Christ our Mighty Champion

Consider these words from the Doctor himself, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, in a sermon on Ezekiel 36:35-36:

“Above, beyond it all, standing in all its glory, its magnificence, the Cross on Calvary is held. God’s way of saving man. Oh loving wisdom of our God! When all was sin and shame a second Adam to the fight and to the conflict came. In the garden secretly and in the Cross on high yes it all involved in this. But supremely on the Cross on high. God’s way is this, to take your sins and mine and to put them on Him. Oh the love of God! Oh the mind and the wisdom of God that ever thought of it! Oh the love of Christ that volunteered to do it and to bear it! And in addition to it all, the power of it all, He was big enough and great enough and holy enough and strong enough to take the sin, to bear the punishment! And yet, though dying to rise again. He satisfied the law, He has conquered death and the grave, He has vanquished hell and every enemy, He rises victorious out of the strife and has gone back to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God’s power and Glory at this very moment! And it is by all that that God saves us.

Therefore as Christians we are witnesses and testifiers of this, I am what I am by the Grace of God! By nothing else. I’m not here because I pulled myself together by the exercise of my will! I’m a sinner saved by the Grace of God! I’m a weakling that has recieved the life of God in Christ. I am what I am solely by His grace and nothing else. I am a debtor to mercy alone and of Covenant mercy I sing! We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works that He has appointed.”

These videos speak for themselves…

The great struggle in this Christian life is to see Jesus as excellent. To see Jesus as our mighty King, our faithful Prophet, and our loving Priest is no easy thing. But in doing so we crucify ourselves to all the vain things around us and find a love that brings us to obedience. Scripture is the place where we see Christ in all His excellent glory. And in this vision we can say with true hearts, “He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures.”

Sometimes songs that are faithful to scripture give aid us in achieving such a vision of our Christ. Be encouraged by these lyrics:

Joy has dawned upon the world promised from creation, God’s Salvation now unfurled hope for every nation. Not with fanfares from above, not with scenes of glory, But a humble gift of love, Jesus born of Mary.

Sounds of wonder fill the sky with the songs of angels, As the mighty prince of life shelters in the stable. Hands that set each star in place shaped the earth in darkness, Cling now to a mother’s breast vulnerable and helpless.

Shepherds bow before the lamb gazing at the glory, Gifts of men from distant lands prophesy the story. Gold a King is born today, insence God is with us, Myrrh his death will make a way, and by His blood He’ll win us.

Son of Adam, Son of Man, given as a ransom, Reconciling God and Man, CHRIST OUR MIGHTY CHAMPION! What a savior, what a friend, what a gorious mystery! Once a babe in Bethlehem, now the Lord of History.

Such thoughts should fill us with Holy wonder! We should stand in awe as we think of Jesus Christ, Lord of Glory, born of Mary, come to bring many sons to Glory.

Hopefully you were able to watch Joel Osteen tonight on 60 minutes.  Hopefully what you saw made you throw up like me.  Not much needs to be said following the critique by Michael Horton (professor at Westminster West) who, with Righteous tact, described Osteen’s message as a “cotton candy gospel,” and who also said that, if Osteen’s message was music, it would rightly be categorized as “easy listening.”  One needs not question Michael Horton’s critique of Joel Osteen as a heretic….consider this quote from J.C. Ryle:

“Jesus is a name, which is peculiarly sweet and precious to believers.  It has often done them good, when the favour of kings and princes would have been heard of with unconcern.  It has given them what money cannot buy, even inward peace.  It has eased their wearied consciences, and given rest to their heavy hearts.  The Song of Solomon speaks the experience of many, when it says, ‘Thy name is as ointment poured forth.’  (Song of Solomon 1:3)  Happy is that person, who trusts not merely in vague notions of God’s mercy and goodness, but in ‘Jesus.’”

What does that quote have to do with Joel Osteen?  It has nothing to do with him because he obviously doesn’t believe in Jesus.  Careful watching of the 60 minutes interview reveals that Joel Osteen never once mentioned the name of Jesus throughout the duration of the entire interview!  Even when probed by the newsreporter to give his baseline message, Joel insisted that all he wanted to do was to teach people about forgiving one another and to instruct people in how to be merciful!  If that is his baseline message Osteen is in trouble!

Is Joel Osteen a heretic?  There is a more pressing issue.  Joel Osteen isn’t a believer!  He is both an unbeliever and a heretic and in the words of Paul, his  “mouth must be stopped.” Titus 1:11

1 Timothy 3:1-7

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godlines, but denying its power.  Avoid such people.  For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”

We need to pray for Joel Osteen’s salvation and the salvation of those who are members of his “church.” (In quotations because it is NOT a church)

Don’t blame the president, don’t blame the king
Don’t blame your history for what might have been
we will be free where the grass is green and the lion is tame
if we just hold up the mirror now and share in the blame

That’s what I’m talkin about Caedmons!

Matthew 21:42-46

“Jesus said to them, ‘Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes?’  Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of god will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.  And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.’”

To live rightly before our God we must be broken by the stone of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God calls us to be contrite, repentant, and broken people who find our repair in His Grace.  To fail to find repair for brokenness now is to find destruction at the last day.

Here’s a great paragraph written by Dennis Johnson (Academic Dean and Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Seminary California) in his EXCELLENT book Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ From All the Scriptures…

“Not only does (Jesus’) sacrifice remove the covenant curse from believers and his positive obedience warrant our entrance into the heavenly country and city for which the patriarchs looked and longed in hope, but also his redemptive work produces a people who are, themselves. being transformed subjectively toward holiness.  The blessings of the new covenant are not only forensic, setting us right in terms of the legal outcomes of fidelity or rebellion toward the Lord of the covenant.  They are also dynamic and transformative….The Son leads many sons to glory not only by obeying and suffering in their place as Servant of the covenant (though these are primary) but also by sanctifying many sons in the process of leading them to glory.  His identification with those whom he is not ashamed to call brothers is not only legal but also vital, including the subjective, progressive transformation of their motives, values, words, and deeds.  As Paul would say it, these siblings of Jesus are ‘predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers’ (Rom 8:29).”

Hebrews 2:16 – “For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice Always”

What exactly is sin?  A right definition might help us avoid this thing which God says He detests.  The Baptist Catechisms…to quote them again…define sin as “Any want of conformity unto or transgression of the Law of God.”  Certainly sin is that.  Anytime we do what God has commanded us not to do or fail to do what God has commanded us to do we commit sin.  I love the BC’s because they place the emphasis on failing to do what God has commanded of us instead of placing it upon doing what God tells us not to do.  Ultimately this is where we often fail.  For example…are you always, every moment of every day, loving God with all your heart, spirit, mind, and strength like He tells you to?

But what prompts sin?  What is the beauty or better the intrigue of sin that causes us, who claim to love Christ, to fall head first into what Christ hates?  If we are honest, more often than not we dive into sin without fear.  We get angry at our brothers without thinking for one moment about God’s hatred for such a sinful emotion.  We lust without one thought of God’s commands to purity and His hatred of the sexually immoral.   We worry without hesitation and certainly without contemplation on the providence of God and His commands to us to trust Him.  How can we do such a thing?  Better…Why would we do such a thing?

Sin is a lack of faith in God.  A clear pattern seems to be put forth with our first parents.  Adam and Eve failed to trust God that He would give them the dominion He promised them and therefore, in a rebellious action that scarred all of humanity, they put out their hand, they reached out, they grasped for the fruit that would make them wise not trusting God to do so.  This pattern continues.

Cain is grasping for dominion as he reaches out and cuts his brother Abel down.  Abraham is grasping for dominion as he reaches out and takes his concubine.  It’s vivid in the birth of Jacob and Esau as Jacob reaches out grabbing Esau’s heel, grasping for dominion (there’s an example of original sin!).  Jacob again grasps for dominion by tricking his brother Esau out of his birth right, which God had already promised to give Jacob, for a pot of stew.  Joseph’s brothers follow suit as they reach out and throw Joseph down into the pit grasping for dominion.  Must we go on and on?

And this is sin for you and I.  Sin is grasping for dominion which God has promised us outside of His ordained method.  Lust is grasping for sexual pleasure that God promises to fulfill for us in due time and due manner.  Fear is grasping for dominion instead of trusting God to supply all our needs.  Revenge is grasping for dominion instead of trusting God to take the vengeance which is rightly His.  Gossip is reaching out to take dominion instead of trusting God to be our all and all that we need.  Every sin, no matter how small and specific, from not claiming tips as a waiter to cheating on an online quiz is failing to trust God to give us what He has promised.

Sin’s intrigue is that it appeals to our hatred of God.  We are haters of God innately.  We despise His peace, we war against his Holiness, we care not for His plans, and we avoid His instruction because we think we can take dominion better than God can give it to us.  God will give you dominion!  He promised it to Adam, who failed, but He secured it in the second Adam who triumphed.  And now in Christ we have dominion!  And yet we do not see this dominion fully.  But one day we shall see it completely and even today we can see it in part through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the guarantee, or the down payment, for the payment that is yet to come.

Oh how thankful we must be for that second Adam who, though tempted by the serpent as the first Adam, trusted in God to give Him dominion all the way to a Cross.  Don’t you see the absurdity in this?  Christ suffered so that He could take dominion.  He did not consider equality with God something to “be grasped” but emptied Himself and now reigns with a Name that is above all other names.

Sin is a lie.  Dr. Draper would say it “smells like smoke.”  Why do we believe it?  It’s not even a good lie.  It stinks.  It kills.  It ruins.  Believe God!

And how do we do this?  By growing in our vision of Christ who is the dominion taker.  In Him we have the dominion.  In Him is our rest and our pleasure and our joy.  See Christ as precious and sin will become putrid.  In Christ we have grace and truth but in sin all we can find is cursing and falsehood.

And don’t forget that by sinning you are proving yourself to be acting as an unbeliever acts.  As believers we are to be marked by a trust for God…one that sin does not promote.  There will be no unbelievers in Heaven.

Revelation 21:27 “And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever enter into it (the new Jerusalem), but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Reach out and take Christ!

My God why would you shed your blood,

So pure and undefiled,

To make a sinful one like me,

Your precious, chosen child?

Ephesians 1:5-6  “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace which He lavished on us.”

The last line of my last post stayed with me all night and has been on my mind all day. Jesus was once a sinless, perfect, five month old. What exactly did that look like?

Sinless perfection simply never enters into the realm of reality, in this life, for a person east of Eden. The scriptures are very clear on this issue. Theologically, in accordance with my last post, we always have to deal with original sin and our position under the headship of Adam which solidifies our depravity. Scripturally, one cannot avoid such a passage as Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” And just to be perfectly clear, the sin which we all commit occurs even before we are born according to Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” We are born in sin, we live in sin, and we will die in sin. Sin is just something we cannot escape entirely in this life.

And if no one ever possess sinless perfection I am left wondering…can we ever fully mentally grasp and have a working understanding of something we never possess and never see in anyone else around us in this physical realm? Certainly by faith we see Jesus as sinless but can we really comprehend what that looked like?

Jesus never uttered an unholy word. He never once mumbled under his breath against his parents. He never once made an off color joke that crossed the line. He never lied, slandered, or hatefully mocked.

Jesus was never prideful, arrogant, or boastful. Jesus never wickedly laughed at others or advanced Himself at the cost of those around Him. Jesus never hated, was never found sinfully angry, never failed to help someone in need.

Jesus never thought an impure thought. Jesus never lusted or envied. He never committed idolatry and He was never jealous.

Apart from all that Jesus didn’t do, consider what he did! Jesus was pure. Jesus was perfect. He was humble, loving, generous, kind, and truthful. He always thought pure thoughts and said pure things. He exemplified love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. He was absolutely perfect.

Pondering this does us good. Chiefly it reminds us that as perfectly sinless Jesus was able to fully bear the sins of His people and pay their penalty. He was not like the high priests who had to first make atonement for their own sins and then the sins of the people. Jesus made a once for all payment not for His own sins but for the sins of His chosen ones on the Cross. Therefore His perfect life is credited to us by faith. We are not naked before God. We have a righteousness to wear, not of our own, but we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ which God applies to us. God sees us as righteous in Jesus Christ! How undeserving we are of such sweet Grace.

This also should remind us of what we will be one glorious day. Consider the astonishing words of the Apostle John in 1 John 3:1-2, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see Him as He is.” What an astonishing thought! One day we too will be perfectly sinless. When that day comes and we see Jesus face to face, all those who long for His appearing shall be changed and we shall be like Him! What a hope!

With such a hope in our hearts we must bear in mind the very next words of the Apostle, “And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.”

Let us strive for purity and ponder the sinless perfection of our mighty champion.