Thursday, May 04, 2006
TRUE CHURCH?
Vv 28-30. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. 30. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
It is easy, in America today, to find a “church” that will take you as you are and make you a member. The only problem here is that sitting in a church will not make one a Christian any more than sitting in a garage make one an automobile. The writer of Hebrews, speaking of the Hebrew people wandering in the wilderness, gives warning: Heb. 3:9-12 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. 10. "Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways; 11. As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest. 12. Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.
MacArthur writes, “To intellectually acknowledge Christ’s deity and Lordship is a dangerous thing if it does not lead to true faith, because it gives a person the false confidence of belonging to Christ.” Churches today are remiss in proclaiming the whole truth and discipline. One can hardly find much difference between the world outside and the populace inside her walls. However, where the whole truth of scripture is proclaimed, obeyed, and adored, there is where one will find the true church.
The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation By Spirit and the Word”
From Heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.
Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation of peace for evermore;
Till, with the vision glorious, Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great victorious Shall be the Church at rest.
It is easy, in America today, to find a “church” that will take you as you are and make you a member. The only problem here is that sitting in a church will not make one a Christian any more than sitting in a garage make one an automobile. The writer of Hebrews, speaking of the Hebrew people wandering in the wilderness, gives warning: Heb. 3:9-12 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. 10. "Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways; 11. As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest. 12. Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.
MacArthur writes, “To intellectually acknowledge Christ’s deity and Lordship is a dangerous thing if it does not lead to true faith, because it gives a person the false confidence of belonging to Christ.” Churches today are remiss in proclaiming the whole truth and discipline. One can hardly find much difference between the world outside and the populace inside her walls. However, where the whole truth of scripture is proclaimed, obeyed, and adored, there is where one will find the true church.
The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation By Spirit and the Word”
From Heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died.
Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation of peace for evermore;
Till, with the vision glorious, Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great victorious Shall be the Church at rest.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
THE INVITATION
The invitation is now given:
Vv 28-30. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. 30. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
The King calls out to all those who will listen, “Come to Me!” This is a call to man for his salvation. John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. Coming to Christ means submitting to His Lordship. He invites those around Him an avenue of escape after pronouncing the severe indictment upon the local cities. The escape is to flee the popular religious system and simply come to Me! Calvin says, “Hypocrites give themselves no concern about Christ, because they are intoxicated with their own righteousness, and neither hunger nor thirst for His grace.”
Jesus is done with the religious and thus turns to all those who are weary and heavy-laden with the scribal and religious mandates and regulations that proved to be unbearable. The weary and heavy-laden are desperate because they know that in their own ability they cannot please God. He becomes the babe and disposes of all his resources and turns to Christ. Weary – kopiao – is to labor to the point of exhaustion internally and is coupled with the external burden of being heavy-laden that one is totally spent in the mental and physical sense.
The idea expressed is that of repentance: a 180 degree turn from one’s present life of mental and physical exhaustion in their efforts to please God that always falls short. These are those who respond to Jesus invitation, “Come to Me!” These specifically are those who are weary and heavy-laden. Upon that response He promises, “And I will give you rest.”
Rest is not totally understood in a negative sense of the lack of fear, anxiety, and despair, but in the positive sense of peace and comfort knowing in mind and heart the assurance of salvation. Again I emphasize that one can easily be stimulated intellectually by the objective truth taught in the scriptures whose depths will never be plumbed. But, intellectual knowledge is not heart knowledge unless it holds to true faith. James 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Vv 28-30. "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. 30. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
The King calls out to all those who will listen, “Come to Me!” This is a call to man for his salvation. John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. Coming to Christ means submitting to His Lordship. He invites those around Him an avenue of escape after pronouncing the severe indictment upon the local cities. The escape is to flee the popular religious system and simply come to Me! Calvin says, “Hypocrites give themselves no concern about Christ, because they are intoxicated with their own righteousness, and neither hunger nor thirst for His grace.”
Jesus is done with the religious and thus turns to all those who are weary and heavy-laden with the scribal and religious mandates and regulations that proved to be unbearable. The weary and heavy-laden are desperate because they know that in their own ability they cannot please God. He becomes the babe and disposes of all his resources and turns to Christ. Weary – kopiao – is to labor to the point of exhaustion internally and is coupled with the external burden of being heavy-laden that one is totally spent in the mental and physical sense.
The idea expressed is that of repentance: a 180 degree turn from one’s present life of mental and physical exhaustion in their efforts to please God that always falls short. These are those who respond to Jesus invitation, “Come to Me!” These specifically are those who are weary and heavy-laden. Upon that response He promises, “And I will give you rest.”
Rest is not totally understood in a negative sense of the lack of fear, anxiety, and despair, but in the positive sense of peace and comfort knowing in mind and heart the assurance of salvation. Again I emphasize that one can easily be stimulated intellectually by the objective truth taught in the scriptures whose depths will never be plumbed. But, intellectual knowledge is not heart knowledge unless it holds to true faith. James 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
THE EXCLUSIVITY OF CHRIST
V27. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Here Jesus gives commentary on His doxology found in verse 25. He now turns to the crowd and explains the election of God before He gives an open invitation in verses 29-30.
"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father is a bold statement in that Jesus is claiming co-equality with God by calling Him, “My Father.” All things would have to include the miracles performed that obviously obtained their power from outside the physical realm. Jesus power had its origination in the Father as He plainly states.
No one knows the Son, except the Father is the bridge that spans heaven and earth. There is a direct line of communion so perfect between the Son and Father that man cannot comprehend. Divinity is something arbitrary to man; he can understand the concept but will never have a perfect understanding because he can only see God by looking at Jesus. Man’s dilemma is the sin factor; his nature. Because of this nature he cannot fully grasp the magnitude of grace and redemption we have through the Son.
And the contrary is also true; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son. A relationship from eternity past has existed within the Godhead that could not be known to man unless God was willing to forfeit His privacy to let man in on His existence. John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was in the beginning with God. 3. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Our needs, as sinners, are known to God alone. We may play our little charades and fool those around us but we cannot fool the omniscient God. Our thoughts are laid bare to His eyes and our motives seeking to glorify ourselves will not escape His understanding.
Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. This statement is Jesus’ claim to be the sole mediator of the knowledge of God. This is not saying that He is stingy or reluctant to reveal the Father but, from start to finish, salvation is based on sovereign grace. Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Calvin writes, “The passage may be thus summed up: First, it is the gift of the Father, that the Son is known, because by His Spirit He opens the eyes of our mind to discern the glory of Christ, which otherwise would have been hidden from us. Secondly, the Father, who dwells in inaccessible light, and is in Himself incomprehensible, is revealed to us by the Son, because He is the lively image of Him, so that it is in vain to seek for Him elsewhere. And, Martin Luther has said, “Here the bottom falls out of all merit, all powers and abilities of reason or the free will men dream of, and it all counts nothing before God. Christ must do and give everything.”
Here Jesus gives commentary on His doxology found in verse 25. He now turns to the crowd and explains the election of God before He gives an open invitation in verses 29-30.
"All things have been handed over to Me by My Father is a bold statement in that Jesus is claiming co-equality with God by calling Him, “My Father.” All things would have to include the miracles performed that obviously obtained their power from outside the physical realm. Jesus power had its origination in the Father as He plainly states.
No one knows the Son, except the Father is the bridge that spans heaven and earth. There is a direct line of communion so perfect between the Son and Father that man cannot comprehend. Divinity is something arbitrary to man; he can understand the concept but will never have a perfect understanding because he can only see God by looking at Jesus. Man’s dilemma is the sin factor; his nature. Because of this nature he cannot fully grasp the magnitude of grace and redemption we have through the Son.
And the contrary is also true; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son. A relationship from eternity past has existed within the Godhead that could not be known to man unless God was willing to forfeit His privacy to let man in on His existence. John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was in the beginning with God. 3. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Our needs, as sinners, are known to God alone. We may play our little charades and fool those around us but we cannot fool the omniscient God. Our thoughts are laid bare to His eyes and our motives seeking to glorify ourselves will not escape His understanding.
Nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. This statement is Jesus’ claim to be the sole mediator of the knowledge of God. This is not saying that He is stingy or reluctant to reveal the Father but, from start to finish, salvation is based on sovereign grace. Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Calvin writes, “The passage may be thus summed up: First, it is the gift of the Father, that the Son is known, because by His Spirit He opens the eyes of our mind to discern the glory of Christ, which otherwise would have been hidden from us. Secondly, the Father, who dwells in inaccessible light, and is in Himself incomprehensible, is revealed to us by the Son, because He is the lively image of Him, so that it is in vain to seek for Him elsewhere. And, Martin Luther has said, “Here the bottom falls out of all merit, all powers and abilities of reason or the free will men dream of, and it all counts nothing before God. Christ must do and give everything.”
Monday, May 01, 2006
WHO GETS THE GLORY?
Vv. 25-27. At that time Jesus answered and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. 26. "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight. 27. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
The scribes and Pharisees were prime examples of wise and intelligent in which these things were hidden. The religion of Christianity is not head knowledge but heart knowledge. The babes are those who have no confidence in themselves and place their utter dependence on their crucified Savior’s love for them.
V26. "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.
The goal of all Creation is to bring glory to God. This is exactly what the gospel does. When men respond in repentance to the message that Jesus brings, God is glorified. On the other hand, when men reject the gospel they seek to glorify themselves. The fact remains that God is glorified even when He justly condemns these who reject His offer of mercy and grace.
Calvin aptly says, “All unbelievers swell with a wicked confidence in themselves… [They have] diabolical pride, [which] cannot endure to hear Christ speaking to them from above. God reprobates those who have a higher opinion of themselves than they ought to have.” When he speaks of the babes he says, “[In this case] human wisdom is justly thrown down, that it may not obscure the praise of divine grace.”
The scribes and Pharisees were prime examples of wise and intelligent in which these things were hidden. The religion of Christianity is not head knowledge but heart knowledge. The babes are those who have no confidence in themselves and place their utter dependence on their crucified Savior’s love for them.
V26. "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.
The goal of all Creation is to bring glory to God. This is exactly what the gospel does. When men respond in repentance to the message that Jesus brings, God is glorified. On the other hand, when men reject the gospel they seek to glorify themselves. The fact remains that God is glorified even when He justly condemns these who reject His offer of mercy and grace.
Calvin aptly says, “All unbelievers swell with a wicked confidence in themselves… [They have] diabolical pride, [which] cannot endure to hear Christ speaking to them from above. God reprobates those who have a higher opinion of themselves than they ought to have.” When he speaks of the babes he says, “[In this case] human wisdom is justly thrown down, that it may not obscure the praise of divine grace.”
Sunday, April 30, 2006
THE REVELATION
Vv. 25-27. At that time Jesus answered and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. 26. "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight. 27. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
We now find a striking contrast to the woes that Jesus pronounced on the apostate cities. We might say that Jesus has been a combination of indignant and exasperated at the indifference of the people to whom He was to be King.
At that time Jesus answered and said, in the form of a doxology, as a prayer to God His Father. The Semitic terminology: “Answered and said”, was an idiom meaning that He spoke out openly. We find Jesus openly and publicly carrying on this inter-Trinitarian prayer of thanksgiving for His Father’s sovereign will in the physical realm as he gives praise to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus leaves no doubt as to whom He is addressing before the multitude of people. In this also it is a claim to His personal deity.
The doxology now changes from the physical realm to the spiritual. God sees no boundaries between the two realms and they hold no effect on His sovereign will. God the Father is Lord of heaven and earth and Lord over the spiritual realm as well. Speaking of those who repent as well as those who reject His gospel, He says, “Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes.” Salvation is what is in view in this passage; those who respond with repentance are saved, and those who find a better option are lost. The wise and intelligent is not referring to mental capacity but to a proud spiritual attitude of independence. The babes are those who recognize their dependence and have a humble spiritual attitude. The humble spiritual attitude is not necessarily hindered by an intelligent mental capacity. Jim Elliot said, “It is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep for that which he cannot loose!”
We now find a striking contrast to the woes that Jesus pronounced on the apostate cities. We might say that Jesus has been a combination of indignant and exasperated at the indifference of the people to whom He was to be King.
At that time Jesus answered and said, in the form of a doxology, as a prayer to God His Father. The Semitic terminology: “Answered and said”, was an idiom meaning that He spoke out openly. We find Jesus openly and publicly carrying on this inter-Trinitarian prayer of thanksgiving for His Father’s sovereign will in the physical realm as he gives praise to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus leaves no doubt as to whom He is addressing before the multitude of people. In this also it is a claim to His personal deity.
The doxology now changes from the physical realm to the spiritual. God sees no boundaries between the two realms and they hold no effect on His sovereign will. God the Father is Lord of heaven and earth and Lord over the spiritual realm as well. Speaking of those who repent as well as those who reject His gospel, He says, “Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes.” Salvation is what is in view in this passage; those who respond with repentance are saved, and those who find a better option are lost. The wise and intelligent is not referring to mental capacity but to a proud spiritual attitude of independence. The babes are those who recognize their dependence and have a humble spiritual attitude. The humble spiritual attitude is not necessarily hindered by an intelligent mental capacity. Jim Elliot said, “It is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep for that which he cannot loose!”
