I would venture to say that nothing makes the truth of Christ’s Gospel more odious to needy, dying sinners, than when it comes from proud lips and a combative, militant heart that seeks to “be right” by argument and dominion over others to its own glory.

But “the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance unto life; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim. 2:24-26).

May God subdue this natural, proud, hateful heart by the disclosure of His own self-abasing, sinner-serving, saving grace to this undeserving, hateful man, that I might see the meekness and lowliness of my Lord who became my only Savior. And as I thus behold His face, may I in turn live on Him and tell sinners about Him, that they might see His great glory in His salvation (Mark 5:19-20; 2 Cor. 3:18; Matt. 11:28-30; Ps. 21:5)!

Rick Warta

Joseph was cast into prison by the false charges of his master’s unfaithful wife (Gen. 39:1-20). In fulfillment (John 5:46), Jesus was falsely accused and delivered to Pilate and Herod by unbelieving Israel, the LORD’s unfaithful wife (Hosea 2:2; Gal. 4:25).

But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy (Gen. 39:21). He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Though unbelieving Jews and Gentiles rejected Christ, the servant of the Lord, who came to serve and save His sinful people, yet God was with Him and blessed Him (John 16:32). Christ was made under the law with those and for those in that law prison (Gal. 3:22-23; 4:4; Rom. 5:20). He came to save them by His own willing imprisonment. He took their place under their burden and fulfilled all to God in their name. He found favor in the sight of the prison keeper, in the sight of God’s law and justice, in the sight of the LORD Himself. The LORD made all that He did to prosper.

The keeper of the prison put all of the prisoners into Joseph’s hand (Gen. 39:22). God the Father put all of His people in Christ before the foundation of the world by His electing love and predestinating purpose to make them His sons by Jesus Christ (John 17:2). Though His elect people made themselves prisoners under the law by their own sin and unbelief (Gal. 3:22-24), God the Father entrusted all of them to Christ. And “Whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it” (Gen. 39:22). Our Surety was ordained by God to do all in the place and in the name of His people. They are His inheritance (Eph. 1:18; Deut. 32:9). He is their Head. They are His Body. They are one with Him. All that is true of Him is true of them by virtue of this eternal union. They were joined to Him in eternal election. He must have them all. They must also be joined to Him by His Spirit of grace (1 Cor. 12:12-13). But for all that they did by sinning, He made full reparations to God. And all that He did in fulfillment of the righteousness of God’s holy law by His obedience and sin-atoning death, is their doing in Him (Rom. 5:12-21; 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30-31). Thus, it is fulfilled, that “all that they did there, He was the doer of it.”

“The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand: because the LORD was with Joseph, and that which he did, the LORD made to prosper” (Gen. 39:23). God the Father committed all of His people to Christ. He gave them to Him to save, to have, to make known Himself to them, to give them eternal life, to bring them, to present them at last in the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, according to His eternal purpose that chose them in Christ to be holy and without blame before Him in love (John 17:2-3; Matt. 11:27; Eph. 1:4; Jude 1:24). Christ fulfilled all for them and in their name. Having fulfilled all by His obedience and blood in the court of heaven, He will let nothing go unfulfilled in them, because He purchased them with His blood (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; Heb. 9:15). He gives them His Spirit (Eph. 1:14; Eph. 4:24; Gal. 3:13-14; 4:4-6; Rom. 8:9-10). He conforms them to His own image (Rom. 8:29). He will finish the work He started (Php. 1:6; Eph. 5:25-27). All has been committed to Him in trust (Ps. 2:8; Matt. 11:27; John 3:35). All of the LORD’s people are Christ’s; they are His own inheritance (Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Cor. 3:21-21). He is the Heir of all (Gal. 3:16, 19; Heb. 1:2). The LORD makes all that He does to prosper. This is therefore the prayer of every believing sinner: “Oh, may the LORD make Christ’s work prosper in me!” He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36). He is the only Savior (Acts 4:12). He is all of my righteousness, all of my life, all of my salvation, all of my hope and all of my desire (2 Sam. 23:5; Ps. 27:4).

Rick Warta

As we receive our sin nature at conception from Adam in consequence of his transgression imputed to us (Ps. 51:4; Rom. 5:12-21), so we receive the Seed of the Spirit of Christ at spiritual conception (1 Pet. 1:23; 1 John 3:9). Our new nature is created in righteousness and true holiness, because the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us (Eph. 4:24; Rom. 5:21; 8:1-4, 9-10). Having been justified in heaven’s court by the blood and righteousness of Christ, Christ’s Seed is in us; we live by faith on the Son of God, on the promises of God's word concerning Christ, what we are in Him, what we have by Him. And thus, we are partakers of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4; Isa. 55:1-3).

Rick Warta

“If through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Rom. 5:15).

A contrast is made here between the offense by which all men in Adam died, and the grace of God in His gift of righteousness by Jesus Christ that has abounded to many, even all those in Christ by eternal election.

Justice ruled against us. Grace rose up for us. God’s eternal love and grace would not rest until He found a way to satisfy His justice, to clear the way for lavishing the greatest of all possible blessings upon us: the forgiveness of our sins, a perfect righteousness before Him, the Spirit of Christ in us by that righteousness, eternal sonship with eternal inheritance, eternal glory with Christ as joint-heirs with Him, and all spiritual blessings given to us by God’s free grace in Christ before the world began, all grounded on the foundation of Christ’s obedience and satisfaction to God for our sins (2 Cor. 5:18-21; Eph. 1:3-7; Rom. 3:24-25).

Rick Warta

May the Spirit of Christ enable us to consider two verses of scripture and personally apply them to our own case. The first is Mark 5:36. Jairus' little and only daughter was gravely ill. She died of her illness. Her death was especially troubling to her father for several reasons. First, because she was his only daughter. Second, because she was young, only about twelve years of age. Third, because she died after Jesus began to go with Jairus to his home where she lay sick, which would cast doubt on Jesus' power over death (John 11:25-26). And fourth, because besides the fears within, Jairus faced the disheartening words of an unbelieving messenger and the hypocritical mourning of unbelieving comforters.

While Jesus journeyed with Jairus, a messenger brought the sad news of his daughter’s death. The messenger’s words seemed especially gruff: "Why troublest thou the Master? Thy daughter is dead." The Lord had just cast a legion of devils out of the tormented, untameable, crying, naked, self-destroying tomb-dwelling man. Shortly thereafter, and just before the dour messenger brought his evil report, virtue went from our Savior to heal the woman who had been plagued for twelve years with an unclean issue of blood. She pressed behind Him in the crowd and touched his clothes. She believed that if she could only touch His clothes, she would be healed. So everyone taught of God believes that to lay hold of Christ as all of my righteousness, is to have eternal life. Jesus spoke to her. He said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole” (Mark 5:34).  But while Jesus spoke to this woman about faith, the messenger from Jairus’ house came bearing the sad news of his daughter’s death. It was an evil report with the evil advice of unbelief: “Why troublest thou the Master?” The Master, Jesus, stood near the ruler when the messenger broke the news to him. That news fell like an anvil of grief and sorrow on the poor father’s heart. Despair must have immediately combined weight to the father’s sorrow to sink his mind and body into shock. Therefore, as soon as the messenger finished speaking, the Master, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, interposed Himself with words to uphold the poor father in his grief (1 Pet. 5:7; Heb. 4:15-16). “He Himself bore our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 54:3; Matt. 8:17)! To lift that weight from off the grieving father and bear it in Himself, Jesus spoke these immeasurably comforting words to him and to us, indeed, to every helpless, hopeless sinner under the reign of sin and death: "Be not afraid; only believe" (Mark 5:36; Rom. 5:21). Jesus’ words ring in my own ears. Do you draw near to God by them? Do you draw comfort from them? Everything seems opposed to my salvation. Everything casts dark forebodings against the promises of God and the success of the Gospel. Yet into this temptation of despair our Master's words are immeasurably soothing, calming, comforting, strengthening: "Be not afraid; only believe!"

In the second scripture, the Spirit of God paints another scene for us. In John 14:1, Peter was about to bear the most bitter grief a man on earth could know: he would betray His beloved Master. All of the disciples were about to face the greatest trial sinners on earth could ever face. Their beloved Master, whom they trusted (John 6:68-69), was about to be taken from them, bound, accused, beaten, crowned with thorns, mocked, hit on the head and in the face, spit upon, stripped, condemned to death, led to die, and hung between thieves. His cross on which they would nail Him was laid upon His own back. They required Him to carry it in shame through the crowd, to publicly bear His curse and die under it by their wicked hands (Gal. 3:13; Acts 2:23; 2 Cor. 5:21). The soldiers pierced his hands and his feet with nails, thinking to hold Him fast to that cross. But He who is the Son of God and Son of Man, could be held by His love alone (Gal. 2:20; 1 John 3:16; 4:9-10). The disciples all forsook Him and fled. The soldiers divided the spoils: His garment at the foot of His cross, as if to make the mockery complete. Their Master, whom they thought would rule over their enemies, now seemed powerless. Did evil triumph? Was wrong on the throne?! The sun refused to shine. The midday sky grew dark over the whole earth. A dolorous cry was heard out of the darkness from the cross, a cry of utmost agony and pain: "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me!!" It was the fulfillment of the ages, the salvation of God’s elect by the sufferings of our Substitute!

Now, Jesus anticipated the unspeakable trouble His sufferings and cries would cause His disciples. Before He suffered, He thought of them. When soldiers came to take Him, He stood as Surety for them. “If you seek Me; let these go their way” (John 18:8). While He suffered, He prayed for them. What He did, He did to God for them (Heb. 5:1). Before He entered the holiest of all to appear in the presence of God for us, to stand before God as our peacemaking Mediator -- before all of this, He spoke these words to His disciples, even before the trouble began: “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in Me!”

Here we have it again! Our Master tells the father of the dying daughter and His disciples the same thing when they faced the greatest possible trial of faith: "Only believe; believe also in Me!" Is it any coincidence? Remember Sarah? She heard the LORD Himself speak in promise that she would bear a son within the year. She laughed in unbelief. She considered her lifelong barrenness. She considered her age. She considered what she knew about herself, that it ceased to be with her after the manner of women. But though she laughed in disbelief, The LORD graciously spoke to her, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The LORD said: "Is anything too hard for the LORD" (Gen. 18:14)? She therefore “judged Him faithful who had promised” (Heb. 11:11).

Thus, to every sinner humbled by His grace, to every believer perplexed and troubled, the Master speaks His word, "Be not afraid; only believe." "Let not your heart be troubled; ...believe also in Me."

We believe God. We know He is holy. We know He is sovereign. We know He is eternal. We know He is unchanging, that He is all-knowing, everywhere present and almighty. We know He is unfailing. We know He is the Judge of all the earth and that He is just. But comfort under the crushing weight of sin, and strength in the endless war between our flesh and spirit, comes only when we believe also in Christ our Mediator. "You believe in God; believe also in Me!" Comfort is to be found in our Savior- Mediator. When we believe Him, then we receive comfort from God our Father (2 Cor. 1:3).

Unbelief sees its giant enemies and looks upon itself through their eyes. But faith sees Christ and the promises of God in Him. Faith hears the sentence of heaven’s court that received His obedience and blood, and now receives His intercession as our Advocate (Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2:1-2; Heb. 7:25). Faith sees God in the eyes of our Savior (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:6; John 14:9). And faith hears the glad report from our enthroned Savior, "Thou art all fair my love; I see no spot in thee" (Song 4:7; Jer. 50:20; Isa. 43:25; Num. 23:21; Rom. 8:34)!

Therefore, in all of our grief, in every sorrow, in every trouble, in weakness and in strength, "Only believe!" This is my warrant to take virtue from Christ. This is my warrant to come to God by His precious blood (Heb. 78:25; 10:19-23). This is my warrant to trust His obedience and death as all of my righteousness (Rom. 5:9). This is Christ’s promise that I shall behold His face in righteousness (Rom. 10:4; Ps. 17:15; Rom. 5:10; Heb. 7:25; Jude 1:24). “Only believe. Believe also in Me.”

Dear frightful, fainting, sin-burdened, helpless sinner: believe that Christ joyfully took the body His Father prepared for Him and sacrificed Himself for your salvation (Heb. 10:5-23). Believe He became man to save you from so great a death (Heb. 2:9-10; 5:7-9; 2 Cor. 1:10). Believe that your sins were washed from your account before God and are remembered no more because Christ’s sacrifice of Himself was accepted (Heb. 1:3; Lev. 16:29-30). Believe with the full persuasion of faith that His shed blood was accepted in heaven, and all for whom He offered Himself were accepted with Him (Heb. 9:26; 10:5-23). Believe that His obedience in life and death is all of your righteousness. Believe that He fulfilled and put into force the New Covenant by His own blood, and that the sure mercies of that covenant are His and yours in Him (Isa. 55:1-3; 2 Sam. 23:5; Matt. 26:28; Heb. 13:20). Believe that faith in Christ crucified and risen again is the evidence of being born of God, as His son, by His Spirit (John 1:12-13; 3:14-16). Believe that God appointed and hears His Son as our Mediator. Believe that He lives and intercedes at God’s right hand to save to the uttermost all who come to God by Him. Believe that all things work together to conform you to the image of God’s dear Son. Believe that you shall see His face in righteousness, and that when you do, you will be like Him. Believe that it is God who is at work in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. Believe that He will finish the work He started, to save you, to save His people, to bring them, to have them, to present them in the presence of His glory with exceeding great joy (Zep. 3:17). Believe that He will sanctify you wholly because Faithful is He who called you, who also will do it (1 Thess. 5:23-24; Heb. 13:20-21). Believe that every enemy has been conquered and will be despoiled  and subdued (Col. 2:14-15; Rom. 16:20). Believe that Christ will be glorified in His saints, in their salvation and in their lives (Eph. 2:7; Ps. 50:15). It must be so, because He has spoken it and because the work is all His (Isa. 45:17; 46:10-11; Heb. 1:3; Lev. 16:30). The glory must therefore be all His. Believe that we will be with Him. And believe that He is with His people always, even to the end of the age (Ps. 139:1-18; Matt. 28:20; John 14:18; Heb. 13:5). Only believe. This is Christ’s word. He delights in sinners who depend upon Him for all. This is therefore your warrant to believe Him. Look (Isa. 45:22). Call (Joel 2:32; Acts. 2:21; Ps. 50:15). Come (Matt. 11:28; Rev. 22:17). Take (Rev. 22:17). Eat (John 6:35, 37-40). Drink (Jer. 2:13; John 4:10; Rev. 22:17). Live upon His word (Gal. 2:20; Heb. 10:38). Draw virtue from Him; partake of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4; Heb. 3:14). Draw the life you need to live from Him by faith (Gal. 2:20). Receive your all from Him that you might return to Him what is His. And know that in every anxious thought, we can and must go to Him with supplications and prayers and thanksgiving, making your requests known to God by Christ. In so doing, He has promised that His peace will keep our hearts and minds by Christ Jesus (Php. 4:5-6; Isa. 26:1-3).

“If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice” (Job 9:16).

Job confessed what God taught him by his afflictions. We also confess what God teaches us by ours. In himself, Job had no plea before God. He could not plead himself, and he could not plead in his own behalf. God only hears the righteous. But among men, there are none righteous in themselves (Rom. 3:10). But God hears His appointed, righteous Mediator, who is the one God-man. God only accepts the perfect righteousness of His Surety. He accepts only the propitiatory sacrifice Christ made by Himself (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17). Blessed be God, our Mediator and Surety has made propitiation and is our Advocate to God for us. He is “Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2:1-2; Rom. 3:24-26)! He therefore pleads Himself for His loved ones given Him by the Father. He pleads His own blood and righteousness. Were I to believe God heard me for my own pleading, I would deny the Gospel. Yet, with full assurance of faith I know God hears my Advocate for sinners (Heb. 10:5-23; 1 John 2:1-2)!

God taught Job. Job was not deceived. If anyone told Job God heard him because of something he did, because of something he said, because of his works, or because he “responded” to God, he would have strenuously denied that as false. His conscience would not believe it. He was persuaded that God will not hear sinners. But he was also persuaded that God appointed a Mediator, a Righteous Advocate, One whom He most assuredly hears always (John 11:42). Job refused to believe God would hear or receive anything that could be called his. Yet he believed God did hear Christ (Job 33:22-23; Acts 4:10-12; 1 Tim. 2:5). He did believe God received Christ for His people (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:6-19; Eph. 4:32). Job believed God would deliver all for whom Christ pleaded. Christ pleads God’s everlasting love, His own purpose of grace and He pleads His own blood and righteousness (Job 16:21; 33:14-23; Gen. 44:18-34; Micah 7:7-9; Judges 6:31). When any sinner comes to see this, “his flesh shall be fresher than a child’s” (Job 33:24). The uncleanness of his leprosy and the stroke of God is removed from the conscience of a sinner when God gives that sinner to look to Christ and find in Christ all God requires from him (Matt. 8:2; John 3:14-15). Job believed God heard and accepted Christ and all who are in Him (Eph. 1:4-7). Job believed Christ crucified was the One God saw and heard (Ex. 12:13; Heb. 12:24). And Job trusted Christ to plead his cause, though he himself was a sinner (Micah 7:7-9). Oh, blessed grace! Oh Beloved Son and Surety to the Father! Oh, blessed Advocate (Eph. 1:6-7; Heb. 7:22)! Thou alone are both my Answer and my Advocate who answers God’s justice for me (Judges 6:31; Prov. 22:22-23; 23:10-11)!

Rick Warta