Category: Word of Encouragement

Word of Encouragement

From the Blogosphere: “Scared of Sin” and “Tickling Ears”

Two excellent short blog articles to read:

 

“Scared of Sin” by Ed Welch:

http://www.ccef.org/blog/scared-sin

 

“You Might Be An Ear-Tickling Preacher if…”- By Trevin Wax

http://trevinwax.com/2011/07/11/our-ears-still-itch/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wordpress%2Ftrevinwax+%28Kingdom+People%29

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

“Fear Not, for I am with You.”

Word of Encouragement

 

“…Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”- ESV Isaiah 41:10, 13

 

Beloved congregation of God, remember the promises of our great God to us! We grow in our faith as we trust in and believe God’s promises.

 

The battle can be difficult and hard and we grow weary so easily. In fact, we are often surprised by how weak we actually are and this can contribute to our frailties and fears, drawing the life out of our prayers and good intentions to live for Christ.

 

Yet God is faithful and comes to us and says multiple times in Scripture: “Fear not!” This is the most frequent command of God found in Scripture: “fear not” usually followed by some form of “I am with you.”  “Fear not” is God’s covenantal greeting to His people from the very beginning to Abram (Gen. 15:1). “Fear not” is a covenantal greeting because it is from our God of grace and mercy to needy and weak sinners. God knows we are timid and by nature fearful (since the fall we have been running in fear from the presence of God: “Where are you?!” asks your God!).

 

Yet God pursues us and seeks we after those who are so prone to wander, and God is graciously and convenantally committed to us through the Lord Jesus Christ in calling us, in saving us, in making us like Himself.

 

This is our hope. We have nothing to fear.

 

Why do we fear? Many different reasons, but the fountain of fear is unbelief. Fear is our failure to believe God’s promises to us in Jesus Christ.

 

Puritan John Flavel wisely wrote: “To the extent that our souls are empty of faith, they are filled with fear….If people would dig to the root of their fears they would find unbelief.” Fear weakens the act of faith in God and His promises and we must endure in this life “seeing Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27). Fear through unbelief severs the soul from its refuge in the divine promises. Unbelief can leave our dearest interests and concerns in our own hands (and no matter how much we boast, we know we’re weak creatures). So we by faith must commit to God all that is precious and valuable to Him alone.

 

We must confess our unbelief before God. Often we realize we are sinfully fearful, but we don’t recognize the fount of unbelief from which our fears are flowing. As teacher Jerry Bridges says, unbelief is a “respectable sin” so it is often not easily recognized (as is bitterness, unforgiveness, stealing, malice, gossip, etc.). Let us seek to find our unbelief in God’s promises, confess our unbelief as sin to God, then we will see our fears diminish and our faith grow.

 

God is the one who helps our faith grow. God promises to His believing people in this passage from Isaiah 41 that he will “strengthen us” “help us” and “uphold us”.  God promises to strengthen us in our battle, to teach us as we trust in Him that we can have trust in Him and confidence in His power and goodness. God promises to help us in that He wages war with us in our battles; he is alongside us, fighting with us, never leaving us nor forsaking us. God promises to uphold us and this is very good news for the tired, achy, and weary of heart. He will uphold us so that we will endure to the end; so that during the struggle and the wrestling we will not give up, but continue to fight the good fight by His grace.

 

Our Savior, Jesus Christ knew these words of promise from Isaiah 41 and believed them on behalf of His people.

 

Jesus during His earthly ministry on our behalf had to be tempted and tried in the wilderness, He endured the torments and anguish of Gethsemane, He experienced the disappointment of weak-hearted, selfish followers who denied Him in His time of need, and He had to go the way of the heinous and abominable cross to secure our redemption and salvation.

 

Jesus needed to hear the words “Fear not” often; Jesus had to trust in His Heavenly Father for our sakes and for our salvation! Jesus needed to know that His dear Heavenly Father would strengthen, help and uphold him as He endured all of the forces of hell, and the wrath of God for our sins, so that we could be saved- -and endure, too!

 

And He overcame through God’s promises, as we can overcome in Him!

 

Do not grow weary in the battle today. God has met you with His promises.

 

“Fear not” and know that God is with you in Christ to help you to endure and grow in grace.  You are united to Jesus Christ who has already believed God’s promises and overcome the threats and torments of the enemies of God by His grace on your behalf. He is now safely in heaven at God’s right hand, fully secure and strong in might to ever be with you and to strengthen, help and uphold you by His Spirit and His prayers (Heb. 7:24-29; Romans 8:31-34).

 

Christ is with you; He is your Savior and loves you dearly. Believe.

 

Jesus says to you: “Fear not, I am the One who helps you.”

 

Pray for one another: Father, by your strength in Christ, by the power of our union with Him, grant us courage as your people to have trust and confidence in Christ and your promises. By your help we are thankful you come along side of us and fight the good fight with us. We thank you that by your righteous right hand you uphold us and prevent us daily from sinking under the difficulty of the conflict, and to endure to the end. We are more than conquerors in Jesus who loved us and gave His life for us. We are not to fear- -but will have courage and hope in Jesus. Amen.

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

07/21/11

Growing in and Praying God’s Precious Promises

Word of Encouragement

 

Earlier this week, we considered the assurance of our salvation in our W*O*E. One of the ways that we grow in our faith and so in our assurance of salvation is through believing the precious and very great promises of God (as we considered in 2 Peter 1:3-11). Let us look at a few of the precious and very great promises of God from the Apostle Peter’s first letter.

 

I encourage you to pray these to God this morning (or in a time that you might have later), confessing who you are in in Jesus and then I will challenge you to pray with me, as you pray for yourself, your family and our congregation according to how we are to live in light of it in the conclusion below. I truly believe as your pastor that if we would pray these truths for ourselves, our families, and our congregation at KCPC, we would continue to see the glory of God in Christ. Let us pray together always (Eph. 6:18-20).

 

Who are you in Jesus?

 

  • I am an elect exile (1 Peter 1:1-2). I have been chosen by grace before I was born from eternity past; I am a pilgrim-exile here who longs for a Heavenly Home where Jesus is and prepares a place for me (Heb. 11:13-16; John 14:1ff; Revelation 21:3, 7).
  • I have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus (1:3). As Jesus has been raised from the dead, so I will be raised from the dead (and am already seated with Christ in the Heavenly Places now, Col. 3:1ff; Eph. 2:5-8).
  • I have a great inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading (1:4). My inheritance no person can steal, nothing can destroy, no one can take from me. It is kept with Jesus and is one of my greatest hopes and should be the content of my most fervent prayers (see Eph. 1:15-23).
  • Although I live by faith, I believe Jesus and His words to me and so I am filled with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory (1:8).
  • I have been born again, not of perishable seed, but imperishable (1:23). God has acted on me by His power and Spirit so that I am who I am because of grace alone!
  • I am a spiritual house where the Spirit of God lives (2:5); I am part of a chosen race, a royal priesthood and holy nation (2:9); I was formerly under God’s wrath, now I have received mercy (2:10). I am the temple of the Spirit of God, and part of a family of those privileged to know Jesus, and one for whom Christ died; I am part of a priesthood of people who make God known to the world, and have the privilege of entering the Most Holy Place where Jesus is (Heb. 4:14-16).
  • I am one for whom Christ died, and thankful that Jesus bore my sins in His body on the tree, that I might die and live to righteousness; by His wounds I have been spiritually healed, though privileged to suffer physically with him (2:22-25).

 

How should I live and pray today?

 

ESV 1 Peter 3:8-12: Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

 

Lord, let me and others in my family and congregation at KCPC…

  • Lord, let me and others in my family and congregation at KCPC have unity of mind. Let us all be like-minded in our knowledge of the Savior, and know that you love us. Let us be committed to one purpose (1 Peter 3:8).
  • Lord, let me and others in my family and congregation at KCPC be sympathetic (3:8) with each other and with our neighbors. Let us have a sympathy with each other like Christ has, and give us strength to grow in sympathy because of His Spirit and our union with Christ.
  • Lord, let me and others in my family and congregation at KCPC possess deep brotherly love and affection (3:8) for one another (also 2 Peter 1:5-7). Let us grow in this and so allow our faith to mature into assurance and deepen our joy in Jesus.
  • Grant us a tender heart (3:8). Let us be humble before you, resisting the world, the flesh and the devil, drawing near to you, standing firm in our faith (1 Peter 5:6-10; James 4:6-10).
  • Lord, grant us humble minds (3:8). May we learn from one another; may we learn from others who we least expect to teach us. Grant that we humble our minds before you and be teachable.
  • Help us never to repay evil for evil, but let us bless others (3:9).
  • Let us take part in your promised blessing of Psalm 34:12-16 (Quoted in 1 Peter 3:10-12): (1) Let us keep our tongues from speaking evil and telling lies so that we can enjoy life and see pleasant days for ourselves, our family and our congregation (3:10); (2) Let us seek peace and pursue it, turning away from evil, and doing good (3:11). Let us not merely live with one another, but be actively seeking peace and pursuing it as a family and a congregation at KCPC. (3) We know that you will hear us, O Lord as you have promised:

 

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer” (3:12).

 

As Peter taught men earlier to live with their wives so that they might not be hindered in their prayers (3:7). So Peter here teaches all of the saints who make up the congregation to live righteously in light of who we are in Jesus, so that our prayers will not be hindered (3:12)>

 

I leave you with the blessed promise that if we know who we are in Jesus, and we live like it, then we can confidently believe God’s precious and very great promises to us in Christ, and we can grow in our faith and thus grow in our assurance of the love of Christ for us; as we grow in faith and then assurance, so we will grow more in our faith and so on, and so on, and so on, forever and ever. Amen!

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

07/14/11

Assurance of Salvation: Are You Sure?

Word of Encouragement- Pastor Charles’ Thoughts on Assurance of Salvation

 

ESV 1 John 5:13 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.

 

As God’s people, we can be grateful that we can have confidence that we have eternal life in Christ Jesus! 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. Those who have an assurance of salvation through believing God’s promises in His Word, and through the work of the Holy Spirit can live with “joy in expressible and full of glory!” (1 Peter 1:8).

 

Our Reformed forefather, Thomas Brooks said of assurance of salvation: “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” (Heaven on Earth; a favorite book by many Reformed Christians!).

 

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 believer with a little smidgen 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”)! But a true Christian must expect to grow up in their faith through believing, and through trials and temptations be tested, and because of this, they sometimes may have to wait a long time to be fully convinced and assured of their salvation. One who does not have assurance of salvation might still be a Christian, but they cannot experience the fullness of joy and confidence of one who does have assurance.

 

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).

 

As pastor, you may have heard me say that if you’re living in sin you may be a Christian who has fallen into temptation and sin, but you cannot be assured that you are a Christian. It is important to make this distinction between our faith in Christ as we confess and profess, and the assurance that we can gain in Christ as we grow in Him through our obedience.

 

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. As Paul says 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 (compare the works that are forbidden for salvation, and the works that are necessary for salvation in Ephesians 2:9-10. Paul says that we are saved by grace apart from works in Eph. 2:9, and then He tells us that we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works as an outworking of this salvation).  James says that if you have faith, show it in your obedient works (James 2:19ff; essentially James says, “If you truly believe, then prove it by showing Christ’s power in your life”).

 

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.”

 

But how do we know? How do we get assurance of God’s love? How can you have assurance and the joy and confidence in Christ that comes from it?

 

The Apostle John tells us in the same letter (and we will be going through the Epistles of John seeking to better understand assurance of salvation in our evening services beginning in the fall). Notice what John writes before this statement of assurance in chapter 5. In this passage, John says we can know that we KNOW HIM. But how do we know that we KNOW HIM??!!.

 

ESV 1 John 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandment.

 

ESV 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

 

ESV 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him…

 

ESV 1 John 3:24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

 

We can know that we know HIM, but how do we know that we know HIM? John tells us four important ways (1) Loving Obedience to Jesus: “We know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandment.” Jesus said: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (2) Love to Our Brothers: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love other Christians.” (3) Fruit of the Spirit: “By [loving in deed/action and in truth] we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him.” (4) Witness of the Spirit of God: “By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”

 

We must acknowledge that there are lots of hypocrites and unregenerate persons in the 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; this is true of the visible churches of Christ for all time (see the visible Church of Jesus’ day, and how Jesus’ rebukes the Pharisees and scribes for horrible hypocrisy, Matthew 23)!!  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:

 

ESV 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

 

You should never want me as your pastor, nor anyone else to ever grant you assurance in the faith if you are not living by faith. To give assurance to one who may not be a Christian is to condemn them to hell. What might be just a weak and tender conscience having trouble believing God could love them, could also be an unregenerate person being moved by the Spirit to believe. Because we can’t be sure, we must go on what the Bible teaches as true evidence. Again, notice the Apostle John’s teaching of how you know that you know HIM, or how you know that you truly know Jesus: (1) Obedience to Jesus; (2) Love to Our Brothers; (3) Fruit of the Spirit; (4) Witness of the Spirit of God (also Romans 8:13-26).

 

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, but you are not one who can be joyful and confident that you are in Christ because you’re living contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture, and contrary to the reality that you have died to sin as believers have according to Romans 6-8 (this is not the work of the Spirit, why would you have assurance from the Spirit?). You do not need anyone to assure you first; God may be making you feel guilty in your conscience to inform you of grieving the Spirit and calling you to repentance. It may be that you need to be told to examine yourself to see if you be in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5; 2 Peter 1:10; every approach to the Lord’s Table each worship service is an opportunity provided for you to examine: “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”– 1 Corinthians 11:28).

 

One is to examine themselves often to see if they have faith, as the Apostle Peter teaches us from not only the inspiration of the Spirit of God, but also from his own experience of losing his own assurance of God’s love in Christ when he denied his loving Lord. I encourage you to read carefully 2 Peter 1:3-10. Notice how God has provided all that we need for life and godliness as Christians in Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:3-4). In light of this reality, we are to believe God’s promises and so add to our faith, allowing it to grow up and mature into more assurance (2 Pet. 1:5-7). If we do this, living by faith in God’s promises and the Spirit’s power, then we will be prevented from “ineffectiveness” and “unfruitfulness” in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Pet. 1:8). Whoever does not have these qualities is as if they are blind, and has not been cleansed from sin (as if, that is they may be Christians, but they live inconsistently), and so it is important in order to reach assurance of our salvation the great joy and confidence in Christ that comes with it, to be “more diligent to make our calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:9-11).

 

ESV 2 Peter 1:3-10: His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

It is true that you can truly be a Christian, but if you are living in sin, you may not have assurance. In fact, if you are living in sin, the first step towards growing in your faith, and gaining assurance of salvation and the joy and confidence in Jesus that comes with it, is to first confess your sins to God, knowing God is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-2:2). Now turn from your sins by the grace and power of Christ; believe God’s promises that in Jesus you can and will bear good fruit that will last (John 15:1ff; Gal. 5:19ff). As confessing Christians seeking assurance, we need to daily repent of our sins, turning from the sins that we see in our thoughts, actions, behavior, and turning to God for forgiveness, strength and the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers have been united to Jesus Christ by faith (Romans 6), and therefore we are to live for him and we are to live like him in this world.

 

Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Assurance can be hard work. It is the hard and agonizing work of working out our salvation with fear and trembling, yet knowing that anything we accomplish is because of God’s working in us (Philippians 2:12-13). Let us seek to have the faith of Hebrews 11 as believers, growing up in our faith to assurance!

 

Assurance was described by our Reformed forefathers this way: “Assurance is the beauty and top of a Christian’s glory in this life. It is usually attended with the strongest joy, with the sweetest comforts, and with the greatest peace. It is a crown that few wear” (Thomas Brooks, Works, Vol. 2, 333). “Assurance comes as a reward of faith….A man’s faith must fight first, and have a conquest, and then assurance is the crown, the triumph of faith…and what tries faith more than temptation, and fears, and doubts, and reasonings against a man’s own estate? That triumphing assurance, Romans 8:37-39…comes after a trial, as none are crowned till they have striven” (Thomas Goodwin, Works, Vol. 8, 346).

 

Seek Christ Jesus and you will 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 births, 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

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

 

CRB

07/12/11

“Knowledge of Ourselves, Knowledge of Our Savior”

Word of Encouragement

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

How discouraging it can be to see what evil still dwells in our hearts! How we pray and long to be more like Christ, and to see more of Him in us. What weaknesses we feel within us, particularly in our hearts that are so slow to love, to pray, to follow Christ obediently.

 

What are the purposes of the LORD in allowing our sins to remain within us (although they do not reign over us)? Why does He not remove every ounce of the poison and venom of indwelling sin all at once? The LORD wills that we feel our depravity and weakness, so that we would know Christ better.

 

“They would not have known so much of Christ, if they had not known so much of themselves.” Hear the very wise John Newton:

 

“If the evils we feel [within our hearts] were not capable of being over-ruled for good (Rom. 8:28), God would not permit them to remain in us. This we may infer from His hatred of sin, and the love which He bears to His people…But God has gracious purposes in giving us a sense of our sinful weaknesses, so that when we feel our depravity, we may also see the power, wisdom and faithfulness of Christ, our Savior.

 

Hereby the Lord Jesus Christ is more endeared to the soul; all boasting is effectually excluded, and the glory of a full and free salvation is ascribed to Him alone!

 

The righteous are said to be scarcely saved, not with respect to the certainty of the event, for the purpose of God in their favor cannot be disappointed, but in respect of their own apprehensions, and the great difficulties they are brought through.

 

When, after a long experience of their own deceitful hearts, after repeated proofs of their weakness, willfulness, ingratitude, and insensitivity to others, they find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ, Jesus becomes more and more precious to their souls.

 

They love much, because much has been forgiven them.

 

They dare not, they will not ascribe anything to themselves, but are glad to acknowledge, that they must have perished (if possible) a thousand times over, if JESUS had not been their Savior, their Shepherd, and their Shield.

 

When they were wandering, he brought them back; when fallen he raised them; when wounded he healed them; when fainting he revived them. By Him, out of weakness they have been made strong: He has taught their hands to war, and covered their heads in the day of battle. In a word, some of the clearest proofs they have had of His excellence, have been occasioned by the mortifying proofs they have had of their own vileness and sinfulness. They would not have known so much of Him, if they had not known so much of themselves!” – John Newton

 

As we recognize what we are as people from the heart, it is humbling. The humbling that we understand, experience and feel is good because God is particularly close to the broken and contrite in spirit (Isaiah 57:15; Matthew 5:3).  God is pleased to humble us so that we will depend more on Christ.  Our experiences are the Lord’s school to us where we learn wisdom. Even the sinful mistakes we make, and the folly that we find in our poor decisions, are part of the “all things” that work out for good for us, that also glorifies God (Romans 8:28).

 

When we are humbled, we truly understand that apart from Christ we can do NOTHING (John 15:5), and so we seek Him more, and want to learn of Him more, and we realize we have more of a need for Him. We realize that He loves us more than we at first understood, because he loves unconditionally and contra-conditionally wicked sinners by nature who have lived to offend God.

 

As we understand our need, so we may come boldly (and quickly!) to the Throne of Grace, and find help for us in every step of our Christian lives. Because of Christ Jesus, we are forgiven, loved, accepted in the Beloved, and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:31-39). Amen.

 

ESV Hebrews 4:15-16: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 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.

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

07/09/11

Communion with God

Word of Encouragement

ESV 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

 

Have you taken time to commune with God today? Have you beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ by faith? Have you sought the Spirit of God so that you might glorify God in all you do and say today? Are you growing in His power and grace?

 

“Get communion with God. Your strength to stand, and your strength to withstand all assaults—is from your communion with God. Communion with God is that which will make you stand fast, and triumph over all enemies, difficulties, dangers and deaths. Communion with God will make a person as courageous and bold as a lion….

 

Communion with God is a reciprocal exchange between Christ and a gracious (grace-filled) soul. Communion with God is Jacob’s ladder, where you have Christ sweetly descending down into the soul, and the soul by divine influences sweetly ascending up to Christ. Communion with God is a shield upon land, and an anchor at sea; it is a sword to defend you, and a staff to support you; it is a balm to heal you, and a cordial to strengthen you.

 

High communion with Christ will yield you two heavens, a heaven upon earth, and a heaven after death. He enjoys nothing, who lacks communion with God; he lacks nothing, who enjoys communion with God; therefore above all gettings, get communion with Christ, and above all keepings, keep communion with Christ. All other losses are not comparable to the loss of communion with Christ.”- Thomas Brooks

 

ESV Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

 

Have you gazed upon the beauty of the LORD today as He is made sweetly known to you in Christ? Spend time with Him; he calls you near.

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

 

 

CRB

07/06/11

“Are You An Idolater?”

Dearest Congregation of the Lord Jesus,

I desire to share with you a challenging sermon I read recently and have been deeply meditating upon since last week. I realize you’re very busy, but I hope you will take an opportunity to read this for yourself, and if head of the household, that you will share this with your own family. I have edited this sermon for you so that although you may not have access to or time for reading of this sermon, you might benefit from the Biblical exegesis, theology and application. The sermon is by David Clarkson, entitled ‘Soul Idolatry Excludes Men from Heaven’ (from Works of David Clarkson, Vol. 2, Banner of Truth Trust).

Would you take time prayerfully to read this convicted and excellent sermon so that we might grow together by God’s grace? Would you take time to go over these thoughts and questions of application so that you might have more assurance of God’s love and forgiveness of your sins, so that you might be more humble and truly repentant? As your pastor and friend, I ask you to read this, ponder the powerful questions below, and seek the LORD while He may be found!

Repentance should define our daily Christian lives. Repentance is daily realizing our sins before a holy God and turning by faith away from them to the grace and power found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is a constant turning, navigating oneself away from sin, and toward the loving Savior who will embrace us as we run to him by faith. But not all folks live repentantly; neither the arrogant nor the ignorant do this important work. Although repentance is what should characterize the entire Christian life, many arrogant folks think they do not need it, and many ignorant folks neglect it.

May this sermon by David Clarkson encourage you to a deeper repentance and stronger faith in the Lord Jesus. As your pastor, I have been praying a lot for myself and our congregation that we might experience a deeper repentance and greater work of grace in our lives. In order to know a deeper repentance what must happen first?

We must be aware of a deeper problem of our sins; we must come to see the depth of our problem, and see our sinful problem as not merely inconvenient to our lives, but horribly disgusting, odious, and filthy in the face of God. When we recognize at a deeper level our own sinfulness and how we aggravate God in our transgressions, then as we realize through repentance our greater need for a Savior, so we walk more closely, watching and praying, so that we do not fall into temptation.

You have heard me say it before, and I will say it over and over again if God gives me the strength: If you are yet to realize that you have a sinful problem, and you haven’t really thought about the depths of yours sins, then you’re a dangerous person. Only if you see your problem can you truly understand God’s solution to you in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus for you.

This sermon is offered to you that you might ask God to search your heart, and if there are grievous sins and ways in you, that by God’s gracious Spirit, He might lead you into the way that is everlasting, with a deeper and more profound knowledge of the saving work and graciousness of Jesus!

Let this be our prayer as a congregation:

ESV Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

If we all start with our own hearts, how gracious, compassionate and serious about both sin and grace we will be as a people!

Prayer Meeting this Lord’s Day, 6 pm: This Sunday evening is our monthly prayer meeting, and we will be using this study to help us to seek the LORD. Our theme for prayer will be a deeper repentance and grasp of the grace of God in Christ, as well as the hard work that we are called to as God’s people in putting to death our sinful nature (Romans 6). Even if you’re unable to make the prayer meeting (and I hope you can!!), I strongly encourage you to read this as a member of KCPC so that we can all be on the same page, as we are seeking after God.

Read this sermon prayerfully and carefully, and ask God to grant light and fire by His Holy Spirit. Good things are happening; good things are coming; we will reap a great harvest if we do not give up; do not allow yourself to be foolish, slothful, and/or presumptuous as a Christian!

Title of Sermon: “Soul Idolatry Excludes Men from Heaven”

Author: David Clarkson (d. 1686)- Colleague of John Owen, and the minister who preached and ministered to Owen’s flock after John Owen’s death (yes, Pastor Clarkson was in the shadows of a greater man—but both were great men!).

Text from Scripture: ESV Ephesians 5:5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous ( that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Edited sermon and updated for modern readers by Pastor C. R. Biggs:

Reigning and Ruling Lusts?
Every reigning lust is an idol, and every person in whom it reigns is an idolater. What are your reigning and ruling lusts?

Pleasures, and riches, and honors are the carnal man’s “trinity”, and these become gods that make men idolaters: ESV 1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions- is not from the Father but is from the world.

In Satan’s kingdom, every one bowing himself to his lust worships it as an idol. When the mind is most taken up with an object, and the heart and the affections most set upon it, this is soul worship, and this is what is due only to God.

Secret and soul idolatry is when the mind and heart is set upon anything more than God; when anything is more valued, more trusted, more loved, etc.

Soul idolatry will exclude men out of heaven as well as open idolatry. He that serves his lusts is as incapable of heaven as he that serves, worships idols of wood and stone.

Can Christians Commit Idolatry??
The danger of soul idolatry is that we often do not notice as easily inward, soul idolatry, and we fail to recognize the dangers of it as we do outward idolatry. Many fine Christians would never bow the knee to wood and stone idols, but many fine Christians bow down from their souls to other idols that are unseen, yet as idolatrous and displeasing to God.

The following are the acts of soul worship so that you might prayerfully consider each one and if found an idolater in God’s sight, you might ask Him to forgive you and restore to you the joy and love of your salvation.

Are you an idolater? If so, remember God gives more grace in order that you might humble yourself through repentance and confess your sins to Him, knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (James 4:6ff; 1 John 1:7ff):

1. Esteem: That which we most highly value we make our God. Estimation is an act of soul worship. What we most esteem we make our God such as high opinions of self, our accomplishments, what folks think of us, how we dress ourselves up before others, our possessions, etc. Whose opinions do you esteem the most? At the end of the day who has power over you to judge you “guilty” or “non-guilty”? God or other men? Who do you live your life before? Whose opinions do you “need” to make you someone important?

2. Mindfulness: That which we are most mindful we make our God. What do you think about the most often? When we should be thinking about God and we’re thinking about other things, we are revealing what we love the most. Are our thoughts seeking to follow after God’s thoughts? Do you set your minds on things above where Christ is? (Col. 3:1-4).

3. Intention: What is our greatest longing and goal in life? God and nothing else must be our chief end. If our chief end is to be great, safe, rich, powerful, famous, when it is our own pleasure, credit, profit, and advantage, this is soul idolatry. What do you get up each day with a mind of accomplishing and doing?

4. Love: That which we most love we worship as our God. Do we love riches, possessions, family, and/or friends more, or equal with God? Love, whenever it is inordinate, it is an idolatrous affection.

5. Trust: What do I trust in? Who do we trust, and/or depend upon the most? Where is our confidence? Trust God “with all of your heart” (Proverbs 3:5). Do you trust in your wisdom, strength, intellect, handgun, abilities, etc? Do you trust ultimately in riches, how much you have in your savings account and/or retirement; do you trust ultimately in your friends? Do you boast in yourself, and in your own wisdom or boast in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:29-31).

6. Fear: What we fear, we worship as our God. That is our god which is our fear and dread: ESV Luke 12:4-5: “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Those therefore who fear other things more than God; who are more afraid to offend other people than to displease God; who fear more to lose outward enjoyments than to lose the favor of God and His Spirit; who fear outward suffering more than God’s displeasure and wrath.

7. Hope: Ask yourself: What is my hope? Christ alone should be our hope as Christians; he is our hope and righteousness. What excites your hope each day helping you to get through the day?

8. Desire: That which we chiefly desire is the chief good in our lives, and what we account as our chief good is our god. To desire anything more, or so much as the enjoyment of God, is to idolize it, to prostrate the heart to it, and worship it as God only should be worshipped. What is your heart prostrated before in worship? Pray with the Psalmist that God alone would be your chief desire: Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Psalm 73:25-26). Pray for the Holy Spirit to grant you not merely to “do” for God, but that you might will and desire to do good (Phil. 2:13- “to will and to work for His good pleasure”).

9. Delight: Delight is an affection that in its height and elevation is called “glorying”. What do you “glory in”? To take more pleasure in any way of sin, uncleanness, temptation, intemperance, gluttony, drunkenness, earthly employments or enjoymnets, than in the holy ways of God, than in those spiritual and heavenly services which we may enjoy God, is idolatry. Would you rather be “glorying” in other things (even lawful and good things) rather than worshipping God and fellowshipping with His people? How do you keep the Lord’s Day? How do you spend your money? Are you generous? The answers to these questions will reveal your idolatry or love for God alone.

10. Zeal: What are we zealous for? Are we zealous for ourselves, our plans, our vacations, our dreams, our agendas more than God? Are we fervent for ourselves and our own good and glory, and indifferent, lazy, and lukewarm in our zeal for God and His Kingdom? Are we more zealous for political parties, persons and/or teachers in the church or in our communities than we are in God and His Church? Do we spend more time thining about, and planning our vacation and retirement than we do in preparing ourselves for worship of the Living God and to appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ?

11. Gratitude: What are you most thankful for? Do we honor “diligence” or “luck” or “prudence” or “fortune” more than God’s goodness? In response to compliments, and/or other offering you respect do you give glory and thanksgiving to your “diligence” or your “luck” more than God?

When our care and industry (hard work) is more for other things than for God, we are idolaters. No man can serve two masters!

How Many Masters Do You Have?
When you are more careful and industrious (hard working) to please men, or yourselves, or your children and posterity, than to be servicable, useful and faithful to God; if it is more important to you to provide for yourselves and your family more than to serve God; if you are more careful what you shall eat, drink, and wear more than how you may honor and glorify God you have a hateful and burdensome master who is not God: ESV Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other….ESV Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

To live like this is to idolize the world, yourselves, your lusts, your relations, while the God of Heaven is neglected.

We must remember that the Bible defines true conversion to Christ as “turning from idols”: ESV 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10: For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Does this characterize your life? You “turned to God from idols to serve…to wait for His Son…”

Have you experienced true conversion? How do you know if your affections of your heart and your actions seek something more than God; if you’re an idolater- -how can you be assured of your knowledge and relationship to Christ?

Who then shall be saved??!!

Where is the heart in which some idol is not secretly advanced? Where it that soul that does not bow down to some lust or vanity? Where it that person that does not give that soul-worship to the creature which is due unto the Creator alone?

Who then shall be saved??!!

On the one hand, we find in Scripture that the people of God can be guilty of this and fall into incest, lying, drunkenness, murder, adultery, denial of Christ, and blatant idolatry itself (Abraham and the patriarchs, Noah, David, Solomon, Peter, etc). On the other hand, how can this be consistent with the state of grace when this is blatant spiritual idolatry that is offensive to God??!!

Answer: There is an aptness and still a propensity in every saint of God to be idolaters, just as much there is a propensity and aptness toward other sins. In fact, idolatry as a sin is a root and foundational sin to all the others in the heart. The corruption of our natures in Adam consists of proneness to all abominations, including idolatry.

Grace is imperfect in this life and only corrects this corruption in part. Grace weakens the disposition and desire to idolatry, it does not completely abolish it. That is why we must be aware of it, and constantly be fighting to kill it in its first motions, and thoughts to sin. We must watch and pray that we do not fall into temptation.

It is true that those folks, those natures that are most sanctified on earth are still a seminary (seed bed) of sin; there is in them the roots, the seeds of atheism, blasphemy, murder, adultery, apostasy, and idolatry.

This disposition to idolatry remains more or leass in the best, while the body of death remains. Remember the Apostle Paul’s struggle and great frustrations for his own sins (Romans 7:20-25):

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Is Paul’s Struggle Familiar to You?
Is the Apostle Paul’s struggle familiar to you? Do you have a fight, a conflict within your soul against sinfulness? Is your alliance with the Spirit of God warring against your flesh? Are you hopeful of being delivered by Jesus from the body of death?

Love in the regenerate still may be inordinate, therefore the other affections, desires, delights, desires, fears, zeals, etc can give way to actual sins of idolatry in their actions.

With that said, we must still understand the power of Jesus Christ, and the fact that true believers have been united to Christ and take part in not only the removal of our penalty for sin, but we are empowered by God’s Spirit to live as more than overcomers (Romans 8)!

Are You Habitually Idolatrous?
The regenerate will still have a disposition toward idolatry, but they will not be guilty of habitual idolatry. The unregenerate and unbeliving are guilty of constant and habitual idolatry, the regenerate will not be. True Christians are not habitual idolaters; idolatry does not characterize their lives.

Believers will not yield to these idolatrous notions knowingly, willingly, constantly as unbelievers do; these idolatrous desires are not tolerated or allowed, but rather fought against because they have the Spirit that wages Holy War against the flesh (Gal. 5:16-26).

Believers resist idolatry by living watchfully, prayerfully, carefully, and fully and constantly dependent upon God’s strength and grace in Christ. True believers in Christ will resist, lament and pray against idolatry; they are neither arrogant or ignorant of their remaining sinfulness, but they know that sin shall not reign over them as their master:

ESV Romans 6:11-14: So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Are you a habitual idolater? Has arrogance made you neglect it? Has ignorance caused you to overlook it? Is your life privately characterized by idolatry?

Are you still a slave to sin? Does sin have dominion over you? Has it mastered you?

Begin with your private life. Begin with your heart. Ask God to search you and know you. Is your private life characterized by idolatry as sketched above? Are your hearts and minds filled with idolatry? Do you have a private life with God? Honestly, are you a fake in need of repentance?

If you are characterized by habitual idolatry, you cannot claim the assurance of the knowledge of salvation in Jesus nor can you have assurance that you are empowered by His Spirit.

How can you be assured of your faith in Christ that it is truly a saving faith?

True believers fly to the blood of Christ for pardon; they run desperately and violently as possible to Christ and His power to overcome sin and idolatry! When believers see sin, they run to Christ to confess it.

Believers are diligent to mortify or kill their idolatry when they find it in their hearts and minds so that they can please Christ in their daily duties.

The idolatry that the saints united to Jesus are prone to is not the same as reigning, habitual idolatry of the unregenerate and the unrepentant. None are more ready to disclaim this idolatry than those who are most guilty! Those who are most guilty of idolatry reject any need from God or others.

Our proneness to idolatry is the reason why we must all be neither arrogant nor ignorant toward the remaining sin that is within us. We must seek the LORD and ask Him through watching and praying that He would deliver us more and more, and grant us a deeper repentance and trust in Jesus Christ.

The more we understand what we have been delivered from, and from what we are being delivered, and just how much it has eaten us up inside like a cancer, the more diligent we will be in exalting the grace of God found in Christ Jesus, and running to Jesus for His cleansing blood to purify and empower us over our sins.

Do you live a life of repentance, asking God to search your hearts and minds to cleanse of all of your idols?

Are you an idolater?

What is your hope?

If you realize how deeply your idolatry goes, wouldn’t it behoove you to use your time more wisely in seeking Christ, and seeking Him to make you pure as He is pure? The root to all of the believer’s fruitfulness is found in union with Jesus and we grow as behold the gracious face of God each day in our prayers and in our walk:

ESV 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Our only hope is in our Savior Jesus Christ! So be strengthened by the grace that is in Jesus (2 Tim. 2:1); watch and pray that you fall not into temptation (Matt. 26:41); be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might (Eph. 6:10); resist the devil, draw near to God (James 4:6ff). Remember the words of James; if we need grace, God will grant it as we ask for it:

“…[God] gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Prayer: Lord and Father, help me to watch and pray against idolatry in my heart. Keep my heart pure and clean, and my focus fixed on Christ! Grant me grace to be self-aware of my sin, leading me to repentance; make me Christ-aware as I keep my the focus of my affections, feelings, emotions, will and mind on Jesus and not on my base and sinful lusts. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Biggs

“Blessed Are the Peacemakers…the Prince of Peace”- The Beatitudes

 

“Blessed are the Peacemaker, for They Shall be Called Sons of God.”

 

“Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, good-will toward those on whom his favor rests!”

 

The seventh beatitude, or characteristic of Christ and His people, is being those who are peacemakers.

 

Christmastime is Here!

During the Christmas season we are often reminded of Scriptures from Isaiah 9 and Luke 2 that Jesus is the Prince of Peace who has come to offer salvation to those on whom His favor rests!  We are reminded during the Christmas season that we have One who has come to save us so that we can be at peace with God our Creator.

 

In an amazing testimony to God’s common grace, we hear Linus Van Pelt (that was his last name for the ill informed), declare on television broadcasts around the world, the good news of the gospel!  Think about it.  Since 1965, ‘The Charlie Brown Christmas’ special has aired on television stations and the gospel of peace has found its way into living rooms in almost every country in the world!

 

On this show ‘The Charlie Brown Christmas’, Charlie Brown wants to know what Christmas is all about!  Lucy says he’s suffering from pantaphobia, a fear of everything, and when he comes to the conclusion as play director that Christmas is an empty thing if it only means plays, cookies, “Christmas queeeeens”, and artificial Christmas trees, Charlie Brown loses it!

 

At the point of his frustration, Charlie Brown yells “What is Christmas all about.”  Linus replies: “I’ll tell you what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.  Lights, Please.”  Then Linus moves into the warm spotlight on the stage and recites Luke 2:

 

“…And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

 

It’s important to note that the last phrase “peace, good will toward men” is better translated “peace and favor toward those on whom His favor rests”.  The reason is that unless God has shown us his favor and love in Christ while we were yet sinners, the message of Jesus is not peace and good will, but division and conflict!  But to this reality, we are called by Jesus to declare the good news of God’s peace found in Christ!

 

Peacemakers in a World of “Wars and Rumors of War”

In a world turned upside down by constant “wars and rumors of war” around the world, we are reminded by the seventh beatitude that in this age there will be times of war, but that we are to be peacemakers as sons of God.  Jesus said that the last days (the time between his first coming and his return) would be characterized by wars and rumors of war (Matt. 24); this was to be expected.  But in this age, peace was to be held out to all men through the proclamation of the gospel despite the response of sinful men!

 

The gospel is God’s terms of peace with sinful man.  The gospel is what we bring to the table as God’s ambassadors in Christ when we discuss surrender and repentance with those who make war against God (2 Cor. 5:17-21; cf. Psalm 2).  We want to implore men at this table to be reconciled to God in Christ.  We want to remind them that it is not the signing of a treaty that will end their lifelong war against God and His Anointed One, but it will be the Covenant God signed and sealed in His own blood in order to keep his promises and make peace with those who will believe!

 

Being a peacemaker means placing our sword in its sheathe for now, but being a peacemaker in no way means that we are to be passive in times of war when our country needs us to stand up for our nation’s rights or the rights of our family.  What being a peacemaker actually means is to be reminded that our citizenship is ultimately in heaven (Phil. 3:20-21), and because we know the time is short before Christ returns, we offer the Gospel of peace to all men!  When Christ came, he offered peace.  He came to offer “comfort” and peace to Jerusalem and then to the Gentiles who would believe (Isa. 40; Eph. 2:14-17).

 

Ephesians 2:14-17: For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

 

However, Jesus always reminded his disciples that this peace would also divide and bring wars and persecution upon his people.  The world cries for “peace” but the only peace they will ever find is in the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God our Creator by his death on behalf of sinners.  The truth of our reconciliation and peace with God is taught to us in Romans 5:6-11:

 

Romans 5:6-11: For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

 

We live in an upside down hateful world at war with God and fellow men, yet it was in this context Jesus came to die for sinners…to reconcile us to our God and Creator! We must let that sink into our hearts and minds:

 

Peace has been offered to us in Christ while we were enemies of God. This was not because of anything we did at all; it was all because of God’s love and grace to those upon whom his favor rests.

 

In our struggle to make this good news, this gospel known to others, we should remember that “while we were enemies of God” Jesus died for us.  Augustine one time said that in some mysterious way, God both loved us and hated us at the same time!  We too were once were at war with God and others; once we were at war within ourselves!

 

By God’s grace, we need to see the enemies of God, our enemies, at this point in time before Jesus returns, as the object of our evangelism, not the object of our scorn and ridicule.  The day of wrath will come when Jesus returns, but now is the time to offer peace in Christ!

 

“I Have NOT Come to bring Peace, but a Sword”

But, Peace divides….

 

That is true!  Jesus, the Prince of Peace said that he did not actually come to bring peace, but a sword:

 

Matthew 10:34-40: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

 

Jesus is making the point that although he offers real peace with God and we offer real peace with God in Christ to others, it will bring division and war!  This true peace is not the kind of peace that man wants or desires.  In fact, when we come to the table with the gospel, declaring God’s terms of surrender found in repentance, as well as God’s terms of believing the Gospel of Christ, we find a violent opposition.

 

The reason for this violent opposition is because the Gospel holds out to us free and eternal life in Jesus Christ ALONE, yet sinful man comes to the table to speak to God about their terms for God.  Sinful man does not naturally want to surrender to the truth of the gospel because they will then have to acknowledge God as Creator and LORD of all.  So, there is a violent opposition between God’s terms of peace in Christ and the terms of peace sinful men bring to the table and therefore until repentance comes in man’s heart, by God’s grace, there will be no peace!

 

We should remember that Jesus was teaching this blessing of being a peacemaker in the context of Roman rule and violent oppression.  Revolutionaries, bandits, and zealots all wanted to overthrow Gentile rule by force, rather than to wait upon the LORD.  Jesus tells them that they are to be peacemakers now, not warriors!

 

The REAL War to End All Wars

In other words, we are to be evangelists for now until Jesus returns again!  When the Son of God came the first time he offers peace in his Name with God, but when he returns again those who have rejected Him will see Him in all his wrath and fury.  The sons of God who lived a life of persecution because they lived as peacemakers, will join our King Jesus in war to end all wars.  A final war, or showdown that will bring in an eternal time of peace that will never end!

 

God has extended peace to those who would believe in Christ.  We should remember, as well as remind others that God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:14), a wrathful God (Nahum 1), who will not pardon the guilty (Exo. 34:6-8), yet he will extend peace and reconciliation to those who look to Christ, the Prince of Peace by faith (Romans 5:8-10).  In fact, those who believe will be called “sons of the Living God”.

 

Christ will return soon to war against those who do not believe.  On that terrible Day of the Lamb (Rev. 6;19), the unbelievers who have sought peace in everything and everyone BUT the Living Christ, will find a terrible judgment and wrath.  The Lamb will war against those who have falsely cried “peace, peace” when there was no true peace with God!

 

We as peacemakers want to be constantly reminded of our evangelistic opportunities all around us.  We want to be reminded of the hope and the peace we can truly offer to those who war within their own souls, against our God and against other men!  Right now, we offer peace as the sons of God, but one day there will be a war to end all wars.  Now is the time of salvation and hope, the time of peace extended through the gracious message of the Gospel of the Prince of Peace!  Remember how Paul describes the feet of those who bring the good news of the gospel of peace in Romans 10 (cf. Ephesians 6:13-18):

 

“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

 

“….They Shall Be Called Sons of the Living God!”

What grace!  While we were enemies, God justified us, declared us righteous in Jesus Christ!  The good news doesn’t just stop there, but God goes on to adopt us as his children.  We are called “sons”, “children of the Living God” because of THE SON, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus reconciles us to the Father, gives us a portion of His Spirit, so that we might be called the Sons of God.  This should encourage us all when we are being persecuted (the next study) because we are offering God’s terms of peace to the world in Jesus.  No matter how great the struggle and the conflict here in this world, we can always be assured of our right standing before God, our status as his beloved children, and we can call out to our Father who cares in our time of trouble and be encouraged and delivered!  Read carefully the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8 concerning our sonship or adoption!

 

Romans 8:14-25: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

 

As children of God wait patiently for our King to return.  By his grace, offer faithfully, despite violent opposition, God’s terms of peace in Jesus, the great gospel of truth that has been declared to us and believed by us!

 

The Prince of Peace has come! Believe in Him!

 

In Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Biggs

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Next Study: “Blessed are the Persecuted”

Spiritual Warfare: The Spiritual Forces of Evil

“Spiritual Warfare”: “The Spiritual Forces of Evil”- Ephesians 6:10-20

Rev. Charles R. Biggs

 

As Christians we are united to Jesus Christ and seated with Him in the Heavenly Places as we are taught in Ephesians 2:6.

 

Although we are more than overcomers in Jesus and His victorious death and resurrection over death, hell and the devil are ours by His grace, there are still battles that must be waged against our enemy in the Heavenly Places.

 

As Christians, we are called to take up Jesus’ armor, the armor of God, so that we can stand against the deceptive evil onslaught of our enemy the devil as we live in this world.

 

We are taught specifically in Ephesians 6:

ESV Ephesians 6:10-13: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm

 

The decisive victory of the war has been won and Jesus has conquered, disarmed, and defeated our ancient foe, but we must endure until the final Day, standing strong in Jesus, and in the strength of His might.

 

The devil and devils, or demons are real, but we often either overestimate or underestimate him. When you think of the devil, what pops immediately into your mind? Explain.

 

Two common yet opposite errors: (1) Devil is unimportant; (2) Devil is too important.

 

Anti-supernatural-minded materialists speak of Satan: “Evil man with a red suit, a bi-furcated tail, and a pitchfork who rules over hell.” “[According to comic strip humor] He sits in the “Manager’s Office” in hell.

 

“Unbelief about the existence and personality of Satan has proved the first step to unbelief about God.”- J. C. Ryle

 

Supernaturally-minded spiritualists speak of Satan: “We must appease him (through magic, séances, black arts, witchcraft, etc) lest he destroy us; there is nothing for us to do but to turn to him for help and surrender.” Christian version: “We must focus all of our time and attention on casting him out of ourselves and others.” “There’s a devil under every rock!” “Whoops! The devil made me do it!”

 

Background to Letter of Ephesians: Converts from Asia Minor had become Christians who were formerly affiliated with Artemis/Diana cult, practiced the magic arts, consulted astrologers, and had in general participated in various demonic activities. There was a great fear of demons and their power.

 

Like many superstitious folks today, there was much imbalance in their understanding of evil.

 

The Apostle Paul wanted the Ephesians and us today to have a theologically balanced, scriptural understanding of evil.

 

What to Expect in the Christian Life?

 

Struggle.

 

Conflict.

 

Fight.

 

“Wrestling” – “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (6:12)

 

“Standing (as in hand-to-hand combat)”- “To stand” (6:11); “withstand” or “stand against” (6:13a); “stand conquering” or “to stand firm” (6:13b).

 

Thlipsis- Tribulation – yet with great joy and hope of becoming beautiful like Jesus!

ESV John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”


ESV Revelation 7:13-14: Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The “great tribulation” is the time period between the first and second coming of Jesus Christ.

 

The time of tribulation is the time period before Christ’s return that is characterized by struggle and conflict.

 

Why? So that sinners will become holy; the selfish become selfless; the proud become humble; the self-centered become gracious; the evil become good and righteous in Jesus.

 

Illustrations from life and nature of the importance of struggle and conflict: (1) Chick coming out of egg; (2) Moth breaking through cocoon to become a beautiful monarch butterfly; (3) Infant coming through birth canal created struggle, conflict, birth pangs.

 

In all of these struggles, good comes out; beauty is realized through struggle.

 

In the Christian life, God sovereignly makes alive sinners dead in trespasses and sins, folks full of evil, that he begins to make holy and blameless in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:1-3; 1:4-5; 2:10).

 

Through battling with “armor” and “warfare” through difficulty we find Christ-likeness.

 

How does God specifically use conflict and struggle and tribulation in our lives to make us more like Christ and prepare us for heaven? (see Gen. 50:20; Revelation 7:14).

 

[Satan can only do to the saints what God permits him to do; what Satan means for evil, God means for our good] “Saints by the afflictions that do befall them, gain more experience of the power of God supporting them, of the wisdom of God directing them, of the grace of God refreshing and cheering them, of the goodness of God quieting and quickening them, to a greater love to holiness, and to a greater delight in holiness, and to a more vehement pursuing after holiness.” – Thomas Brooks, ‘Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices’


“No man will cast himself wholly upon God, but he who feels himself in an extremely weak condition, and he who despairs of the sufficiency of his own powers. We will seek nothing from God but what we are conscious of lacking in ourselves.”- John Calvin

 

“In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God.” – John Bunyan

 

Christ’s pattern in life, death and resurrection glory that we must also follow:

 

Cross to Crown

 

Humility to Exaltation

 

Crucifixion to Exaltation

 

What to Understand about Spiritual Warfare?

Ephesians 6:10-12

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).


  • Know Your Enemy
  • Know Your Lord’s Victory

Know Your Enemy

Evil is multi-dimensional. What does this mean?


There is evil inside.

There is evil outside.

There is evil above us.

Evil is psychological.

Evil is sociological.

Evil is demonological or “spiritualogical”

Those who don’t believe in God have a simplistic view of evil.

 

We have sin within; sin outside and around us; sin above us.

As John Newton wrote so biblically and from his own experiences:

“Bow’d down beneath a load of sin,

By Satan sorely pressed,

By wars without, and fears within,

I come to Thee for rest.”


There is a PERSONAL EVIL; EVIL IS PERSONAL: A personal devil and his fallen angels: “Spiritual forces of evil.”

And if you’re a Christian, they have their diabolical eyeballs focused on you!

 

William Spurstowe warned: “Satan is full of devices, and studies arts of circumvention by which he unweariedly seeks the irrecoverable ruin of the souls of men.”

 

Who are these rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces? (Read Ephesians 6:12).


Satan and the devils, or the “spiritual forces of evil” were created as glorious angels who sinned against God because of pride (various scriptures: ). These glorious angels fell from their great and lofty estate to be chained until Judgment Day:

ESV Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day…

  • Devil’s are SPIRITS– Not “flesh and blood”! (Eph. 6:12)

  • Devil’s are EVIL SPIRITS– Not good, not holy, not righteous.

This teaches that EVIL SPIRITS are:

o   Intellectual– superior minds and craftiness; “schemes” (Eph. 6:11): always plotting, always planning, always scheming to do evil against mankind.

o   Immortal

o   Invisible

o   Inexhaustible

o   Insidious– wily, crafty, deceptive, and cruel


A Redemptive-Historical Overview of Satan, the Adversary (**Highlights**)

Revelation 12: A mini-redemptive-history; A summarized version of the conflict between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent.

ESV Revelation 12:1-6: And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.


What are the names of the devil used in Scripture? What does that teach you about him?

Devil: (diabolos): Deceiver/Slanderer

Satan: Adversary

Apollyon: Destroyer (of relationships, people, races of men, creation itself)

Belial: Wicked

Beelzebub: Prince of Demons

Dragon-Serpent: Great, powerful, cunning

Roaring Lion

Prince of the Power of the Air

Strong Man

Spirit of Anti-Christ

 

Are Satan and these spiritual forces equal in power to God? (see Colossians 1:15-18).

Are they equal with God in their power? “Who did that!?? God or Satan!??

  • The devil is “God’s devil” or as Martin Luther memorably put it: “Satan is God’s ape.”  This means that although He truly is a roaring lion seeking to destroy, he is on a chain (see Pilgrim’s Progress as an example of this).

  • Created beings like angles are less than God, not equal; but created beings such as angels are more than man can handle alone (“You made man a little lower than the angels” –Psalm 8).

    • Contrary to ancient and modern forms of Dualism, God is supremely sovereign over the devil and “his angels”; God is supremely sovereign over the “spiritual forces of evil”

 

    • Yet these spiritual beings are be very dangerous—especially to fallen man.

ESV Colossians 1:16 For by1 him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.

  • Created beings such as the “spiritual forces of evil” are part of God’s plan of the mystery hidden for ages to display god’s wisdom and supreme sovereignty for His own glory!

ESV Ephesians 3:9-10:…And to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

  • God must grant permission over these forces; their power is limited. As Jesus said to Pilate (so this could be used of God speaking to the evil forces, John 19:11):

“You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

 

  • God is using the means of these afflictions, conflicts, thlipsis-tribulations for His glory and our good!

ESV Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people1 should be kept alive, as they are today.

“And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us, we will not fear,

For God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.

The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure, for lo! His doom is sure;

One little word shall fell him.”

– A Mighty Fortress, Martin Luther


Where does the battle take place?

“…Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

Heavenly places? Yes! BUT…Although we are united with Jesus and live in heavenly places in Him (Eph. 2:6), we live our lives in “the ordinary” “the mundane”- -places like church congregations, living rooms, workplaces, etc.

Where does this “wrestling match” and “standing firm” in the Lord take place?

 

Look at the passages before our passage (do not forget Paul’s context).  In chapter 5, Paul has told them how to “walk” as imitators of God, as his beloved children.  In 5:22-33, Paul speaks about husbands and wives, the Church; in 6:1-4, Paul speaks about children in parents; in 6:5-9, Paul speaks about slaves and masters (or today perhaps employers and employees).

 

What does this teach us about Ephesians 6:10ff?  Well, the standing firm against the devil and his craftiness, in the power and might of the Lord, is in everyday affairs: marriage, church, family, business relations!

 

This is the arena for our standing in the power of the Lord, and I do not have to remind you, this is the arena where Satan and his “insidious insiders” or his “diabolical demons” will attack most vehemently!

 

  • Genesis 3-4: Fall of man and consequences of sin: We see temptation of the serpent; blame-shifting after the fall into sin between husband and wife; division and disharmony in marriage relationship; breakdown in family relationships resulting in brother murdering brother; mankind seeking a name for themselves through pride.

 

  • All of these events happening because the evil one tempted mankind to do what he had done before them: Question God’s rule and goodness; desire and seek to be in God’s place rather than his servant.

 

  • PRIDE.

 

What are the specific stratagems or schemes or methods the devil uses to defeat and discourage the believer? (see 2 Cor. 2:10-12; Eph. 6:11).

 

We will focus on this next week, Lord willing.

 

Know Your Savior

The Bible says that Jesus has conquered the devil and we are more than conquerors in him. Why, then, do we still fight a battle against this evil foe?

Illustration of D-Day. The decisive battle that defeated Hitler and those who were allied with him didn’t mean the last battle of the war. Although it was the decisive victory that caused the Allied Powers to triumph, the enemy did not surrender completely until a year later.

 

In Jesus’ cross and resurrection from the dead we see the decisive victory of God’s Almighty Power in Jesus Christ!

 

Although the final victory has been won, and as believers we are on the winning side, nevertheless, the enemy continues to fight because he knows his time is short (see Matthew 8:29).

 

ESV Revelation 12:12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

 

ESV Colossians 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

When Jesus was surrendering to the evil forces in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he was taken to be tried and crucified, he declared confidently (in his humility and what seemed to be his defeat):

 

ESV John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

ESV Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.


Why is the devil so interested in us as Christians?

The devil hates JESUS CHRIST with every fiber of his being; the devil hates God and especially the incarnate God who destroyed and defeated him through the death on the cross, to set His people from his grotesque grip!

 

[This hatred of the incarnation is why the “spirit of antichrist” denies that Jesus has come in the flesh incidentally: ESV 1 John 4:2-3: By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.].

 

The devil cannot get to Jesus Christ; but he can get to us! He pursues us to persecute us, to discourage us, to destroy us, to kill us. The devil would rip Christ’s incarnate heart out of his glorified breast if it were possible.

 

It is not possible for the devil to touch Christ, so he seek to touch us.

 

The devil longs to “sift us as wheat…”

 

Christ treasures us; we are his precious possessions.

Christ loves us; we are His redeemed.

Christ died for us; we are His “Beloved Bride”

Christ prays for us that our faith will not fail (see Luke 22:31-32).

 

In Christ, we have immeasurable power; the Holy Spirit’s power that raised Christ from the dead!

 

Remember the Apostle Paul’s prayer for believers in Ephesians 1:15-23? It ended with the hope of believers living powerfully here knowing that Christ was seated in power in the Heavenly Places.


ESV Ephesians 1:19-21: “…And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”


Believers are actually “seated with Christ in the Heavenly Places:

ESV Ephesians 2:5-6: “…Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… (see also Colossians 3:1-4).

 

Believers are seated with Jesus safely by faith in Heavenly Places in union with Him. For life here, we have His armor.


The “Armor of God” is what the Messiah-Christ wore to win the great war against the evil one in His life and ministry (see Isaiah 59:12-20).


How does Ephesians 2:1-10 speak of man’s life apart from Jesus Christ? How does this same chapter describe man’s life in Jesus Christ?


If you don’t have Christ, you are a slave of the devil; you may live a good life in your estimation; but you are “of the devil”; that is you are being pursued and used by him as a follower; whether you realize it or not, you are a slave (see Eph. 2:1-3).

 

“Not that’s not nice saying someone is evil and ‘of the devil’!” That is what the Word of God says for those who are not united to Christ by faith alone through grace and God’s powerful Spirit!

 

ESV Ephesians 2:1-3: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

 

This may be offensive to you if you’re unregenerate, but Scripture says that if you don’t have Christ you are in terrible danger; if you don’t know this, he has made you ignorant; if you cannot see this, he has blinded you; if you don’t believe, you are his willing slave.

 

2 Corinthians 4:3-6: And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 

Believe upon the LORD Jesus Christ—escape sins against God and escape slavery to the devil- -the most evil, insidious, heinous and devious creature ever to rebel against God!

  • There is no possibility of winning this “Holy War” and being victorious without Christ!

  • If we are not Christ’s we are “dead meat” (literally!) and slaves already to what we will become throughout all eternity.

 

  • We are absolutely no match for this awesome and terrible evil fallen angel called the devil.

  • We are to stand only by God’s grace and power, lest we are destroyed!

Christ was defeated by the devil so that we could win with HIM!

Christ was betrayed and denied by those closest to him.

Christ entered into the darkness and all the demons of hell scoffed, laughed, and tormented him.

Christ laid down His life to bring victory over the Evil One.


While Christ lay in death’s strong “bands”- -the LORD of Heaven and Earth set him free in resurrection victory!

“Christ Jesus lay in death’s strong bands, for our offenses given;
But now at God’s right hand He stands, and brings us life from heaven.

It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended;
The victory remained with life; the reign of death was ended.


Stripped of power, no more it reigns, an empty form alone remains
Death’s sting is lost forever! Alleluia!

Here the true Paschal Lamb we see, Whom God so freely gave us;
He died on the accursed tree so strong His love to save us.


See, His blood doth mark our door; faith points to it, Death passes over,
And Satan cannot harm us. Alleluia!”

– Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands, Martin Luther


THIS IS THE BELIEVER’S HOPE IN HIM!

ESV Romans 8:38-39: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“The Lord has chosen, called, and armed us for the fight; and shall we wish to be excused? Shall we not rather rejoice that we have the honor to appear in such a cause, under such a Captain, such a banner, and in such company? A complete suit of armor is provided, weapons not to be resisted, and precious balm to heal us if haply we receive a wound, and precious ointment to revive us when we are in danger of fainting. Further, we are assured of the victory beforehand; and oh what a crown is prepared for every conqueror…the gracious Savior shall place upon every faithful head…Let us not be weary and faint, for in due season we will reap.”- John Newton

 

Remember this, people of God: You have the help of the Master Warrior, King David’s own Teacher and Guide, the Holy Spirit (Psalm 18; 144).”- Joel Beeke

You can say with King David:

“Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.” (Psalm 144, ESV).

 

Love in Christ,

 

Pastor Biggs

Growing Weary? Sow Far, Sow Good!

Dear Beloved Congregation in Christ at KCPC,

 

God has been so good to us the past few years as we have grown together in Him.  It is easy to rejoice in Jesus when times are good, but when difficulties come with their challenges to our families, it is easy to grow weary in doing good. This short letter is intended to be seed sown with confidence in God’s promises that KCPC will reap a great harvest!

 

We grow weary because the results that we had hoped for, the answers to prayers and the harvest that we rightly expect to be enjoyed, are delayed, or not noticed as easily at the moment, and so we are tempted to weariness.

 

We are tempted to give up, and/or to grumble and complain and lose our spirits and attitudes of gratitude, praise and thanksgiving to God for Christ! We are tempted to think that our labor in the Lord is in vain; but it never is! (read 1 Corinthians 15:58). We grow weary ultimately because we fail to believe God’s promises made to us in Christ. And unbelief it not a “respectable sin” that everyone does; unbelief is at the heart of all of our problems.

 

If you are feeling a weariness, let me remind you of Jesus Christ who never grew weary in securing your salvation; let me remind you of Christ who never grew weary of giving up His life for you when beaten, spit upon, crucified and reviled by unbelieving, hostile enemies; let me remind you of Christ who lives to ever intercede for you at God’s right hand, and never grows weary of praying for you; let me remind you of Christ that continually tells us to continue to follow him, not growing weary, knowing that He is faithful!

 

As a congregation, in the next few weeks, I encourage you to focus on Galatians 6:6-10. I encourage you to prayerfully meditate upon this Scripture as an individual, as families.

 

In Galatians 6, there is a promise if we do not grow weary.

 

God promises this: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9). What does the Apostle Paul mean specifically by “doing good” in his inspired admonition to “let us not grow weary in doing good?” Read the context:

 

ESV Galatians 6:6-10: One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

 

Three things I would encourage you with; we are specifically to do good in:

 

1)    Sowing the Word of God in teaching (Gal. 6:6).

2)    Sowing the Word of God in our personal holiness and growth in Jesus (Gal. 6:7-9).

3)    Sowing the Word of God within our community and to reach out to our neighbors (Gal. 6:10).

 

1)      Let us continue to sow the Word of God in our teaching (Gal. 6:6) here at KCPC. The implication of verse 6 is that the one who teaches shares, or sows all good things to the congregation and the congregation is to grow in this.  The congregation then loves and serves in response to God’s Word and so shares with the one who teaches them. God uses the Word of God primarily as a means of grace to convert the lost, to nurture covenant families, and cause us all to grow individually in our salvation. Prepare for sermons, take extensive notes, meditate upon God’s Word, attend Sunday school, memorize Scripture and catechism.

 

2)      Let us continue to sow the  Word of God in personal holiness and growth in Jesus (Gal. 6:7-9). What we sow, that we will reap (we must never think we can live fleshly lives and that we will not reap trouble- -God will not be mocked! This calls for a life of constant repentance and turning to Jesus!).

 

Let us all personally, in light of Christ’s love for us and His sacrificial life and death for us, and his glorious resurrection power granted by His Spirit, let us grow in our sowing to the Spirit- -never to the flesh. This means seeking to pray and commune with God, meditate on God’s Word, seek the face of Jesus, and trust God’s providential hand in all of our lives. By the grace given to us, let us not sow to the flesh in our families, in our relationships, in our selves! Christ often grants difficult circumstances to His people because He wants us to draw near to Him, and he wants us to learn that He is more faithful than we had estimated, and that we were far more unfaithful than we realized.

 

Sowing to the Spirit means living obediently under God’s Word in reliance upon God’s grace. Seeking to avoid grieving the Spirit of God and withdrawing from your fellowship with God. The more we know about our problems inside, and the greatness of the trouble of our enemy and the world’s seducing power, the more we should seek after Christ moment by moment to avoid sowing to fleshly evil.

 

3)      Let us continue to sow the Word of God in our community and to reach out to our neighbors (Gal. 6:10). Let us do good especially to the household of God, but let us wisely and prayerfully seek ways as a congregation whereby we might enjoy the great privilege and encouragement of new converts to the faith. Let us trust God’s Spirit as we ever rely on His grace to make us faithful witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ both within and without our congregation. When we are experiencing difficulties and challenges in our lives, the answer is not to go inward to “find yourself” and your feelings to do what God has commanded you to do, but to pray to be self-forgetful, look outward at Christ in the Gospel, then move outward to serve and help others. Your problems will dissipate as you see Christ and get more involved in serving.

 

We are promised that if we continue to rely on Jesus and His grace as a congregation, we will reap a harvest.

 

Mediate upon this Scripture in the next few weeks. Pray this together as families, as individuals.

 

Pray for encouragement for one another; pray that each of us might never give up and that we would be encouraged to continue to sow the seed of God’s Word in this congregation, within our own hearts and lives, and to reach the lost and others straying with this seed in our community.

 

Don’t give up!

 

Paul teaches us all this truth because it is so easy to grow weary- -all of us can grow weary. We must remember that God has promised results- -the results are up to God and His perfect timing. The sowing is up to us.

 

We must continue to realize as a congregation that if we hope to see abundant fruit and a great harvest in our congregation and community—and we should expect this based on God’s promises to us in Jesus—we must continue to depend upon Jesus alone for our strength and for the results.

 

Let this cause you to pray more; seek the face of Jesus more; meditate upon Scripture more; know God’s providence toward you is for His glory and your good (that is also our good!).

 

Do you believe Christ can do above and beyond what we ask or imagine according to His great power? (Eph. 3:20-21).

 

Don’t grow weary—there’s a harvest coming! That harvest will bring the fruits of the resurrection of Jesus to us now. But there is a greater harvest coming! There is a great harvest of God’s people that we anticipate when Jesus comes and we see Him as He is and we become fully transformed into His likeness and glory. That’s a harvest worth waiting for! But sow in light of His rich promises to you in Christ for now!

 

ESV 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 

Growing Weary? Sow Far, Sow Good.

 

IN Christ’s love,

 

Pastor Charles