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Month: August 2012
Keeping the 10 Commandments – Part 2
Many people have the (mistaken) idea the 10 Commandments is a list that can be ticked in order to feel good. And let’s be honest, I suspect only a small minority would have any real inkling as to the commandments that relate to God. They all do of course, but the first four specifically relate to God. And so the majority completely miss the purpose of the law of God. It’s only the free Grace of God that permits any of us to see the real purpose of the law.
Reformed theology mostly puts forward three uses of the law. These are:
1) The law serves as a means to restrain sin.
2) The law shows people their sin and points them to Christ.
3) This third use of the law is for those who trust in Christ as a standard of living, though still driven to Christ for help to live Godly lives.
A decent summary of the three uses can be found at The Reformed Reader. A different or amended view, that I came across via Monergism, by Bill Baldwin can be found here. I also came across an article by Greg Bahnsen that readers may find helpful but without subscribing to his view of Theonomy. And so to:
The law that Points to Christ – the second use
For now then, let’s concentrate on the work of the law that convicts of sin – the second use – as it’s this one that’s probably misunderstood the most. I’ll maybe try to come back to the other two later.
The Law must point outside of ourselves, so that it’s an objective standard, and not some inner feeling. Feelings may come into it but that cannot be the primary mover.
The verse that clearly portrays this aspect of the law is found in Gal. 3:23-24
23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
The word Tutor (above in Bold), Guardian or Schoolmaster, as some other translations have it, refers to the work of a slave ‘responsible for a child’s training, especially for pointing out and punishing misbehavior. Like a guardian, the law pointed out sin and punished it’. (From Reformation Study Bible – Resources for Gal 3:24 Bible Gateway) As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 3:19 ‘Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
And this is exactly our position by nature before God. And make no mistake, it’s an act of boundless mercy for God to make us aware of the fact. Many, most it seems, carry on as if there is no God, no Judgement and no Lawgiver to whom we are accountable.
If you are overwhelmed with the profound sense that ‘something is wrong’ inside, with you, then it’s not counselling you need to overcome feelings of guilt, but a Saviour, a Rescuer to whom you must flee in Faith & Repentance. The feelings you may have point to the FACT that you like the rest of humanity are lawbreakers. This is true whether you feel it or not. So having tears and a sense of unworthiness might be good but they will not save you. Only a person can do that.
We should also be aware that the law is an expression of the Holy & Righteous Character of God and because of this He has the right to demand of His creatures perfect compliance with that law. This isn’t to do with the ‘compliant’ child because none of us are compliantbut are in fact lawbreakers – every last one of us. As God, He rightfully demands perfection of His creatures. ‘Nobody is perfect’ I hear you cry. And that is the point. Nobody is perfect – except Jesus. And so as James says: ‘For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it’ James 2:10.
Read the Sermon on the Mount in Mathew chapters 5 – 7 (another part of the Bible that people take as a ‘rule for living’ that without Christ is pure law) for an exposition of the 10 Commandments and you will find that it’s not just about an outward morality – many manage that to some extent – but goes to the very fibre of our being to explore motives and the working of the inner life that only God sees! As John says in 1 John 1:8 ‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us‘. And verse 10 ‘If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
So then, if we say we have just one tiny sin we have condemned ourselves as lawbreakers and under the wrath of almighty God. It will do no good to compare your performance with others – rapist, murderers and the like. The uncomfortable truth is that we all fall under the condemnation of the law of God. None of us keep the 10 Commandments.
Now here’s the Good News
Unless the above has been taken to heart, that is, the realisation your own righteousness might just as well be filthy rags in the sight of God, the Good News will not be good news. The Self Righteous see no need of ‘Good News’. They see no need of a Saviour. It’s a delusion to think keeping part of the law – any part – will earn any favour with God.
The Law points towards another – not us. Salvation must come from outside ourselves. We simply do not have the resources to save ourselves either in terms of what we do or what we are. But God in Christ provides all we need. We need righteousness. We have none. God provides it in Christ.
Sin Must be dealt with
Sin however, must be dealt with. God cannot simply right off the debt. Someone must pay. And this is what God does through the Cross of Christ. The Cross is not a lesson in passive suffering, an example for us to follow. No. The Cross is where Jesus bore the punishment for sinners. It’s what theologians call Penal Substitutionary Atonement.
And so as another verse says: Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. And I trust by now the following verses will have real eternal significance – even for you!
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–
Rom 3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Rom 3:25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Rom 3:26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
I said far more than I intended and there are probably many questions in your mind. I have no doubt left things out but in closing 3 simple truths:
1. God demands you keep His Law – this is impossible! You are a sinner under the wrath of God.
2. Jesus has kept the Law.
3. You need to call upon Jesus for Salvation – He is able to Save! He died on the Cross but Rose from the dead and is a living Saviour!
Related articles
- The Law/Gospel Distinction: A Staple in Reformed Theology (reformedreader.wordpress.com)
Sunrise at Luton Airport
Drove the Church Mini-Bus to the famed Luton Airport this morning for a group to fly out to Romania. Up at 2.15 to get ready. My daughter took the picture below at 5.38 as we saw the control tower in the distance. Man what a place. It’s like the whole world converges on one small roundabout for the airport and town centre – which bright spark thought that one up! Where did all the traffic come from? Anyways, all safely dropped off. Didn’t see inside, the car-park was enough!
In Praise of our Emergency Services
My Mother-in-law had an episode yesterday morning and was unconscious for just over a minute. My wife phoned the doctor and before she had put the phone down a Paramedic was knocking at the door. He came in with his equipment to run some tests and before he had finished there came another knock at the door and an Ambulance crew had arrived. See picture.
This is our National Health Service at its best and I would like to acknowledge it. She was taken to Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry where they were able to monitor her overnight. We picked her up earlier this evening and she is now back with us and seems fine. Thank God for our dedicated Emergency Services.
Warehouse Blaze in Coventry
Out and about in Coventry earlier today and saw a massive plume of smoke on the other side of the city. It turned out to be a huge warehouse fire on or near the site Baginton Airport. Here’s a couple of pictures taken with my phone. As far as I know – no-one was injured.
Related articles
Keeping the 10 Commandments – Part 1
Diving right into this one – who keeps the 10 Commandments? Do you? Do I? Does anyone you know keep them? Would you like to keep them? Do you try to keep them? Do you think we ought to keep them?
First off we ought to list them because I regularly come across statistics and comments that say even many Christians can’t say all 10.
So we all know what they are here’s a little revision for us all. The relevant passage in the Bible is in Exodus ch 20 verses 1 – 17 :
And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- You shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those wholove Me and keep My commandments.
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
- Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Definition of ‘Anti-Christ’
In the last post I used the term ‘Anti-Christ’ and thought rather than just leave its interpretation a matter for speculation it seemed like a good idea to very briefly supply a definition.
This is probably one of those doctrines that continues to generate large amounts of heat. So if you are looking for someone to debate your take on the issue you will be disappointed. Leave a comment by all means but don’t expect a reply as I’m not getting into a never-ending debate about dates and signs of the end.
So for those that are sitting on the edge of your seats – here it is:
My simple understanding is that when the machinery of the State is used to persecute Christians – there you have the Anti-Christ. We don’t see it as the early Church did with the Emperor Nero, or Stalin, or Chairman Mao: but we do see the beginnings of it albeit in many cases more subtly expressed but in a sense no less powerful. Remember the purpose is to destroy the Church, and if the Church can be made to look ridiculous, or bigoted, unloving, or just fundamentalist nut-jobs it’s perhaps even more successful.
So it’s in the above sense that I use the term Anti-Christ and see no reason for the term not to be used of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, their cronies and of this Parliament.
To counter the spirit of Ant-Christ however, we have the word of the Lord Jesus where He said ‘I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). Perhaps our Government will have a short-lived success but in the end it will be the Lord Jesus that will prevail – Praise God!
Definition of Marriage and Freedom of Speech – Part 2
Continued from Part 1. I begin with the final quote from Stephen’s lecture manuscript.
And so, late in 1660 “Foreseeing clouds to gather blackness over these nations and the Lord in the way of his Providence to threaten his churches and interest with a flood of trouble and persecution, both Mr Ashwood with the rest, endeavoured to incorporate themselves into one body before the storm did fall”.
The point I would wish to make – and did discuss with Stephen after the lecture – is the fact we are seeing a very similar set of circumstances evolve before our eyes.
We have been told by the Prime Minister that Churches need not fear. But, we should not forget that David Cameron is first and foremost a politician and an opponent of the Gospel of Christ. He has no interest in Evangelical Doctrine except where it will further his interests. And, let’s also remind ourselves that just like Charles II Cameron will have ‘to meet the demands of the powerful individuals and groupings who had engineered his’ Election as PM. This of course includes the Liberal Democrats led by the ungodly opposer of all that is sacred, Nick Clegg.
And so we find the following story:
A local councillor for the Green Party in Brighton is facing disciplinary action for refusing to vote in favour of same-sex ‘marriage’ in a local council meeting last week.
Christina Summers, a committed Christian, has been the target of abusive emails since making her view known, some suggesting she is mentally ill or describing her as a fascist.
She has made it clear she is “accountable to God above any political party” but Green Party members are looking for her to be expelled.
Go HERE for full story and media links. So much for Freedom of Speech there then!
And just the other day David Cameron not unexpectedly has said about Homosexuality, that ‘CAMERON ACCUSES THE CHURCH OF ‘LOCKING OUT’ GAYS, AND SAYS HE’S FOLLOWING BLAIR’S LEAD‘. I’d like to point out that the true Church does not lock out gays and never has. In fact we want them to come in and call upon God in faith and repentance just like any other sinner.
And again from Cameron – with encouragement from Nick Clegg no doubt – this story: David Cameron “absolutely determined” to introduce ‘gay marriage’ by 2015. Go HERE for full story and media links. Here’s the fist two paragraphs:
David Cameron announced last night that he is determined to legislate for ‘same-sex marriage’ by 2015 and directly attacked the mainstream churches’ position on the issue.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Scottish Government this morning (25 JULY) announced that it intends to bring forward a bill introducing same-sex marriage in spite of strong opposition to the plans expressed in a recent consultation on the issue.
As Evangelical Christians we should prepare ourselves for the coming storm. It’s a time to Trust God as the dark clouds gather and ungodly policies are forced through the legal system. They have no justification for these ungodly policies other than that – they are ungodly and anti-Christ. They are the anti-Christ. If they were seekers after truth they wold not be able propagate their anti-Biblical, anti-Christ policies since without the Christian God there is no truth at all!
The conclusion of the above is – and we shouldn’t be surprised at this – the Government cannot be trusted just as it was back in 1660!
The days are upon us when Freedom of Speech is tottering over the Abyss. Why God has brought this upon I cannot say – but now is the time to ‘quit you like men’ and trust in God.
The government will do what the government will do, but will I have the freedom to disagree and call their policies ungodly. That’s the question. So far though, I do have the freedom to cast my vote with whichever party I choose – or none, At the moment it will be none, but definitely not one of the three main parties of the Greens.
Definition of Marriage and Freedom of Speech – Part 1
Back in March the relevance of one of the History Lectures is just too much to pass over. Here’s a direct lesson for us from the history of our own country. I’m very grateful to Stephen Rees for permission to quote from his lecture manuscript. I’ve edited it very slightly and the emphases in bold italics and brackets are mine, but here are a few quotations from the lecture to set the context:
…. Cromwell didn’t remove the concept of a state church. What he did was to insist the state church must be as flexible as possible – he wanted there to be room for almost any group of truly evangelical Christians to worship within the state church according to their own convictions. The way it worked was this. He appointed a committee of 38 men known as the Triers. A church – or any group of believers could put forward a man as a candidate to be recognised as the local minister. And the Triers tried him – they assessed his suitability. The only qualifications were that the candidate must be evangelical in doctrine and show evidence of a godly life. It didn’t matter if he were a presbyterian or an independent, or a baptist or a fifth-monarchy man. He could be appointed as minister of the local parish church – the local Church of England – he could be supported by public taxes, and he could lead the congregation according to his own convictions (My note: ‘his own convictions’ means according to the Bible). Many Anglican ministers were ejected from their churches by local committees, because of their ungodly lives or non-evangelical doctrine – and evangelical men were installed by the Triers in their places.
(My Note: This system of appointed ‘Triers’ presupposed a disposition not only towards the truth of the Word of God (The Bible) but also to the belief that such a thing as The Truth existed. This is not so today. And nowhere is this seen so clearly than in our National leaders. What’s on show in the State Church and in Politicians is sheer unadulterated relativism.)
And this was the way that Bartholomew Ashwood, at the age of 38 came to Axminster. Though he was operating within the state church, he had freedom for a little while to lead the church according to thoroughly Puritan, evangelical principles and to conduct worship according to his convictions.
But he knew that that freedom couldn’t last very long. Why not? Because in 1658 – since Ashwood had been admitted by the Triers, Cromwell had died. Now the country was on the point of calling Charles II back from exile. And Charles came from the line of the Stuarts who had persecuted consistent Puritans in England through two reigns. Before he was brought back from exile, Charles II promised that he would allow religious freedom – “liberty to tender consciences”. But men like Ashwood had no confidence at all in that sort of promise. He was very well aware that freedom might be very short-lived. Apart from anything else, whatever he promised, Charles would have very little freedom himself. He (Charles) had to meet the demands of the powerful individuals and groupings who had engineered his return.
Ashwood and his friends were convinced independents, believing that each church should be a company of believers, governed by its members under the Word (The Bible). Whether they were separatists, I think is unclear. It may be that if Ashwood had been free to build such an independent church “according to gospel rule and the pure institution of the Lord Jesus” yet remain within the overall structure of the state church, he would have chosen that option. But in any case he knew that that option was going to cease to exist.
This post is getting a bit long – So I’ll end it here. Link to Part 2.