What Would You Do in an Overwhelming Flood?

Four weeks ago, Hurricane Helene dumped massive amounts of rain in western North Carolina, destroying communities like Chimney Rock and Swannanoa, carrying away houses and vehicles, making impassable hundreds of roads, disrupting water and electric service, and trapping many thousands on rooftops or high ground. Weather forecasters accurately predicted the hurricane’s track and were not far off in rainfall estimates – but residents had lived through numerous times of heavy rainfall. Few anticipated accurately the danger, the destruction.

What would you do if caught in an overwhelming flood?

The prophet Nahum employs this imagery. Writing during the early decades of Jeremiah’s ministry or slightly before, God shows the prophet His coming judgment on the Assyrian empire, which had dominated the region for well over a hundred years. Here is the ESV of Nahum 1:7-8:

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. 8 But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Consider the opening phrase of verse 8 – with (or “in”) an overwhelming/overflowing flood. The Hebrew is ambiguous: Does the phrase modify how God will make a complete end of His adversaries (as reflected in the ESV), or does it continue the thought of verse 7 (“He knows those who take refuge in Him in an overwhelming flood”)?

It is not uncommon in Hebrew for a phrase to look forward and backward (this is called a Janus phrase, after the Roman god whose name gives us “January;” Janus has two faces, one looking forward, the other back.) Thus some scholars suggest that the author intends the phrase to modify both verses: “He knows those who take refuge in him in an overwhelming flood, but with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of His adversaries.”

With that rendering, what lesson do these verses hold for us?

We all will face an overwhelming flood. For some – such as our neighbors in western North Carolina – the flood will be literal. For the rest, the flood may concern our health, or our relationships, or our finances, or our country falling apart. Then all of us will face an overwhelming flood at the time of death.

What will you do when, inevitably, you are caught in such an overwhelming flood?

Nahum assures us: Our God is good. He always displays compassion and mercy to His people, especially in times of trouble. He is our stronghold, our fortress, our Deliverer and Savior. So when the flood comes, we must run to that fortress; we must seek refuge in Him through Jesus. Nahum tells us God “knows” those who do this – He knows our trials and troubles, He knows our weaknesses and sorrows, He cares for us and watches over us.

Verse 8 then shows us what happens to the others, to those who do not take refuge in Him. That overwhelming flood makes a complete end of them. The flood plunges them into darkness: without light, without hope, without relief.

Imagine a man in western NC whose house overlooks a lovely, bubbling brook. As Helene intensifies, the waters rise – but still do not look overly threatening. But little does he know that fallen trees are collecting against a bridge a quarter mile upstream. In a moment, the bridge collapses and the waters rise to the second floor of his house. He climbs to the roof as the current beats against the house. He knows that soon the force will rip the house off its foundation and sweep it downstream.

Just then, he hears a rumbling above him. He looks – a helicopter! And the pilot is lowering a harness to save him from the flood!

Will he put on the harness? Will he trust the rescuer?

Or will he turn away – and have the flood carry him away into darkness?

That is our situation. We will face a flood. We cannot predict exactly when it will come or what it will look like, but it is inevitable. We cannot protect ourselves. Will we depend on our one and only possible rescuer – Jesus – or will the flood carry us away into darkness?

Furthermore, our Rescuer is not only our fortress, our protector. He is also good. He is also gracious. He is also merciful. He is worth more than all the world has to offer.

So take refuge in Him! Today!

Then you will know what to do when the overwhelming flood comes upon you.

(A footnote to Nahum 1:8 in the NET was especially helpful in prompting these thoughts.)

The Necessary Prerequisite for Killing Sin

Over the next nine weeks, our adult Core Seminar will consider the command for us to kill sin, as stated by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:13:

If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

You are responsible for killing sin. Yes, you must do it by the Spirit – we’ll discuss what that means on Sunday mornings. Yet you personally must decide that sin should be killed.

But many of us do not want to kill sin. Why not?

One important part of the problem: We have an unbiblical view of sin. We will not hate sin unless we hold the biblical view.

Many think of sin simply as the breaking of a rule. Some rules – such as speed limits – are to an extent arbitrary. We may approve of speed limits that prevent other drivers from traveling 120mph on I-85 – but if I’m on a long, straight section of interstate in good weather with no cars behind me or in front of me, I may be able to drive well over the speed limit without negative consequences.

When we think of sin in this way, we easily rationalize our disobedience:

  • “A little violation of this rule doesn’t really matter.”
  • “I can disobey without getting caught”
  • “I can be careful to avoid the potential negative consequences”
  • “There are aspects of my situation that make this rule inapplicable.”
  • Or, “Sure it would be bad if I were to do this long-term. But once? No problem.”

But biblically, sin is not at all like the speed limit.

Consider these two aspects of sin:

First: Sin is personal rebellion, an affront to the glory of God.

God created man in His image, for His glory (Genesis 1:26-27, Isaiah 43:6-7). We thus are obligated to fulfill the purpose of our creation by living in such a way that we show what He is like.

In the Garden, Adam and Eve do not break an arbitrary rule. Rather, by believing the serpent’s lies and disobeying God, they imply that God is not good, that He is not loving, that He is not wise, that He does not have their best interests at heart. God had given them all they could possibly want or need – and they chose to think He was miserly, conniving, constraining them (see D.A. Carson’s insightful summary of what Eve should have said to the serpent). This is rebellion against the One to whom they owe everything, even life itself.

If we are to hate sin, we too must see it as rebellion against the One who has given us everything.

Second: Sin is the destruction of joy, rather than the path to joy.

We see this too in the Genesis account. Adam and Eve think they will profit by eating the forbidden fruit. But instead, they lose everything: Their sweet relationship with God, their open and trusting relationship with each other (and eventually with their children), their fulfilling work, and even their bodily immortality.

King David and our Lord Jesus summarize this point well:

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11, emphasis added).

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44, emphasis added).

We do not become like God by rebelling against God; we do not find joy and fulfill our reason for existence by despising Him and His Word. We find love, joy, and peace in walking with Him – what Adam and Eve had forsook – even when that means turning our backs on the pseudo-pleasures that the world and the devil offer us.

Consider the following passages that drive home the biblical view of sin (ESV, emphasis added). Meditate on them to increase your hatred of sin. Then join us in Core Seminar on Sunday mornings as we consider how we individually and collectively can put sin to death.

Psalm1: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 81:13-16: Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

Proverbs 7:7-27: I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.” With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Proverbs 8:32-36: [Wisdom is speaking] “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Proverbs 9:13-18: The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Proverbs 15:32: Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

Isaiah 55:1-3: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Jeremiah 2:12-13: Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Matthew 6:30-33: [Jesus says] “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” [See 1 Kings 17:1-16 for an example of this truth lived out.]

Romans 6:19-23: I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Galatians 5:22-23: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control [that is, Christlike character, displayed to the glory of God]; against such things there is no law.

Philippians 3:8: I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

Revelation 3:14-22: “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”

Once you have deepened your hatred for sin, hold on securely to this fundamental Gospel truth:

1 John 2:1-2: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Don’t Forget Your Name!

Two scenarios:

First: Someone approaches you. You recognize the face as belonging to an acquaintance – but your brain struggles to remember the person’s name, or even the context of your relationship. You speak for several minutes, smiling and acting like you know the person, hoping that at long last the right name will come to mind.

Has that happened to you? If you’re like me, it will become more frequent as you age!

Second scenario: Now imagine that you wake up from a deep sleep. You find yourself in a bed you don’t recognize. You look around the room and see nothing familiar. You arise, look into a nearby mirror, and have no idea who you are. You have forgotten your name.

How frightening that would be!

Now return to the first scenario – but instead of forgetting the name of an acquaintance, you have forgotten the Name of God.

Can that happen?

Recall that God reveals His Name “Yahweh” to Moses at the burning bush, and says, “This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Exodus 3:15). To remember God’s Name consists of much more than remembering a label (like “Coty” or “Jacob”). God’s people are to remember Who He is, His revealed character, His attributes, His promises.

Over the centuries, the people of Israel often forget God’s Name in this sense. Indeed, God says that false prophets “think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another” (Jeremiah 23:27). Those so-called prophets use the label, “Yahweh;” when speaking their own thoughts, they say, “declares Yahweh” (Jeremiah 23:31). But they are twisting and distorting God’s revelation of Himself, and in this way make the people forget the real character of God – His Name.

We must remember God’s Name – who He is, who He has revealed Himself to be. We must remind each other of God’s character, and help one another to hold onto those truths when all around us prompts us to forget. So we preach the Word, we counsel the Word, we speak God’s Word when we sit at home, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise (Deuteronomy 6:7).

Thus: To forget God’s Name is to forget Who He is.

Can we forget our own name in that sense?

Followers of Jesus face that temptation frequently. Oh, unlike the person with amnesia we remember what is written on our name-tag. But we forget our identity in Christ. We forget that we are citizens of His Kingdom. We forget that we are chosen and holy and loved (Colossians 3:12). We forget that the very purpose of our existence is to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

Now, if someone asks us, “Does God love you?” we will give the right answer. We don’t forget in that sense. But as the Israelites forgot God’s character and their own position before Him, we face the temptation to forget God’s Name and the implications of being part of His family. We then make choices that are inconsistent with those truths – and thereby fail through our lives and our words to proclaim His excellencies.

So don’t forget your name! Go to the Word to remind yourself. Remind others of their name. Like Peter, see your task as stirring up one another by way of reminder (2 Peter 1:13).

Then, may we live out that Name together, so that all around us may know God’s Name – to the glory of the Name of Jesus.

[Michael O’Brien’s novel Island of the World and Andrew Peterson’s song “Dancing in the Minefields” prompted this devotion. In both, spouses say something like, “When I forget my name, remind me.”]

Lyrics that Lead Us to Worship: “What a Beautiful Name,” alt.

“Worship is acting, thinking, and feeling in a way that reflects the glory of God.” So states one of our core documents, composed before Desiring God Community Church even had that name. A later blog post based on that document draws out the meaning of 1 Corinthians 10:31 (“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”): “Make all of your life worship! Value Christ above all, and display His value in all your outward actions – even seemingly trivial actions like eating and drinking.”

Therefore our Sunday service is not the one time in the week we worship God – rather, that service should glorify God through our acts, thoughts, and feelings both during the service and throughout the following week as the truths sung and read and prayed and proclaimed dwell richly in us.

Consequently, the DGCC elders prepare not only the sermon but the entire service to display accurately the character of God and the excellencies of Jesus, aiming to prompt our right response to His love, mercy, grace, and majesty.

On Sunday, the service included “What a Beautiful Name” (Hillsong, 2017), which states in the second verse:
“You didn’t want heaven without us
So Jesus, You brought heaven down.”

Several of you raised questions about whether or not those lyrics accurately proclaim biblical truth.

These lines communicate to many that there is something lacking in the joy and fellowship of the Trinity apart from creation – that God needs us to be fully happy, in a similar way to Adam needing “a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:20).  But God reveals Himself in Scripture as full, as overflowing in love and joy and goodness. Out of that overflow He creates and redeems – not because of any need or lack within Him.

John Piper helpfully addressed these lyrics shortly after the song was written; that piece prompted some rejoinders (here is one).

We have rarely sung this song because of those lyrics – but we did sing it this Sunday. Why?

Because behind the problematic lyrics there is a precious biblical truth that both Jacob and I have been emphasizing recently: Our God is not an angry authority who only grudgingly lets us off from the punishment we deserve. Neither is our God a heavenly killjoy just waiting for us to mess up so He can zap us. In Jesus, we are His treasured possession. We are chosen, holy, and loved (Colossians 3:12).  He takes pleasure in us (Psalm 147:11, 149:4). He rejoices over us with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17). The Father loves us even as He loves Jesus (John 17:23). He creates us in His image, He redeems us so that we might show forth that image, and He delights to see us fulfill His purpose in creation.

So what can we do with a song that includes a precious biblical truth, but obscures it with problematic lyrics?

We could avoid singing it.

Or we could alter the lyrics.

There is much precedent in church history for altering lyrics. For example, the first line of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” was originally “Hark, how all the welkin rings.” Today, when making alterations, we note that the text has been changed by including “alt” after the title.

In this case, we can change the clause from a negative into a positive: “You wanted to share heaven with us.” That states the precious biblical truth clearly while maintaining the meter.

The subsequent line – “So Jesus you brought heaven down” – also is problematic. Scripture doesn’t use that metaphor. Rather, Jesus says repeatedly He came down from heaven (see for example John 6:33-58).

So we can replace both lines with:
“You wanted to share heaven with us
So Jesus You died on the cross.”

Those lines then flow well into the rest of the verse:
“My sin was great, Your love was greater –
What could separate us now?”

We plan to use these altered lines when we sing this song in the future.

Jesus became incarnate, died, and rose as God’s superabundant grace and love overflowed in the redemption of rebels – including you, if you trust and treasure Jesus. Fear not – it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you His Kingdom (Luke 12:32). His goodness and love will pursue you all the days of your life, and you will dwell in His house forever (Psalm 23:6).

May this biblical truth dwell in you richly indeed – and may we continue to sing and read and pray and proclaim God’s revelation clearly, so that we might act, think, and feel in a way that gives glory to God every day of our lives.

 

God Delights to Redeem His People

“Praise our triune God, who delights to redeem us!” That was our service theme last Sunday. Through Jacob’s sermon and our reading of Ruth chapter 3, we saw Boaz’s delight in serving as Ruth’s redeemer – and subsequently recognized the picture of God’s delight in redeeming His people.

We face constant temptations to think differently about God. When we sin, when we fail, when we neglect prayer or Bible reading, we often feel as if God is annoyed with us, frustrated with us, ready to have nothing more to do with us.

But our God is the happy God. Whatever He pleases, He does (Psalm 135:6). He overflows with joy within the Trinity.

God is pleased to spread His joy by redeeming a people for His own possession, who will receive and then display and proclaim His love and mercy, His grace and truth (1 Peter 2:9-10). We His people become His intimate family, sharing in His joy (Psalm 16:11, Matthew 25:21, 1 Peter 1:8-9).

But we all are sinful, are fallen, while God is holy; He is “light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). He thus is the God of perfect justice; every sin must be paid for. So if we are to be in His family, there must be a payment for our sins – the redemption price.

So Jesus provides that payment. Indeed, through the sorrow and pain of the cross, Jesus knew the “joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2), the joy of redeeming God’s people for His glory.

Thus, our redemption is God’s work from beginning to end. He delights to accomplish that redemption. He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust, that we are fallen (Psalm 103:14). And so through the Gospel He provides a way for us, sinful as we are, to be His delight. We become like Him in hating sin – we must be holy, for He is holy (Leviticus 11:45). Yet when we commit sin, we come to Him in confession and repentance, relying on Jesus’ sacrifice, knowing that in Him the Father accepts us completely (1 John 1:9-2:2, Romans 8:1).

Reflect on these great truths. Meditate on the God who delights to redeem His people. And – whatever you do, however you fail – know that God delights to redeem you for Himself.

To help you in those reflections and meditations, here are additional Scriptures on this theme. (Unless otherwise indicated, all Scriptures are ESV. Emphasis added.)

  • Micah 7:18-20 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
  • Jeremiah 32:37-41 Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
  • Psalm 35:27 Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare [shalom] of his servant!”
  • Psalm 147:10-11 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, 11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
  • Psalm 149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.
  • Isaiah 43:25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
  • Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”
  • Psalm 103:13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
  • Psalm 130:7-8 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.  (NET 7b-8: [He] is more than willing to deliver. 8 He will deliver Israel from all the consequences of their sins.)
  • Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you have been saved– 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
  • Mark 1:40-42 NET Now a leper came to [Jesus] and fell to his knees, asking for help. “If you are willing, you can make me clean,” he said. 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” 42 The leprosy left him at once, and he was clean.

So join the leper in saying to Jesus, “If you are willing, you can make me clean!” He will gladly say to you: “I am willing! Be clean! Welcome to my intimate family!”

Not One Word

Has anyone told you they would do something – then failed to do it?

We all experience such disappointments time and again. Why?

The person may have lied, making a promise while having no intention of carrying it out.

Or perhaps they were not aware at the time that they could never fulfill the promise. (One of my children, after a discussion at age six of the nature and consequences of sin, stated with wide eyes and complete sincerity, “I will never, ever sin!”)

Alternately, although sincere when stating their intentions, circumstances may have changed:

  • They may change their mind and no longer want to fulfill the promise;
  • They may have forgotten their promise;
  • Or although they remember the promise and want to fulfill it, they may no longer be able to. Perhaps they have lost the money they planned to give you. Or their health has failed so they can’t take you on the promised trip. Or they have died.

Thus, people often fail us. Consequently, we learn to be skeptical about promises others make.

We wrongly also become skeptical about promises God makes.

Scripture gives us plenty of examples of humans failing to live up to their promises – promises made to one another, and promises made to God. But the Bible assures us: God always fulfills every promise.

The book of Joshua underlines this point. The rescued Israelites have promised repeatedly to obey all that God says (Exodus 19:8, 24:3 & 7). Yet they have made and worshiped a golden calf; they have grumbled and complained and have wanted to choose a different leader to bring them back to slavery in Egypt.

What about God? Joshua 21:45 provides a summary:

Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Note that the identical Hebrew root underlies “word,” “promises,” and “made.” We get a taste of the way an ancient Israelite would hear this verse by rendering it: “Not one word of all the good words that Yahweh had worded to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”

Not one! Every word God spoke proved to be true!

And that is still the case. God will fulfill His every promise. For God is not liable to the human weaknesses listed above that lead us to make promises we don’t fulfill. Consider them in turn:

  1. God doesn’t lie.
    1. Numbers 23:19: “God is not man, that he should lie”
    2. 1 Samuel 15:29: “The Glory of Israel will not lie”
    3. 2 Samuel 7:28: “O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true”
    4. Titus 1:2: God, who never lies
    5. Hebrews 6:18: It is impossible for God to lie
  2. God doesn’t forget. We often feel as if He does, and Scripture records such feelings among those who are His (see, for example, Lamentations 5:20, Psalm 42:9, Psalm 77:7-9, and Isaiah 49:14). But God tells His people, “You are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me” (Isaiah 44:21). Furthermore, He addresses their doubts directly in Isaiah 49: Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”
  3. God doesn’t change His mind.
    1. Numbers 23:19 again: “God is not … a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
    2. Romans 11:29: The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
  4. Nothing can prevent God from fulfilling His promises
    1. Genesis 18:14: “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
    2. Jeremiah 32:27: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”
    3. Job 42:2: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
    4. Luke 1:37: “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
    5. Mark 10:27: “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
    6. Mark 14:36 “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.”
  5. Even we cannot prevent God from fulfilling His promises in us and through us

We see this in the Old Testament in the repeated failures of the people of Israel – yet God’s promises still prove true. Not one word of all God’s good words to them fails! We see this similarly in Jesus’ disciples: they fail Him, they desert Him, Peter denies Him – yet He indeed makes them fishers of men, and builds His church through such weak, fallible humans.

 So listen to God’s Words. Every one is true. Every one is sincere. He will fulfill every one.

When you are tempted to think of God as if He were a man, when you are beginning to doubt His promises, reflect on the Scriptures cited above. Consider the context of each. And have confidence: God’s Word is more certain than anything in all creation: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

Meditating on the Cross

No event in history is more important than the cross of Jesus Christ. Yet the world around us distracts us from this great act of love and justice, of mercy and punishment. Thus we need times of intentional focus on this theme. In addition to our services Friday evening and Sunday morning, please take time this week to focus on the cross, and all that it entails.

Here are some resources to help you do that.

The scriptural accounts: We will read Mark’s account of the cross and the resurrection at our services. Read the other accounts also: Matthew 26-27, Luke 22-23, and John 18-19.

Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion: I have spent many a Good Friday afternoon listening to this masterpiece, which includes all of the text of Matthew’s account as well as various hymns and meditations. There are numerous recordings available on YouTube and the usual music apps. Listen especially to the account of Jesus’ dying on the cross and its immediate aftermath beginning at 5:30 of this video, and continuing to the first 2:15 minutes of this video. The links include English subtitles for the German lyrics; the text is from Matthew 27:45-54. Some consider Bach’s rendition of the centurion’s cry, “Truly this was the Son of God” the most beautiful piece in the entirety of western music.

John Piper’s narrative poem, “Pilate’s Wife”: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Pastor John wrote these poems for Advent in 2002, a few weeks after Beth and I moved to this area; I read parts to our fledgling church plant that year. Here is an excerpt from the end of part 1.

Come, children, take your fire, and light
This advent candle one. For bright
And blazing is our hope and deep
Desire that all the world would leap
To know the truth that Christ destroys
False worlds that he might fill with joys.
To know the truth that massacres
Might be forgiv’n and one who errs
A thousand times may find at last
That all his horrid sins are cast
Into the deep, and Christ, by grace,
Has made his massacre a place
Of life where even those who scorned
His face, may be with life adorned.

Bob Chilcott’s St John’s Passion. This piece, first performed in 2013, is new for me this year. In the tradition of Bach’s passions, Chilcott includes all of John’s account, intermixing the English text with hymns written between the 5th and 19th centuries. The music is all new. You can read the biblical and hymn texts via this pdf file and listen to the one-hour performance here. The musical setting for When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – the closing piece – is exceptionally beautiful. Here are the texts of three of the other hymns Chilcott uses, with links to the recordings:

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle by Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530–c. 600), translated by Percy Dearmer (1867–1936)

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,
Sing the ending of the fray;
Now above the Cross, the trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant lay:
Tell how Christ, the world’s Redeemer,
As a victim won the day.

God in pity saw man fallen,
Shamed and sunk in misery,
When he fell on death by tasting
Fruit of the forbidden tree;
Then another tree was chosen
Which the world from death should free.

Jesu, grant me this, I pray, 17th century Latin, translated by Henry Williams Baker (1821–77)

Jesu, grant me this, I pray,
Ever in thy heart to stay;
Let me evermore abide
Hidden in thy wounded side.

If the evil one prepare,
Or the world, a tempting snare,
I am safe when I abide
In thy heart and wounded side.

If the flesh, more dangerous still,
Tempt my soul to deeds of ill,
Naught I fear when I abide
In thy heart and wounded side.

Death will come one day to me;
Jesu, cast me not from thee:
Dying let me still abide
In thy heart and wounded side

There is a green hill far away by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818–95)

There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all,
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there,
He hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiv’n,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heav’n,
Saved by his precious blood,
Saved by his precious blood.

Oh, dearly, dearly has he loved,
And we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming blood,
And try his works to do,
And try his works to do.

May our Lord work though His Word, His church, and the musical gifts He has given us to highlight our sinfulness that necessitates the cross, and thereby to magnify the riches of His grace poured out on us through the death, resurrection, ascension, and return of our Lord Jesus, so that we as His people might endure in faith in Him, boasting only in the cross, Good Friday after Good Friday after Good Friday, until He returns.

You are My God – I Cannot Be My Own Master: Augustine on Psalm 143

[In the February 21 sermon on Psalms 142 and 143, I quoted from Augustine’s commentary on 143:10. As mentioned in a December blog post, we do well to interact with believers who are not our contemporaries, for they will often see in Scripture what we miss. I commend to you, therefore, these excerpts from Augustine’s comments on Psalm 143:5-11, based on this 19th century English translation. I have made some edits, updating the verb forms, generally replacing the cited Scriptures with the ESV, adding Scripture references, and clarifying some sentences. So I pray that you may profit from this 1600-year-old exposition! – Coty]

[Verse 5] In all the works of God then, and in meditation on all the works of God, [David] introduces grace, he commends grace, he boasts that he has found grace, the grace whereby we are saved without price…. Why do you boast of your own righteousness? Why lift yourself up, being ignorant of the righteousness of God? Because you contributed to your salvation? What did you contribute to being made a man? Look back then upon the Framer of your life, the Author of your substance, of your righteousness, and of your salvation: meditate upon the works of His hands, for even the righteousness in you, you will find, is the work of His hands [Ephesians 2:9-10]…. Turn from your own work, to His work Who made you; He fashioned you, and let Him refashion what He fashioned and you destroyed. For you exist because He made you; you are good – if you are – because He made you good.…

[Verse 6] And what did I do when I saw that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning [James 1:17]? When I saw this, I turned from the evil work which I had wrought in myself, and I stretched forth my hands unto You…. Indeed, my soul is as a land without water to You. Rain upon me to bring forth from me good fruit…. I can thirst for You; I cannot water myself. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to Him [Psalm 42:2], save when He has come to me?

[Verse 7a] “Answer me quickly, O Lord!” For what need of delay to inflame my thirst, when already I thirst so eagerly? You delayed the rain, that I might drink Your flow. If then You delayed for this cause, now give, for my soul is as a land without water to You…. Let Your Spirit fill me, for my spirit has failed me. This is the reason why You should quickly hear me…. I am now poor in spirit; make me blessed in the kingdom of heaven [Matthew 5:3]…. But quickly hear me, O God, rain on me, strengthen me, that I be not dust which the wind drives away from the face of the earth [Psalm 1:4]. Quickly hear me, O God; my spirit has failed: let not my need suffer longer delay…. “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” [2 Corinthians 5:17]. Old things pass away in our own spirit, they are made new in Your Spirit.

[Verse 7b] “Hide not Your face from me.” You hid it from me when I was proud. For once I was full, and in my fulness I was puffed up. Once in my fulness I said, … “I shall not be moved.” I knew not Your Righteousness, and tried to establish my own; … but from You came whatever fulness I had. And to prove to me that it was from You, You hid Your Face from me, and I was troubled. After this trouble, … then I became like a land without water to You: hide not Your Face! … Hide not Your Face from me, because, if You hide it, I shall “be like them that go down into the pit.” What does “go down into the pit” mean? … He no longer believes in Providence, or if he does believe, he thinks that he has no longer anything to do with it. He sets before himself license to sin, the reins of iniquity being let loose now that he has no hope of pardon. He does not confess his sin…. “Hide not Your face from me or I shall be like them that go down into the pit.”

[Verse 8a] “Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love, for in you I trust.” Behold, I am in the night, yet I have trusted in You, until the iniquity of the night passes away. For we have, as Peter says, “the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” [2 Peter 1:19]. He calls “morning” the time after the end of the world…. “If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience [Romans 8:25] The night requires patience, the day will give joy.

[Verse 8b] But what do we do until the morning comes? For it is not enough to hope for the morning; we must … seek Him…. Since then we must thus hope for the morning, and bear this night, and persevere in this patience until the day dawn, what meanwhile must we do here? So that you will not think you should do anything of yourself to earn your being brought to the morning, he says, “Make me know the way I should go.” That is why God lit the lamp of prophecy, that is why He sent Jesus in the vessel, as it were, of the flesh…. Walk by prophecy, … walk by the word of God. As yet you do not see the Word as He was in the beginning, God with God [John 1:1]: walk by the Form of [the Word as] a servant, and you shall be conformed to the Form of God. “For to You I lift unto up my soul.” I have lifted it up to You, not against You. With You is the Fountain of life: to You have I lifted up my soul. I have brought my soul as a vessel to the Fountain: fill me, therefore, for unto You have I lifted up my soul.

[Verse 9] “Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, for I have fled for refuge to You.” I who once fled from You, now flee to You…. I think not here of human enemies. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. But against whom?… The rulers of this world, of this darkness, the rulers of the wicked [Ephesians 6:12]; against these you wrestle. Great is your conflict, not to see your enemies, and yet to conquer. Against the rulers of this world, of this darkness, the devil, that is, and his angels….

[Verse 10a] “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.” Glorious confession! glorious rule! “For You are my God.” To another I would hasten to be re-made, if by another I was made. You are my all, for You are my God. Shall I seek a father to get an inheritance? You are my God, not only the Giver of my inheritance, but my Inheritance itself [Psalm 142:5]…. Shall I seek a patron, to obtain redemption? You are my God. Lastly, having been created, do I desire to be re-created? You are my God, my Creator, Who created me by Your Word, and re-created me by Your Word. But You created me by Your Word [the Son], Who was with You: You re-created me by Your Word, made Flesh for our sakes. Teach me then to do Your will, for You are my God. If You do not teach, I shall do my own will, and my God will abandon me. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. Teach me: for it cannot be that You are my God, and yet I am to be my own master. See how grace is commended to us. This hold fast, this drink in, this let none drive out of your hearts, lest you have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge [Romans 10:2]; lest, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish your own righteousness, you submit not yourselves to the righteousness of God [Romans 10:3]….

[Verse 10b-11] Your good Spirit, not my bad one, … shall lead me into the right land. For my bad spirit has led me into a crooked land. And what have I deserved? What can be reckoned as my good works without Your aid, through which I might … be worthy to be led by Your Spirit into the right land? What are my works? … Listen, then, with all your power, to the commendation of Grace, whereby you are saved without price. “For Your Name’s sake, O Lord, You shall make me live.” You shall make me live. “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory” [Psalm 115:1]. “For Your Name’s sake, O Lord, You shall make me live in Your righteousness;” not in my own righteousness. Not because I have deserved to live, but because You have mercy. For I deserve nothing of you except punishment. You have pruned from me my own merits; You have grafted in Your own gifts.

Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age

[In Wil’s January 28 sermon, he referred to Rosaria Butterfield’s 2023 book, Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age. The lies are: Homosexuality is Normal, Being a Spiritual Person is Kinder than being a Biblical Christian, Feminism is Good for the World and for the Church, Transgenderism is Normal, and Modesty is an Outdated Burden that Serves Male Dominance and Holds Women Back. Here are some excerpts to ponder. I found especially helpful her discussion of the difference between acceptance and approval (p. 279 and following). Page numbers are in brackets.]

What exactly does it mean to be made in God’s image? An image of yourself is what you see when you stand in front of a mirror. God is the object in the biblical creation account, and we are the reflection. Therefore, to reflect God’s image accurately, we need to look at him through the mirror of the word of God illuminated through the Holy Spirit. [28]

Homosexual orientation, a nineteenth-century Freudian invention (Sigmund Freud, 1856–1939), is an unbiblical category of personhood and an antagonist to the creation ordinance because it redefines sinful desire as something that defines who you are rather than how you feel. Lie #1 claims that the word of God doesn’t apply to homosexual orientation because homosexual orientation represents a person’s core truth…. We must ponder why God’s attribute of immutability has been embraced by the LGBTQ+ movement as an attribute of homosexual orientation…. When we hear “homosexual orientation is fixed and immutable—it never changes,” this is only imaginable in a world that has already exchanged the worship of the Creator for the worship of the creature, of God for an idol. “Gay Christians” … teach that you can’t repent of who you are, how you feel, or even what you desire. They believe that homosexual orientation is morally neutral, separate from one’s sin nature, cannot be repented of, and rarely changes over a person’s lifetime. This is a lie. [32]

“Coming out of the closet” and describing yourself by sin will never help you to repent from it, flee from it, and be delivered from it…. The idea that you should always “come out” and share with everyone your sinful desires happened because homosexual desire was transformed from sin (which demands repentance) to a morally neutral category of personhood (LGBTQ+), which demands affirmation and celebration…. All atheistic paradigms of personhood hate the very people they claim to love by denying them soul care. [44]

[After telling of how a pastor’s family invited her to dinner and shared Psalm 113 in evening devotions] And so it was that Psalm 113 changed my life. I looked into its mirror, and I saw how short I had fallen from God’s will. God used the offense of God’s word for the good of my soul…. Instead of lesbianism being who I was, I now understood it as both a lack of righteousness and a willful transgressive action. I was no victim. I was no “sexual minority” needing a voice in the church. I needed to grow in sanctification—just like everyone else in the church. I learned that we repent of sin by hating it, killing it, turning from it. But we also “add” the virtue of God’s word. It is light that changes darkness. The Bible calls us to mortify (kill) and vivify (enliven). I realized that Christians are given a new nature, yet we have sin patterns that we need to kill, to be sure. [63-64]

[In interacting with the pastor’s family, Butterfield realized that she did not know any women who were homemakers] Mothering was a fascinating job, not terribly unlike being a research professor: you must do one thing at a time well, and you must have flexibility and good humor as you carry on. [65]

[Puritan pastor] Thomas Watson say[s] that in the life of a true Christian, while we cannot “see” faith (and therefore we cannot see into the heart of others), we can see repentance. And if we don’t see repentance, we have no reason to believe that there is faith. [89]

When I sin or desire to sin, as a new creation in Christ I am now acting against my new nature. Sexual sin is a bear because of the body memories that it leaves in its wake, but body memories are part of my biography, not my new nature in Christ…. It exerts the same kind of temptation that the Israelites experienced in wanting to return to Egypt in the wilderness. [91-92]

Psalm 51 reveals that the Christian must fight even unchosen sin. [96]

Genuine Christians repent of all sin (including the sin that feels natural and good) because they trust Jesus more than they trust themselves. [104]

(Wil quoted this passage) It all comes down to this: Do you trust your feelings, or do you trust the word of God? Do you perceive your feelings through the word of God, or do you perceive the word of God through your feelings? Do your feelings know you best, or does the God who made you? [106]

[Jesus asks an invalid,] “Do you want to be healed?” (John 5:6). Let that linger for a moment. Do you want to be made well? Do you want to be made well on Jesus’s terms or your own? Does the Christian who calls himself gay want to be made well on God’s terms?… For the man to be healed, he needed to embrace the terms that Jesus was going to set. [111]

The mature Christian life is one of constant fleeing to the throne of grace for mercy, grace, and forgiveness of our sins. [114]

If the Bible is false, flawed, semitrue, or just true in the red letters, then none of it is true. If you aren’t convinced of that, then the minute the Bible crosses you, that part you will declare an ancient bias and no longer binding. [116]

[When biblical truth first appealed to her] At this point in my life, there was no room to believe it, because I already believed other things, and those other things left no room for Jesus. My complex belief system was important to me. I wasn’t a blank slate open to God’s word. I was filled to the brim with chaos and sin and anxiety and people who looked up to me…. I realized that my own feminist worldview was more than just a set of ideas. It was a religion. [147-149]

We must deal with sin at its first occurrence because the second will always be worse. [155]

[Calvin’s Institutes 1.1.2] “Because nothing appears within or around us that has not been contaminated by great immorality, what is a little less vile pleases us as a thing most pure—so long as we confine our minds within the limits of human corruption.” [157]

When feminism is the interpretative tool for reading Scripture, the powerful, supernatural word of God shrinks into an easily manipulated tool of sociology, revealing power plays and oppressors and offering no hope beyond its creation of new possibilities and new words to express one’s never-ending hurt. [178]

We need to ask the question, If the biblical account of creation cannot be trusted to teach us about what makes women distinct, where ought we to go for this insight? This is where the usefulness of feminism as a gospel frame crumbles in the foolishness that it is. It wants an essential and distinct women’s voice at the same time that it rejects a biblical origin for what makes a woman distinct. [187]

Transgenderism will be the final nail in the coffin of feminism. Why? Because you cannot defend the civil rights of a woman if you don’t know what she is. [191]

Real love confronts the lie that suffering people can’t help but envy others. Real love does not envy (1 Cor. 13:4). [202]

We live in a culture that ascribes truth to feelings and perceptions, and it fears hurting people’s feelings more than encouraging them to permanently mutilate their bodies. [213]

[Puritan pastor Jeremiah Burroughs in The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment] reminds us that the real question is not “What do I need?” but rather, “What is my duty?” Burroughs asks it like this: “What is the duty of the circumstances that God has put me in?” [244]

[Reflecting again on her first experience of sharing a meal in a Christian home] This night became for me a mirror. I looked into it and saw ugly things in myself and lovely things in God’s family. The first had to do with diversity—an important word in my lesbian community. While I proclaimed the value of diversity, the reality was that I had spent the past decade around people just like me—white, thirty-something, humanities PhDs in lesbian relationships. The mirror of this night was dramatic irony at its best. It was at my first experience of a Christian family feast, held at the straight, white, male pastor’s house, where I found myself in the most diverse crowd I had inhabited in years, maybe a lifetime. Men, women, children of every age. [251]

Our social media–saturated world encourages Christian women to replace modesty with exhibitionism.  [258]

The difference between acceptance and approval: Acceptance means living in reality and not fantasy. If your daughter calls herself a lesbian, you need to accept that. If your son Rex calls himself Mathilda, you need to accept this. He really is living in such a dangerous state of delusion and deception. That is reality right now. Acceptance is an important step in seeing the person you love in the sin pattern in which he is trapped. Acceptance, however, does not include believing his interpretation of how he got here or what it means. Acceptance does not include believing that Rex really is Mathilda. Acceptance does not include being manipulated by the therapist who asks, “Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?” Acceptance does not lose sight of Jesus and the cross he calls us to bear. Approval means that you give the whole situation a blessing. Approval means more than loving your daughter in her sin. It means calling her sin by another name (“grace,” “blessing,” or “illness”) and compartmentalizing and shrinking your Christian life in the process. [279]

While acceptance is not approval, acceptance is a great kindness. Acceptance means dealing protectively and gently with the person who is lost. [283]

Don’t give your prodigal reasons to run. And don’t take responsibility for your prodigal’s decision if she does run. [283]

[Speaking to parents of a prodigal child] You must get to a faithful church for the sake of your own soul. You need more help than you think. You are more vulnerable than you believe. Church is not a social club; it’s training for war. Like it or not, the theater of this spiritual war is your home and your heart and your family. [284]

Have you read Christopher Yuan and Angela Yuan (son and mother cowriting team) in their memoir of faith, Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God. A Broken Mother’s Search for Hope? If not, please do. This book is our most faithful trail guide for accepting and loving, but not approving of, your beloved prodigal. [285]

Going boldly to the throne of grace requires daily repentance of your own sin, but this means not taking on your prodigal’s sin as your own. It means repenting of the sin of self-pity. Satan wants you to feel responsible that you have a prodigal child. He wants you to think that it is all your fault, and that God is punishing you. He wants you to look at other families and covet what they have. Nothing that comes from Satan is helpful or true—even half-truths are lies. If you have fallen into sins of covetousness, repent and ask God to help you love your calling as a prayer warrior for a prodigal. [285]

It is the church that holds the keys to the kingdom, not the HR department enforcing transgender pronouns. Things have changed—and we need to discern how those changes impact our lives. But the gospel hasn’t changed. God hasn’t changed. Here at the Butterfields’, the gospel still comes with a house key. [She then tells a story of a frank but gracious interaction with her gay neighbors about the Bible, vaccines, and spheres of authority.] [293]

The Right Path

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25).

In my 14 January sermon, we spoke of this way that seems right to us as the way of taking – taking rather than giving. God is a Giver – when we display His image, we too are givers rather than takers.

Let’s now think more broadly about the image in this proverb:

You are on a lengthy walk. You come to a point where numerous paths come together. How can you choose the right one?

Jesus tells us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

That is: “The right path is ME! Every other path has its attractions – but they all lead AWAY from the Father and thus TOWARDS death!”

Note that our Lord tells us to choose the right GOAL, and then to choose the right PATH TO REACH THE GOAL.

The right goal is the Father – our Creator, our Redeemer, who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7). He is the source of “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17); in the end He will wipe every tear from your eyes (Revelation 21:4) and will provide you with fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11).

Other goals tempt us. We pursue instead recognition or approval or money or accomplishment or security or friendship and joy in this life. None of those are bad in and of themselves; all can be among the good gifts that God grants. But when we choose a path because it seems to lead to one or more of these goals, we end up on the path to death.

So we must pursue the right GOAL: The Father.

That’s a necessary requirement for choosing the right path.

But many have the right goal in mind but still are on the wrong path – because they choose a path other than Jesus:

  • Some choose the path of self-improvement: “I can make myself acceptable to God! I’ll live a better life than most people!”
  • Others choose the path of appeasement: “If I sacrifice this or that, if I worship Him in this way, if I perform that ritual, then God will accept me!”
  • Others choose a path that sort of looks like Jesus but isn’t: “I made a profession of faith when I was 15;” “I attend a Bible-believing church every Sunday;” “I read my Bible daily;” “I accepted Jesus into my heart.”

Again, none of these are bad in and of themselves – many are often part of a genuine Christian life. But they cannot be THE PATH; they cannot be WHAT WE DEPEND ON.

Jesus says there is no path to the Father other than Himself. He is not ONE source of truth or ONE alternative way to pursue life. He ALONE is the source of Truth; He ALONE is the source of Life. Every other path that seems right to us leads not to Life, not to the Father, but to death and destruction.

Furthermore, note one vital difference between Jesus as the path and those alternatives that just look a bit like Jesus. The alternatives depend either on a ritual – church attendance, Bible reading – or on a past act. In contrast, when Jesus is the path, WE PUT OUR WEIGHT ON HIM EVERY STEP. That is, we are tempted, and turn quickly to Him asking for grace to help in time of need. We sin, and we seek forgiveness from the Father through Jesus. We have a decision to make – and we ask for wisdom and grace through Jesus. To be on Jesus as the path is to live a life of active dependence on Him.

So the Father is THE ONLY GOAL WORTH PURSUING. And Jesus is THE WAY. There is no other path to the Father. Every other path leads to death.

Take Jesus as the path – and thereby find the truth and the life.