How Can I Know God?

Colin Smith

If you are wondering, “How can I know God,” here are three different answers you might hear: 

1. “We cannot know God.” 

This is the position of many people today. If you look at any of the recent religious surveys, it is clear that don’t knows are on the rise. That may well be your position too: You don’t feel able to commit yourself to a firm confession of faith, but on the other hand you would not want to say that you are an atheist, so you say, “I don’t know.”

Some of us will speak with a friend or colleague or neighbor who is a don’t know. They ask what you did over the weekend, and you mention that you were in church. They say, “That’s great if you find it helpful, but I’m an agnostic when it comes to these things.” 

You could say to them, “Well, I can understand why you would think that. It says in the Bible ‘No one has ever seen God’ (John 1:18). So how could any of us know? But have you ever considered the second half of this verse? It says that God the one and only has made Him known!”

John is telling you that if you get to know Jesus Christ, you have truly come to know the living God, who no one has ever seen. John’s Gospel was written so that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31). 

2. “We all know God.” 

This answer is surprisingly (and disturbingly) common among Evangelicals. Evangelical Christians have long talked about having a quiet time. A quiet time is an excellent thing, and I hope you have made a commitment to have a regular quiet time. But my question is, “What are you going to do in that time?” 

In the past, what Evangelicals meant when they talked about having a quiet time was a regular time of Bible reading and prayer. Christians through the centuries rightly believed that God speaks to us through the Bible and that we speak to Him through prayer. But as large parts of the church have drifted away from the Scriptures, many people have latched onto the idea that we can listen to God simply by being quiet.

It has become common among Christians to think that listening to God means being quiet and listening to our own hearts. But here’s the problem with that: God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). 

If you believe that you listen to God by listening to your own heart, then what have you done? You have put your own heart in the place of God. If you make an idol of your heart, that will inevitably lead to a life of following the impulses of your own heart. And who knows where that will lead you? 

John’s Gospel does not say, “In the beginning were our hearts, and our hearts were with God, and our hearts were God.” It says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh, and he has made the Father known.” 

That is why the Bible says that the “entrance” of God’s Word gives light (Psalm 119:130, KJV). We do not have entrance to God through any other way, except the Word of God. You won’t get to know God by reflecting on your own thoughts and feelings on the sofa with some Christian music on in the background. You listen to God with an open Bible!

3. “Jesus Christ knows God.” 

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:18) 

A. No one stands beside the Lord Jesus Christ.

About who else could it ever be said that he or she is eternal, personal, divine, creating, life-giving, incarnate Son of God? No one else stands beside Him. 

Who else could ever say to us, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)? Rest assured of this: You will not find a higher way than you find in Jesus Christ. You will not find more reliable truth than you find in Christ. You will not find a better life than you find in him. 

B. No one else will ever go beyond Jesus Christ.

We live in the world of upgrades, where every product eventually become obsolete as we move on to the next model. No one ever upgrades on Jesus Christ! No one has ever gone beyond Jesus Christ, and no one ever will—in this world or even in the world to come. 

A man by the name of H. R. Mackintosh wrote this about Jesus, “Never in any experience of God here or hereafter will you or I ever find anything that is not already there for us in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.” [1] 

At the end of the Bible, John, who wrote this Gospel, was given a glimpse into heaven, a vision of the future. He saw the people of God gathered with great joy in the presence of the Lord with every tear wiped from their eyes, and he said, “The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them into springs of living water” (Revelation 7:17). 

When parents take children to a theme park, the instinct of the children when they arrive is to run off and explore the rides—the swings, the slides, or whatever else may be there. Heaven will not be like that. 

When God’s people are in His presence, it is not that they are welcomed by Jesus Christ and then go running off to explore the celestial playground. Jesus Christ is the joy of his people in heaven. He is the center of it all. They never move beyond Him. Everything that God’s people enjoy forever comes from him, and no joy is theirs without Him.  

There is no greater joy than to meet and to know Jesus. 

This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Knowing Who God Is,” from his series Meet Jesus.

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/10/know-god/

A Life-Changing Sentence in Deuteronomy

When was the last time you started a Bible reading plan with the book of Deuteronomy?

Maybe you should. There’s a life-changing sentence in the first chapter of this historical book that we need more than ever today.

To briefly set the scene, God commanded his people to leave Horeb and enter the Promised Land. The Israelites were understandably afraid of the battle that lay ahead, but instead of bringing their fear before the Lord, they chose to murmur in their tents.

The result of their self-counsel? Their conclusion is shocking: “Because the Lord hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.” (Deuteronomy 1:27, ESV)

This Old Testament narrative couldn’t make it any clearer: we are always preaching to ourselves.

There’s something else to be said: theology is not just something we study in the academic classrooms of seminary; theology is the lens through which we examine and respond to everyday life. Our understanding of God will inescapably shape our perspective on our circumstances.

But maybe their conclusion shouldn’t be so shocking. I’m deeply persuaded that we, just like the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 1, are always asking five deeply theological questions. The way we answer them will push us toward hope or panic.

1. Is God Good?

You can rest assured that the goodness of God will confuse you. What looks good from God’s perfect eternity-to-destiny perspective doesn’t always seem good to us at street level.

2. Will God Do What He Promised?

Few questions in life are more important than this one. Since we are small and weak, since we never really know what is going to happen next, and since God calls us to do difficult, sacrificial things, we need to know that his promises are reliable.

3. Is God In Control?

In some ways, all the other questions rest on this one. God’s promises are only as trustworthy as to the extent of his control. What good is his goodness if he lacks the authority to exercise it?

4. Does God Have The Needed Power?

You will be motivated to do what you don’t have the natural ability to do when you know that God’s awesome power is with you. Confidence in God’s power produces courage in the face of weakness and enables you to admit your limits while living with courage and hope.

5. Does God Care About Me?

Perhaps this is the question we’re most conscious of, but the Bible never debates God’s care; it assumes and declares it. God’s care is foundational. It lets me know that all that he is, he is for me.

What are you preaching to yourself? What are you saying to you about the goodness, promises, control, power, and care of God?

As you ask these questions, remember that he is so rich in grace that he will never turn a deaf ear to your cries.

God bless,

Paul David Tripp

Reflection Questions

1. Read the first full chapter of Deuteronomy. What additional application can you find in the text? How does it relate to your life right here, right now?

2. Which of the five questions have you asked most recently? What prompted you to ask this question?

3. How did you answer that question? Where did your answer find its inspiration or evidence?

4. Are you murmuring in your tent? What unbiblical thoughts or beliefs are you preaching to yourself? How can you combat these with gospel truths?

5. Who do you know who is discouraged or afraid? How can you help them avoid a Deuteronomy 1:27 response? Be specific.

Posted at: https://www.paultripp.com/wednesdays-word

How Do I Know That God is For Me?

FROM Sinclair Ferguson 

God has promised to work everything together for the good of His people. If God is for us, it follows that, ultimately, nothing can stand against us. That is logical. Otherwise, God would not be God. If something could rise up against God and overcome Him, that other thing would be God. God would then prove to be a false god—no God at all. But on the contrary Paul is saying that in the last analysis, nothing can be against us if God is for us.

But this raises the million-dollar question: “Is God for me?” Perhaps even more pointed is the personal question:

“How do I know that God is for me?”

Well, do you know that? How do you know?

Satan is very insistent about this—indeed, he has been insistent on this question from the beginning. He asked it in the Garden of Eden. In fact, his first recorded words are an assault on God’s gracious character (will we never learn how much he hates God and His people?): “Did God put you in this lavish garden and forbid you to eat from any of its trees? What kind of God does that? You don’t think He is really for you, do you, if He does that kind of thing?” (see Gen. 3:1).

You will find this innuendo repeated in various forms and guises throughout your Christian life. You need to have biblical answers to these questions:

• How do you know God is really for you?

• Where should you look for the proof that God is for you? Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life has been unbroken happiness? Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life been one of ecstatic joy?

There is only one irrefutable answer to these questions. It cannot be found in our circumstances. It lies only in the provision that God has made for us in Jesus Christ.

This is the whole point of Paul’s question in verse 32. We can be sure that God is for us because this God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to the cross for us all.

If this is true, Paul affirms, we can be confident He will give us everything we will ever need.

This is the only sure way we can know that God is for us.

Frequently in the closing pages of the Gospel records we are told that the Lord Jesus Christ was “delivered up” (e.g., Matt. 26:15; 27:2, 18, 26). He was handed over by one person or group to another until eventually He was handed over by Pilate to be crucified as a criminal.

But Paul understood that behind every human “handing over” was the purpose of the heavenly Father. He “handed over” (it is the same verb) His own Son to bear the condemnation due to sinners.

Here is the heart of the plan of God and the wonder of the gospel. The best of all men dies as though He were the worst of all criminals. This is not merely a matter of human wickedness destroying a good man. It is the heart of the purpose of God, as Isaiah had long before prophesied (Isa. 53:4–6, 10).

Behind the handing over of the Lord Jesus—by Judas Iscariot, by Herod, by the priests, by Pontius Pilate—stood the purposes of His heavenly Father handing Him over to the cross in order to die in the place of sinners. He bore God’s judgment and wrath against our sin.

What inexpressible love this is.

This excerpt is adapted from By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me by Sinclair Ferguson.

Posted at: https://www.ligonier.org/blog/how-do-i-know-god-me/

Love is Love, Except When it is Not

by Jason Alligood

“Love is Love!” We hear this mantra bandied about as if it means anything without defining what love is. It is, perhaps not surprising, that those who have been reared in a culture where it is preferred that words not be defined are so flippant with something so important as the word love. On the other hand, these are also quick to show offense when they are certain that another has crossed the line into what is not loving. This, of course, requires that one has a grasp of love’s definition. Therefore, the word must have some objective meaning, and cannot simply be defined by itself. “Love is love,” epitomizes the postmodern definitional conundrum in which we find ourselves.

Love that is true love is wrapped in objective truth. As Christians we are familiar with the phrase “God is love.” In fact, some non-Christians are familiar with this phrase and use it to castigate Christians who they consider unloving (again, we come to objectivity). I wonder how many Christians and non-Christians know the context of this phrase? Christians who grew up in the church are likely to know that this comes from 1 John 4:8. However, to rip 1 John 4:8 from the context of 1 John is a dangerous thing.

John does not start by stating that God is love. The earliest “God is” statement in 1 John is “God is light,” followed by “and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This statement about light and darkness demands an objective understanding of right and wrong. Here’s the summary:God is light, the very essence of goodness and righteousness, and we are not. This objective truth concerning God drives our understanding of not only what is good, but what is meant when John later says, “God is love.” God being light gives definition to God also being love. He is both light and love in and of himself, inseparably.

This logically leads to the conclusion not only that love must be defined objectively, but that when we genuinely love, we must press toward the light of who God is. God has shown his love in the darkness by sending the light of his Son into the world to live a perfect life, die an underserving death in the place of sinners, and be raised three days later as a witness to his deity and his conquering over sin and death. So, we must lovingly tell people that they are sinners. This is the most loving thing we as Christians can do.

Even the secular world understands that love has boundaries, but the subjectivity in which they have placed their faith has made it so that anyone can define love as they like and the whole thing has become a subjective mess. Since love is objectively defined by the God who is also light, we must, in loving others, express a truthful understanding of sin. We must therefore, in loving others, express a truthful understanding of human sexuality. We must therefore, in loving others, express a truthful understanding of the sanctity of human life, from the womb to the tomb. We must therefore, in love and in the scope of eternity, not elevate one sin as more egregious than another when condemnation according to God’s perfection is in view. We must therefore, in love, tell others of the objective love of God in Christ, which is the only answer to the sinfulness of falling short of the objective truth of God’s light. Love is love, except when it is not. We must declare with the Scriptures that God is both light and love.

Jason Alligood

Jason Alligood is the Teaching Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Peoria, Illinois. He holds degrees from Moody Bible Institute, Calvary Theological Seminary, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Systematic Theology at MBTS. He is married to Amber and together they have three children: Jonah, Karis, and Aubrey.

Posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/love-is-love-except-when-it-is-not

Knowing God Through His Name

Meredith Hodge

God, Father, Lord—These names typify our communication with and about him. We know His name is to be honored, not said in vain (Exodus 20:7). It is to be “hallowed,” revered in our prayers (Matthew 6:9). Yet, God’s name signifies so much more.

God invites us through Scripture to see how His name declares who He is. And as we faithfully ponder His majestic, holy, and awesome name (Psalm 8:1; 111:9), we see how He not only reveals His character, but also His promises to us. Here are four names that embody the Lord’s attributes and assurances:

1.) He is Jehovah-Raah: The LORD My Shepherd

God’s Word illustrates the desperate need of sheep for a shepherd. Because sheep are prone to stray and become lost, they will fall into destruction without a tending shepherd. It’s no surprise that the Bible compares humanity to sheep:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way. (Isaiah 53:6)

Thankfully, we have Jehovah-Raah, “who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Psalm 100:3). The Lord our Shepherd cares for, guides, protects, and leads His wandering sheep.

Isaiah says of Him:

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (40:11)

Jesus is our Good Shepherd—he knows His sheep, and we know Him (John 10:1-16). He has compassion on us in our propensity to wander and in our helplessness (Matthew 9:36). Our Shepherd willingly laid down His life for His sheep (John 10:11), carrying our iniquities to reconcile us to a holy God (Isaiah 53:6).

He now awaits us in the middle of heaven’s throne, where He will guide us to streams of living water (Revelation 7:17) and give us the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:8).

Therefore, like King David, we echo in praise: “The LORD is my Shepherd. I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).

2.) He is Jehovah-Jireh: The LORD Will Provide

Abraham saw God’s gracious provision in sparing Isaac’s life with a sacrificial ram, naming the location, “The Lord Will Provide” (Genesis 22:14). Notice, Jehovah-Jireh does not mean, “The Lord did provide,” but rather, “The Lord will provide.” Abraham was not looking solely to past and present provisions; he was anticipating a future action from his Almighty Provider—and we can too.

Jehovah-Jireh provides earthly life and breath (Genesis 2:7) and eternal life (Romans 6:23). He gives abounding grace (2 Corinthians 9:8); the ability to escape temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13); heavenly rewards (Matthew 6:1-4); good and perfect gifts (James 1:17); and every need according to the riches of His glory in Christ (Philippians 4:19).

God’s ultimate provision points to Calvary, where He provided Jesus to pay the penalty of mankind’s sin, giving salvation by death on a cross (John 3:16; Romans 8:32). Yet, Jehovah-Jireh did not stop there: As Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, so did He provide His Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of His people (John 16:7). 

3.) He is Jehovah-Shalom: The LORD Is Peace

Jehovah-Shalom occurs once in Scripture in Judges 6, where Gideon realized that he saw an angel of the Lord. Gideon was fearful, but God responded to him assuredly: “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die” (Judges 6:23). Responding in praise, Gideon built an altar to the Lord, calling it “The Lord Is Peace” (6:24).

With “peace,” the word “shalom” also means “to be complete or sound” and “absence from strife.” Therefore, Shalom, according to the Bible is: found in Him (John 16:33); a blessing reserved for His people (Psalm 29:11); promised to His faithful servants (Psalm 85:8); for those who love His law (Psalm 119:165); for those who trust (Isaiah 26:3); a secured covenant (Isaiah 54:10); a spiritual gift (Romans 8:6); an effect of righteousness (Isaiah 32:17); and a result of a mind set on the Spirit (Romans 8:6).

Peace also comes after godly discipline (Hebrews 12:11) and guards our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:7).

Believers have the utmost shalom: peace with God through Christ (Romans 5:1). The prophesied Prince of Peace has come, and His chastisement brought us peace with God (Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 53:5). We can rejoice that, not only has He given and continues giving peace, but He himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14)!

4.) He is Jehovah-Shammah: The LORD Is There

In Ezekiel 48:35, Jehovah-Shammah is a symbolic name for God’s presence in the earthly Jerusalem: “And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD Is There” (italics added).

In this context, the Israelites’ shameless rebellion and detestable idolatry caused God to withdraw His presence from them. Yet, in abounding mercy, Jehovah-Shammah did not fully abandon Jerusalem. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promised to restore and return to Jerusalem. In that day, the city would be called “Jehovah-Shammah.” That very prophecy was fulfilled when the exiles returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the walls.

The Lord’s once-departed glory (Ezekiel 8-11) had returned (Ezekiel 44:1-4)—and His presence returned with fulfillment in the form of Jesus Christ. And though Jesus physically departed from the earth after his death, He ascended into heaven with assurance for us:

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

In his place, the Holy Spirit was provided to dwell in the Church and His people forever (John 14:15-17). He is there within us, teaching, helping, convicting, and interceding for us.

We eagerly await God’s restoration of the New Jerusalem, where we will dwell glorified in His presence forever. And as we apply this promise to our present lives, we are fueled by the Spirit’s power (Acts 1:8).

Matthew Henry says of our divine union with Jehovah-Shammah:

“It is true of every good Christian; he dwells in God, and God in him; whatever soul has in it a living principle of grace, it may be truly said, The Lord is There.”

The Name That is Above Every Name

When life’s hardships often tempt us to forget that God is our Shepherd, Provider, Peace, and that He is There, gaze upon the name of Jesus Christ. Paul says of him:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

This name of incomparable power, authority, and deity humbled Himself to be made lower than the angels, to suffer death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). This name poured out His life unto death, numbered among the transgressors, bearing the sins of many, making intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12).

Yet, this name brought salvation (Acts 4:12), and was given dominion, glory, and kingship, so that every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:14).

So in faith, we respond in praise:

Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore! (Psalm 113:2)

THE AUTHOR

Meredith Hodge

Meredith Hodge lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband Matt. She is a freelance writer and editor who loves coffee, spending time in nature, cooking, reading, and serving others in ministry. Meredith blogs about living for Christ in faith-led freedom and grace-filled growth. Follow her blog at It's Positive!.

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/09/knowing-god-name/

GOOD

Article by Paul David Tripp

The word rolls off our tongue so easily.

Good.

“Wow, this cereal is so good!”
“We had a good time at the park.”
“Let me tell you where to get a good cup of coffee.”
“Sam is a really good husband.”

It’s become such a familiar and mundane word in our vocabulary that our mind doesn’t take the time to consider the content. So when we read that God is good, what’s meant to happen inside our soul doesn’t always happen.

“Truly God is good to Israel” - Psalm 73:1. When you read the words, “God is good,” your heart should be filled with many things: wonder, amazement, gratitude, and humility, to name a few.

But I am convinced that many of us live day after day with no wonderment whatsoever. We exist for weeks, maybe even months, without being amazed. We walk through life without an overwhelming sense of gratitude. We handle our situations, locations, and relationships with an attitude of entitlement.

This is the opposite of the way we were created to live. We were meant to live with eyes gazing upward and outward. We were designed to live with hearts that are searching and hungry (and being satisfied in God).

Every word we speak, every action we take, every decision we make, and every desire we entertain was meant to be influenced by our awe of God’s goodness.

But because of sin, few things impress us anymore. Or, at least, the wrong things are the ones that make the biggest impression.

When sin takes your amazement away, you’ll look for ways to fill the void. And if you’re not getting your sense of wonder vertically from the Creator, you will look for it somewhere in the creation.

Has it happened to you? Are you shopping for the buzz of wonder where it simply won’t be found?

That new restaurant will blow your taste buds away, but it won’t introduce you to the soul-satisfying wonder of God. That new car will transport you in luxury for a while, but it has no capacity whatsoever to transport your soul to a place of peace. Your new job title might impress your friends and family at first, but it cannot supply you with the glory that you’re seeking.

Asaph, the Psalmist, uncovers what we’re all looking for in a single word:

“Good”

We’re looking for pure, unadulterated, imperishable, unending, and unfailing good. Good that only God can provide. Good that we want and need.

Truly, God is good in every possible way. Good in:

Righteousness
Power
Grace
Faithfulness
Provision
Mercy
Holiness
Justice
Anger
Sovereignty

All his words are good. All his actions are good. When he gives, he is good. When he takes, he is good.

Nothing in creation is like him. Everything around us is flawed in some way. Even before the Fall, no glory in creation compared to the beauty of the Creator.

No, it’s not too good to be true: God is good all the time and in every way.

That should amaze you every single day!

God bless

Reflection Questions

1. What have you described as good this week?

2. Why did you believe it to be good?

3. In what ways does the goodness of this thing fail to measure up to the goodness of God?

4. At the same time, how does the goodness of that thing reveal the goodness of God?

5. How can you live with more wonder, amazement, gratitude, and humility this week, at the thought of the goodness of God?

Posted at: pauldavidtripp.com

The God Who Is Generous

By Tim Keller

Excerpt from “The Prodigal Prophet”

God’s compassion is not something abstract but con­crete. It plays out not just in his attitude but in his actions toward human beings. It is intriguing that he speaks of these violent, sinful pagans as people “who do not know their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). That is an exceedingly generous way to look at Nineveh! It’s a figure of speech that means they are spiritually blind, they have lost their way, and they haven’t the first clue as to the source of their prob­lems or what to do about them. Obviously, God’s threat to destroy Nineveh shows that this blindness and ignorance is ultimately no excuse for the evil they have done, but it shows remarkable sympathy and understanding.

There are many people who have no idea what they should be living for, or the meaning of their lives, nor have they any guide to tell right from wrong. God looks down at people in that kind of spiritual fog, that spiritual stupidity, and he doesn’t say, “You idi­ots.” When we look at people who have brought trou­ble into their lives by their own foolishness, we say things like “Serves them right” or we mock them on social media: “What kind of imbecile says something like this?” When we see people of the other political party defeated, we just gloat. This is all a way of de­taching ourselves from them. We distance ourselves from them partly out of pride and partly because we don’t want their unhappiness to be ours. God doesn’t do that. Real compassion, the voluntary attachment of our heart to others, means the sadness of their con­dition makes us sad; it affects us. That is deeply un­comfortable, but it is the character of compassion.

There are many people who have no idea what they should be living for, or the meaning of their lives, nor have they any guide to tell right from wrong.

God’s evident generosity of spirit toward the city could not be a greater indictment of Jonah’s ungenerous narrowness, what John Calvin calls his greatest sin, namely that he was “very inhuman” in his attitude to­ward Nineveh.

“They Don’t Know What They Are Doing”

If you are acquainted at all with the New Testament, it is impossible to read about this generous God with­out remembering Jesus. God is saying to Jonah, “I am weeping and grieving over this city — why aren’t you? If you are my prophet, why don’t you have my compas­sion?” Jonah did not weep over the city, but Jesus, the true prophet, did.

Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on the last week of his life. He knew he would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the mob of this city, but instead of being full of wrath or absorbed with self-pity, like Jonah, when he “saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes . . . because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you’” (Luke 19:41– 2:44). “Jerusa­lem, Jerusalem . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” (Luke 13:34).

On the cross, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” (Luke 23:34). Jesus is saying, “Father, they are torturing and killing me. They are denying and betraying me. But none of them, not even the Pharisees, really completely understand what they are doing.” We can only look in wonder on such a heart. He does not say they are not guilty of wrongdoing. They are — that is why they need forgiveness. Yet Jesus is also remembering that they are confused, somewhat clueless, and not really able to recognize the horror of what they are doing. Here is a perfect heart — perfect in generous love — not excusing, not harshly condemning. He is the weeping God of Jonah 4 in human form.

Over a century ago the great Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield wrote a remarkable scholarly essay called “The Emotional Life of Our Lord,” where he considered every recorded instance in the gospels that described the emotions of Christ. He concluded that by far the most typical statement of Jesus’s emotional life was the phrase “he was moved with compassion,” a Greek phrase that literally means he was moved from the depths of his being. The Bible records Jesus Christ weeping twenty times for every one time it notes that he laughs. He was a man of sorrows, and not because he was naturally depressive. No, he had enormous joy in the Holy Spirit and in his Father (cf. Luke 10:21), and yet he grieved far more than he laughed because his compassion connected him with us. Our sadness makes him sad; our pain brings him pain.

By far the most typical statement of Jesus’s emotional life was the phrase “he was moved with compassion.”

Jesus is the prophet Jonah should have been. Yet, of course, he is infinitely more than that. Jesus did not merely weep for us; he died for us. Jonah went outside the city, hoping to witness its condemnation, but Jesus Christ went outside the city to die on a cross to ac­complish its salvation.

Here God says he is grieving over Nineveh, which means he is letting the evil of the city weigh on him. In some mysterious sense, he is suffering because of its sin. When God came into the world in Jesus Christ and went to the cross, however, he didn’t experience only emotional pain but every kind of pain in un­imaginable dimensions. The agonizing physical pain of the crucifixion included torture, slow suffocation, and excruciating death. Even beyond that, when Jesus hung on the cross, he underwent the infinite and most unfathomable pain of all — separation from God and all love, eternal alienation, the wages of sin. He did it all for us, out of his unimaginable compassion.

Reprinted from THE PRODIGAL PROPHET: Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy, by Timothy Keller. Published on October 2, 2018 by Viking, an imprint of the Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © Timothy Keller, 2018.

Posted at: https://medium.com/redeemer-city-to-city/the-god-who-is-generous-7e83d26406f1

Thank God We Do/Don't Know the Future

Article by Tim Challies

There are occasions in life in which we would all like to know the future. We come to times of sorrow and wonder when our tears will be dried, times of pain and wonder when we will be healed, times of uncertainty and wonder when we will gain confidence. In such moments we may wish we could elevate our gaze beyond the present moment to see into the future. And we know that it would be within the power of God to reveal it to us.

As Christians we have confidence that there is nothing—not one thing in all of time or space—that is beyond the knowledge of God. He knows all that was, is, and ever would, could, or will be. God knows the past because he existed omnisciently and omnipresently in every moment and part of it. God knows the future because he holds the future. He knew the position of every atom at the moment he brought it into being and he knows the position of every atom the day he will bring it all to a close. His knowledge of the future is every bit as extensive and intimate as his knowledge of the present and past. He is the one who “declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:10).

Because God knows the future in exhaustive detail, he could have chosen to reveal the future in exhaustive detail. He could tell you and me about every event that will befall us, every blessing we will receive, every trial we will endure. But he hasn’t. And I am grateful.

I am grateful we don’t know the future. While our desire to know what will come is understandable, it is not wise. If we knew the future in detail, it would undoubtedly hinder us, paralyze us, destroy us. Imagine knowing the day your child is going to die and how that knowledge would change your relationship with her. Knowing she has a short life you’d be tempted to idolize her (“I only have a few months left!”), while knowing she has a long life you’d be tempted to neglect her (“We have many years left together!”). Imagine knowing the moment your life will end and all you might do to try to avoid that moment, that place, that situation. Imagine knowing the results of a vote before the ballots were collected or knowing the score on an exam before a word was written. Spend a few minutes imagining the impossibility of that life and you’ll conclude it is an expression of divine wisdom that God withholds the future from us.

Yet just as I’m grateful we don’t know the future, I’m grateful we do know the future. In God’s wisdom he has chosen to give us some detail. Particularly, he has chosen to tell us about what comes last and about what comes after that. He tells us that at an unspecified time in the future, a time known only to God, Jesus Christ will return to this earth and bring history to an end. He will separate the people who have believed his gospel from those who have not. Those who have rejected him will be cast out forever; those who have believed in him will be with him forever in perfected bodies on a perfected earth. That is the future God reveals to us and it is enough. It is enough to give us confidence that our sorrows will come to an end and our tears will be dried, that the afflictions we encounter are but “light and momentary,” that the uncertainty we face will be replaced by wonder at what God has accomplished in and through us for his own glory.

Until that great day, we hold fast to what God has made clear about the future. Until that great day, we continue to look in faith to Jesus Christ. Until that great day, we cling to the many powerful promises God has given us. Our confidence is not in knowing the future, but in knowing the one who holds the future.

Article posted at: https://www.challies.com/articles/thank-god-we-dodont-know-the-future/

How Far Does God's Grace Go?

by David McLemore 

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” - Luke 15:1-10

The parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin are basically the same stories. In each, something is lost, searched out, and found. Jesus is making a simple point: He came to search and find the one. He came to restore that which was lost. Charles Spurgeon put it this way: 

The truth here taught is just this—that mercy stretches forth her hand to misery, that grace receives men as sinners, that it deals with demerit, unworthiness, and worthlessness; that those who think themselves righteous are not the objects of divine compassion, but the unrighteous, the guilty, and the undeserving, are the proper subjects for the infinite mercy of God; in a word, that salvation is not of merit but of grace.

Since salvation is not of merit, but of grace, God’s heart toward sinners is different than our heart often is. He’s not waiting for them to turn their lives around; he’s out there searching for them to bring them home. He’s on the move, even if they’re stuck in a cave or lost in the floorboards. He is not content to merely find the lost one; he rejoices over its restoration. God searches for and finds the lost, one by one, until all his children are tucked safely in their eternal rooms. Then, he throws a heavenly party. Who would spend such time on one sheep or one coin? It seems excessive, doesn’t it? God’s love is like that: excessive, extravagant, lavish.

The sinners and tax collectors gathered around must have understood Jesus was referring to. They were the lost sheep, the lost coin. Jesus had come looking for them, and they had been found! How many in the crowd had dined with him? How many had he healed? How many had received his smile, felt his touch, been warmed by his presence? And yet it was not to this group that Jesus directed his parables that day. He was not instructing the sinners. He was instructing the self-righteous Pharisees and scribes. The sinners and tax collectors had been found by Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes were still running from him.

They knew the law, but they did not know God. They looked at the letter and found rules to obey without seeing the heart to love. They ventured into the world with their Sunday-best shirt starched as stiffly as possible, Bible in hand, with a smile ready to produce. But their hearts were far from God because their hearts trusted in their good deeds rather than God’s good grace. Their mind was too occupied with obedience to see a need. They were too full of themselves to be needy for Christ. They were lost and needed to be found, but they didn’t know it.

And Jesus was asking them a simple question: how far does God’s grace go? How far does his love stretch? How deep does it plunge? To the worst sinner? To the deepest depravity? To the best Pharisee? To the smartest scribe?

In each of these parables, Jesus includes two characters. The first is that which is lost. The second is the one who seeks. The lost must be found. But in each instance, the lost do not know they are lost. We have no indication the sheep understood his plight. It had no awareness of danger. It thought it was fine. The coin has no ability to see, it cannot understand, it doesn’t think. Each is lost, and each matters so much that the seeker leaves much to find the one.

The one who seeks wastes no time. The shepherd abandons the ninety-nine to look for the one. The woman sweeps the house over to uncover the coin. Time is not mentioned. Cost is not counted. All that matters is the one being returned to the many. And when it is, a party is thrown. It was not the sheep who stayed or the coins in the bank that were the cause of the party. It was the sheep that wandered, the coin that was lost and everyone was invited to rejoice.

The Pharisees and scribes don’t know how to rejoice. Instead, when they see sinners coming to Jesus, they blame Jesus for being too lenient, not for being too gracious. They miss the wonder of his mercy thinking they deserve the party instead.

What about you? Can you rejoice in bad people being made good in Christ? Is there a certain test - designed by you, administered by you, and graded by you - that one must pass to be included in God’s kingdom? The Pharisees and scribes had such a test, and Jesus couldn’t even pass it. Would your test exclude Jesus as well?

Jesus is calling the self-righteous to account in these stories. He’s showing us what his brother, James, said years later, “Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13).

Editor's Note: This post originally appeared at David's blog, Things of the Sort.

David McLemore

David McLemore is part of the church planting team at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons.

Article posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/how-far-does-gods-grace-go

You Can’t Serve God and Entertainment

Article by Phillip Holmes

You love entertainment. On-demand streaming, live television, video-sharing websites, and social media are all at your fingertips. Your ability to access entertainment swiftly and effortlessly has encroached on every aspect of your life. Research recently revealed that you’re tempted to check Facebook every thirty-one seconds.

Are your friends boring you with dull conversation? Grab your iPhone. Is your wife annoying you? Turn on your television. Is your professor uninteresting? Sign into Facebook. Entertainment is your means of escape from the inconveniences of life into a comfortable world of fantasy. And your means of escape has made you a slave.

Confessions of a Slave

If I’m honest, I’ve had an unbridled love for frivolous entertainment — over the years I’ve used it primarily as a means of escape. Entertainment was used to distract me from the guilt of sin, friction in relationships, or anxiety about work. It became what daily prayer and Bible reading should have been: a safe haven to retreat for rest and comfort.

I failed to recognize that my never-ending pursuit to be entertained had turned me into a slave. My love for my new master was subtly causing contempt towards God and reticence in my duty to delight in him.

A Tale of Two Masters

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus reveals that when we gravitate toward entertainment as a means of comfort, we’re moving further and further away from our Creator. The notion of two masters is, in fact, a fictitious tale. It’s impossible to have more than one. Jesus exposes an insightful reality: Love for one will cause hatred toward the other.

If we devote inordinate amounts of time, money, and affection to anything, including entertainment, we will despise whatever draws us away. We’ve all been faced with the choice between spending time in prayer and God’s word or spending time with entertainment. At the crux of these crossroads, the all-satisfying gift of Jesus is pit against the temporal promises of entertainment. Whichever road is chosen increases hatred for the path denied.

When we choose the broad path to careless entertainment, seeds of contempt are planted for Christ. Likewise, when we choose the narrow road to Jesus, seeds of hatred are planted, not only for mindless entertainment, but all of our indwelling sin. This path reveals that endless entertainment is a cruel master that seeks to devour our true joy and lead us away from Christ, its source.

The Cruel Master

Entertainment over-promises but under-delivers. It is unable to satisfy what our hearts truly long for. We want rest. We want comfort. But entertainment can only offer a temporary fix. As soon as we wake up from hours of binging on Netflix or scrolling through social media, our problems remain, still waiting to be confronted. And we’re faced with the truth that all we’ve done is put off the inevitable.

Chasing joy in entertainment is like “chasing the dragon.” The term is a slang phrase, which refers to the continuous pursuit of an ultimate high previously obtained at the initial use of drugs.

For example, a drug user tries heroin for the first time and has an amazing experience. But when he returns to the drug, he can’t get that same experience. Instead, the experience gets weaker, so the user takes more and stronger heroin to reach that same feeling. As he “chases the dragon,” the user’s body decays inside and out. This decay usually manifests itself in extreme itching, unwanted weight loss, slurred speech, kidney or liver disease, and more.

Addiction to entertainment is similar. The physical and health effects may not be as striking as heroin, but the spiritual effects are costly. We chase mindless entertainment hoping for relief for our souls, but instead all it really can promise is death. It distracts us from the highest and ultimate good with a mirage of happiness and comfort.

Jesus Is the Good Master

In Matthew 11:28–30, Jesus invites all who labor and are burdened to come to him, promising to provide rest for our weary souls. This promise is not empty. In the gospel, he fulfills his promise by taking up our burden on the cross for our rest and joy in him.

“In communion with Jesus, we experience lasting joy that entertainment can only promise but never provide.”

I have never walked away disappointed when I’ve pursued my joy in God through prayer and Bible reading, reminded myself of his promises in the gospel, repented of my sin, and cried out to God for comfort. Were all of my problems solved? No. But my joy was restored, and my soul had feasted on his promises. Likewise, every time I’ve used entertainment as a means of relief for my soul, I was left wanting and unsatisfied.

Even still, when I find myself at that proverbial crossroads between communion with Christ and frivolous entertainment, I’m tempted to say yes to entertainment and no to God.

As we walk through life, we will be tempted to continue to engage entertainment carelessly and ignore our bondage. Some will continue to live like slaves, binging on entertainment and neglecting spiritual nourishment. But you don’t have to live in bondage.

The gospel supplies the power to say yes to God and no to endless entertainment. Here we uncover the beauty of our wonderful master and realize that Jesus is better. In communion with him, we experience lasting joy that entertainment can only promise but never provide.

The next time you find yourself at this familiar crossroads, cling to Jesus. Remember that he alone is your highest good. He died and rose so that we can experience communion with him, which provides the supreme joy that an escape to entertainment simply cannot compete with.

Phillip Holmes (@PhillipMHolmes) served as a content strategist at desiringGod.org. He is the Director of Communications at Reformed Theological Seminary and a finance coach and blogger through his site Money Untangle. He and his wife, Jasmine, have a son, and they are members of Redeemer Church in Jackson, Mississippi.

Article posted on:  https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/you-cant-serve-god-and-entertainment