened” or “too far gone” for redemption? Remember the parable of the tax collector and Pharisee in Luke 18? The Pharisee refers to, or categorizes other men as “extortioners, prostitutes, adulterers, tax collectors,” etc. He looked on them with “contempt”. In other words, he placed the category of his own making as a priority over the power and grace of God in Christ toward men (don’t we do this with the gay and lesbian community particularly?!).  The Pharisees refered to the “unchurched” or those who didn’t live according to their interpretations as “sinners”. We are all sinners, but this was a special category of “sinners” that implied that they were what we might call “hopeless cases”. Do we categorize people and think that we are better merely because of the things we have been enabled by God’s Spirit to do for Christ? Have we forgotten mercy? Don’t we talk like this? Those “Hollywood people” or “those lawyers” or “those ___________” insinuating that these folks are too far gone, and outside any reach of God’s power and grace revealed in Christ.

Making our convictions commands for others to follow. We can make our convictions commands for others, and imply that those who might disagree with us are not welcome, and so we unnecessarily place a stumbling block in the way of sinners who might seek salvation in Christ. Do we shut up the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces, too?! (Matt. 23:13). If we make issues of Christian liberty, like ways we school our children, or political parties we belong to, or our conviction about whether one should drink alcohol or not drink alcohol, we can be functional Pharisees. Why? Because we are adding to God’s Law, and adding to God’s Word which is always prohibited. The Pharisees did not keep God’s Word. They make up additional laws (some 613, I understand!) that were to be followed if one wanted to be in fellowship with them.  If we are making our convictions that have been informed by God’s Word (legitimately) and we are implicitly (or explicitly) saying to others that you must be of the same mind as me on this, or sending the message that another is unacceptable to me, my family or my church, this too, can be a way of being a “phunctional Pharisee”.

We must follow our consciences. We must seek God’s wisdom on important issues of schooling our children, how we vote, and whether we are going to drink or not, but our convictions are not to become measures by which we judge others, or boundary lines to keep from fellowship. Think of how subtle this is, and yet how real this can be in a local congregation of God’s people. Rather than acknowledging the liberty God grants to His people, we insist that everyone live by our convictions. The outside world of sinful people can think a particularly congregation would not welcome them because they do not live specifically as those inside, and functionally something other than the Gospel becomes what separates those who might have “inquired within”. It is true that people will be offended by Christians if the Gospel is preached. But let those from outside the congregation be offended by the Gospel, and not our “phunctional Pharisaism”.

Let us repent of this “phunctional pharisaism”. Let us beat our breast as former tax collectors and sinners, and ask God to have mercy upon us! Let us be thankful for the completed work of Christ and His perfect law-keeping that has been imputed to us by faith. Let us befriend sinners, like our Lord Jesus has befriend us! Let us live with holy hearts and holy compassion as our Lord Jesus displayed to us.

 

In Christ’s love,

Pastors Biggs and Halley

Dear Beloved of KCPC: This is a particularly challenging time in our wilderness pilgrimage at KCPC right now (Deut. 2:7). May we recommend you use this short devotion to help you to look prayerfully on your Savior today, and to seek Him in prayer and adoration? Perhaps it would be good to get down on your knees before the throne of grace, reading this slowly and meditatively, pondering the truths of your Savior. Perhaps God will grant you rest, healing in Him, and deep and abiding joy! (Romans 15:13). The practice of our forefathers called ‘the art of meditation’ involved thinking devotionally and biblically with an eye of faith fixed on our Savior until this produced joy and deep warmth inside your souls, trusting experientially in your Savior. This is our prayer for you during this difficult time. Love in Christ, Pastor Biggs and Halley.

 

What does it mean to “Look unto Jesus”? It is (1) A look of inquiry. Who is this Jesus? I see that He is a man, for I behold Him a babe in Bethlehem. I see Him clothed with a body like other men, and growing in wisdom and stature. He has flesh and bones, and eats, drinks and sleeps. Yes, I see His body wounded and bleeding, lacerated with the scourge, crowned with thorns, nailed to the cross. See, He bows His head and dies! But is He no more than a man? In this child do we not see rays of divinity encircling His sacred head, and indicating that in union with this child is the mighty God? Divine glory beams forth from His face. This is the only begotten Son of God—God manifest in the flesh, possessed of the power and knowledge of the Most High. I gaze upon this mystery. Angels can do no more. I am lost in wonder—so are they.

This union of infinite and finite I cannot comprehend; but I can adore the incarnate God.

 

But my anxious spirit still inquires farther, Why such condescension—such humiliation—such unparalleled sufferings? I learn that all this was to qualify Him to be mediator between a just God and the sinner. Being a Mediator, He must lay His hand on both, and therefore He must partake of the nature of both. But my inquiry farther is, What work, as mediator, does He perform? What offices does He execute? The ancient prophets, from Moses downwards, have foretold Him as a prophet—a priest—a king. Such offices the sinner needs: he is ignorant, and must have a Divine Teacher; he is guilty and condemned, and needs a Savior—a substitute—a High Priest, to offer an atoning sacrifice sufficient to satisfy divine justice. It was this which required His incarnation, and His accursed death on the cross. And the redeemed sinner needs a King to deliver him from the power of his enemies, and bring him to glory.

 

(2) The look of inquiry leads the soul to the look of confidence. The soul, burdened with its guilt, and with the fearful expectation of coming wrath, finds no rest nor peace, until it gets a glimpse of the cross; beholding the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, it is assured of pardon and salvation. Nothing is wanting to its peace: justice is satisfied, God is reconciled, and conscience can demand no more. ‘There is peace and joy in believing.’

 

(3) A look of dependence. The poor beggar looks to his benefactor for relief and help, because he is benevolent, and especially because he has promised him all needed supplies. The believing soul, sensible of its own weakness, looks to Jesus for all needed help and strength. It relies simply on His word of promise, knowing that what He has said He will most certainly perform.

 

(4) “Looking unto Jesus.” This is also a longing look—a look of intense desire after conformity to His glorious and perfect character. As the child looks at the copy-plate when he is learning to write, so the Christian looks unto Christ as his perfect model. It is a look of imitation—copying His fair example. His language is, ‘Be ye holy, for I am holy.’

 

(5) It is a look of hope and joyful expectation. Christ is absent from our sight, but we have the promise that He will come again. Saints are looking for His second appearance. This often fills their thoughts. They ‘love His appearing,’ looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God. This is the look of constant watchfulness, that they may be found of Him with their loins girded and their lamps lighted. All Christians should be in the attitude of watchers, for they know not the day nor the hour when their Lord comes.”

An Excerpt from ‘Practical Truths’ by Archibald Alexander

The life of a Christian can be characterized at times as either maintaining or moving. The maintaining Christian comes to worship or kneels to pray for the purpose of sustaining their existing life and ministry of the church. This person is focused mainly on the internal needs and concerns of the church. There is not much of an expectation that God will change them or answer them through prayer. Prayer is a formality.

The Christian that is moving prays and seeks the Lord expecting to be changed and for the ministry of the church to stretch. This is the Christian who not only hears the promise of Jesus, that wherever two or three gather in His name He will be there, but puts actions to their prayer: they quickly confess and forsake sin as they are riveted by the grace of Jesus Christ and touched with compassion to love the lost.

What are key elements that lead to simply maintaining your prayers? Are you weary in life and do you wonder if prayer really makes a difference at all? Is it easier to pray for the things that keep the status quo because it would be very inconvenient if God mixed things up too much? I confess I have felt anxious about changing our service time. I think it is a great move, but change is hard for me. We like being comfortable and maintaining. We like talking to people who are like us and share similar interests. It is a stretch for many of us to carry a conversation with someone who may not share the same values or is not a Christian at all. Sure, you may feel you could argue and defend your position but can you really love them and show them the compassion of Jesus?

The paralysis in our prayers, like with most spiritual things, is that we are not fixed upon Jesus as we ought to be. We have not allowed ourselves to be gripped by His transforming grace. This is why we pray lazily and with little anticipation. This is why we are so quick to self-righteousness rather than to prayerfully seek mercy. We must remember our true condition apart from Christ.  Let us remember that outside of Jesus there is guilt for sin, the wrath of God, and His eternal curses. There is bondage to this world, to Satan, and to sin. Apart from Christ there is the sting of death, no freedom from the grave, and everlasting damnation. Why do we forget such things or think so little upon them. These are things Christ took upon Himself to liberate us. Now by faith in Christ, all of those things are reversed and then some. We now have greater and free access to God. God is now our Father, not just our Lord. It is because of this freedom that Christ has purchased for us that we should not simply maintain our status quo but pray passionately to move closer to Christ. This is the work of sanctification. Christ has freed us not to maintain but to move ever closer to Him. Pray for the grace to move closer to Jesus.

 

“But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” – ESV Genesis 3:9

“Where are you?” is the first question in the Bible. Interestingly, it is the first question that God addresses to man. God is omniscient and this means He knows all things, why then would He ask us questions? Doesn’t He already know the answer? The questions that God asks are not for His sake as they are for us. God wants to draw us near to Himself and to search us and know us. God delights in His children coming to Him and hearing Him as He speaks by His Spirit through His Word. He wants to speak to us and for us to learn to listen to Him (Deut. 6:4; Prov. 2:1ff).

 

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they had gone their own way. Rather than truly listening and learning from their wonderful Creator and LORD, they chose to do their own will and sin against God. Yet God graciously came to our first parents, and sought them out, even when they were not looking for Him! The Bible tells us that God came “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8). Rather than join God for fellowship as would have been their normal practice and delight, Adam and Eve actually sought to hide from God because of the fear and shame that sin produces. We learn that Satan, sin and shame may drive us away from God, but God intends by grace to draw His dear children near to Him! (John 6:37, 44; James 4:8). John Calvin wrote: “No one will dedicate himself to God until he be drawn by His goodness, and embrace Him with all his heart. He must therefore call us to Him before we call upon Him; we can have no access till He first invites us…allured and delighted by the goodness of God.”

 

Dearly Beloved of God, do you allow God to ask you this question each day? Listen to His voice: “Where are you?” Where are you today? Where are you in your relationship to your God? Are you walking with your God, acknowledging His loving presence? Are you hiding from your God? Have Satan, sin and shame driven you away from God? God is everywhere present, but are you acknowledging His presence and living in His strength? When He knocks on the door of your heart do you answer? (Revelation 3:20). Are you near God today?

 

God graciously clothed our first parents who had tried to run from God in their sin and shame (Gen. 3:21). God reveals that He is the God who clothes needy and naked sinners with the righteousness of His Beloved Son. Jesus was forsaken on the cross, abandoned as a cursed thing because although He had not committed any sins or transgressions Himself, the LORD had laid our iniquities upon Him (Isa. 53:5). In our place condemned He stood! This is our Beloved Savior, perfect and sinless as the Lamb of God, who cries out in dereliction on the cross: “Where are you?” Or, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was made to be sin, having our sins imputed to Him, so that we would receive His righteousness by faith alone and boldly draw near to God.

 

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – ESV 2 Corinthians 5:21

 

Jesus reconciled us to God, and has given us access to our dear Heavenly Father. Let us answer our Father’s question honestly today. Let us hear Him, let us listen, and let us respond with faith and obedience because of what Christ has done for us! Consider this question to you today: “Where are you?” Are you near to God? Draw near to God in Jesus Christ because He died for you, and He promises to draw near to you (Heb. 4:16).

 

When you read your Bibles, and meditate thoughtfully on Scripture, let God ask you over and over: “Where are you?” And then be honest with Him–and yourself. Let his be your prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” – ESV Psalm 139:23-24. Hide no more from God. Draw near to God in Jesus Christ. Let God be your hiding place and home. “Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” – ESV John 14:23.

 

In Christ’s love,

Pastors Biggs and Halley

 

Dear Family in Christ at KCPC,

Each year at this time, I think about how I would like to remind my unbelieving friends and loved ones of the glorious gospel and hope found in Jesus Christ. Seasons like Christmas give us another great opportunity to make the good news of Jesus known to the whole world, and especially to those closest to us (Don’t forget to invite friends and neighbors to our special Christmas outreach service this Lord’s Day!).

This year I wanted to share a letter I wrote for those friends and loved ones who love me, but who do not love Christ; this is a letter to friends and family who do not believe.

I wanted to share with you an uncomfortable Christmas card for unbelievers comfortable at Christmas.

If you find this letter helpful, and would like to use it yourself in order to send to those whom you love and desire them to know Jesus, I invite you to use it as often as you would like, and to send it to as many as you would like.

Merry Christ,

Pastor Biggs

“The plain meaning of these words (John 1:14) is, that our divine Savior really took human nature upon Him, in order to save sinners. He really became a man like ourselves in all things, sin only excepted. Like ourselves, he was born of a woman, though born in a miraculous manner. Like ourselves, he grew from infancy to boyhood, and from boyhood to man’s estate, both in wisdom and in stature (Luke 2:52). Like ourselves he hungered, thirsted, ate, drank, slept, was wearied, felt pain, wept, rejoiced, marveled, and was moved to anger and to compassion. Having become flesh, and taken a body, He prayed, read the Scriptures, suffered being tempted, and submitted His human will to the will of God the Father. And finally, in the same body, He really suffered and shed his blood, really died, was really buried, really rose again and really ascended up into heaven. And yet all this time He was God as well as man!” – J. C. Ryle

 

“Infinite, and yet an infant.  Eternal, and yet born of a woman.  Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast.  Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms. King of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph. Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

 

“He, through whom time was made, was made in time; and He, older by eternity that the world itself, was younger in age than many of His servants in the world; He, who made man, was made man;
He was given existence by a mother whom He brought into existence; He was carried in hands which He formed; He nursed at breasts which He filled; He cried like a babe in the manger in speechless infancy — this Word without which human eloquence is speechless!” – Augustine of Hippo

 

“See here [in the Incarnation], as in a glass, the infinite love of God the Father; that when we had lost ourselves by sin, God, in the riches of his grace, sent forth his Son, made of a woman, to redeem us. And behold the infinite love of Christ, in that he was willing thus to condescend to take our flesh. Surely the angels would have disdained to have taken our flesh; it would have been a disparagement to them. What king would be willing to wear sackcloth over his cloth of gold? But Christ did not disdain to take our flesh. Oh the love of Christ! Had not Christ been made flesh, we had been made a curse; had he not been incarnate, we had been incarcerate, and had been forever in prison. Well might an angel be the herald to proclaim this joyful news of Christ’s incarnation: ‘Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord’.” – Thomas Watson

 

“The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation.” – J.I. Packer 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Pastors Biggs and Halley

“Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”(2 Peter 3:18). If you haven’t yet experienced it you will soon. There is a day coming when your faith will be tested. Will you find that your faith in Christ is like the Sunday clothes that you wear to church, that you wear on Sunday but then take off for the rest of week? Are you built on the sand or the Rock of Jesus Christ? In our Sunday school class we have been discussing progressive holiness, or sanctification. We have been praying that the Lord would enable us by His Spirit to more and more die to sin, and live unto righteousness. The Scriptures call us to grow. “We beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more…”(1 Thess 4:10). When we grow in holiness it is evidence of our spiritual health. It is like the growth of a child. If the child is not growing in size and in strength it is concerning. But if the child demonstrates an increase in muscle and in mass it is a sign of the child’s health.

Here are six marks of Christian growth draw from the wisdom of J.C. Ryle that we can prayerfully pursue each day for our spiritual health.

1. Increase of Humility: It is the holy person who feels their sin and sees their unworthiness more and more as each year passes. Job said, “I am vile.” Abraham said, “I am dust and ashes.” David said, “I am a worm.” Paul said, “I am the chief of sinners.” These men and others who seek holiness see the holiness and perfection of God and see themselves as less with every passing moment.

2. Increase of Faith and Love: The holy person rests upon and rejoices in such a Savior as Jesus. This person sees more and more the love, power, heart, priesthood, and kingship of Jesus. The holy person loves Jesus more with each passing day!

3. Increase of Holy Living and Conversation: The holy person is being conformed more to the image of God to follow and trust Him. This person is growing to be more careful with their temper, words, and actions.

4. Increase of Spiritual Taste and Mind: The holy person takes more interest in spiritual things. The holy person’s affection is not drawn towards fashion or amusements but to spiritual companions and conversations. The holy person is faithful in their duties on earth, but loves best the spiritual things.

5. Increase of Charity: The holy person has love for all men, but especially the brethren. They are generous, thoughtful, tenderhearted, and considerate. They bear and forbear rather than quarrel.

6. Increase in Zeal and Diligence for Lost Souls: The holy person takes more of an interest in the salvation of sinner and takes efforts to spread the gospel. The holy person is willing to give, pray, speak, and visit.

The ability to grow in grace is a gift of God. But God also uses means to grow us. We take advantage of those means of grace to grow in holiness. God uses the means of prayer in our lives as Hebrews 4:14-16 reminds us, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” God also uses Scripture and our praying over it for understanding, our study of it (Acts 17:10-11), our memorizing of it (Psalm 119:9-11), our meditation on it (Psalm 1:2), and our application of it (James 1:21-24). God gives to His people the tools of regular public worship with its preaching and sacraments to help us grow us.

Our Lord Jesus calls us to be holy and to use the means He gives to receive His grace.

Lord help us!

-Pastor Halley

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever…Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls…We have an altar…Through Him…let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise…”

(various verses from Hebrews 13)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ never changes. This Gospel is the same today as it was for those brothers and sisters who lived before us (Heb. 13:7-8). This great and glorious Gospel will never change, and it is to this good news that we must ever be learning and believing. Jesus offers Himself on our behalf as a once-and-for-all sin offering, as our only hope for salvation, and is committed to purifying us and making us holy as His people (Heb. 9-10).

God has given Shepherd Leaders to guide and guard according to God’s Word. It is the primary task of God’s shepherd-leaders to make this Gospel known, to teach the people this good news and all of its implications (Heb. 13:7, 17; cf. 5:11-6:3). As the risen Jesus proclaimed: “All authority has been given to me…Go…baptizing them…and teaching [the nations] all that I have commanded you to do…” (Matt. 28:18-20 summary). God’s chosen, appointed shepherd-leaders guide the people by God’s Word, teaching them all Christ commanded, ministering and declaring what God has said in His most holy, inerrant, and inspired Word (Heb. 13:7, 17; cf. 1:1-2). As they do this, the people of God are to obey and submit to them as unto the Lord. The shepherd-leaders guide the people of God to Christ, our only altar, and guard the people from error (Heb. 13:9-10).

Christ is our altar. All the altars in the Bible, throughout redemptive history, pointed forward to the once-and-for-sacrifice for sin that Jesus Christ would make for all His people for all time (Heb. 9-10); altars were given to the church “under age” in the Old Covenant to be the place where sacrificial blood would be offered on behalf of sinners. The Shepherd-Leaders are not to teach the people of God to come “forward to an altar” found in the front of the church, or to “come to the altar at the Lord’s Table” but to go to Christ alone who is our altar in heaven (Heb. 10:1ff). Jesus is not only our High Priest (Heb. 8:1), He is our sacrifice (Heb. 9), and He is our altar (Heb. 13:10). Now in Christ we have the substance and fulfillment of these shadows and types of the Old Covenant. Christ, the Lamb of God has offered Himself in our place, and sits enthroned at the Great King of kings and Lord of lords at God’s right hand (Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2).

The Lord’s Table is furnished with provision from the heavenly altar! Because we have an altar, there is always the promise of forgiveness in Christ, the constant communion of prayer wherever we are, and the knowing Christ is with us by His Spirit (Heb. 13:5). We do not believe that the Lord’s Table is an altar, but we do believe that on the Lord’s Table, when we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we have the provision made available by Jesus our altar, to feed us and to spiritually grow us by His grace.

Let us offer sacrifices of Thanksgiving! (Psa. 107:22). The people of God are called to respond by making sacrifices upon this altar who is Christ. These sacrifices are pleasing to God (Heb. 13:15-16) and do not add to our salvation. Our salvation is completed in Jesus Christ (“It is finished.”); the sacrifices are not atoning sacrifices, for Christ has atoned fully for our sins (1 John 2:1-2; Heb. 9:26; 10:12, 26; 13:11). These sacrifices are offered up to Christ our Mediator, and with pure hearts that have been changed by Christ that are eager to please God and glorify Him. These are not perfect sacrifices, but they are acceptable through Christ’s perfect mediation for us. As God’s people let us offer up daily our sacrifices of praise, and doing good in Christ’s name, and sharing what we have with others, so that we might offer a pleasing sacrificial offering from hearts made pure by Jesus Christ.

As we approach the time of the Thank Offering in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church consider how God has provided you faithful shepherd-leaders in our church. Consider how many faithful shepherd-leaders are serving Christ our altar in establishing Gospel-preaching churches here in the United States and around the world. Consider how the ministers teach God’s people of the hope we have in salvation in Christ alone.

And let us respond as God’s people at KCPC to those who serve faithfully, teaching the Word of God, by sharing generously what we have with them (Heb. 13:16). Let us obey and submit to them as unto the Lord by tangibly helping to support financially the ministries and missions of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (Heb. 13:17). Let us pray for them regularly and with fervency (Heb. 13:18-19). Think on God’s generosity in raising up your faithful shepherd-leaders in the OPC who preach to you God’s Word, who lead you to your only altar who is Christ, and who teach you to live sacrificial lives that are pleasing unto God.

Love in Jesus, Pastor Biggs