Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostle John described the offerings of the world:

“…all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”     (1 John 2:16; italics and bold added)

Satan tempted Jesus in each of these areas – with food (to stir up lust of the flesh), with fame (to stir up the pride of life), and with wealth (to stir up lust of the eyes), and when we really look at our lives, we notice that we also are likewise tempted.

Before we get going, let’s carry into our discussion an understanding of what “lust” is.  “Lust” is really just the longing for what is forbidden.  Lust is a matter of the heart; it is the desire of the heart for what is forbidden.  It isn’t the object we desire that is the problem; rather it is the consuming desire for some forbidden thing which excludes God and His purpose for us that is the problem.  “Lust of the flesh” is the heart-longing for the things of the body that are forbidden.  “Lust of the eyes” is the heart-longing for things we see that don’t belong to us or are otherwise forbidden. The “Pride of Life” is driven by lust for self-exaltation, which is forbidden.  There are lots of different desires that come from the body and there are many things we desire as we perceive them with the eye.  Think about what your body desires – food and drink, sleep and rest, sex and other kinds of pleasure or comfort.  Think about what you see that you might desire – a piece of art for your home, the latest iphone or some other tool, the money to pay for the things you want, even a potential spouse.  None of these things is evil or wrong in and of itself.  The desires of the body are God-given, and the desire for quality and beauty is God-given; they are created into us.  We must not dishonour God with the philosophy of the gnostics where anything spiritual is good and anything physical or material is evil.  This just flat out isn’t true.  But we must be careful to understand that the desires created into humanity have been corrupted by sin, and our corrupted, sinful desires seek to be satisfied apart from God’s design.  Godly desire turns into sinful lust when we seek to satisfy that desire outside of God’s provision for it.

One more note on lust – the first and greatest commandment is to love God with everything you are (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37).  Desiring God is the foremost desire created into humanity, and is the intention for the heart of Mankind.  When we desire anything, even “good” (i.e. not obviously sinful) things, more than God, this is a desire that is lustful; it is a misplaced, forbidden desire.  We are all guilty of lust.  Thanks be to God for His Son, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)!

Temptation #1:  Lust of the Flesh (Matthew 4:3-4)

When Jesus had been out in the wilderness for forty days and nights, Satan came to Him with a suggestion:

“If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”    (Mt.4:3)

 Jesus was hungry and physically weak, and Satan attacked at Jesus’ human weakness.  It isn’t a sinful thing to be hungry or tired or weak, and it isn’t a sinful thing to provide food for the body.  But here Satan tried to get Jesus to pick up the divine power He had set aside in becoming a man and provide for Himself in a way that God hadn’t ordained for Him.  Satan wasn’t just saying, “Feed yourself because you need it”, he was saying, “Surely, God’s purposes are subservient to your body’s needs.”  You can almost hear Satan saying, “After all, God gave you the need for food.  Surely He doesn’t intend for you to actually starve!”

This is the same message we face daily when we are forced to choose between what God has said and what our bodies are saying.  Just like with Jesus, you may be tempted to reject God with food being the excuse.  For example, your body tells you that you’re hungry and need to eat right now.  But you don’t have any food or any cash to buy food.  So you walk into a grocery store and steal something.  This is a bit of a contrived example, but I’ve seen people who were in no danger of starving pick food out of grocery store bulk bins to satisfy some sort of food desire.  Even if you were really starving, stealing is against God’s Word, which really means it’s against God’s character, against the nature of the One whose image you bear.  God is a giver, not a taker, and so His children are to be; like God is, so should those be who bear His image.  So hunger doesn’t justify stealing.  Bodily need never justifies rejection of God’s Word.  Instead, God exhorts us to trust Him to provide for us.  God says that He will supply all your need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).  Trust Him and satisfy your needs within the framework of God’s provision.  This is the difficulty.  When we don’t know God, we don’t trust Him.  We see instead the heart using normal bodily needs to override the proper order.

Sex is probably the most familiar context for the word “lust” today, and sex is perhaps the greatest bodily tool of the heart for getting us to reject God.  It is something our world calls a physical need, but is it really?  Does your body need sex to survive?  I hear men all over the place saying, “Yes!”  But it really isn’t, is it?  I’ll suggest sex comes from a natural urge, but just because there’s an urge to do something doesn’t make it a need.  Let me also suggest humbly (I certainly know the power of the sexual struggle) that the man who says, “I need sex or I’ll die” is still really just the little boy who “needs” that toy for Christmas or he’ll just wither up and die.  And furthermore, just like with food and all other desires of the body, there is a proper place to satisfy that desire.  God says marriage to one woman (for men, and one man for women) is the appropriate context for sexual satisfaction.  Our hearts say we should satisfy sexual desire whenever we want with whoever will consent, and it is here we are forced to choose between God’s Word to us and our own word to us.  Here is an obvious situation where the heart uses a God-given bodily desire to draw us away from our Creator and our purpose, and to wreak havoc and destruction like we have little capacity to understand. And as we’ve discussed already, God is the One who has created these desires into us and has also provided the context for the fulfilment of these desires; He knows better than we do what we truly need (Matthew 6:8) and what we really don’t.  We need to trust Him with it and take Him at His Word.

Return to Eden

Food and sex are just a couple of examples to illustrate how the heart hijacks God-given bodily desires.  When we face temptations in these areas, we have opportunity to replay  the scenario in the Garden of Eden where Satan said to Eve, “Surely God didn’t say…” and “God’s intention for you really isn’t good…” Temptation is really the suggestion that we believe the lies and reject God like Adam and Eve did.  But understand what this is!  When Adam believed Satan and did what Satan wanted, he gave over to Satan the authority over creation that God had given to Mankind.  In Christ, we are given this authority back! 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…in all wisdom and insight, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, which He[God] purposed in Him[Jesus Christ], with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth…In Him[Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory…He [God] raised Him [Christ] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only this age but also in the one to come.  And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”    (Ephesians 1:3, 9-10, 13-14, 20-23)

“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”   (Romans 5:17)

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”   (Romans 8:19-23)

When we are tempted, we have opportunity to relive the fall, or we have opportunity to live the restoration of Mankind, which God has given us in Christ!  And let me say clearly, there is no restoration apart from Christ.  If you are reading this and you are not in Christ, if you have not submitted your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, I implore you, do it now!

Jesus’ Reply to Temptation of the Flesh

Jesus’ reply to Satan’s temptation tells us clearly what God has purposed for all humanity regarding provision for His body:

 “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”   (Mt.4:4)

 Memorize this and use it in your fight against lusts of the flesh!  Food is important to our physiology, but it doesn’t trump God’s Word to us.  Sexuality is important to our identity as human beings, but it doesn’t trump God’s Word on its proper place.  God is primary, and the physical part of our existence is subservient to Him.  Jesus refused to step outside God’s purpose and path for Him, even when His very life appeared to be on the line.  The fate of the whole world literally rested on Jesus’ decision in the face of temptation.  It looked like the fate of the whole world may have rested on whether or not Jesus received the food He needed to stay alive; after all, if Jesus died before His time, where would redemption be?  But Jesus never wavered.  He knew what the real decision was.  Instead of saying, “I need to protect myself and provide for myself or I will die”, He said, “I will trust My Father to take care of Me and provide for Me.”  When we ignore what God has said about how we should live, when we give in to the demands our hearts make on behalf of our bodies and when we satisfy those desires outside of God’s provision for us, we declare that God is insufficient for us, that He hasn’t provided sufficiently for us, that He is wrong about what we need, that He is in fact a liar.  No sir, biology never overrides theology.  The life of faith is the life that embraces and receives the truth that God sustains us even in the face of circumstances that appear to be to the contrary.  There are so many accounts of this truth in the lives of people around you, and in the writings of men and women throughout history (an amazing example is the account of Yun Kim in the book The Heavenly Man).  To see this in our own lives is merely a matter of receiving this truth from God in Christ, and stepping out in faith.

When we believe God, that we live not merely on physical food but according to His sustaining Word, we come against temptation with a powerful weapon; when temptation says, “You, my friend, can’t trust God.  You must take care of yourself,” you respond with faith and temptation is rebuffed.  It will come again and again, so you must be vigilant, but the response is the same each time: “God has spoken.  God has made me.  He is sufficient.”  As Asaph wrote:

“Whom have I in heaven but You?  And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”   (Psalm 73:25-26)

When temptation comes, we have the opportunity to relive the fall and submit ourselves to Satan, or we can live the restoration of all things by submitting ourselves to Jesus Christ.

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”   (Romans 6:16)

Whose slave are you?

hold Him higher,

jae

The temptation of Jesus took place right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  Before Jesus performed any healings or signs and wonders, He was baptised in the Jordan river (Matthew 3).  This is incredibly fascinating when we understand the OT significance of the event and location, but for brevity, let us just summarize this event as the clear declaration of Jesus as the promised Messiah, the God-Man sent to save His people from their sins.  Here, Jesus identifies Himself with humanity and the sin of humanity He would bear about three years later. Here also, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit identify Jesus clearly as God the Son.

After this “inauguration”, Matthew tells us Jesus was ‘led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil’.

Now, we must understand that in leading Jesus to be tempted in the wilderness, God didn’t tempt Jesus, but rather positioned Him to be tempted by the devil.  God never tempts anyone with evil (1 John 2:16).    So when you are tempted, know that it isn’t God that tempts you.  Instead, we are tempted by our own evil desires (James 1:14), often stirred up by the offerings of the world and by the enemy.  (Note that Jesus was tempted by an external source – Satan – whereas we are tempted by an internal source – sinful desires emanating from sinful nature.  As we discussed previously, Jesus did not inherit sinful nature from a human father, so he couldn’t be tempted from within.  But in His humanity via external means He was tempted in every way as we are (Hebrews 4:15).)

We must also understand that not only can God not tempt anyone, but He Himself cannot be tempted with evil (Hebrews 4:15; James 1:13).  There is nothing in God that could ever possibly want anything that is evil, and therefore evil can never be tempting to Him.  The fact that Jesus was tempted shows us that though Jesus is fully God, He set aside the use of His divine power (Philippians 2:6-8) to be tempted in His full humanity, just like we are tempted in ours (Hebrews 4:15).  This is so that He could Himself be legitimate payment for the sin of humanity.  This is important because as we battle temptation, we need to understand that Jesus faced the same temptations we face and defeated them.  This gives us hope because we know that since He defeated sin, sin is ultimately destroyed in His children. In the short-term, we know that we can defeat sin when it rises up in us because we know Jesus helps us!

“…since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18, italics added)

Matthew tells us that Satan, ‘the tempter’, came to tempt Jesus after He had fasted forty days and forty nights.  Jesus was hungry, and Satan came and began tempting Him with food.  Satan’s next temptation was with fame and status, and his third temptation was with material prosperity.

We will look at each actual temptation more in depth next day, but there’s an overarching theme to be understood here.  The object Satan used to tempt Jesus really isn’t the issue; food, fame, and wealth aren’t evil in and of themselves, and having any of these things isn’t wrong in itself.  These were only lures to pull Jesus into the real sin – rejecting God in favour of these things.

See, Jesus was sent with a purpose.  We’ve discussed it already.  He was sent to save His people from their sins.  In order to do that, He needed to live a completely sinless life totally as a man with no use of His divine power to “cheat” at living righteously.  If He used divine power apart from His dependence on the Spirit of God, this would be sin because it wasn’t God’s plan for Him, and sin would render His death useless – He would die for His own sin and therefore couldn’t pay for the sins of humanity!  Satan knew this and he tried to derail Jesus from His purpose.  Food, status and wealth really weren’t the issues at all.  Satan was using those things as lures to get Jesus to reject God’s path and purpose for Him.  The only way for Jesus to sin would be to treasure those things rather than God Himself.  The greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37).  To break this and love food, status and wealth with all our heart is sin.

Satan wasn’t disbelieving who Jesus was.  He knew well who Jesus was.  He knew that Jesus was to be exalted by God after walking the path God set out for Him.  But Satan tried to get Jesus to exalt Himself before God’s appointed time and apart from God’s appointed process.  Satan was saying, “Hey Jesus, you’re God in nature, so do all this for yourself!  Do it now!  Don’t wait!  Prove to everyone who you are right now!”  Jesus resisted Satan, obeyed His Father, and God did exalt Jesus after He died for the sins of humanity, raising Him from the dead, seating Him at His right hand as Lord of all, and putting all His enemies under His feet (Psalm 110:1; Ephesians 1:22; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3, 2:8, 8:1).

Jesus knew His Father’s will for Him would be the road of suffering, because they had people to save, and freedom is always bought with blood.  Knowing that the divine plan of redemption would be to walk the lonely road to the cross, to His own death, Jesus fully surrendered Himself to the Father’s will for Him.  Jesus is awesome in His resolve to follow God and pursue His purpose!

The Bible says that when Jesus found Himself in the form of a man, He did exactly what fits the design of Mankind: He humbled Himself and became obedient, even to the point of death (Philippians 2:8).  He set aside the use of His divine power, which He had from eternity past as part of His divine nature, and humbled Himself, becoming completely dependent on God in the power of the Spirit to live His life as a man.  He met the most intense temptation possible, alone in the wilderness and physically weak from hunger; He met this intense temptation as a man and defeated it.

Jesus submitted Himself to be led by the Spirit, even when the Spirit led Him into the wilderness, even when He was being tempted, even when He was being crucified for you and me.

And this humility and submission is the key to dealing with temptation.

You and I are also born for a specific purpose, and sin in us tempts us to reject God’s purpose for us.  When we are tempted, sin rises up in us and beckons us, sometimes gently, often with a tantrum, to reject God’s path for us and do things our own way.  But the first thing to understand about following Jesus is that we live by actually following Him, by humbling ourselves before Him, by surrendering ourselves to Him and submitting ourselves to live by the power of the Spirit.  You’ll follow Him through tough things where you’re tempted to let yourself out of suffering, where you’re tempted to reject God’s Word to you and His path for you because it’s hard.  But Jesus provided the means and power of victory, and showed us how to live it.  He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and He has sent His Spirit to live in us (John 14:16-17, 16:7-15).  By submitting to the leading of the Spirit and having Jesus live in us by the Spirit, we resist temptation, “putting to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13).  “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” ( Romans 8:14).  The proof of whether or not we are children of God shows up in whether or not we are led by the Spirit of God!

Now, this won’t be perfect.  We will fall and give into temptation from time to time, but as we practice focusing on Jesus and surrendering to Him, we will grow in Him and grow in our ability to surrender our desires to Him for His desires for us.  Theologians refer to this process of growth into Christ-likeness as “sanctification”, and this sanctification is something that Jesus works in all His kids.  But during this process there will be times we fall, and this is where we must trust that Jesus has paid for all our sin, past, present and future.  Because of what Jesus did for us, and because of our standing in Him when we trust Him as our Saviour and Lord, our standing with God is secure; it doesn’t depend on “how well we do”, on how well we resist temptation, on how well we obey.  It is the gift of grace, which God has freely bestowed on us in Christ (Ephesians 1:6).  He died so you don’t have to.  He defeated death so you can live.  He conquered sin so you can put it to death by the power of His Spirit in you.  Resisting temptation and defeating sin is a result of our trust in Jesus that He actually did what He said He did, and is a fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

Now, how can we practically surrender ourselves to Jesus, follow the Spirit’s leading, and deal successfully with temptation?

1.  Understand and believe that Jesus is who He said He is, and that He died to set you free!  When you put your trust in Him, you are no longer a slave to sin, bound to give in to temptation…unless you want to give in.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galations 4:4-7)

2.  If you’ve put your trust in Jesus, understand that He is working in you this very moment to accomplish your sanctification!  Focus on this amazing truth, that God is at work in you!

Jesus loves His people and died for us, so that He might sanctify us, having cleansed us by the washing of water with the word, “that He might present to Himself the Church in all her glory, having no spot of wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:26-27).

3.  Be renewing your mind daily!  Spend time with Jesus, in His Word and in every day life.  Offer your whole self to him, read your Bible to be able to watch Him and listen to Him, and ponder His calling on your life.  Humble yourself and give yourself to Jesus.  Fill your mind with Him.  Being with Him is becoming like Him..

 “…I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Jesus was at all times led by the Spirit of God.  No temptation could push Him off the hill He was to die on, because of His great love for His Father.  For us, dealing with temptation requires the power of the Spirit of God in us to grow in us a love for God that makes us willing to turn away from sin into His loving arms.

at His feet,

jae

“Therefore…let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

“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.”             ~ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (1949)

Matthew’s second chapter tells of Jesus’ birth and the visit of the Magi.  Of particular interest to me in this passage is the reaction of Herod the king to Jesus’ birth. Why? Because our fallen nature reacts to Jesus the same way.

Without going into a really detailed history of Herod, let me just say that Israel was under Roman occupation, and Herod was made king over Israel by Rome (37BC – 4BC).  In those days, Rome allowed its citizens to practice their own religious and philosophical views, but maintained strict control.  Jews were allowed to govern themselves according to their law, but they reported to the Roman-appointed King Herod, know as Herod the Great.  This Herod began the Herodian dynasty of “client kings” in Rome (37BC – 92AD).  He was known for his fondness for opulence, his many spectacular building projects (including the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem), and his cold brutality in protecting his position and power, even banishing and executing several members of his own family.  Though Herod wasn’t Jewish (probably of Idumaean descent), he knew the Jewish scriptures well and was very familiar with their customs and beliefs, including their anticipation of the Messiah, the one who would be born “king of the Jews”.

Enter the Magi. These guys were probably magicians or astrologers from Persia. Their understanding of Jewish scripture is probably traceable back to Daniel’s time when the Medo-Persian empire conquered Babylon and inherited the Jews that were in exile there.  They showed up in Jerusalem asking, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:2)

When Herod heard this, he was “troubled”.  In fact, this was such big news, the entire city was “troubled”. The word here gives us a picture of agitated or roiling water.  The always power-oriented Herod, the current king of the Jews, freaked out at the threat of a new king on the scene.  Herod called the Magi in and told them to find this anointed child so he could go and worship him too.  They found Jesus, but God warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod because Herod’s real intention was to kill this new heir to the throne.

When Herod realized the Magi weren’t coming back, he sent his troops to Bethlehem and had them kill all the baby boys in the area who were two years old or younger, just to make sure he got the one who threatened his throne.  He didn’t even get Jesus, because God told Joseph to take the family to Egypt.

Now, the fallen nature in us is just like Herod when we encounter Christ.

Jesus threatens the rule of our sinful nature over us.  We are held captive by a brutal king like Herod, one who is willing to kill and destroy to protect its reign.  This king is sin.  The throne of sin is our heart.  When we oppose it, sin rises up with such ferocity and brutality, shaking us from one extreme to the other, shouting and screaming at us to do what it wants, that we are powerless to do anything other than what it demands.  This is the state of humanity without Christ.

But when Jesus calls you, when He arrives in your city as the One promised to deliver you from sin, the One to save His people from their sin (Matthew 1:21); when Jesus shows up, the true King of kings (Revelation 17:14; 19:16), the sin-king is threatened mightily.  Sin in us trembles in terror when Jesus shows up.  Jesus has ultimate power, the power to destroy sin in anyone, and sin recognizes certain death when it sees it.  The last thing it wants is to give up rule over you to Jesus.  So, like a cornered animal, it attacks and tantrums and makes a terrible racket so you’ll back down and not welcome Jesus Christ as the true king of your life.

This enemy inside tells you Jesus doesn’t want what’s best for you.  It tells you He’s a liar and a thief, robbing you of all the fun you could have if you run your own life. It tells you it will share power with you.  It tries to entice you with sex and money and power and the admiration of others.  It intensifies internal conflict, trying to make you feel bad by telling you that you’ll have to reject friends if you surrender to Jesus.  It tells you that you’ll hurt people, that you’ll be alone, that you’ll be a loser.  It tries to focus you on the wounds you’ve already received in the world, telling you that now it’s time to look out for yourself, that it’s not the time to give yourself to someone else as king.

Like Herod, sin tries to wipe out all threats to its reign in your life.  It keeps you under such oppression and such a heavy burden that you can never really control yourself.

It amazes me that in our society, we laud self-governance and the freedom to choose for ourselves so much that we rise up and bluster with indignation at anyone who suggests we submit ourselves to anything, and yet we don’t realize that we can’t even control our own lusts for sex, money, power, or even something so ridiculous as that last piece of cake!

Just like the Magi didn’t see Herod’s real intention to kill Jesus instead of worship Him, we don’t see sin’s intention and control over us.  We think we’re in control of ourselves, that we’re “good people”, but if this were true, why do we hurt loved ones when our pride is threatened? If this were true, why is obesity such a problem in the West? If this were true, why do “good” men stand aside and allow evil to happen in their communities because they are too busy being “good” in front of the television set, at the office or on the golf course?  If this were true, why are our children so often victims of negligence, why do families break up, why are our daughters used and destroyed by “good” men?  We equate peace in our personal spheres and emotional comfort with being in a good place, and we equate the ability to discipline ourselves in daily tasks as being in control of ourselves as though these daily tasks aren’t a means to satisfy our own desires for “stuff”.  But when you’re at peace with your internal “king Herod”, you’ll be emotionally comfortable; when your daily tasks are to exalt yourself, your internal “king Herod” will applaud your discipline.

This is why it appears that some don’t struggle.  Look at their lives.  Are they opposing sin in the heart, or are they going along with it?  Even a brutal dictator is happy with you when you do what he wants.

Let me illustrate this with a story.  A God-fearing man went duck-hunting with his boss.  Their truck got a flat tire, and while the man was changing the tire, he hit himself with the tire iron.  Cursing under his breath, he noticed the boss observing and apologized.  “I’m an atheist,” the man’s boss began, “and I don’t have trouble with my tongue like you do.  You’re a Christian.  You’re not supposed to talk like that.  What’s the deal?”  The man, humbled, said he had no answer.  Later, they shot two ducks. One fell dead into the water, but the other fell and scrambled into the reeds.  They collected the dead duck but the wounded duck was never found.  On the return trip home, the man looked at his boss.  “I have an answer for you now,” he said slowly and thoughtfully.  “I’m the wounded duck.  You’re the dead one.”

If you have received the free gift of life in Jesus Christ, the struggle with your sinful nature will reflect the desire of your new heart to kill sin in you.  You won’t be perfect, but you’ll be fighting against your “internal Herod”.  You won’t let him back on the throne, but by the Spirit of God that Christ gives, you’ll resist your old nature and kill it, bit by bit, battle by battle.  The absence of war between you and your old nature is a very bad sign.  The peace and discipline that results from peace made with sin is a counterfeit peace and counterfeit discipline.  Keep waging the war against the illegitimate king, dear brothers and sisters, by the power of the Sovereign King.  Jesus has conquered sin; now you’re in a “mop-up” operation to clear it all out.

God wants what’s best for you.  He wants you to be free from the shackles and ugliness of sin.  When He says, “Don’t”, it means, “Don’t hurt yourself, Dear One. I love you.”  When Jesus says, “Come to Me all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest…” (Matthew 11:28-30), He means to give you freedom and rest from sin’s heavy oppression and deception, and from its ultimate consequences.  We don’t have to be under submission to the dictator “Sin”, but freedom from sin means surrender of the throne of our hearts to the gentle Warrior-King, Jesus Christ, who has fought for and who has won our freedom by His death and resurrection.

Don’t react to Jesus like Herod did.  Impeach your internal “Herod”.  Dethrone him.  In Jesus’ name, cast him down and throw him out, and recognize Jesus as your king!

at His feet,

jae

Matthew starts his gospel with a clear declaration of who Jesus is. He does it by beginning with a genealogy of Jesus, and what this genealogy tells us about Jesus is astounding.

In the first sentence of the book, Matthew refers to Jesus as “the Messiah”, “the son of David”, and “the son of Abraham”.  Then over the next 14 verses Matthew lays out the lineage from Abraham through his sons and their sons until he ends up with “Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”  The references to Jesus as the “son of David” and the “son of Abraham” are significant because both show Jesus’ legitimate genetic claim to the throne of Israel; moreover, those titles both show Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises to David and Abraham regarding the Messiah.  This in itself is brilliantly fascinating but, for brevity, we will spare those details right now and focus on the last point about “Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born…”

Jesus, son of God

Matthew’s genealogy carries an interesting twist.  He begins with “Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.” (Matthew 1:2).  This is the format for genealogies – “so and so is the father of…is the father of…is the father of…etc.” But right at the end, Matthew ends with Joseph, the man who acts as Jesus’ father on earth, and Matthew doesn’t say, “…Joseph, the father of Jesus.” Instead, he calls Joseph, “the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”  This is no coincidence.

Many are familiar with the concept of the “virgin birth”; Jesus was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18), not by a man.  This detail isn’t just something to amaze and confound; it is necessary for what Jesus came to do.

The apostle Paul is very helpful here.  In his letter to the Christians in Rome, he explains how rebellion against God and the propensity to rebel was passed on to us all through the sin of the first man, Adam.  In the beginning (another story familiar to many of us), Adam rebelled against God, the result of which was separation from God and the consequent expulsion from the garden paradise they were given to live in and care for.  Genesis 5:3 hints at what Paul tells us pretty clearly in Romans 5:12-21, that the corrupted, sinful nature of humanity is inherited from our fathers.  The Bible tells us that the issue with our sin isn’t merely an external issue of wrong actions, but it is an internal issue of a sinful heart.  An apple tree isn’t an apple tree because it produces apples; it produces apples because it is first an apple tree. In the same way, we aren’t sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.  The source of sin is actually our very nature, and so rebellion against God in its various forms is a natural fruit of our natural condition. We know this deep down and show it when we see something like greed in the marketplace.  Though we acknowledge it is wrong, we shrug our shoulders and say, “That’ll never change. It’s just human nature.”  Indeed.  Fallen humanity really can’t help but sin because it is the natural thing for us to do.  This is why it is so hard (impossible really) to choose right over wrong; it isn’t in us to do it!  And this is why Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to be “born again” (John 3).  We need to be re-born or re-created with a new nature.

Back to point, it is necessary that Jesus be born of God as father and Mary as mother.  That Jesus didn’t have a human father means that He didn’t inherit a sinful nature, but instead He retained the nature of His Father (God), which He already had from eternity past.  But that He was born of a woman means that He did take on full humanity in all of its sinless infirmity, such as hunger, thirst, and even the capacity to be tempted.  God cannot be tempted with evil (James 1:13), but Jesus, in His full humanity, was tempted in every way as we are tempted.  Unlike us however, Jesus never yielded to temptation and never sinned (Hebrews 4:15).  That Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the woman Mary means that Jesus is at the same time both fully God and fully Man. This is extraordinary, and is precisely what God had promised from the very beginning.

After Adam disobeyed God, God cursed the serpent and promised Satan’s destruction:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15).

The seed of the woman would be struck on the heel, the very instrument used to strike the head of the serpent.  This is a promise from God of the coming Messiah, the one who would destroy the power of Satan and sin and death over fallen humanity, and this promise is given right at the time humanity was plunged into depravity and despair.

Jesus, Immanuel

Matthew goes on to tell us that Joseph, Mary’s husband, was told by God to name the baby “Jesus”.  The reason is given in verses 21-23 of Matthew 1: “…for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew makes clear this was a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14, a prophecy made centuries earlier: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel.”  “Immanuel” means ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23).  In the beginning, when humanity was morally pure, God and Man fellowshiped together.  When Man rejected God, their fellowship was broken because God’s complete holiness and perfection is unapproachable by any imperfection and corruption.  But in Christ, Man is restored to fellowship with God; in Christ we have communion with God. In Christ, God is with us!

First-century Israel was waiting for a promised son of Abraham, the promised son of David, to restore Israel to their land and to the political pre-eminence it had enjoyed under Moses, Joshua, David and Solomon. This expectation was based on the promises made to Abraham and David, among others. They were waiting for Messiah, the anointed one, the God-Man, but they hadn’t discerned the kind of freedom He came to bring. They were waiting for freedom from Roman rule, but Jesus came to bring freedom from Satanic rule.

Jesus is the anointed God-Man (Messiah), the one God promised to Humanity in the beginning to destroy Satan (Genesis 3:15), the one promised to Abraham to make him the father of a great nation by faith (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:17-18; Romans 2:17-29; 4:1-25; 9:6-8,23-33; 11:25-26), the one promised to David to make him a house with everlasting rule (2 Samuel 7:11-14), the one who would save His people from their sins so that once again God could dwell with men.  Jesus is the descendant of Abraham and David by birth AND He is also the source of Abraham’s great nation and David’s everlasting rule.  Truly, all the promises of God find their “yes”, their guarantee, in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Now, what does that mean for us?

Well, remember the bruised heel and bruised head thing?  A head wound is fatal; a heel wound isn’t.  In the event of Christ’s crucifixion, we see the destruction of Satan and of the power of sin in us.  Jesus died, Satan “bruised his heel”, but His death wasn’t final, the wound wasn’t fatal.  God raised Him up again.  But in that event, Satan’s destruction was final.  The wound was to his head, to his source of authority, and ultimately to his source of life.  When we come to Christ at the cross and receive Jesus as Messiah, the one who saves His people from their sins, believing that He is God of very God, Lord of all, believing that in Him we are freed from sin and reconciled to God, then we are re-born!  A new nature is created in us, a new nature that loves Jesus and wants what God wants!  This new nature bears new fruit, and by God`s Spirit we kill off the old nature that bears bad fruit.  This is a process (theologians call it
‘sanctification’), but in the meantime we are assured of our standing before God because of our standing in Christ by faith, not by works as though we could earn God’s favour.  It is a free gift to those who simply receive it (Romans 5:15-18)!  Because of this gift we press on boldly, beating out the power of sin in our lives by the Spirit of God that lives in us.  This process begins the moment we surrender ourselves to Christ and receive new life from Him.

This is the first step in becoming a real man – being reborn with a new heart, with a new nature!  It is impossible to be a real man, the kind of man God designed us to be, when we are dead to God and alive to all the things He did not design us to be!

So, as we begin our look at Manhood from the perspective of the perfect man, Jesus Christ, let us remember all of what He is; let us remember that He is God, and as such He is our King, our Ruler; let us remember that He is also fully Man, and as such is sympathetic with our weakness, having been tempted just as we are, though He never yielded and was wholly without sin (Hebrews 4:15); let us remember that He came to save us from our bondage to sin and bring us to
fellowship with God; let us remember that He is our strength to destroy sin in us, and that this happens through constant fellowship with Him.

After all, you are what you eat; you become what you read and think about; you become like who you spend your time with.

 ”For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)

at His feet,

jae

Over the last year or so, the growing burden on my heart has been for men to understand and grow in true manhood – the kind of manhood that God intends for His men;  the kind of manhood that God wields in His world-changing power in a way that heals the sick, binds up the wounded, frees the oppressed, stands against the oppressor, reclaims the ground given up by complacency and apathy, and gathers the little children into its arms and says, “You’re safe here”; the kind of manhood we see in precious few today; the kind of manhood we see when we look at Jesus Christ.

As I look at my own life, I see indeed it is full of turmoil, as Job said many millennia ago. I see that so much of this turmoil is caused by my own failings as a man, by my own inability to live as God has purposed for me as a man.  And as I look around, I see a hurting world with no real sense of identity or purpose or hope. A closer look tells a simple “cause-and-effect” story: where men do not understand masculinity and live like men, where you and I do not understand masculinity and live like men, the body-count rises and the destruction is devastating, felt deeply in every corner of humanity…in every corner. Women and children bear the brunt of misplaced and misunderstood manhood, and the result is fearful or calloused femininity, and childhood that never matures for lack of love and affirmation, vision, purpose, and the invitation to adulthood that children yearn for. For things to change, men must step out first; we must humble ourselves before our Creator so we can humble ourselves before our wives and children, and begin repairing the damage that has been done.

So let’s have a long, lasting look at Jesus Christ, and see what it is to be a man according to God’s own definition and design, and see in Him the power God has revealed to accomplish this transformation in us, the power to deal with bitterness and unforgiveness, temptation and ego, and the worldly whisperings that work to drive us to our own destruction.

We’ll just start in the beginning of the Gospels in the book of Matthew and work our way through over the next little while. We’ll break it up into smaller chunks so there isn’t so much reading at one time, and so we can take something with us into each day to meditate on and pray through, asking God to change us and make us more like His Son by the power of His Word and His Spirit.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”                                                                             ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:28-30)

at His feet,

jae

S.M. Lockridge (1913 - 2000)

It’s been quite a while since the last post as it has been a very, very busy summer and the fall so far hasn’t been much different. But God has been faithful, teaching and chastening and loving. I will endeavour to write again soon.

But in the meantime, God has so greatly lifted up my eyes and refreshed my spirit through a part of a sermon by S.M. Lockridge. Lockridge, born in 1913, pastored Fourth Ward Baptist Church in Ennis, Texas, beginning in 1942 before moving on to service at Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, California from 1953 to 1993.

I found this clip of preaching, visual effects and musical background to be very encouraging and refreshing as the focus is 100% on the true King, Jesus Christ. It’s my understanding that this video was made by the Church worshiping together at Granger Community Church in Indiana. Check it out!

hold Him higher,

jae

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.     (Psalm 121:1-3)

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and download each session.

This is straight teaching for men on being men God’s way, particularly during times of real difficulty. If you’re desirous of holiness, of knowing and honouring the living God; if you’re wondering where real manhood begins; if you’re struggling and anxious, facing giants in your life, download these sessions and listen with enthusiasm.

hold Him higher,

jae

Let’s get a feel for the context. Jesus had just arrived in Jerusalem. It was less than a week before His crucifixion. You probably know the story of Jesus’ “triumphal entry” on Palm Sunday – He came riding on a donkey colt, welcomed by the palm-waving Hosanna-shouting crowd. Now, this is significant because Jesus was arriving in Jerusalem just as Zechariah had prophesied some five centuries earlier concerning the Messiah:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9, NASB)

Jesus arrived as the Messiah was to arrive, and the religious leaders of the day knew it. They understood that Jesus had been intimating all along that He was the promised Messiah; they understood that all the circumstances were also point to Him as the promised Messiah. But they didn’t believe it. They didn’t want to believe it because of what Jesus said it would cost. They didn’t want to believe it because they wanted a military conqueror to free the nation from Roman rule, allowing them to rule the people as the religious leaders of a mighty theocracy. Luke, the doctor historian, tells us that the when Jesus came to Jerusalem that day, the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke His disciples for crying out, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord [the people were quoting from Ps. 118:26]! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk. 19:38-39). They were pretty unhappy with Jesus because of His Messianic claims and because He held the favour of the crowd.

Perhaps this was why Jesus didn’t spend the night in Jerusalem. After Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, it appears that He spent the nights in nearby Bethany (about 2 miles [3 km] Southwest of Jerusalem). We don’t really know why Jesus spent the nights in Bethany instead of in Jerusalem, but perhaps Bethany was a safer place for Him to stay at that time; perhaps it was a little more isolated and afforded a little more peace; perhaps Jesus was visiting friends (Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived in Bethany), knowing that His time was near.

It was as Jesus was returning one morning from Bethany to Jerusalem that the incident with the fig tree took place. Jesus was travelling along with His disciples and became hungry. In the distance, He saw a lone fig tree by the side of the road. He went over to find something to eat, but when He found nothing on the tree, He declared that the tree would no longer bear any fruit for anyone. The next day, as they were passing that way again, the disciples were amazed to see that the tree had withered from the roots up. They asked how it could be that the tree withered so quickly, and Jesus answered with the general idea that whatever they asked for in prayer and with true belief would be granted to them.

Now, I always thought that this was a little irrational on Jesus’ part. It seemed to me that Jesus had become frustrated or angry since the tree didn’t have what He wanted. It reminded me of the response of the third and final servant in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). This servant was given one talent, which he buried it in the ground. When the master returned, he gave back the one talent by itself, saying, “I knew you were a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.” Mark 11:13 tells us that it wasn’t even the season for figs so I always thought that Jesus, in wanting fruit from the fig tree, was wanting to reap where He didn’t sow. It seemed that Jesus was being a hard man because He wanted figs even though it wasn’t the season for figs!

Have you ever come across things in God’s Word that just didn’t make sense? Have you ever been confronted with something that God has said that just didn’t sound like it fit God’s character? This has happened with me many times. When such a thing arises, we seem to do one of four things:

1. we dismiss it entirely and ignore it henceforth, pretending it doesn’t exist,
2. we philosophize about it in our own minds and outside of God’s Word as we try to make it jive with current popular opinion,
3. we dismiss God Himself entirely, justifying this position by the idea that God doesn’t make sense and therefore isn’t real, or
4. we go ask God for the answer.

I will often wrestle with a question myself for a while (there is still much pride in me and I often try to arrive at an answer on my own strength and intellect), but more and more, as God continues to grow me, He brings me to Him with my questions. And He proves Himself faithful over and over and over again. God often takes His time to answer me – I believe He is testing my desire and resolve – but the answer always comes, sometimes a couple of minutes later, sometimes a couple of hours, sometimes a couple of weeks or months, sometimes several years. But it comes.

When something in God’s Word doesn’t make sense, it is always a case where the issue is with us: we either need to humble ourselves, or we need to do a little more study. Here, the answer came as God prompted a curiosity in me surrounding the fig trees in the Holy Land.

As it turns out, there were (and are today) many different kinds of fig trees (ficus carica), and they are somewhat curious in their growth patterns. When leaves begin to grow on the fig tree, tiny fruit buds appear at the same time, not after the leaves. Even before the fruit is mature, it is edible. Solomon even describes this: “The fig tree forms its early fruit…” (Song of Solomon 2:13). This “early fruit” has been a food source to people throughout the ages – especially the poor and travellers who happened across public trees such as those standing on the sides of public roads. Now then, because of the way these trees grow, if you ever saw a fig tree with leaves on it you would expect these early fruit buds on it as well. If the fruit didn’t bud with the leaves, the tree would remain barren for the year, even though fig trees typically bear two crops in a year.

So Jesus wasn’t looking for fruit where there shouldn’t have been any. This tree, being in full leaf (probably some time in late March), was advertising fruitfulness, but when Jesus got to it, there was nothing there. The tree was, in a way, being deceitful (not that it was conscience of this, or deliberate in it).

Now, it seems to me that there is application here on a couple of levels.

1) First, Jesus seems to be saying something about Israel at the time. There seems to be a fair amount of Old Testament literature representing Israel by figs and fig trees (Is.28:4; Jer.24; 29:17; Hos.9:10; Mic.7:1). In Mark, this incident is sandwiched between Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11), which displeased the Pharisees, and Jesus’ famous cleansing of the temple when He threw out the money changers (Mark 11:15-19). Now, these are two incidences that showed the state of Israel’s love for God in the behaviour of its religious leadership and their reaction to Jesus. Israel ultimately rejected Jesus as the Messiah. John 1:11 says that Jesus came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. This was displayed on a smaller scale when the people of Jesus’ own town, Nazareth, refused to believe Him (Matthew 13:54-58; Mark 6:1-6). As a result, Jesus did very few miracles there. Similarly, Jesus came to Israel first, as He indicated to a Gentile woman with a sick daughter in the district of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:24-26; Mark 7:27). And when Jesus sent the twelve apostles on their first “mission”, He made it clear that they were not to go to Gentile regions, but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6). Later, of course, they were sent to preach to Gentiles as well (and indeed if they came across a Gentile they weren’t forbidden to heal or teach, as evidenced by Jesus’ healing of the Gentile woman’s daughter), but initially Israel was the primary focus of the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And they rejected this message.

So, let’s go back to the fig tree. Though it was a little early for mature figs, the tree was in leaf. Because it was in leaf, Jesus expected the early fruit; the tree was advertising fruit. But since there was no fruit in spite of the leafy proclamation that there was, Jesus cursed the tree and it withered. I am reminded of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, where He describes Israel as having the form of knowledge and of the truth in the Law. In Romans 2:17-29, Paul basically points out the hypocrisy of exalting the outward appearance of knowledge and truth by keeping the outward letter of the Law, while completely ignoring the heart change that the spirit of the law actually speaks to. Not long after the withering of the fig tree, Jesus condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees saying,

“…you [Pharisees] clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence…you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:25-28, NASB).

So, it seems that Jesus is looking at Israel in the same way as the fig tree. They were advertising righteousness and spiritual fruitfulness, like the leafy fig tree, but when Jesus came up to it looking for the fruit of righteousness, there was nothing there.

2) Secondly, we would do well to apply this to ourselves as well, rather than just looking at Israel and shaking our heads. All too often I find myself in the place of the Pharisee who stood praying to himself, “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector…”, instead of the tax collector who wouldn’t even lift his eyes toward heaven, pleading, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:9-14, NASB). The truth is that I am the sinner, and Jesus will come to me looking for fruit. The truth is that I try really hard to make myself look leafy and promising. Just like Adam and Eve tried to cover their shame with leaves from a fig tree, are you and I trying to cover our sin with the fig leaves of fleshly “goodness” and “righteous” deeds? Are you and I trying to “self-justify” by merely covering our shame with outward acts of goodness? Are you and I trying to make ourselves better people, trying to clean ourselves up before we come to God, trying to make ourselves presentable? This is a losing effort. The Bible says that all of us have become unclean and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

See, we can’t compare our righteousness with the righteousness of other people, because that doesn’t matter when we stand next the holiness of the infinitely righteous God! We can’t say, “Well, at least I was better than that guy!”, because it doesn’t matter next to the consuming fire that is the pure, righteous glory of God! If you’ve done one thing morally wrong (and let’s be honest, we’ve all done countless things that are morally wrong!), we fall infinitely further from the infinite perfection that is God’s nature; infinity isn’t static, but is constantly moving further from whatever is finite. So, we cannot clean ourselves up and make ourselves presentable to God.

What hope then do we have? How can we have the fruit with our leaves that Jesus will look for when He comes?

Well, God says that Jesus is our righteousness if we are in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9). This is a righteousness that is a free gift (Romans 5:15), given without us having to keep the Law perfectly (Romans 3:21) since that is already out of reach: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This is a righteousness which is freely given to us by faith in this Jesus (Romans 3:22; 6:23). God says that Jesus lived a perfectly sinless and righteous life (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrew 4:15) and He is very pleased with Him (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22), which is proven by the fact that God raised Jesus up from the dead; for it would be unjust to leave a righteous man in the grave, because death is the punishment for unrighteousness (Romans 6:23)! And God says that if we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, by believing we will have life in His name (John20:31). When we receive Jesus Christ as Lord, living for Him, counting all else as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Him (Philippians 3:7-11), we are clothed in Christ and therefore looked upon as righteous before God.  God is faithful and just; when we come to Him on His terms  – no one comes to God except through Jesus (John 14:6) – confessing our sin, He will forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Then we can receive the Spirit of God (John 14:16,26; 1 Corinthians 2:12) who will bear fruit in us, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25), the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8).

Jesus is the Vine. We are the branches. If we are plugged into the Vine, drawing life from it just like a real branch lives by the life coming from a real vine, we will bear the lasting fruit Jesus will come looking for (John 15:1-6).

The incident of the withered fig tree is not a story of an unfair Jesus reaping where He didn’t sow, expecting fruit where it was unreasonable to expect fruit. It is not an account of an impulsive, irrational, easily-frustrated Saviour who lashes out in anger when He doesn’t get what He wants. Slightly aside, isn’t it interesting how we project our own tendencies onto Jesus, assuming that He would react to things the way we react to things? When we don’t get what we want, when our plans are frustrated, we react in unreasonable ways, in frustration and in anger. And today, with such an entitlement mentality that is now part of our culture, it is we who expect to reap where we have not sown. But I digress.

The occasion of the withered fig tree is a picture of a purposeful God, who will come to inspect all appearances of fruitfulness. It is a picture of a careful God who will render to each of us as our deeds merit (Romans 2:6), whether they are unrighteous fleshly deeds that appear good and fruitful, or the deeds of the regenerated child of God, which are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Trust Jesus for your position before God rather than yourself and your own efforts, I pray you!

And Father in heaven, in Jesus name I pray You, let us not be caught pretending when He comes looking for fruit! Make us fruitful!

hold Him higher,

jae

Over the past month or so, I’ve been working through Ezekiel and Daniel. I’ve always found Ezekiel to be a pretty heavy book in the past – 48 chapters, lots of “woes”, lots of prophecy. This time through however, I kept on noticing that God keeps saying, “…and you will know that I am the LORD”, or “…they will know that I am the LORD”, or some variation of that. These, in conjunction with the brilliant descriptions of the visions of God that Ezekiel saw in chapters 1, 3, 8, 10 and 43, left me with the very distinct message of God’s complete sovereignty and intention toward us.

I counted 63 times in Ezekiel that God says that He will be known – known as the One who speaks and does what He says, as the One who judges, as the One who is with His people, as the One who restores, as the LORD. One of those times, God says the people will know He is the LORD (His covenant name YHWH) when He proves Himself holy in their sight; thirteen of those times, God says the people will know that He is the LORD when He delivers or restores His people, and forty-eight of those times He says the people will know He is God following some kind of judgment or chastening (the one other time is in reference to both judgment and deliverance).

So I found myself marvelling that in both judgment and deliverance, God proves Himself as God, and we are to recognize that He is the Sovereign One, the LORD, in times of restoration and blessing as well as in times of judgment and chastening. In everything He does, He is to be known.

The book of Daniel, of course, follows Ezekiel. It is indeed a very fitting book to follow this theme in Ezekiel as God’s display of Himself – His sovereignty, Lordship, judgment, blessing and restoration – is shown very practically and “up close”, and leads to His being known and recognized as who He is, as the “I AM” from Exodus 3:14.

Daniel writes from the vantage point of one of the first Jews from Judah to be exiled into Babylon in 605 B.C. Three other young men, friends of Daniel, went with him to be brainwashed and assimilated into Babylonian culture for the purpose of serving in the king’s court. Daniel’s three comrades are most commonly known by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Three things of significant note in my mind occur in the first four chapters of the book of Daniel, which display God’s sovereignty and cause Him to be known as the LORD. And keep in mind that these happen within the framework and setting of extreme judgment upon Judah, which came in the form of exile into Babylon.

1. God gave Daniel and his friends pre-eminence in the eyes of those in authority over them…

First, God granted them favour with the commander of the officials so they didn’t have to defile themselves with the king’s food according to their Mosaic Law. (Daniel 1:8-16)

Then, God granted them superior wisdom and understanding so the king found them to be ten times better than all his magicians and conjurers. (Daniel 1:17-21)

After this, God brought Daniel to a high place of power in Babylon by giving him favour in the king’s eyes after the revelation and interpretation of the king’s dream. (Daniel 2:46-49)

2. God demonstrates His sovereignty in the rescue of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from an attempted execution in a blazing furnace…

 These young men feared God and refused to worship anything else. As a result, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon (who had actually acknowledged Daniel’s God prior to this) tried to kill them in a fit of rage by throwing them into a furnace. The furnace was so hot that it killed the soldiers assigned to throw them in. But the angel of the LORD appeared with the young men and they weren’t even singed! Nebuchadnezzar then acknowledges God again, declaring that no other god was capable of saving the way the LORD saves! (Daniel 3)

I want to point out the profound trust in God’s sovereignty and intention that is demonstrated by these three young men facing the prospect of being burned alive; they say to the king of the Babylonian world superpower at that time:

“…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18, italics added)

This kind of trust can only come from actually knowing God! It can’t come from knowing about God. As Ezekiel attests, this is part of the purpose in judgment and deliverance, and this is the reason for which we were created as a race in the first place! The purpose of God’s revelation to us in His Word and God’s revelation to us in the person of Jesus Christ is so that we can know Him again! It is life to know Him, not to merely know about Him!

3. God demonstrates His sovereignty in His breaking of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon…

God warned Nebuchadnezzar in a dream that he would be driven to the fields where he would live like an animal unless he recognized the Most High God as the ruler over the realm of mankind. God also told him that his kingdom would be kept for him and restored to him after he recognized that God ruled, not him. A year later, Nebuchadnezzar was glorifying himself on his rooftop as he gazed over Babylon, speaking aloud of how he’d built it by his own power and for his own glory and majesty. While he was saying these things, God took his sanity and his kingdom from him, and he was driven into the fields to live like an animal until he recognized God’s supremacy. When that period of time was over, God restored his reason and returned him to his throne, where he praised and honoured God as the only Sovereign. (Daniel 4)

So, as I came through Ezekiel and Daniel, I was left with a little of the weight of the sovereignty of God and His purpose to be known as the Living God in both judgment and restoration. Indeed, judgment so often brings restoration, as was the case for Nebuchadnezzar. And this is the case for those who have been reconciled to God by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. God’s judgment against all sin was poured out on His Son at the cross of Calvary almost 2,000 years ago so that we might be restored to fellowship with God, to intimate knowledge of Him, becoming children of God by trusting completely the sufficiency of the sacrifice of the Righteous One for so many unrighteous ones.

As God has used the ultimate suffering of Jesus for our deliverance and restoration, so God also uses chastening and trial to bring us to Him and perfect us in faith, that we might become His children. Don’t fight it; trust Him through it. When we know Him more, we trust Him more.

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.

at His feet,

jae

In Jeremiah 36, an event is recorded that is very closely paralleled in our day.

It was the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah (he was first named Eliakim, and renamed Jehoiakim by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt – long story; don’t ask right now, but you can read about it in 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chronicles 36). Ancient Israel, which was united under King David and his son Solomon, was divided after Solomon’s death (ca.931 B.C.) into two kingdoms – the Northern kingdom (Israel) whose capital was Samaria, and the Southern kingdom (Judah) whose capital was Jerusalem. Solomon’s son Rehoboam, a relatively young man, took unwise counsel from other relatively young men in his treatment of the people and lost half his kingdom to revolt. This in itself is an event to learn from, but isn’t my concern this morning.  Roughly two hundred years after Israel was split, the Northern kingdom was taken into exile by the Assyrian empire, and another hundred years or so later the Southern kingdom fell into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and the great Babylonian empire. Both these exiles were the result of God’s judgment against His rebellious people who persisted in worshiping idols and didn’t follow God whole-heartedly. It’s important to understand as well, that prior to both these exiles, God sent prophets to His people, warning them again and again of the coming disaster and pleading with the people to repent and return their hearts to Him.

Jeremiah 36 picks up immediately prior to the first exile of the Southern kingdom (Judah) into Babylon. It is the fourth year of Jehoiakim (ca.605 B.C.), who was 16 generations and around 325 years after the great king Solomon. Babylon is on the cusp of invading Judah and taking some of them to Babylon (Daniel would be in this bunch). Jehoiakim will be allowed to rule what is left. But Jehoiakim will turn to Egypt for help, against God’s warnings, and Babylon will return to make war on Jerusalem, laying siege to her in 598 B.C., and then deporting the rest of her inhabitants to Babylon in 597 B.C. and 586 B.C., respectively.

So, at this time, God tells Jeremiah to write down everything that He had spoken to him about Israel, Judah and all the nations since the very first time God spoke to Jeremiah some twenty-two years earlier. God says,

“It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” (Jeremiah 36:3, ESV [italics added for emphasis]).

I want to point out and emphasize that God had given His people centuries of warning through many many prophets (not just Jeremiah, and not just a few years before go-time) and continued to warn them right up to the time of their judgment. Such is the patience and mercy of God! We get impatient waiting for an elevator for 2 minutes; God waited for His people to repent for hundreds of years!

So, Jeremiah dictates what God had said, and his buddy Baruch writes it all down.

Then Jeremiah tells Baruch to read it all to the people in the temple so that the people might repent of their evil ways and return to God. It’s interesting to note that Jeremiah couldn’t read it to the people in the temple because he was “restricted” (vs.5). Imagine that – a guy who’d been preaching God’s judgment on Israel for more than twenty years was disliked enough to be banned from the temple! But let’s face it, even today no one likes to hear that they’re doing bad things and are about to be punished, right? At least, I don’t…so I’m enough like the people of ancient Israel! What about you?

Anyway, Baruch reads God’s Word to the rest of the people as he’s told. One guy who heard it all, runs off and tells the king’s officials what he’d heard. They tell Baruch to come and read it all to them. Now, their reaction here is noteworthy:

‘When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.”‘ (vs.16, ESV [italics added]).

Then they tell Baruch to go and hide himself and Jeremiah, and not let anyone know where they are. Why would they need to hide? Well, they were bearing unpleasant truth, and they were already disliked! And this king, Jehoiakim, had already hunted down one of God’s prophets in Egypt (a guy named Uriah), brought him back to Judah and had him executed for the same message Jeremiah was preaching (Jeremiah 26:20-23). So, you can see, this guy had a serious problem with people who told him what he didn’t want to hear!

Then the officials get the king to listen to God’s Word to Jeremiah…and remember, God’s Word is a warning of punishment, but also a message of forgiveness if they will repent of the evil they were practicing! So it isn’t just a “You’re-doomed-and-there’s-nothing-you-can-do-about-it” thing; there was great hope in God’s message, but it required the hearers to humble themselves, which is something no one likes to do. Right? No one likes to admit they are wrong, let alone practicing evil!

Well, the king listens to only “three or four columns” (vs.23) of God’s Word, and then cuts it up and throws it into his fireplace. Verse 24 tells us that even after hearing God’s Word, the king and all his servants who heard it were not afraid and did not repent, even though his officials pleaded with him not to burn the scroll. On top of this, the king sends out some thugs to look for Jeremiah and Baruch (but God hid them).

The result of Jehoiakim’s heart toward God’s Word was a pronouncement against him rather than the forgiveness and blessing promised for repentance. God ends up telling Jeremiah to have the original scroll rewritten, but to add to it that Jehoiakim would die in dishonour, that he would have no one to sit on the throne of David after him, and that the people of Judah would endure the calamity that God was bringing on them because they did not listen to His warning.

Now, how does this apply to us today?

Well, I was struck by my own tendency in a couple of things:

1. The tendency to not associate with people who speak uncomfortable truth, and gravitate toward people who speak nice, comfy things that are only half-true (if there is any truth at all).

2. The tendency to interpret God’s Word according to my desires rather than take God at His Word. After all, I want what I want…and I want it now!

3. The tendency to live according to the parts of God’s Word that I like, and reject the parts of God’s Word that I don’t like.

The truth to us today is uncomfortable - there is impending calamity. God’s Word says we are to be holy, just like God is holy. The truth today is the same as it has always been – we cannot measure up to this standard of holiness. He is perfect, and we miss this mark of perfection because of sin…even one “small” sin is really a massive sin when measured next to ultimate perfection! Therefore, the Bible rightly says,

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12, ESV).

We have all sinned and therefore we’ve all fallen short of that standard of holiness that is required for fellowship with God (Romans 3:23).

And today, just like ancient Israel, we are facing judgment. One day we will face God and try to convince Him we aren’t broken pottery that isn’t good for anything anymore; we will try to justify why we shouldn’t be destroyed, why we should be left broken and without the ability to perform our proper function. After all, when a tool of ours breaks and is no longer useful, or a glass breaks and is no longer able to hold water, we just throw it away and it is scrapped. It doesn’t do what it is supposed to do and is therefore useless. There is nothing else for it except to be done away with. Today, just like ancient Israel, we cut up God’s Word and throw it in the fire of our own desires rather than listening to it and living according to it. Today, just like ancient Israel, we seek to silence those who speak all of God’s Word because it requires our submission. So today, just like ancient Israel, we are being warned; warned that one day there will be a reckoning, one day God will look over His creation and destroy forever those broken, worthless pieces.

But today, just like ancient Israel, there is also hope!

Israel was to repent and cry out to God for forgiveness and cleansing and a different life. Just as there is a second option for a broken tool or a broken dish, there is a second option for broken people! A tool or dish can be thrown away and destroyed ultimately, or it can be fixed! And so, we too can be restored to fellowship with God! “But it requires righteousness,” you say, “the righteousness of a holy God! And I am not righteous! I am sinful! What hope do I have?”

We can fall upon the righteousness of another, upon the very righteousness of this same holy God! God became man in the person of Jesus Christ and, taking on the likeness of sinful flesh (our human form), became an offering for our sin – He lived perfectly sinlessly before God, and therefore is able to approach God Himself without any blemish or corruption. He is in no danger of destruction because of His complete righteousness! In Him there is nothing broken that needs to be fixed or discarded! It is His righteousness that we need in order to be considered whole before God!

How do we attain this righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ?

It is by faith. Romans 3:21 says,

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” (ESV, italics added).

And John, the disciple that Jesus loved and author of the gospel of John and Revelation, writes,

“but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31, ESV [italics added]).

Now, be aware of what faith in Jesus Christ is. There is a difference between consenting to the truth that Jesus is God’s Son and the Saviour of the world, and putting your faith and trust in Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. James, Jesus’ own half-brother (full son of Joseph and Mary, as opposed to Jesus who was of only Mary’s bloodline being conceived of the Holy Spirit, not Joseph), writes in James 1:22,

“But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (ESV). 

This doesn’t mean that we earn God’s favour or our salvation through doing good works, or through how obedient we can be. What this means is that if you have been saved, if you are one of God’s, if you do have the spirit of Christ in you (Romans 8:9), you will see the fruit of obedience to God’s Word, to Jesus Christ (John 1:1-14), in your life. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Proof of a genuine faith shows up in a changed life! True faith, true trust that Jesus has done what is necessary to justify us before our holy God will always show up in love for Him and surrender to what He says! True faith takes God at His Word! True faith submits us to His authority and lordship!

We can’t earn God’s favour – He has made all things and there is nothing we can do to impress Him – but we have the opportunity to accept His favour!

So, just like ancient Israel, today we need to heed God’s Word and trust Jesus’ righteousness for a right relationship with God. As Jeremiah urged Israel to return to God, so I urge you to seek God while He may be found! Come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and master, and you will know Him as your saviour as well!

And instead of cutting up God’s Word to fit our fleshly desires, instead embrace God’s life-giving Word, His Christ, and live!

God says,

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1-2, ESV [italics added]).

at His feet,

jae