The Pursuit of Holiness PART 1

Please listen to PART 1 here

The Pursuit of Holiness part 2

Please listen to PART 2 here

Sermon Notes 9/25/2011

Sermon Text: Genesis 21:1-34
Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 1:8-17; Galatians 3; Galatians 4:21-31
Sermon Title: Evicting Your Ishmael Part 2

Candy bar illustration from last week: whatever is most appealing at the moment will always win when we strive in the flesh (wife w crippled husband; candy bar).

The reason we love conditionally is because that is how we perceive our relationship to God = performance-based.

Variables immediately change relationships in the life of a legalist. This is why preachers are loved one day and hated the next.

You are not a puppet. Puppets are moved while blind. Christians are moved by awakened affections in response to removed blindness.

Philippians 2:12-13 defeats idleness and fleshly striving

“work out” = obey (context of v. 12)

John Piper on the Providence of God lesson 7:

• Walking with Jesus is both to be given a burden (mandate) and to have it carried for us. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). This does not lessen or eliminate the burden or the yoke, but magnifies the grace of Christ that makes them easy and light.
• The difference between the old and new covenant is not new statues, but a new ability.

Legalist = “this is too heavy” or being around a legalist, you feel like a burden is being laid on you. This is what happens when you counsel, teach, preach, parent, rebuke from “above” and not “beside” – you lay a burden on the back.

Cast Out: THE ISHMAEL AMONG US

Driving Out False-Teachers

Mark Driscoll:

1. Feed the Sheep
2. Rebuke the Swine
3. Pray for the Shepherds
4. Shoot the Wolves: Martin Luther said, “With the wolves you cannot be too severe. With the weak sheep you cannot be too gentle.”

A challenge for parents, teachers, pastors, and friends: It is one thing to affirm that the gospel creates a secure space within which a command can be heard without a condition; it is another thing altogether to issue a command that is not heard as a condition.

People always act weird around me when they are not taking my counsel because either I say it with an “if” implied or they still think as if they owe Ishmael (explain).

False-teachers and wolves hate grace because it strips them of their merit. Jesus’ parable in Matthew 20:1-16 is an excellent description of the vicious thinking that attacks the Doctrine of Election and Divine Sovereignty. This was the motivation behind all the violence in the Reformation. This is why husbands and wives punish each other. This is what motivates long-term members of Churches to react the way they do to change. This is why reformed seminary graduates cannot find positions in local churches.

Driving Out False-Doctrine

Ishmael and Isaac are not joint-heirs. I believe we must place legalism on the same level as Mormonism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, and Judaism – these are all slave religions.

The following are from John Fonville’s message “Listen to the Law part 5.” You can listen to the entire message at www.paramountchurch.com.

“We must earnestly contend against all semblance of legalism in our doctrine as well as our hearts because God’s glory and man’s salvation is at stake. Paul’s toleration level was considerably high in respect to the chaos in Corinth. But, when it came to the doctrinal error that was plaguing the churches of Galatia, Paul rejected any notion of compromise (cast out – B.S.).”

Genesis 21:22-34

21:33 The significance of “Everlasting God.” “The use of this divine epithet El-Olam suggests that God’s long-term faithfulness to Abraham has been revealed through Abimelek’s words and actions” (Wenham).

Remember, the birth of Isaac was not the fulfillment of God’s promise.

Sidney Greidanus “Preaching Christ in Genesis” p. 184

God’s promise is open to further filling, for God had promised to make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations. So, the birth of Isaac is an initial fulfillment. God’s promise to Abraham reaches for its fulfillment far beyond Isaac to Abraham’s son Jesus Christ, who commanded his disciples to make disciples of all nations. But still the promise is not filled full. The church today is engaged in fulfilling this promise as it preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. God’s promise will finally be fulfilled when Jesus comes again and a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages will stand before the throne and worship God and the Lamb (Revelation 7:9-10). Many people take membership in the church of Jesus Christ for granted or even consider it a burden. Israel, too, frequently failed to appreciate the miracle of belonging to God’s covenant people.

We are the bud of the flower in God’s plan. God has commissioned His Church to equip the saints to carry out the final leg of His plan.

• Our anxiousness for people of all nations, tribes, and tongues to know Jesus should mirror Sarah’s desperation to have a son.
• Involvement in the local Church is vital to the Great Commission.

Closing

Read Psalm 89:28-37

Hello Beloved!

I am writing as a follow-up to this weekends NANC conference. It was a joy for me to fellowship and learn with you. It was a blessing to know that you were experiencing the same thoughts, convictions, and feelings I did when I went through the NANC conference for the first time. Your response to my request to attend NANC training was overwhelmingly encouraging to me. I felt like Sarah in Genesis 21:7 when I saw all the people from OPBC who sacrificed time and money to attend. Thank you and Praise God.

Just to make sure we are on the same page, I wanted to remind you of our vision to fulfill the Great Commission and NANCs' role in helping us along the way.

1)  Jesus gave Christians a very narrow mission to fulfill during our short time on earth.

• We are grow in grace (2 Peter 3:18). This growing in grace should lead us to love the Lord with all our heart and love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37). 
• We are to preach the Gospel to those outside of Christ and teach those inside Christ to fulfill the Great Commandment (Matthew 28:18-20).

2)  Jesus gave Christians the Church to train them to fulfill "#1" and to train others to do the same (Ephesians 4:11-16). The mission of the Church is to train Christians for evangelism and discipleship. We understand that many things are accomplished in the Church, but all things should work towards the "mission."

So, why are we spending so much time and money going to a NANC conference?

NANC is a God-given tool that comes beside the local Church to help them accomplish the mission. We are not doing a "NANC" ministry at OPBC. We are doing evangelism and discipleship. NANC is a faithful friend along the way to help us become better equipped to accomplish the mission.

ALL Christians have the responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission. ALL Christians are equipped, at differing degrees, to help others grow and change. The Scripture and the Holy Spirit are God's primary means for change. The more we know the Gospel, the Scripture, and how to help others apply it, the more able we are to help people grow. The NANC training and biblical counseling is ONE WAY that we can fulfill the Great Commission. I love this way because we are being equipped to lead ourselves and families while learning to help others.

The NANC training process has five stages. If you complete any of the stages, you will probably be better equipped than you were. If you complete all five stages, you will become even better at making disciples.

Therefore, do what you can. The five stages are as follows:

1. Three weekends of classroom training.
2. An exam with two parts (theology and counseling).
3. You must observe ten hours of counseling on DVD (I have the DVDs).
4. You must read three books out of a pool of NANC's choosing. I would strongly recommend a) Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp b) Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams c) The Theology of Christian Counseling by Jay Adams.
5. You must counsel for 50 hours under the observation (distance through filling out a form and recording sessions) of a very experienced NANC fellow (Most of the speakers at the conferences are NANC fellows).

The Elders will be taking whoever is willing by the hand and leading them step-by-step through each stage of the process. For example, after the conferences are over, I will begin a Sunday School class that teaches through each question of the exam. I will then be watching the DVDs with those who are willing, etc.

As the months go by, we will begin formalizing the counseling ministry. When you reach the stage where you must counsel, I will begin referring my outside counseling requests to you.

You remember how it was when you taught your kids to ride a bike? If you don't have kids, do you remember when you learned to ride a bike? Someone stood right behind you, letting you pedal, but holding the seat. That is what it will be like for you to go through this process. The Elders will be right behind you, keeping things moving, coaching you along, and making sure you don't fall over.

What should you do now? Take your earnestness and begin reading. I would recommend you start with Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp. If you have read that already, I would read Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams. Also, I will not take outside counseling appointments (people outside OPBC) if people are not willing allow others in to observe. I have had several requests from you to observe. When I have new appointments, I will call those who have requested to sit in to come and join me. I have already loaned out the DVDs to MG. Whoever wants them next can let her know. Please be careful with them (they cost $120).

Pray for our Master Plan Committee. If we are to do counseling we need space. Also pray for our giving as we do not want to have debt. Every time we get together to hear God's Word, we are counseling. I would recommend that you get with someone else and read a chapter a week in a book that has been recommended. Talk about it. Pray about it. The best counselees are the best counselors. Let me know if you have any questions. More details regarding our vision and planning will be coming soon. God bless!

Pastor Brian

Sermon Notes 9/16/2011

Sermon Text: Genesis 21:1-34
Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 1:8-17
Sermon Title: Evicting Your Ishmael

Genesis 21:1-7

Verses 1-2 show the meaning of this passage. In Genesis 21:1-2, we see the significance of Genesis 15:17-18. God is a covenant-making God who brings about what He promises. It is important for us to understand this principle. Beginning here is what makes us end up in 21:7. A covenantal understanding of Scripture gives us the greatest joy because it gives God the glory due to His name.

How did Israel hear this message? If I am born again through promise, how much confidence should that give me in God’s promises to me now?

The Story: Genesis 21:8-21

Looking at Genesis 21:9, we know that Ishmael was persecuting Isaac, not merely “chuckling” at him (Galatians 4:29). Ishmael was under the impression that he was to receive the inheritance.

The Allegory: Galatians 4:21-21

It is important, I think, to know that Ishmael and Isaac were not Abraham’s only two sons. Abraham has six other sons through his wife Keturah whom he married after Sarah died (Genesis 25:1-2). That fact makes Paul’s allegory stronger.

I will be very brief in describing the allegory so that we can give attention to the implications flowing from it. The reason I will be brief in explaining Galatians 4:21-31 is because on 8/7/2011 I preached a sermon called “The Allegory of Sarai and Hagar.” Feel free to listen online @ www.opbiblechurch.org under the sermons tab. This sermon was preached on a Sunday night.

HAGAR                                     SARAH
  Slave Woman                             Free
  Ishmael: Flesh/self-reliance          Isaac: Promise/dependence upon God
  Bondage                                     Freedom
  Earthly Jerusalem (Mt. Sinai)       Jerusalem from Above
  Persecutor                                  Persecuted
  Cast Out/Eviction                        Accepted in Christ/Inheritance

Implications

Salvation is by Grace Alone

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: ‘About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son’” (Romans 9:6-9). There are not good people and bad people. There are bad people that have been given justice and bad people that have been given mercy.

“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29).

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

Cast Out: THE ISHMAEL WITHIN US

DISCLAIMER: When I refer to the “Law” I am not speaking of only the Ten Commandments, but of ANY imperative (Command) in Scripture.

Driving Out Wrong Thinking: “Ifs Kill”

See source @ http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/2011/09/12/luther-on-law

The law tells us what we ought to do; the Gospel tells us what God has given. When a Christian is afflicted by the flesh, it is “the most difficult thing in the world” to let their conscience listen to the voice of Christ rather than the condemnation of the Law (Luther in Galatians 1535). In other words, making the reality of what we know our experience regarding the difference between the Law and the Gospel is the most difficult thing to do.

“But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1 Timothy 1:8). “When the law is being used correctly, it does nothing but reveal sin, work wrath, accuse, terrify, and reduce the minds of men to the point of despair” (Luther in Galatians 1535). Ifs Kill. The only “if” in the Gospel is this: “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2:1).

Don’t mix up the what and the how. The Law is the what. The Gospel is the how. When you mix up the what and the how, you always get inconsolable despair or self-righteous pride. Only the Gospel gives simultaneous confidence and humility. Faith is the how of the Gospel.

The Law says, “Do this and live.” The Gospel says, “Christ has done it, now live.” “Works” is not a dirty word. Works, spiritual disciplines, radical amputation, wise boundaries and restrictions ARE NOT legalism. However, every action has the potential to be legalism if we strive 1) in the flesh 2) to gain merit with God and others.

“The ears of faith are free to hear a commandment without a condition because the Christian conscience listens not to the condition and curse of the Law, but to the Christ in whom there is no condemnation” (Jono Linebaugh).

“The end of the Law (Romans 10:4), understood by Luther as Christ kicking the Law out of the conscience and rejecting its role as the regulator of the divine-human relationship, is thus the end of the “ifs” that interpose themselves between God and His creatures. In place of the ifs Christ has uttered a final cry: ‘It is finished.’” (Jono Linebaugh).

II Corinthians 5:14 – The love of Christ compels us. Illustrate with a mother/son relationship. A son is loved the same no matter his behavior. The son is not more or less a son because of his behavior. It is the unconditional love and acceptance of a parent that “compels” a child to obey. It is hard to rid our hearts of legalism because we are taught, in almost every other area of life, to “perform for position.” Use illustration of a candy bar in a store. When led by the flesh, all it takes is a greater stimulus to change our behavior from “righteous” to “sinful.”

This is the thought behind Pat Robertson’s comments about leaving a spouse who has Alzheimer’s disease.

Is your attitude towards the sin of others:

1. Get it together
2. Let’s go get grace

Do you live in the ditch of inconsolable despair (I quit) or pride (look what I did)?

This is easy intellectually, but really hard practically. “As far as the words are concerned…everyone can easily understand the distinction between the Law and grace, but so far as practice, life, and application are concerned, it is the most difficult thing there is” (Luther in Galatians 1535).

• “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). When you sin, the flesh condemns you and wrong thinking places you next to the standard of God’s Law. Therefore, your identity, confidence, worthiness, and position change with your performance.
• “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh” (Romans 8:12). When you strive to obey, it is with a “I owe” mentality. After consistent obedience, you achieve level ground again.
• Here is the rub: If you sin, and despair as condemned under the law, you will then strive to obey as a debtor to the flesh. Your only two options from there are to succeed temporarily (Ishmael lived in the house for a time) and be self-reliant and proud of it or to fail again, falling under condemnation, and beginning the cycle again. Sin = self-focus = self-pity = self-effort = pride or despair

Anyone who sins and has an “I cannot believe I did that” mentality is full of pride. Of course you should believe you were selfish (Stuart Scott). We should have the attitude of Sarah in Genesis 21:7. If you do not live according to the promise, when persecuted by the Law, you will give up. The English translation of Ishmael is “Self-Reliance” (just kidding – kind of). “I can do it” always ends in “I give up.”

Here is how you do it…

Drive Out Ishmael/Legalism with New Life (The Birth of Isaac Drives Out Ishmael)

The birth of Isaac moved Ishmael out. We must have a “start” rather than a “stop it” mentality. Putting an old thought out is not becoming a new man. A chained-up dog is still a dog. Accountability should not revolve around “did you sin” but rather “what new works of righteousness did you do this week.” You put off BY putting on.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled (be being filled – B.S.) with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:15-21)

Think of the flesh as a downward moving escalator:

• Legalism: Imperatives are at the top of the escalator.
• Gospel: Jesus is at the top of the escalator and imperatives are on the rails.

Romans 8 – “by the Spirit”

The Gospel does not do away with the “what” (imperatives). The Gospel gives a new “why” (The Love of Christ compels us – II Corinthians 5:14-15) and “how” (By the Spirit – Romans 8:13).

The Law = Do this and live/performance

The Gospel = Live, now do this/promise (by John Fonville)

God's Providence Sermon Notes 9/11/11

Sermon Title: Why Does God Permit What He Prohibits?
Sermon Text: Genesis 20:1-18
Scripture Reading: Confessions and Catechisms

Resources Mentioned in the Sermon:

• Are There Two Wills In God? by John Piper
• 10 Sermons on Providence by John Piper
• Tim Keller Interview @ The Veritas Forum
• The Providence of God by John Flavel

The Belgic Confession

The oldest of the doctrinal standards of the Christian Reformed Church is the Confession of Faith, popularly known as the Belgic Confession, following the seventeenth-century Latin designation "Confessio Belgica." "Belgica" referred to the whole of the Netherlands, both north and south, which today is divided into the Netherlands and Belgium. The confession's chief author was Guido de Bräs, a preacher of the Reformed churches of the Netherlands, who died a martyr to the faith in the year 1567.

During the sixteenth century, the churches in this country were exposed to the most terrible persecution by the Roman Catholic government. To protest against this cruel oppression, and to prove to the persecutors that the adherents of the Reformed faith were not rebels, as was laid to their charge, but law-abiding citizens who professed the true Christian doctrine according to the Holy Scriptures, de Bräs prepared this confession in the year 1561. In the following year a copy was sent to King Philip II, together with an address in which the petitioners declared that they were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would "offer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and their whole bodies to the fire," rather than deny the truth expressed in this confession. Although the immediate purpose of securing freedom from persecution was not attained, and de Bräs himself fell as one of the many thousands who sealed their faith with their lives, his work has endured and will continue to endure. In its composition the author availed himself to some extent of a confession of the Reformed churches in France, written chiefly by John Calvin, published two years earlier.

The work of de Bräs, however, is not a mere revision of Calvin's work, but an independent composition. In 1566 the text of this confession was revised at a synod held at Antwerp. In the Netherlands it was at once gladly received by the churches, and it was adopted by national synods held during the last three decades of the sixteenth century. The text, not the contents, was revised again at the Synod of Dort in 1618-19 and adopted as one of the doctrinal standards to which all office bearers in the Reformed churches were required to subscribe. The confession stands as one of the best symbolical statements of Reformed doctrine. The translation presented here is based on the French text of 1619.

Article 13: The Doctrine of God's Providence

We believe that this good God, after he created all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without his orderly arrangement.

Yet God is not the author of, nor can he be charged with, the sin that occurs. For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible that he arranges and does his work very well and justly even when the devils and wicked men act unjustly.

We do not wish to inquire with undue curiosity into what he does that surpasses human understanding and is beyond our ability to comprehend. But in all humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us, being content to be Christ's disciples, so as to learn only what he shows us in his Word, without going beyond those limits.

This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious heavenly Father. He watches over us with fatherly care, keeping all creatures under his control, so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father.

In this thought we rest, knowing that he holds in check the devils and all our enemies, who cannot hurt us without his permission and will.

For that reason we reject the damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God involves himself in nothing and leaves everything to chance.

The Heidelberg Catechism

The Heidelberg Catechism is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. One of the aims of the catechism was to counteract the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, and so it based each of its statements on the text of the Bible.

Question 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God?

Answer. The almighty and everywhere present power of God; [a] whereby, as it were by his hand, he [b] upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain [c] and drought, fruitful [d] and barren years, meat and drink, [e] health and sickness, [f] riches and poverty, yea, and all things [g] come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.

Question 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence doth still uphold all things?

Answer. That we may be patient in adversity [h]; thankful [i] in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm [j] trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall [k] separate us from his love; since all creatures are so in his hand, that without his will they [l] cannot so much as move.

[a]: Acts 17:25,26,27,28
[b]: Heb. 1:3
[c]: Jer. 5:24
[d]: Acts 14:17
[e]: John 9:3
[f]: Prov. 22:2; Job 1:21
[g]: Mat. 10:29,30; Eph. 1:11
[h]: Rom. 5:3; Psa. 39:10
[i]: Deut. 8:10; 1Thes. 5:18
[j]: Rom. 5:3,4,5,6
[k]: Rom. 8:38,39
[l]: Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Mat. 8:31; Isa. 10:15

Read Genesis 20:6, 17-18

Concerning our text (Genesis 20) - A few questions about God’s sovereignty:

• If God restrained Abimelek from sin, why doesn’t he always with all people?
• If God could immediately open the womb of those in Abimelek’s house (16:2; 20:18) – why not sooner with Sarah?

Why do you ask? We must be able, as much as we are able, to intelligently answer hard questions about God and the Scriptures. Therefore, the questions from Genesis 20 are a sample of the many questions asked loudly and proudly by atheists, Eastern religions, postmodernists, skeptics, agnostics. I would submit that these questions are also asked and suppressed quietly by doubting, hurting, and suffering Christians.

You are on your campus, at your workplace, or family event suggesting that God is good, loving, and in control yet how do I reconcile that with world wars, 9/11, abortion, child abuse, natural disasters, suffering, mental and physical defects, etc.? Why doesn’t God save all people? Why is there a hell?

From the Tim Keller Interview referenced above:

• If you assume the Gospel is true, than the answer to the question cannot be a lack of love or indifference (God suffered and died voluntarily).
• If you assume the Gospel is not true, then how do you reconcile natural selection and your outrage against injustice and suffering?
• Just because there is not a full answer doesn’t mean a full answer ceases to exist.

Illustrate with Keller’s “no see em”.

Historical examples – men lived in darkness for years because they didn’t have answers on how to create light. It would be ridiculous to conclude that the absence of the invention (light bulb) equaled the absence of the possibility.

Biblical examples – Noah; Abraham; God being Just and the Justifier

Personal examples – your parents might have gotten progressively wiser with age. Are they progressively getting wiser or is your perspective changing when you are presented with more experience and information??

My best attempt to answer this question: You will be faced with the choice to either reject this doctrine or plead the limitations of your mind and embrace the mystery (Piper).

The material below was partially taken from John Piper’s article: Are There Two Wills In God?

What seems to paradoxical passages is not a sign of divine schizophrenia or exegetical confusion. Therefore as a hearty believer in unconditional, individual election I rejoice to affirm that God does not delight in the perishing of the unrepentant, and that he has compassion on all people. My aim is to show that this is not double talk. The fact that God expresses His will in one way, yet sees to it another outcome comes to pass is inescapable in the Scriptures. Edwards: “Fact obliges us to get over it.” Theologians throughout the history of the Church have agreed that there is a mystery in examining what God would like to see happen and what he actually does will to happen.

Vital Preface

The first thing to affirm in view of all these texts is that God does not sin. "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:3). "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone" (James 1:13). In ordering all things, including sinful acts, God is not sinning. As for instance, it might be an evil thing to crucify Christ, but yet it was a good thing that the crucifying of Christ came to pass."

Illustrations of Two Wills in God: Not mere permission, but Divine will

The Death of Christ

The most compelling example of God's willing for sin to come to pass while at the same time disapproving the sin is his willing the death of his perfect, divine Son. The betrayal of Jesus by Judas was a morally evil act inspired immediately by Satan (Luke 22:3). Yet in Acts 2:23 Luke says, "This Jesus [was] delivered up according to the definite plan (boule) and foreknowledge of God." The betrayal was sin, and it involved the instrumentality of Satan; but it was part of God's ordained plan. That is, there is a sense in which God willed the delivering up of his Son, even though the act was sin.

Moreover Herod's contempt for Jesus (Luke 23:11) and Pilate's spineless expediency (Luke 23:24) and the Jews' "Crucify! Crucify him!" (Luke 23:21) and the Gentile soldiers' mockery (Luke 23:36) were also sinful attitudes and deeds. Yet in Acts 4:27-28 Luke expresses his understanding of the sovereignty of God in these acts by recording the prayer of the Jerusalem saints: “Truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever thy hand and thy plan (boule) had predestined to take place.”

The appalling death of Christ was the will and work of God the Father. Isaiah wrote, "We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God . . . It was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief’(Isaiah 53). Sometimes God makes use of instruments for good to His people, who designed nothing but evil and mischief to them. Thus Joseph's brethren were instrumental to his advancement in that very thing in which they designed his ruin (Gen. 50:20). —John Flavel

The Hardening Work of God

Another evidence to demonstrate God's willing a state of affairs in one sense that he disapproves in another sense is the testimony of Scripture that God wills to harden some men's hearts so that they become obstinate in sinful behavior which God disapproves. The most well-known example is the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. In Exodus 8:1 the Lord says to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the LORD, "Let my people go, that they may serve."'" In other words God's command, that is, his will, is that Pharaoh let the Israelites go. Nevertheless from the start he also willed that Pharaoh not let the Israelites go. In Exodus 4:21 God says to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go."

The good thing that God commands he prevents. And the thing he brings about involves sin. This illustrates why theologians talk about the "will of command" ("Let my people go!") and the "will of decree" ("God hardened Pharaoh's heart"). The Exodus is not a unique instance of God's acting in this way. When the people of Israel reached the land of Sihon the King of Heshbon, Moses sent messengers "with words of peace saying, Let me pass through your land; I will travel only on the highway" (Deuteronomy 2:26-27). Even though this request should have lead Sihon to treat the people of God with respect, as God willed for his people to be blessed rather than attacked, nevertheless "Sihon the King of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as at this day" (Deuteronomy 2:30).

God's Right to Restrain Evil and His Will Not To

Another line of Biblical evidence that God sometimes wills to bring about what he disapproves is His choosing to use or not to use his right to restrain evil in the human heart.Proverbs 21:1 says, "The king's heart is like channels of water in the hands of the Lord; he turns it wherever he wishes."

Contrast Genesis 20 with Romans 1:24-28. Three times in Romans 1:24-28 Paul says that God hands people over (paredoken) to sink further into corruption. Verse 24: "God handed them over to the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves." Verse 26: "God handed them over to dishonorable passions." Verse 28: "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to a base mind and to improper conduct." God has the right and the power to restrain this evil the way he did for Abimelech. But he did not will to do that.

What is apparent here is that God has the right and the power to restrain the sins of secular rulers. When he does, it is his will to do it. And when he does not, it is his will not to. Which is to say that sometimes God wills that their sins be restrained and sometimes he wills that they increase more than if he restrained them.

Does God Delight in the Punishment of the Wicked?

We are faced with the inescapable biblical fact that in some sense God does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23), and in some sense he does (Deuteronomy 28:63; 1 Samuel 2:25).

How Extensive Is the Sovereign Will of God?

There are passages that ascribe to God the final control over all calamities and disasters wrought by nature or by man. Amos 3:6, "Does evil befall a city, unless the LORD has done it? Isaiah 45:7, "I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make peace and create woe, and I am the LORD, who does all these things." Lamentations 3:37-38, "Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and evil come?" Noteworthy in these Texts is that the calamities in view involve human hostilities and cruelties that God would disapprove of even as he wills that they be.

On taking leave of the saints in Ephesus he said, "I will return to you if God wills," (Acts 18:21). To the Corinthians he wrote, "I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills" (1 Corinthians 4:19). And again, "I do not want to see you now just in passing; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits" (1 Corinthians 16:7).

This sense of living in the hands of God, right down to the details of life was not new for the early Christians. They knew it already from the whole history of Israel, but especially from their wisdom literature. "The plans of the mind belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:1). "A man's mind plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established" (Proverbs 19:21). "The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). "I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). Jesus had no quarrel with this sense of living in the hand of God. If anything, he intensified the idea with words like Matthew 10:29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father."

Does It Make Sense? This cannot be a Calvinistic thought…

Regarding Salvation: In other words both Calvinists and Arminians affirm two wills in God when they ponder deeply over 1 Timothy 2:4. Both can say that God wills for all to be saved. All are not saved. But then when queried why all are not saved both Calvinist and Arminian answer that God is committed to something even more valuable than saving all.

The difference between Calvinists and Arminians lies not in whether there are two wills in God, but in what they say this higher commitment is. What does God will more than saving all? The answer given by Arminians is that human self-determination or free will and the possible resulting love relationship with God are more valuable than saving all people by sovereign, efficacious grace. The answer given by Calvinists is that the greater value is the manifestation of the full range of God's glory in wrath and mercy (Romans 9:22-23) and the humbling of man so that he enjoys giving all credit to God for his salvation (1 Corinthians 1:29).

The Narrow and Wide Lenses

EDWARDS: So God, though he hates a thing as it is simply, may incline to it with reference to the universality of things. Though he hates sin in itself, yet he may will to permit it, for the greater promotion of holiness in this universality, including all things, and at all times. So, though he has no inclination to a creature's misery, considered absolutely, yet he may will it, for the greater promotion of happiness in this universality (Edwards).

PIPER: Putting it in my own words (John Piper), Edwards said that the infinite complexity of the divine mind is such that God has the capacity to look at the world through two lenses. He can look through a narrow lens or through a wide-angle lens. When God looks at a painful or wicked event through his narrow lens, he sees the tragedy or the sin for what it is in itself and he is angered and grieved. "I do not delight in the death of anyone, says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 18:32). But when God looks at a painful or wicked event through his wide-angle lens, he sees the tragedy or the sin in relation to everything leading up to it and everything flowing out from it. He sees it in all the connections and effects that form a pattern or mosaic stretching into eternity. This mosaic, with all its (good and evil) parts he does delight in (Psalm 115:3).

ME: ILLUSTRATION - I can say to Hannah “I desire that you never feel pain by my hand” and sincerely will that and mean that. Then, a moment later, I must discipline her. In her tears she reminds me of my word. Because she lives life with one “Lens” she cannot understand how I can will two things. She does not understand how I can delight in discipline and how I can grieve over discipline. I view her through both lenses; she views me through one. My emotions and thoughts are far too complex for her. My wisdom far exceeds hers. All I can do is ask her to trust me.

God's emotional life is infinitely complex beyond our ability to fully comprehend. For example, who can comprehend that the Lord hears in one moment of time the prayers of ten million Christians around the world, and sympathizes with each one personally and individually like a caring Father (as Hebrews 4:15 says he will), even though among those ten million prayers some are broken-hearted and some are bursting with joy? How can God weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice when they are both coming to him at the same time—in fact are always coming to him with no break at all?

Or who can comprehend that God is angry at the sin of the world every day (Psalm 7:11), and yet every day, every moment, he is rejoicing with tremendous joy because somewhere in the world a sinner is repenting (Luke 15:7,10,23)? Who can comprehend that God continually burns with hot anger at the rebellion of the wicked, grieves over the unholy speech of his people (Ephesians 4:29-30), yet takes pleasure in them daily (Psalm 149:4), and ceaselessly makes merry over penitent prodigals who come home?

Who of us could say what complex of emotions is not possible for God? All we have to go on here is what he has chosen to tell us in the Bible. And what he has told us is that there is a sense in which he does not experience pleasure in the judgment of the wicked, and there is a sense in which he does. In his great and mysterious heart there are kinds of longings and desires that are real— they tell us something true about His character. Yet not all of these longings govern God's actions (I desire that no man should perish). He is governed by the depth of his wisdom expressed through a plan that no ordinary human deliberation would ever conceive (Romans 11:33-36; 1 Corinthians 2:9).

How can we hate what is evil if God has ordained it to happen?

You hate what God wills to happen if He wills that you hate what He wills to happen. I hate that September 11 happened. God allowed September 11. I hate it, give God credit for it, and don’t hate God because God commands me to and because I trust God. It might help to put these categories in place. I operate—because the Bible leads me to—with two understandings of the will of God: 1) the moral will of God, which is revealed in Scripture, and 2) the sovereign will of God, which is everything that comes to pass.

Find comfort in perspective: There is a great difference between lying on the ground with your face in the sand, walking along the beach, hang gliding, being in an airplane, and standing on the moon. 

When you were 15, you remember things being irreparable, tragic, unable to recover from, earth shattering - but now you look back on those things and laugh at it.

If God would have come to Job and said...in 1000's of year from now you will be famous...everybody will talk about your story!!! Job would have calculated that the beauty of his suffering was worth it economically. However, Satan's charge was "this man only serves you because you cater to him." Job hung on for dear life with what he knew in spite of what he didn't know.

If I had the power of God, I would change many things. If I had the wisdom of God, I would not change a thing (John Sale).

Providence is often confusing because men fail to realize it was meant to be read backwards. – Puritan John Flavel.

How then shall we live?

How Do I Live? Pastor Brian’s Illustration of Application: What should our response be? Give examples of a football team or a baseball team – there is so much going on that we cannot control, yet we have an assignment – to do the revealed will of God. What if the right guard doesn’t block? What if the referee manning the clock messes up? What if we run out of time-outs? What if the referee or umpire makes a bad call? When you are ready to throw you are not thinking “what if the catcher misses the tag?” What if I trip? What if the quarterbacks timing is off? What if there is a gust of wind? What if the pitcher cheats and rubs oil on the ball? What if the bat is corked? What if a bird flies across the field and hits the ball? We know the rules and we know the play that has been called; we know our assignment – do what you know and stop worrying about the rest. Deuteronomy 29:29

How Do I Think?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: 'Take no thought for the morrow,' means 'Do not be guilty of anxious thoughts about the morrow'. It does not mean that you do not take any thought at all, otherwise the farmer would not plow and harrow and sow. He is looking to the future, but he does not spend the whole of his time wondering and worrying about the end results of his work. No, he takes reasonable thought and then he leaves it.

Here again the whole question is where to draw the line. Thinking is right up to a point, but if you go beyond that point it becomes worry and anxiety and it paralyzes and cripples. In other words, although it is very right to think about the future, it is very wrong to be controlled by it. 

The difficulty with people who are prey to these fears is that they are controlled by the future or the past, they are dominated by thoughts of it, and there they are wringing their hands, doing nothing, depressed by fears about it. In fact, they are completely governed and mastered by the unknown future or unresolved past, and that is always wrong. To take thought is right, but to be controlled by the future is all wrong. –italics are my additions to the quote (Brian Shepherd)

How to I talk?

We should eliminate: luck, thank goodness, chance, fortunate, and fate from our vocabularies.

Do I Pray?

Providence so orders the case, that faith and prayer come between our wants and supplies, and the goodness of God may be the more magnified in our eyes thereby.—John Flavel

Closing

Where is the bottom line? God is sovereign. I am responsible and accountable. Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. So, it is that through Abraham’s life we see both realities - that God can and will and does step in to insure that his purposes and promises are fulfilled in and through and among his people. At the same time, we see the undeniable fact that God’s people are not protected from the consequences of their actions - even when they are hard, and even when they endure for a considerable amount of time.

God moves in a mysterious way
 His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
 And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
 Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs 
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break 
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence 
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
 And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

by William Cowper

“Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. Keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord” (sixth-century prayer of saint Gregory “The Book of Common Prayer”).

Interview with Dr. Tim Keller

Rather than take a snippet or two from this interview, take the time (84 minutes) if you can to sit through all of it to hear the heart of one of our age's most gospel centered servants. Well worth it.

Sermon Notes 9/4/2011

Sermon Title: He Did What?!

Sermon Text: Genesis 20:1-18

Scripture Reading: Genesis 20:1-18

Some scholars state that Genesis 12 and Genesis 20 are the same story.

“First of all, there are numerous differences in this story, in Genesis 20, and the story in Genesis 12, so that it is unlikely that this is a duplication of the same incident. In fact, there are at least ten differences between this story and the story of Genesis 12. Allow me to mention them very briefly. In Genesis 12 of course the story entails Egypt and Pharaoh. In Genesis 20 it’s Gerar and Abimelech. In Genesis 12 Pharaoh has to investigate the affliction in his house. In Genesis 20 God reveals it to Abimelech. In Genesis 12 the affliction is unspecified. In Genesis 20 God closes the wombs of the household of Abimelech. In Genesis 12 Pharaoh expels Abraham from the land after the story is over. In Genesis 20 Abimelech allows him to remain and offers him to settle wherever he wishes. In Genesis 12 Pharaoh gave Abraham gifts before it was discovered that Sarah was his wife. In Genesis 20 Abimelech gives Abraham gifts after it is discovered that Sarah is his wife. In Genesis 12 Pharaoh is told of the beauty of Sarah. In Genesis 20, interestingly, a number of years later, Abimelech is not told of the beauty of Sarah. In Genesis 12 Abraham’s reasons are not recorded in response to Pharaoh’s questions and charges. Here in Genesis 20 Abimelech makes a direct inquiry, and Abraham gives him explanations for why he did what he did. In Genesis 12 we are not told whether Sarah was violated. In Genesis 20 we are specifically told that she was protected. In Genesis 12 Pharaoh does not call his servants together to discuss the situation. In Genesis 20 Abimelech, after he wakes up from his night’s sleep, calls all the servants of the household together to explain to them the crisis which is ensued. And in Genesis 12 there is no mention of Abraham interceding for Egypt, whereas in Genesis 20 Abraham’s prayer is instrumental in lifting the curse. Needless to say, there are so many differences here it is hard to believe that this could possibly be an accidental description of the same incident” (Ligon Duncan).

READ GENESIS 12

From Genesis 12 to Genesis 20 about 20 years had passed. What has Abraham seen?

• God delivered Sarah from the Pharaoh in Genesis 12.
• God delivered a victory, great treasure, and had interaction through Melchizedek in Genesis 14.
• God had supernatural involvement with Abraham in reaffirming the Covenant in Genesis 12, 15, and 17.
• God appeared personally to Abraham in Genesis 18 and Abraham saw the awesome mercy and justice of God in Genesis 19 (Sodom).

READ GENESIS 20: He Did What!?

I love this from Pastor Scott Lindsay:

So, that is what happens in chapter 20 - a very close parallel to the events of chapter 12. Moreover, it brings us back to the question that was raised previously: What sort of man of God is this - who when he gets into the same situation he had been in earlier makes the same mistakes? What sort of man of God is this who - after twenty plus years of seeing God’s faithfulness – is still struggling with the same sins, still vulnerable to the same temptations, still capable of the same sort of faithlessness, still showing the same doubts? What sort of person does that?

Answer: A person like you. A person like me.

“No need in Christendom is more urgent than the need for a renewed awareness of what the grace of God really is” (J.I. Packer).

Paul Tripp:

Stand beside not above. Our service must not have an “I stand above you as one who has arrived” character. It flows out of a humble recognition that we share an identity with those we serve. God has not completed His work in me. I am not anyone’s guru. Change will not happen simply because someone is exposed to my wisdom and experience. We share identity, we share suffering, we share sin, and we are of the same family. The more we are honest about who we are, the more we are willing to stand alongside people and not above them, the more our lives will offer real hope (2 Corinthians 1:3-11).

Friendships and Relationships

The opposite of mercy is self-righteousness. When pointing out sins of others the self-righteous stand above and not beside. The sinner feels like he needs to jump up to meet the standards of the offended, rather than fall on grace. We relate to others as if we are incapable of the sins they commit. We should feel an “I’m beside you at the Cross” rather than “Get it straight and come back for another evaluation” environment.

Marriages 

Have you ever thought that passing along God’s mercy may be one of the main reasons you are married? Mercy takes people who are capable of open warfare over toothpaste tubes and toilet seats, and enlarges their vision to include a Savior (Dave Harvey in When Sinners Say I Do).

The following suggestions are from Dave Harvey in his book “When Sinners Say I Do.”

Read Titus 2:11-14 and Romans 2:1-4

• You spouse, parents, children, and friends are inclined to drift from grace to self-effort. “I just need to do more, work harder, give it more effort.” Self-effort may make us feel better on some level but it’s ultimately futile. When we live more aware of what we need to do than of what Christ has already done, we’re drifting.
• (Our posture towards ourselves and others who sin will determine if the sinner moves towards self-effort or reliance. Is your interaction with others driving them to the Savior or towards self-effort?) – Pastor Brian. “For one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ” (Robert Murray M’Cheyne).

Harvey's Suggestions

• Preach the Gospel to yourself and to others.
• Read books like The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges and The Cross of Christ by John Stott.
• Celebrate what you can see, even if it is not directly related to the area of desired change (evidences of grace).
• Review the game plan for change.

Evidences of God’s Grace

1. Abraham: When we plot, scheme, and sin God sometimes rescues us from the full consequences of our sin and blesses us in spite of our sin. And we see here that God not only protects us by His grace, but God by His grace exposes our sin even while we are working hard to conceal it. Abimelech is here appointed by God as the messenger to deliver an exposing inquiry of Abraham. He asks three questions to Abraham in order to highlight the wrong that Abraham has done here. God uses Abimelech as an instrument to expose the sin of Abraham so that he will no longer be able to hide behind his explanations and excuses. Abraham’s three excuses in vv. 11-13.
2. Abimelech: When we are unknowingly walking into a snare, God intervenes and rescues us from our blindness.
3. Sarah: When those in authority over us place us in compromising positions God sometimes will preserve and rescue.

The truth of her “being his sister” is not the issue – the issue is the motive.

“In Lev. 4:3, the sin of the high priest brings guilt on the whole people, and in 2 Samuel 24 and frequently in 1-2 Kings, the sin of the kings brings judgment on the nation” (Wenham).

Abimelek’s response to God, quick obedience, voluntary restitution show that Abraham was wrong to allege that there was no fear of God in this place (v. 11). The money Abimelek gave to Abraham was an enormous sum of money.

• How do we do this with different denominations, countries, etc.

The typical Babylonian laborer received a wage of about half a shekel a month (Wenham).

“Human sin is stubborn, but not as stubborn as the grace of God and not half so persistent, not half so ready to suffer to win its way.” (Cornelius Plantinga)

That Christ may be formed in you...

Galatians 4:12-20

Brethren, I beseech you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong; you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first: and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What has become of the satisfaction you felt? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. For a good purpose it is always good to be made much of, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you! I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

I think the basic reason why Christian faith meets with opposition in the world and even finds resistance in our own hearts is that true saving faith always brings with it the reshaping of our heart and mind so that it is no longer we who live but Christ in us. There is in every human heart an intense and powerful love for the praise of men. Just as naturally as apples fall downward, human beings gravitate toward ideas and actions which make them look great, and resist ideas and actions which make them look small. Therefore, apart from the powerful grace of God overcoming our natural disposition to pride, we would always resist the coming of faith into our lives, because by faith Christ takes such dominant control of our lives and reshapes us so much into his image that we can no longer boast in anything good that we do. It does not appeal to the natural mind to be so transformed by Christ that we must give him credit for all the good we do.

Catering to Pride

This is the fundamental stumbling block to Christian faith—which is what Jesus meant when he said in John 5:44, "How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God"? Our love for the praise of men hinders us from trusting Christ because the purpose of Christ is to remove every ground of boasting in us and put it all in God (1 Corinthians 1:29–31; Ephesians 2:8–9; Galatians 6:14). He did this once by accomplishing our redemption on the cross without our help; and he continues to do it by applying that redemption to our hearts without our help. By his sovereign grace Christ paid our debt to God, and by his sovereign grace he is putting his own form upon our lives so that we will say with the psalmist (115:1), "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory." Saving faith is a resting in that sovereign work of Christ, past, present, and future, which gives all glory to God (1 Peter 4:10, 11). Therefore, in one sense saving faith is the easiest thing in the world—as easy as being clay in the potter's hands. But in another sense it is the hardest thing in the world, because human clay hates being shaped and formed by Christ so that he gets all the glory for what we become.

It's not surprising, then, that the Judaizers should find a foothold for their false teaching in the hearts of the recent Galatian converts, just like all kinds of cults and ego-centric fads are able to gain a foothold in the church today. The teaching of the Judaizers did not oppose the pride left in the Galatian believers. It catered to that pride. They said, move on from faith to works; move on from the booster rocket of the Holy Spirit and kick in with the efforts of your flesh (Galatians 3:1–5). They offered the law as a means of enjoying one's pride in a morally acceptable way. And so their teaching was not as radical and humbling as Paul's was. It was very appealing to people who wanted to be religious and moral but did not want to become putty in the hands of God.

Not Us but Christ

In Galatians 4:12–21 Paul continues his effort to rescue the Galatians from the false gospel of the Judaizers. The main point of the paragraph is found in vv. 12 and 19. Verse 12 says. "Brethren, I beseech you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are." It was a terrible irony to Paul that he, a Jew, had become a Gentile, as it were, to win the Galatian Gentiles (1 Corinthians 9:21). But they were now trying to become Jews in order to win God's favor. Paul reminds the Galatians in verse 12 that the very fact that he did not depend on his Jewish distinctives should make them forsake the Judaizers and become as he is—free in Christ. That's the main point: become free like me.

But verse 19 puts it in a way that shows why freedom from the law does not result in self-glorifying lawlessness. "My little children with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!" When Paul says in verse 12, "Become as I am," he means, "Let Christ be formed in you." My evidence for this is Galatians 2:20 where Paul tells us how he understands his own life: "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." What is clear from this verse is that when Paul says, "Become like me," he means, "Die like I have died and live by faith in the Son of God so that it is his life in you that shapes and forms who you are." Paul's whole ministry was like a mother in labor pains—he travailed to give birth to people who had Christ taking shape in their lives. "My little children, with whom I am in travail again until Christ be formed in you." That's the main point of the paragraph. "Become as I am: have Christ formed in you."

This message was diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Judaizers. We can see this by contrasting verses 17 and 19. In verse 17 Paul uncovers a motive in the Judaizers which is not surprising in view of their theology of works. "They make much of you, for no good purpose; they want to shut you out, that you may make much of them." Paul says that at root the Judaizers are motivated by the love for human praise. They want to be made much of, to be sought out, to be depended on. And to get this kind of ego-building attention they tell the Galatians they will be shut out from God's final blessing if they don't accept their teaching of works. So every Galatian Gentile who capitulates and gets circumcised in hope of making points with God is another notch in the Judaizer's pistol of pride. That's what Galatians 6:13 means when it says, "For even those who receive circumcision do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh." The very theology they propagate is rooted in pride, since it urges people to depend partly on God and partly on themselves; and therefore it is inevitable that this motive for propagating that theology would also be rooted in pride, namely, the desire to be made much of. A theology which boosts the human ego and, therefore, caters to our desire for praise will surely be propagated out of that same motive; and that's the point of verse 17.

But contrast this with the heart of Paul's message in verse 19—his longing is not that he be made much of, but that Christ be made much of. O, that Christ would be formed in you (cf. 1:10). What is this experience Paul is talking about here? There is a lot of talk today, especially on seminary campuses, about "spiritual formation." I want to say a hearty yes to this concern, provided that it means the formation of Christ in the believer. O, that Christ would be formed in you! The biblical quest for spiritual formation is a quest to be so shaped from within by the presence of the living Christ that we are no longer "conformed to this age but are transformed by the renewal of our mind" (Romans 12:1, 2): to be so shaped by our union with him that "the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies" (2 Corinthians 4:10); to be so formed and dominated by Christ that we must say with Paul after a life of labor, "It was not I but the grace of God which is with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10). "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me" (Romans 15:18).

It doesn't take a genius to see that, when Christ shapes and forms our inner life after his own image, our freedom from the law will hardly result in a lawless, self-glorifying license. On the contrary, it is the power of Christ living and reigning and forming himself within us that frees us to delight in God's will. We are freed from the burden of the law when we are given the power to fulfill it from within. And that happens when Christ is formed in us.

How Christ Is Formed in Us

How does that happen? Under what conditions does it come about? The answer is made plain by linking three verses. First, link 4:19 to 4:6. Verse 19 says Christ should be formed in us. Verse 6 says that the way Christ comes to us is by his Spirit: God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. Then, link 4:6 to 3:5. There Paul says that "the one who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you does so not by works of law but by hearing with faith." In other words, the ongoing supply of the Spirit of Christ and his miraculous work happens through faith. So the answer to the question, How is Christ formed in your life? is: by your faith.

It's really quite simple: the Son of God comes and shapes us from within if we rely on him to come and shape us. The Son takes shape in those who abandon themselves to him. Christ forms himself in the lives of those who will let go of all the forms of life in which they have shaped on their own. Christ takes shape in a life that is willing to become putty in God's hands. Christ presses the shape of his own face into the clay of our soul when we cease to be hard and resistant, and when we take our own amateur hands off and admit that we are not such good artists as he is.

Here we can see clearly what faith is. Faith is the assurance that what God will make of you, as Christ is formed in your life, is vastly to be preferred over what you can make of yourself. Faith is the confidence that the demonstration of Christ's work in your life is more wonderful than all the praise you could get for yourself by being a self-made man—or woman. Faith is a happy resting in the all-sufficiency of what Christ did on the cross, what he is doing now in our heart, and what he promises to do for us for ever.

So it's clear how Paul's message and the Judaizers' message are opposed to each other. Their message caters to our natural pride—our desire to be "self-made" people who get glory for ourselves. Paul's message robs us of all such pride by saying we should be "Christ-made" people who get glory for God by trusting him to shape us every day. God is not glorified by the self-wrought moral, aesthetic, or technical achievements of human life. He is glorified when we turn from ourselves and trust him like little children to enable us to do his bidding. This is the best news in the world, because it opens up the way of salvation to the simplest and weakest of us all.

The Gospel at the Beginning

In trying to persuade the Galatians that it is indeed good news and that they should not forsake it to follow the Judaizers, Paul reminds them of how valuable the gospel was to them back at the beginning. Look at verses 12b–16: "You did me no wrong; you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first; and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What has become of the satisfaction you felt? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" To all his biblical and theological arguments in chapter 3 for why the Galatians should not follow the Judaizers but keep faith in the gospel, Paul now adds an argument from experience. He says in effect: Do you recall how my plans to move on were interrupted because of that terrible attack in my eyes—how they were red and infected and filled up with puss? You had every reason to switch channels and watch a more attractive preacher. My disease was a trial to you. My message did not come well-packaged. But you did me no wrong; you didn't despise me; you received me like an angel; you saw Christ in me; you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Why? Because you saw the beauty and truth of the gospel! It persuaded you. It satisfied you. It was so valuable that you would have given up your eyes to keep the message going —your eyes! Your eyes! Is the message of the Judaizers really more valuable, really more valid?

I think Paul must have believed that if he could just bring to their memory how powerful and beautiful the gospel was at the beginning, they would stop being attracted by the false gospel of the Judaizers. And perhaps that's the way I should close today.

For some of you these are the very days in which for the first time the beauty of the gospel of grace is beginning to shine on the horizon of your soul. But others of you look back months or years or decades, to a golden era of faith when Christ was powerfully taking shape in your life. But something has changed. There has been a kind of settling into the world, and the vibrant sense of being an alien and an exile in the world has faded. And the powerful shaping forces in your life are not coming from Christ within but from the world without.

The word of encouragement and admonition to us all this morning is this: the Spirit of the living Christ can be poured into us afresh today. Paul would not have written this letter if there were no hope for the Galatians. Therefore, I urge you, take your amateur hands off the clay of your life and yield yourselves into the sovereign hands of God. Disavow the praise of men and all your efforts to achieve it. Turn your hearts to Christ and say: I am not my own; you have bought me; forgive me; be formed within me. Not to me, O Lord, not to me, but to your name give glory (Psalm 115:1). Amen.

© Desiring God

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org