Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
  • Info
  • Articles
  • Sermons
  • Location

Love rejoices in the truth; it does not charge with sin

11/19/2017

0 Comments

 
How many times has someone done something for you, and yet you questioned their motives? I confess I am guilty of this horrible evil. I hate my pride and hateful thoughts! When the soldiers nailed Jesus’ hands and feet to the cross, He prayed for His own, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). He who “searches the hearts and  tries the reins” knows what is in man (Jer. 17:9-10; John 2:25). Yet He interceded to His Father for His people while shedding His own blood. Even as He shed His blood at the hands of sinners, He prayed for sinners. His prayer was a righteous prayer. “Jesus Christ the righteous” prayed as “Advocate with the Father” for His sinful people (1 John 2:1). It was foretold that He would do so. “He made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12). Well then, if He prayed for “the transgressors,” and if He died “for our sins” (John 17:9, 20; Rom. 5:6-10; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 1 Tim. 1:15), what does this say about everyone for whom Christ prayed and died?! It says that we are transgressors! We are sinners! In our natural selves, we are ungodly, enemies of God and hate God (Rom. 5:6-10; Titus 3:3; Rom. 1:30; 8:7). If in our natural selves we are not sinners, really offensive to God, and if we have not been hateful of others (Titus 3:3), then Christ’s death was not for us (Rom. 7:18; Matt. 9:11-13; Luke 19:10). But because we are sinners, because this was the express purpose for Christ’s coming into the world and dying, then this is our warrant to call on Him, to come to Him, to believe Him (Ps. 34:17; Ps. 86:3; Isa. 55:6-7; Isa. 45:22; Matt. 15:22-28; John 4:10; 9:39-41; Rom. 10:13; Joel 2:32; Matt. 11:28; John 6:37; 7:37-39; Rev. 22:17).

In His prayer, our great High Priest and Mediator intercedes according to truth. He said, “they know not what they do.” They did not know the exceeding sinfulness of their sin, that they crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8), the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15), the Just One (Acts 7:52). Oh, they were sinners, there is no doubt of that! And Christ did not claim they were anything but sinners. He asked His Father to forgive them, which necessarily makes them sinners. Yet the Lord Jesus speaks of their ignorance in unbelief as a supporting reason to forgive. This is what David prayed. “For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great” (Ps. 25:11). Those words have always been mysterious to me. If I were caught in a crime, if I stood before the Judge, I would naturally try to minimize my sin. I would never plead the aggravation of my sin as a reason to forgive, as a consideration for pardon. But that is what the Psalmist does. Why does he do this? Because his sins were greatly evil. He therefore needed great forgiveness! And because they were against God only (Ps. 51:4; Luke 15:18). Because God alone could forgive his sins, since they were offenses against Him (Mark 2:7; Matt. 19:17). And because only in knowing that the Lord has forgiven our sins, can we rightly fear Him (Ps. 130:4). And, yet, the greatest reason of all is that because forgiving the iniquities of His people is God’s great glory (Ex. 33:18-19; 34:6-7). It is a jewel in His crown of glory. “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and I will not remember thy sins” (Isa. 43:25). That, I believe, is what the Psalmist pleads. “Lord, do this for your own sake. Blot out my sins. Why? Because my sins are greatly evil, because they are against you only, because I need great forgiveness, because you alone can forgive them in accord with your righteousness, because I can only reverence and love you if I know my sins are forgiven, and because it is your glory to forgive sins” (Ex. 33:18; 34:6-8; Dan. 9:16).
​

“There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). There is only one God, and only one who is both God and Man, one God with the Father and the Spirit. Therefore, there is only One who can mediate between both God and men. He alone knows and can do for God all that God requires. And He alone knows man’s sinful plight and can truly sympathize with sinners, having borne, before God, the sins of His people in Himself (1 Pet. 2:24; Ps. 31:5, 10). He felt the guilt and knew the shame and endured the penalty for their sins. He does not minimize our sin in His prayer. He brings it to the fore. “They know not what they do.” This is both an admission of guilt and an overlooking of sinful motives. He admits their sin by asking His Father to forgive them. But He passes by all as Mediator because of their ignorance and unbelief (1 Tim. 1:13-15). He does not charge them with their sins, because of His great love for His people as their Mediator.

Love “doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth” (1 Cor. 13:5-6). Love “thinketh no evil.” Christ did not charge, He did not impute, our iniquities to us. He does not condemn His people for their sins, because He took them and bore them Himself, in our place before God (John 8:11; Rom. 8:34). And while pouring out His sin-atoning, life blood, while hanging on the cross of cursing, to remove God’s curse from us (Gal. 3:13), He who is God and Man, asked His Father to forgive the sins of His people (John 10:15-18; Isa. 53:12 & John 17:9, 20). What unspeakable joy and love whelms up in the hearts of believing sinners for this so great and loving and gracious Savior (1 Pet. 1:21-23)! He passes by the sins in His people. He knows them, but as our eternally God-appointed High Priest (Heb. 5:4-5), He confessed our sins as His own, over His own head, laying them upon Himself, the Lamb of God (Lev. 16:21; Ps. 31:10; Ps. 38; Ps. 40:12; Ps. 69:5, 7, 8-9, 19-20)! Moreover, He laid Himself under the penalty for our sins. And while dying in substitution, He prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)! Can any sinner who hears His words with God-given faith not love this Savior (Luke 23:42)?! Oh, soul of mine, do you not see and love this glorious Savior of sinners!? Many sinners, like the unbelieving thief, heard that He was Christ, the Chosen of God (Lk. 23:35) and the Son of God, and therefore equal with the Father (Matt. 27:40, 43; John 5:18; Php. 2:6). Many have heard Him pray this prayer as High Priest and Mediator for His people, while shedding His sin-atoning blood as the Lamb of God. Many an unbeliever also hears believing sinners speak of the Lord and King of glory (Luke 23:40-43). And yet, as the unbelieving thief, many remain hardened in their sin and unbelief. May the God of all grace and saving power not leave out you or me! May He save us by His electing, redeeming, life-giving, conforming, keeping, preserving, perfecting grace (Rom. 11:5-6; Rom. 3:24-25; Heb. 9:12-14; Eph. 2:4-10; Rom. 8:28-39; Jude 1:24; Heb. 10:14; 7:25)!
Rick Warta
0 Comments

So foolish was I...nevertheless

11/19/2017

0 Comments

 
“21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Ps. 73:21-26).

Evidently, Asaph wrote this Psalm (v1). In it, he recounts and acknowledges his temptation to envy the wicked. He saw the wicked prospering. Trouble seemed far from them. He saw the righteous distressed by affliction. In his fleshly mind, he mistakenly concluded that there was no profit in serving Christ. It makes me shudder, even now, as I write this, that such an horrid thought could be mine! But with such confessions by God’s beloved saints in His word (Ps. 38:18; Ps. 51; Rom. 7), I am emboldened to also confess that my thoughts are far worse! I don’t deserve to be on the same earth with this man (Heb. 11:38)! Nevertheless, I take this Psalm as God’s word, as my Father’s counsel, as my Savior’s comfort and as the instruction of God’s own Spirit to me, for that is what it is intended to be. It is a powerhouse of instruction and an ocean of comfort. Read it again and again, and as you read, pray what you read...

v21) The Psalmist says he was grieved in his heart and pricked in his mind, which he called his “reins”, or kidneys, as Mr. Strong explains. Pain in your organs is pain you can’t ignore. It never stops crying. This man’s envy was that pain. His old man, which he received from Adam, his “flesh”, was envious of the wicked when he saw their prosperity. That sinful flesh would not be silent. He could not silence his own envy. When our sinful thoughts rise up, tempting us to doubt and cast off and deny the truth of Christ, it greatly troubles us, so much, that it makes us ache and ill in our souls that we could be so wicked (Rom. 7:24-25; Lev. 16:29-31 - “afflict your souls”)!

v22) He admits and confesses his own foolishness. He agreed with God, that his thoughts were no more spiritual than an ignorant, stupid, spiritless beast, having no understanding of God and His truth.

v23) When he sees what he is and confesses his foolishness, the Spirit of God floods his soul with this comfort. “Nevertheless, I am continually with thee...” Oh, how many times have you and I been in the pit of despair because of our sin and foolishness, and when the Lord turns us again (Ps. 80), we find that Christ is ever with us! Though Asaph’s thoughts opposed the truth, and in so doing, opposed Christ who is the Truth (John 14:6), and the God of all truth (Ps. 31:5), nevertheless, God’s grace flooded His soul to remind him of His promise. Oh that blessed “nevertheless!” In spite of the fact that in himself he was no better than a lost, spiritually stupid beast, the Lord was with Him, and with him continually! We are saved because our God is faithful (Lam. 3:22)! “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). He will never, no never, leave His own. He has said, “Not at all will I leave you; not at all will I forsake you; never” (Heb. 13:5; Deut. 31:6, LITV)!

v24) Not only comfort, but guidance and counsel are given this believing sinner! What is God’s counsel? What is His wisdom? It is Christ crucified, the preaching of the cross (1 Cor. 1:17-18, 23-24; 2:2; Acts 20:24-27)!? He is the Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 2:3; Prov. 8:12)! He is the wonderful Counsellor (Isa. 9:6)! He is all of God’s eternal counsel, and that, to His people.

v25) The counsel of God, Christ and Him crucified, leads us to Christ Himself. The Gospel is the “Gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1). It is “the testimony of God” (1 Cor. 2:1). It is the “Gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16). It concerns God’s Son, our Mediator. It concerns who He is and what He has done to fulfill the everlasting will and counsel of God to save His people to the praise of the glory of His grace (Rom. 1:3; Heb. 1:1-3; 10:7; 13:20; 2 Sam. 23:5; Eph. 1:6, 9, 11). It is not only from God, but it is about His Son. And God gave it to His Son to declare to sinners (Isa. 61:1l; 42:1-9). Christ is therefore both the Messenger and the message; "the Messenger of the covenant" of God’s everlasting grace, and the subject of the Gospel, the object of our faith (Mal. 3:1; Heb. 1:1-2; Gal. 2:20)! The Gospel is from Him. It is declared by Him. It is about Him. And He has fulfilled it by Himself alone (Heb. 1:3)! That is the the counsel of God to His adopted sons: look to Christ (John 1:29; 3:14-15)! Seeing God’s eternal love and everlasting covenant in Christ for us assures us that we have One in heaven! He is our Father. He is our Redeemer. He is our Advocate. He is our Shepherd. He is our Beloved, our Husband, our all! “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (Song 2:16). I have but One in heaven who is for me, and none on earth that I desire in comparison with Christ, the Son of God, the one God with the Father and the Spirit (Col. 2:9-10; John 1:1-3), the Lamb of God. What an endearing declaration from heaven this is to the heart of every sinner! What a word to take to heart and plead in prayer! What a guard in temptation, what a comfort in falling and what a support in every trial! I have One in heaven, and having Him, I need none else, for He is all (1 Cor. 3:21-23)!

v26) The Psalmist sums it all up. My experience in this life never gets beyond this: “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Ps. 73:26)! My body is failing. It’s too late to do anything about it. It has been too late since the fall (Gen. 2:17). My strength is impotence. That is the declaration of God’s own word (John 15:5; Rom. 5:6). And that is the experience of my life. But “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Though I have no strength in myself, though this body will soon fail, though all I am in myself is a wretched man (Rom. 7:24), yet “God is the strength of my life.” He is the strength of my spirit. He is my portion forever. I need not look for things in this world. There is nothing in this world I want to take to the next, except the spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2, 10; Eph. 4:24)! I want to leave it all behind. God is my portion forever! Christ is all my inheritance. “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine” (Song 6:3). This is God’s word to His people. By God-given faith, this is my comfort in life and will be my comfort in death and delight to all eternity!
Rick Warta
0 Comments

Honor to whom honor is due

11/19/2017

0 Comments

 
“Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour” (Rom. 13:7).

This phrase, “honor to whom honor is due,” has been echoing around in my mind ever since I awoke out of a fitful sleep last week. In my half-awakened state, I recall in my dream I had become envious of a former colleague at work because he received deserved recognition. I was greatly troubled by the envy I felt in my dream, and was more appalled that it is so deeply part of me that it infects me where I hate it most: in the honor I give to Christ. This old man that is so much part of me that it is me, wants to take some credit that belongs to Christ. This horrifies me. But in my mind, that is, in my new nature, I recognize this treason and cry out to the Lord to subdue the enemy of my sin and my flesh that is so much me (Rom. 7).

As sometimes happens, a thought like this (honor to whom honor…) will reverberate around in my head until it attaches to many things I had not connected to it. I realize that this evil tendency of robbing God of His honor is not only in me, but it is a cancer in our society as well; it is all around us. God has told us in no uncertain terms that we are to honor those offices which God has appointed, and honor those who hold them. We do so, not to earn man’s empty praise or to manipulate men to get what we want from them, but for the Lord’s sake alone. How much of what is wrong in the world today is the result of failing, for the Lord’s sake, to honor those whom Christ has put in the place of honor. But to fail to do so is to also fail to honor the sovereign Lord of all.

And this is where the rubber meets the road. If I view myself as a little sovereign who can rise up on his hind legs to raise protest against my parents, my employer, my tax collector, my governor or my president, or (if we were in such a case) my king on earth, then I would dishonor my Sovereign in heaven. You see, God is absolutely sovereign. He does all His will in all things -- whatever pleases Him. And what He does is right, simply because He thinks and does it. God assesses all that He does and finds it all to be very good (Gen. 1:31; John 19:30; Eph. 5:2). He does all His thoughts (Ps. 33:11; Isa. 14:24). He does all that pleases Him (Ps. 115:3; 135:6; Isa. 46:10; Eph. 1:11). He only is holy (Rev. 15:4). He only is good (Matt. 19:17). He only does wondrous things (Ps. 72:18). What does it all mean? It means He alone is worthy of all trust and all honor (Rev. 4:11; 5:12-14). We honor God because He is worthy of all honor. Because we honor God, we honor men that God has appointed over us, because through them God teaches us to honor Himself as sovereign. We trust our great God and Savior to do His perfect will, though we are evilly treated (1 Pet. 2:17-25; 3:1-18; 4:19). We are not fatalists. We pray that the Lord’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, that we might lead a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty (Matt. 6:10; 1 Tim. 2:2; Luke 18:1-9).

I view the present widespread insurrection in our own nation to be a reflection of the widespread insurrection in the heart of man against the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 1:8). Call to mind how the Lord Jesus humbled Himself. The King of glory made Himself of no reputation (Php. 2:7)! When He was reviled, He reviled not again. When He suffered for righteousness’ sake, He entrusted Himself to His Father, knowing it was His will that He suffer at the hands of wicked men! Then again, remember Jude’s account, how that when Christ contended with the devil over the “body of Moses,”(1) He said, “The Lord rebuke thee” (Jude 1:9). Our Lord Jesus Christ, unlike me, did not raise His voice in the heat of passion against His foes. He calmly, majestically, in regal sovereignty, appealed to His Father. Paul instructed Timothy to humble himself this way. He said, “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 to the acknowledging of the truth; 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). Paul himself used entreaties with his own countrymen when they opposed the Gospel (Rom. 9:1-5). And he instructed the Corinthians to follow his example: “Being defamed, we entreat” (1 Cor. 4:13). The Spirit of God, by the mouth of Solomon said, “The poor (in spirit) useth entreaties; but the rich (proud) answereth roughly” (Prov. 18:23). Remember how humbly David spoke to Saul when Saul persecuted him unjustly (1 Sam. 24:6-22; 1 Sam. 26:1-25)? Thus, we show forth our faith in our Sovereign Lord and Savior when we speak the truth in love and entreat, desiring the salvation of those to whom we speak, to the glory of the only Savior and King of glory whom we serve.

I find it interesting that God did not tell Israel to rise up in arms against Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but rather, sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people go. It was the LORD, not the people themselves, who delivered Israel out of Pharaoh’s hand. I have often wondered about this, in light of clear instructions from scripture, as I look back on American history. Was the Revolutionary war an act of faith or an act of rebellion? Could not God have turned the king’s heart without an uprising? Wouldn’t that have brought more honor to those who professed to be God’s favored nation than the shedding of blood (Ex. 2:12)? I also find it interesting that in our Declaration of Independence, man asserts that God has endued him with “inalienable rights.” Really? Doesn’t God give and take life? Doesn’t He give to one five talents and to another one talent, as it seems good to Him? That same declaration says God made all men equal. But clearly, all men are not equally gifted or given equal advantages. If not in physical things, how much more in spiritual things (1 Sam. 2:7; 1 Cor. 4:7)? The Declaration of Independence also asserts that “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” But as I read the Bible, I see that God, not the governed, grants governments their rights, and requires an accounting from them (Ps. 75:7; 2 Sam. 23:3; John 19:11; Rom. 13:1). God requires men to bow to Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He instructs servants to render service to their masters on earth as though they served the Lord in heaven. He tells believers that if they are called by the Spirit of Christ while they are servants to men, then they are to live in that service as the Lord’s freemen, body and soul. He said that if they are called while free from man’s service, they are the Lord’s servants for the good of men (1 Cor. 7:22). “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him” (Eph. 6:5-9; Col. 3:22).

What do these things mean? It means that if we learn to honor men the Lord has put over us for our good, even though they may treat us unjustly, we honor God with a greater honor because we honor men for Christ’s sake in faith and in fear because this administration is God’s design to teach us to honor His sovereign rule. God is just. God is good. God is almighty. He is holy. He is merciful. He is gracious. But in all, He is sovereign -- absolutely sovereign -- and we should therefore fear Him in reverence and awe. We must humble ourselves beneath His mighty hand. “...ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5).

For this reason, wives are instructed to submit to their own husbands that they might win their husbands without a word through loving submission to their most glorious and most Sovereign Husband and Savior, Christ (1 Pet. 3:1-6). Men, likewise, are to submit to Christ by honoring their wives as the weaker vessel and fellow-heirs with them of the grace of life (1 Pet. 3:7). We must all show all respect and humility to one another, without hypocrisy, in love. But our overarching aim and underlying reason for all that we do is to honor the Son of God. We want Him to take all glory to Himself, because He alone is worthy! We give honor to whom honor is due when we honor our Lord Jesus Christ, by looking to Him, entrusting our life now and for eternity to His saving and keeping care. What can man do to the one who thus fears God in loving trust and obedience (Heb. 13:5-7)?

“The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father” (John 5:32).
Rick Warta
(1) John Gill points out that this means the law of Moses, that covenant of works, which was done away in Christ our covenant Head when He fulfilled it by shedding His own blood to make remission of our sins (Matt. 26:28).
0 Comments

    Author

    Pastor Rick Warta

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly