The Love of God in Christ - A 2019 Good Friday Sermon

2019 Toronto Gospel Alliance Good Friday Service 

St. Paul’s Bloor St.

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what God was doing before He made everything?

Put aside for a moment when He made everything…. whether thousands or billions of years ago… 

What was He doing, in eternity past? Long before there was light and matter and people and planets….

Was He just there. Perhaps thinking? Existing?

What was He up to?

Jesus told us what His Father was doing…

John 17:24 [24] Father… you loved me before the foundation of the world. 

Before He was a Creator or Ruler or Judge… God was the Father. And as Father He was loving His Son.

This is part of the reason John could write: “God is love.” Notice he did not write, “Love is God.” That is an entirely different thing. As if love itself was somehow the deity. No, what He correctly wrote was, “God is love.”’ That in His essential nature, in the core of who He was, is and shall be — God is love.

God is, in fact, the very source of all love. 

I once came upon a natural spring hiking in California. Up out of the ground bubbled all this fresh water! In the same way, all love in the universe has its origin in God.

1 John 4:7–8 [7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God,

We all wonder and think about God at times. And there are basically only two ways of coming to conclusions about God.

1. Depend on your own life experiences and reason in the 60-80 years you get and draw your own conclusions.
2. Depend on what God has said about Himself. What He has revealed.

I prefer option two. As Christians, we take what God has said about Himself in the Holy Bible. It is God’s Word — what He says about Himself.

And the consistent message of the Bible is that the proof of God’s love is what He has given, what He has sent. For love, in its essence is a giving to another.

Not only His giving us life and a planet on which to live.

But more precisely, in the giving to us of His Son.

1 John 4:9–10 [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world….

1 John 4:[10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins…

John 3:16 [16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…

God sent, God gave His Son. It is clear to see that the very essence of love is giving. Giving to the other. 

There is one part of Bible speaks very directly to this. 

Spend a few minutes considering it with you… you will find it on the back of your song sheet…

Romans 5:6–11 [6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. [10] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [11] More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

I wonder if you would take a few moments to consider with me the words of the 8th verse?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Let’s be investigative reporters and go all W5 on this sentence.

We will start with the WHO….

I. Who is the subject? Who is this about?

The answer is, “GOD.”

“God” shows His love for us.

And I think that is a good thing to observe. 

ILL:

Some people have read bits of the Bible, here and there or had things told to them about what the Bible says, and they get this notion in their head that God, the Father, is a really angry, mean-spirited, ticked off Greek demi-god kind of thing and that Jesus had to come along to pacify the Big Grump upstairs.

But read that line again in verse 8.

“God shows His love…” It is God’s love and He displays it. 

As we said earlier. God is love. It is His very nature to love. God is just being Himself when He loves. He has always been The Father to His Son. There never was a time when He was not. To not be Father, would be to not be God. Therefore love has always been a defining characteristic of God.

And one gets the sense when reading the Bible that God couldn’t help Himself. He had to show us that love… because that is Who He is.

So, we are speaking here about the Father. 

And this takes us to our second investigative question….

II. What does God the Father do?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He shows His love.

This word, “shows” has been translated different ways in our English Bibles. 

• Commends
• Demonstrates
• Proves — to prove by showing…

Here is what the Father does… He proves His love. He demonstrates His love. He had to — because that is the very nature of love. 

If I said I loved you then stood idly by while you were accosted and robbed, you would have good grounds to suspect the sincerity of my words!

But God proves His love.

John got at this when he wrote:

1 John 3:16–18 [16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us…

Love, by definition, requires action. If God was merely in heaven painting with big letters in the sky, I love you… and that is it. And He did nothing for us… then we would rightly question the sincerity of that love.

But God has done something. One main thing. That in no uncertain terms PROVES His love!

So, God, the Father, proved His love.

This takes us to the third investigative question.

III. How did God prove His love?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God proved His love by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

It is helpful here to remember the love God has for His Son. And the love His Son has for Him…

Does God love Jesus? Of course!

John 3:35 [35] The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 

Does Jesus love His Father? Jesus once said…

John 14:31 “… I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

So here you have the Father loving the Son. The Son loving the Father. And in this blissful union of love, the Father asks the Son to come and die… to prove the Father’s love by being the ultimate GIVE. 

And Jesus willingly agrees. 

In fact, it is Christ’s love for His people that is part of His motivation. Yes, he loves the Father and does all that the Father asks of Him, but Jesus Himself could say, 

John 15:9 [9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. [the people He died for]

And Paul would write of Jesus…

Ephesians 5:2 [2] …Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…

There is a remarkable event from the life of Abraham where God asked Him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The language of that request was so specific…

Genesis 22:2 [2] [God the Father] said [to Abraham], “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

This was a test designed to strengthen Abraham’s faith in God. And it worked. Abraham obeyed in faith then, at the last minute, God intervened and stopped the sacrifice!

But part of the purpose of this event was to provide us a little picture of what it was like for God Himself… to give up His Son, His only Son, the Son whom He loved… 

The Father told Jesus, at His baptism…

Luke 3:22 “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” 

And yet it was out of love for those He would save, God asked the Son He loved, to become their substitute, their sacrifice. Their “Isaac.”

This was amazing love.

ILL:

Several weeks ago Susan and I drove along the edge of the Pacific.

As we drove along that coast, casting our eyes our over the endless sea, we sang this together this old hymn pondering the love of God…

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure

The saints’ and angels’ song.

Nothing more vividly displays God’s love than this… He gave what was most precious to Him.

He could have given us 

• more money
• more world peace
• shorter winters
• more Stanley Cups than one every 52 years!

But God knows what we need — not just what we want…

And  He gave so much more than this… He gave what was without question the most costly to Him personally… He gave His Son to die for us.

Now that forces us to our last investigative question.

IV. Who is the “us?” Who did God love?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The answer might surprise you. Verse 8 is the end of a sentence that started in verse 7. In it, the author noted…

[7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die…

The Righteous Person — think of a boss that pays you were wage, but no more. Does not care about you as a person. Not a cheat, but not your best friend. 

— very rare anybody would take a bullet for him.

The Good Person — think of a boss who makes sure you get paid, but takes a deep interest in your life. Cares for you when you are sick. Looks after your kids’ future. Has your best interests in mind all the time. 

— someone might dare to take a bullet for her. Maybe.

But who does God love?

• Not the only-fair kind of people…
• Not the even the really good kind of people…

Who does God love? Who is the “US?”

There are three words used in this paragraph to describe the objects of His love. They are not very flattering.

:6 — The Weak - in this context, the spiritually paralyzed. The people who were not able to lift themselves up or make themselves clean. Those incapable of doing things that would impress God.

:6b — The Ungodly - in this context, the irreverent. The people who (even if they give verbal assent to God) live like God is not real and like they are the only thing that matters. 

:10 — The Sinners - in this context, the line-crossers. The people who deliberately break God’s prohibitions and commandments. 

The weak, ungodly sinners. That is who God loved. In other words, the unloveable.

You see, this was our great problem. We were not able to do anything about our sorry condition. There was no way to clean ourselves up in order to draw God’s attention. There was no way to warrant His love… to deserve it. 

Sin works like a Sharpie.

It is an indelible ink that no amount of washing can erase. 

• Worse, just when you start to think you are getting one stain to fade a little bit, you add another. 
• Just when we seem to be conquering our anger, we get proud about our patience!
• Just when we stop sleeping around, we discover a world of internal, raging lust!

If you are honest about yourself, to yourself, you will admit that you are a weak, ungodly sinner.

Bad news. For which we have the best news!

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Did you spot that word, “while?”

• While we were sinners.
• While we were ungodly.
• While we were weak.

It was then… when we were most helpless and hopeless and incapable of doing anything to fix our state, that Christ died for us. 

What a love. 

What a cost.

We stand forgiven at the cross. 

Conclusion

It is important you don’t get tricked by one word in this verse, that word “us.” Paul is writing to Christians when he uses it. He is not talking about everyone.

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

People who are now, FORMERLY weak, ungodly sinners. But they have been changed. They have come to understand the love of God. They have come to understand the significance of Good Friday.

Our service tonight has had a sombre feel. There is a reason for that. For those of us who already know God through Jesus Christ… we are aware, almost painfully aware… of what it cost God to love us. 

It cost Him His Son. Mark 10:45: “ …the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The proof of God’s love is the sacrifice of God’s Son.

But, we also know that God raised His Son from the dead! That’s why we look so happy on Easter!

But tonight we reflect on His death. And yet even in that death, since it is so motivated by and immersed in love… we cannot help but smile and offer to you the Saviour. Jesus Himself said,

John 15:13 [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 

God in His great love has done everything necessary for you to have a real relationship with Him. 

But that relationship won’t go anywhere until you admit what you really are… in the words of this text… a godless, weak sinner. 

But it is just this admission that grabs the attention of God. For He is love. And He is eager to set His love upon you. 

He is not asking you to clean yourself up, then come to Him. In fact, He demands the opposite. Come just as you are. There is no point hiding from God. And you will need all the help and grace and strength only He can give for that clean up!

And if you do, and agree with God that you are weak and need His help… and if you turn and accept His Son, Jesus, as the source of that help… you will say with all the other Christians here…

1 John 4:19 [19] We love because he first loved us. 

In fact, you will be able to personalize the words of this verse even more to say…

[8] ...God shows his love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me.

More than that, you will go to sleep tonight with the glorious confidence that this love of God for you will never end.  That you will be loved by God forever.

Romans 8

[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

[38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

He has proven His love in Christ. And now it is ours to enjoy in Him forever. 

Some Free Advice for Churches on Video Production, Authenticity and Staying in Your Lane in a Pandemic

Maybe I think about things too much, but here are a couple of ideas to consider as you plan an online worship service or something similar. 

One of the best pieces of advice I read suggests pastors should stay in their lanes. If you are suddenly videoing yourself, don’t act like you’ve got the full production studio working behind you. Just… be normal. Few things are worse to watch than somebody acting like they are pro when they are quite clearly not. You were not hired to be a reporter or newsreader or game show host. Be you.

Another free piece of advice, this one just from me, is this: Don’t make it too good. Read some Neil Postman before you shoot. Think about the effect of the medium itself. We committed to a no-rehearsal, no-edit version of a stripped down Sunday worship service for the first two weeks of the pandemic. This was intentional. I would argue that as production quality increases, authenticity diminishes. In fact, we shot the whole thing on one iPhone with zero edits. And, in my opinion, it was fine. Listen, I used to work a little in this field. The bad lighting, bad sound and one-shot filming did everything wrong in one sense, but everything as close to right in another. We were not filming this service to send out to the world. It was for our members. They know us, so they know fake. 

All of us understand this intuitively. Does anyone really believe reality television is real? What does your heart do when someone points a camera at you? I doubt you act all normal… or real. (If you want authentic reality television, sit at your window and watch people walk by. Or simply watch people in a crowded room when they think nobody is looking at them.) 

I get it. There is a sense in which I am different when I stand in front of my church family and lead a service. I am projecting my voice, so speaking differently. I am choosing suitable words for the occasion, so my vocabulary is more considered. I am standing in front of a whole bunch of people looking at me, so my self-awareness is different. That is what it is. I am simply suggesting that if you are going to do something online, be that guy. The guy you normally are on Sundays. 

One last thought for you. We taped all of our services on the Saturday before they were broadcast. This may sound like the opposite of what I was saying above and that we were somehow less authentic because we were not live. But I would argue the opposite was true. Once you do anything live, there is a whole other level of stressors to deal with that tend to distract from the one thing you need most in order to not be fake. That thing? You have to actually be worshiping God in your heart. You can do that on a Saturday and have it be just as real when it is posted on a Sunday. 

For what it is worth, we have decided (for other reasons) to move away from providing a weekly worship service. This has nothing to do with production or being real and everything to do with our understanding of what a church is. But, in order to serve our folks, we will record a weekly chapel service and we will hold to the principles above. May God give us all much wisdom.

THE CHOLERA YEAR IN LONDON - And the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020...

Here is some prudence from the Prince of Preachers on how to navigate an epidemic pastorally.  This extended quotation is taken from C.H Spurgeon Autobiography, Volume 1. Pages 272-274. ----------------------- In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve months, the neighbourhood in which I laboured was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. At first, I gave myself up with youthful ardour to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions, but soon I became weary in body, and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when, as God would have it, my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemaker's window in the Great Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore, in a good bold handwriting, these words:
"Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own; I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying, in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm. The Providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window, I gratefully acknowledge, and in the remembrance of its marvellous power I adore the Lord my God.

[In a pamphlet entitled, "The Best Refuge in Times of Trouble", published about the time of Spurgeon's "home-going", Mr. W. Ford, of 19H, Peabody Buildings, Orchard Street, Westminster, wrote:
"In the year 1854, the first year of Mr. Spurgeon in London, cholera raged in the locality of his church, and the neighbourhood where he resided. The parochial authorities were very thoughtful for the poor, and caused bills to be placed at the corners of the streets headed CHOLERA--in large type--informing the public where advice and medicines would be supplied gratis. At that time, I lived in the Great Dover Road, and Mr. Spurgeon lived a little further towards Greenwich, in Virginia Terrace. Seeing the bills above-named at every turning, I was forcibly impressed that they were very much calculated to terrify the people With the concurrence of a friend, I procured one, and wrote in the centre these words: 'Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' This bill I placed in my shop-window, hundreds read it, and I am not aware of one jeer or improper remark--so subdued and solemnized were the people by the awful visitation. Among the readers of the bill, was Mr. Spurgeon."]

During that epidemic of cholera, though I had many engagements in the country, I gave them up that I might remain in London to visit the sick and the dying. I felt that it was my duty to be on the spot in such a time of disease and death and sorrow. One Monday morning, I was awakened, about three o'clock, by a sharp ring of the door-bell. I was urged, without delay, to visit a house not very far from London Bridge. I went; and up two pairs of stairs I was shown into a room, the only occupants of which were a nurse and a dying man. "Oh, sir!" exclaimed the nurse, as I entered, "about half-an-hour ago, Mr. So- and-so begged me to send for you." "What does he want," I asked. "He is dying, sir," she replied. I said, "Yes, I see that he is; what sort of a man was he?" The nurse answered, "He came home from Brighten, last night, sir; he had been out all day. I looked for a Bible, sir, but there is not one in the house . I hope you have brought one with you." "Oh" I said, "a Bible would be of no use to him now. If he could understand me, I could tell him the way of salvation in the very words of Scripture." I stood by his side, and spoke to him, but he gave me no answer. I spoke again, but the only consciousness he had was a foreboding of terror, mingled with the stupor of approaching death. Soon, even that was gone, for sense had fled, and I stood there, a few minutes, sighing with the poor woman who had watched over him, and altogether hopeless about his soul. Gazing at his face, I perceived that he was dead, and that his soul had departed.

That man, in his lifetime, had been wont to jeer at me. In strong language, he had often denounced me as a hypocrite. Yet he was no sooner smitten by the darts of death than he sought my presence and counsel, no doubt feeling in his heart that I was a servant of God, though he did not care to own it with his lips. There I stood, unable to help him. Promptly as I had responded to his call, what could I do but look at his corpse, and mourn over a lost soul? He had, when in health, wickedly refused Christ, yet in his death-agony he had superstitiously sent for me. Too late, he sighed for the ministry of reconciliation, and sought to enter in at the closed door, but he was not able. There was no space left him then for repentance, for he had wasted the opportunities which God had long granted to him. I went home, and was soon called away again; that time, to see a young woman. She also was in the last extremity, but it was a fair, fair sight. She was singing--though she knew she was dying--and talking to those round about her, telling her brothers and sisters to follow her to Heaven, bidding good-bye to her father, and all the while smiling as if it had been her marriage day. She was happy and blessed. I never saw more conspicuously in my life, than I did that morning, the difference there is between one who feareth God and one who feareth Him not.

Quotes from the Life and Ministry of Robert Murray M’Cheyne

These are quotations from a Foundations Class I taught at Grace Fellowship Church on March 08, 2020. 

"Oh, to have Brainerd's heart for perfect holiness - to be holy as God is holy - pure as Christ is pure - perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect."

“It is a good thing to be shown much of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of your heart, provided it lead you to the Lord Jesus, that He may pardon and subdue it.”

“Now do not look so long and so harassingly at your own heart and feelings.  What will you find there but the bite of the serpent?... Look to Christ… Look to Him and live. You need no preparation, you need no endeavours, you need no duties, you need no strivings, you only need to look and live… Do not take up your time so much with studying your own heart as with studying Christ’s heart.  ‘For one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ!’” 

“Only believe. Give unlimited credit to our God.”

“I sometimes think that a great blessing may come to my people in my absence.  Often God does not bless us when we are in the midst of our labours, lest we shall say, ‘My hand and my eloquence have done it.’  He removes us into silence, and then pours ‘down a blessing so that there is no room to receive it;’ so that all that see it cry out, ‘It is the Lord!’  This was the way in the South Sea Islands. May it really be so with my dear people!”

1. The Gospel, properly applied, is the only way to deal with our sin.

“I often pray, ‘Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made.’”

“I am persuaded that I shall obtain the highest amount of present happiness, I shall do the most for God’s glory and the good of man, and I shall have the fullest reward in eternity, by maintaining a conscience always washed in Christ’s blood…”

“I feel, when I have sinned, an immediate reluctance to go to Christ.  I am ashamed to go. I feel as if it would do no good to go – as if it were making Christ a minister of sin, to go straight from the swine-trough to the best robe – and a thousand other excuses; but I am persuaded they are all lies, direct from hell. John argues the opposite way – ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father;’ Jeremiah 3:1 and a thousand other scriptures are against it. I am sure there is neither peace nor safety from deeper sin, but in going directly to the Lord Jesus Christ.  This is God’s way of peace and holiness. It is folly to the world and the beclouded heart, but it is the way.”

2. The Gospel, properly applied, is a wrecking ball to pride.

“A minister will make a poor saviour in the day of wrath.  It is not knowing a minister or loving one or hearing one… that will save.  You need to have your hand on the head of the Lamb for yourselves… I fear I will need to be a swift witness against many of my people in the day of the Lord, that they looked to me, and not to Christ, when I preached to them.”

“I really believed that my Master had called me home, and that I would sleep beneath the dark green cypresses of Bouja till the Lord shall come… and my most earnest prayer was for my dear flock, that God would give them a pastor after his own heart.”

3. The Gospel, properly applied, will make God more important than sleep.

“Do everything in earnest; if it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. Above all, keep much in the presence of God. Never see the face of man till you have seen His face who is our life, our all.”

"Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loves. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”

“I must first see the face of God before I take on any duty.”

“We must be drinking the living water from the smitten rock or we cannot speak of its refreshing power.”

“It is not great talents that God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”

4. The Gospel, properly applied, will make you pray.

“No person can be a child of God without living in secret prayer; and no community of Christians can be in a lively condition without unity in prayer.”

“What would my people do if I were not to pray?”

“If you do not pray, God will probably lay you aside from your ministry, as He did me, to teach you to pray.”

“I have been often brought very low, but it has been always good for me…”

“When I was laid aside from the ministry, I felt it was to teach me the need of prayer for my people. I used often to say, Now God is teaching me the use of prayer…”

“Pray to be taught to pray.  Do not be content with old forms that flow from the lips only. Most Christians have need to cast their formal prayers away, to be taught to cry, Abba.”

“Alas, we do not weary God now with our wrestlings, but with our sins.”

"If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; He is praying for me."

5. The Gospel, properly applied, will make all people precious in your sight — even the least of these.

“Think this, little children, you are the pride of your mother’s heart, but have gone astray from the womb, speaking lies. Little children who are fond of your plays, but are not fond of coming to Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour of little children, the sword will come on you also.”

“It is high time you seek the Lord. The longest lifetime is short enough… Oh, if you had to stand as often as I have beside the dying bed of little children – to see their wild looks and outstretched hands, and to hear their dying cries – you would see how needful it is fly to Christ now. It may be your turn next.  Are you prepared to die?  Have you fled for refuge to Jesus? Have you found forgiveness?”

“The greatest want in the religion of children is generally sense of sin…; we are so often deceived by promising appearances in childhood.”

"Use a few spare half-hours in seeking after the lambs on the weekdays."

6. The Gospel, properly applied, will make you an evangelist, or at least cause you to do the work of one.

“Do not be satisfied without conversion.”

“What has the world done for you, that you love it so much? Did the world die for you? Will the world blot out your sins or change your heart? Will the world carry you to heaven? No, no!  You may go back to the world if you please, but it can only destroy your poor soul… Have you not lived long enough in pleasure? Come and try the pleasures of Christ – forgiveness and a new heart. I have not been at a dance or any worldly amusement for many years, and yet I believe I have had more pleasure in a single day than you have had all your life.  In what? You will say. In feeling that God loves me – that Christ has washed me – and feeling that I shall be in heaven when the wicked are cast into hell. ‘A day in thy courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere]’ (Psalm 84:10)… If you die without Christ, you cannot come back to be converted and die a believer – you have but once to die. Oh, pray that you may find Christ before death finds you!”

"The world will say you are an innocent and harmless girl; do not believe them. The world is a liar. Pray to see yourself exactly as God sees you…"

"Every wave of trouble has been wafting you to the sunny shores of a sinless eternity.  Only believe.  Give unlimited credit to our God.”

“If our neighbour’s house were on fire, would we not cry aloud and use every exertion… Oh, shall we be less earnest to save their never-dying souls, than we would be to save their bodies?”

7. The Gospel, properly applied, will make a good pastor

 “I see a man cannot be a faithful minster until he preaches Christ for Christ’s sake, until he gives up striving to attract people to himself and seeks only to attract them to Christ.”

“Few people know the deep wells of anxiety in the bosom of a faithful pastor.”

“But oh, study universal holiness of life! Your whole usefulness depends on this. Your sermon on Sabbath lasts but an hour or two, – your life preaches all the week.  Remember, ministers are standard-bearers. Satan aims his fiery darts at them. If he can only make you a covetous minister, or lover of pleasure, or a lover of praise, or a lover of good eating, then he has ruined your ministry forever. ‘Ah! Let him preach on fifty years, he will never do me any harm.’ Dear brother, cast yourself at the feet of Christ, implore His Spirit to make you a holy man. ‘Take heed to thyself and to thy doctrine.’”

“See how Paul laid out his strength in confirming the disciples. Be a helper of their joy. Do not rest till you get them to live under the pure, holy rules of the gospel.”

Dwell

I am not a poet, but I like rhyme and metre. So, sometimes I take to versifying thoughts I've had as a way of creating structure and linear thought. If that sounds like poetry to you, then here is a little poem I wrote. A couple (literally, two!) friends asked me to share a written copy of it and I promised I would. I had used it in this sermon.

In this poem I am reflecting on God dwelling with us. From Eden, to Tabernacle, to New Creation.

_______________________________________________

Dwell

The creator walled in a garden

A place where men met God;

And told Adam and Eve his wife

To till the fertile sod.

In midst of all he placed one tree

With fruit he did forbid.

They took and ate and then they saw

what their rebellion did.

Cast out forever from that plot,

Banished to the east;

With cherubs blocking all return

To the heavenly feast

Sin had ruptured unity.

The way to God was barred.

Mankind fell from joy and ease

To a life so very hard

God in mercy then clothed that pair

With skins from sacrifice.

Soon bloody altars took their place

To pay the sinners’ price.

This way to God was part at best,

Hid behind the screens.

Until the Saviour came and died

And changed the fragile scene.

The veil was torn, the temple done!

The tabernacling King

Had opened up the way to God

And caused our hearts to sing,

“Praise to the One who dwelt with us

So we might dwell with God.”

That One deserves all of our love

Our glory, praise and laud.

Preach the Word. Just Preach the Word.

“What is truth?”

Pilate asked a fair question. I wonder how the average pastor would answer it?

Your answer to that question may be the most important conclusion you come to in life. It is certainly the most important conclusion you will come to in ministry. 

Have you ever wondered why Paul spent so much time writing about preaching? Maybe you have not noticed it before, but just read through the pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) and note how many times the words teach, charge, confess, command, practise, urge, keep, guard, remind, follow, entrust, think over, remember, rightly handle, correct, continue in, rebuke, declare, insist, and preach are repeated. On top of this are the repeated warnings to not get off-track and embroiled in arguments and speculations and basically anything that distracts from the teaching, etc. 

And there is no question that Paul had in mind a certain body of data as he wrote these instructions. There was something to be taught that was not original to the teacher. Hence, the memorable verses…

2 Timothy 3:14–17 [14] But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (ESV)

We ought to assume then that there is a constant temptation to pull other things into our pulpit than the truth. Why else would Paul repeat the command so many times? No doubt he had sat through his own share of church services where some (perhaps well-intentioned) teacher had read the scroll then waxed eloquent for then next 55 minutes about nothing in particular. As loving and kind as the Apostle was, I cannot help but wonder if there was not the odd time of him standing up in the middle of a useless lecture only to say, “The text, man! Preach the text!”

It is of growing concern to me that more and more preachers in the Reformed tradition seem unable to discern when they are importing their own ideas into a sermon, as opposed to saying what the text says. I would give $100 to hear a boring man tell me what a text says and help me to understand it better, than listen to some tattoo-covered, did-you-notice-my-biceps, infomercial boy blab on and on about his opinions. What good are opinions when you are facing death?

I read the account of Lazarus and Rich Man the other day. That rich man had gotten all he wanted in life. Now he was starting an eternity in the torment of hell. 

Luke 16:24 [24] And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 

What a horrifying image. Just one drop of water. One drop! For a relief that would not last. And there was none. 

Preacher, did that Rich Man listen to opinions his whole life? Where were the prophets calling out his sin and warning him of hell? I do not like preaching on hell. The only reason I ever preach on hell is that it is in the Bible. I can barely handle the emotional intensity of preaching on hell. But I must preach on hell. You must preach on hell. For God has declared there is a hell and he has called us to warn everyone about it. 

Do you have the kind of inner commitment to say what the Bible says, regardless of what kind of trouble it is going to get you in to? Regardless of what kind of discomfort it is going to bring you? More than that, are you committed to study hard enough and long enough with your own mind (not just an assortment of commentaries!) to know what it means? And are you willing to labour to make it known as clearly as you can to anyone who will listen? 

Some people think preaching is easy. I will admit getting up in front of a room and talking has gotten easier for me over the years. But preaching has only gotten harder. The more I learn, the more I realize I do not know. And that means the more I need to study. Brother, if  you feel pretty confident you’ve “got the Bible down,” please don’t be my pastor. 

Do you know who I want to preach to me? I want men that are going to work their tails off getting to the bottom of a passage. Men who will actually work extra hours if needed to figure something out. Men who will take those four hours to study one conjunction since the meaning of the entire passage hangs on how it is understood, even though that will only give them 5 seconds of preaching material on Sunday. I want to hear men who spend all those hours not just getting to what the text means, but getting to God in the process. Men who will not rest until they can get into the pulpit and speak with a confidence that is rooted entirely in the authority of the Word. Not them. Not their personality, nor their ability to draw people to themselves, nor their “charisma.” I want to listen to men who are devastated when it appears to them that people have enjoyed them, more than God, when they are done preaching. 

If you are a young man thinking about preaching, here is my advice. Read your Bible. Read it up and down. Read it until you can almost see the page when someone else references it. Read it and read it and read it. And think hard about it. Don’t let unknown words stay unknown. Don’t let obscure meanings stay foggy. If you really want to serve people, if you really want to love Christ’s church, read and read until you understand and then start telling people what you see. 

We don’t need more personalities in the church. We need men of the Word. Be that man and you will have answered the question.

John 17:17 [17] Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (ESV)

Who Hardened Pharaoh's Heart?

I have found this article by G.K. Beale to be a really helpful resource in understanding the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. It is technical, but you can skip the parts in Hebrew and still get the gist of things. If you are trying to carefully think through the first cause of hardening (was it Pharaoh or God or both?) then this is a must read. I am grateful you can read it for free!

Here is a sample:

"A classic and important objection to this idea is that it associates God too closely with the cause of sin. No doubt the theologian must be very careful in discussing God's relation to sin. Nevertheless, the above exegesis shows that Exod 4-14 says that God was the ultimate, unconditional cause of Pharaoh's volition while holding him accountable for his disobedient volitional acts. While many theologians see an antinomy between divine sovereignty and human freedom in Exod 4-14 and Rom 9, the present evidence places the mystery between divine sovereignty and human accountability."

Interest and Enjoyment: A Father's Day Thought

I was talking with a friend the other day about our fathers. The conversation moved to those men besides our dads who made a father-like impression on us. One of those men for me was my father-in-law, Bob Hueni.
Bob was a man’s man. I mean, he was a little short by my standards, but he was all man. It’s funny what impresses you about a person once they’re gone. As I thought about his deep encouragement in my life I was struck by how few times he actually said something like, “You’re going a great job, Paul.” Because that is almost always what I felt from him. I realize now that so much of that affirmation came from two things.
First, he took an interest in my life. A real interest. Not just in my pastoring (since he was also a pastor), but in all the other stuff, too. We went to Leafs games, worked on the lawn, talked about the Blue Jays… just lots of stuff that he really didn’t have any reason to be interested in other than it was my interest.
Not only did he take an interest in these things, he enjoyed them along with me. Some of my happiest memories of Bob are cheering along the 1993 World Series Champions Toronto Blue Jays from a little hotel room in Southern California. Bob and Letty had come out to visit and made an extended stay of it. We had a blast cheering for the boys in blue. That died in the wool Cubs fan enjoyed my team.
I realize now how precious this all was. And is.
It makes me want to copy him all the more. Take an interest in other people’s lives and enjoy it with them. Sounds like a great plan. In fact, it sounds a lot like how God loved us in Christ.

Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

Why is the Super Bowl on a Sunday?

The Super Bowl is tomorrow. Maybe you have heard about it? I was thinking about the big game today and got to wondering what I would do if the Toronto Maple Leafs were in a Game 7 to win the Stanley Cup. That would be the ultimate game of all time I would never want to miss. But I would miss it, if it happened to fall on a Sunday when we had a church service. 

I suppose you could argue that I would have to since I am the pastor of that church, but I am 95% sure I would miss it even if I was not a pastor. You see, there was a time when my love of hockey would have tempted me to change a service time in order to get in a game. But then I had this Game 7 scenario run through my mind and I thought, “At some point, you just have to die to things you love.” That was remarkably freeing. And not just because some people can record games and watch them later. It was freeing because it exposed and toppled an idol in my heart. I looked at a thing I adored (hockey, especially winning Leafs hockey) and the Lord. He tells me to not forsake gathering together with my church. So, I looked at the idol, looked at my Lord’s command, and the decision was easy. I went with the Lord. And these kinds of decisions really are freeing. I was no longer enslaved to a thing. 
I am sure lots of friends will joke that it is not much of a self-denial as my Leafs are perennial losers. Fair enough. But, should they start to win, I am glad to have this decision already made. What does all this have to do with the Super Bowl. Just that I think you should free yourself from every form of cultural bondage. Value God and His people above the Super Bowl. You will be glad you did. Super Bowls crack and rust. The Kingdom of God does not. If your church ends up not having services during the game, then by all means feel free to enjoy wisely. But don't forget that fellowship is not restricted to your church service times. Maybe a brother or sister is going to need you tomorrow night. If you are set free from your bondage to football, then you will be free to serve. And Jesus said, “It is better to give than to receive.”