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The Believer's Hope

7/29/2017

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“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).

One of the key phrases in this well-known and well-loved scripture is “according to His purpose.” When we join “all things work together for good” with “according to His purpose” we see that all of our life, in every circumstance, whether it seems good or bad to the perception of our senses, is ordered and made to work together for our good according to God’s eternal purpose. That purpose was set down in God’s eternal covenant of grace in Christ (2 Tim. 1:9). Christ fulfilled that covenant by His own blood (Heb. 13:20; Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:15-16, 22, 24-26). Christ administers all things in heaven and earth, even, and especially, His own incarnation and death. And He puts all things in their proper place, both the evil and the good. He works all things to the good of those God entrusted to His eternal care as their King and High Priest and Surety (Eph. 1:10-11). God’s covenant not only set forth what Christ must do to redeem His people and to bring them into the Jubilee of all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, but He also set down all things in order beforehand so that everything in time and creation would be accounted for in advance, according to His will. By Christ, all things in God’s covenant are brought to fulfillment by His death, by His resurrection, by His sovereign rule on the right hand of God as our covenant Mediator, and by His intercession there for us (Matt. 28:18-20; Rom. 8:34).

What a delight it is to have this hope. Christ is our hope (1 Tim. 1:1). Because He is our hope, we have the confident expectation that we will be made known by Christ to be the eternally loved, eternally adopted sons of God. We will be made known as the eternally redeemed of the Lord Jesus Christ, those He loved and washed from their sins in His own precious blood (Rev. 1:5; 1 Pet. 1:18-20). We will be made known as those who were perfected forever by Christ’s one offering of Himself to God for us (Col. 2:9-10; Heb. 10:14). We will be made known as those for whom Christ is their everlasting righteousness (Rom. 5:17-21; Rom. 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Php. 2:6-11). Our hope is that we will stand perfect, without fault before God our Savior, on His throne, in His glory (Jude 1:24). Our hope is that we will see our Savior face to face (Rev. 22:4), and we will be forever with Him in intimate communion (John 17:24). Our hope is also that all things in life are working together for our good according to that same everlasting covenant of grace, in which God ordered all things in Christ for our good before the foundation of the world (2 Sam. 23:5; Heb. 13:20; 8:10-12; Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:21-37).
Rick Warta
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Not fake, but truly good news

7/29/2017

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We hear a lot today about “fake news.” The world has always been full of fake news, that is, false accusations and false reports. But there was never greater fake news than put forward by men who pretend that man’s free-will, works religion is good news.

Man’s religion is fake because it is false. And it is fake good news because it is not good news at all. It is only bad news. No man, by his doing, can obtain from God what God does not freely give out of His pure, sovereign grace (John 3:17; 1 Cor. 4:17; John 1:12-13; Rom. 9:15; 11:6). And no man can keep what God does not immutably give according to His will and promise (Rom. 4:16; 8:31-39; 11:29). If man saves himself or triggers salvation by his will or decision, then salvation is of man. Such a salvation is fake. It is as insecure as the man who willed it. That is bad news for bad sinners.

More importantly, it is fake news, because it denies God His sovereign will (John 1:12-13; 3:5; Rom. 9:15-16; James 1:18). It is bad because it denies Christ His glorious achievements for sinners, according to the will of God (John 17:4; Heb. 1:3; 9:12, 15-16, 22; 24-26; 10:12-18). It is bad news because it claims the Spirit of God calls dead sinners who never rise to life (Ezek. 37:12-14; Eph. 2:1-6). It is bad because it denies man’s bad and sinful condition (John 5:40; 6:44; Rom. 3:10-12). No one will confess his sins or his sin unless he believes God justifies sinners in Christ alone (Luke 18:13). “
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). Man’s fake-news-religion denies God’s redeeming grace, His regenerating grace and His preserving grace in salvation (Heb. 1:3; 9:12; 10:14; Eph. 2:1-10; Titus 3:3-7; John 10:27-29; Col. 1:21-23; Php. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; Heb. 13:20-21; Jude 1:24). In short, man’s free-will, works religion is not only fake good news, it positively blasphemes God because it denies His perfections and gives His glory to man.

Think of the consequences of this fake-good-news-religion: if God willed the salvation of any who perish, or if Christ died for any who go to hell, or if God calls all men with the same grace and power, then it necessarily follows that any difference between men must be owing entirely to man, and not God at all! This is utter blasphemy!

The bad news of man’s fake good news flatly denies scripture. God alone chooses sinners to salvation; He sovereignly elects His people in Christ before they have a being (Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; Rom. 9:11). Christ died for and redeemed His people alone (Matt. 1:21), His Church (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25), His sheep (John 11, 15-16, 27-29), His brethren (Heb. 2:10-18), His friends (John 15:13), His holy nation (John 11:50-52; 1 Pet. 2:9; Gal. 6:16); His children (Heb. 2:13), the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:8, 13-14; 26-29; Heb. 2:16), the children of promise (Gal. 4:28; Rom. 9:6-8), the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). And all of these were ungodly, unrighteous, sin-diseased, heart-plagued sinners! The Spirit of God gives life as it pleases Him (John 3:5; 6:63; Acts 2:39; 13:48; 16:14; 2 Cor. 3:6; Ezek. 36:25-27; 37:9-14; 1 Pet. 1:22-23; Eph. 2:4; Gal. 1:16). Christ reconciled His people to God when, in themselves, they were His enemies (Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:1-4; Titus 3:3-7).


The Gospel is the only truly good news. All else is fake good news; it is really only bad news. It is especially bad news to lost, ruined, helpless sinners. But it is really evil because this fake news tries to remove God from His throne. Those who promote the fake good news of man’s free-will, works religion will be judged without mercy (Gal. 1:8-9). Oh, let us ever love and declare the glories of our great God and Savior, who delivered us from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10), who washed us from our sins in His own precious blood (Rev. 1:5), who made us holy to God (Heb. 13:12), blameless and unreproveable before Him (Col. 1:21-22), and who will yet without fail present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 1:24)!
Rick Warta
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Salvation impossible for all but Christ

7/17/2017

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We don’t try to reduce or dumb down God’s requirements so that all men can meet them. We declare them to be so high that only Christ can meet them and shut sinners up to Christ alone as their only hope of being accepted by God (Gal. 3:23-24). Great sin and high requirements drive me to my great and high Savior who "performeth all things for me" (Ps. 25:11; 65:3; 57:2; Isa. 26:12; Lev. 16:30; Heb. 1:3; 9:12, 15, 26; 10:10, 14). We come to God, believing that He is so holy He can only accept His people in Christ and for Christ's sake. We come to Him, convinced that we are utterly sinful and helpless in ourselves, and that He must give to us life by His indwelling Spirit, and supply every grace that we might believe Him and know Him and love Him and walk by faith in Him who was crucified, has risen and who now reigns as our sovereign Mediator to the glory of God the Father. Our Savior intercedes and advocates for us that we might be saved to the uttermost (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25). We must learn this lesson continually. Salvation is impossible for all but Christ (Matt. 19:16-26).
Rick Warta
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"According to that a man hath"

7/17/2017

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“For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2 Cor. 8:12).

When young children help with a willing heart, we recognize the eagerness behind their effort, and receive their gifts and labors in proportion to their intent. How delightful is the willing mind of faith! The willing mind is a believer laying hold on God’s strength in Christ, putting his hand to the plow, expecting a harvest in proportion to the ability of the Master who owns the field, and not in proportion to His own ability (Ex. 4:10; 2 Cor. 4:7). He alone gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:7). The harvest belongs to Him (Matt. 9:36-38). Believers, in themselves, can do nothing of spiritual or eternal consequence (Php. 3:3). But God can and does use the weakest of believing sinners to show forth His glory and power (1 Cor. 1:21). If He is glorified in raising the dead, then He is glorified in helping the weak (2 Cor. 12:9-10; Eph. 1:19). Let us therefore give of ourselves with a willing heart, pray with a view to His promises, depending on His strength and power, His purposes and His eternal glory for the salvation and edification of His people (Ps. 28:9; John 17:9; 1 Pet. 5:1-10). Let us entrust the prayers of our heart and the work of our hands to Him, asking Him to wash us and our works in His own blood, receive us by His grace for Christ’s sake alone, in spite of our duplicity (Ps. 90:17; Rom. 7:14-25). Lord, give us a heart that sees and delights in and finds all-sufficient grace in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alone (2 Cor. 11:3). And grant that we might with a true heart of faith, boldly proclaim the glories of our all-sufficient Savior (Heb. 10:19-23)!
Rick Warta
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Sow bountifully

7/17/2017

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“He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6).

Hearing our Lord’s promise here, what does it make me want to do? Get out the seeding equipment to sow bountifully! A home-building contractor that I used to work for was fond of saying, “If a little does a little good, just think what a lot will do!”

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ multiplied two fish and five barley loaves to feed thousands. He can therefore take this morsel of precious faith He has put in our hearts to move kingdoms to find and bring His sheep!

Let us therefore cast the Bread of Christ on the waters of this world and its people and pray that His grace would be multiplied in the hearts of sinners (Acts 4:29; Eccl. 11:1; 2 Tim. 4:1-5)!

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth (Rom. 1:16). May our great God and Savior give us this greatest of all privileges to proclaim Christ crucified, and pray that He would give faith to those He has ordained to salvation (Acts 13:48). He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20). "Lord, send your Spirit of truth and grace and grant sinners repentance to the acknowledging of Christ who is the truth" (John 6:63; 2 Tim. 2:25; Eph. 4:21).

Let us lower our thimble into the ocean of His omnipotent grace in Christ and draw from the well of His salvation (Isa. 12:1-6; Rom. 5:1-10; Heb. 11).
Rick Warta
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Saddest and Gladdest Day

7/7/2017

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Without a doubt, the saddest days I’ve ever experienced in my life were days when I sinned against my God.  No doubt, we can all remember  times when we have betrayed the trust and grieved those who love us most.  I think of my own mother and the sins of my youth. How my sin against her pained me! A thousand whippings would have been better than a barrier of suspicion between us. How could I look her in the eye with deceit and evil intent in my heart?  The pain in my conscience from interrupted, free and pleasant communication hurts even after long memory. Nothing hurt and disappointed her more than my sinful words and behavior because they revealed my sinful nature: my pride, stubbornness, selfishness, complaining, anger, lies, self-righteousness…, and I could go on and on.

Our experience of sadness when we sin against the dearest on earth to us is but a small comparison to the saddest day in human history. Surely, there was never a greater betrayal of trust and love than when Adam sinned against his Creator. On Adam God laid the generations of all of his unborn children. Was there ever a greater denial of love than this? What pain it must have brought on Adam to fail his God and his children by one act of sin? What pain did it bring on his children? God gave him dominion over the entire earth. When he was alone, God gave him a wife in his bosom, so near that she was one with him. And what can be compared to the loss of the near and sweet communion Adam knew when the LORD God walked in the garden, revealing Himself to him by His spoken word?  The sadness is heightened when we realize how kind and good God is. Surely, the magnitude of his crime must be measured by the dignity of the One against whom he sinned, the love that God had for him, and the stewardship with which he had entrusted him. Adam’s sin undoubtedly belongs in the record of the saddest days in human history because it was mistrust of Him who is faithful, hatred for Him who is love, sin against Him who is holy. And Adam’s sin was ours.  His guilt and nature are ours. We should feel the pain of our fall in Adam as much or more than we feel the pain of our own personal sins, because of who we sinned against!

But wait! Was there not a sadder day and greater sin than even this?  Did not wicked men take and bind and falsely charge and hurriedly and unlawfully condemn and desire the death of the Son of God over a murderer, and then, in self-seeking envy, literally kill the Prince of Life?! God sent His Son into the world, but the world crucified Him. The Lord Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but the world  condemned Him. He only did good, but the world only did evil to Him. He only told the truth, but the world only lied to Him and about Him. He disclosed His heart in intimate revelation, but the world harbored hatred for Him behind hypocrisy. He did not save Himself that He might save His own, but the world knew nothing and cared nothing for salvation, and demanded His death in exchange for a murder.

Surely, the treatment of Christ is the saddest day of all. My sins against my mother and those I love are recurring memories with painful scars on my conscience. My sin in Adam hurts more. But my sin against the Son of God is the most painful to bear. It was because of my sin that He was tortured by infidels, betrayed by a friend, forsaken by His own, and forsaken by His God. As Isaac Watts said, “Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain!”

Yet, neither God our Father nor Christ our Lord and Savior will allow us to wallow in the guilt of our miserably depraved thoughts and acts of evil against Him. This is love excelling and mercy all surpassing! As Joseph told his brethren, “...be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life“ (Genesis 45:5), even so Christ, in the gospel, commands sinners to come to Him and wash in the fountain of His cleansing blood. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1)  Zechariah’s prophecy also is fulfilled when we mourn for what our sin did to our Savior: “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zech. 12:10). Yet Christ endured the guilt and shame of my sins made His, and suffered the indignation of God’s wrath for them, out of joy that was set before Him. And what joy was that? It was the joy that in His death He glorified His Father by saving His elect. In the cross of Christ, all of God’s perfections are resplendently displayed! Moreover, in reward for His obedience, untold millions of ungodly sinners the wide world over are come out of every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue to seek Him for His grace. These, in the preaching of the gospel, find Him as all of their salvation. They lift up their hearts and voices in praise and worship of God and “to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev 1:5)!

The cross is no doubt the saddest day, on the one hand. But without a doubt, it is also the gladdest day! Christ’s joy is unmeasurable, because by His humiliation and pain and forsaking on the cross, He brings His sheep, His many sons to glory! What triumphant victory over sin and death! God our Father calls for all of heaven to rejoice with Him that He has found His sheep! Grace now reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:21)! May our God and Savior give us such a sight of Christ and Him crucified to humble us and to raise us up as we journey in this walk of faith!
Rick Warta
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