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"They commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed" (Acts 14:23)

9/24/2019

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When Paul and Barnabas “had ordained elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed” (Acts 14:23). Paul and Barnabas returned to the cities where they had first preached the Gospel: to Lystra, and to Iconium and to Antioch (Acts 14:21). They returned to those cities to "confirm" the souls of the disciples (Acts 14:22). They strengthened them against the false teachings and contradictions of the Jews. The Jews were self-righteous religionists. We must arm ourselves against this world of religionists and their error by immersing ourselves in the Gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ.

Paul and Barnabas also exhorted these brethren to continue in the faith (Acts 14:22). They had taught them of Christ. They now told them to continue in Christ: not depart from Him, not go beyond Him, but abide in Him (1 John 2:9; John 15).

Faith in Christ overcomes this world (1 John 5:4; Heb. 11; Rev. 12:11). This world is characterized by self-righteous men, who in the wickedness of their spiritual ignorance and pride by their willful ignorance of Christ, oppose Him and oppose the salvation of His people. All such are ungodly and unrighteous. Unrighteousness necessarily follows ungodliness, just as godliness necessarily leads to the obedience of faith in Christ and obedience to Christ in faith. But unbelieving religionists try to silence and overthrow the faith of God’s elect (1 Thess. 2:14-16; 2 Tim. 2:18).

Paul and Barnabas also told these new disciples that "we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Persecution of Christ and His disciples was strong in those days, especially from the self-righteous Jews against believing Gentiles. It is strong today. But it comes in more subtle ways. Paul formerly had been a persecutor and injurious to believers as those were against whom he now strengthened the believers. He was all that until the Lord called him by His grace and revealed His Son in him (Gal. 1:13-16; Php. 3:4-7). Christ turned Paul from a persecutor of Him to a preacher of Him. He turned Paul from injurious to His people to a builder and teacher and comforter and helper of their faith.

Persecution comes most fiercely from those in religious organizations who are secure in their self-righteousness. They generally do what their peers require of them to be accepted by men and what they claim (but it is a false claim) will make them acceptable to God. Such men fear false teachers among men and crave the approval of men. They hate the Gospel because it takes away all that they trust in, and exposes them as false believers and false teachers.

This type of persecution comes in many forms. Sometimes it is openly hostile. At other times it comes through the seeds of heresies, which are designed to drive weak believers from Christ and His Gospel (Galatians, Hebrews, ...). Such heresies appeal to man's fear and pride. But the Gospel appeals to sinners in need of reconciliation. It appeals to sinners that cannot make their own reconciliation with God because we cannot make up for our offense against God. We neither know what is required to remove our offense, nor are we able to provide it. The price is far beyond what any man can meet. God must and did provide satisfaction to Himself in the willing offering of Christ, His only begotten Son.

But having thus strengthened the disciples, Paul and Barnabas "commended them to the Lord on whom they believed" (Acts 14:23). They committed them to Christ, the One they believed. They entrusted them to Him. They left them in His hands.

This is a dear and sweet picture. We pray and preach and are sent to do so. But who really is sufficient for these things (2 Cor. 2:16)? The people are God’s. The message is God’s. The work is God’s. And God our Father has committed (entrusted) His work of saving His people to Christ His Son (John 17:2; Heb. 7:22; Psalm 89:19; Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:21).

It is to Christ alone, then, that we who believe must commit the keeping of our very souls (1 Pet. 4:19; Isa. 45:22). And it is to Him alone that every believer must commit the keeping of one another’s souls. To Christ we commend our loved ones. We do this all the time in prayer and preaching. It is the earnest desire of our hearts to see ourselves and our loved ones in His hands.

The picture that this word “commend” conveys is de-stressing. It shifts all of the weight of all of the concerns expressed in the previous verse to Christ (Acts 14:22). He must save. He must keep. He must preserve and perfect and bring us to Himself. We did the sinning. He must do the saving. We did the offending. He must do the reconciling. We reared up in pride. He humbled Himself in condescending grace to take our nature, to own our sins and to offer Himself to God by substitution, in satisfaction and with eternal success. We do the straying. He does the seeking and returning. We did the murder (Zech. 12:10). He showed us mercy (Luke 23:34). We are unfaithful. He is faithful who promised (2 Tim. 2:13; Rom. 4:21; Heb. 10:23; 11:11). We are  without strength. He is Almighty, Faithful and cannot fail (Isa. 42:4; Rev. 3:14). We are ignorant and unrighteous. He is wisdom and righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 2:3).

Oh, believer, commit the keeping of your soul to Him! Faithful servants of Christ can do no better than to commend you to Christ, to entrust you and your eternal soul into His hand! May we join the apostle and Barnabas to commend one another to Christ on whom we believe. May our God and Father so commend us to His Son (Psalm 106:4-5; Psalm 65:4)!
Rick Warta
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We shall be saved in the same way they are saved

9/24/2019

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“We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Acts 15:11).

It humbled Peter to learn that God would save the Gentiles. To Peter, they were only unclean, unholy, and, as he should not eat any unclean thing, he should not have anything to do with Gentiles. He was a Jew, one of God’s special people.

But while he was in a trance, God opened heaven and let down a sheet full of all kinds of unclean beasts. God then spoke and said, “Rise Peter, kill and eat.” Peter refused. He would not kill and eat the unclean animals. But God taught him an important lesson. “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common or unclean” (Acts 10:15, 28).

Later, Peter related this account to prove that God would indeed save the Gentiles. Peter defended the Gospel that he and Paul preached. He said, the Spirit of God “put no difference between us and them [Gentiles], purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9). God purifies our hearts by faith when He points us to Christ’s cleansing blood as the cleansing of all our sins (Heb. 9:12-14). Peter learned the lesson well. 

But most of the nation of Israel never learned this lesson. When Christ sent the apostles to preach the Gospel, He sent them first to the Jews. But most in Israel rejected the Gospel. For two thousand years they worshipped idols, killed God’s prophets, and finally killed God’s own Son, His Messiah. When the Lord Jesus sent His messengers to them with the Gospel, as a people, they stubbornly held to their own righteousness in proud unbelief (Rom. 9:31-33; 10:1-3). Therefore, something horrible happened. God destroyed that nation. Ever since they hated, envied and conspired against Joseph their brother, some two thousand years, ever since they were a people, they despised and rejected Christ (Isa. 53:3). What happened? The Gospel was taken from them and given to the Gentiles. As a nation, they were blinded (Rom. 11:8-10).

God cast away that nation. Never again would the nation of Israel occupy a purpose in God’s salvation to the world. The Gospel was taken from them (Matt. 21:43). That nation was destroyed in 70 AD. What a horrible tragedy! They brought their own blood upon themselves (Matt. 23:33-39; Isa. 6:11; Acts 18:6).

But in mercy, in great mercy to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God said He would always have an elect remnant in that nation. Throughout time, throughout this world from among the Jews and in the Gentile nations of this world, God always had an elect people; he never cast away His people which He foreknew (Rom. 11:2; Matt. 7:23). In the end, “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:25). No, not all in the nation of earthly, political Israel: not the physical descendants of Abraham. It could not be that all of the physical descendants of Abraham shall be saved. Why? Because “They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (Rom. 9:8). Only the children of promise are counted for “the seed.” Only the elect of God are Christ’s. And only believers, God’s elect, redeemed people are as Abraham’s true seed (Gal. 3:16, 19, 26, 29).

But the rest in the nation of Israel, those many unbelieving in Israel, are no different than the rest of the unbelieving Gentile world. All of God’s elect shall be saved. Only God’s elect shall be saved; none but God’s elect will be saved. And all of God’s elect are saved by grace, free grace that is God’s sovereign prerogative (Rom. 9:15). God has mercy on whom He will. Salvation is "not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. 9:16). So much for man’s free will and man’s work. God has mercy on whom He will and the rest are left to receive the due reward of their deeds. Is there unrighteousness with God in this (Rom. 9:13)? No. How is it unfair for God to save the ill-deserving and undeserving, even to save them by the blood and righteousness of Christ? How is that unjust? And how is it unjust for God to give men what they want: their own heart’s lust? Would men consider that unjust? How is it unjust for God to then bring upon sinners the due reward of their deeds, since they believe God owes them something and want God to reward them for their good works?

As a nation, Israel is no different than all the nations of the world. Salvation is no different for those in Israel than it is for those outside of Israel. God will save His people by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what Peter declares. He learned his lesson well. He was so humbled that he rejoiced to pillow his head in the grace of Christ. Peter did not say that “The Gentiles shall be saved as us Jews.” Knowing in himself that as a nation he and all Israel had sinned against God from their beginnings, knowing he and all Israel deserved to be cast off because they rejected God in idolatry, killed their prophets and though God repeatedly delivered them from their enemies -- most notably from Egypt -- and knowing his own sinfulness and the sinfulness of his own people, Peter joined the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 6:5). He confessed his own sin. His hair stood up on the back of his neck in fear and with rejoicing to know and confess, “We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they” (Acts 15:11). “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isa. 1:9).

If we who are sinners among the Gentiles, do not share the attitude of the Apostle Peter about ourselves and the saving grace of God: that we are only saved by the electing grace of God our Father, the redeeming grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the regenerating grace of the Spirit of God, then how much more shall we receive our reward with the wicked!

Not all in the nation of Israel shall be saved. But the elect in all nations shall be. From the beginning and until the end of time, there is and forever shall be salvation only in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Gen. 6:8). We must be humbled to know we are no better than others (Rom. 3:9; Acts 15:9; 1 Cor. 4:7). God makes the difference. He makes that difference in Christ. It is not a difference made in Adam. It is not a difference made in Israel. It is a difference made only in Christ.
Rick Warta
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Why Faith?

9/24/2019

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We may wonder why God designed that we should be saved through faith. There are many reasons. But one reason is the suitableness of faith to the glory of God. Faith takes God at His word. Faith rests on the word of God. When sight and sense see and detect nothing, faith rests in joyful satisfaction and contentedness on the bare word of God. God accomplishes all things by His word (Psa. 33:6, 9; John 1:1-3). And faith is God’s gift of grace that enables us to see that His work of our salvation is by Christ and in Christ, the Essential, Living Word of God (John 1:1-3). God’s word is the power by which all things are upheld and the foundation on which all things consist (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:16). Faith is God’s gift that enables us even in the midst of trouble to rest on His word as the unmovable, unchangeable foundation of all things (Rom. 8:31-39; Psa. 46:1-3). Thus, there is a perfect suitableness in faith. God does all in Christ. Faith rests its all on Christ. Faith rests its all on all that God has spoken in His word of Christ and His work.

We cannot separate a man from his words. Out of the abundance of the heart we speak (Matt. 12:34). Much more, we cannot separate God from His word. Out of the abundance of His heart, He has spoken. He has magnified His word above all His name (Psalm 138:2). Scripture is the written word of God. He whose vesture is dipped in blood, created all things by His word and washed us from our sins in His own blood (1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5). He is The Word of God (Rev. 19:13). God gave to Christ all of His will and promises to do them, and Jesus Christ our Lord faithfully finished what our God and Father gave Him to do (Heb. 3:5-6; 10:5-14; John 17:4; 19:30). Our Lord Jesus Christ said that His word shall never fail. All that Jesus Christ said shall come to pass (Matt. 24:35). By His word He called all things out of nothing in creation. And Christ, the Living Word of God, brought to pass all of God’s thoughts, all that was in His heart (Gen. 1; Isa. 46:10-11; Acts 13:22). His word is Spirit and it is life (John 6:63). His word upholds all things. “For ever, O LORD, Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to Thine ordinances: for all are Thy servants” (Psa. 119:89-91; Heb. 1:3).

Therefore, the first reason why salvation is through faith, and the first reason we live by faith upon Christ, is because faith perfectly agrees that Christ has done all in our salvation according to God's word (Hab. 2:4; Gal. 2:20; Heb. 10:5-18). Faith stands upon and rejoices in the word that God has spoken of His Son. Faith thus glorifies God (Rom. 4:20).

The second reason why salvation is of faith is that it might be by grace. “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Rom. 4:16). This teaches us about the nature of faith. It is not our work for God. It is not our work to get God to work for us. It is seeing and resting on God’s  finished, saving work in Christ for sinners who can do nothing to help themselves (Gal. 3:12; Heb. 4:3, 10). Faith necessarily abandons all that may be called mine and lays hold of Christ all that is His. Faith especially excludes itself, owning that these eyes of faith and this persuasion of faith and the embracing hand of faith are ours by the gift of God’s grace (Rom. 11:6; Heb. 11:13; Rom. 4:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:10; Acts 18:27; Eph. 2:1-10). Faith is ours by the Spirit of Christ. He directs us to Christ and His work for us, to His accomplishments on the cross that obtained our eternal salvation outside of our own personal experience (Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 9:12; 10:10, 14). Christ is both the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2).  And He is the sole object of our faith, the One in whom we find all of our salvation and rest in Him for all (Isa. 45:22; John 14:6-9; Gal. 2:16). To believe in Jesus Christ necessarily means we abandon all else and believe Him alone as everything in our salvation (Gal. 2:16).

Salvation is of faith that it might be by grace (Rom. 4:16). Salvation is by grace, through faith, and that faith is not of ourselves. Faith is not ours by our works. Faith and all of our salvation is by the free gift of God's grace lest any man should boast in himself (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 9:11). We can only be saved if salvation is all of grace, for there is not only nothing in us to influence God to save us, but there is every reason in us to cause Him to reject us! We do not understand what is necessary to make our peace with God and we cannot supply what God requires. If salvation is all of grace, then it is all of God. If salvation is all of God, then it is not of us in any part or in any way. If salvation is all of grace, then Christ, the Word of God, accomplished all that God gave Him to do for us, and we look to Him alone for all.

Because salvation is all of grace, it is certain that all of God’s elect will be saved to the uttermost (John 6:37-40, 44-45; 10:11, 15, 17-18, 27-29; Eph. 1:4-23; 1 Cor. 3:21-23). Thank God for this precious grace of faith that is ours because Christ shed His precious blood for us (1 Pet. 1:7, 19; 2 Pet. 1:1; Rmo. 5:10; 8:32)! Thank God that Christ is all of our salvation, and that He is so by grace alone! I am so glad that the God of all grace determined to save us by His grace alone!

We see these things in the life of every believer. At the end of his life, Jacob looked upon all God had spoken to him. He looked in trust at all God said of Christ. He looked on the work of God’s grace in his life that had been a life struggle, trouble and evil. Then, in the presence of his children, he spoke by prayer to his God and Savior in the hearing of his children. For what was all-important to him, Jacob expressed His hope and prayer to His God and Savior: “I have waited for Thy salvation, O LORD” (Gen. 49:18)! And so it is also said of all of God’s saints, the Body of Christ, the Church of the Living God, the true Israel of God: “It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isa. 25:9).

Rick Warta

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Seeing Christ in the battle

9/24/2019

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When I see that all I am is sin (Rom. 7:18), and when I realize that all I thought I could do to save myself never could and never will (Rom. 3:20); when I then hear of all that Christ did and that I am saved by grace alone, from beginning to end and all in between (Rom. 3:24-25; 11:5-6), then I rest in peace on the word of God and in the arms of my Savior (Heb. 4:1-3).

Rick Warta

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"What His soul desireth, even that He doeth" (Job 23:13-14)

9/24/2019

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“But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him” (Job 23:13-14).

Consider the statements in this one verse of scripture. First, t
he LORD is not double-minded as we are. “He is in one mind.” Second, none can turn God from His purpose. Though we are easily influenced and though we can be deterred from our purpose and our work, the LORD cannot be turned. He is both sovereign and almighty. “Who can turn Him?” Third, whatever He desires, He does. He is self-sufficient in Himself. He needs nothing. He gives to all life, breath and all things. He in influenced by none. He influences all. He cannot discouraged. He uplifts the down-trodden. He cannot fail. “Whatever His soul desireth, even that He doeth.” This is grace unspeakable:  The desire of His soul is to save the worst of sinners (Rom. 5:5-11; 1 Tim. 1:13-15; Rom. 8:33-34)! Fourth, He Himself does for me what He appointed because of His desire. “He performeth the thing that is appointed for me.” Finally, there is no end to His understanding. No complete search can be made of His works. “Many such things are with Him!” From eternity to everlasting ages, there are many such things that He has revealed which we do not yet understand, many things to be explained that have been revealed and many things yet to be revealed. All that the LORD does, He does by His Son (Heb. 1:1-3; Col. 1:16; John 1:1-3). Let us proclaim His eternal work in our salvation. Let us go to Him at all times, bringing our praises, pouring out our supplications for His help. “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake” (Psalm 79:9)! “For the LORD is a great God” (Psalm 95:3). He is the great and only Savior of great sinners (Psa. 25:11; Heb. 7:25)! Therefore, “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me” (Psalm 57:2).

Rick Warta

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Help us, O God of our Salvation

9/24/2019

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“O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake” (Psalm 79:8-9).

My sins are my enemies. My body is dead because of sin (Rom. 8:10). My old nature is nothing but sin (Rom. 7:18). My sins against my God and Savior leave me confused and fearful. They rob me of my peace, joy and communion with my God. My sins make me God’s enemy. They overcome me when I least expect it. Why am I so bad? What can be done? I can’t deliver myself. Even when I anticipate sin, it seems to win. I need a strong Savior!

Only the LORD can deliver me from my strong enemy. Only He can forgive my sins. I need the LORD to go before my enemies and prevent them from overcoming me (Psalm 35:3). There is every reason in me why God should give me over to my enemies. There is no reason in me why He should save me from my sins. I have made myself the object of His just wrath. My own admission clears God if He were to condemn me (Psa. 51:4; Rom. 3:4). I need the LORD to put away my sins, to not remember my sins against Him, to not bring upon me what I deserve. I need the LORD to do all to save me from my sins. I need Him to save me for His name’s sake, for His glory, to fulfill His purpose, in fulfillment of His promises, to make known His glorious perfections (Isa. 43:25-26).

He is God alone. He will do all that pleases Him. Therefore, I pray, “LORD, for your name’s sake, deliver me from my sins. Purge away my sins. Do not remember my sins. Go before the strong enemy of my sins. Do not let my sins overcome me. Deliver me from the evil in my heart. Deliver me from evil within and from evil without. Do not cast me away. Deliver me from the wrath I deserve, which would separate me from you. Gracious LORD and only Savior, do it for your name’s sake! The precious blood of Christ is my only hope" (1 Pet. 1:18-20; Heb. 1:3).
Rick Warta
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Plagued in heart, Pressing to Christ, Pleasing to God, Christ Speaks Peace

8/10/2019

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“A certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague” (Mark 5:25-29).

Her plague was uncleanness before God’s law. She was therefore unclean before God. God’s law required that she bring a sin offering and a burnt offering for atonement to God (Leviticus 15). Therefore, her plague was a picture of our sin against God. The plague of our sin can only be taken away by blood atonement (Lev. 17:11). Christ made atonement to God for His elect (Lev. 16:30; Rom. 5:9-10; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:5).

Faith makes sinners violently desperate to get to Christ. All that God requires of us makes His sovereign grace our absolute necessity. This desperation prepares us to see Christ. As the jeweler’s black velvet cloth prepares the eye for the beauty of the diamond, so God’s holy law prepares us in our guilt and corruption and helplessness to see Christ. The law reveals the dark cloud of God’s judgment against us! But God’s grace in the Gospel shines the light of His holiness on the diamond of Christ’s obedience and blood. Persuasion of salvation by Christ’s righteousness makes sinners press to be found in Christ alone. The Apostle Paul was like this woman. Under the law he suffered much for a long time. But when he saw Christ, he forsook all that he formerly trusted, and pressed to lay hold on Christ alone. Paul said, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Php. 3:8-9). Faith sees and is persuaded and lays hold on Christ’s doing and dying as the one and only way in which I may live and receive all blessings from God. This is what is meant by that scripture, “The kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12). Believing sinners violently press to have Christ, abandoning all that may be called theirs to be healed of the plague of their heart through faith in Christ and all that He is to God for sinners.

Here is the amazing thing: God is well-pleased when sinners press to get to Christ that they might draw all virtue from Him through His righteousness! Christ is pleased when desperate, guilty sinners, plagued in heart, are drawn to Him by the operations of God’s grace!

Am I afflicted under God’s requirements because of the plague of sin in my heart (1 Kings 8:38)? Am I violently drawn to have Him and find Him to be my all? Do I press to get to Him, knowing that He alone can save me? Have I learned something about desperation under the requirements of God, because I cannot do one thing of all that God requires, because I am foul and completely dependent on Christ to answer and honor God in my place? Am I desperate to know that God receives me for Christ’s sake alone? Then God has afflicted me. He has drawn me to Christ. He taught me to lay hold on Christ’s righteousness! He will finish the work in me that He started (Genesis 49:18; 2 Cor. 1:10; Php. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; 1 John 3:1-3). When my soul longs to know Christ, to know that He saved me by His grace, that is the result of His work in me. My violent pressing to lay hold on Him pleases Him because He saved me and drew me  to Himself for His glory (Heb. 11:6; Luke 15; 1 Cor. 1:30-31)!

This woman was plagued in heart (1 Kings 8:38). God’s law condemned her as unclean. And she was plagued a long time: twelve years. As Israel was under the law for some 1400 years until Christ came, this woman was plagued for a long time until she heard of Jesus (Mark 5:27; Gal. 3:22-24). God’s law held her under that plague, as in a prison, until with God-given faith she heard of Jesus and pressed to get to Him. This is the experience of every believer. Her God-given faith moved her to Christ. Pressing to get to Christ pleases the Lord. A sinner with nothing comes to Christ for everything. This glorifies God. God’s work in our heart points us to Christ’s work on the cross.

The law of God pronounces a plague upon us (Rom. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:13). But Christ speaks peace by His blood. “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back” (Isa. 38:17). Christ took away Hezekiah’s sins. God therefore spoke peace to him. In love to his soul, God cast Hezekiah’s sins behind His back.

Rick Warta

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No Good Thing Withheld (Psalm 84:11)

8/1/2019

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“The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that love Him” (Psalm 84:11).

I think I heard someone say that all life and energy on earth comes from the sun. Whether true or not, I know it is true of the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ our Lord, our great God and Savior (Mal. 4:2; Col. 1:16; John 1:1-3; Heb. 1:1-3, 8-11; Titus 1:3-4; 2:13; 3:4, 6). Without doubt, therefore, scripture emphatically says “the Lord [our] God is a sun and shield.” Moreover, “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). If the Lord our God did not hold us in His thoughts, we would not only cease to exist, but we would cease to have any record of any existence. Only because God actively wills our existence and upholds our being do we have one.

In body and soul, this is true of all men. But what is not true of all men is that the Lord gives grace and glory. It is not true that the Lord our God will not withhold any good thing from all men. From Psalm 84:11, He will not withhold any good thing from those that love Him. Not all men love Him. Those that do love Him, love Him because He first loved them (1 John 4:19). “Without Me,” said our all-sufficient Savior, “you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

If the Lord our God will not withhold any good thing from us, then He will give us faith and love in Christ. He will give all good things to us. He emphatically states this is so. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3; 2:8-9). To His purchased, gathered people He therefore says, “All things are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21-23; Eph. 1:22-23). He will not withhold any good thing from those that love Him. Should we not therefore be embolden to ask Him to do as He has said, and give to us all good things in Christ? And is there any good thing to be found in all of this vast universe that is not in Christ Jesus? Is there anything lacking in Christ (Col. 2:9-10)?! To ask is to answer.

Two things are joined to make the case of God’s blessings to His people complete. First, He will not withhold any good thing from us. Second, He will work all things together for our good, whether those things are good or bad in themselves, He will turn all evil to our good!! He pronounced creation “very good” in the beginning. By our sin that creation is now cursed. All men obviously benefit from creation. But to turn the most egregious intent and malicious motives and pernicious words and devious actions of men and devils for our good, that is to “more than conquer” our enemies (Rom. 8:37)! It is to make the hostile intents, words and actions of men and devils to redound to the glory of God and the salvation and good of His people (Psa. 76:10; Psa. 46:1-3)! He will withhold nothing good from us. He will work all things together for our good. But not for all men: only for those that love God, those which are “the called” according to His purpose.

This is the key and spring and certainty of all: “His purpose.” In Psalm 84:11 and Romans 8:28-39 the action is all God’s. It is all God’s design. It is all God’s purpose. We are the objects of His saving mercy, grace and blessing. This is why we love Him.

Someone once said “There are two kinds of people in this world: the righteous and the wicked. The righteous all think they are wicked; the wicked all think they are righteous.” I believe that is so (Matt. 25:37-40, 44; Luke 18:9-14). And I believe to keep trembling souls from becoming self-absorbed, wondering if they are among those that love God, and to glorify His name in our salvation, the next verse, Romans 8:29-30, immediately directs our attention to the purpose of God from eternity and the work of God in time. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29-30). The purpose is God’s. The word and promise is God’s. The work is God’s. His name is at stake: He staked Himself to it all. He will do all His pleasure, all His thoughts, all His will (Isa. 14:24; Psa. 33:11; 115:3; 135:6; Dan. 4:35; Isa. 46:9-11). If we love God, it is because He first loved us. This is one of the good things He has not withheld from us. Or rather, if God loved us, He will therefore draw us with life-giving, enabling grace to believe and love Him (1 John 4:19; Jer. 31:3; John 15:5, 16).

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Now, can we trust our great God and Father, who, when we were enemies, reconciled us to Himself by the death of His Son (Rom. 5:10)? Can we  trust our great God and Savior, who, when we were yet sinners, died for us (Rom. 5:6-9; Gal. 2:20; Rev. 1:5)? Can we trust the Holy Spirit of God and of Christ, that when we were dead in sins, for His great love wherewith He loved us, raised us from spiritual death to life? When we were dead in sins, Christ came to dwell in us (Eph. 2:4)! He gave us life with every grace to believe and hope in Him, even to love Him. Do I live? I live by the faith of the Son of God who so loved me that He gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20)?! Do I have any warrant to think and believe so? Yes! He came to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:13-15)! He died the just for the unjust (1 Pet. 3:18)! He justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5)! Only ungodly sinners need this Savior!!! With life-giving power, He Himself entreats sinners to look to Him (Isa. 45:22), come to Him (John 6:37; Matt. 20:28), to find their rest in Him! To deny that I am a sinner is to think as a reprobate. It is to disqualify myself from this Savior! Yet even this faith and trust and hope in Him who is all-sufficient to save the vilest sort of sinner -- even and especially these graces come from Him! Therefore, “I will arise and go to Jesus” (from the Hymn, 'Come Ye Sinners'). This is our God (Isa. 25:9)! This is our Lord (John 20:28)! He is our Savior. He will not withhold one good thing from them that love Him. And He will work all things, whether good or bad, for our good. I must trust Him! O, Lord, Giver of all grace and glory and all good things, give me this precious faith in your Son, to love Him!

Rick Warta

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God is impartial (Rom. 2:11)

7/20/2019

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God is impartial. He does not make a difference in judgment or mercy because of what He finds in any man. In judgment, He judges all men equally, strictly according to His law, strictly by what He finds in them (Rom. 2:11; 6:23; Eph. 6:9; Col. 3:25; 1 Pet. 1:7). If God condemns us, it will be for what we have done. But if He justifies us, it will be for what Christ has done. In giving mercy, God is gracious because of what He is in Himself (Ex. 34:7). He shows mercy out of His own sovereign will, without respect to us in any way (Rom. 9:11-16). If God gives us eternal life, it will not be for what we have done, but for what Christ has done as one man for “the many” given to Christ in eternal election (Rom. 5:19, 21; Eph. 1:4).

Therefore, if God punishes me or you in hell, it will be for our own sin. But if He gives us eternal life, making Himself known to us in Christ, and receiving us to eternal glory, it will be because of His own righteousness, for the obedience and death of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one for the many, given to us out of sheer grace (Rom. 5:17-21; 6:23; Php. 2:6-8; Heb. 10:7-14). The righteousness of God is the only righteousness by which God justifies ungodly sinners. God’s righteousness is the obedience of Christ in His life and sufferings and death (Heb. 2:10; 5:7-9; Php. 2:6-8; Rom. 10:4; 2 Cor. 5:21). God gives Christ’s righteousness to us by His grace alone, without any regard to what He finds in us, either good or bad (Rom. 5:17-19; 9:11-13; Eph. 2:1-9). It is an act of sovereign crediting to us what Christ has done, because from eternity He made Christ our Head and made us His own (Eph. 1:4).

Thus, we are saved, humbled and overjoyed before God. We deserve wrath. Yet, for Christ’s sake, we are received by God as He receives Christ, with all of the blessings God has given to Him (2 Cor. 1:20; Gal. 3:16, 19, 29; 4:28; Eph. 1:3; 1 Cor. 3:21-23; Rom. 8:17, 32; Eph. 4:32). “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-22).

Rick Warta
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Cry for Mercy (Mark 10:46-52)

7/20/2019

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At his first cry, the crowd rebuked Bartimaeus. Isn’t it ironic that in all of that large crowd of seeing people who followed Jesus, there were none who cried to Him for mercy except this unclean, blind beggar? Why did none in the faceless crowd cry? Wasn’t it because they did not see their blindness (John 9:39-41)? Why didn’t they want to hear the cries of a blind sinner? Wasn’t it because they never knew his need? They did not fellowship in the burden of the anguish of his soul. When we find Christ to be our all, we have fellowship with those rescued from the same sinking ship who have found Christ to be their only Rock and salvation (Psalm 62:1-2)! We ache for others to see their need, to cry to Christ and find Him to be their all! And we want to talk about it to them. But the crowd seemed to know nothing of a need for mercy, nothing of eyes of darkness opened to see the light. With the Psalmist, Bartimaeus could say, “I cried unto the LORD with my voice...I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul” (Ps. 142:1-4).

Though the crowd scolded him to hold his peace, “he cried the more a great deal” (Mark 10:48)! Oh, see here the work of the Spirit of Christ in this needy sinner! “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Ps. 55:16-17)! By God’s grace, Bartimaeus could find no rest until Christ gave Him sight to rest in Him!

The crowd rebuked Bartimaeus at his crying, but Jesus stood still! See this miracle of grace! The LORD said that when the sun and moon stood still at Joshua’s command, there was never a day like it before or since that God hearkened to a man (Joshua 10:12-14). But here is a much greater miracle! It was not noble Joshua who cried out here, but an unclean, blind beggar: a sinner! He cried out of his emptiness! Jesus came to do the eternal will of God (Heb. 10:7). He set His face like a flint to keep that eternal appointment (Isa. 50:5-7). He would not be deterred or kept back. His chief business from eternity was to give Himself a ransom for many and bring them to God. And He was about to accomplish that work (John 12:27; Matt. 20:28)! But see a great miracle of mercy here! A sinner cries to the Sun of Righteousness out of the depths, and the Lord of glory hears his cry and stands still (Ps. 130:1)!

Why did Jesus hear this man’s cry and stand still? Why did He have compassion on him? The crowd showed him no mercy. Yet the One whom Bartimaeus had offended by his sin stopped in compassion to grant him mercy! Why does the Lord Jesus show compassion to helpless sinners?! Because He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). Because He is rich in mercy! Because of His great everlasting love to His people. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened [made us alive] us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Eph. 2:4-5)!

Jesus hears the cry of His own Spirit in the cry of needy sinners. “The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he [Christ] that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27)! The mind of the Spirit is the will of God for the salvation His elect! “This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). 

Moreover, the Lord Jesus had compassion on this blind man who cried out of his darkness for mercy, because the Lord Jesus Himself cried for mercy out of anguish of soul (Psalm 69:13)! He cried out of the darkness on the cross, “My God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring” (Ps. 22:2)! And in Lamentations 3:8, the prophet speaks of Christ when he says, “When I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer” (Lam. 3:8)! 

Does not the Lord Jesus show compassion to sinners because as our Substitute He felt the full burden of our sins in His own body and soul (1 Pet. 2:24)?! He who is all compassion was denied compassion that He might have compassion on His beloved Bride, who were guilty sinners (Isa. 53:3-12; 54:5; Eph. 5:25)! When He was made sin and bore the curse of God in His body and soul on the cross, the sun in the sky did not shine on Him! For salvation’s light to shine on us, the Light of the world bore the darkness of the loss of God’s presence in His own soul! “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent” (Ps. 22:2)! Is this not God’s glory, that He hears and shows mercy to sinners (Ex. 34:7; 2 Cor. 4:6; John 12:23; 17:1-5; Heb. 1:3)? Jesus came and passed through, and then left Jericho, that cursed city. Just before going to Jericho, He said He came to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28-29). He paid the ransom of Himself that God demanded to redeem cursed sinners from the curse of His law (Gal. 3:13). But then the Lord Jesus paused on His mission at the urgent cry of a desperate sinner! It was all predetermined. What a blessing of Providence to blind this man, that he might know his need, that he might find himself near as Jesus passed by, and so hearing of Him, find Christ alone to be his all (Mark 10:52)!

Redemption’s work was finished on the cross! But it must be applied to the redeemed! A king may pardon a prisoner from punishment, but that prisoner knows no peace and joy until the news of the pardon is delivered to him. The ransomed must be released! “Through this man is preached the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39). Christ and His redemption is preached because the release earned by His ransom must be preached to the redeemed! When it is thus preached, God’s Spirit gives chosen sinners faith to see and know that liberty (Acts 13:48)! Jesus came and passed through, and left the cursed city. Yet He granted to His redeemed the liberty His ransom purchased: forgiveness of all our sins with the gift of perfect righteousness, and faith to see it all in Him (Rom. 5:17; Eph. 1:7, 13)! This is the Gospel! “By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us…[therefore, shall] the blood of Christ...purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:12,14). Redemption purchased is now redemption applied! From enslavement to sin, to freedom in our soul that we might serve God with a pure conscience! That’s why Jesus came to Jericho to open the eyes of this blind man! That is why the Spirit of Christ moved him to cry: to obtain the application of the redemption Christ purchased by the offering of Himself to God (Acts 20:28). That is why Christ comes with the Gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. “For this I will be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them!” As Jesus restored Bartimaeus’ sight, God gives His people faith to see Christ their Redeemer and the redemption that He obtained for them by His own blood!

Rick Warta
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