John Newton on Assurance: Jesus Will Not Cast You Out

John Newton to the Rev. Joshua Symonds[1]

John Newton wrote a letter to Rev. Joshua Symonds to press him on a particular stance he took with regard to the gospel. Newton notes that Symonds observed, “I hope it my desire to cast myself upon the free promise in Jesus Christ; but this alone does not give assurance of my personal interest in his blood” (171).

 Newton takes issue with this and asks plainly, “Why not?” (171). Allow me to flesh out Newton’s question. Newton basically asks, “Why would your casting yourself upon the promise of salvation in Jesus not assure your salvation by his blood?” The rest of Newton’s response makes clear this is what he is indeed asking. Newton answers his own question, writing, “Because you lean to conditions, and do not think yourself good enough” (171). Newton then notes, “It appears to me, that if I cast myself upon his promise, and if his promise is true, I must undoubtedly be interested in his full redemption” (171). Newton then drops a gospel grace bombshell to back up his estimation noting that Jesus said, “Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out” (171) (cf John 6:37). Then Newton drives the point home: “If you can find a case or circumstance which the words in no wise will not include, then you may despond” (171).

Newton makes clear that for those who come to Jesus seeking his mercy and grace, they will certainly receive it. Newton then very pastorally points out to Symonds the dangerous game he is playing. Symonds runs the risk of turning the gospel of grace into a gospel of works:

“You tell me what evidences you want, namely, spiritual experiences, inward holiness, earnest endeavours. All this I may allow in a right sense; but in judging on these grounds, it is common and easy in a dark hour to turn the gospel into a covenant of works” (172).

So Newton is not pushing back against evidences of saving faith as a whole. They have their place, “in a right sense.” But he is pushing back against any notion that could hint at of the idea that resting one’s faith in Christ alone is not enough to gain an interest in his saving blood. Newton does this to guard the gospel. And, Newton does this because he does not want his friend to, because of fear and doubt, slip into despondency and the temptation of doubting Christ’s ability to save to the uttermost: “rejoice in Christ Jesus, and resist every temptation to doubt your interest in his love, as you would resist a temptation to adultery or murder” (173).

 

The Defiled Heart

Newton hears Symonds words and his gospel alarm bells go off. Newton rightly perceives in Symonds’ words a potential slippery slope to prideful legalism and despondency. Newton hears the words “but this alone does not give assurance of my personal interest in his blood” with regard to casting oneself on Christ in faith, and he perceives the seed stage of a Pharisaical outlook that questions Jesus saying, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” (Mark 7:5). In context, we see that these Pharisees have completely reversed the order of their defilement (Mark 7:1–23). They believe they can cleanse themselves from the outside in rather than recognizing that their defilement erupts from the inside where they cannot reach. By reversing this order, the Pharisees have drastically underestimated the condition of their defiled natures. In all their study of the Law they failed to see what it was always pointing to: only God can cleanse a defiled heart.

For us to move beyond trusting in Christ alone for salvation leads us to, just like the Pharisees, base our assurance on our own ability to follow a set of rules. When we find ourselves successful in these legalistic efforts, pride soars. When we find ourselves unsuccessful in these legalistic efforts despondency descends.

The man who bases assurance of salvation on personal performance drastically underestimates the defiled condition of the heart. While certainly there will be progressive sanctification and spiritual fruit, we will never be fully rid of temptation and sin in this life. So Newton says, “But if you will look for a holiness that shall leave no room for the workings of corruption and temptation, you look for what God has nowhere promised, and for what is utterly inconsistent with our present state” (172). Our continual struggle with sin and temptation should not lead us to try and move beyond Christ’s mercy, it should leads us to perpetually cast ourselves upon his mercy.

 

Jesus Does Not Cast Out

So we should not look like the Pharisees, who base their assurance on how well they have preened themselves, and who end up questioning Jesus’ whole approach to holiness. Rather, we should look like the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:14–30. Here is a woman, who, as a Gentile by birth, is utterly unclean before Jesus. But she comes to him humble and desperate, trusting not in anything of herself but only in Jesus’ mercy. And between her and the Pharisees, only she walks away from Jesus having received the cleansing she so desperately sought.

Here in the Syrophoenician woman we see undeniable evidence of faith. This is a faith worth emulating. And this is an assurance worth investing in. Newton agrees:

“Evidences, as you call them, are of use in their place; but the best evidence of faith is the shutting our eyes equally upon our defects and our graces, and looking directly to Jesus as clothed with authority and power to save to the very uttermost” (173).

Doubting soul chasing after assurance, cast yourself on Christ’s mercy, for he will not cast you out.

[1] John Newton, Letters of John Newton, ed. Josiah Bull (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2018), 171–73.

Tim Keller on the Love of God in the Gospel

It’s been almost two months since Tim Keller went on to be with the Lord on May 19, 2023. Since his passing, a deluge of Tim Keller tributes has poured forth from Christians who were touched, shaped, and influenced by his gospel wisdom. (For example, see here, here, and here). Allow me to add to the cascade.

Tim Keller was known for his God-given insight into the human heart. Keller not only knew how to exegete a text, Keller knew how to exegete people. He knew how to tease apart the complex tangle of desires in the human heart. Perhaps that is why since his death we have seen a flood of Keller quotes spill from keyboards in desk spaces onto webpages in cyberspace. Quotes like these. Tim Keller knew how to speak the gospel directly to the human heart.

 

The Self-Protecting Human Heart

One Keller quote that has recently rocked me again is this:

The gospel says you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.[1]

I would like to riff on this powerful quote for a moment. The sinful human heart has a tendency to go into self-protection mode. And there are really two distinct modes of this one self-protection mode: (1) self-approval mode and (2) self-condemnation mode.

 

Self-Approval and Self-Condemnation

First, there is self-protection that manifests as self-approval. In self-approval mode, the sinful human heart says, “Oh, you’re not that bad. Look at that person over there. They’re way worse than you. At least you’re not that bad. You’re good. Don’t worry.” The sinfully self-approving heart seeks to protect itself from condemnation out of fear of disapproval. And so with every pang of the conscience, the self-approving heart sears the conscience and calcifies more and more.

Alternatively, there is self-protection that manifests as self-condemnation. In self-condemnation mode, the sinful human heart says, “You are the worst. You are worth nothing. You are so evil, there is absolutely no saving you. You might as well not even exist.” The sinfully self-condemning heart seeks to protect itself from any kind of approval out of fear that such approval or a relationship born from it would expose it to intimate love, which demands vulnerability. And so with every approving look and/or the potential of an edifying, loving relationship, the self-condemning heart distances itself by castigating itself and self-flagellation.

But Keller helpfully shows how the gospel completely blows up both self-flattery and self-flagellation. It does so by first wounding these sinful hearts.

 

The Gospel Wounds the Self-Approving Heart

First, the gospel says to the self-approving, hardened heart, “You are more sinful than you can even know. You are more flawed than you ever dared believe.” The gospel levels and shatters the hardened heart. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). God’s word is a fire that consumes and a hammer that shatters the rock (Jeremiah 23:29). The self-approving heart does not stand a chance in the face of the gospel. It must break. But the gospel also speaks to the self-condemning heart. What does it say? Surprisingly, it first says the exact same thing.

 

The Gospel Wounds the Self-Condemning Heart

The gospel says to the self-condemning heart, “You are more sinful than you can even know. You are more flawed than you ever dared believe.” The gospel says to the self-condemning heart, Mark 7:21–23:

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

The gospel says to the self-condemning heart Genesis 6:5, “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” And the self-condemning heart responds, “I know this. This is what I have been saying all along. I am evil. I am wicked and rotten to the core. I understand this.” And the gospel answers, “No, you don’t understand.” The gospel responds with Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” The gospel says, “You have no idea the depth of your depravity. You think you have plumbed the depths? Go even deeper. You will never find the end of it.”

The gospel speaks to both the self-approving heart and the self-condemning heart and says the same thing, “You are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe.” The gospel wounds the self-protecting heart. But it wounds in order to heal.

 

The Gospel Heals the Wounded Heart

Both the self-approving heart and the self-condemning heart must be wounded to the point of death because both ultimately have the same problem. Both hearts seek to protect themselves from the intimate love of God. Both hearts actually seek to hold onto their own independence. They want to operate on their own terms. They want to be in control. The intimate love of God poses a threat to this independence. The intimate love of God and a relationship with him demands vulnerability. It demands surrender to his help and to his will. The gospel demands that the self-protecting heart relinquishes control to the God who loves you more than you ever dared to hope. So the gospel wounds the heart until the only option it has left is to look up to Jesus and like Peter sinking in the waves say, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30).

The gospel says to the wounded heart in spite of all of your sinfulness, in spite of all of your evil, in spite of the depth of your depravity, you are more loved by God than you could possible fathom. The gospel says, “Remember how deep your depravity runs? Remember how, try as you might, you could never come to the end of it? Well, now just try to scale the height of God’s love for you. You will never reach the top of that mountain. God’s love for you is infinite. God’s love for you overcomes all of your depravity. Your sin is a drop consumed in the ocean of God’s love.” The gospel, as Keller put it, says to the wounded heart in Christ, “You are more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.”

 

The Love of God

In one quote Keller captures the breadth of the gospel here. The gospel both cuts and heals. It wounds in order to bind up. No heart is safe in the presence of this gospel. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). While Keller’s gospel insight here speaks to the human heart by highlighting both sin and God’s love, the two realities in this quote ultimately work in concert to really magnify the latter, God’s love. This is right and good. The love of God in Christ drives the Christian life. And try as we might, we will never fully know in this life the depth and height of God’s love for us. But we must continue to plumb the depths and climb the heights of his love, for it is our salvation. Perhaps this is why Paul prays in Ephesians 3:18–19 that we

may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…

This should ever be our prayer. I’m thankful that Tim Keller helped me see this even more clearly.

[1] Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (Penguin Publishing Group, 2013), 44.

The Master’s Questions to His Questioners

If you could ask God one question, what would you ask Him? This is a key starter question from evangelism training that some of us have attended in past years. It is also a feature question from one of our online courses at Billy Graham. Here are some actual students’ responses from just this past week in the course. (One question for God, what would you ask Him?).

  • Why is life so difficult?
  • How do I use my challenges to benefit the world in a realistic and tangible way?
  • What can I do for my friends and family to know and believe in Him?
  • How can I forgive without hurting when remembering the incident?
  • Why was I created?
  • How long will I be suffering in this world my Father?

These are genuine, raw questions!

How do you think God would answer those questions?

How would you answer those questions if asked??

There will be times in all our lives where not only will we have questions, but we’ll encounter loved ones, friends, neighbors, and coworkers with eternal questions. So how do we know how God would approach these questions and how He’d want us to as well?

One of the great things about the Bible is that it reveals to us, from start to finish, the character of God. In fact, the Word of God is God revealing His own character, so we might know Him, enjoy Him, and rightly worship and reflect Him in the world.

  • He shows His character through wisdom literature like Psalms and Proverbs.
  • He discloses Himself through His words to and through His Prophets.
  • He makes Himself known through the mighty promises and faithful actions in the books of the Law and with Israel.
  • He demonstrates who He is through logical conclusions in the letters.
  • He reveals Himself through the glorious defeat of evil and eternal reign as the King of kings and Lord of lords in Revelation.

But in the Gospels, we see the life and Person of Jesus laid out—the perfect image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15a). Here is truly on display God in human flesh making Himself known. You could look at His teaching, His miracles, His parables, His prophetic fulfillments and see great heights of His nature and the essence of His character.

However, one thing God has laid on my heart over the last month or so is to look deeper into how Jesus answers His questioners. During Jesus’ lifetime, He fielded many questions. I’m still working my way through the Gospels, but I counted 38 direct questions thrown Jesus’ way in Matthew. This won’t be a surprise to many of you, but Jesus answered 11 of those 38 questions with a question of His own.

Think about that. God Himself, who has the answer to every question and is the most loving being in the universe, did not always count it best to initially and directly answer His questioners. He asked questions back to them.

Today we’ll look at three instances where our Savior and Lord, questioned His questioners.

I. Change the Frame

Our first instance comes in Mark 2:18. The context concerns John the Baptist’s disciples and the Pharisees fasting. So some people come up to Jesus and ask Him, “18Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

The question Jesus gives in response is the first type we’ll ponder. Let’s call it, change the frame—the frame of reference that is. This question rightly notices a difference in behavior between Jesus’ followers and those of John and the Pharisees. However, it wrongly assumes Jesus is on par with John and the Law. Jesus is the One to whom John’s whole life has been called to point to. He is the Giver and perfect fulfillment of the Law. Jesus is other, above, beyond, greater than any prophet, priest, or king and is the perfect embodiment of what a life in obedience to God and fulfillment of the Law looks like. Jesus’ initial question is going to change the frame. It’s meant to reset the frame of reference for the questioners. It’s meant to lovingly show them someone different is in front of them that they need recognize.

In verses 19–20 Jesus says,

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

He uses a picture of a groom and the celebration he brings to help his questioners understand His disciples are acting differently because the One who makes their joy complete is in their midst. He asked a question to change their frame of mind, to see Jesus as different, set apart, and bringing in a new era.

II. Turning the Tables

The second example of Jesus answering a question with a question comes from Matthew 15:1-9. We’ll call this turning the tables through pointing out hypocrisy. Here the tone from Jesus’ questioners is accusing His disciples of wrongdoing. “1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘2Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.’” Here Jesus question doesn’t seek to help explain or answer where they’re hung up. It turns the tables on His questioners by exposing their “acceptable” sin and underlying hypocrisy.

Hear Jesus’ words in verses 3–9:

And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, “Honor your father and your mother,” and, “Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.” But you say, “If anyone tells his father or his mother, ‘What you would have gained from me is given to God,’ he need not honor his father.” So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (cf. Isaiah 29:13).

The Pharisees were making new laws of tradition to pile on others while they were not even keeping God’s Law itself. Jesus lovingly, directly, and bravely calls them on their wrong, knowing that they will be offended. Some of us run to this option too often. We imagine ourselves as hammers and most conversations as an opportunity to nail others where they’re missing it. Others of us are too afraid of offending others. The fear of people has a hold on us instead of the love of Christ. For those of us in this category, we need to prayerfully risk offending others and love them enough to point out the truth.

III. Drawing them Out

Now for a third way Jesus questions his questioners. This a famous one and is a bit different. It’s in Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 24, starting in verse 13 with the two men on the walk to Emmaus. We will call this one drawing them out.

Proverbs 20:5—The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Here two disciples are walking from Jerusalem. They are looking sad and talking about the things that have happened in the wake of Jesus’ death. Jesus comes up behind them and initiates the conversation with a question, asking what they are talking about among themselves. Then one of the guys named Cleopas answers, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

How ironic is this that the One to whom they’re asking the question was the very One who endured all of the betrayal, arrest, whipping, shaming, and crucifixion. What’s more, He had planned this with the Father from the foundation of the world. Nevertheless, our all-wise King in awesome love, humility, and wisdom draws them out by asking in verse 19, “What things?”

Only after they’ve explained the things on their heart does Jesus give them a rebuke and then the most amazing Bible study that we’ve mentioned many times! By drawing out where they were, He allowed His great lesson of the Scriptures being centered on His crucifixion and resurrection to fully sink in.

So what can we glean from our Savior at times questioning His questioners? A few takeaways:

  1. It’s a helpful thing to ask questions. It shows other people you’re interested in them. It keeps them engaged. It allows for dialogue.
  2. Of the three, it seems like the “drawing them out” method should probably be our bread and butter. Unlike Jesus, we don’t already know people’s hearts, or the thing that they need the most to hear. After praying for wisdom and the Spirit’s guidance, drawing them out allows us to better know where someone is coming from and gives us a sense of their worldview. It also shows us areas of common ground to start from and build toward Christ and the Gospel.
  3. All three methods of answering with questions are helpful and useful and called for in different circumstances. Sometimes analogies and visuals can help change the frame of people’s mindsets and reference points to see truths of Scripture and who our God is in a new perspective. Even turning the tables is needed at times to lovingly stand on truth and point others to the most flourishing way forward.

In all of this, we are called to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) and follow our Savior who is full of “grace and truth” (John 1:17).

Doing and Blessing

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13:17

Jesus says this to His disciples the night He is betrayed.

What is He saying?

Is He saying, “Here are my commandments. Know them. Then, discipline yourself! Do them! Show that you have the ability and the gumption and the wherewithal to be My disciple! Once you have done that, I will bless you”?

Jesus has just acted like a menial servant, washing His disciples’ feet. He then says, “You also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:14b-15).

Taken by itself, this sounds as if Jesus is laying a burden on His disciples, assigning them a task to do. So is the interpretation above correct?

No. Indeed, later this evening Jesus will tell these same men, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

In addition, John 13 itself shows that Jesus must be saying something different.

Consider His interaction with Peter, who protests, saying Jesus will never wash his feet. Our Lord replies: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8).

So once Jesus pays the penalty for Peter’s sins (as pictured by washing his feet), he has a share with Jesus! He is “completely clean” (John 13:10). He is already identified with Jesus! He is an insider!

Peter does not need to obey Jesus’ commands to earn His favor – He already has that favor! He needs to obey Jesus’ commands to display Jesus, to represent Jesus as one sent by Him, to proclaim the message entrusted to him. Then he is so identified with Jesus that the one who receives Peter receives Jesus (John 13:20).

But a question remains: What is the blessing Jesus speaks of in verse 17? If it is not His acceptance, His favor – what is it?

The blessing is being like Jesus! The blessing is displaying the image of God! The blessing is fulfilling the purpose of our creation, becoming what we were created to be!

Can we – sinners that we are, dead in those trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) – become like Jesus through self-discipline? The answer should be obvious. The only way we can become like Jesus is through His working in us.

Our task then is to actively depend on Him, on His Spirit. Yes, we then obey Jesus’ commands. But we obey as beloved children who know their Daddy and depend on him, not as slaves trying to avoid a whipping from an evil master, nor as employees striving to earn a raise from a tough boss.

We must always remember: Obedience to a set of rules is not our objective. If it were, we rightly could think that we could reach that objective with a little more effort, a little more discipline, a little more practice, or a little more accountability.

Our objective is to be like Jesus, to display Jesus, to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). Jesus demands such conformity – and Scripture promises that God will bring it about (Philippians 1:6).

So if we are in Jesus, the work is as good as done. Saved by His grace, we can bask in His love and delight in His grace, knowing we are “completely clean” – even when we sin. But we hate that sin. We hate that lack of conformity to Jesus’ character. Knowing that our greatest joy comes from being like Him, we turn to Him once again in repentance, confessing the sin, knowing that Jesus is the propitiation for our sin (1 John 2:2). God thus continues as our loving Father, delighting in us, as he uses even such failures to complete the good work in us He has begun.

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” Know Jesus commands. Know Jesus’ character. Know the grace and mercy and power of the Gospel. Then step out in confidence, in confession, in repentance, showing Jesus to those you love and to the wider world. This is the path of blessing. This is the path of joy.

Trinitarian Theology for the Nourishment of Your Soul

As a church we have just begun a new series in our Adult Sunday School class on the Trinity. And in just the first two seminars, we have been moved and astounded by the vastness, the depth, and the beauty of our Triune God. What we’ve seen is that the whole of our existence and our redemption is bound up in the Trinity. We do not exist apart from the Trinity and we are not saved apart from the Trinity. Two verses that are especially crucial at pointing out these two realities are 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 2 Corinthians 13:14. First, consider 1 Corinthians 8:6.

1 Corinthians 8:6—for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

We exist from the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6). This isn’t new to us. When we think of the act of creation, we rightly think of God, whose name is YHWH (Exodus 3:15). And we often, rightly, think of God the Father, who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth with the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1–2; Malachi 2:10). But here in 1 Corinthians 8:6, we see the divine name, communicated in the title “Lord,” attributed to Jesus. Through the one Lord—who is YHWH—through Jesus we exist. Of course you see this throughout Scripture (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). As our Associate Pastor Coty Pinckney said the other day when reflecting on this verse, “We don’t even breathe apart from Christ.” That is an astounding reality. Whether saved or not saved you only breathe, move, think, eat, sleep, and exist because of Jesus the Son of God. Thus, we were created and we exist only by and through the Trinity. And we are only recreated in salvation through the Trinity as well. Look at 2 Corinthians 13:14.

2 Corinthians 13:14—The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Paul associates some very specific terms to the three persons of the Trinity: the grace of Jesus, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. God the Father, in his love predestined us to be his sons through Jesus before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4–5). And through the grace of Jesus’ sin atoning life, death, and resurrection, we have been made alive with Christ when we could do nothing to save ourselves (Ephesians 2:4–10). And we walk in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, our helper and teacher who sanctifies and seals us for salvation (John 14:26; Ephesians 1:13–14; 1 Peter 1:2). Our redemption is born out of the Trinity.

We exist and we are saved only through the Trinity. And as we grow in our knowledge of the persons of the Trinity, we find a wellspring of spiritual nourishment and refreshment. I don’t think I can improve upon what Herman Bavinck writes regarding the spiritual benefits of growing in the knowledge of the distinct persons of the Trinity in his work, The Wonderful Works of God. Therefore, I leave you with his extended reflection on the matter. May it bless you as it has blessed me.

For believers come to know the workings of the Father, the Creator of all things, He who gave them life, and breath, and all things. They learn to know Him as the Lawgiver who gave out His holy commandments in order that they should walk in them. They learn to know Him as the Judge who is provoked to terrible wrath by all the unrighteousness of men and who in no sense holds the guilty guiltless. And they learn to know Him, finally, as the Father who for Christ’s sake is their God and Father, on whom they trust so far that they do not doubt but that He will supply for every need of body and soul, and that He will convert all evil which accrues to them in this vale of tears into good. They know that He can do this as Almighty God and that He wants to do it as a faithful Father. Hence they confess: I believe in God, the Father, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

Thus, too, they learn to know in themselves the workings of the Son, He who is the only-begotten of the Father, conceived in Mary of the Holy Spirit. They learn to know Him as their highest Prophet and Teacher, He who has perfectly revealed to them the secret counsel and will of God in the matter of their redemption. They learn to know Him as their only Highpriest, who has redeemed them by the one sacrifice of His body, and who still constantly intercedes for them with the Father. They learn to know Him as their eternal King, who rules them with His Word and Spirit and who shelters and preserves them in their achieved redemption. Hence they confess: I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only-begotten Son, our Lord.

And they also learn to recognize in themselves the workings of the Holy Spirit, He who regenerates them and leads them into all truth. They learn to know Him as the Operator of their faith, He who through that faith causes them to share in Christ and all His benefits. They learn to know Him as the Comforter, He who prays in them with unutterable longings and who testifies with their spirit that they are children of God. They learn to know Him as the pledge of their eternal inheritance, He who preserves them until the day of their redemption. And they therefore confess: I believe also in the Holy Spirit.

Thus the confession of the trinity is the sum of the Christian religion. Without it neither the creation nor the redemption nor the sanctification can be purely maintained.

Every departure from this confession leads to error in the other heads of doctrine, just as a mistaken representation of the articles of faith can be traced back to a misconception of the doctrine of the trinity. We can truly proclaim the mighty works of God only when we recognize and confess them as the one great work of Father, Son, and Spirit.

In the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is contained the whole salvation of men.[1]

 

 

[1] Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God: Instructions in the Christian Religion According to the Reformed Confession (Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 2019), 142–43.

Extraordinary Request and Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways in Ordinary Places

Recap: Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways

In what was really the first half of what is turning out to be a two-part blog post, Extraordinary Request and Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways, I noted the extraordinary request that we see in Matthew 6:9–10, the beginning of the Lord’s prayer:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

And I noted that this awesome request will come to pass. God’s name will indeed be hallowed in all the earth, his kingdom will come in its fullness, and his will shall certainly be done on earth as it is in heaven (Revelation 21:1–4). I then asked the questions: “What should we do in the meantime? What do we do in anticipation of that day? How do we participate in this glorious, inevitable reality?” The answer, that I suggested Scripture points us to is this: We should do ordinary things in ordinary ways.

We see this clearly in the relatively ordinary prayer requests in Matthew 6:11–13 that follow this initial extraordinary request:

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

In short, I concluded that:

through seemingly ordinary things (active dependence on God for physical and spiritual provision) in seemingly ordinary ways (seeking him in prayer and in the Word, and fighting sin through confession, repentance, forgiving others, and turning from evil), God makes us look more and more like his Son, Jesus. In this way, God works out this extraordinary request that his name would be hallowed, that his kingdom would come, and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And he will grant it in its fullness at Christ’s return.

Well if this is the ordinary stuff that we are to be doing? Where should we do it? By now you are probably not surprised to learn that it gets even more ordinary. Indeed, God wills that we hallow his name, usher in his coming kingdom and will on earth, by doing ordinary things, in ordinary ways, in ordinary places. Consider one of Paul’s letters.

 

Ordinary Places: The Household of Faith and Your Home

We’ve seen an epic request in the Lord’s Prayer, now consider one of the more epic openings to a book of the Bible. Does it get any more glorious and sweeping than Ephesians? Paul begins with nothing short of Spirit-filled praise in Ephesians 1:3:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…

Paul then goes on to unpack those spiritual blessings in one of the densest and richest sections of Scripture in the Bible. Paul heralds God’s sovereign, predestining love toward those he adopts into his family through his Son, Jesus. Just take a minute to read through Ephesians 1:3–14.

God’s love toward rebels and his sovereign plan of redemption to reverse the curse of sin and death is nothing short of breathtaking—anything but ordinary. To add to the grand content of this letter, Paul closes by exhorting us to “Put on the whole armor of God” in order to be fit for spiritual warfare. Through this gospel armor we are prepared to withstand the devil and fight against “cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11–12). Cosmic powers? Spiritual forces of evil? Heavenly places? Again, this is anything but ordinary.

With such a divine beginning and supernatural, cosmic end, the middle of this letter must be off the charts! Where would Paul have us live out our predestined identities? Where would he have us wage this warfare? We might be tempted to first think of some place wild and hostile to the gospel. Perhaps in a foreign country on mission or among the unreached? These seem fitting. Indeed, these are certainly places God will call some of us, and I pray he does so more and more for the sake of his name, the advance of the gospel, and the joy of all peoples. As we look in Ephesians, though, we find, sandwiched in between these extraordinary realities, some seemingly very ordinary instructions. Paul instructs us to work out this sovereignly predestined salvation that fits us to wrestle and overcome cosmic, spiritual forces of evil first and foremost in the household of faith and at home.

Paul says, given this awesome predestining love of God, you and I should therefore “walk with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” with all eagerness to maintain the unity God has given in the one body of the church (Ephesians 4:1–4). For us, this works itself out in our local church. That’s it. Be humble, gentle, and patient with one another, and by doing so, you will build the church up in love (Ephesians 4:16). Ordinary things. But, oh, it gets even more ordinary.

Given this cosmic spiritual warfare that we are in the midst of, Paul has this to say: “Wives, submit to you husbands, as to the Lord…Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church…Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 5:22, 25; 6:1). That’s it. As we rush headlong, fully armored, into battle against Satan and his demonic legions, the marching orders Paul gives us are to be Christlike to those in our household—our families. Imperfect husbands and imperfect wives, show Christlike love toward one another through self-sacrifice and humility in order to build one another up in the faith. And, children walk in humility before imperfect parents by obeying them. These are, normal, ordinary things, in ordinary ways, in ordinary places.

 

Conclusion

So, in the first half of this post we saw that God wills to bring about Matthew 6:9–10’s extraordinary request through seemingly ordinary things in seemingly ordinary ways. In such things and ways, God makes us look more and more like his Son, Jesus and ushers in his kingdom. And where will all of this work itself out in our lives? Ordinary places.

God will certainly call many of us to different contexts to live this out. He will sweep some of us up into his call to global missions and plop us down among an unreached people group of a completely different ethnicity and culture. I pray that he does this to more and more of us. But whether near or far, whether on mission in a foreign country or perpetually local, the primary place that God will have us grow in Christlikeness and participate in this awesome, inevitable reality of his coming kingdom will be among fellow believers in the local church and among our own families in our homes. Indeed, it is “through the church” that “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). God does this through ordinary things, in ordinary ways, in ordinary places. And again, in the end none of this is very ordinary at all.

An Extraordinary Request and Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways

Extraordinary Request

When you think of great prayer requests in Scripture, what comes to mind? Joshua’s request to God for the sun to stand still at Gibeon so Israel could rout their enemies? Jabez’s prayer for God to bless him and increase his borders? Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance in the face of the Assyrians? The options are endless. And at least a couple of these have been coopted as formulaic means for unlocking blessing in your life, which is probably not the wisest approach to them. But what other great requests? What about this request in Matthew 6:9–10:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Is this not the most earth-shaking request that could possibly be made?! Father, may your name be made holy in all the earth, and may your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. What an colossal request—that all the earth would recognize the holiness of God and that God’s kingdom would break out from eternity and break into creation, invading all of earth with God’s will!? This must be the greatest request in all of Scripture. Could this possibly happen? Will this actually happen? (Spoiler Alert) Yes. If you skip ahead to the end of your Bible, you will find this in Revelation 21:1–4:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Simply stunning. What, then, are we to do in the meantime? What do we do in anticipation of such an earth-shaking request? How do we participate in this coming reality now? What do we do? We do ordinary things in ordinary ways.

 

Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways

Given this awesome reality, given that we sit on this freight train called creation and time that is charging toward this extraordinary end, does it surprise you that I say we should busy ourselves with doing some very ordinary things? Well, just consider what follows this extraordinary prayer request in Matthew 6:11–13.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

This prayer, then, could sound something like this.

“Father, in light of this extraordinary, amazing request that your name will be hallowed in all the earth, that your kingdom and your will would come crashing into and cover the earth just like in heaven, will you

  • Provide my food for me today on my lunch break, and please give me something to eat for dinner too.
  • Also, help me to see, believe in, and depend on the life you offer in Jesus, the bread of life, when I go to the Word today.
  • And please forgive my sins. Especially for lashing out in anger earlier, and for caring too much about money, and for my self-absorption and pride that causes me to criticize and manipulate my wife (or husband), children, that guy I work with, and for my laziness, and for my obsession with everything but you.
  • Also, help me to forgive my wife (or husband), my coworker, my friend, that one guy who doesn’t like me very much, when they wrong me, and help me not hold a grudge like I am prone to do.
  • Also, God, please keep me from those things that tempt me so much—anger, lust, pride, coveting, spending too much time on social media. These things end up turning my heart toward evil.
  • So please, I’m asking that you would keep me from evil and the evil one who prowls around seeking to destroy me.”

What do we do in the midst of these extraordinary realities of the inevitable kingdom of God? (1) Depend on God for our ordinary, everyday physical and spiritual provisions, (2) confess and repent of sin, (3) forgive others’ sin, and (4) turn away from sin and evil in dependance on God. You could categorize these broadly as (1) depending on God to provide and (2) fighting sin.

These are some of the most basic, ordinary things we are called to do as Christians. Yet, this is God’s will in the midst of his coming kingdom.

 

God’s Will

(1) Depending on God to Provide

Depending on God for our daily physical and spiritual provisions is his will, because it indicates our belief and trust in his sovereignty, care, and sureness of his coming kingdom. Perhaps that’s why only a few verses later we read this in Matthew 6:31–33:

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.

This is normal, ordinary dependence on God for daily physical food. But this is also, normal, ordinary dependence on God for spiritual food. John 6:29, 35:

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent… Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

We depend on God to provide our physical and spiritual needs. And then we actively go to the pantry and grab some cereal, and we actively come to Jesus in the Word and prayer in dependence that he will give us grace and mercy to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

 

(2) Fighting Sin

Depending on God in this way leads to God’s name being made holy in all the earth because his name is made holy in individual lives—your life. Depending on God in this way leads to his will being done on earth just as it is in heaven. And this dependence on God characterizes our fight against sin. First Thessalonians 4:3 begins this way:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification:

God’s will for your life is your sanctification. Now in this context, the specific sin in view is sexual sin, but this is a concept that applies to all sins. We depend on God’s grace and mercy for when we do sin. And so we actively confess and repent. And we depend on God to keep us from being tempted beyond our ability and to always provide of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). And so we use wisdom and actively seek to avoid and put up safeguards against the things that might tempt us. And we depend on God to keep us from evil and our adversary, the devil. So we actively renounce his ways and pray for God’s authority over him to come to bear on our lives. This is seemingly basic, ordinary Christianity. We depend on God and so we actively fight sin.

 

Conclusion

As Christians, we are aware of and participate in the most extraordinary realities. God’s eternal name, his kingdom, and his will shall all come to bear on this earth. Heaven will flood the earth, and God will dwell with us. And, God wills ordinary rhythmic disciplines of grace—active dependence on God for physical and spiritual provision, confessing of and repenting of sin, forgiving others’ sins, and turning away from evil—as one of the primary means to bring this about. I confess I was partly inspired to write this specific post because I have recently been listening to a new album called Ordinary Ways by John Guerra. In that album, Guerra hits on this very reality. One lyric in his song titled, “Thank You, Lord” is especially fitting:

Daily bread

Daily breath

Ordinary

Faithfulness

Christ in me

More and more

Let it be

Thank You, Lord

Through seemingly ordinary things in seemingly ordinary ways, God makes us look more and more like his Son, Jesus. In doing so, God grants this extraordinary request that his name would be hallowed, that his kingdom would come, and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And, what we’ll discover in the end, is that none of this is very ordinary at all.

Do You Know the Scriptures and the Power of God?

Do you know the Scriptures and the power of God?

Matthew 22 records Jesus’ interaction with the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. These opponents speak of a woman who had been married successively to seven brothers, each of whom died, then ask: “In the resurrection … of the seven, whose wife will she be?” (Matthew 22:28) Through this story, they suppose they have shown the resurrection of the dead to be absurd: A woman can’t be married to seven men simultaneously, as she would be if they all were resurrected!

Jesus responds: “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). He goes on to show that the Old Testament Scriptures teach the resurrection of the dead, and thus God has power over death.

Let’s consider Jesus’ statement more broadly: Why do we need to know both the Scriptures and the power of God?

Consider first those who know the Scriptures but not the power of God. That is, they have studied Scripture, they may have memorized much Scripture, they may know the original languages, they may be familiar with commentaries and grammar and the history of interpretation – but they do not know God’s power. They do not believe that He is sovereign, that He is a Redeemer, that He is the Judge.

The Sadducees were somewhat like that, as Jesus brings out Matthew 22:31. He says: “Have you not read what was said to you by God,” and then quotes Exodus 3:6, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God originally spoke those words to Moses – but Jesus says God spoke them also “to you,” to the Sadducees.

The point: God spoke all Scripture to you! He spoke all Scripture to me! And unless we read the Scriptures that way, we do not know them – even if we can quote the entire Bible from memory.

So when you read Scripture:

  • If you primarily think, “That sheds light on the customs and beliefs of Jews two thousand years ago,” you haven’t heard Scripture correctly.
  • If you primarily think, “That’s a key statement in the historical development of worldwide religious thought,” you haven’t heard Scripture correctly.
  • Even if you primarily think, “Boy, my friend really needs to hear and apply that truth,” you haven’t heard Scripture correctly.

Now, all those statements may be true. But God speaks the words of Scripture to you! So hear them that way! Plead for insight into them. Conform your mind to them. Submit your actions to them.

Second, consider those who know the power of God but not the Scriptures. They may be impressed by the majesty of creation and ascribe that to a Creator. They may have prayed for the healing of a loved one – and it happened! They may witness natural disasters and believe that a god controls them.

Such knowledge, however, often results in thinking of God as a genie in the bottle (I rub the bottle, make my three wishes, and – voila! – I get what I want!), or as a random, dangerous force I need to bargain with and appease (“Here, I’ll offer you this worship and this contribution if you’ll refrain from harming me”).

Only from Scripture can we know of both God’s power and His redeeming love, of both His justice and His saving grace, of both the power of temptation and the greater power of His life-giving Spirit, of both the dangers of this present age and the security we have in Jesus, of both death as the last enemy and Jesus’ victory over death.

So, once again: Do you know the Scriptures and the power of God? Commit yourself to knowing both. Only in this way can we be “imitators of God, as beloved children, … walk[ing] in love” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

3 Cautions on Christian Nationalism

 

Was America founded on Christianity? The answer to this question may depend on your view of our nation’s history, our founding documents, or the personal beliefs of the founding fathers themselves. Recently many have begun to ask a slightly different but more important question, a question rooted in our future aspirations and not in the intentions and deeds of our past. As a believer should we support Christian Nationalism? Should the believers in a risen Christ who is supreme over all things want our nations laws, governance, identity and culture to be overtly Christian? While this idea seems good and even wise we should be cautious to embrace this idea outright not because some aspects of the ideology wouldn’t be good for all people but because our call is to put our hope and trust in Christ alone and the finished work that he has already completed. Below are 3 cautions regarding Christian Nationalism.

Laws can be a witness to our our own sinfulness but righteous laws cannot redeem.

Laws do not have the power to save

As Paul writes in Romans 1:16 it is the gospel of Christ that has the power to save us from the wrath of God. Even if a nations laws were perfect in every way we would still be no closer to the miracle of salvation that we receive when we put our hope the Gospel of a Christ. To be clear, we should want laws that are just, fair, and reflect the character of God. Laws can be a witness to our our own sinfulness but righteous laws cannot redeem. In fact Jesus himself often rebuked the Pharisees for outward displays of righteousness while being disobedient and having hearts that were far from God. Becuase our own fallen nature we could expect that our aspirations toward Christian Nationalism would have a similar effect on us. Too much focus on our laws resulting in us losing focus on the law giver who is eager to overlook our transgressions.

Our hope is in the finished work of Christ alone, we look to a future kingdom where God will reign and our ability to love and enjoy him fully will no longer be marred by our own sin and shortcomings.

Our hope is not in a Nation but in a risen Savior

As Christian’s we are encouraged to see ourselves as sojourners whose citizenship and identity is not  on this earth but in the heavenly kingdom that God has promised and prepared for us (Philippians 3:20, 1 Peter 2:1-11). However, Christian Nationalism tempts us to put our hope in the here and now, it would demand that we marry our eternal hope of the future with the political expediency today. These two things are ultimately incompatible.  Our hope is in the finished work of Christ alone, we look to a future kingdom where God will reign and our ability to love and enjoy him fully will no longer be marred by our own sin and shortcomings. This is our ultimate hope and we will get there through perserverance, prayer, and trust in the promises of God. Christian Nationalism may seem like a means to the same end but it is more likely to shift our hope away from the person of Christ altogether.

we can create a Christian nation by relying on the Gospel of Christ to create a nation of Christians

Christ resisted Christian Nationalism

We can alsongain some insight from the Gospel of John. After miraculously feeding the multitude with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, the people were amazed so much so that wanted to make Jesus king “by force.” This was Jesus’ opportunity to have a nation on earth and he rejected it (John 6:1-15). This could have been a people and nation with Jesus governing all laws, culture, and identities but he flatly refused. There should be no doubt in our minds about how great this would have been for the people of that day. Jesus would have been a just and righteous King. His decrees would have wise and effective, his military could have deployed angels and unimaginable power. He would have been the model of for Kingship and Governmental authority, but he refused. He refused not because it would not have been good but becuase our deepest needs were meet by him embracing his cross and not an earthly kingdom.

All Christians should want Christ to be glorified in every aspect of life even in our government (1 Corinthians 10:31) but the way this happens is not through state sponsored religion. Instead we can create a Christian nation by relying on the Gospel of Christ to create a nation of Christians. May the power of God be with us to this end and may he use all earhtly means even our nation itself to bring about his will.

Tell the Next Generation

Every time we share the gospel with a family member at a holiday gathering, with a neighbor while we’re mowing the lawn, with a stranger on our daily commute, or even with our own children at bedtime devotionals, we are heralding to them the deeds of our great God. In this way, we pass the gospel to another generation. In Psalm 44 we see this pattern. Psalm 44 begins this way:

Psalms 44:1—O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:

This is how the gospel has perpetuated throughout the centuries: one generation telling the next. Indeed, the gospel is only ours to pass on to another generation because someone first passed it on to us—and someone passed it to them and so on and so forth. This is our gospel legacy. We have the privilege of passing on to the next generation the story of God’s greatest deed that he performed in the days of old in the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we do this, we follow in the pattern that Psalm 44 describes.

 

Psalm 44 in Context

In Psalm 44, the Psalmist isn’t heralding the explicit gospel of Jesus Christ in the historical sense, due to the fact that Jesus had yet to walk the earth when this Psalmist penned these words. However, Psalm 44 does point to, anticipate, and prophetically prefigure the gospel of Jesus Christ. Did you notice the colon at the end of verse 1? That tells us that the Psalmist is about to describe the deeds of God that he is referring to. Consider those deeds.

Psalms 44:2–3 describe God’s deeds in the days of old, when God delivered the promised land to his people, the future kingdom of their nation, by routing all their enemies. God “drove out nations” before his people, and he “planted” his people. God “afflicted the peoples” but he set his people free. The psalmist sums all this up in salvific terms. His people did not “save” themselves, but God did by his own “right hand, [his] arm, and the light of [his] face.” Why? Because he delighted in them.

In light of this past grace of God, the Psalmist then raises up his petition for God to again save his covenant people. Indeed, he frames the entire rest of the Psalm, vv. 4–26, with a plea for God to work his salvation again: “You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!” (Psalm 44:4) and “Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!”

 

The Gospel in Psalm 44

This salvation that the Psalmist longs for, Christ fulfills. Jesus is the Israel that Israel should have been. Jesus secured for us the eternal kingdom—what the promised land pointed to. And he did it by being “rejected” in his people’s place (Psalm 44:9). He did it by becoming a “sheep for slaughter” (Psalm 44:11), by becoming “the taunt of [his] neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around [him]” (Psalm 44:13), even though he had “not forgotten [God] and [he] was not false to [God’s] covenant” (Psalm 44:17). He became the curse for us (Galatians 3:13). And God did not “abandon [his] soul to Sheol or let [his] holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10; cf. Acts 2:27–31). Therefore, in Christ, God helps us and redeems us because he delights in us as his people united to Christ (Psalm 44:26). This is the gospel, God’s greatest deed of salvation and redemption.

 

Telling God’s Greatest Deed of Old

So we still follow this same pattern of the Psalmist. We now tell of the greatest deed of old that God has done. God sent his Son, God incarnated, wrapped in human flesh, in order to save all who believe in him—to give them eternal life (John 3:16). He accomplished this in his perfect life, death, and resurrection. This is the deed we speak of when we share the gospel. This is what we pass on to the coming generation. And we herald this past deed of grace, the gospel of Jesus, with a view to and in anticipation of God’s future grace.

Because of what Jesus has done, and because of what he is still doing from the throne room in heaven, we endure the trials and reproach that this life throws our way, knowing that we are awaiting the heavenly city, the city that is to come, whose designer and builder is God (Heb 11:10; 13:14). We look to the day when we will see “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God”, when we will hear that clarion call: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3). This is what God’s greatest deed in the gospel of Jesus has secured for us.

 

Conclusion

We have the privilege of passing on to the next generation the story of God’s greatest deed that he performed in the days of old in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have heard this great deed from the generation before us, and we aim to pass it on to the next. We have heard, and we will tell. And we do it all with a view to eternity with God.