Short Talk (Reprise)

A friend emailed me a comment on my last post, "Short Talk". I wanted to post it here.

Regarding your first point, God has spoken…

I have recently had these ponderings concerning what I would tell a believer about approaching the Word:

I would urge in the strongest terms that the Word be allowed to simply say what it actually says -- nothing more, nothing less.

This occurs in practice less often than we might imagine.

Consider the implications -- if what the Word actually says is actually true…

Consider the implications -- if it is actually believed that what the Word actually says is actually true…

What the Word actually says is actually true…

Isaiah 55

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Not much to add here. I have to ask my self, do I read the Word as though what it says is actually true?

Short Talk

I'm to give a short talk to "young people" this weekend. I'm surprised they'd ask me for a "short talk," as they all know I just never shut up. But I've been thinking about a short talk, and it's led to some interesting thoughts.

I've been thinking about what three things I'd like to tell "young people" if I've only got a few minutes. Perhaps it's just self-centeredness, but I've found three things I need to remind myself repeatedly... like several times a day. So in no particular order, here are the three points I think I'm going to bring up in this "short talk":

God has spoken We believe the Bible is the Word of God: God wrote a Book of what He wanted to say through inspired men. They wrote down His actual words. Given how much time I spend listening to everyone else's words, it shames me how little I spend listening (or reading) God's.

One danger I've brought up again and again is that of putting our understanding of God's words in place of His words. Over and over again, I've realized that someone (I or someone else) has subtly and quite unintentionally misquoted Scripture. It's not that we set out to corrupt God's words, it's that we confuse our understanding of what He said with what He actually said. The best remedy for this is to immerse ourselves in His words. So all the commentaries on my bookshelf may be excellent books, but they're not God's words. The hymns in the hymnbook may be helpful, but they're not God's words. We need to put His words first, our understanding of them second.

Christ has risen Christianity essentially reduces to belief in the Resurrection. Almost everything we believe is a result of it; and the Scripture repeatedly takes us back there for doctrine, practice, and encouragement. Steve Brown said something along the lines of, "If a dead man really got up and walked, that changes everything." He's right. We believe a dead man got up and walked around, and that is the central and defining point of our faith.

There are two results of this truth that I need to be reminded of every day: first I am to walk in newness of life, second He is coming back to raise me like He was raised. So some day my body will be changed into incorruptible immortality, but in the meantime I am to live in the power of His resurrection.

Finally, God will judge the world through Christ The world isn't a permanent fixture: it is on a collision course with God in judgment. The day is coming when every man, woman, and child will stand before Christ in judgment. I need to remind myself about this several times a day. The world feels like a permanent place, but it's not. God created the heavens and earth with a purpose: there's a point to all this. Reminding myself of the Goal helps to keep me on track.

There are many other things that would be worthwhile giving a "short talk" about, but these three seem to hang together for me. They're things I remind myself every day, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who needs it daily.

Ashes

I've mentioned ashes before. A friend of mine pointed out several years ago, ashes are evidence of a completed sacrifice. So the ashes in the Tabernacle are on the east side of the altar, proof of a completed (and accepted) sacrifice before the one who approaches gets to the altar.

In connection with that, Numbers 19 details the offering of the Red Heifer. A red heifer was to be sacrificed (vv. 3 & 4) and completely burned (v. 5), then the ashes were to be taken outside the camp (v. 9). A man or woman who was defiled with a dead body was to apply the ashes of the red heifer with water (v. 9, 13) to remove the defilement (vv. 11--13).

The law of the Red Heifer was an interesting law, as it was a sacrifice made before the sin was committed. Watchman Nee talks about that in his excellent Not I, but Christ.

A whole load of books has been written on the Red Heifer. I'm not at all trying to explicate that passage here. But I want to draw attention to two points.

First, it is the ashes of the Red Heifer that cleanse. It's not that the unclean man (or woman) needed to see the blood of the heifer. He (or she) needed to the ashes. This suggests there is a unique and cleansing value to the certainty of the completed sacrifice.

It is our natural tendency to want a new sacrifice whenever we sin. But the testimony of Scripture is, there is no more sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:10, 26). Christ has died once for all, and He cannot die for us again. This doesn't suggest we are without hope, needing another sacrifice; on the contrary, it is God's assertion that no other sacrifice is needed (Hebrews 9:14, 10:14, 18).

Be there is a value to our remembering and recognizing how completely that one sacrifice (never to be repeated) still cleanses us. The worshippers have a conscience once purged (Hebrews 10:2), but as we walk through the wicked world, we are defiled by it. And more to the point, as we live in these yet-unredeemed bodies (Romans 8:23), we find ourselves defiled by the sins the of the flesh. And so the Red Heifer reminds us that there is a cleansing effect as we remember that Christ has by one offering perfected forever the sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). And it reminds us that when we are defiled by the world around us and the flesh within us, it is the once-for-all completed sacrifice that is our peace with God.

Second, we recognize that the ashes of the Red Heifer are applied with water. Water in Scripture reminds us of the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26). Perhaps the Red Heifer might remind us that the ashes--- the proof of an already-completed sacrifice--- are really only brought to our conscience by the Word of God.

This is an important point. J. N. Darby said

faith puts into immediate connection with God; a connection founded on His own testimony, which is received by the operation of divine power in the soul; and hence also has its practical existence in real confidence of God Himself ("Superstition is not Faith")

That is, faith is believing God because He is God. One brother I know likes to say, "God said it, that settles it, I better believe it." We don't claim that God has forgiven all our sins because it makes sense, we say it because that's what God said.

The certainty that our sins are covered must come from the Word of God. If it doesn't, it isn't certainty any more.

One problem we get into is, we try and act as appraisers of Christ on God's behalf. So we think to ourselves, "Surely Christ's death has atoned for that sin!" But when we set ourselves up as judge of what Christ has done, we take a position we have no right to. God has already passed judgment on Christ, and He's declared Himself completely satisfied. How dare I, how dare you, give our opinion on the matter? When I find I have defiled myself with the world around me and the flesh inside, it's not my place to assess whether God has forgiven me that sin. It is my place to believe what God has said and that's all.

So the Red Heifer reminds us that the completed sacrifice was enough to remove our defilement. It reminds us too that it's the Word of God that makes that good to our conscience.

I made a comment last week in meeting about praising in the place of the ashes. Really that's a comment a close friend made once, and I just passed it on. When Solomon dedicated his temple, the singers sang "on the east end of the altar" (2 Chronicles 5:12). It's on the east side of the altar where the priest was to put the ashes of the offerings (Leviticus 1:16). So the singers were in the place of the ashes. It's because we stand on the ashes (as it were) that we can praise. Ashes prove the sacrifice is done: God's wrath has burned, and there's none left. So we stand where the sacrifice is over, we stand on the proof there's no more sacrifice for sins, and we praise there.

This is worth remembering.

STEM eBooks!

I was poking around on the STEM Publishing website and I made a great discovery: they're putting out eBooks now!

This is fantastic news. I hate reading "online". I like my wife's Kindle, and I can tolerate the Kindle app on my Mac, but webpages are just hard to read. I prefer paper. But with STEM putting out eBooks, we can have the best of both worlds: convenience of electronic media, with a significantly improved reading experience.

STEM has been a classy site since the get-go. They've got some really, really good stuff available there for free. And as much as I prefer to read paper, I frequently use STEM as a convenient way to search for something I vaguely remember from a book, or a quick citation on this blog. I'm really, really happy to see eBooks on that site. Thanks a bunch, Les and all!

eBooks are here: http://stempublishing.com/ebooks/.

I'm off to read Trotter's Plain Papers on Prophetic and Other Subjects.

Law and Grace

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the distinction between law and grace. The question of law vs. grace lies at the heart of Scripture, and is foundational to the Christian life:

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14, NASB)

John's Gospel begins with the amazing statement that

the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ (John 1:17, NASB)

So we have two foundational principles: first, Christ's coming is characterized by grace and truth in contrast to the Law; and second, that we are not under the mastery of sin because we're not under law, but under grace.

Now, Scripture differentiates between "law" and "the law". The first is a principle, the second is specifically the Law that Moses received from God. I've written about the Mosaic Law before, so there's perhaps nothing to be gained from going into great detail about it here. To a certain degree we can use the two interchangeably, because the Law of Moses is the most perfect law (Romans 7:9--12). This is really the only Law God gave, and so we might think of it as the ultimate example of the principle of law. Certainly if the Law of Moses was limited through the sinfulness in our flesh (Romans 8:1--4), then any other law must be just as futile.

But today I'm more interested in the question of "law" than "the law." That is, law as a principle as opposed to a specific Law.

Let's start by making it clear that God has never justified a sinner on the principle of law. Sinners have only ever been justified on the basis of faith (see Romans 4). From Abel to today, God justifies the one who does not work but believes. There has never been one sinner justified, but by faith.

But God did give the Law to Moses, and the people agreed to it (Exodus 24:7). And so they were tried (as it were) under law. The principle of law is, God deals with us based on what we do. We work to be accepted by Him.

Grace, of course, is the opposite principle. Grace is the principle that God treats us as He wants to, with no regard to what we deserve. Grace is the principle that we work because He has already accepted us. So where law says you get what you work for; grace says you get what God wants to give you, regardless of your work. Law is the principle of what man does, grace is the principle of what God has done.

Where law said, "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," grace says, "forgive one another as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." Law says, obey and God will bless; grace says, God has already blessed, now obey.

We need to be jealous of grace. We need to be very careful that we don't give up the grace of God. It's easy to fall into legal thinking, and thus abandon grace. We're not justified by law, we're not to walk by law. We can't begin in the spirit and finish in the flesh: the principle of our justification is the principle of our sanctification.

There is no place we see the distinction between law and grace like in the whole notion of our approach to God. Believers under the Law couldn't approach God: the high priest alone, and only once a year, was allowed into God's presence (cf. Leviticus 16; Hebrews 9:6--10). And there was danger in approaching God: the high priest is warned in Leviticus that he might actually die if he approaches God unworthily. This is approaching God on the principle of law.

But Hebrews teaches that we are to approach on the principle of grace. We have an High Priest who has already been accepted into God's presence for us. And because He is there for us, we are to approach with full assurance (Hebrews 10:19--25). Our consciences are purged once, and now we have no more conscience of sins. We come into God's presence freely, with no thought of any judgment at all, because God has already declared us clean and fit for His presence. This is exactly the principle of grace: God has already done all the work, we are only called to reap the rewards.

Now, the whole question of law and grace centers on the paradox of God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility. Law says, "Man is responsible," while grace says, "God is sovereign." And Man's responsibility and God's Sovereignty meet in exactly one Person; the Lord Jesus Christ is both Sovereign God and Responsible Man. In fact, Man's responsibility is completely fulfilled and completed in Christ. God has looked for a righteous Man, and it was when Christ came that He found that Man. Christ is the Man that God was looking for, and He has stopped looking. This is the real point of Hebrews 1:1--3. God has found what He wanted: one Man has pleased God, and God's no longer looking for anything from Man. When I approach God, I have nothing to offer Him except Christ. And God is looking for nothing from me, except Christ. Christ is my righteousness, my holiness, my wisdom, and my redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30 & 31).

It's important for us to understand this principle: that God is no longer looking for anything from Man. What God wanted in Man He found in Christ. This bears repeating: God has found what He was looking for, and He's not looking any more. God is delighted in His Son, and He's called us to be delighted in His Son too.

So when I go to approach God, He's not looking at me to see whether I'm worthy to be there. He's already said I am (Colossians 1:11 & 12), and He's invited me to come in (Hebrews 10:19--25). So I approach God. But when I get into God's presence, I find that being in God's presence is a very cleansing thing. This is what 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, we become like Christ as we look at His glory. Notice the order: we don't see Him as a result of getting better; we get better as a result of seeing Him. The former is law, the latter is grace.

Someday we're going to see Christ physically, and that's a cleansing thing too (1 John 3:2 & 3). Notice, it's the hope of seeing Him that leads to purity. It's not that we purify ourselves so we can see Him, it's that we're guaranteed to see Him, and this makes us purify ourselves.

Law reasons from man to God; grace reasons from God to man. Law says, "I'm no good, so God can't possibly love me" but grace says, "God is unimaginably good, and therefore He loves me." Grace is sovereign. If I am reckoning on my own goodness, I find myself very quickly despairing, because I've basically none. But if I reckon on God's goodness, I can rest because I know that will never change.

Now it is true that God disciplines His children; but notice, He does it because they are His children. In fact, Hebrews makes God's discipline proof of sonship (Hebrews 12:7--11). We don't become God's sons through discipline, but we are disciplined because we are His sons. Notice that even God's discipline on us flows from grace. Again, grace is the principle that we are to live up to what God has already given. But He has already given it, regardless of whether we live up to it or not.

William R. Newell said it this way:

To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret. ("A Few Words about Grace," Romans Verse-by-Verse)

This is what Scripture presents as the Christian life. God has abundantly blessed me with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. This is where it all begins: there's nothing for me to earn, because Christ has already earned it. This is grace: not what I am for God (law), but what God is for me.

Reading List

From time to time I've been asked for a book recommendation. A while back I wrote down a list of recommended reading for a friend, and I thought it might not be a bad idea to post something like that here. This isn't exactly the same list I gave him, but it's very similar.

Please note, just because I recommend a book, that doesn't mean I recommend the book's author, nor the other books that author wrote. I hate to make that disclaimer, but I'm afraid I have to.

So here are some books I highly recommend:

Collected Writings of J. N. Darby, Volume 12 This is a collection of Darby's Gospel messages, and it centers on God's grace. This volume contains "God's Grace and Man's Need," "The Prodigal with the Father," and "Two Warnings and an Example." This is undoubtedly Darby's best work, and probably the best Christian book I've ever read. I recommend this book unconditionally to anyone.

Sit, Walk, Stand by Watchman Nee. This book is very close to my heart, reading this book was a life-changing moment for me. It was also the time I had to learn that just because something spoke to me, it doesn't mean it'll speak to everyone. At any rate, this book is short and easy to read, but very powerful. It's a brief overview of the principles of the Christian life based on Ephesians. I can't recommend this book highly enough. You can find it on Amazon.

Discipline in the School of God by J. B. Stoney. This is Volume 13 of Ministry by J. B. Stoney, New Series. Not the easiest book to find (I recommend trying the Dover Bible Fund), but well worth the effort to find it. This is probably Stoney's most famous work, originally published as a series of articles in Bible Treasury. Stoney examines the lives of Biblical characters from Adam to Abel, to Noah, to Paul. He looks at God's dealings with each of them. This book is wonderful, but it's humbling and cuts straight to the conscience. I've bought this one several times, it's one of those books you buy just to give away.

Romans Verse by Verse by William R. Newell. I've talked about this one before. Buy it now. You can find it on Amazon.

Lectures on the Church of God by William Kelly. This is hands-down the best thing I've ever read on the Church. William Kelly is a stellar expositor. I prefer Darby's writings to Kelly's, but I don't think there's any question that Kelly was the more careful expositor. This books is very easy to read, and not terribly long; but it's thorough and careful. I need to read it again.

The Church and it's Order According to Scripture by Samuel Ridout. If it weren't for Kelly's book, this would be the best I've read on the Church. If you only have one book on the Church, it should be Kelly's; but this should be the second.

Law and Grace by Alva J. McClain. This is another I've talked about before. I am convinced the whole topic of Law and Grace is of the first importance in the Christian life. This book is not the most complete, but it's dead-on. Short, readable, and straight to the point, this is a great book, and worth running out to get. You can find it on Amazon.

The Coming Prince by Sir Robert Anderson. I have to admit I'm not done this one yet, but I'll go out on a limb and recommend it anyway. This book is stunning for it's careful and painstakingly thorough exposition of Scripture. It's a study of Daniel's 70 weeks. You can find it on Amazon.

The Believer Established by C. A. Coates. This is an introduction to the Christian life for new believers. It's really worth a read, although the last chapter is a little legalistic. This is another one you'll be able to find at the Dover Bible Fund.

Collected Writings of J. N. Darby, Volume 10. This volume is all about the Law, and it's incredible. Well worth reading. You can read this one online at STEM Publishing. It's Darby, so it's not the easiest read in the world, but it's really worth the time and effort it takes.

I've a lot more books that are worth reading, but this is a solid core. Maybe we'll get more recommendations in the comments.

Finally, brethren

Well, I'm done. I just finished the final volume of Collected Writings of J. N. Darby.