Archive for the ‘Salvation’ Category

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Why do Christians Focus so Much Attention on the Death of Their Founder?

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Most religions focus on the extraordinary life of their founder, whose death is more or less a footnote in his/her story. But Christians treat the death of their founder as the very pinnacle of his story. In fact, they celebrate his death every time they gather. They decorate their buildings and their necks with crosses, which would be the modern-day equivalent of putting an electric chair on top of your church steeple or wearing a hangman’s noose around your neck.

Why do Christians celebrate such a gruesome form of criminal execution for their beloved founder? Christians are truly strange in this way! But the reason we focus so much attention on the death of Jesus is because it was the reason for his life. He came to earth that he may die a brutal death on a cross. So if you want to understand Jesus, then you need to understand his death and know its significance for you.

So let’s consider three significant facts concerning his death:

The Darkness (Mark 15:33)
Mark notes that at the hour of Jesus’ crucifixion, a supernatural darkness came over the whole land. We know it was supernatural because his crucifixion took place at “the sixth hour” which is equivalent to noon, when the sun is at its highest. Now skeptics have argued that it must have been a solar eclipse that the people witnessed. But that is astronomically impossible. Jesus was crucified during the Jewish celebration of the Passover, which was celebrated according to a lunar calendar on a full moon. During a full moon, the earth is between the sun and the moon, but for a solar eclipse to occur, the moon has to be between the sun and the earth. Knowing this, the Gospel writers believed the darkness to be supernatural. So what did it signify?

In biblical imagery, it was common to use light to represent God’s favor and darkness to represent his anger or judgement. So the supernatural darkness that covered the land at the very moment of Jesus’ death symbolically suggests that God was angry with someone and was carrying out his judgement on someone. Of course this begs the question, “With who?? On who??”

The Cry (Mark 15:34-37)
God’s anger and judgement was unleashed on Jesus as he hung on the cross, leading to his “cry of dereliction”. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? His cry testified to the pain he was experiencing. Not just a physical pain but a deep spiritual pain in the form of forsakenness. God’s ultimate punishment for sin is to forsake the sinner. That means to completely cut off the individual from the joys of his presence, his favor, his grace. Every person alive presently experiences those joys, to one degree or another, even if they dont realize it. But if they die, having never turned to Christ in faith, then they will be cut off — they will be forsaken by God. That is essentially what hell is.

Now consider the magnitude of what Jesus must have felt on the cross. Jesus the Son of God has lived in perfect love and communion with God the Father for all eternity, so to be forsaken by his Father was far more painful than the nails in his hands and feet. Think about a good relationship you’ve lost (either because of death, distance, or a misunderstanding). Your relationship may have been good and may have lasted many years, thus the pain you feel is real. But in order to grasp Jesus’ pain, you must multiply your pain by infinity. The relationship between Father and Son was infinitely perfect and stretches infinitely into the past.

The point is that Jesus truly was agonizing in pain on the cross. Physical pain, yes. But even more so, he was experiencing a spiritual forsakenness as a punishment for sin. He was receiving the full measure of God’s anger and judgement against sin.

But why? Jesus lived a life of perfect submission to God his Father. He never sinned. He did nothing to provoke God’s anger or deserve his punishment. So whose sin was he being punished for? Answer: The sin of sinners like us. We deserve to be forsaken by God but Jesus willingly took the place of sinners by dying on the cross. The Father forsook his Son, so that he would not have to forsake those for whom Jesus died as a substitute (1 Pt 2:24; 2 Cor 5:21)

On the cross, Jesus, in a real sense, became the most sinful man the world has ever seen because the sins of millions and billions of believers in every age and place were poured into his body. And on the cross, God the Father punished those sins completely by pouring on his Son all the anger and judgement that should have fallen on sinners. Because Jesus’ took their punishment, sinners can be pardoned and reconciled to God.

The Curtain (Mark 15:38-39)
At the moment of Jesus’ death, Mark records that the curtain in the temple (estimated to be 60 feet high) was torn from top to bottom. The curtain was used to separate the people from the room in the temple where God’s glory resided. It was a constant reminder that God and people were separated because of their sin. But when Jesus died, God tore the curtain, thereby demonstrating that sinners can now be reconciled to him through the death of his Son. Through relying on Jesus, we have free access into the throne room of God. We can now have a relationship with him.

But to receive the benefits of Jesus’ death (ie. the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God) you must turn to Christ in faith. Those who reject Christ are basically telling God, “I don’t want Jesus to bear my sins on the cross. I want to bear it myself when I stand before you.” And God, with a grieved heart, will respect that decision on the Day of Judgement. May we all, by faith, embrace Christ and his substitutionary death this Easter weekend.

Posted in Atonement, Gospel

Why Did Jesus Come?

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul explains why Jesus came: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Note the following observations:

1) Jesus came into the world
 To say Jesus came into the world is to imply that Jesus pre-existed before his coming. That corresponds with the Bible’s teaching that Jesus is the Son of God who “in the beginning was with God and was God.” (John 1:1) Jesus was a man — but more than a man. He was God made man.

2) Jesus came… [for] sinners
 What is a sinner? The simple answer is that a sinner is a person who sins. But what is sin? According to the Bible, sin is doing whatever is contrary to God’s law, which is a perfect reflection of his own character. But sin is not just doing the bad we ought not do (ie. sins of commission). Sin is also not doing good that we ought to do (ie. sins of omission). And the greatest good, according to Jesus, is “to love him [God] with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:33)

But all of us have fallen short of fulfilling this greatest good; therefore, all of us are sinners. We may not have committed any crimes. We may be generally nice, kind, generous people. But we are all still sinners in one sense or the other.

Who should we blame for this deficiency in our character? Can we blame our culture for how it’s influenced us? Can we blame our parents for how they raised us? Can we blame others for bringing the worse out in us? No, Jesus teaches that we must point the finger at ourselves — at our own hearts. Mark 7:20-23, “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ “

So every one of us is a sinner and our sin problem runs deep, to the very core of our character and personality. Until we recognize this problem in our own human condition, until we see ourselves as sinners (as the Bible defines it), then we have no part in Jesus or his salvation.

3) Jesus came…to save sinners
 If he came to save us, then the obvious question is, “Save us from what?” According to Mark 9:43-49, the consequence of sin is judgment that ends in hell. That is why Jesus says we must do whatever it takes to address our sinful human condition. Now we need to say a few words about hell because the concept is often stereotyped and misunderstood.

Your first reaction might be to wonder why a loving God would create a hell in the first place. But think of it this way: If there were no hell, then what would God do with the evil in this world? If there were no hell, then evil could carry on indefinitely without any justice. Would God be loving, if he never dealt justly with evil? So it is because God loves good and hates evil, that he will make sure to deal with evil – finally and completely. Because he is just, meaning he always exalts good and punishes evil, God created Hell to be the place where evil will be locked up and punished once and for all.

But our problem is that all of us humans are guilty of evil to one degree or another. So when it comes to the Final Judgment we are all guilty of evil and deserving of being sent to hell on the basis of our own works. BUT because God is a loving God, he sent his Son to experience the punishment of evil (by dying on the cross) and thereby offering pardon to those who trust in him. So for the one who trusts in Jesus, God judges them, not on the basis of their works (b/c otherwise they’d be guilty) but on the basis of His Son’s works (which was a life of perfect obedience and righteousness).

This is the salvation that Jesus procured for sinners on the cross. This is ultimately why he came: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3).

Posted in Gospel, Jesus, Salvation

From Call to Call: A Summary of Christian Salvation

Friday, February 26th, 2010

The Westminster Shorter Catechism provides clear and concise summaries of deep doctrinal truths. The following are Questions 31 to 38 (out of 107). They span the life of a believer from saving faith to resurrection glory. Notice how a Christian’s life is sandwiched between two calls —  1) God’s call of a sinner unto saving faith in Christ AND 2) God’s call of a believer unto resurrection life in Christ. Take your time to meditate and glory in each of these gospel truths:

Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

Q. 32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
A. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.

Q. 33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

Q. 34. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace,a whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.

Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Q. 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united in Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.

Q. 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
A. At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.

Posted in Salvation

A Big Difference Between Buddhism and Christianity

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Tiger Woods’ recent mea culpa highlighted a stark difference between Buddhism and Christianity. Having been raised in the philosophy of Thai Buddhism by his mother, he publicly acknowledged that he had strayed from that path in recent years, resulting in a self-destructive pattern of sexual addiction. He said,

I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don’t realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.

This is an accurate description of Buddhist philosophy. Buddhism teaches that human craving (desire) is the cause of suffering and unhappiness. Enlightenment is obtained by learning restraint and purging ourselves of the craving for things outside the ‘self’ (ie. romance, sex, food, achievement, leisure, etc). In other words, Buddhism says, “Our human desire for pleasure is too strong. It needs to be restrained and purged.”

But Christianity says the opposite. The Bible teaches that humans were created in the image of God with human cravings for food, work, rest, relationship, and even sex (Gen 2:24) — and God said all of it was “very good” (Gen 1:31). But we now live in a Genesis 3 world where sin has corrupted our human cravings. How? According to the Christian worldview, by dulling our senses and weakening our craving for pleasure. C.S. Lewis put it well in his famous sermon Weight of Glory — “We are far too easily pleased.”

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

What a stark difference! Buddhism says, “Your desires are too strong and need to be restrained!” Christianity says, “Your desires are too weak. You’re too easily satisfied with sinful lusts and worldly pleasures. Your desires need to be redeemed by Jesus and unleashed in even greater strength as directed by your Creator according to his Word.” Christians do not serve a God who is anti-craving, anti-desire, or anti-pleasure. Rather we serve a God in whose presence is fullness of joy, at whose right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps 16:11).

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For an insightful critique, read Al Mohler’s post “Tiger Woods’ Buddhist Confession“

Posted in Salvation, Sin

How Do You Fight Sin With Faith?

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Here is an extended quote from Piper on how Christians are to fight sin by faith. It’s from an article called “How Dead People Do Battle with Sin“.

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How do you fight sin with faith?

Suppose I am tempted to lust. Some sexual image pops into my brain and beckons me to pursue it. The way this temptation gets its power is by persuading me to believe that I will be happier if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier. No one sins out of a sense of duty when what they really want is to do right.

So what should I do? Some people would say, “Remember God’s command to be holy (1 Peter 1:16) and exercise your will to obey because he is God!” But something crucial is missing from this advice, namely, FAITH. A lot of people strive for moral improvement who cannot say, “The life I live I live BY FAITH” (Galatians 2:20). A lot of people try to love who don’t realize that, “What counts is FAITH working through love” (Galatians 5:6).

The fight against lust (or greed or fear or any other temptation) is a fight of faith. Otherwise the result is legalism. I’ll try to explain how we fight sin with faith.

When the temptation to lust comes, Romans 8:13 says, “If you kill it by the Spirit you will live.” By the Spirit! What does that mean? Out of all the armor God gives us to fight Satan, only one piece is used for killing—the sword. It is called the sword OF THE SPIRIT (Ephesians 6:17). So when Paul says, “Kill sin by the Spirit,” I take that to mean, Depend on the Spirit, especially his sword.

What is the sword of the Spirit? It’s the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Here’s where faith comes in. . . . The Word of God cuts through the fog of Satan’s lies and shows me where true and lasting happiness is to be found. And so the Word helps me stop trusting in the potential of sin to make me happy, and instead entices me to trust in God’s promise of joy (Psalm 16:11).

. . . This is what Jesus meant when he said, “He who BELIEVES in me shall NEVER THIRST” (John 6:35). If my thirst for joy and meaning and passion are satisfied by the presence and promises of Christ, the power of sin is broken. We do not yield to the offer of sandwich meat when we can see the steak sizzling on the grill. . . .

At first lust begins to trick me into feeling that I would really miss out on some great satisfaction if I followed the path of purity. But then I take up the sword of the Spirit and begin to fight. . . .

And as I pray for my faith to be satisfied with God’s life and peace, the sword of the Spirit carves the sugar coating off the poison of lust. I see it for what it is. And by the grace of God, its alluring power is broken.

Posted in Sanctification

How Can I Desire Heaven Knowing I Wont Be Married Anymore?

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Piper answers a question all Christian couples should carefully work through: How can I desire heaven when I know I wont be married to my husband/wife there?

HT: Ask Pastor John

Posted in Audio/Video, Heaven, Marriage

You’ve Never Met a Mere Mortal

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

C.S. Lewis’ famous sermon “Weight of Glory” ends with a sober reminder that every single person you encounter on the street, in the classroom, at the workplace, in the home or lying next to you in bed is immortal, in a very real sense. Knowing (and believing) this truth will transform how you value and treat one another, and more so, it will generate a greater desire to offer the perishing the hope of eternal glory in the gospel of Christ (Col 1:27).

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.”

Posted in Heaven, Hell

Why Did God Punish Jesus For Our Sins?

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Posted in Atonement, Audio/Video

Do people choose hell OR are they sent?

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Related to the problem of evil is the doctrine of hell. Piper again has something helpful to say. In a recent article called “How Willingly Do People Go to Hell?” he shows the fallacy of the popular argument that “God doesn’t send people to hell” but rather “God simply gives people what they want, namely hell (ie. life without him)”.

This passive view of divine judgement is espoused by C.S. Lewis (who is still one of Piper’s theological heroes). Lewis believes that “All that are in hell choose it”. Proponents of this view say things like, “The doors of hell are locked from the inside.” The basic premise is that a good, loving God would never willingly send people to hell. He only gives people up to the consequences of their sin and selfishness. Now Piper agrees that, in one sense, this is a meaningful statement, referencing Romans 1:24-28.

But he goes on to explain that this kind of reasoning does not work biblically or logically. You should definitely read his arguments, but one point worth mentioning is this: It does not logically hold that when faced with two choices, a choice against one necessarily means you desire the other. Just because you reject God and heaven does not mean you desire hell. You could despise both options OR you could prefer hell but only because you have a false impression of it. No one desires hell with eyes wide open.

Piper writes, ”When there are only two choices, and you choose against one, it does not mean that you want the other, if you are ignorant of the outcome of both. Unbelieving people know neither God nor hell. . . . The person who rejects God does not know the real horrors of hell. This may be because he does not believe hell exists, or it may be because he convinces himself that it would be tolerably preferable to heaven. But whatever he believes or does not believe, when he chooses against God, he is wrong about God and about hell. He is not, at that point, preferring the real hell over the real God. He is blind to both. He does not perceive the true glories of God, and he does not perceive the true horrors of hell.”

Therefore, the Bible uses language like “throw” or “cast” when talking about unrepentant sinners going to hell. Admittedly the idea of God “casting” anyone into hell is difficult to harmonize with our vision of a loving God. But it is in the Bible. So we can’t ignore it. Piper continues,

“The reason the Bible speaks of people being “thrown” into hell is that no one will willingly go there, once they see what it really is. No one standing on the shore of the lake of fire jumps in. They do not choose it, and they will not want it. They have chosen sin. They have wanted sin. They do not want the punishment. When they come to the shore of this fiery lake, they must be thrown in. When someone says that no one is in hell who doesn’t want to be there, they give the false impression that hell is within the limits of what humans can tolerate. It inevitably gives the impression that hell is less horrible than Jesus says it is.”

That last sentence raises a very good point. We must be careful when we speak of hell, especially in front of unsaved friends. To speak casually, flippantly or humorously about the subject of hell would give the false impression that it is not as gravely serious as Jesus makes it out to be. For the love of God and the lost, let us be precise with our theology and careful with our words.

Posted in Hell

Is Confessing Sin Really Necessary?

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Last Sunday I preached out of Psalm 32 on the blessing of instantaneous forgiveness through humble confession. Unfortunately many don’t realize that God’s forgiveness is not given apart from a genuine act of confession. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” If we confess,then God will forgive. So there is a condition. If you don’t confess a known sin to the Lord, then you are not forgiven of it.

But someone might object, “Is confession really that necessary? If trusting in the blood of Christ to cover your sins means all your sins – past, present and future – are forgiven, then why do we still need to confess individual sins? Aren’t you adding an unnecessary condition?” That’s a good question. I’ll answer this way:

Faith and confession are both conditions necessary to receive forgiveness. But confession is not a condition like faith is. Faith is the conscious resting in Christ as your Substitute. Confession, on the other hand, is the acknowledgement of your need for a Substitute. So unless you acknowledge your need for a Substitute (ie. confess your sin), you will not consciously rest in Him (ie. exercise saving faith).

Consider this illustration: The condition for traveling abroad is a valid passport. “Having a valid passport” is necessary. Now since my passport expires every ten years, when year ten rolls around, I need to re-apply or else my passport will no longer be valid. In this sense, the re-application is also a necessary condition for traveling abroad. If you don’t re-apply, you won’t be able to travel. But have you ever heard someone say the condition for traveling abroad is “re-applying for a passport”? That sounds strange. A re-application is simply a component of “having a valid passport”. In the same way, speaking of confession as a condition for forgiveness might sound strange until you realize that confession is simply a visible component of saving faith.

Now when it comes to individual sins committed after our initial act of saving faith, we are still required to confess them. But our confession does not, in any way, add to the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ alone is sufficient to cover sin. By confessing these sins, we are simply asking God to continue covering them with his Son’s atoning blood. Forgiveness is a one-time gift of God accomplished by Christ, but we have the responsibility of continually appropriating the work of Christ in our lives through regular confession of sin.

Posted in Salvation

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