Category Archives: Jesus Christ

Prime Products and By-products. . .

Posted by Dan C. on

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

Christ’s death for our sins was the reason He came to earth, the purpose of His life, and the reason He went to the Cross. Just yesterday I read yet  another article that discussed the death of Christ without the use of the “S” word being applied to people. I suspect that when we call sin everything but sin (pick your own term here), we don’t feel so bad about ourselves.

Instead of confronting us with our spiritually dead condition, much of modern evangelical Christianity talks about how Christ died so we can have better lives, or find our ‘special purpose’, or have peace in the middle of life’s storms.

No where in scripture are we told that Christ died for any other reason than to save His people from their sins. The angel who visited Mary named the Son she would bear and gave her that specific message (Matthew 1:21).

That we can experience better earthly lives, endure adversity, and are partakers of heavenly blessings (Ephesians 1:3) are by-products of Christ’s death for our sin, not the main reason He suffered and died 2,000 years ago.

Food for thought  before the annual celebration of His resurrection. . .

Why Did Christ Die?

Posted by Dan C. on

“According to some people, Christ died to give all a chance of being saved! I do not know that I hate anything more in my soul than to hear that. It makes Jesus Christ so little–that He should do so much, and after all only to get us a chance of being saved. Why, if a man is set up in business, you see how often it happens that he fails in it; and if man cannot manage the paltry things of time and sense without being insolvent, what will he do with eternal realities? And if you come a little closer, when God “made man upright” and he had no sinful nature, what did he do with his innocence? He lost it all! And yet poor presumptuous man has the vanity to think you and I could manage the chance of being saved. What an insult it is to the Lord Jesus Christ to fix the eternal honor of God upon chance, and that chance to be managed by a poor sinful creature who is tumbling into half a dozen holes every hour of his life! NO, NO. Thanks be to God for immortal realities and certainties. WHAT IS SAID CONCERNING WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE? He has “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself;” He has “finished transgression and made an end of sin;” He has “redeemed us from all iniquity;” He has “redeemed us from the curse of the law,” from destruction and from the power of the devil; He has “obtained eternal redemption for us;” He has “redeemed us to God.” To the honor of the Eternal Trinity it is said, not that the redeemed shall have a chance, but that the redeemed shall “come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” The Lord Jesus Christ has done this “great” work; and He has gone to heaven shouting “Victory,” for “God is gone up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” He rose from the grave as a demonstrative proof that sin was destroyed, law satisfied, God honored, His people eternally and everlastingly saved. And the immortal honors of God unite in their salvation; therefore, He ever lives at the right hand of the Father to make intercession.” – William Gadsby (1773-1844)

How to Hate Your Neighbor – Redux

Posted by Dan C. on

II don’t spend a lot of time using the WordPress tools to analyze this blog, but a few days ago I actually took a look at my blog’s Dashboard and noticed that the “Most Active” post right now is How to Hate Your Neighbor, with triple digit views. Discounting the possibility that some of my own views are in included in the count, It’s still a sizeable number, at least for an ‘average guy’ blog. There are only four comments for the most active post, however, two of them being author replies to reader comments.

Apparently, while the title attracted curious viewers, few wanted to talk about the subject matter. Either they just thought the author was nuts, might have had a point but it was hard to understand, or the point just escaped them. Whatever the case, a bucket load of viewers didn’t comment, even though discussion was invited and encouraged at the bottom of the original post.

Perhaps the ‘personal’ tone generated the usual “he’s judging ME” in the minds of viewers who either don’t share the Gospel, or who share the “wrong” gospel (that would have been the “don’t ever tell them” list).

That post was only as personal as any reader perceived it to be, and if perceptions are a a kind of reality, I guess it was personal. When I remember the time, years ago, when I shared a tract with a prostitute on a downtown street of a small Kansas town that maximized God’s “wonderful plan” but gave second place to “sin”, it’s personal to me.

I was really proud of myself for not ‘witnessing’ like the fellows on the other side of the street who passed out tracts that talked about Hell and judgment and asked passersby “Where’s your soul going to die?”, with what I thought was a snarky tone. Those same fellows, from an Independent Protestant church in town with what I called “legalistic” tendencies, operated a little Servicemen’s Center on that street. Night after night, they would stand outside of the entrance and “ambush” unsuspecting sinners. The “regulars” just walked on the other side of the street.

Back to the point. . .

I was really proud that I was engaging a few people on the street that night in real conversation and not ambushing them. I simply walked both sides of the street striking up a conversation or two and guiding it to spiritual matters. If the person with whom I was speaking seemed receptive, I pulled out one of the pamphlets I had in my pocket and shared all about “God’s love and wonderful plan”. Sure, sin was mentioned, but in the sense that it separates us from God and the “wonderful plan”.

Does God have a plan” Sure He does, but it might only be wonderful in His mind and not ours. He doesn’t think like us. If you take a close look at evangelistic encounters in the New Testament, you don’t find the “wonderful plan” approach anywhere!

Where did that leave me, considering I loved sharing the Gospel? It left me with SIN as the main issue. I would have to be able to talk about that which unbelievers find extremely offensive and I certainly wouldn’t win friends and influence people. The ONLY reason a non-believer needs to come to Christ is to deal with the SIN issue. Everything else falls into place after that is taken care of.

“Leading” people to a “decision” to accept Christ for all the great things in store for them, is disingenuous at best, and an outright lie at it’s worst. You see, a half truth is still a lie, and representing something as the “main thing” when it’s not, is likewise a lie, at least in my book.

So yes, that last post was personal – and you are still encouraged to read it and respond, whether you agree, disagree, or just don’t care. I would love to talk about it.

How to Hate Your Neighbor

Posted by Dan C. on

Recently I watched a short video clip from a well known American entertainer and atheist in which he made a very thought provoking statement. The speaker defended both atheists’ and Christians’ efforts in proselytizing.  About Christians he asked a question that could be summarized: “If you believe there’s a Heaven and a Hell and people go there, that eternal life is a possibility, how much to you have to hate others to NOT tell them about it?”

Think about it for a minute. . ., or two, or three, or more. This guy did.

Well, after the dust settled in my brain, and I picked my heart up off the floor, I had to admit that the man had a point. We MUST really hate our neighbor to NOT share with him/her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Could there even be anything worse, more cruel or hateful, than NOT to share the truth that sets men free, can keep them from Hell, and assure them a home in Heaven? And it hit me like a ton of bricks. . .

Tell them, but. . .lie. . .

Just tell them . . .

  • God loves them so much He can’t imagine His heaven without them in it.
  • They can come to Jesus WITH their sin.
  • They can have their best life now !
  • They have a special purpose in life, custom made by God, and they just need to discover it to be happy and fulfilled.
  • Jesus died for their dreams.
  • God knows we are just human and make mistakes that separate us from Him, so He sent His Son to “bridge the gap”.
  • All they have to do is “decide” to follow Jesus, “ask/accept”  Him into their heart”, or repeat a little prayer. That way they are in total control.

In other words, tell them stuff that emphasizes that they are the very center of God’s universe and everything He does, He does just for them!

But don’t ever tell them. . .

  • That apart from Christ, we are all DEAD in our SINS, deserving of God’s wrath – that we are “born on death row”.
  • The truth about SIN – it’s not just mistakes and errors in judgment (things we do) but a terminal illness we are born with (who we are).
  • That Jesus died for their sins, in their place, to appease the wrath of His Father against all sin.
  • That the first word of the Gospel preached by John the Baptist, Jesus, and Peter and John on Pentecost, was “repent”.
  • That repentance is part and parcel of the gift of faith and genuine belief in Christ.
  • Being a Christian is no guarantee of a better job, house, car, or any other form of material gain.
  • That they would face trials, persecution, be hated, and might face death because of their faith in Christ.

In other words, don’t tell them that God’s primary concern is His own Name – that everything He does is first and foremost a demonstration of His power, designed to bring Himself great honor and glory!

There you have it. Two ways to hate your neighbor: 1) Don’t tell others about the path to peace and eternal life, or 2) tell them, but lie about it.

And how might following the above lists of “do’s and don’ts” show a greater hatred for my neighbor than not telling them at all? 

Think about it and let’s discuss it.

For this Christ Came. . .Part 3

Posted by Dan C. on

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. – 1 John 4:10

The word propitiation carries the basic idea of appeasement, or satisfaction, specifically towards God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him.

The word propitiation is used in several key verses to explain what Jesus accomplished through His death on the cross. For example, in Romans 3:24-25 we see that believers in Christ have been “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.” These verses are a key point in Paul’s argument in the Book of Romans and are really at the heart of the Gospel message.

In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul has made the argument that everybody, both Jew and Gentile alike, is under the condemnation of God and deserving of His wrath (Romans 1:18). Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All of us deserve His wrath and punishment. God in His infinite grace and mercy has provided a way that His wrath can be appeased and we can be reconciled to Him. That way is through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the atonement or payment for sins. It is through faith in Jesus Christ as God’s perfect sacrifice, foretold in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament, that we can be reconciled to God. It is only because of Christ’s perfect life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection on the third day that a lost sinner deserving of hell can be reconciled to a Holy God. The wonderful truth of the Gospel message is that Christians are saved from God’s wrath and reconciled to God not because “we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The only way for God’s wrath against sinful man to be appeased and for us to be reconciled to God is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way. This truth is also communicated in 1 John 2:2; “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” An important part of Christ’s saving work includes deliverance from God’s wrath that the unbelieving sinner is under, because Jesus’ atonement on the cross is the only thing that can turn away God’s divine wrath. Those that reject Christ as their Savior and refuse to believe in Him have no hope of salvation. They can only look forward to facing the wrath of God that they have stored up for the coming day of judgment (Romans 2:5). There is no other propitiation or sacrifice that can be made for their sins.

Recommended Resource: Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper.

For This Christ Came. . .Part 2

Posted by Dan C. on

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” – Jesus

We have two verbs here describing the purpose of Christ’s coming – “to seek” and “to save”, with a single object “the lost”. Christ came with a specific purpose to seek out and deliver “lost” people from their “lost condition. We must ask – “Who are these “lost” ones?” The Apostle Paul would have us believe that the “lost” means everyone who has not seen their sinful condition, recognized God’s solution in Christ, and, having been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, placed their trust in Christ alone for their salvation. in Romans chapter 3, Paul and describes the lost in terms straight out of Scripture, stating what was already written:

Rom 3:10  as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;  (Psa 14:1)
Rom 3:11  no one understands; no one seeks for God. (Psa 14:2)
Rom 3:12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Psa 14:3)
Rom 3:13  “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” (Psa 5:9)
Rom 3:14  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” (Psa 10:7)
Rom 3:15  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  (Isa 59:7)
Rom 3:16  in their paths are ruin and misery, (Isa 59:7)
Rom 3:17  and the way of peace they have not known.” (Isa 59:8)
Rom 3:18  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Psa 36:1)

According to Scripture, there are two groups of people – the saved and the lost, those who believe in the one God sent as Savior and those who don’t. Paul in the above passages from Romans described characteristics of those who remain lost to God, spiritually dead in their sin. A verse in the Gospel of John describes the present state of the saved and the lost:

Joh 3:18  “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Both the passage in Luke and the one of the Romans passages (v. 13) speak of “seeking”. the Luke passage tells us that Jesus came to seek and save the lost, while the Romans passage tells us that no person, on their own (in their natural state from the womb),

A last question here. If Paul is correct in his description of the lost, how does any person come to trust in Christ when Christ “finds” him/her?

And that’s a discussion unto itself. . .

For this Christ came. . .

Posted by Dan C. on

ISAIAH 53

1  Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2  For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

3  He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

8  By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

9  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Some translations render the highlighted portion of verse 10 as “it pleased the LORD to crush Him”. John Gill, in his commentary has this to say:

“Isa 53:10 – Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him,…. The sufferings of Christ are signified by his being “bruised”; See Gill on Isa_53:5, and as it was foretold he should have his heel bruised by the serpent, Gen_3:15, but here it is ascribed to the Lord: he was bruised in body, when buffeted and scourged, and nailed to the cross; and was bruised and broken in spirit, when the sins of his people were laid on him, and the wrath of God came upon him for them: the Lord had a hand in his sufferings; he not only permitted them, but they were according to the counsel of his will; they were predetermined by him, Act_2:23, yea, they were pleasing to him, he took a kind of delight and pleasure in them; not in them simply considered as sufferings, but as they were an accomplishment of his purposes, a fulfilment of his covenant and promises, and of the prophecies in his word; and, particularly, as hereby the salvation of his people was brought about; see Joh_10:17.”

With all our talk about how much God loves us and how much He wants to bless us, do we even have words that can begin to express what must have been in the heart of God to send His own Son to die for us?

Mary Did You Know?

Posted by Dan C. on

Mary knew she was blessed among women, Joseph knew she would give birth to the One who would save His people from their sins. The disciples were told, but did not really understand until it was Finished and the Holy Spirit was given.

The Father knew.   He was sending His Son to earth for the Cross. ‘Christmas’ from the Father’s view. . .

The Father’s Bargain

Posted by Dan C. on

An excerpt from the sermon The Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Redeemer, John Flavel ,1671

“How reasonable it is that believers should embrace the hardest terms of obedience unto Christ, who complied with such hard terms for their salvation: they were hard and difficult terms indeed, on which Christ received you from the Father’s hand: it was, as you have heard, to pour out his soul unto death, or not to enjoy a soul of you. Here you may suppose the Father to say, when driving his bargain with Christ for you:

Father: My son, here is a company of poor miserable souls, that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice! Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them: What shall be done for these souls And thus Christ returns.

Son: O my Father, such is my love to, and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety; bring in all your bills, that I may see what they owe you; Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them; at my hand shall you require it. I will rather choose to suffer your wrath than they should suffer it: upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.

Father: But, my Son, if you undertake for them, you must reckon to pay the last mite, expect no abatements; if I spare them, I will not spare you.

Son: Content, Father, let it be so; charge it all upon me, I am able to discharge it: and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, (for so indeed it did, 2 Cor. 8:9. “Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor”) yet I am content to undertake it.

Blush, ungrateful believers, O let shame cover your faces; judge in yourselves now, has Christ deserved that you should stand with him for trifles, that you should shrink at a few petty difficulties, and complain, this is hard, and that is harsh? O if you knew the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in this his wonderful condescension for you, you could not do it.”

Where is Jesus Now?

Posted by Dan C. on

A Sunday School teacher of preschoolers was concerned that his students might be a little confused about Jesus Christ because of the Christmas season emphasis on His birth. He wanted to make sure they understood that the birth of Jesus occurred for real. He asked his class, “Where is Jesus today?”

Steven raised his hand and said, “He’s in heaven.” Mary was called on and answered, “He’s in my heart.” Little Johnny, waving his hand furiously, blurted out, “I know, I know! He’s in our bathroom!!!”

The whole class got very quiet, looked at the teacher, and waited for a response. The teacher was completely at a loss for a few very long seconds. Finally, he gathered his wits and asked Little Johnny how he knew this. Little Johnny said, “Well…every morning, my father gets up, bangs on the bathroom door, and yells, “Good Lord, are you still in there?!”

That’s an old joke, but the question is quite valid. Where IS Jesus now? I fear there are some who might be confused in this matter. Scripture tells us exactly where He is now:

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Philippians 2:8-9

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

John 17:5

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Ephesians 3:9

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Hebrews 1:1-3

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

At this very moment, Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, His majesty and glory restored, awaiting the command from His Father to come to earth a second time, but as judge, not as Savior – that work was finished at the Cross.

The work of God on Earth and in the life of the believer is in and through the Holy Spirit, whose sanctifying work is ever conforming us into the image of God’s Son. It is the Holy Sprit who brings comfort and peace when we are troubled or weary, but who also brings conviction and guilt when we sin.  The love of God ‘shed abroad in our hearts’ is the Holy Spirit at work. The peace that surpasses all understanding is the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. And the list goes on. . .

If Jesus is sitting in majesty and glory at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is now working on earth, where did all this “Jesus is my dance partner” mushy romanticism come from? More importantly, where in scripture is such a view of the Lord of the universe presented in scripture? Can anyone out there tell me?