He Became a Curse!

Dr. R.C. Sproul delivered this message at Together for the Gospel 2008.  This powerful excerpt really captures the dymanic impact it had during his session.  The first time I heard it, I broke down in tears.

Sorrowful Love: When You Can’t Love the Sinner, Weep for Him.

It has been in my experience that when I am most sorrowful for the sinner, I love him the most, and I am moved to plead for him before the throne of the Most High Judge. We are often uncomfortable around the carnal man.  His words offend our sensibilities.  His ideas counter our convictions.  As he converses, obliviously and ignorantly, we begin to see his heart.  As a man speaks, so he is.  Why do our hearts sometimes despise him?  Do we hate him? Why does he anger us? It is here that we see our hearts.  It is easy to see the sins of others; it is more difficult to see our own.  Hatred, jealousy, bitterness, wrath, backbiting, slander, and gossip are carnal works.  They proceed from an unloving, wicked, and impure heart.  If one wishes to break this heart, he must know the love of God in the gospel.  Consider the following passages of Scripture:

Elisha looks at the messenger Hazael and begins to weep.  He experiences great sorrow for the sinner:

And he fixed his gaze and stared at him, until he was embarrassed. And the man of God wept.  And Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel. You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant women.” And Hazael said, “What is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria.” Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master, who said to him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he answered, “He told me that you would certainly recover.” But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died. And Hazael became king in his place. (2 Kings 8:11-15)

Elisha wept because he knew the great sins that Hazael would committ.  What sorrow the man of God will experience! He weeps because he loves.

Note, next, the way in which Jeremiah weeps for the wicked Israelites who recieved the just recompense for their unbelief:

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! (Jeremiah 9:1)

Note next the way in which Paul spoke to the Philippians about the enemies of the cross:

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Philippians 4:18-9)

He speaks of the enemies of the cross with tears! Do we?!

Note next the way Lot related to the sinners around him in 2 Peter 2:7-8:

and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard)

Lot was greatly distressed by the conduct of the wicked; his soul was tormented by what he saw and heard. Do our souls feel a tormenting weight and sorrow for a lost world?

Note next the language of the Pslamist in 119:136, 158:

“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.”

“I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.”

The Psalmist has a great zeal for the Lord’s law.  Tears fill his eyes when it is broken.  Do we share in his heart?

Indeed, there is a real hatred for sin in the Christian’s soul, even as his hatred is tempered by love for the sinner’s soul.  It is not some fuzzy love stripped of all justice and righteousness.  It is a perfect love, the kind of love that comes from God (1 John 4:7-8).  No Christian can say he loves God if he does not love the wretched sinner. For so was the Christian in times past! (Ephesians 2:1-7; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Application:

The key to loving the sinner and hating the sin is to know the heart of God.  Do you know his heart? Perhaps, you just know his mind.  Perhaps, you just know his truth but walk ignorantly of his person.  The man who has not the heart of God will become a Pharisee with his doctrine.  Meditate, therefore, heavily upon the love of God in the gospel.  Love is from God, and thusly, he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).  You were not looking for God, but he was looking for you.  You were not loving God, but he was loving you.  He demonstrates his love for you in the gospel, even when you were still a sinner.  You who have been enlightened by the gospel: Walk with grief-stricken joy, and love the heathen around you.  He knows not what he does.

Whoever . . . has tasted of the love Christ, and has known, by his own experience, the need and the worth of redemption, is enabled, Yea, he is constrained, to love his fellow creatures. He loves them at first sight; and, if the providence of God commits a dispensation of the gospel, and care of souls to him, he will feel the warmest emotions of friendship and tenderness, while he beseeches them by the tender mercies of God, and even while he warns them by his terrors.

As to your opponent, I wish, that, before you set pen to paper against him, and during the whole time you are preparing your answer, you may commend him by earnest prayer to the Lord’s teaching and blessing. This practice will have a direct tendency to conciliate your heart to love and pity him; and such a disposition will have a good influence upon every page you write. . . . [If he is a believer,] in a little while you will meet in heaven; he will then be dearer to you than the nearest friend you have upon earth is to you now. Anticipate that period in your thoughts. . . . [If he is an unconverted person,] he is a more proper object of your compassion than your anger. Alas! “He knows not what he does.” But you know who has made you to differ.

-John Newton

Working with you for sorrowful love,

Vince R.

How to Love One Another when there are Differences Among You

John Piper’s recent “Taste & See” article truly captures the kind of humility it takes to be around those who differ from you.  I am greatly thankful for this helpful articulation; and I am very humbled by God’ s grace, even as he continues to rescue my sinful heart by teaching me these principles in application.  This side of glory, I will never be finished learning them, and neither will you.

Working with you for Love,

Vince R.

Embryonic Stem-Cell Research History: Just in Case You Missed it…Like I did.

I haven’t been living under a rock or anything, but on many issues, my cultural engagement is pretty weak.  Embryonic Stem-Cell Research has been thrown around near my ears, but only over the past year or so have I given myself to trying to stay informed.  Here’s an article summarizing the history and controversy of Embryonic Stem-Cell Research since the first invitro fertilization baby was born in 1981.  It is very helpful for people like me who need a little bit of help understanding the basic facts of the issue.  This is a much needed review in light of President Barack Obama’s woeful decision on Monday March 9, 2009 to repeal President George W. Bush’s 2001 ban on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.

Here is an exhortation for the Church:

We are called to stay informed.  We are the people who know the dignity of human life from conception until natural death.  We are the people whose love for the glory of God in all things must stay engaged in this issue in which the glory of God in the Imago Dei is being destroyed and dishonored.  We are the people who are called to love our neighbor by warning them of lies and deceit while working to think through the same concerns that even the lost world cares for.  We must work to provide biblical and honest answers while not straying or compromising from the integrity and truth of God in his word.   This is a time for God’s people and his scientists to rise up and provide, for the glory of God, an honest alternative.  Pray for the scientists, pray for those whose hurts and afflictions have called for these questions, pray for the families who just wanted to have children but did not think through the reprecutions of this issue, and most of all, pray for the lives that will be intentionally destroyed in the name of human progress and human glory.

I’m still praying for you Mr. President.  God have mercy on you.

Working with you for life,

Vince R.

Albert Mohler and the City of Man: A Book Review

"In the end, the culture and its challenges will pass away. But our Lord has left us here for a reason-as His people, we are to be salt and light to a dying world."

As I finished Dr. Mohler’s book Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth, I realized the unrelenting importance of cultural engagement.  I may not be one called toward academic cultural apologetics, but as a Christian, I have a responsibility to know the place where the people dwell.  As I recall Discern Your Culture at New Attitude 2007, I remember a profoundly affecting and simply stated truth Dr. Mohler brought, “The only reason we care about the culture is because the culture is where the lost people are.”  Very simple; but often overlooked.  In the name of cultural engagemet, Christians often forget their responsibility to holiness and Christ-centeredness.  And just the same, in the name of holiness and Christ-centeredness, Christians often forget their responsiblity to love their neighbor.

This book heightens my intensity and passion for engaging the City of Man.  Here is an excerpt that powerfully portrays the necessity for Christian engagement with the culture.  Dr. Mohler springs off the shoulders of St. Augustine with simple theological dexterity:

“The City of God is eternal and takes as its sole concern the greater glory of God.  In the City of God, all things are ruled by God’s Word, and the perfect rule of God is the passion of all its citizens.

In the City of Man, however, the reality is very different.  This city is filled with mixed passions, mixed allegiances, and compromised principles…citizens of the City of Man demonstrate deadly patterns of disobedience, even as they celebrate moral autonomy, and then revolt against the Creator.

Of course, we know that the City of God is eternal, even as the City of Man is passing.  But this does not mean that the City of Man is ultimately unimportant, and it does not allow the church to forfeit its responsibility to love its citizens.  Love of neighbor–grounded in our love for God–requires us to work for good in the City of Man, even as we set as our first priority the preaching of the gospel–the only means of bringing citizens of the City of Man into citizenship in the City of God…

Love of neighbor for the sake of loving God is a profound political philosophy that strikes a balance between the disobedience of political disengagement and the idolatry of politics as our main priority…we are concerned for the culture, not because we believe that the culture is ultimate, but because we know that our neighbors must hear the gospel, even as we hope and strive for their good, peace, security, and well-being.”-pp.3-4

If you are looking for a work that serves as a nice introductory seque into worldview apologetics and cultural engagement, I strongly suggest you begin with Dr. Mohler.  He is a nice bridge into more thorough and dense works from Francis Schaeffer, C.S. Lewis, David Wells, and many more.  As C.J. Mahaney puts it in his review of the book,

“Al Mohler is a unique gift to the church.  His writing combines penetrating theological discernment and insightful cultural analysis with a passion to faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

I must agree.  Dr. Mohler refuses to leave the gospel.  For him, cultural engagment means that we go straight to the need of the lost–a regenerated soul.  For without that happening to us first, our worldview would not be any different from theirs.

Working with you to bring a gospel-centered worldview to the market place,

Vince R.

The Root of Roe v. Wade: The Contraception Mentality

Here is a powerful examination of the current “contraception mentality.”

Check out this compelling excerpt:

“We submit, therefore, that children are now being aborted in the flesh, because they have already been, in large measure, aborted from the mind.”

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Thank you to Bro. Hank for bringing this the current issue of Touchstone Magazine to my attention.  Go visit his biblicaly charged engagment with the Pro-life movement over at Lawn Gospel.

Working with you for Life,

Vince R.

The Power of the Cross

A powerful video with one of my favorite modern hymns, The Power of the Cross by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.

Preaching to the Heart Part 1: Watching Pastor Paul at Lystra

 

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra

“But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. ” Acts 14:14-15

We enter the city of Lystra with Paul and Barnabas.  Think of it, men of God in the midst of an alarming reality.  Paul and Barnabas at Lystra encounter a man who never had the experiences that many of you have had.  They come upon a man “sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked.”  He had never walked.  This is an astonishing reality.  This man sat there in that community, accustomed to the stares at his helpless immobility.  But as he sat there, he heard something he had never heard before.  He heard the sound of a voice declaring strange things.  “He listened to Paul speaking,” says Luke.  This man sat and listened to the truths Paul preached.  Could he stop listening?  No, his soul was enchanted with truth.

Paul is no pompous orator, showing his eloquence or intellect in the pulpit while ignoring the struggling sinner.  Contrarily, Paul, while speaking intently also does something else intently.  “And Paul, looking intently at him” saw something developing in this man.  He saw “that he had faith to be made well.”  Paul’s pastoral intention saw the longing soul in the congregation, and with pointed clarity, he  ”said in a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’”  His declaration was as one with authority.

He fulfilled his calling there at Lystra.  He declared the truth and went for the heart of this crippled man.  The heart, as many like me often forget, is the heart of the matter.  This man’s heart beamed with faithful reception.  Paul looked “intently” at him, and declared openly, “Stand upright on your feet.”  The most recent time we see Paul looking “intently” at someone is found in the previous chapter.

“But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at [Elymas the magician] and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?’” Acts 13:9-10

Here we see Pastor Paul reading the man and applying the truth to his heart.  For this man was not concerned with the conversion of souls, but rather he was  ”seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.”  Paul is no cowardly minister, he as Mark Driscoll puts it, “shoots the wolves.”  Yet in returning to chapter 14, we see Paul doing what Driscoll says is “feeding the sheep.”  He proclaims the truths and so feeds the sheep.  This crippled man from Lystra believed, and by his faith, he was made well.

But then we read what the Lystran population did in response to this demonstration:

“And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’ Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.” Acts 14:11-12

The men of Lystra were amazed at Paul’s Spirit-wrought power.  Indeed, Paul was a spiritually-minded preacher, and like the crippled man, his preaching begot spritually-minded people.  “I have begot you through the gospel,” said Paul to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 4:15).

But these men of Lystra were amazed at signs.  They were not amazed at Christ.  Likewise, today’s church is amazed at the good works of the gospel and not the gospel itself!  Shameful…When we replace God’s supernatural mercy on sinners with our natural mercy on sinners, we beget an ignorant blind people who love good works but despise the work of Christ.  People will gladly accept the good works of the church if the church lets them see the good works by themselves.  But will the people accept God’s good work?

Today’s church doesn’t seem to care.  It is much too hard to read all of John 6.  We enjoy the part about feeding the five thousand with bread; we would like to cut out those parts about eating the bread of life.  “People will rebel against it!” says one, but did not many “disciples” turn away from Christ that day, too.  But we would rather find a mass of unconverted church members than twelve men like Peter who can say simply, ““Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  The only saving faith is that which says simply to Christ, “To whom shall I go but you? You have the words I need.”

Today’s preachers would react much differently than Paul and Barnabas. They might stand timidly in the corner as these pagan men marched around them calling them gods.  They might even relish the opportunity!  They devour the compliments that said they speak with “the voice of a god and not of a man!” They, like Herod, would find the angel of the Lord smiting them for not giving the glory to God (Acts 12:20-23).

But where is the man who would react like Paul and Barnabas?  “But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments” (Acts 14:14).  They react with sorrow! Where is the sorrow for the lost soul?  These men know not what they do, says our Lord.  And indeed, these preacher men don’t timidly offer another alternative to these lost souls. They don’t interject a differing opinion.  But instead, they  ”rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ‘Men, why are you doing these things?’”  They did not walk and politely offer.  They did not stroll and gracefully proffer.  They rushed and cried.  Would that I would rush and cry for the souls of men!

The soul is the most fragile thing that the minister can deal with.  I learned this from Leonard Ravenhill.  I should have just learned it from Paul.

“We also are men, of like nature with you,” cries Paul.  Sinners preaching to sinners.  Where is that understanding in me?  Paul understood it, and he said clearly that the only difference was they  “bring…good news.”  Indeed, this is all there is to the way we differ.  We have found the bread of life.  We have found the way.  We are the people who should be the voice in the wilderness crying out against all “vain things,”  pressing and pleading with the souls of men and saying “turn from these vain things to a living God.”  We are the people who know the difference. The church is a pillar of proclamation and a buttress of truth, yet we so often act like a pillar of privacy and a buttress of buttoned-lips.

We have the message, and we have the God who created all things.  We know “a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”  The LORD is creator, and by that very claim we state so much more than we think.  We state clearly that this world belongs to our Father in heaven.  “Let the whole race of creatures bow and pay their praise to him.”  By the very nature of being the created, we owe everything to the creator.

Paul knew the God he served, and he would be damned lest he see more souls go to hell (Romans 9:1-3).

Working with you to minister to the heart,

Vince R.

The Hope of God in the Outer Dark: Thoughts on Cormac McCarthy

“And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.  In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Matthew 25:30

So says our Lord in his Olivet discourse which I finished reading this morning.  As many have put it, much of our understanding of Hell has come from Jesus Christ.  Without him, we would almost have no doctrine concerning it.  Beware those who say there is only anihilation!  There is a real hell, and in it “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” for eternity.  No ceasing of existence, but eternal punishment apart from God’s presence.

This concept of “outer darkness” caught my eye this morning.  I just finished Cormac McCarthy’s second novel Outer Dark this past Sunday.  I have decided to write my undergraduate thesis on some aspect of this man’s novels.  I am charged with reading all ten before January 2009.  I have three down, Blood Meridian: Or Evening Redness in the West, The Orchard Keeper, and now, Outer Dark.

Outer Dark is one of the most disturbing books I have read.  Not the most-that would go to Blood Meridian.

But why, Vince, do you engage in such dark and hopeless texts?  Cormac McCarthy is notorious for his intense violence and heart-wrenching theses.

I approached this project after having seen the Cohen Brothers film version of No Country for Old Men.  After seeing it once, I was hooked.  I didn’t understand this man’s point very well, and I’m sure the directors added their own flair and tastes.  But McCarthy is no author you hear of very much.  He almost hides from the public eye (something I admire).  He gave his stamp of approval on this project which I found interesting.  The film is brilliant.  If you don’t think so, see it again.  It’s very close to the novel I understand.  Thus, my interest came.

After much thought, I knew I wanted to engage in the man’s mind.  I don’t know his mind, nor will I ever.  But with 10 novels filled with violence and the good ol’ South, I’m entranced to see what compels him.

Speaking from the English Major side of my mind:  This man’s prose is some of the most beautiful I’ve ever read.

Speaking from the closet-Theology Major side of my mind: This man’s worldview seems hopeless.

Note this comment from one of his characters in Outer Dark.

Hard people makes hard times.  I’ve seen the meanness of humans till I don’t know why God ain’t put out the sun and gone away (p. 192).

I don’t know with whom McCarthy identifies in his novels, but I suppose that his basic thesis for this novel is simply this: It’s better to blind than to have to view the outer darkness of this world.

There is so much imagery of a good darkness (ignorance) and bad darkness (reality).  I will not give away the plot or the events, but his protagonists basically go through hell to no avail.  It’s quite heart-breaking.  Here’s one passage from a minor character on the long journey, a Reverend:

“I won’t tell it all.  This blind feller hollered out one time and said: Looky here at me, blind and all.  I guess you reckon I ort to love Jesus.

Well, neighbor, I says, I believe ye ort. He give ye eyes to see and then he tuck em away.  And maybe you never was much of a christian to start with and he figgered this’d bring ye round.  They’s been more than one feller brought to the love of Jesus over the paths of affliction.  And what better way than blind? In a world darksome as this’n I believe it’s got a good deal to recommend it.  The grace of God don’t rest easy on a man.  It can blind him easy as not.  It can bend him and make him crooked.  And who did Jesus love, friends? The lame the halt and the blind, that’s who.  Them is the ones scarred with God’s mercy.  Stricken with his love.  Ever legless fool and old blind mess like you is a flower in the garden of God.  Amen.  I told him that.” 226

It is better to be blind, it seems to say,  Jesus loved them the most.  This discourse, I think, holds an element of his thesis.  Lastly, we note a blind man answer to a question near the end of the book:

“I ain’t never prayed.  Why don’t ye pray back your eyes?

I believe it’d be a sin.  Them old eyes can only show ye what’s done there anyways.  If a blind man needed eyes he’d have eyes.” 240-241

Interesting…these are just a few thoughts I had regarding my most recent reading.

Nevertheless, I look at this and wonder-were there no God, this thesis would be true.

Indeed, apart from God, what hope is there?  The Outer Darkness of this world, hell on earth, might just make me want blindess.  As Hemingway put it, “The world will kill you.”

Indeed, in my literary studies, I often see such hopelessness in the literature from the 1950s-today.  Post-modernism has no hope in it.  Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, for instance, is brilliant, but completely hopeless.  I’m mostly interested in this worldview because I know that it controls our culture in America today.

God’s people, however, have hope.  When we face the seemingly hopeless incidents I read about, my one remembrance should be these words:

…hope does not put to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5

Like that character and many of McCarthy’s characters, I often feel like an old world-wearied man (sitting on the porch in my rocking chair, shotgun across my lap, hound dog to my side) and wondering why God hasn’t just put out the sun and gone away considering how evil we are. 

Thanks be to God.  He’s staying right where He is, and He’s on my side in Christ Jesus.  Whom shall I fear?

Working with you to see hope amidst the outer dark,

Vince R.

McCarthy, Cormac, Outer Dark. Vintage Books. New York. 1968

Why Scattered Suffering Saints Can Still Say, “Yes, Lord.” An Easter Exposition of 1 Peter 1:1-3

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.” 1 Peter 1:1-2

The apostle Peter, a great man of God, bold and zealous for the faith, writes his letter to suffering saints.

But, we should ask, why do they suffer?

Because they are obedient to their Lord.  This, I think, is the main application of this text.

Friends, if you are not suffering in some way for being a Christian, you must ask yourself: “Am I being obedient to my Lord?”

If not, you must repent, and obey your master who is in heaven.

Your suffering is not your back ache. It is not the fact that you are growing up, and life is complicating.  All of that experience is just life.  Even the pagans suffer in that way!

But you, child of the Most High, are called to obey your Father.

And He has promised it; the world will hate you for it when you do.  John 15:18-20 says:

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

Friends, consider: He says this to his disciples directly following his discourse on the vine and the branches in John 15:1-17, whereby he asserts that all of his followers will bear fruit. He declares it resolutely and definitively. His people are obedient to him. Though they may have bad moments in which a bad fruit appears, their lives are defined by good fruit, that is, obedience to their Lord. Look at the text:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:1-2

Not only does he promise that his people will be obedient, but even when they are, they will still be pruned. “…every branch that does bear fruit he prunes…”

Do you think that this feels good? Of course not! It hurts to be pruned. But look at why they are pruned:

“…that [they] may bear more fruit.”

Astonishing! It hurts in order that they may be even more obedient to him.

God puts his own through trials. Do you seriously think that He does not control those trials? He owns those people.  They are His.  They are kept.

So, I hope, you see that obedience to God brings about persecution from the world.

That is the situation of Peter’s readers. They are obedient saints suffering for their obedience.

Look at the end of verse 2 again:

“To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion… for obedience to Jesus Christ.”

Do you see it?

So again, I ask: Are you suffering for obeying your Lord?

I want you to notice three foundations for this outcome of obedience to Jesus Christ.  They are given in verse 2.

1.) God’s foreknowledge.

“To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion…according to the foreknowledge of God.” v.v. 1 and 2

Now there are two possible meanings behind this text. We must ask Peter which he means. Or does he mean both?

Does he mean they are ‘elect” according to the foreknowledge of God?

Does he mean they are “exiles of the dispersion” according to the foreknowledge of God?

Or possibly, does he mean both? Are they “elect” and “exiles of the dispersion” according to the foreknowledge of God?

I am going to argue for the former but with a confidence that the latter is still true and supports my case.

There is explicit biblical support for the first, and there is implicit support for the second.

First, they are elect according to God’s foreknowledge.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Romans 8:28-30

That is the great chain link of grace.

He foreknew his people in an intimate way long before they were born. v. 29a

He predestines them to be conformed to the image of his Son (only God’s people will be conformed to his Son’s image) v. 29b

He calls those he predestined to life even when they are dead in trespasses and sins walking according to the prince of the world i.e. Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3)

He justifies those who he called out of death into life. Justification means that they are imputed with the righteousness of Christ because of the faith they have in Christ even when they themselves are unrighteous. (Romans 3:21-24)

He will also call them to glorification (which means that they will be totally conformed to Christ’s image, and they will gain their uncorrupted inheritance). (1 Peter 1:4-5)

All of this is grace sovereignly bestowed on them in such a way that is totally independent of any good or bad they themselves have. (Romans 9:9-12)

This is a hugely disputed doctrine, yet Peter affirms it plainly, using it as a huge foundation for the obedience of God’s people in verses two.  In verse three, he will praise God for it.

Also, I said that their dispersion must have been according to God’s foreknowledge.

In Hebrews 11, the writer says:

“[The saints of the Old Testament] all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth.” Hebrews 11:13

So we establish that saints (people with faith in God), are strangers and exiles on earth.

All of them experience the suffering of strangeness and “exileness” when they are obedient to God.  Every Old Testament example given in Hebrews 11 testifies that those with faith in God are obedient. The writer cites the obedience resulting from faith displayed in Abraham (verse 8-10), Isaac (verse 20), Jacob (verse 21), Joseph (verse 22), Moses (verse 23-29), etc.

Also note that when Jesus spoke to the disciples, he promised they would be persecuted.

“…he began to say to his disciples first…I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God? Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:1, 4-7

In this passage, Jesus is proving the greater by stating the lesser. If God takes such good care of sparrows, not forgetting even one, then he will take better care of his followers, and never forget a single one. If he has such an intimate understanding of his followers that he numbers their very hairs, then he will most certainly take care of them in all things.

That testifies to God’s care for his people in suffering through obedience.

But Jesus continues:

“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11-12

Jesus makes a bold statement in which he guarantees the suffering of his servants, and subsequently, he promises that the Holy Spirit will guide them in that time.

Why promise that which will not be needed? Jesus promises the Holy Spirit during these hardships. If God’s people are definitely his people (as we looked at earlier), then their hardships are not given apart from his will.

Christ’s obedience to the Father was displayed in his death on the cross (Philippians 2:8), our mind is to be like his (Philippians 2:5).

People like to use that Scripture in Philippians 2 to emphasize being humble before others. But that is not the point of the text. Obedience to the Father is the point of the text.

That takes humility before God. No one can have one mind and love (Phil. 2:2), avoid rivalry and conceit (Phil. 2:3a), in humility count others more significant than themselves (Phil. 2:3b), or look to the interests of others (Phil. 2:4), if they are not first being humble before God the Father in obedience like Christ did. That is point of Philippians 2:5.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which [was also] in Christ Jesus.”

That mind is humility and obedience to the Father in heaven.

Do you see where man-centered preaching takes you? It thwarts the obedience that glorifies God.

But I digress…

Lastly,

If Christ’s suffering was preordained according to the foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23), why wouldn’t the suffering of his people (those being conformed to his image) be foreknown in the same way?

2 and 3.) The Sanctification of the Spirit.

The elect are going to be obedient to Christ because of the sanctification of the Spirit.

There are two sanctifications spoken of in Scripture.

One is the sanctification whereby God’s people are washed from their sins in the regeneration (that is to be washed by the blood of Christ).

Because of the nature of verse 2, I am inclined to think that this is what Peter meant primarily but not exclusively.

“You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11

Christians are washed from their sins with the blood of Christ, by the Spirit of God.

In that moment, their sins are washed away, and they are set apart as belonging completely and totally to God.

This is the first sanctification spoken of in Scripture. It is positional. It is where the Christian stands. He stands as belonging to and set apart for God.

But as before, I am also convinced that the other type of sanctification spoken of in Scripture is true too for Peter, and it holds as an additional foundation for the obedience of which Peter speaks and of which I am trying to prove is the reason for the suffering of the saints.

In this sanctification, the Spirit works in the Christian to put the disobedient flesh to death and to bring about obedience.

This is called progressive because this sanctification takes time. It spans the life of the believer.

“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brother beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

I think that in these verses, Paul is thanking God for the believers at Thessalonica because God chose them to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit to obtain the glory of Christ. This obtaining is something that happens in the future. It is the glorification spoken of in Romans 8:30. The sanctification is the means by which this obtaining will happen. It is like a tunnel through which the believer must go before he will be saved at the end.

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Again, Paul speaks of the time in the future when God’s people will be saved. He prays that God will sanctify them completely. Now does he mean that he hopes that all their sins will be washed away before Jesus comes back, that hopefully God will not accidentally forget to wash a sin or two with the blood of Christ?

I really don’t think so. That is not the nature or context of Paul’s prayer. He prays that they will be blameless on that last day. Though be knows God will do it, he prays (to encourage the believers at Thessalonica) that God will continue what he started and completely sanctify His people.

Paul wants God to continue to work in them in order to bring about those fruits he mentioned in the previous verses (1 Thessalonians 5:12-22), so they may be “…blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul clearly wants God to make them ready for a time in the future when Christ comes back.

It is also noteworthy that one of the reasons Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica is that some were trying to confuse them about the second coming of Christ. Paul clearly is keeping the future in mind.

I also think Peter is keeping the future in mind in this passage. Look at verse 5:

“[Believers] by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Thusly, both positional and progressive sanctification are in Peter’s mind here, but by virtue of the blood of Christ mentioned in verse 2 (which provides the third point), I think he wanted to emphasize the saint’s positional sanctification.

As I have proved, I hope, the elect, exiled in the dispersion around the world, will bring about “obedience to Jesus Christ” because of three main foundations:

1.) God the Father’s foreknowledge

2.) God the Spirit’s sanctification

3.) God the Son’s obedience (the blood shed on the cross used to sanctify the believer).

Then, note the very end of verse 2.

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Peter wants to bless the suffering saints by showing them the grace of God and the peace that surpasses all understanding. Here is how he shows it, and in this way we see how this relates to Easter Sunday:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

He declares a state of blessing in which God resides. God is “makarios.” He is “divinely happy.” That is what ”blessed” means in the Greek.  Peter declares God’s perfectly happy fellowship with himself for his own great work. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” “He is perfectly happy with himself,” and here is why he says that about God.

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

Do you see the demonstration of God’s perfect happiness with himself?

There can be no resurrection like the one spoken of at the end of this verse if Jesus Christ did not die.

So we see that the death of Christ on the cross threads this passage like a precious string keeping it all together.

Peter is saying this: “Blessed be God the Father! He sent his Son to die! His Son shed the very blood that washes the sins of his people! He also raised his Son from the dead!”

And here is where the grace is:

Those two mighty acts of God, the sending of his Son to die and the resurrection of the Son sandwich something that should encourage the suffering saints and give them peace.

“…he has caused us to be born again to a living hope…”

Do you see the finely cut and succulent meat that resides between those two perfectly placed pieces of bread?

The Son dies and is resurrected from the dead.

Because of this, sinners are born again or born from above by the Spirit (John 3:1-8), and therefore, they have hope. And it is not just any hope: It is a living hope. It survives. It endures. It lasts.

The death and resurrection of Christ is the only hope of saints who will suffer for being obedient to their Lord.

So do you see my point?

After all of this, we see lastly and resolutely that obedience for the glory of God is the lasting fruit of a life reborn by the work of Christ because they have a hope to endure the suffering of obedience.

This opens so many doors for you, Christian.

It means that you have been set free from sin and death to a living hope which enables you to do radical things for Christ, things that will turn the world upside down.

To be obedient to another will means to die to your own. And if we die to ourselves like he did, even to the point of a literal death, then what a promise thereafter! We shall also share in his resurrection.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Romans 6:6

So be obedient and live a sanctified (set apart) life for God.

“[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 through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:22-23

You are not your own. You are sanctified, you are washed, you are bought, and you are His.

I promise you this: God takes better care of his things than you do.

So in light of that, even death itself acts as a grace opening the door to paradise. In light of that, what have you to worry about? Death is the worst they can do.

“Let goods and kindred go/this mortal life also/the body they may kill/God’s truth abideth still/His kingdom is forever.” –Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress is Our God

Easter Sunday is a yearly reminder to go do something for the kingdom, lest the death and resurrection of Christ be a vanity in your life signifying nothing.

Like the saints of old (the ones in Hebrews 11 and the ones to whom Peter wrote), you are called to bear your cross just like Christ did on that Good Friday. His cross was obedience to His Father. So is yours.

Just be obedient and God will do the rest.

“And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:29-32

Working with you to do bold things for God’s kingdom because of our living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Vince R.

Happy Easter!

All texts taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version 2005.