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God's Truth in Our Law

1/28/2019

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I discovered another example how Biblical truth is upheld in our present justice system. This time it was related to auto insurance. My concern was raised because my agent said I could be held liable if my adult children were at fault in an accident. The only condition required was that they reside in my home. This did not seem fair to me. So I asked a lawyer. One thing led to another and I ran into things that are part of our law and reflect the truth of scripture. First, there’s something in the law called “the Doctrine of Vicarious Liability.” This “doctrine” in our laws is expressed by a Latin phrase: "respondeat superior," which means, "let the master answer." And there is also another “doctrine” in today's laws called the “Family Purpose Doctrine.” This “doctrine” is a form of vicarious liability. Under the “Family Purpose Doctrine,” a relative is liable for actions of a family member who resides in their home and uses their vehicle. I find all of these “doctrines” in our present law very interesting because they show the doctrine of Christ’s vicarious sufferings, of His sin-bearing, sin-atoning death and of His answer of satisfaction and obedience by His propitiating death for all who are in Him. These “doctrines” are all argued in our courts with great success by lawyers according to the present laws of our land. Legislators and lawyers understand and recognize the justice of these doctrines. They use them when it suits their purpose. That purpose seems to be to protect innocent victims against the negligent entrustment of a vehicle to an irresponsible driver. The law assigns liability to the person who grants permission, whether that permission is explicitly or implicitly given. But God’s law is perfect and the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Rom. 1:16-17). That one (Christ) should be obligated before the law of God for another (elect) because of his relation (in Christ), because of His purpose, because He is willing to pay, able to pay and by the love of His heart posted the bond of His word to pay with His blood, this is the glorious good news of the Gospel! God’s law is perfect. He charged Christ with the sins of His people. And our Lord Jesus bore the guilt of their sins. Their guilt became His guilt. He was held liable. And He paid the full price justice required. His obedience was complete and perfect. His sufferings and obedience were vicarious. This is not the doctrine of men. It is the doctrine of the Gospel. We serve the God of truth, holy in all His ways, our God and Father, our God and Savior. He holds perpetrators liable for their crimes unless the “perp” has a Master to answer for him. Christ answers for us because we are in Him by eternal election, in Him by His glad, voluntary love (Eph. 5:25). “It is God that justifieth, who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died” (Rom. 8:33-34)! This is God’s “family purpose doctrine.” We are utterly dependent upon both the justice and mercy and grace of God our Father, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

Rick Warta

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A Bail Bondsman, Christ our Surety

1/19/2019

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I had to change the insurance on our home and autos this week. In the process, I ran up against laws that seemed to make no sense to me. So I did some research. I learned that the laws of this land, though often strange to me, in this case, have their basis in the truth of God. I shouldn’t be surprised. God made man in His own image. He has left Himself a witness, even in the legal system of our government. The first thing I investigated was “bail bondsman.” I’ve often wondered what the job of a bail bondsman was. Turns out, a bail bondsman deals with people banks are unwilling to deal with. A bail bondsman deals with criminals. The bail bondsman puts up a bond to the court. The court knows the bail bondsman is good for it, so upon posting the bond, the court will let the accused go free until trial. This is especially important when a person needs to maintain his family and work and home and finances before a trial is held. When the time before trial, or the combination of that time and the trial is long, it is important that the accused be allowed to go about his normal life when others will not be hurt by his freedom. Thus, the court relies on the integrity of the bail bondsman who acts in the place and on behalf of the accused, assuring the court that the accused will appear at trial, and if not, to compensate the court in the amount of the bail bond. All of this corresponds closely to what the Bible calls a “surety.”

I have been reading Genesis 43 and 44 this week. In that historical account, Judah became surety to his father to bring Benjamin to him again. Judah fulfilled his suretyship commitment when he stood before Joseph the governor, who had authority and power over Benjamin. Joseph accused Benjamin. Judah stood up for his little brother. Judah’s plea was the expert plea of our Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. Judah did not argue Benjamin’s innocence. He began by arguing his father’s love for Benjamin. Judah argued his own willingness to be Benjamin’s surety, to shoulder all obligations to bring Benjamin to his father Jacob again. And Judah pleaded to the judge to take him instead of the lad. He asked to be allowed to fulfill the demand of justice against Benjamin in his own person (Gen. 43:8-9; 44:16-34). Judah’s pleadings with Joseph prevailed. Joseph the governor wanted what Judah wanted. The love of Jacob the father would not be disappointed. Judah’s faithfulness to his father and brother was pleasing to Joseph. Whereas, before, Judah sold Joseph into slavery, now, when he was offered his freedom to leave without Benjamin, he willingly forfeited himself for the sake of his commitment of love to his father and his love for his little brother (John 18:8). Thus, Judah and Joseph wanted the same thing. Judah became surety for Benjamin to his father. He answered all accusations against Benjamin with himself. This historical account so precisely fits the case of our Surety, the Lord Jesus, that we can almost simply replace the names of Judah, Benjamin and Jacob with the Lord Jesus, the elect in Christ, and God the Father. So movingly does the Spirit of God recount the eternal transactions between the Father and the Son in behalf of the Elect, that we are brought to tears when we read it in the picture scripture paints in the lives of these men (Gen. 43-44)! Today’s bail bondsman is a surety to the courts for the criminal. Our Lord Jesus is the Surety to God the Father for His elect, that His Father’s eternal purpose for His people will not go unsatisfied and His love will not go unrequited. In ourselves we are criminals. God’s elect are Christ’s brethren, brothers and sisters of their Surety. They are brethren by election and the predestinating, adopting love of God the Father (Eph. 1:3-7). They are brethren by Christ’s incarnation (Heb. 2:9-18). Joseph is the judge and justice of God in harmony with the eternal purpose of God, wanting the same thing as the pleading Surety: that the will of God concerning His elect be fulfilled. But the court must have its due. Accusations must be answered. Compensation must be made for crimes. Love in self-sacrifice must be rendered as the highest obedience to establish everlasting righteousness in honor of God’s law and as the covering and clothing of His people. The Father sent His Son. Christ fulfilled every role. He is our propitiation, our Advocate and our Intercessor (1 John 2:1-2; Rom. 8:34). He pleads before the court of heaven. He does not deny our crimes. He pleads His Father’s eternal love for His elect. He pleads His Father’s purpose for His brethren, those He adopted to be His sons by Jesus Christ in His eternal purpose (Eph. 1:4-7; 3:11; Num. 14:13-20). He pleads the desires of His own heart that took joy and delight to engage with His Father for His people as their Surety and bring His sons to Him again and fulfill His eternal will in satisfaction of His everlasting love (Prov. 8:31; Heb. 7:22; Eph. 1:1-23; Jer. 31:3; 2 Tim. 1:9). He pleads Himself as Substitute: “let thy servant abide instead of the lad, a bondman to my lord” (Gen. 44:33). And He pleads the release of His little brother and the love of His Father’s heart: “Let the lad go up with his brethren” (Gen. 44:33; John 16:27; 17:23-24). He pleads the impossible consequence of failing to fulfill His Suretyship: “For how shall I go up to my Father if the lad be not with me” (Gen. 4:34)?

Every time I see a sign for a “bail bondsman”, I will always think of my Savior, who became Surety for His elect to the Father in love, and to God in justice. He satisfied both. He fulfilled all. And we are forever free because He answered and paid with Himself! I read the words of Genesis 43-44 with great interest. Every believer taught of God does. We stand as observers, not a participants in this eternal transaction. Justice cried against us. Christ answered for us. The Father chose us in Christ. He adopted us as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself (Eph. 1:5). Our Surety brought us again. We did not have to appear in court. He so thoroughly answered that the court of justice and the love of God looked to Him only, and never once looked for anything from us. We are debtors only. We are the accused. We are the lawfully imprisoned. But Christ answered, paid and obtained our eternal redemption with His own blood (Heb. 9:12)! Oh, wonderful God-wrought task!! For me, what God’s Son has earned!! God laid help on One who is mighty (Ps. 89:19)! Though I could not answer, in my place another stood: One mighty, One worthy, One faithful, the only One good. Christ interposed Himself in eternity and substituted Himself at the cross in answer to God for me (Ps. 89;19; 119:122; Micah 7:7-9)! He is my Advocate. He is my Answer and will be my Answer in Judgment and for eternity (Rom. 8:34)!

God’s law is perfect and the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth (Rom. 1:16-17). That One (Christ) should be obligated before the law of God for another (His elect) because of his relation (the elect were chosen in Christ before time), because of His purpose, because He is willing to pay, because He is able to pay and because of the love of His heart; therefore, on His word, He posted the bond of His blood to pay all (Matt. 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:20; Rev. 13:8; Eph. 5:25). And He fulfilled His word (Heb. 1:3; 9:12). This is the glorious good news of the Gospel! Do you and I, by God-given faith, stand still and see Christ as all of our salvation?

Rick Warta

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Sovereign Grace

1/1/2019

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Two things make it impossible for man to save himself (Matt. 19:26): God’s law and God’s sovereignty. God’s law finds men guilty and banishes sinners from God’s presence. God’s sovereignty bars sinners from demanding from God. God’s sovereignty considers only God’s will. God’s sovereign will is eternal. God works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11).

But two things also make salvation certain: God’s sovereignty and God’s grace. God’s sovereignty does the impossible, because salvation is entirely of the LORD (Jonah 2:9). And God’s grace saves the worst of men (1 Tim. 1:15). Thank God for sovereign grace!!

The law necessarily excludes sinners. The law leaves sinners as it finds them: guilty, corrupt, condemned and cursed (Rom. 3:19; Gal. 3:13). The law shuts men up in their sin. The law reveals God’s justice and wrath (Rom. 1:18). The law makes the necessity of God’s promise of grace apparent (Gal. 3:22-24).

By His sovereign grace, God saves sinners. God’s grace does not oppose His law. It fulfills it. Grace even uses the affliction of God’s law on the conscience of sinners as a plow so that the seed of the Gospel will grow deep roots in their hearts and draw them to Christ, who is the sunlight of heaven (Gen. 50:20; Ps. 107:17-21; Hosea. 13:9; Isa. 9:13). Grace answered justice in the blood of God’s dear Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace fulfilled God’s law in the obedience of Christ (Rom. 10:4). Grace therefore magnifies God’s law by the obedience and death of the Son of God in our nature (Isa. 42:21; Dan. 9:16; Heb. 2:9), in the place and on the behalf of sinners, finding nothing in them, seeking nothing from them, but doing all for them (Rom. 3:21, 24-25; 5:5-11; 1 Pet. 2:24).

God’s sovereignty engages His grace to save as it pleases Him (Rom. 9:6-16, 23-29). Therefore, God’s sovereign grace provides all, does all, assesses His own work and accepts sinners on that ground alone, on the sole ground of Christ’s redeeming work (1 Cor. 1:23-24; 3:11; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Heb. 2:10-18; 10:5-18). God’s sovereign grace laid the burden to honor His holiness and make satisfaction to His justice on the back of His dear Son in the eternal salvation of His elect people. God laid the full weight of the manifestation of His wisdom, justice, grace and love upon the back of Christ (1 Cor. 1:2-324; John 17:4; Heb. 1:1-3).

God’s sovereignty will not consider man’s will or take man’s advice or entertain man’s opinion or accept man’s contribution (Rom. 4:4-5). But in spite of all that sinful man is, by His sovereign will alone, God will save those He chose to save by His free grace, built upon the justifying-obedience and the justice-satisfying, substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Isa. 53:1-12).

By His exalted station and reigning power on His Father’s throne (Eph. 1:20-22; Rev. 3:21), Jesus Christ, the Lord of all (Rom. 10:12; Acts 10:36; Zech. 6:5; 1 Cor. 2:8; Isa. 6:5), sends His messengers to proclaim God’s glory in His salvation of chosen, redeemed sinners (2 Cor. 5:18-21; Matt. 28:18-20; Rev. 22:17). He sends His Holy Spirit -- the Spirit of the Father and of Christ -- to raise those same chosen sinners from death to life by His will: that will that will not be frustrated, and His almighty power that cannot fail (Isa. 14:24; John 5:24; Ezek. 37:4-14; Eph. 2:4-10; Zep. 3:17).

Grace excludes man’s obedience in salvation, in making himself acceptable to God, and in obtaining all blessings. God’s sovereignty makes salvation all God’s will and doing without the will or work of man (John 1:12-13; Titus 3:3-7). Man cannot thwart God’s sovereign purpose. Man’s sin will not prevent it. Nor can man’s will or works coerce God to save him. Sinful man has no influence upon God (Job 35:5-8). Man’s will and man’s works will not induce God to save him. Man’s ignorance and vile nature oppose God’s salvation (Rom. 8:7; 2 Tim. 2:25). Yet these will not keep God from His saving purpose to save His sinful people! God’s sovereign grace overcomes all. In sovereign grace, God teaches sinners that His grace is necessary, so much so, that they fall on their faces before Him, rejoice in His salvation and give Him all the glory. He does this by afflicting them with His law, holding them under that law until His appointed time, often for long periods of time: historically, from Moses to Christ; in our experience, before Christ sent His Gospel to our thirsty souls (Ps. 32:1-2; Mark 5:25). In sovereign grace, God wounds and heals; He kills and makes alive; He brings low and raises up; He shuts sinners up under their guilt and yet justifies condemned sinners in Christ (Deut. 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6-9; Luke 18:13; Rom. 3:19-25).

Justice demands satisfaction. Righteousness demands obedience. God’s law must be honored. God must be glorified. God’s eternal purpose will be done. Man is devoid of righteousness. Man is unclean. Man’s efforts to make himself acceptable and to entice God to favor and bless him not only make him no better, but leave him all the more polluted (Isa. 64:6). God’s righteousness is revealed against the barren landscape of man’s righteousness. God’s law requires righteousness from man. God’s grace provides God’s righteousness in Christ for His elect. God’s righteousness honors His law and fulfills His will. God’s righteousness cleanses and clothes the sinner (Isa. 61:10). God’s righteousness is the foundation upon which, in grace, He blesses sinners. Grace overcomes all barriers by Jesus Christ. I love what John Newton said:

“May we sit at the foot of the cross and there learn what sin has done, what justice has done and what love has done.”

And I would add this: may we also learn at that cross that there our salvation was done (Luke 23:32-47; Gal. 2:19-20; Heb. 1:1-3; Jer. 17:12; Rom. 8:31-34).

Till round the throne the blood-bought race
Electing love shall bring,
Let sinners saved proclaim free grace,
And Christ exalted sing.  -- John Kent

Rick Warta

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The Word of God

1/1/2019

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The most fundamental truth of scripture is, “Thus saith the LORD.” “Thus saith the LORD” is used over 800 times in scripture. In the beginning, God created all things by His word. Christ, the Living Word, created all things by His spoken word and God told this to us in His written word. God accomplishes His will by His word. “By the Word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (Ps. 33:6; Gen. 1; John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16). “8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:8-9).  God commands men by His word. The first temptation satan wielded against man in the garden was, “Yea, hath God said…” (Gen. 3)? Christ’s defense against satan in the wilderness was, “It is written…” (Matt. 4:1-10).

The just shall live by faith. Faith is believing God. “Whatever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). Faith is believing God; it is believing His word. The two are inseparable. If we believe God, we believe what He said. If we believe what God said, we believe God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:16-17).

There is nothing more important for us to do in our lives than to know the Word of God, to meditate on what God has said in scripture, and to believe it. May this be our constant pursuit, to know God from His word by God-given faith in Christ. Do not believe satan’s lie. That was Eve’s downfall. The woman was in the transgression because she was deceived. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God (Eph. 6:10-18).

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb. 11:6). Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). Therefore, let us constantly be reading, meditating, and hearing the word of God with our physical ears that God would be pleased to give us hearing with spiritual ears.

​The message of the word of God is the Lamb of God (John 1:1-3, 29, 34; Rom. 1:2-5; 10:16-17). Scripture concerns the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made after the flesh as the son of David. But He was declared to be (not made) the Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

The just live by faith. Faith is living upon Christ: what God has said of Him in His word. The Gospel is according to scripture (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Faith is living upon Christ who is revealed in scripture. When we see Christ by faith, when we know Him, we see and know God the Father (Matt. 11:27; John 12:6-9). This is eternal life (John 17:3; 1 John 5:7-20).

May we therefore spend the moments of our days and the days of our years and the years of our lives learning of Christ from His word. May we meditate on the word of God day and night (Ps. 1). May God shine His word in our hearts that we might see Christ (2 Cor. 4:6), and so lighten our way (Ps. 119:105) and conform us to His image (2 Cor. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:29-30).

​Scripture is “able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15-16). All scripture is given by inspiration of God that by His word the man of God may be perfectly furnished unto all good works. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ from His word. God has called us unto glory and virtue with His word. We cannot know God, cannot believe God, cannot please God without faith, and this faith in Christ comes by hearing His word. Faith overcomes all things because faith looks to Christ who overcame all for us (1 John 4:4; 5:4; Gal. 1:4; John 16:33; Rev. 12:11). “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:4). Just as in the beginning, God created all things by His word, and even now upholds all things by His word, so He has taught us by these things that He has given all things to us that pertain to life and godliness by His word concerning Christ.

Rick Warta

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Every Objection Answered

12/31/2018

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Whenever questions of God’s character or ways or His works arise in our hearts, or when objections arise from our minds or from others in opposition to the truth, we must ever remember how our Lord Jesus Christ answered all such questions and objections: “It is written” (Matt. 4:4, 6-7, 10). By the pen of the Apostle Paul, the Spirit of God raised and answered objections which naturally arise in our sinful hearts (Rom. 9:14, 19). He answered each objection with scripture. Why? For this most fundamental of all reasons: scripture is truth (Dan. 10:21; John 17:17). It is the final answer of God (Matt. 24:35; John 10:35). Faith is believing God’s word as a little child. That child who believes his father answers every mocking objector with, “But my daddy says…!”. May we reject our own tendencies to demand an answer from God to satisfy our sinful ignorance, but rather find our greatest delight and confidence in, “Thus saith the LORD.” May we, as dear children, believe our Father's word.​

Rick Warta

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"The LORD takes pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy" (Psalm 147:11).

12/31/2018

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“He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy” (Ps. 147:10-11).

The LORD takes no delight in the strength of men nor does He delight in the strong things that men trust. But He takes pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy!

Does our Lord and Savor delight to save sinners? Does the holy and just God of heaven and earth delight in mercy? Oh yes! He has given His word on it (Micah 7:18)! He delights in mercy, and therefore delights when a poor sinner seeks Him for His mercy, and waits upon Him in hope to show mercy (Luke 18:13)!

How many times in the NT can you find when Jesus turned away sick, foul, plagued, needy sinners who cried to Him!? Not one! But how many instances do you find where our Savior stooped and stopped and turned and went to a place or enter a house to heal or raise and save sinners while His enemies hounded Him, or when He was busy with other things? I can think of several: Bartimaeus is one. The woman with an issue of blood is another. The woman at the well is a third. The woman taken in adultery... Aren’t the Gospels full of such accounts of Jesus saving sin-sick, dying, even dead sinners (Matt. 8:17; 9:11-13; Isa. 53:4-5)?! Why? Why did He have such compassion on the foul and worthless and helpless? Because He delights in mercy! Because He takes delight in those that hope in His mercy! His meat and drink is to do the will of God (John 4:34). It is His delight!

What a blessed description the LORD gives here of our God and Savior, JESUS (Matt. 1:21)! What a word this is to trembling, sin-burdened souls (Isa. 55:1-3; Matt. 11:28; Rev. 22:17)! Who but a sinner taught by God will hope in God’s mercy from Christ (Psa. 25:11; 65:3)? David did. He said, “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (Ps. 130:3-4)! David feared God with a healthy, holy, reverential awe because He knew the LORD as the one true God who is both just and forgives iniquity and transgression and sin for Christ’s sake (Ex. 34:7; Isa. 45:21-25; Eph. 4:32; 1 John 1:9).

The greatest revelation of God’s person is found in His words here: that He delights in mercy, that there is forgiveness from God for Christ's sake, that He takes delight in them that hope in His mercy (Ex. 33:18-19; 34:6-8)! Every NT epistle confirms and echoes this truth: “Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 1:2)!

God is gracious to sinners in Christ! That is the Gospel. Oh, what good news it is to this sinner. It makes me cling to Him all the more tightly (Acts 11:23). “What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him” (Hosea 14:8).

Rick Warta

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If God has accepted our Sacrifice

12/16/2018

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“Manoah [Samson’s father] said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these” (Judges 13:22-23).

Eeyore and Manoah had a lot in common. I am naturally inclined to think like Manoah. We cannot believe that God is gracious, so good in His grace that He saves us by His grace in spite of our sin for Christ’s sake alone, and receives us as Christ without any merit on our part. It’s just too much. The gift is too great. I am such a sinner. In sinful unbelief, our wicked heart will think, "Since I can’t bring something, I can’t imagine God would do all for me in Christ." But as God received the token sacrifice from Manoah and his wife, He has much more received Christ as our Sacrifice, the fulfillment of that token.

Christ, our High Priest, offered Himself as the Lamb of God for our sins (Heb. 9:12-15, 24-26). But like Manoah, we wonder if we shall perish for our sins. We fear that we have presumed to trust Christ for too much and without warrant. Yes, God has chosen and redeemed His people. But am I one of God’s elect? What reason do I have to think I can trust Christ to cover my sins and clothe me in His righteousness? What basis do I have to think He is all of my salvation? We must therefore give heed to the response of Manoah’s wife to his lament. It comes down to this: If Christ is the only answer you have, if all blessings from God to you are in Him and because of Him alone, then Manoah’s wife’s answer is the answer of scripture to you. If God has received Christ for us, we will not die.

Unbelief instills fear. Faith in Christ brings peace and joy (Rom. 15:13; Isa. 26:1-3). Have I failed to do my part? Have I therefore presumed to rely on Christ without warrant? Have I ventured too much on Him to do all for me? What about this present cold, hard heart? What about my sin? What about my ignorance? What about even my unbelief? Haven’t I disqualified myself by these things? If we consider ourselves in some way, the answer is, yes, we have. We have disqualified ourselves. That’s the whole point of God’s law (Rom. 3:9-19)! Faith therefore looks to Christ only in honor of God's righteousness. By His accepted sacrifice of Himself, faith takes comfort from Christ by the words of Manoah’s wife: If God has accepted our sacrifice, He has accepted us because of our sacrifice. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7).

If God has drawn us to Christ, if by God-given faith we come to Him and call on Him and find in Him our only and all-sufficient cleansing and covering for all our sins; if we find His obedience that fulfilled God’s law to be our only and all-sufficient righteousness, then we have come for grace and all blessings from Him. He Himself has said that He will not cast out any so made desperate, so drawn, so coming to take from Him (Matt. 11:12; John 6:37; Rom. 8:34). How could Christ cast out one given to Him by His Father? How could He cast out one drawn by His Spirit of grace? How could He cast out one for whom He died?

Did Jesus scold the woman who sneaked in the press behind Him to touch the hem of His garment, that she might be made whole by His garments of salvation (Isa. 61:10)? No! He commended her faith. It was His work (John 6:29; Acts 3:16; Heb. 12:2). He always commends His own work (Gen. 1:31). Scripture encourages sinners of the worst sort: ruined, spent, helpless, needy, who have nothing and have suffered much for a long time without relief under sin’s tyranny and the burden of God’s law, who only grow worse; to them He gives the warrant of His command to look to Christ (Mark 5:24-34; Isa. 45:22), to come to Him (Matt. 11:28; Isa. 55:1-3), to see in Him and freely take of Him all that God requires of me, and find all blessings promised to Him to be promised blessings to sinners in Him (Rev. 22:17; Rom. 3:19-21; Eph. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:20).

God’s law directs us away from ourselves. God’s grace directs us to Christ crucified to see our Savior in Him, and to see our God in Him, and in so seeing, to find our rest because He is our all (Rom. 3:19-21; Gal. 3:22-24; Col. 2:9-10; Eph. 1:22-23).

When once God has begun a good work in us to draw us to Christ, He will not fail to complete that work (Php. 1:6). He will surely give all things to those He draws to Christ. He will cause us to look away from all that may be called ours and find our all in Christ who came from glory to this world to bear our sins and lay down His life for chosen sinners. He will direct us to Christ whom God raised from the dead because of our justification (Rom. 4:25). He will direct us to His throne to see the risen, exalted Christ seated there, and so see that throne as a throne of grace. Christ who offered Himself for us is now seated there at God’s right hand to intercede for us that He might save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25).

If we have been so taught of God, then we must look away from the ruin of our lives, the failure of our obedience, the sin of our heart, the corruption of our nature and motives, and especially all works done by us or produced in us, away from all that we are and all that we are not to Christ crucified, risen, forever reigning and now interceding to bring us to Himself (Rom. 8:34; John 17:24).

God’s law -- all that God requires and demands of us -- unmasks what we are in ourselves. It confines us as a straight jacket constrains a mad man. That is for our good that we might see our only hope is Christ, in what God thinks of His Son. Grace instructs us to trust God to think on Christ as all for me. Grace teaches us that God received us when He received His Son from the dead (Rom. 4:25; Eph. 2:1-6; Gal. 3:22-24; Heb. 7:25; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 5:6-10). Grace teaches us that God treated Christ as we deserved to be treated for our sins that He might treat us as Christ deserves to be treated for His obedience in death (2 Cor. 5:21).

Like Manoah, our conscience may tell us we deserve to die. But as Manoah’s wife, the Gospel from God’s own word points us to God’s offering of His Son, of God’s acceptance of Christ as our Sacrifice, offered to cleanse us of our sins, to clothe us in His righteousness, and in that perfect way, to bring us to God (1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18). The great transaction is done! God has justified us in His Son! No condemnation can now be laid to the charge of one for whom Christ has paid (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:34)! O trembling soul of mine! Hear God’s word to you! If God has accepted our Sacrifice, and has shown us Himself in Christ our Lord by these things, then He has been pleased to justify us by His blood. He will save us from the wrath to come through Him (Rom. 5:9-10; 2 Cor. 1:10)!

Rick Warta

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"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy word" (Ps. 119:67).

12/16/2018

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The LORD finds us, not in the way of truth, not living by faith on Christ, but going astray. No one can claim they kept the word of the LORD until the LORD afflicted them. The LORD has chosen His people in the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10). Though we are dead in sins, salvation begins with chastisement. God’s affliction prepares our hearts. Then His Spirit of grace draws us to Christ crucified by Gospel preaching (John 6:44-45; Rom. 10:16-17). Though we are long plagued, unclean before God’s law, have spent all and suffered much by all of our efforts and the prescriptions of men in false religion -- by the providence of our God and by the operations of His grace, we hear of Jesus (Mark 5:27). Until God’s law convinces us of guilt and helplessness under the law, we are indifferent to the sweet sound of the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ (Ps. 32:3; Matt. 11:28; Luke 4:18-19). By God's affliction on my conscience and by acts of His providence, He makes my heart soft. Under affliction, the Gospel makes Christ altogether lovely to helpless, burdened, lost sinners. To hear Him say, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest...” is to see His face revealed in His grace (2 Cor. 3:18).

I did not start in the truth of Christ. I was not in the way of life until I was afflicted. I was ignorant of Him. I was ignorant of God’s word. I did not believe God or Christ or His word. My way was to go astray. I did not live by faith on Christ. How did the Lord turn me? Affliction is a necessary ingredient. Where was that rod applied? To my heart. What did that accomplish? It made my foolish heart believe His Son when He spoke from the Gospel, that Christ accomplished my salvation, that He was my all. This is the way of God with men. He plows the ground. The heart is made soft by affliction. The word declares Christ to that weary one, long-plagued, long-burdened, sorely helpless, needing to be rescued (Luke 15:14-20; 18:13). Then the glad news of the Gospel of Christ crucified is sent by the messengers of peace (Isa. 52:13)! God looks upon Him for me! He provided, He offered, He accepted Christ for sinners! And He afflicts those for whom Christ died and declares Christ to be the well-pleasing Surety of my soul. Salvation in Christ becomes my song. He is God. He is Man. He reigns on heaven’s throne with all authority and power and honor. He sovereignly calls and brings His own. It seems too good to be true, that God would look to His Son as my Substitute and answer His law in Christ’s answer of Himself. Until I was afflicted I went astray. But now I have believed His Son, I have believed the Gospel. This is God’s work of grace (John 6:29; Acts 18:27; Eph. 2:8-10)!

Rick Warta

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The Idol of Man's Personal Liberty

12/16/2018

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Today many say, “Don’t judge me!" So the guilty sinner cries. "It’s wrong to say it’s wrong,” they claim, because man's freedom is paramount, even to the denial of God's sovereign rule. To judge others in this day has become the most intolerable offense (Gen. 19:9). And men quote the Bible to defend their wickedness: “Judge not!” But when Jesus said, "Judge not lest ye be judged," He did mean we are to use His words to defend ourselves. Nor did He mean we are not to decry sin, not point out certain sins. No. The Bible does not say it’s wrong to say it’s wrong. The Bible says it’s wrong not to say it’s wrong (Acts 17:24-31; Romans 1:18-3:19; Titus 3:3; Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Col. 3:5-9; Eph. 4:17-22; 2 Pet. 2:4-10; Jude 3-16).

Men today claim personal freedom. Liberty, they say, is the one inalienable, God-given right. It is the sacrosanct law that is above all laws. It is a God-given right and therefore, all sinful behavior is above all criticism.

The claim of liberty as an inalienable right is written in the United States Declaration of Independence. “Liberty”, according to that document, is a right that governments must protect. “Liberty”, they say, must not be restrained by human laws, but must be protected by them because God has given it as an inalienable right to men. Personal freedom, they claim, must not be violated. No matter what anyone says, say they, my freedom to do as I please must not be challenged, as long as my liberty does not take away another man’s freedom. So goes the theory. But in practice, wicked men do take away the freedom of others when it affords them more personal liberty. They do this whenever they try to silence the truth that exposes them as evil.

But, to say, as men claim today, that God gives men the right to do whatever they please, is to say no less than what those God condemned did in OT times: “Every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Gen. 18:20; Judges 17:6; Hosea 9:11). They rejected Christ as their Judge and they therefore never sought Him as their Savior.

This claim of personal, God-given liberty is nothing less than idolatry. It places man’s freedom on the throne. It produces lawlessness. God has given the duty to governments to punish evil doers and to protect people from harm inflicted by them, to keep the peace (1 Pet. 2:14). But when man’s laws remove God’s laws, then men are in league as hostile combatants against God, just as those who built Babel and its tower. But the child of God says, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29)!

Are we to focus our attention and efforts on pointing out the sins of others? No. But we are to declare the Gospel to sinners. And how can we declare the Gospel without pointing out man’s great sin against God?! How can we declare the Gospel to the glory of God without pointing out what God by grace removed from His people at the price of the blood of His only begotten Son? How can we declare the Gospel if we do not declare how God exalted His Son because He gained the victory over sin’s reign unto death if we say nothing about sin (Rom. 5:21; Eph. 1:20-22)? How can we declare the Gospel if we do not declare how Jesus Christ was exalted to give a change of mind to those He saves, giving them a soul-cleansing sight of Christ and Him crucified, risen, reigning and interceding (Acts 5:31; Heb. 9:14)? If we can’t say what sin is, how can we talk about the faithful sayings of the Gospel, how Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief (1 Tim. 1:12-15; Rom. 3:19-20; 1 Cor. 15:1-4)?

We must point out what sin is, and that our sin comes from within us, out of our evil heart (Mark 7:21-23). We must point out that we are full of sin, and that our evident sins affirm this fact in agreement with God’s law. Our problem is that our sins are greatly evil and arise from our evil heart. Both our sins and our heart is against a holy God. We have offended God and are an offense to God (Titus 3:3)! Salvation is great because God in Christ has dealt with the great and many sins of His people in the suffering and death of our one and only great Savior (Ps. 25:11)!

If we deny that sin is sin, then we deny God’s right to be God; we deny His right to judge! If we deny that sin is sin, then we seek to remove God from His throne, because sin is transgression of God’s law, and is therefore against God (1 John 3:4; Ps. 51:4; Luke 15:18). If we deny that sin is sin, then we deny God’s justice under which, and in satisfaction to which, He crucified His Son! To do that is to accuse God of pouring out His wrath upon His Son for nothing! To deny that sin is sin and that we are sinners, is to deny that God is God. If we deny that our sin is sin, we hold ourselves to be righteous apart from Christ and deny our need of a Savior in opposition our own salvation! To claim liberty of God’s rule is to exclude ourselves from God’s salvation in Christ (Luke 15:18; 2 Tim. 2:25).

Neither the constitution of the United States, nor the current interpretation of that constitution defines sin against God. “Liberty” is not an inalienable, God-given right to sinners to do as they please. But our unavoidable personal accountability to the one holy and true God is. Sin, contrary to popular demand, is not violating sinful man’s personal liberty as the one law above all criticism. Claiming personal liberty as the one great protected right of man is opposition to God-given restraint and God's sovereign rule.

Men are presently opposing all prohibitions to publicly do and promote whatever they imagine to do and approve (John 3:20). Like the men of Sodom, they impose the thoughts of their corrupt minds and licentious lifestyles on others. Present laws give corrupt public school educators the right to indoctrinate young children to accept whatever men approve, even though what they approve is offensive to God. The highest courts of our government uphold this wickedness because they promote the lie that offending man is a great offense against God. Imagine that! Men exalt their right to liberty over God's right to be God!

But personal “liberty” is meant to underscore our unavoidable accountability to God. True liberty does not remove our accountability to God and replace it with accountability to man. True liberty is not serving sin. Only Christ by His grace can set us free from our sins and our sin (John 8:32). He sets the lawful captives free from sin, from satan, from death and from the justice and wrath of God by laying the axe of His sin-atoning death to the root: to our sins (Ps. 65:3; Isa. 49:24-25).

​May we be ever thankful for the love of God our heavenly Father that He faithfully afflicts us on the inside, to show us His glory in Christ our only Savior (Luke 2:30; Isa. 45:21; Acts 4:12). We must not resist God’s condemning law. It exposes our guilt. It reveals our corruptions. It tells us the truth about ourselves. We must repair to Christ for salvation from our sins and the judgment we deserve. We must be reconciled to God by His sin-atoning death (Ps. 119:67; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Luke 15:18; 18:13; Isa. 6:5; 2).

Rick Warta

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It was all God's Doing (Genesis 22:1-19)

11/17/2018

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God told Abraham to offer his son--his only son Isaac, whom he loved--for a burnt offering on the mountain of God’s choosing (v2). Abraham rose up early the next morning. He clave the wood. He set out to go where God told him to offer his son (v3). On the third day, Abraham saw the place afar off (v4). He told his two young servants to stay with the beast of burden. He told them that he and Isaac would go to yonder mountain and worship and return again (v5). Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac (v6). He took the fire and the knife in his hand (v6). Both Abraham and Isaac went together up that mountain (v6). Isaac spoke to his father. He said, “My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering” (v7)? “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together” (v8). They came to the place God told Abraham to go. Abraham built an altar. He laid the wood on it. He bound his son. He laid his son on top of the wood on the altar (v9). Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven (v11)!

In all that Abraham did and in all that he said in this account, he did and said as God’s prophet (Gen. 20:7). He corresponds to God the Father in all that He purposed and promised and in all that He did when He took His Son and offered Him up for us all, all of His elect (Rom. 8:32-34). Moreover, all that Abraham did with his son Isaac, and in all that Isaac said and did, Isaac corresponds to the Son of God, who in obedience submitted Himself to His Father as the Lamb of God, to offer Himself for our sins (Php. 2:8; John 10:17-18; Heb. 9:12, 14, 25-26; 10:7-12; Rom. 5:6).

Notice: Abraham clave the wood. Abraham led his son. He took Isaac to the mountain to offer him as a burnt offering. He took his only son Isaac, whom he loved. Notice: he went with his son to the place of God’s appointing. Notice: he saw that place afar off. Notice: he took the wood there; he laid the wood on Isaac to carry it up the mountain. Notice: Abraham took the fire in his hand; he took the knife in his hand. He built the altar. He laid the wood that would consume his son upon that altar. Notice: he bound his son; he laid his son on that wood upon that altar. Notice: Abraham stretched forth his hand to take the knife to slay his son. In Abraham we see God the Father. Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work” (John 5:17). This is the work of God the Father. He slew His Son (John 10:17-18; Zech. 13:7; Ps. 88:7; Rom. 8:32)!

As sinners, we are anxious to find warrant to trust Christ and find our refuge in Him. But here we see that it was God’s will and His purpose of grace to offer His Son. The offering of Abraham’s son was made to God. In all of this, we have a lesson that causes us both to tremble and endears our heavenly Father to us for His eternal grace! God offered His Son for sinners (2 Cor. 5:18-21)! He Himself offered Him. He offered Him to make atonement. He made Him the ransom for indebted prisoners to magnify His truth and grace, to bring us to Himself according to His eternal will (Eph. 1:4-7). It was He who purposed, He who promised, He who provided, He who offered, He who accepted His only begotten Son for sinners. It was His doing. Therefore, to remain indifferent or distant as if some change in me would give me confidence to come to Christ, or to think that by something other than Christ crucified I can worship God, is evidence of horrid unbelief, evidence that I do not know God. To know the true and living God is eternal life (John 17:3). To see His will and work in Christ, to know that by all that is holy and good He offered His Son to save sinners, is to know the work and character and mind and heart of God. The work of God the Father to offer His Son is every sinner’s warrant to look upon and look to Christ and worship God by Him (John 4:22-24).

“On the third day he lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.” The place afar off is the eternal will of God. God saw His eternal will fulfilled in Christ’s obedience in the offering of His Son as our Mediator (Heb. 10:7; John 17:4; 19:30). The wood laid on Isaac to carry up that mountain is God laying the cross on His Son, even the curse we earned by our sins against God (John 19:17; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13). Abraham bound Isaac. God bound His Son. He nailed His Son to the cross (Acts 2:23). Isaac asked, My father, behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the burnt offering for the sacrifice. When Abraham answered, Isaac did not protest. Thus, Christ prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Matt. 26:39-42). Abraham took the fire and the knife. God took the fire of His wrath and the knife of His justice and plunged it into the body and soul of His Son. He afflicted Him with all that His justice required to spare sinners. Abraham stretched forth his hand to slay his son. God the Father stretched forth His hand against His Son (Zech. 13:7; Acts 4:28). God commanded His Son to lay down His life for the sheep (John 10:17-18). It was the Father who bruised His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ (Isa. 53:4-10). Isaac made no protest. Christ was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth (Isa. 53:7). The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior “...poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12). Abraham and Isaac went both together up that mountain. The Son of God, our precious Savior, did not go to the cross alone; His Father was with Him (John 16:32). He came to do His Father’s will (Heb. 10:5-18). The two servants came along to bear witness. Throughout scripture the law and the prophets bear witness to Christ crucified (1 Pet. 1:10-11; Luke 24:26-27).

This was God’s will. He promised Abraham that in his Seed (Christ), all nations of the world would be blessed (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:7-19). This is how God fulfilled His promise. He provided Himself a Lamb for the burnt offering (v8). The Word was made flesh (John 1:14): Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). He who died is rightly called “the mighty God, the prince of peace, the everlasting Father” (Isa. 9:6). "Behold the Lamb of God" (John 1:29)! The Father took the Son of His love, His only begotten Son, and delivered Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32). The revelation of His will to Abraham or to us did not come all at once. But it did come (Eph. 3:5-11). And it is now repeated over and over and over again throughout scripture, reverberating by the Spirit of God in the hearts of chosen sinners! This is the message of all of scripture: Christ, the Lamb of God, chosen, appointed, provided and offered by God the Father, received as a sweet-smelling sacrifice by which God saves sinners by His infinite, incomprehensible grace, and brings them to Himself (Eph. 1:4-7; 5:2)! This is the heart of God. This was on His mind from eternity. This is His doing. This is His great glory (Ex. 33:18-19; 34:6-7; 2 Cor. 4:6; John 17:1-4).

Abraham told his servants, “I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (v5). Every sinner so given eyes of faith to see Christ crucified as God’s offering and justifying grace for ungodly sinners will worship here. There is no other altar than the altar God has built and on which He offered His Son, even the altar of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:10; Matt. 23:19).
​
Tremble in awe as you look here. Stand in awe at our great God and Savior. Do not leave this place. See the heart of the everlasting God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Know the heart and eternal purpose and incomprehensible provision God made in His Son. Consider that God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for sinners (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18-21). In so looking, come to God by Him! This is God’s doing. Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD. This is the ark of the testimony opened in heaven (Rev. 15:5). This is your warrant to come to God. Draw from this well of salvation (Isa. 12:3). To neglect this so great salvation is the unpardonable sin (Heb. 2:3). Agree with God’s law. You are guilty. Your sin is all your fault. You deserve God’s wrath. And you will not and cannot do anything about it (Rom. 1:18-3:20). Then, while paralyzed in that state, look here: see the heart and will and promise and provision and work of the everlasting God in offering up His Son! Worship God only here. Worship Him here only. This is the altar and the offering by which sinners are accepted. Take from Christ here. As a sinner needing mercy, find your all in Him (Col. 2:9-10; Heb. 4:3, 10; Isa. 45:21-25)! May God in His sovereign grace so give you and me to do so, both now and forever (Col. 2:6).

"Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die;
Another's life, Another's death,
​I stake my whole eternity" -- Horatius Bonar

Rick Warta

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