Grace for the Race

Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord. (Exodus 28:29)

As God spoke to Moses and gave him the plan for the tabernacle in which the Lord God would dwell in the midst of His people Israel, He also gave instructions for the garment that Aaron, who was to be the first high priest of Israel, would wear while ministering in the tabernacle and offering sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. These included instructions for the breastpiece that the high priest would wear, bearing the names of his people on his heart.

If you’ve spent much time in Scripture, you know that Jesus is identified as our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), and I am quite certain that He, like Aaron, bore the names of His people upon His heart as He offered His perfect, paid-in-full sacrifice before the Lord to atone for the sins of His people.

For centuries, the Old Testament’s Song of Solomon was widely considered to be a poetic allegory of God the Shepherd’s love for the people of Israel and Christ the Bridegroom’s love for His bride, the church. While that interpretation has been rejected by many modern theologians, there have been a number of outstanding Bible scholars, past and present, who read the Song as a breathtaking love letter from the Bridegroom to the bride. While I readily and respectfully acknowledge that there are good and godly interpreters who disagree, I favor the traditional reading of the text, especially when I come to passages like these, where the Bridegroom croons to His bride —

How beautiful you are, my darling,

How beautiful you are!

And the bride exults —

He has brought me to his banquet hall,

And his banner over me is love. . . .

My beloved is mine, and I am his;

He pastures his flock among the lilies. (Song of Solomon 1:10; 2:4, 16 NASB)

I wrote in an earlier article that as Christ hung on that cruel cross, He clearly heard the jeers of the crowd: “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! He’s the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42).

And here’s the incredible truth: He could have! Jesus Christ could have come down from that cross in an instant, uttered one word, and twelve legions of angels would have turned the hill Golgotha into a slaughter pen (Matthew 26:53). It wasn’t nails that held Jesus Christ to the cross; it was his love for YOU!

This is pure speculation on my part, but I wonder . . . As our Savior hung on the cross, experiencing the terrible, utterly unimaginable wrath of God, shuddering as fresh jolts of agony coursed through His body with each tortured breath . . . could it be that He was thinking of you and me during that entire time? And perhaps He was repeating to Himself over and over . . .

“How beautiful you are, my darling,

How beautiful you are!”

Christian, you are the bride of the King. I pray you will exult in the amazing, unfathomable love that your great High Priest has for you. He bore your name upon His heart as He bore your sins upon that cross . . . and His heart beats with love for you today. May that truth strengthen you and encourage you to walk in faithfulness and joy this day.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

After reading the title “Treadmill of Time,” you may have read today’s verse and thought to yourself, “Yeah, right! I can’t remember the last time I was still before God with all the running I’ve been doing on the treadmill of time. Well, you are not alone.

In our fast-paced society, stillness simply doesn’t feel right. If we are not going, going, going, we believe we are falling behind. Yet God makes it clear that in order to grow into the person He is calling us to be, we must develop the discipline of stillness. If we are not disciplined to be still, we simply will not know God as fully and as deeply as we ought. When we are running from one activity to another . . . from one event to another . . . we are either too busy to spend time with God, or too tired to hear Him speak to us when we finally do slow down.

If you find yourself constantly running on the treadmill of time, know that it is not God who has put you there. I long ago lost count of how often I’ve heard members of our congregation say that they have so many plates spinning that they simply can’t keep up with them all.

Here’s the thing: If you can’t get all your work done, it’s not God’s work you are doing! God will always give you the right amount of time to do exactly what He is calling you to do in order for you to still have time left to be still in His presence. God will not overfill your agenda so as to crowd Himself out of your life.

Perhaps this would be a good time to take inventory of how you have been “investing” your time lately. Remember, God’s gift to you is time. Your gift back to God is how you spend it. Why not invest a little extra time in your relationship with Jesus this week? Take a walk with Him today. Spend some time alone at the park with Him. If you are raising children, open God’s Word while they are napping and let God speak to you.

I have learned from personal experience that we always get more done when we step off the treadmill of time to be still before God. I know it feels counterintuitive, but it really does work!

One more thought: the more you are still before God, the more you will know just how much He loves and cares for you.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy . . . (Jude 24 NASB)

There was a time when the church service wasn’t finished until the minister pronounced God’s benediction over the congregation. However, in today’s culture of individualistic spontaneity, these inspired expressions of praise are often set aside for a more casual prayer.

That’s not the case at Cross Community Church. There is no better way to end a worship service than by declaring God’s Word over the lives of His people as they prepare to go back out into the mission field. However, there is an unfortunate challenge that must be overcome when we do this: that challenge is the familiarity that results from missing the Master’s meaning.

Take another look at our verse for today. What a powerful promise is given to us! And that promise should be a source of cosmic comfort for you today. “Now to Him [the only God our Savior] who is able to keep you from stumbling [that is, committing either sins of commission or omission] . . .” What a wonderful reminder that the power that is at work within us—resurrection power—is greater than any power that can come against us. Jesus is at work within us to keep us from stumbling into the snares of Satan.

But that’s not all! The benediction does not stop with what God in Christ has promised to do for us presently. It goes on to make clear what God in Christ will do for us in our promised future: “to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.” Hear me clearly; if that truth seizes us, we will experience deeper joy and greater freedom in our daily walk with Christ. Why? Because we know from personal experience that, even though Jesus is guarding us from stumbling, we still willfully lurch into sin along the way. And yet our all-too-frequent times of stumbling do nothing to shake the foundation upon which our faith is built: the Rock of Ages.

The glorious good news of the Gospel secures us even in our grumbling, bumbling, and stumbling. God in Christ is perfecting us in our imperfection, and He will not stop short of bringing us into absolute perfection on that day when we stand before the presence of His glory.

I hope you’ll pause right now and remember, regardless of where this message finds you, the glorious words of this benediction over your life . . . To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy . . . You have His Word on that truth!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. (Revelation 3:8)

Be encouraged, Christian; you have been promised an open door that leads to the throne room of heaven—24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

• Never is the door closed to your pleading.
• Never is the door closed to your praise.
• Never is the door closed to your cries.
• Never is the door closed to your concerns.
• Never is the door closed to your fears.
• Never is the door closed to your hopes.
• Never is the door closed to your dreams.
• Never is the door closed to your desires.

Omnipotence has promised you an open door. No one can shut that door—not your enemies or the evil one. Nothing can shut that door—not even your sin. If you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ, you have been cleansed by His blood and clothed in His rich, righteous robes, and that gives you unlimited access to the Almighty . . . not only daily, but moment by moment. In today’s verse, we see the King of kings and Lord of lords inviting us into unending communion with Him, regardless of the circumstances we are currently facing in life.

As a pastor, I frequently encounter those who have allowed the devil to deceive them into believing that the divine door has been closed to them. They think they have been locked out because of sins of commission (things they should not have done but did do), or sins of omission (things they should have done but didn’t do). I immediately explain that this kind of thinking underscores the reason why we must preach the Gospel to ourselves each day, so that we will remember God’s great promise to us: You have continual access to the throne room of grace because of what Jesus has done for you. That door is not opened by our good works, and it is not closed by our bad works.

Remember, God has promised you an open door with unlimited access, but you must go through it. Go through it on your feet . . . go through it on your knees . . . go through it on your face . . . go through it in prayer . . . go through it in Bible study . . . go through it in the communion of the saints . . . but go through it! And if you ever find yourself in a condition where you think you cannot muster the strength to go through that open door, know this: Jesus is the Door, and you are already on the other side!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will touch you. (Job 5:19)

Oh, what a word of comfort we have before us today in the words that Eliphaz the Temanite spoke to Job! To be sure, calamities will come our way, for we have been promised trouble on this side of the grave. Yet even in calamitous desperation we experience cosmic deliverance.

Eliphaz spoke a truth that we must forever keep in view: greater is the power that is in us than any power that comes against us. That is why we are to face any and all waves of challenge that confront us with confident assurance . . . because our Redeemer has promised our rescue.

In the first half of today’s passage, we might see those six calamities as representing six days of the week, leaving us one day of rest to be refreshed and renewed by our Redeemer before the next calamity comes calling. But in the last part of the passage, we see that seven calamities span the full week, with no rest day to recover. Yet even with no rest for the weary one travelling toward the Celestial City, no harm will touch you! Rightly understood, today’s verse should be a source of unimaginable comfort to us, no matter what calamities beset us.

Regardless of the trials you are facing—whether they come in sixes with a day to rest and recover, or even if they roll in on you in relentless waves of seven with seemingly no end in sight—fear not! Your heavenly Father has promised to rescue you without fail. Remember, when we face the storms in seasons of seven, with no letup in the winds that are howling around us, our rest is not to be found in the day, but in our Deliverer. Even during the most intense storms, our Savior is our shelter; we can rest assured that He will carry us through to the other side of the storm, more conformed to the image of Christ than we were before.

Repeated rescue is the promise from our Redeemer God. May that truth set us free today to rise above any and all storms, knowing that we are safe in the omnipotent arms of our Savior.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

This will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you. (Exodus 3:12)

The bush that was burning yet not consumed was the sign God gave to Moses in calling him to be the deliverer of Israel. Who could ever imagine such a thing but God Himself?

Moses had fled from Egypt 40 years earlier when he tried to rescue his people by the might of his own hand. Now God was calling this fugitive murderer into His service; the Sovereign Lord knew He would need to do something striking to convince Moses that it truly was the one true living God who was calling him into service. So God used a burning bush that did not burn up.

I am not suggesting that God still uses burning bushes today to call His people into His service, but I do emphatically assert that God still uses signs that point the way toward His perfect purpose for our lives. God sends every believer a burning bush. The primary point is not what form that sign takes, but rather what it is pointing to . . . and are we sensitive enough to recognize it? And are we willing to obediently go wherever it is leading us?

God can and will use just about anything as a sign to call His children into service. It could be a sermon you are sitting under in which spiritual reality turns into a supernatural conviction of calling. It could by a hymn or praise chorus that suddenly pierces straight to your heart. It could be a conversation with a friend or family member. It could be something you sense being spoken to you during your prayer time. But make no mistake, as a child of God, you will have burning bush experiences that bring you to the place where the voice of God is so clear and present that you simply cannot doubt it, deny it, or delay in responding to it.

God gave me my burning bush experience through my beloved wife. We had talked for years about planting a church, but each talk ended with Kim saying she simply did not sense it was the right time. Then, in 2011, just when I was resigning myself to doing ministry right where I was serving, Kim told me that it was time. There was no doubt God was speaking to me through my wife, and today we are seven years into the most amazing spiritual journey as a church-planting family, experiencing the full gamut of God’s triumphs and trials.

What burning bush has God placed before you? Remember, God never calls the equipped. I can assure you that Kim and I were not equipped to plant a church! But what God does do is equip the called. He will not call you into something without giving you everything you need to get it done. Are you willing to answer your call, regardless of the cost or circumstance? I can promise you from personal experience that it will leave you forever changed for your good . . . and for God’s glory.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

With you is the fountain of life. (Psalm 36:9)

It is true that when Jesus saves us individually, He saves us to community. The Bible knows nothing of the solitary saint. When we are raised from death to life, we are placed within the body of Christ. As part of His body, we are to remain in contact with all the other parts of His body as we come together in our corporate worship, fellowship, service, and times of study. We are fed and nurtured in our faith when we are connected with the people of God.

But we have all experienced times when it seemed as though we were walking through a barren wilderness, even though we are surrounded by the people of God. Why? Perhaps we had neglected the Fountain Himself.

Speaking from both personal and pastoral experience, I can testify to this truth. It’s easy for me to get so focused on ministry that I neglect my time alone with the Master. To be sure, I am drinking from the wells of the great cloud of witnesses (other Christians), but that is a poor substitute for the Fount of Every Blessing (Jesus Christ). The family of faith will strengthen and support us as we walk with Christ through the details of life, but, make no mistake, only the Fountain will sustain us every step of the way.

It is in that Fountain of Life that we were first given new life. Like Lazarus, who was four days in the grave, we must be called forth from the tomb of spiritual death by the Fountain of Life to receive the new life that we now have in Christ. Once we have come forth from the tomb, our life experience is much like Peter’s. We declare to our Prince that we will never fall away . . . yet we all too often do, and with very little effort. What then? Like Peter, who denied the Lord three times on the night He was betrayed, we will be renewed and refreshed when we flee to the Fountain of life. And we must not simply sip from the wellspring of life, but submerge ourselves in it!

Do you thirst today? Do you feel like you’re running on empty? For some, that emptiness is simply because they have separated themselves from the people of God. If that is you, return at once to your family of faith. However, if you are plugged into the people of God and still find it hard to light up, return at once to your Fount of every blessing. The thirst you are experiencing is just a prelude to being filled to overflowing, for your Lord has promised, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” (John 7:37).

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard about you, that you can interpret dreams.” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “It is not within my power, but God will speak concerning the welfare of Pharaoh.” (Genesis 41:15-16 NET)

The story of Joseph is one of the most remarkable in all of Scripture. He was hated by his brothers, who coolly ate their meal while debating whether or not to kill him and finally decided to sell Joseph for the price of a slave. After serving Potiphar faithfully and well, Joseph was falsely accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison. Joseph languished in prison for two additional years after speaking prophetic words of comfort and restoration to Pharoah’s cupbearer, only to have the cupbearer forget his promise to plead Joseph’s case to Pharaoh. And yet after everything that had happened to him, Joseph’s first thought when he stood before Pharaoh was to give glory to God.

The parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Christ are numerous and unmistakable. Like Joseph, Jesus was hated by His Jewish brethren, who constantly looked for opportunities to falsely accuse of Him of blasphemy and heresy. Ultimately Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot for the going price of a slave. Witnesses who could not even get their stories to agree brought false testimony against Him. After three years of ministry to the people of Israel, teaching the Word of God and healing them of every type of disease, the “thank you” He received was the harsh cries of a frenzied mob screaming, “Crucify!” And yet when the high priest demanded of Jesus to “Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God,” Jesus gave glory to His Father in heaven:

Yes, it is as you say . . . But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. (Matthew 26:63-64)

And at the very end, as Jesus hung on that cruel cross, He again gave glory to God, saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Both Joseph and Jesus experienced betrayal, hardship, and pain, and yet the glory of God was at the front of their minds and on the tip of their tongues. How is it with you and me? Do we keep the glory of God front-of-mind also, even when everything seems to be going against us?

That is what we are called to do.  We are to declare His praises no matter what may lie before us, as 1 Peter 2:9 instructs us:

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God raised us from death to life. He has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. We should declare His praises at every opportunity!

This attitude of irrepressible joy is wonderfully captured by the words of the hymn, “To God Be the Glory.”

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the earth hear His voice!

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the people rejoice!

O come to the Father thro’ Jesus the Son,

And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.

Fanny Crosby, who wrote that marvelous anthem of praise, lost her sight when she was six weeks old. Yet she penned more than 8,000 Gospel hymns, including the incomparable “Blessed Assurance.” One day a well-meaning but shortsighted visitor told Ms. Crosby that it seemed odd that, although God had blessed her with such extraordinary talent, He had not seen fit to restore her sight. Fanny Crosby promptly replied that if she could have asked the Creator God one favor at birth, she would have asked to be born blind, because, she explained, “When I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight shall be that of my Savior.”

God has called us out of darkness and brought us into His glorious light. May our words and our countenance reflect His glorious, life-giving light to everyone we meet.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)

When was the last time the truth of today’s verse seized you? Perhaps if you commit it to memory, it will do just that the next time you are tempted. To know that our Lord Jesus was tempted in every way and yet did not yield should provide great encouragement to us.

Every sin we are tempted to engage in also sought to tempt Jesus. We must never dissociate our Lord from the difficulties of daily living. Yes, He was fully God, but when Jesus took on flesh, He took on our personhood, and He willingly went through everything we will go through . . . yet He never once gave the devil a foothold.

Whatever battle the devil has waged against you this day, fear not! Jesus went toe-to-toe with the serpent and conquered every one of his temptations, and He left a blood-stained cross behind as a testimonial to this truth. The atoning sacrifice that was made for all God’s people had to be perfect . . . spotless . . . without blemish, and the Resurrection is proof positive that this was the case. Truth was tempted, just like we are . . . but He never gave in to it!

It’s important to remember that Jesus did not live His life on this earth in His power as the second person of the Trinity. No, He laid that power down and lived in the power of the third person, the Holy Spirit. And Christian, that very same power is available to you and me this day, moment by moment.

Think about it this way: if Jesus had conquered the devil’s temptations in His own power, how much encouragement that would bring to us? Wouldn’t we expect Jesus, the Son of God, to defeat the devil? But when we realize that Jesus lived His life in the power of the Holy Spirit, we should find tremendous encouragement and hope . . . and a model for living our own lives.

We are all tempted, but being tempted is not a sin. Today’s verse tells us that Jesus did not sin, yet He was tempted in every way, just as we are. It is sin, however, when we yield to temptation. So regardless of where this message finds you today, remember that when the devil comes knocking, you do not have to answer the door! You have the same power in you to say “Away from me, Satan!” that Jesus had. Resist the devil, in the power of the Spirit of God, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

One last thing to consider: you can look upon whatever is tempting you as an exhortation to run to Jesus, who understands exactly what you are going through. To be sure, when we say NO to the devil and YES to Christ, temptation is a sanctifying wind that blows us into the arms of our Lord. May that truth set all of us free!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

[T]he intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. (Genesis 8:21 ESV)

Cross Community Church is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America and, as such, the doctrine we teach is thoroughly and consistently Reformed. One of the fundamental doctrines of Reformed theology that creates some confusion for those who are unfamiliar with it is the doctrine of Total Depravity, which concerns mankind’s guilty inability to stand before God and claim any sort of inherent righteousness.

The bulk of the confusion about this teaching centers on its name: Total Depravity. “Wait a minute!” both Christians and unbelievers will protest. “Are you saying that someone who doesn’t know Christ as their Savior is totally depraved? That’s not possible! Why, my Aunt Sally isn’t a Christian, but she’s the nicest person you’ll ever meet! She volunteers at the homeless shelter and raises money for orphans! Are you trying to tell me that Aunt Sally is depraved?!”

No, I’m not saying that Aunt Sally is wholly and utterly vile. But I am saying that she was born with a sin nature—just like you, me, and every other human being, for “there is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46). Total depravity does not mean that men and women are completely given over to sin; we are not as bad as we could be. Even history’s most terrible mass murderers—men like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung—were not as evil as they could have been. They might have killed tens of millions more, but they were restrained by God’s common grace.

Total depravity does not mean that we are totally evil, but rather that the totality of our being has been infected by sin. Our every thought, word, and deed is corrupted by sin, just as a glass of drinking water is entirely tainted when one drop of strychnine is added to it. Every man, woman, and child is born infected with the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. And so, in the sight of God, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

There have been many men and women who never set foot in a church building, yet did all manner of good things. They’ve built hospitals and orphanages and libraries and sent ships filled with food overseas to help disaster victims. They are, in the eyes of the watching world, “good people” . . . but apart from Jesus Christ, they are just as lost as Judas Iscariot. Their righteous acts are no more than “filthy rags” in the sight of a perfectly holy God.

Author Edwin Palmer offered a fine distinction between what the world considers “good” and what is actually good in the sight of God. Palmer explained –

The Heidelberg Catechism gives a clear definition of good. In answer to the question: “But what are good works?” the Catechism answers: “Only those which are done from true faith, according to the law of God and to his glory” (Question and Answer 91).

I have no doubt that Aunt Sally is a truly nice person; but I also know that, apart from Christ, her works fall miserably short of this definition of good. This is why Psalm 14:3 asserts that —

There is no one who does good, not even one.

The doctrine of total depravity is one of the great dividing lines between the unbelieving world and the Christian. The unbelieving world believes that all people are fundamentally good, only flawed because of their environments. The Bible, on the other hand, tells us bluntly that “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

When I talk about man’s sin from the pulpit, I’ll often remind the congregation that no one has ever had to teach children to sin; they come from the womb crying fiercely, “Mine!” David understood that we are born stained by Adam’s sin, and he reiterated that truth in Psalm 51:5, saying, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

That sin represents a death sentence. The book of Romans warns that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and that “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23, 6:23). Total depravity means that, apart from Christ, you under a sentence of death—a dreadful death that continues for all eternity. That is the bad news that confronts us all.

But let me close with this great and glorious good news: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Those who place their trust in Jesus Christ will experience an eternity in which there will be no sorrow, no sickness, no suffering . . . and no sin. If you have never trusted in Him, I implore you to come to Him today! Only His atoning death will bridge the gap between you and God that is created by your total depravity.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!