Rich - Central Baptist Church, Okinawa

Sun, 20th Jan 08 by Rich

Justified by Christ (Galatians 2)

We’re continuing in our study through the Book of Galatians and come to Chapter 2. As a reminder, Paul is defending the Gospel of Grace against what he calls false brothers or troublemakers who have come to the Churches of Galatia to convince them that, in order to be saved, the Gentiles must not only believe in Jesus Christ but also must become circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. We learned last week that Paul not only calls this another Gospel but he condemns it as no Gospel at all and that he eternally condemned any man or angel that taught a Gospel contrary to the Gospel taught by Paul and the Apostles.

As we learned, this was not merely Paul’s Gospel but it was the Gospel that was taught by all of the Apostles. The Judaizers had been spreading rumors that Paul’s apostleship was not only inferior to the “pillars of the Church” – Peter, James, and John – but that he was teaching a Gospel contrary to theirs. The false teachers were dropping the names of these “pillars” to lend authority to their false doctrines.

As Paul continues in Galatians 2, he picks up where he left off in telling the “real story” of his Apostleship. He had taught as an Apostle for many years and then after seeing Peter only once before, he journeys to Jerusalem again after fourteen years and even brings a Gentile named Titus with him. When Paul and the other Apostles spoke to one another, they shared the exact same Gospel in common – salvation in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone. It became immediately apparent to all the Apostles that Paul had received a commission directly from Jesus Christ to be the Apostle to the Gentiles even as Peter was the Apostle to the Jews. By this it means that Paul was the prime worker or the one whose teaching would establish the Gospel among the Gentiles even though other Apostles would also work among the Gentiles (and Peter had been the first to preach among them in Cornelius’ house). Paul brought Titus into the presence and fellowship of the Apostles and didn’t suggest, for a moment, that Titus be circumcised. It was only the Judaizers in the Jerusalem Church that ever suggested this thing.

You need to note Paul’s firm resolve in this: “5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.” What fellowship does light have with darkness? None. You see, Paul could not permit, even for a moment, the idea that Titus was even just a little less united to Christ in His death and resurrection because of his uncircumcision. He had the same Spirit, the same Baptism, the same Lord and Savior. To add works to the Gospel is to destroy the grace of the Gospel. It is to destroy the necessity of the Cross and the necessity of Christ.

But notice, also, how Paul also criticizes the attitude that the Judaizers had about his apostleship and that he is less important than the others. Christ is the one who had given Paul his apostleship. It was good that Peter and James and John recognized Christ’s commission of Paul but they added no authority to his work by agreeing with it. Paul’s authority had come from God and God is no respecter of persons. Paul’s words have authority for us because He is the spokesperson for Christ through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

In order to shock the Galatians out of their respect for the Judaizers he has to take a drastic step here and show that even someone as respectable as Peter was not perfect and that Paul himself had to rebuke him for a huge sin in front of the whole Church. I’m not sure many of you realize how ugly this episode really was and why Paul had to embarrass Peter in front of the whole Church. The fact of the matter was, though, that it was a very public sin and public sin has to be rebuked publicly or it can cause massive destruction.

Peter visited the Church at Antioch where Paul and Barnabas ministered and led the Church. Peter was eating with and having fellowship with the Gentile believers there until, one day, Judaizers from the Church at Jerusalem arrived. These love feasts were fellowship times in the early Church and it seems that the Lord’s Supper might even have been celebrated during these times. To participate in a love feast together was like saying: “We’re all part of one another – you and I have the same savior in Christ and are all adopted by the same Father.” Members would greet each other with a holy kiss of the affection that we’re supposed to share in Christ Jesus.

But then the Judaizers came along and Peter was afraid of their disapproval and so he withdrew from the Gentile believers. His hypocrisy was so great that he even tempted the great encourager, Barnabas, to withdraw from the Gentiles that he had labored among and loved.

Now, imagine for a moment that some men have come along that were saying that you have to believe in Jesus and be circumcised in order to be saved. You’re a Gentile that has been hanging out with the mighty Peter – he walked with Jesus and was a pillar in the Church. You see him withdraw from you and you see the great encourager, Barnabas, recoil from you as well. Don’t you think you’d begin to say to yourself: “Maybe if I was circumcised too then I could be like them. Maybe I’m not really serious enough about Jesus. I believe in him but, if I become circumcised like them, then I’ll really have fellowship with all of God’s saints. I have fellowship with the Gentile believers now but I want fellowship with Peter and Barnabas too….”

No! No! No! A thousand time No! This breaks my heart to think of what Peter did and I know, for a fact, that he appreciated Paul for rebuking him here. He had promised Christ three times that he would feed His lambs and care for His sheep and here he was, by his very actions, tearing down their faith!

Paul did the only thing that a man who loves Christ and loves the brethren would do. He openly rebuked Peter for his sin. Had he not done so then he might have caused some of the Gentiles to forsake Christ for they would have been forsaking the surety of their salvation that is built on nothing more than faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul uses this episode to remind Peter, all the brethren there, and us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: “, I said to Cephas before them all, 14′If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Peter knew this all too well. He knew that Christ had not come to round out the Law or to simply show us how to obey so that we could obey the Law like Him. This truth is expanded upon and repeated in Romans 3. Paul demonstrates, conclusively, that the keeping of the Law for salvation is impossible. Nobody, no one, not a person, not a soul has ever, is now, or will be justified by the Law. What does this mean? This means that, before God, we can never earn a reward from His hand by doing good, by obeying His word. If we stand on our own strength, before the Law, the only thing we can earn from Him is condemnation because the Law brings a curse to transgressors of the Law. You don’t get graded on a curve before God. You’re either perfect in keeping the Law or you are condemned as a lawbreaker. Peter, like James, like John, and like Paul were all saved by somebody else’s righteousness. They were saved by Christ’s righteousness. They were saved by His blood on the Cross and they were saved by His obedience to the Law. They were saved by faith in His work.

Hear me again though. They were not saved by faith but they were saved by faith in Christ’s work. Their faith was directed at something that had been accomplished by Christ. You see the truth is that we are saved by works but they are not our works but Christ’s perfect work accomplished for us by His life, death, and resurrection. Our faith is as a beggar coming with nothing in our hand and saying to Christ that we know we deserve nothing but are simply relying on the promise that Christ will save all who put their trust in His finished work.

Inevitably, when somebody starts preaching the Gospel clearly, without the addition of human works, a charge always arises from people that want to object and say that God does His part but we have to add our part to be saved: “17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?” Do you understand what the objector to Paul is saying in verse 17 that he’s about to answer? People always want to say that God cannot call a person righteous unless they are really righteous. Some call this a “legal fiction” when we preach the true Gospel that Christ justifies the un-Godly.

You see the Gospel is not that God is saving you because you are righteous and good. No. Christ justifies the un-Godly. He justifies not because all sin has left you but because that sin has been paid for in Christ. Some say the difference between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians are transformed so that sin no longer abides in them but the Gospel says that we are both justified by God and still sinners. We cling to the Cross in faith and are saved by the Cross but we are saved while sin still remains in us. We are not saved, in the end, by God looking at how much good we’ve filled up in our heart or how much we’ve done for God’s Kingdom but are saved by falling at the feet of Christ to save us.

How can God do this? Because Christ has taken away the reproach of our sin. Because we are covered by Christ. Yes, we are being transformed by Christ. Yes He is putting to death the body of sin that remains but God is pleased to save you even though He knows what a wretched sinner you are. He is pleased to save you even though He knows you don’t deserve it. That’s right – you don’t deserve to be saved. That’s the Gospel – that God saves those who don’t deserve it! Stop trying to earn your salvation because in trying to earn it you’re not trusting in Christ’s righteousness that is alone the ground for your salvation.

Paul makes it very clear, though, that we aren’t just saved so that we can be covered by Christ and then sin all we want because we’ve got a “Get out of Hell Free” card. Absolutely not! As Paul says: “19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 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. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

This is the profound truth that those who do not pursue the Gospel of Christ by faith will never understand. The truth of the matter is that if you don’t cling to Christ by faith because you cannot keep the Law then you are not pursuing righteousness at all.

What are you saying Paul? Don’t you see the Jews trying really hard to be good people? Don’t you see them with the phylacteries on their foreheads with the list of all the commands of God? Don’t you see them attempting to obey every jot and tittle of God’s Law line by line?

Of course he knew that! He used to be one of them. But he concludes they aren’t pursuing righteousness at all because they’re trying to obey a sham. They’re obeying a fake. They’re obeying what they think the Law says. They’re obeying a list that is doable by man. But the Law of God is perfect and it condemns a man, it curses a man the very moment he breaks even the smallest part of it. Man isn’t content to believe this though so he lowers the bar to something he can do and then tells himself that God is pleased with this lower standard. After all, he’s a better person than his neighbor who doesn’t tithe his mint and cumin.

But the man who has been awakened by the Gospel sees the Law for what it is. He sees in it the perfect righteousness of God and it brings about the terror of judgment: “I can’t possibly be perfect. I can’t possibly obey with all my heart, soul, and mind.” The Law condemns us and makes us cry out: “Jesus, save me! Jesus, I know I’m condemned. Jesus, I know only you fulfilled the perfect righteousness of the Law!”

By laying hold of Christ’s feet in faith, the Christian is the only one on this earth that pursues righteousness because He is laying hold of the only One that could ever obey perfectly. The legalists of this world with all their “taste not and touch not” have all the appearance of righteousness but they are stone cold dead and are rotting flesh on the inside.

But the man who lays hold of Christ dies to the Law in Christ and is raised up in newness of life with Him. It is only after we have been freed from the burden and condemnation of the Law that we turn to our Savior and have new eyes to see Him no longer as the Judge but as our Righteousness and our very great Reward. We are now freed to obey out of love and out of gratitude for inheriting all righteousness. It is only with renewed hearts and minds that we begin to actually pursue the end of the Law which is love for each other that is an answer to the love that Christ has lavished upon us.

Indeed, as Paul notes very clearly, if we could have pursued righteousness at all apart from Christ then Christ died in vain. If all it took was for you and me to try harder at obeying the rules then Christ didn’t need to come. In fact, if God saves those who obey the best, if God justifies those who have earned it by their works, then Christ didn’t need to come for that. We didn’t need Christ to show us that God was serious about obedience. We needed Christ because we couldn’t be obedient. We needed Christ because by the deeds of the Law no flesh would ever be justified.

Are you convinced of this? Do you trust in the righteousness of Christ to save you? Do you seriously believe that God saves you not for anything He sees in you but only because you have fallen at the feet of Christ as a beggar?

Or are you holding on to the illusion that really the reason God saved you is because you’re better than the person across the street? Are you holding on to the illusion that God is weighing your good deeds against your bad deeds and sees that you’re doing your best? Are you holding on to the illusion that you dedicated yourself to God and that He’s only going to bless you as long as you continue to show Him how serious you are?

Rest Christian, rest. Take off the yoke of the Law and run to the Cross. Christ has accomplished all righteousness. Stop listening to the Judaizers of this world telling you that you aren’t going to be blessed until you sweat for God. Stop listening to their lies about grades of Christians. Look only to the Cross of Christ and what He accomplished perfectly in His life, death, and resurrection. Christ is present before you. Cry out to Him and say: “I am a lawbreaker and I deserve nothing from your Hand but I believe that You have accomplished all righteousness.”

Pursue Christ. Don’t let go of His feet until He blesses you. Believe the Gospel. Believe it and be saved!

Sun, 13th Jan 08 by Rich

Anathema, Anathema! (Galatians 1)

Galatians 1

For the next several weeks, we will be covering the Book of Galatians. Martin Luther, the man who started the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th Century, called this his favorite book of the Bible. In it, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so clearly portrayed and explained that it is one of my favorite Books as well.

We live in a society today that considers truth claims about religion to be a personal matter. A pastor was once telling a woman about Christ and the need to repent of her sins and she replied: “Well, that’s good that you believe in God and Jesus. If He helps you then that’s good that it’s true for you but I don’t really need God to make me happy and He’s not true for me.”

Imagine, for a moment, that I ran into someone who didn’t believe in the State of California. What if I told him that I actually owned a house there and worked and lived there for several years? What if he replied: “Well, it’s good that you believe in a State of California but I don’t need to believe in California. California is true for you but not for me….”

A true thing is true whether or not I believe it. The Gospel, which testifies of the work of Christ, is either true or it is not. In Galatians, it is the very Gospel of Christ at stake and the Apostle Paul really cares about whether or not his readers believe the Gospel or not. If it’s not true, then who cares?

The funny thing is that most of us, when we think of a Church with problems will immediately think of all the bad behavior we find in First Corinthians: men living in adultery, disorder in the Church, and selfishness running rampant. But it is the Book of Galatians that Paul comes down with the hardest hammer. He expresses confusion, anger and wonder about what people believe. You see, to the Scriptures, what is primary, what comes first, is that we believe the Gospel and then our actions follow. It’s not that how we behave is not important but behavior is a fruit of what God has done. Paul is about to teach, in fact, that attempts at good behavior will utterly fail if we do not believe what God has done in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

What was going on in the Churches of Galatia that caused this letter to be written?

The problem is commonly called the Judaizing heresy and is quickly summarized by quoting Acts 15:1.

1 some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

You need to remember that the first Christians were Jews that had embraced the Messiah. The Church first spread around Jerusalem and Judea before it spread to Samaria and to the Gentiles. Many former Pharisees had believed in Jesus because the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead and knew the Scriptures well. Many of them, however, were never really converted and did not properly understand what the Gospel was all about.

Remember, when Peter went to Cornelius’ house in Acts, he had to be prodded repeatedly by God to enter a Gentile home. When he finally did and preached the Gospel, the Spirit came upon Cornelius and his household and they believed. When Peter returned from this visit, many of the Jews were challenging Peter and asking him why he had gone to the home of a Gentile. Peter defends himself in front of the Church at Jerusalem and ends his explanation beginning in Acts 11:15

15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

It is very telling in this episode that Peter and the Church understand that the Gentiles are truly of the Church and just like them. They have not been circumcised but, instead, they have received the same gift: the Holy Spirit. They believed in Jesus Christ, just like the Jews, and God shows there is no unclean people group by placing His Holy Spirit within uncircumcised men.

But some of the Jewish believers were not content to let God decide who He had really accepted. They taught, as we already noted, that a person could not be saved unless he believed in Jesus Christ and he became circumcised. It is that small word AND that causes the problem because now what is happening is that something is being added to the Gospel of Grace. It is Christ AND something else.

But it wasn’t merely that men had to have surgery performed on them to become physically circumcised. We will learn that what the Judaizers were saying is that: “You need to believe in Jesus Christ and then live a life of obedience to the Law of Moses in order to be saved.” Another way of saying this is: “Believe in Jesus and then show Him that you’re serious about believing in Him or you won’t be saved.” It’s a message of believing and then behaving in order to be saved.

Now, because Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles and the Gentiles were outside of Jerusalem and Judea, Paul had to deal with most of these troublemakers.

You’ll also notice some things that characterize Paul’s defense of the Gospel in Galatians – some of them we already read and you might have wondered why he’s dropping names and emphasizing that he’s an Apostle. These are responses to charges that are coming from the false teachers – the Judaizers. If you want to tear down another’s work then one way of attacking it is by attacking the person – it’s called mudslinging in politics. There were apparently charges that Paul wasn’t really an Apostle. There were charges that he was teaching differently than Peter, James, and John. There were charges that his teaching was not only different but less authoritative than theirs. There were charges that Paul had once taught the true Gospel but had changed it in order to be a “man pleaser” because circumcision and the Law would be too hard for Gentiles. Paul clearly demonstrates that all of these charges are absolutely false.

This letter from the Galatians opens with storm clouds on the horizon. Normally, these ancient letters would take a long form of introduction with greetings and introductions. Paul has a very short greeting before the clouds fully form and the storm is upon the Galatian Church. Paul is all business. But before he gets to business, he does take a moment to introduce what believers are supposed to be about: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is what Paul will be defending and reinforcing. He is going to take the enemies of this idea, examine their arguments, and then kill their idea. He’s going take that dead idea, and in case we still thought adding to the Gospel was a good one, he’s going to beat the idea to a pulp. He’s then going to take that idea that’s been beaten to a pulp and is going to grind it into tiny bits. At the end of Galatians, it is my prayer that you will have no desire left within you to ever question what the true Gospel is. It is my prayer that you will have no desire to add to the Gospel. At the end of Galatians, I hope you are left in wonder at how glorious the true Gospel is and how wicked false gospels are.

Notice, though, in verses 3-5 how it is God our Father and Jesus Christ that is praised for saving us. Christ gave Himself for our sins to save us. It is God working. It is God doing. It is God saving. That’s the Gospel. But man always wants to interrupt God and say: “But let me show you why you should save me!” He’s not content to let God save Him, he wants to contribute.

So Paul continues: 6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

The storm is upon us. Paul is literally shocked that the Church is so quickly deserting God. How is the Church deserting God? By not giving to the poor? By not being nice? By not acting properly? No, they are deserting God because they are leaving the grace that God has given them by turning to a different gospel. They are literally turning to different “news”, different “truth”.

Chill out Paul! As long as they’re sincere, can’t we just say that it’s a gospel for them? Can’t you just hear the world telling Paul to quit being so close-minded?

No! Paul says there is no other gospel! This false gospel is no gospel at all! These men are are distorting the only gospel that there really is and that is the gospel of Christ.

Now, I want to warn you that Paul is about to commit the only sin that you can possibly commit in a world that doesn’t believe in sin. He is about to be close-minded. He is about to be intolerant. If you ate a large breakfast today then I don’t want you to become sick as we listen to Paul use the most shocking words: 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

The word here is literally anathema. Let the angel or any man that teaches you a false Gospel be eternally condemned to hell. I do hope you’re beginning to sense how serious it is that the true Gospel be taught. But Paul is not satisfied with saying it once. I’ve taught you guys this before. If I want to emphasize something in the English I might underline it or put it in bold print. The Jews, when they wanted to make sure you knew they were serious, would repeat something. Paul is dead serious and so he says: “9As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

Is it any wonder that James warns men that not all should be teachers because they will be held in stricter judgment? Beloved, I hope you realize how seriously I take the Word of God and that that very same curse rests upon me today if I preach to you a false Gospel. We live by sight so much that we don’t take stock of the power and holiness of God that exists beyond our sight. I believe in God and so I’m trying to convey to you how serious this is. It is good that we live in societies that permit us to worship without the government interfering but please never believe, even for a moment, that God is pleased with all worship and with every gospel. The state doesn’t judge what is right and we don’t judge what is right but all things will be brought under the judgment of God and the very worst judgment, throughout the Scriptures, is upon those that corrupt the gospel.

Why? Because in your presence today I am supposed to be giving you words of life. We have all been created in Adam and, apart from God saving us, we are all running to hell as fast as our legs can carry us. Apart from God, we would be content to worship Him falsely and be condemned in our sins for doing so. But God sent His Son, in the person and work of Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins. He was despised and rejected of men and lived a life of sorrow. We didn’t deserve a single day of the life that He lived among men. He came to save us from our sins and mankind spit in His face and put Him to death as a blasphemer. The night before He died, He prayed to God to learn if there was any way other than the Cross to save men from their sins.

Now, I’m sorry but I just can’t please men at this point. Today, men would say: “Sure there’s another way Jesus! As long as someone is sincere then it doesn’t matter what they believe.” Such men spit in my Savior’s face because on that night He prayed with such distress at the thought of facing God’s wrath for His people’s sins that drops of blood poured out of Him like sweat. The Father answered and said: “There is no other way! Your death is the only thing that will take away the sin of men!”

And so He went to the punishment that I deserve and that you deserve and He took all of God’s hot, holy wrath upon Himself so we don’t have to be eternally condemned.

Do you believe this? Do you really? Are you willing to stand with Paul against those who teach a false Gospel? Are you willing to stand against a false Gospel and receive the disapproval of men who look at you strangely in this world because believing in absolutes is so close-minded?

Is Christ the only hope, the only chance you have or do you have other options as long as you’re sincere?

Sat, 12th Jan 08 by Rich

Hebrews 2

The Epistle to the Hebrews is characterized by teaching and pastoral admonition-the writer is a teacher and a pastor. As a spiritual overseer he constantly admonishes his readers to listen attentively and obediently to God’s Word. He shows a genuine concern for the spiritual well-being of the recipients of his letter.

One of those readers perhaps asked if Jesus, the divine Son of God, is unacquainted with human nature. The answer is given in the form of a lengthy quotation from Psalm 8. Jesus “was made a little lower than the angels” but now, because of his death, resurrection, and ascension, is “crowned with glory and honor.” Jesus fulfilled the words of Psalm 8 and through this fulfillment has obtained salvation for his people. No angel could have fulfilled the task that Jesus accomplished by “tast[ing] death for everyone.” He is one with his brothers because together they constitute the family of God. Jesus, the Son of God, is truly human and fully identifies with his brothers. Because of this identity, Jesus has “become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God.” He sets his people free from sin and stands with them in their times of trial and temptation. Jesus sympathetically and at the same time intimately understands the problems believers face.

Sun, 6th Jan 08 by Rich

Maranatha! (Revelation)

Revelation 1:1-3

There is a certain irony to the way this book is handled by many modern Christians today who treat it like a book of secrets. The strange irony is that the book is called Revelations – that is, it is supposed to reveal something to us. The fact of the matter is that it is treated like such a puzzle book and that many of us, myself included, don’t always quite know what to do with this book. The fact of the matter is that there are Godly men, scholars, who disagree on what the significance of many of the visions that John has in this book.

I have not come to a firm conclusion about all the intricate details regarding the several prophecies found in the book but I have found myself wondering about the strange fascination that some have with it. Entire book industries have been built up around this book with men writing bestselling novels about the rapture or predicting the date of Christ’s return.

Throughout Church history, there has been a regular pattern of Church men becoming extra-excited about the end times. Some of you may remember when the year 2000 came near that many predicted an apocalyptic event. Church history records a similar hysteria in the year 1000 AD. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, many called the Pope the anti-Christ. During the American Revolutionary War there was an end-times fever as Americans saw themselves as the New Jerusalem and Britain as the anti-Christ.

Today we see this fever in another unhealthy way where this Book is read as a book of secrets waiting to be unpacked by some novelist or teacher. Entire denominations, such as Calvary Chapel, primarily exist due to an overarching concern for the immanent return of Christ. The sad thing is that you can ask many Evangelicals about salvation by faith or about the Trinity or about the nature of Christ and they will return a blank stare. Start talking about the Rapture, however, and you’ll find that many have a tremendous amount of information about that. Interestingly, it is the core principles of the Christian faith that are often neglected when there is an unhealthy attachment to the end times. Sadly, I know of many men who have never read the entire Bible but when each new Left Behind book would be released they would read it from cover to cover in a few nights.

More fundamentally, if one studies the history of each of the major cults: Mormons and Jehova’s Witnesses among others, there is an extremely close connection between a period of end times fervor and the birth of a new cult. Suffice to say, this next generation of Christians is ripe for a new cult because of this recent fever.

But as we read at the beginning of Revelation: Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Indeed, the Book was inspired to bless believers but men, wicked as we are, like to always turn things into something spectacular. The revealed things aren’t enough for us and we want our ears tickled by stories of armies fighting in the plains of Armageddon. But the Book wasn’t written to give us good stories and to see locusts as helicopters, it was written for Christians who have inherited salvation by faith in Jesus Christ and are living in a lost and dying world and are longing for the return of their Savior.

We continue in Chapter 1: “9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,”[b]dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.”

Church History informs us that John was the last remaining Apostle that remained alive and, later in life, was banished to the island of Patmos. Christians aren’t meant for solitude but Patmos was a remote island. This passage is particularly touching because John, in the midst of his loneliness, on the very day that he would have been in corporate worship with other believers, is caught up in a vision into heaven. It is very appropriate that John is commanded to write down what he sees. This accounts for the name of the Book: Revelation. It is a book at describes pictures of ideas that are expressed elsewhere in the Scriptures. There are themes that are spelled out in other books but this book gives a word picture of ideas. It uses numbers and beasts and other items to signify ideas.

But as John turns around he is literally blown away by the vision – he sees the resurrected Christ in all His glory. Christ’s glory is so brilliant and white and radiant that it is like looking straight into the sun. Like other visions of God in the Scriptures John is absolutely terrified.

Unfortunately, one of the real losses in worship these days is a loss of the holiness of God and the power of Christ and what His Deity represents. Many songs portray Jesus as a boyfriend and songs about Him are more romantic than reverent. I think if you asked most people to paint a picture of Jesus they might paint a nice picture of a meek Jesus. After all, we hear often of the Jesus who is just so crushed by people’s rejection of Him. He is standing at the door of sinner’s hearts just longing to come in. He is powerless and weak to many minds. He can only do what we permit Him to do. But the picture in Revelation is of a majestic, holy, and powerful God who has a sword coming out of His mouth and is more dazzling than the sun in His brilliance.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

You see, in a sense, this is the Gospel of Grace right there in those words of comfort. The fact is, beloved, that Christ is God – the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. His presence is terrifying in many respects because of His awesome power and majesty. Were He to treat us as our sins deserved then we would surely perish. But Christ says: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One. I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

Christ, as God incarnate, died and rose again for our salvation. Those who place their faith in Christ die with Him on the Cross. Their sins have been judged in His flesh. But He rose again to bring us eternal life and the fact that He lives forever and ever is the firstfruits of what we will inherit. He holds the keys of death and Hades for He will be the judge of the living and the dead. The power of this is that Christ is the Judge but He is also the Savior. For those that place their trust in Him, He has already taken judgment upon Himself. For those that refuse God, He will be their Judge.

You see, the entire rest of the book of Revelation is the capstone – the finishing work of God’s plan from eternity to create mankind after His own image and save from the Fall those who place their trust in Him. God’s glory and how He saves men to glorify Him for His grace and punishes those to the glory of His justice is the theme of the entire Scriptures. Certainly there are some fascinating stories in the intervening Chapters between the beginning and the end of the Book but the key to understanding the seals of judgment is not to try to pin the tail on the anti-Christ or to figure out when and where all of it will occur but probably the best way to summarize it all is to say, with the Nicene Creed, that Christ will “…come again to judge the living and the dead.”

As Romans 1 notes, mankind knows who God is. They suppress knowledge of Him and refuse to worship Him. God has been gracious throughout human history in not giving to men what they deserve – immediate judgment for their sins. He allows the rain to fall on the wicked, he grants them comfort, good jobs, children, and all kinds of temporal blessings. But, eventually, all will be brought to judgment. His wrath for the sin of mankind will not be held back forever. He will, one day, come to judge the world. He will one day come to judge sin. The picture of Revelation is God figuratively storing up all His wrath until, one Day, that wrath is poured out on a world that saw the Light but preferred the darkness.

But it’s not just about the judgment of the wicked but also the redemption and final consummation of the Bride of Christ – the Church.

Revelation 21: “1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

We are the Bride of Christ. We who have faith in Christ and have already been judged in Him on the Cross are being prepared to come very near Him and dwell with Him forever. The picture is one of utmost intimacy and beauty as we are being made spotless to be presented to Christ and to dwell safely in His bosom forever. Our loving God will wipe away every tear from our eye and there will be no more mourning or crying or pain for the Sin of Adam that plunged us into sin and misery and death will has been conquered by the Second Adam – Jesus Christ.

You see, it’s not about having our best life now. Christianity is about recognizing that this life is passing away and that we have a promise of our inheritance to come but it has not yet come to us. We ought to be anxiously anticipating that inheritance. We need to learn not to love this world but to look forward to the next. A minister by the name of Thomas Brooks in 1675 captured perfectly the hope of those who seek their best life now. He wrote:

“I have read of a greedy banker, who was always best when he was most in talking of money and the world. Being near his death, he was much pressed to make his will. Finally he dictates:

First, I bequeath my own soul to the devil-for being so greedy for the muck of this world!

Secondly, I bequeath my wife’s soul to the devil-for persuading me to this worldly course of life.

Thirdly, I bequeath my pastor’s soul to the devil-because he did not show me the danger I lived in, nor reprove me for it.”

Let us not live as those who are at our best when we’re talking of money and the world. Let us be those who are looking forward to being presented spotless and blameless before our Savior who died for us to save us. Let us live in the world now but not be of it for we look forward to the best times to come near the bosom of Christ and we realize that, even though there are many joys now, we await the day when Christ will come again.

Revelation 22: “1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. 6The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

Isn’t it fitting that the Scriptures open up with God placing man in the garden and giving Him all the trees of the garden to eat but Man falls by eating from the tree that God commanded him to stay away with. At the consummation of all things there is the Tree of Life representing the restoration of things – the re-creation of all things. There is no more death and sin and pain. There is water of life, pure and undefiled, flowing from the throne of God. No more thirst, no more hunger. Christ has filled all.

22:20He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Indeed! Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus. This was the cry of the early Church that John wrote to. This was a Church that was believing in Christ to save from sins on threat of death from an Empire that required men to bend the knee and acknowledge Caesar is Lord. This is the cry of all the Saints through the years who have suffered in a world of sin – who have lived lives in a world that is not worthy of them.

The question for you and me is this: do we long for Christ’s return? Do we long for the consummation of all things? Have we been transformed by the Gospel so that we have faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins? Do we suffer at the sin and misery that yet remains in the world or are we comfortable with it? Do we care so much for this world that we have no affection or enjoyment thinking about the world to come?

Or are we too much in love with this world to care about Christ’s Kingdom?

Justified by Christ (Galatians 2)

Anathema, Anathema! (Galatians 1)

Hebrews 2

Maranatha! (Revelation)

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