C.H.E. Sadaphal's Blog, page 10
March 11, 2016
WHY GOD IS NOT FAIR: SIN, THE JUSTICE OF GOD & THE NON-JUSTICE OF GOD
“The concept of justice incorporates all that is just. The concept of non-justice includes everything outside the concept of justice: injustice, which violates justice and is evil; and mercy, which does not violate justice and is not evil. God gives his mercy (non-justice) to some and leaves the rest to his justice. No one is treated with injustice. No one can charge that there is unrighteousness in God.”
Justice is, in fact, very fair. Justice says that if you harm an innocent person, you have to pay for your crime one way or another. Justice says that if you steal something from another person, you owe them their property back plus a penalty for the inconvenience of the rightful owner’s loss of use. In many ways, justice is mechanistic and tit-for-tat. Justice seems to be fair when the penalty fits the crime. Justice does not seem to be fair, however, when the crime and the penalty seem mismatched.
From this point of mismatch, many in the modern world tend to derive a sense of unfairness when they contemplate God. Many look at the penalties—whether they be supernatural (e.g., hell) or natural (e.g., war, disease, or interpersonal strife)—and come to the conclusion that God isn’t being fair because the harsh punishment doesn’t seem to fit the less heinous crime. After all, for people who are genuinely “good” or “decent” to be subjected to, for example, wanton cruelty and prejudice just doesn’t seem fair. Yet, this analysis does not consider the wholly detestable nature of the real crime. The real crime, of course, is sin, which has cataclysmic and destructive effects on our association with God. In the Garden of Eden, sin ended a deep, personal relationship with The Lord and drove a wedge between humankind and God. Sin has since been inherited by all humanity. In the beginning, God called all of creation good, and He walked in the garden He made for us. Now, because of sin, a distance and separation exists between creation and the Creator. Sin is a blatant offense to a holy and just God, and it necessitated God taking the form of a human being to reconcile humanity back to Him. Sin is so wretched that it made the devil the devil.
Lucifer by design was a good creation that The Lord had made. Sin is what turned this angel into the Deceiver and the father of lies. What do you get if you take sin away from the devil? An angel that worships God. Sin is so bad that it in itself is what makes hell really hell. Anselm of Canterbury famously said that if he had the choice of entering hell clean and innocent or entering into heaven with the stain of one sin, he would gladly leap into hell. Hell is not what separates a person from God: sin is.
Sin is so bad that it demands nothing short of the justice of God, and His justice says that the penalty for sin is death. All of the tragedy in this world—whether it takes the form of suffering, grief, dehumanization, violence, or pain—has a root cause in sin. If at once sin were wiped out from the face of the earth, then all evil would immediately cease. And the reason sin cannot be immediately wiped out is rooted in the justice of God; that is, because a crime has been committed, a penalty must be paid. If God were not just, then God wouldn’t be God. He would be a pushover who stands for nothing. And that, ironically, wouldn’t be fair.
The good news is that the story does not end in the Garden of Eden.
While the justice of God is totally fair and requires a penalty to be paid for sin, the non-justice of God is completely and absolutely unfair. It is senseless, illogical, and defies reason. The non-justice of God allows a totally depraved and radically corrupt person to walk into God’s courtroom and assemble all of his sins into a heaping pile of filthy rags, only for God to say, “Not guilty.”
The non-justice of God can look to the atoning blood sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and then look upon a sinner and say, “I will remember your sins no more.” The non-justice of God manifests as hesed, or good favor, lovingkindness, and mercy. The non-justice of God is what compelled Him to take the form of a human being (Jesus) who would bear the penalty of our sins and motivate us to realize that in a world full of absolute fairness, there would be no room for Christ.
So, yes. God is not fair at all. And this is a reason to praise Him.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
R.C. Sproul, What is Reformed Theology? (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997), 160.
March 10, 2016
WHAT IS REPENTANCE? by R.C. SPROUL
The bottom line: A succinct, focused, and highly beneficial synopsis of a key concept of the Christian faith.
At the core of the Christian’s life lies a repentant heart. Hence, having a strong Biblical understanding of this foundational concept is crucial in the walk of any believer. What is Repentance? succinctly illustrates this basic idea, and the author particularly highlights how regeneration, faith, and repentance are inextricably linked.
The first chapter (What Is Repentance?) of this booklet describes exactly what repentance is. It is much more than saying, “I’m sorry” and involves distress and dismay over what was done along with the mental and emotional determination to change one’s ways. “A Picture of Repentance” looks at different Old Testament prophetic examples of genuine repentance (conversion). It becomes clear that repentance is more than an act but a deep inward change which animates external behavior change. “A Model of Repentance” looks at the repentant heart of King David as he writes Psalm 51, a classic psalm of repentance. “Regeneration and Repentance” clarifies that repentance is not something that I can do by myself. It only becomes possible after someone has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and therefore empowered by God to do His will. As the author explains, genuine faith and genuine repentance go hand-in-hand. One cannot have one without the other.
What is Repentance? is part of the Crucial Questions booklet series. The series offers Biblically sound answers to practical, real-life questions about the everyday Christian experience.
Without a doubt, the series is very informative and a worthwhile resource. Each selection in this volume tends to be less than 100 pages so you can get through a booklet in an afternoon. Furthermore, the fact that all of them are available for free (Kindle versions) is just icing on the cake. This is excellent for anyone who seeks to know more about repentance, and will provide valuable information to Sunday school teachers, Christian educators, and Bible students.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
March 4, 2016
MONARCHY, THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF GOD: ON THE CREATION ORDINANCES, THE FAMILY & CIVIL GOVERNMENT
In His sovereign will, the political system that God chose to rule His kingdom is monarchy. In a land of “freedom” and “liberty,” submission to a monarch runs counter to the rugged individualism that is so innately American. Yet ultimately what matters most is not the type of political system but who runs that system.
Before one can ascertain the merits of a particular political system or a type of civil government, the first question that must be asked is what is the prescribed central purpose of that government according to the Bible? The answer is quite simple: to protect the interests of the family. Some clarification is in order.
All of humanity is in a covenant with God. So, even if you have never read the Bible or walked into a church, you’re still in a covenantal relationship with God. This relationship began with Adam, the first man, way back in the beginning, as described in the Bible’s first book, Genesis (see 1:26-30). Adam is a representative of humanity, so when God instituted the creation ordinances, He “made a deal” with all humans for all time. As it pertains to the topic at hand, there are two creation ordinances that are distinctly applicable: the sanctity of life and marriage. God blessed Adam and Eve and then instructed them to be “fruitful and multiply.” Clearly, the proliferation of human life is an extension of God’s blessing. The Declaration of Independence reflects the sanctity of life when it says that individuals “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In other words, there is an external, divine Law that is written onto our hearts and into natural law, which is woven into the fabric of creation.
Furthermore, God declared that it was not good for Adam to be alone (Genesis 2:18), and so He made Eve from Adam’s rib. Because of this, “a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
Indeed, these ordinances do not apply to the salvation of individuals, and this does not nullify the covenant with non-believers. Because these ordinances are written on the hearts and consciences of all people, human beings everywhere have a deep, internal moral sense that killing another person is wrong. This moral law exists regardless of time or place, even if you live in a modern Western city in the 21st century or if you lived in the remote jungles of Sub-Saharan Africa in the year 200. People also have an innate tendency to find someone, get married, and have children. This is a human trait that transcends time, culture, ethnicity, nationality, and race. If you throw a bunch of single men and single women in a room, what happens? They start becoming “joined” together. The reason why this happens isn’t due to the spontaneous effect of happenstance. It is the result of a creation ordinance.
So, how does all of this relate to the political system of God? Well, according to the Bible, before civil government or any type of political system ever existed, the creation ordinances did exist and were in full effect for everyone. So, even before the New Covenant and Jesus, even before God delivered the Ten Commandments, and even before God gave purity rules to the people of Israel (Leviticus), everyone lived under the creation ordinances.
Resultantly, the creation ordinances transcend the limits of subsequent laws—this includes rules of political systems, laws of civil government, and rules of the church. This helps to explain why even if you are a staunch pro-state atheist and ignore all of God’s commands, the sanctity of life and marriage still remain.
From the beginning, human life, marriage, and, therefore, the family (life plus marriage) were sacred. Adam and Eve were a family before politics. They were a family before civil government. They were a family before the church. And so, because of the creation ordinances, the interests of the family transcend the limits of political systems, the limits of the government, and even the limits of the church.
The purpose, then, of any type of political system is to protect the interests of the family.
It is not for individuals or the family to serve that political system. The political system serves the family. If a political system does not serve the family, then that system violates The Lord’s creation ordinances. Ultimately, then, it doesn’t matter what that political system is called or how it works; it matters what that system aims to do. So, it doesn’t matter if the political system is socialist, democratic, or a dictatorship. It does matter if the laws of that system are subordinate to the Laws of God.
Look at the Biblical narrative. The first introduction that we have to civil government (Exodus 1) is the tyrannical and abusive regime of the Egyptians. At the time, Egypt was the most powerful nation on the planet. They were “strong,” “powerful,” and “#1.” The Egyptians spat in the face of God’s creation ordinances and violated the sanctity of life and the family—Hebrew babies were ordered to be killed in Exodus 1:15-16. God subsequently cast judgment on the Egyptians with ten plagues that executed justice using creation (environmental disasters) and the taking of life (in the last plague, firstborn sons died). The Egyptians had a wonderful political system that worked for the Egyptians, but it didn’t work for God.
Next, when God began to give His Law to the nation of Israel (Exodus 20:1-17), no formal civil government existed. What did exist were hundreds of thousands of people whose primary social unit was the family. The rules and regulations given to the people prescribed how to obey God and treat one’s neighbor. Elders existed who settled disputes between individuals, but the primary locus of social control and organization was the family. In other words, when God laid the foundation for a society of His chosen people, what was important was His Law, not a particular political system or type of government. Here, families were protected by the head of the family, and all Israelites had an identity as people who lived under the Rule of God.
Even after the Israelites entered into the Promised Land (modern-day Israel), no form of civil government existed for a time. The Book of Judges (2:11-15) tells us that once Israel arrived where they needed to be, they began to depart from God’s Law and suffered adverse consequences.
The point here is that even though the family transcends government, the absence of formal government is not an acceptable alternative to some form of government if people continue to violate God’s creation ordinances.
Here, in the closest Biblical depiction of anarchy, “there was no king in Israel,” and so “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). In this circumstance, morality was not legislated and there was no protection of families. Generally speaking, the results were adverse.
Consequently, when one contemplates the protection of the family as a crucial aim of a political system, it is not a matter of if morality should be legislated. It is a matter of what morality should be legislated, because if a political system fails families, then that system fails. In order to ensure the viability of society, we have to ensure that the cornerstone of that society—the family—is protected.
This applies to believers and non-believers alike. To do otherwise violates God’s creation ordinances. To do otherwise allows everyone to do what is right in their own eyes. To do otherwise means violating the divine law that has been written on our hearts. Consider a political system where morality is not legislated. That would be a society consumed by abominable wretchedness, where the Law of God is rejected and separation from God is irrevocable. Essentially, that society is called hell.
God’s chosen political system is a theocratic monarchy ruled by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords (see Isaiah 9:6; Zechariah 14:9; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:8; Revelation 19:16). In this divine monarchy, because the Ruler is God, all of God’s ordinances are obeyed fully. It is a political system with One Supreme Ruler. There is no voting, no representative democracy, and everyone there has no recourse because they all recognize that they exist in that kingdom but only by the grace of God. In order to stay in the kingdom, one would have to follow the laws set by God rather than making one’s own laws. There are no political options, but the lack of choice is what makes the monarchy of God so appealing. If one did have a choice (as we do today), then we are free to not choose God. In God’s kingdom, I am not free to do what is right in my own eyes, and that is a freedom I will gladly yield to be in continual fellowship with The Lord. In the monarchy of God, the adopted sons and daughters in God’s family will fulfill the creation ordinances, and they possess the understanding that this fulfillment is only possible when serving the King of Kings.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
And for a brief summary of all of the creation ordinances, refer to http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotio...
March 3, 2016
BIBLICAL EXEGESIS by JOHN H. HAYES and CARL R. HOLLADAY
The bottom line: If you are seeking an introduction to the world of exegesis, this is a good place to start.
From its back cover, Biblical Exegesis “introduces solid guidelines on exegetical methods” and presents how these methods play out in practice. This book is not an in-depth analysis of exegetical methods, nor does it claim to do that.
What Biblical Exegesis does accomplish is to equip readers with a basic set of investigatory tools so that they can embark on their own interpretive quest.
The fruits of said investigation can be applied to personal study, Bible study groups, sermons, Christian education classes and Sunday school.
Biblical Exegesis begins by introducing the field of exegesis, factors that have shaped it over time, as well as the features unique to interpreting the Bible. Each subsequent chapter tackles a specific model of exegetical criticism: textual, historical, grammatical, literary, form, tradition, redaction, structuralist, and canonical. Each of these chapters first introduce what the critical model aims to do, how it developed, and then explains how the Bible can be evaluated using the specific model. The chapters also have examples of how a model is applied and the authors exegete a portion of a Biblical text as an example. In my opinion, this is where Biblical Exegesis shines and takes what is theoretical to what is very practical. By studying the examples, the students are also given a blueprint on the types of questions each model compels the exegete to ask.
The final chapters touch briefly on more modern exegetical strategies (e.g. womanist and liberation) and then proceed to describe how all of the models can be integrated for practical, everyday uses (e.g. preaching). Much of the information in this last section is common sense.
I read this book as required by a graduate level seminary course and would especially recommended it for seminarians who would like to solidify their Bible study and for those who will be teaching theological education classes.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
February 26, 2016
WHAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD KNOW VOLUME II (#WCSK2) PART VIIB: REPENTANCE
For a downloadable .PDF of this lesson, click here: What Christians Should Know (#WCSK) Volume II (#WCSK2) Part 7b: Repentance
Podcast: Download | Play in a new window | Subscribe
The audio:
http://www.chesadaphal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WCSK-2.7b-Repentance.mp3
The series What Christians Should Know Volume II (#WCSK2) boosts your understanding and shows you how to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. All Scriptures will be taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted. Biblical references are examples and are in no way intended to be exhaustive. Many of the ideas here will build upon the series What Christians Should Know Volume I (#WCSK), which provides education on core beliefs and doctrines in the Christian faith. All of the lessons are best used as a general guide as you engage in your own Bible study.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
What repentance looks like: Psalm 51
One of the best places to look to understand what repentance looks like is to analyze Psalm 51, where King David, a man after God’s own heart, repents concerning his adultery with Bathsheba.
Repentance relies on God’s mercy.
The first thing David writes is, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.” David realizes that it is only by the grace of God that repentance has any value. After all, theoretically speaking, people could repent and sincerely turn from their old ways but be ignored by God. Thankfully for us, this is not the case. The Bible tells us that when we confess, our sins will be forgiven (I John 1:9), that we must repent so that our sins will be blotted out (Acts 3:19), and that God Himself has an earnest desire for all people to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9).
Repentance seeks for the person to be cleansed.
Psalm 51:2 says, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” When we come before God and ask for forgiveness, He may pardon us, but the stain of sin remains. Hence, David asks to be thoroughly washed and to have not only his stain removed but to have a deep internal cleansing that also changes the desires of his heart. David, being truly repentant, doesn’t just want God to graciously forgive him for this act; he also entreats God to change his heart condition so that he doesn’t commit adultery again. David also recognizes that he cannot wash himself; only God can atone for sins.
This sentiment is further expressed in verses 7–10 when David writes, “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Repentance admits guilt.
Psalm 51:3 says, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Basically what David is saying is, “I’m guilty.” He doesn’t rationalize his sin or try to pretend as if he’s “OK.” He doesn’t say, “This is who I am” or “It just felt right at the time.” David simply says, “I am wrong.” The reason why David knows he’s guilty is because he is aware of God’s commandments, the objective scale by which David is judged. David also knows that the only thing he can do with the guilty feelings resulting from his sin is to repent, confess, and ask God for forgiveness. Just as David realizes that he can’t wash himself, he also recognizes that only God can remove his guilt by forgiveness.
Repentance respects and honors God.
Psalm 51:4 says, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.” Ultimately, the reason why what David did was wrong is because it violates God’s rules for creation. And, because God is God, David acknowledges that breaking God’s rules ultimately is an offense to The Lord. The sovereignty of God crushes all arrogance and humbles the person before the Creator. God is blameless, and His justice demands punishment. David subsequently does not bargain with God, knowing that he cannot win.
Repentance seeks to be close to God.
Psalm 51:11–14a says, “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation.” David makes it very clear here that a repentant person’s deepest fear is to be separated from God. Sin is what drives a wedge between David and The Lord, and if a wedge remains, the bloodguiltiness will deliver David to damnation. Thus, David cries out for God not to depart from him and to restore his joy—joy that can only be restored with repentance and a return of proper fellowship with God. Not only that, David is fully aware of the cataclysmic destruction that unrepentance can have on others, and he seeks to assist them in turning from their ways. David does not want others to endure the same emotional turmoil as he has. The burden of sin, in a way, is a form of spiritual torture for someone with a penitent heart.
Repentance also seeks for others to be close to God.
It is very important to put what David wrote in Psalm 51 in the context of why he wrote it—that is, what compelled him to repent. The answer can be found in II Samuel 12, where the prophet Nathan confronts King David and tells him that he has done wrong. In verse 9, Nathan tells David, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.” It is then that David admits, “I have sinned against the Lord” (verse 13). Essentially one servant of God (a prophet) confronts another servant of God (a king) in private in order to expose a blatant sin in order to bring the guilty party to repentance. David even admits that the guilty must “make restitution” (verse 6) for what was done wrong. A key take-home point for us in modern society is that yes, we are all sinners, and no one is “better” than another. That being said, if it is clear that someone else known to you is violating God’s Law, repentance seeks for others to be close to God. Repentance thus isn’t selfish and has a vested interest in the well-being of a community of believers (i.e., the church). Hence, Nathan confronts David not simply to accuse him and then arrogantly walk away, but to expose the transgression so that David may turn from his evil ways. Implicit in the narrative of Nathan and David is the desire of one servant to assist in the walk of another, and in this particular case, ignoring the unrepentance of a king (and by modern extension, those in spiritual leadership) portends many negative consequences for those who serve under the king.
Repentance finds comfort knowing that God fixes brokenness.
Psalm 51:15–17 says, “O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
Here, David is broken. He is vulnerable. He experiences extreme anguish over sin, and his heart is sorry, ashamed, and remorseful. Yet David realizes that the only One who can repair his broken heart is God. This is where many people take a wrong turn on the highway of repentance. They feel broken and ashamed and thus turn away from God because they feel unworthy. They feel the need for something else to cover them so they can approach God. Yet, as David reveals, it is God who will give us the most captive audience when we have a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. Psalm 34:18 offers some of the most beautiful and consoling words when it declares, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Repentance finds comfort knowing that God fixes brokenness, and repentance feels assured that when it comes to repairing a heart broken over sin, God is the only One who can fix it. People may exhibit wordly “repentance” by repeating a phrase, inflicting harm on themselves, engaging in a ritual, or doing acts of charity, but this is not what God desires. He wants us to render our hearts, not our garments.
R. C. Sproul writes, “The Bible tells us explicitly and shows us implicitly that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. David knows this to be true. As broken as he is, he knows God and how God relates to penitent people. He understands that God never hates or despises a broken or contrite heart. This is what God desires of us. This is what Jesus had in mind in the Beatitudes when He said, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4).’ This text is not simply about grieving the loss of a loved one, but also the grief that we experience when convicted by our sin. Jesus assures us that when we grieve over our sin, God by His Holy Spirit will comfort us.”
It is from this stance that it now becomes clear that no person can develop the sincere desire to self-repent. So if you know there is something in your life that requires repentance, you cannot expect to wake up tomorrow and feel compelled to turn from your former ways. Because the Holy Spirit causes the transformation of a person’s heart, what a person can do is engage in sincere prayer and ask The Lord to produce genuine repentance.
Conclusion
One of the key ideas that I wish to leave you with is that repentance is a process, not an event.
Life experience tells us that we can repent of a sin (or sins), only to fall back into the same sin(s). For example, a man can feel deeply grieved over his addiction to pornography, repent of his sin, turn away from it for a time, and then fall back into the same sin when tempted or in a time of vulnerability. Because we are sinful by nature and because repentance is a process, as we grow and develop in our walk with God, we undergo transformative change step-by-step. Hence, the struggle involved in turning away from our inherently sinful nature toward righteousness and obedience can be very slow, tough, and frustrating. Thankfully for us, God is patient when it comes to our turning away from sin, and Jesus came specifically to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance.
Moreover, many characters in the Bible were not immediate saints after God called them up to bat. For example, even after God chose and made a promise to Abraham, he still exhibited deceitfulness. Before Moses served as a mediator to deliver the Israelites from bondage, he was a murderer. Then, even after the Israelites were set free and God used Moses in miraculous ways, he was still prone to bouts of anger. Even after Elijah called down fire from heaven, he feared a human queen more than God Himself. And even after David was anointed as God’s chosen king of Israel, he still committed adultery. All of these men were so important to the history of redemption that they were included in the Bible, and all of these men were corruptible human beings even after they were “chosen.” All of this simply means that even the Biblical heavyweights slipped up from time to time. The only incorruptible person (Who also happens to be God as well) is Jesus. So if a full turning takes a while and you struggle, then congratulations—you are a normal human being.
As I mentioned in the lesson in The Tabernacle, symbolically we live in the “dirt” of the world and constantly get our feet soiled as we engage in day-to-day activities. Yet it is the water-containing laver (representative of God’s Word) that compels us to both look at ourselves and to wash, making ourselves clean. This touches upon the process of sanctification, a topic for a later lesson. The basic point here is that becoming more Christ-like is always a continual process, not an event. We are always supposed to be studying God’s Word, praying, examining ourselves, and “washing” ourselves in His transcendent truth. This is what motivates us to repent.
The process of repentance, then, is mediated not by what we think is right, but by what God says. Because if, during the course of our journey with God, we change and thus our conscience changes, we cannot place eternal trust in something that is shifting. We can, however, place eternal trust in an unchanging God and His commands. And in order to turn away from what is bad, we have to know what is good and what God requires of us. So the more we learn about God, His principles, His morals, His Laws, and His commandments, the better idea we have about what is truly right and what is wrong. In the end, when we finally appreciate and understand what God desires, then we will develop a heart (and thus a desire for repentance) that aims to please God.
In an ideal scenario, God’s Word animates our conscience, which then convicts us when we do something outside of God’s commands. Paul writes in Romans 2:15 that God’s Law is written onto our hearts, and our conscience bears witness to His Law. Even people who are nonbelievers and unrepentant have a sense of the divine eternal principles written onto their hearts. Of course, in their case, their conscience may be a very soft, quiet voice that is ignored when they have a crisis of conscience. In the case of a repentant person, that voice is loud and unceasing, saying, “Stop!” The only way to ensure that the loud voice is in fact speaking the truth is to compare it with what God says.
When patients come in to see me in the office, they often have a type of pain, and although that pain is acutely troubling, it also serves a purpose: to let them know that something is wrong. That something wrong tells them that they need to see a doctor. For people with a repentant heart, their inner self strives to adhere to the external, divine, transcendent Law of God. Hence, when they violate that Law, their heart accuses them and they feel pain. That’s when they come to the ultimate Physician, Jesus, the only One who can truly heal them. The fact that the afflicted came into the office in the first place is a step toward recovery because they recognize that they can’t cure their sickness by themselves. And because of His grace, The Lord doesn’t want us to render our garments or to “do” anything in order to “prove” that we are sincere. Rather, the most sincere thing that we can do is to render our hearts and come to God in our broken spirit and contrite heart. The Physician can work wonders fixing a broken heart, but a physician can’t help someone who thinks there is nothing wrong.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
See I Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22.
See Jonah 3:10 as a reverse example: a community of people repented and therefore God relented from bringing about disaster.
Acts 20:28.
See also Proverbs 16:12; Jeremiah 23:1–4; Ezekiel 34:1–8; Mark 10:42–45; cf. Psalm 33:12; Proverbs 29:12; I Timothy 3:1–5.
R. C. Sproul, What is Repentance? (Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2014), 28.
Romans 2:4; II Peter 3:9.
Luke 5:32; c.f. Luke 15:7.
Genesis 15:1–21.
Genesis 20:1–7.
See Numbers 20:1–13.
See I Kings 19:1–8.
II Samuel 11.
WHAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD KNOW VOLUME II (#WCSK2) PART VIIIB: REPENTANCE
For a downloadable .PDF of this lesson, click here: What Christians Should Know (#WCSK) Volume II (#WCSK2) Part 7b: Repentance
Podcast: Download | Play in a new window | Subscribe
The audio:
The series What Christians Should Know Volume II (#WCSK2) boosts your understanding and shows you how to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. All Scriptures will be taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted. Biblical references are examples and are in no way intended to be exhaustive. Many of the ideas here will build upon the series What Christians Should Know Volume I (#WCSK), which provides education on core beliefs and doctrines in the Christian faith. All of the lessons are best used as a general guide as you engage in your own Bible study.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
What repentance looks like: Psalm 51
One of the best places to look to understand what repentance looks like is to analyze Psalm 51, where King David, a man after God’s own heart, repents concerning his adultery with Bathsheba.
Repentance relies on God’s mercy.
The first thing David writes is, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.” David realizes that it is only by the grace of God that repentance has any value. After all, theoretically speaking, people could repent and sincerely turn from their old ways but be ignored by God. Thankfully for us, this is not the case. The Bible tells us that when we confess, our sins will be forgiven (I John 1:9), that we must repent so that our sins will be blotted out (Acts 3:19), and that God Himself has an earnest desire for all people to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9).
Repentance seeks for the person to be cleansed.
Psalm 51:2 says, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” When we come before God and ask for forgiveness, He may pardon us, but the stain of sin remains. Hence, David asks to be thoroughly washed and to have not only his stain removed but to have a deep internal cleansing that also changes the desires of his heart. David, being truly repentant, doesn’t just want God to graciously forgive him for this act; he also entreats God to change his heart condition so that he doesn’t commit adultery again. David also recognizes that he cannot wash himself; only God can atone for sins.
This sentiment is further expressed in verses 7–10 when David writes, “Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Repentance admits guilt.
Psalm 51:3 says, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.” Basically what David is saying is, “I’m guilty.” He doesn’t rationalize his sin or try to pretend as if he’s “OK.” He doesn’t say, “This is who I am” or “It just felt right at the time.” David simply says, “I am wrong.” The reason why David knows he’s guilty is because he is aware of God’s commandments, the objective scale by which David is judged. David also knows that the only thing he can do with the guilty feelings resulting from his sin is to repent, confess, and ask God for forgiveness. Just as David realizes that he can’t wash himself, he also recognizes that only God can remove his guilt by forgiveness.
Repentance respects and honors God.
Psalm 51:4 says, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.” Ultimately, the reason why what David did was wrong is because it violates God’s rules for creation. And, because God is God, David acknowledges that breaking God’s rules ultimately is an offense to The Lord. The sovereignty of God crushes all arrogance and humbles the person before the Creator. God is blameless, and His justice demands punishment. David subsequently does not bargain with God, knowing that he cannot win.
Repentance seeks to be close to God.
Psalm 51:11–14a says, “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation.” David makes it very clear here that a repentant person’s deepest fear is to be separated from God. Sin is what drives a wedge between David and The Lord, and if a wedge remains, the bloodguiltiness will deliver David to damnation. Thus, David cries out for God not to depart from him and to restore his joy—joy that can only be restored with repentance and a return of proper fellowship with God. Not only that, David is fully aware of the cataclysmic destruction that unrepentance can have on others, and he seeks to assist them in turning from their ways. David does not want others to endure the same emotional turmoil as he has. The burden of sin, in a way, is a form of spiritual torture for someone with a penitent heart.
Repentance also seeks for others to be close to God.
It is very important to put what David wrote in Psalm 51 in the context of why he wrote it—that is, what compelled him to repent. The answer can be found in II Samuel 12, where the prophet Nathan confronts King David and tells him that he has done wrong. In verse 9, Nathan tells David, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.” It is then that David admits, “I have sinned against the Lord” (verse 13). Essentially one servant of God (a prophet) confronts another servant of God (a king) in private in order to expose a blatant sin in order to bring the guilty party to repentance. David even admits that the guilty must “make restitution” (verse 6) for what was done wrong. A key take-home point for us in modern society is that yes, we are all sinners, and no one is “better” than another. That being said, if it is clear that someone else known to you is violating God’s Law, repentance seeks for others to be close to God. Repentance thus isn’t selfish and has a vested interest in the well-being of a community of believers (i.e., the church). Hence, Nathan confronts David not simply to accuse him and then arrogantly walk away, but to expose the transgression so that David may turn from his evil ways. Implicit in the narrative of Nathan and David is the desire of one servant to assist in the walk of another, and in this particular case, ignoring the unrepentance of a king (and by modern extension, those in spiritual leadership) portends many negative consequences for those who serve under the king.
Repentance finds comfort knowing that God fixes brokenness.
Psalm 51:15–17 says, “O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
Here, David is broken. He is vulnerable. He experiences extreme anguish over sin, and his heart is sorry, ashamed, and remorseful. Yet David realizes that the only One who can repair his broken heart is God. This is where many people take a wrong turn on the highway of repentance. They feel broken and ashamed and thus turn away from God because they feel unworthy. They feel the need for something else to cover them so they can approach God. Yet, as David reveals, it is God who will give us the most captive audience when we have a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. Psalm 34:18 offers some of the most beautiful and consoling words when it declares, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Repentance finds comfort knowing that God fixes brokenness, and repentance feels assured that when it comes to repairing a heart broken over sin, God is the only One who can fix it. People may exhibit wordly “repentance” by repeating a phrase, inflicting harm on themselves, engaging in a ritual, or doing acts of charity, but this is not what God desires. He wants us to render our hearts, not our garments.
R. C. Sproul writes, “The Bible tells us explicitly and shows us implicitly that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. David knows this to be true. As broken as he is, he knows God and how God relates to penitent people. He understands that God never hates or despises a broken or contrite heart. This is what God desires of us. This is what Jesus had in mind in the Beatitudes when He said, ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4).’ This text is not simply about grieving the loss of a loved one, but also the grief that we experience when convicted by our sin. Jesus assures us that when we grieve over our sin, God by His Holy Spirit will comfort us.”
It is from this stance that it now becomes clear that no person can develop the sincere desire to self-repent. So if you know there is something in your life that requires repentance, you cannot expect to wake up tomorrow and feel compelled to turn from your former ways. Because the Holy Spirit causes the transformation of a person’s heart, what a person can do is engage in sincere prayer and ask The Lord to produce genuine repentance.
Conclusion
One of the key ideas that I wish to leave you with is that repentance is a process, not an event.
Life experience tells us that we can repent of a sin (or sins), only to fall back into the same sin(s). For example, a man can feel deeply grieved over his addiction to pornography, repent of his sin, turn away from it for a time, and then fall back into the same sin when tempted or in a time of vulnerability. Because we are sinful by nature and because repentance is a process, as we grow and develop in our walk with God, we undergo transformative change step-by-step. Hence, the struggle involved in turning away from our inherently sinful nature toward righteousness and obedience can be very slow, tough, and frustrating. Thankfully for us, God is patient when it comes to our turning away from sin, and Jesus came specifically to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance.
Moreover, many characters in the Bible were not immediate saints after God called them up to bat. For example, even after God chose and made a promise to Abraham, he still exhibited deceitfulness. Before Moses served as a mediator to deliver the Israelites from bondage, he was a murderer. Then, even after the Israelites were set free and God used Moses in miraculous ways, he was still prone to bouts of anger. Even after Elijah called down fire from heaven, he feared a human queen more than God Himself. And even after David was anointed as God’s chosen king of Israel, he still committed adultery. All of these men were so important to the history of redemption that they were included in the Bible, and all of these men were corruptible human beings even after they were “chosen.” All of this simply means that even the Biblical heavyweights slipped up from time to time. The only incorruptible person (Who also happens to be God as well) is Jesus. So if a full turning takes a while and you struggle, then congratulations—you are a normal human being.
As I mentioned in the lesson in The Tabernacle, symbolically we live in the “dirt” of the world and constantly get our feet soiled as we engage in day-to-day activities. Yet it is the water-containing laver (representative of God’s Word) that compels us to both look at ourselves and to wash, making ourselves clean. This touches upon the process of sanctification, a topic for a later lesson. The basic point here is that becoming more Christ-like is always a continual process, not an event. We are always supposed to be studying God’s Word, praying, examining ourselves, and “washing” ourselves in His transcendent truth. This is what motivates us to repent.
The process of repentance, then, is mediated not by what we think is right, but by what God says. Because if, during the course of our journey with God, we change and thus our conscience changes, we cannot place eternal trust in something that is shifting. We can, however, place eternal trust in an unchanging God and His commands. And in order to turn away from what is bad, we have to know what is good and what God requires of us. So the more we learn about God, His principles, His morals, His Laws, and His commandments, the better idea we have about what is truly right and what is wrong. In the end, when we finally appreciate and understand what God desires, then we will develop a heart (and thus a desire for repentance) that aims to please God.
In an ideal scenario, God’s Word animates our conscience, which then convicts us when we do something outside of God’s commands. Paul writes in Romans 2:15 that God’s Law is written onto our hearts, and our conscience bears witness to His Law. Even people who are nonbelievers and unrepentant have a sense of the divine eternal principles written onto their hearts. Of course, in their case, their conscience may be a very soft, quiet voice that is ignored when they have a crisis of conscience. In the case of a repentant person, that voice is loud and unceasing, saying, “Stop!” The only way to ensure that the loud voice is in fact speaking the truth is to compare it with what God says.
When patients come in to see me in the office, they often have a type of pain, and although that pain is acutely troubling, it also serves a purpose: to let them know that something is wrong. That something wrong tells them that they need to see a doctor. For people with a repentant heart, their inner self strives to adhere to the external, divine, transcendent Law of God. Hence, when they violate that Law, their heart accuses them and they feel pain. That’s when they come to the ultimate Physician, Jesus, the only One who can truly heal them. The fact that the afflicted came into the office in the first place is a step toward recovery because they recognize that they can’t cure their sickness by themselves. And because of His grace, The Lord doesn’t want us to render our garments or to “do” anything in order to “prove” that we are sincere. Rather, the most sincere thing that we can do is to render our hearts and come to God in our broken spirit and contrite heart. The Physician can work wonders fixing a broken heart, but a physician can’t help someone who thinks there is nothing wrong.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
See I Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22.
See Jonah 3:10 as a reverse example: a community of people repented and therefore God relented from bringing about disaster.
Acts 20:28.
See also Proverbs 16:12; Jeremiah 23:1–4; Ezekiel 34:1–8; Mark 10:42–45; cf. Psalm 33:12; Proverbs 29:12; I Timothy 3:1–5.
R. C. Sproul, What is Repentance? (Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2014), 28.
Romans 2:4; II Peter 3:9.
Luke 5:32; c.f. Luke 15:7.
Genesis 15:1–21.
Genesis 20:1–7.
See Numbers 20:1–13.
See I Kings 19:1–8.
II Samuel 11.
February 25, 2016
THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES: THE SECRET TO LOVE THAT LASTS by GARY CHAPMAN
The bottom line: A book bursting with wisdom that all married people should know and follow.
The secret to love that lasts is that there is no secret. The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts lifts the veil of mystery and makes plain the key of enduring love: making the choice to love.
Not making the choice means being absent while staying put or leaving altogether. Making the choice means admitting that what’s been done isn’t working and both parties need to be able to understand the other’s primary love language. When you finally understand the language your partner has been speaking all along, then things will begin to make sense and relationship-building can commence.
The core of The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts are the five chapters that describe each of the unique languages, how you can identify which language you speak, and tips on how you can love your partner who speaks a another dialect.
Surrounding this core are beneficial chapters on why love fizzes out as time moves on, the “love tank” and how to keep it full, the fervor of falling in love, and loving those whom you dislike. The advice given in all these chapters are powerful in their simplicity and their practical applicability to everyday life. In fact, this is likely the greatest value of The 5 Love Languages¾its wise and insightful suggestions produce a plethora of actionable options that anyone can use to restore, strengthen and grow their relationship.
Even though The Five Love Languages is around 200 pages, it is one of the fastest 200 pages you will ever read. And although Dr. Chapman incorporates ideas from anthropology and psychology, there is absolutely no technical jargon. Everything is written in plain, simple, everyday language.
On a negative note, by far my biggest critique of this book are the endless stories and anecdotes. In fact, most of the book is told through the vehicle of narratives involving characters the author has dealt with during his career. While I realize this is a is popular and engaging style, many readers who seek “just the facts” and the objective ideas will often have to wade through thick layers of fluff before getting to the golden nuggets of wisdom. Regardless, a book definitely worth reading.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
February 19, 2016
WHAT CHRISTIANS SHOULD KNOW VOLUME II (#WCSK2) PART VIIA: REPENTANCE
For a downloadable .PDF of this lesson, click here: What Christians Should Know (#WCSK) Volume II (#WCSK2) Part 7a: Repentance
Podcast: Download | Play in a new window | Subscribe
The audio:
http://www.chesadaphal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WCSK-2.7a-Repentance.mp3
The series What Christians Should Know Volume II (#WCSK2) boosts your understanding and shows you how to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. All Scriptures will be taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted. Biblical references are examples and are in no way intended to be exhaustive. Many of the ideas here will build upon the series What Christians Should Know Volume I (#WCSK), which provides education on core beliefs and doctrines in the Christian faith. All of the lessons are best used as a general guide as you engage in your own Bible study.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
How this concept applies to your everyday life:
Introduction
In Mark 1:14–15, Jesus proclaims to all those who are present, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” In Luke 13:3, Jesus says, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Christ then repeats this statement in Luke 13:5. The repetition is a literary device used to emphasize something important. The Lord was trying to draw our attention by italicizing, underlining, and circling the fact that unrepentance leads to death. Furthermore, in Matthew 3:2, Christ says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and then in 3:8, says, “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
In Acts 3:19, the apostle Peter says, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” In fact, Peter also writes in II Peter 3:9 that repentance is so important that in His dispositional will, God wants everyone to come to repentance: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
Clearly, repentance is a crucial idea, but what does it really mean? Does repentance simply refer to saying, “I’m sorry?” or does it signify something deeper? Can anyone just repent, or do we have to have a relationship with God for it to be effective? What does repentance have to do with faith? Why does repentance seem so hard? Is repentance not really repentance if you go back and do what you repented of in the first place? Is repentance a lifelong process, or is it a one-time event?
This lesson will answer these questions and more.
What is repentance?
In Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem defined repentance as “a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake and walk in obedience to Christ.”
Our English word repentance is derived from the Greek word metanoeō, meaning to think differently; to reconsider or to change one’s mind for the better; to feel a moral compulsion or to have a sense of regret or remorse over a prior behavior. Repentance involves a mental awareness that something wrong was done, and that awareness is intimately connected to deep, emotional sorrow.
The entire Book of Lamentations is a perfect example of the expressed sorrow of Jeremiah over the desolation of Jerusalem. Of course, God handed the city and its people over to destruction because of their iniquity. In Lamentations 1:1–3, the prophet writes:
“How lonely sits the city that was full of people! She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer! She weeps bitterly in the night and her tears are on her cheeks; she has none to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. Judah has gone into exile under affliction and under harsh servitude.”
Jeremiah then qualifies the reason for this sorrow in verse 5: “For the Lord has caused her grief because of the multitude of her transgressions; her little ones have gone away as captives before the adversary.” In other words, Jeremiah feels regret over what is happening but also knows the reason why it’s happening: sin.
The Psalms also include poetry expressed over the heartache caused by violation of God’s commandments. Psalm 51 is the most well known of this type of psalm. King David wrote it after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and Nathan exposed the affair.
It’s important to note that in these examples of David and Jeremiah, both men exhibited an external behavior because of an inward change of heart. So out of their repentant hearts emerged specific actions (confessions of wrongdoing with sorrow and laments). Throughout the Old Testament, there are many examples of people engaging in specific prescribed rituals in order to symbolize inward repentance. Wearing sackcloth and ashes or tearing of one’s garments are two examples of the expression of deep, inward grief.
As far as God is concerned, He wants us to render our hearts, not our garments. This means The Lord is overwhelmingly more concerned with there being a deep, visceral emotional tear in our innermost being, as opposed to just tearing our clothes and engaging in a ritual.
The danger, of course, with focusing on an external behavior is that anyone can perform the ritual without having a sincere motivation behind it. That makes the ritual formless and void. As it says in Joel 2:12–13, “‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.’” Repentance results from the total conversion of a human being, so you aren’t grieved by one “big sin” or one “small sin” but by all sin. You don’t want to just remove a few things from an unfavorable environment (and have two addresses), but you want to gather all your belongings and go to someplace safe without looking back. Repentance compels you to execute a complete and total return to God.
How repentance works
The first thing to take note of is that repentance is only possible if it is preceded by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.
There is an entire lesson devoted to this topic in What Christians Should Know Volume I, but in a nutshell, regeneration means being born again by the Holy Spirit and being given a new heart and mind. In this secret act of God, He imparts new spiritual life to us. Regeneration is part of the entire process of salvation that continues Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross—that is, Christ has paid the price for our sins, and the Holy Spirit actualizes that work in our lives so that He can put sin to death and raise us up to new life. Our subsequent response to the work of the Holy Spirit regenerating us is repentance.
So where does faith fit into the picture? Basically, repentance and faith are married. Although we may have two labels for them, in the end they are inseparably woven together as one.
It is impossible to have legitimate Biblical repentance without faith, and it is impossible to have legitimate Biblical faith without repentance.
Turning away (repentance) from something means that you’re simultaneously turning toward (faith) something. Of course, turning away from sin means that you’re turning toward Christ. If you’re not turning toward Christ, then you can’t legitimately turn away from sin.
Conversion is a term used to refer both to repentance and faith in God. Genuine faith and genuine repentance go hand in hand, and the reason why is simple: We, as sinners, are incapable of doing what God commands based on our own compulsion. We have to be freed from the shackles of sin by God in order to exhibit the fruits of genuine faith and genuine repentance. Faith is a positive response that enables us to believe and trust in God. Repentance is a negative response that turns us away from the evil things we used to do. Although to clarify both concepts, I have separated repentance and faith, both happen simultaneously. Again, the Holy Spirit never regenerates people and makes them repentant so that they can just be “neutral” and simply avoid sin. Similarly, when the Spirit imparts faith in people, that faith engenders a sincere desire to change behavior.
Because repentance involves turning away from sin, it involves knowing about two things: the destructiveness of sin and the righteousness found in doing God’s will and following His commandments.
Yet this knowing is only the first part of the process because many people may know what is wrong and what is right but still choose to do evil. As it says in Romans 1:28–32, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper . . . and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (emphasis added). Even demons know that God is God. They just refuse to worship Him, and have no motivation to worship The Lord.
Knowing simply means you can mentally distinguish between right and wrong, but people are motivated to act based on emotion or heart condition. As it says in II Corinthians 7:9–10, “I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death” (emphasis added). Here the apostle Paul makes it very clear that a regenerated person feels sorrow over what they have done wrong. This sorrow isn’t an end in itself but serves as a vehicle to help the individual turn away from sin without regret and into God’s hands. Repentant people grieve over what they did wrong and turn away from their destructive behavior without feeling sorrow that they can no longer do what they used to do.
Join me next week to discover what repentance looks like in real life using the model of King David from Psalm 51. Also learn 7 things that repentance does. Until next time!
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 713.
See Genesis 37:34; II Samuel 3:31; I Kings 21:27; II Kings 6:30; Job 16:15, 42:6; Lamentations 2:10; Isaiah 15:3; Joel 1:13; Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13
Isaiah 43:18-19; II Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:9-10
Deuteronomy 4:39–40; Psalm 119:30, 60; Luke 6:46; John 14:45; I John 5:3, 5:8; I Peter 1:14.
Romans 12:2; II Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:20–24.
James 2:19.
II Corinthians 7:9–11.
February 18, 2016
CAN I BE SURE I’M SAVED?
The bottom line: Yes, you can be sure and R.C. Sproul cogently explains full assurance.
Here are some questions that carry eternal ramifications: If you cannot be sure of your salvation, then why would you give up all of yourself for something that is uncertain?
Who ultimately chooses if you are saved: is it you or is it God? If it is you, then how can God still be God if He waits on you to choose Him? If God intended for everyone be saved, doesn’t that necessarily mean He has to be perpetually frustrated, considering how many non-believers there are? If that is the case, then can God really be God?
Can I Be Sure I’m Saved? answers these theological and philosophical dilemmas. Essentially, what R.C. Sproul does is take the Biblical doctrine of election (or what Calvinists would call predestination) and unload these weighty, often-complicated ideas into plain and simple terms.
Sproul begins with fallacious ideas concerning the certainty of salvation and then expounds upon the Reformist perspective of foreknowledge that ends in salvation. Essentially, salvation begins, happens by, and is ultimately determined by God, so our assurance rests not on our fallible selves but the infallible Lord. So, yes—you can be sure that you’re saved and seeking this assurance is the duty of all Christians (II Peter 1:10).
Certainty, the final chapter, “The Source of Full Assurance” is where I personally believe the book has its most value. It gives Christians a proper Biblical framework on how they can answer the central question posed by the book and uses that assurance to strengthen their relationship with God. Here, the what, how, and ifs of full assurance are discussed.
Can I Be Sure I’m Saved? is part of series by Dr. Sproul called Crucial Questions that provides intelligent answers to some of the most basic and tricky questions about the Christian faith.
I have read many books in this solid series and this title is another solid addition. Crucial Questions equips and empowers readers to understand heavy theological concepts and ideas that yield practical dividends in a believer’s life.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
February 12, 2016
SEEK | REACH | RESTORE: A FOCUSED BIBLE STUDY OF II SAMUEL 9:1-10
The following is a supplemental Bible study guide to the sermon of the same name that can be found by following this link.
Seek: Seek the lost
Then David said, “Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.” (emphasis added; II Samuel 9:1-3)
David, the king of Israel, begins his day by asking if there is anyone that he may demonstrate kindness to. David is not simply motivated to do this because he is a nice guy. He is motivated by a covenant that he had made with Jonathan, the son of the former king, Saul. At this point in the narrative, Saul and Jonathan have already died. When Jonathan was alive, however, he and David were the best of friends, and both men loved each other as brothers. In fact, when Jonathan instructs David concerning the details of the covenant (I Samuel 20:15) that David makes with him, he uses the word lovingkindness, a near identical term to what David says here in II Samuel.
Hence, David seeks someone to whom he may show kindness for the sake of a promise he made to someone else. Similarly, Jesus expressed His own divine mission statement in Luke 19:10 when he declared that He came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” Salvation is of The Lord, and only He can save. Just like king David, however, we are very capable of seeking. This means being proactive about striving after those who are lost—those who do not yet know Jesus. We may not have figurative Jonathans in our lives, but we can look back and remember what God had already done for us, notably what Jesus did for us on the Cross. The only reason any Christian is “found” is because God first sought us. And because of His kindness, we are now motivated to seek the lost.
Christ fulfills three offices: prophet, priest, and king. As prophet, Jesus speaks on behalf of the Father and proclaims the Word of God so that we may know the truth. As priest, He acts as a mediator or an intercessor between the Father and us so that we may develop a deep, personal relationship with God. As king, He is sovereign and rules over us, protecting us, leading us, and incorporating us into His kingdom.
To seek is a function of the prophetic office as we strive to find those who do not know God and make an introduction. As seekers, we speak the truth of God’s Word to others.
Reach: Reach others where they are
So the king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-debar.” Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself. And David said, “Mephibosheth.” And he said, “Here is your servant!” (II Samuel 9:4-6)
Reaching is a function of the priestly office. In order to establish and maintain a lasting relationship, we can never expect the world to meet us where we are. We have to meet them where they are.
Today, whether we’re talking about marriage, parenting, counseling, or relating to friends, the priest seeks to empathize and relate to people based on their context. The reason for this is obvious: people have tremendous experience living their lives but no experience living someone else’s. Realize that reaching people where they are does not mean idolatrous accommodation or a manufactured sense of inclusiveness where anything goes. Reaching them means bridging a gap and relating the objective, external truth of Jesus to their subjective, internal experience. Reaching them means making things simple, plain, and relatable to everyday life. Reaching them means telling stories that will inspire them to act. So you may have three degrees in theology, but can you explain atonement to a six year old? You may have been in church before she was born, but do you know what to say when she feels broken and vulnerable? Praying for two hours a day may be normal for you, but can you lead and guide a brand new believer who has a hard time praying for two minutes?
David is a king, and he was used to having circumstances bend to accommodate him. Yet in spite of this, he actively reaches for Mephibosheth, a person who was living on the margins. Mephibosheth was the grandson of a former king of Israel, yet he was now living in a place across the Jordan river, outside of Israel. Mephibosheth was literally outcast, crippled in both feet (for how this happened, see II Samuel 4:4), and had no one reached out to him, he would have lived a life in obscurity, away from his rightful inheritance. God reached us where we are by taking the form of a human being (Jesus). Here, David reaches Mephibosheth where he is—in a place of no association, no communication, and on the sidelines—in order to restore a severed relationship.
Restore: Restore God’s family
David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul; and you shall eat at my table regularly.” Again he prostrated himself and said, “What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?” Then the king called Saul’s servant Ziba and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson may have food; nevertheless Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall eat at my table regularly.” (II Samuel 9:7-10a)
To restore is a function of the kingly office. Kings always rule over kingdoms, and kingdoms function best when people have a common purpose, a common assurance, and a common agreement that they will be able to accomplish much, much more together than if they were apart.
Again, David didn’t have to do anything for Mephibosheth. He didn’t have to restore the proper inheritance to someone who thought of himself as so lowly that he referred to himself as a “dead dog.” Similarly, God didn’t have to anything for us. He didn’t have to rescue us from our depravity, He didn’t have to sacrifice Himself to pay the penalty for sin, and He didn’t have to provide a means for salvation. But, because of the kindness of God, He did do all these things so that His invisible kingdom can be made visible.
The call to restore others means seeking for and reaching out to the many figurative Mephibosheths who live in places outside of our normal scope of vision¾people who have royal blood in their veins but who have forgotten that their grandfather was a king and who now consider themselves “dead dogs.” Realizing that in the Bible, separation exists only but for a season, restoration means all the pettiness and bitterness of the past deprives the kingdom of its full potential. Restoration is characterized by zealous men and women working together to seek, reach, and restore Mephibosheths. Restoration involves a recognition that no human being knows whom God has chosen and elected, and therefore, many of the people who may be regarded as “lowly” or “unworthy” are in fact lost members of God’s family who have a reserved seat at His divine table. Restoration involves us going out and demonstrating kindness to others and acknowledging their place at God’s table.
Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal
