Index
Because they regard not the
works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and
not build them up. --Psalm 28:5
What a heritage to leave behind! Shortly before Timothy McVey was executed for
bombing the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, he distributed a copy of Invictus,
a poem by a minor American author, William Ernest Henley. It is short, but packed with arrogance and
blasphemy.
Out
of the night that covers me,
Black
as the Pit from pole to pole,
I
thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable
soul.
In
the fell clutch of circumstance
I
have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under
the bludgeonings of chance
My head is
bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond
this place of wrath and tears
Looms
but the Horror of the shade,
And
yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall
find, me unafraid.
It
matters not how strait the gate,
How
charged with punishments the scroll,
I
am the master of my fate:
I
am the captain of my soul. 1875
The poem, wicked though it is, pretty much captures
the thinking of a great many Americans.
It is often commended in school literature classes as the work of a liberated
soul. Instead, it is a work of a soul in
bondage to sin. How do teachers live
with themselves, when their students follow the logical consequences of their
teaching?
Henley knew about Christ’s teaching regarding the
“strait gate,” and he knew that the Bible [the scroll] was charged with
warnings against the wicked. But he chose
to defy all of these in terms of his “unconquerable soul.” Neither he nor McVey conquered death,
however. [See Romans 5:14]
It is impossible to be neutral. This must be so if God is the Creator and
Sustainer of all things. The fault here
is a simple one: the wicked do not
regard “the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands.” The penalty is severe and spiritual, because
God is a Spirit, and His most severe punishments are spiritual ones.
Men resist the idea of
a God who rules all things because they want to leave some wiggle room for
themselves. They are willing to debase
God in order to exalt themselves, and they reserve their worst invective
against those who point out the lie.
They do not want to deal with such a God, for such a concept requires
that salvation be of grace and man wants to believe the fiction that he is
“master of his fate.”
Setting
New Records
It was a great game of Balderdash. I was playing with my Catechism Class. Every once in a while I have the eight kids
over to the house for a game night, and we were having a wonderful time. For you not acquainted with the game, it
mainly involves making up believable definitions of strange, unfamiliar words
and trying to deceive the other players into thinking that your definition is
the real one. It is a great game that I
never win.
I pulled off a coup.
I do not remember the word, but I remember the definition that I made
up, “a glove worn by Russian peasants in the 17th Century.” To my delight I hooked every one of them. There was a massive point shift in my
direction and I ended up by winning the game.
[For the first time, I might add.
Would you believe that I had some satisfaction from beating a bunch of
junior/senior high kids in a board game?]
In the same way, I suspect that something in this
article may hook most of my readers. I
suspect that there will be something in it that will offend everyone. That is no small task in the present
theological environment. There are some
people, I suppose, who will grant the privilege of believing anything I want,
as long as I stay within bounds [bounds decided by them, of course.] I suppose that some super-pious people will
get offended because I have already talked so much about myself.
What has happened to men? Why have men turned into such babies? I think I know the answer. Men have been feminized. I think I know the latest turning point in
the process. It was when Candidate
Dukakis was condemned for his reaction to a question from a reporter about a
hypothetical rape of his wife. Candidate
Dukakis was crucified in the press for not showing enough “sensitivity” in his
answer [I forget his exact words—something boring and dull], an hypothetical
answer to an hypothetical question. The
Candidate subsequently lost the election and the incident was not lost on
future candidates. We still do not know
what Candidate Dukakis would have done under a real tragedy. He seemed to take his electoral defeat by
Ronald Reagan in a manly way—meaning he did not weep, as Patsy Schroeder did in
another election. But people forgave
Patsy—she was a woman, after all. A
generation ago Candidate Edmund Muskie wept and was finished as a candidate, as
being perceived as weak.
I do not weep at movies—in fact, I rarely go. It is very difficult for me to get emotional
about fiction. It seems such a sissy
thing to do—why should I be un-manned?
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern did not know Hamlet’s “stops,” and people
do not know mine. People have a hard
time figuring out what I think. I like
it that way. People do not have a right
to intrude into the privacy of my mind and I don’t let them in unless there is
a reason for it. Solomon had it right,
“A fool utters all his mind.” Intruders
of all types will be treated badly, whether they intrude into my house, intrude
into my mind, and especially if they try to rape me emotionally.
It is not that I don’t like people. I do, very
much. But I expect to be treated on my
own terms, just as I expect to treat them on their own terms. Jesus treated people with dignity and respected
their privacy.
Man is a sinner, but he is created in the image of
God. Even a criminal who was condemned
to be beaten with stripes was not to be despised—and his dignity required a
limitation on the number of stripes. [Deut. 25:1,2]. It was forbidden to beat a man to a bloody
pulp—he was not to be despised in the eyes of the people. There is to be dignity even in death and
punishment. A man could stand tall, even
in his death as a criminal. “Take it
like a man,” my uncles used to tell me.
The modern spirit is against “taking it like a
man.” I suppose revivalism had something
to do with it. Emotion and weeping
replaced conversion. It was enough that
a man “walked the aisle,” wept at the “mourners” bench, and gave emotional “evidence”
of repentance. Of course, emotion has
nothing to do with repentance. Repentance
is not an emotion; it is a change of life.
It is not sufficient for a man to weep while he beats his wife; he must
stop beating her. But we learned at our
revivals how to sing “Oh, How I Love Jesus,” sometimes with our hands stretched
to heaven and tears running down our cheeks.
It was a good escape from facing the responsibilities of obedience in
the “real” world. Revival and emotion
replaced the responsibility to learn and understand doctrine—to take the Bible
seriously.
More, a man should stand tall as a man, take his
responsibility for his wife’s welfare and her faith, giving her someone to
respect and honor. He should start by
drying his tears.
I suppose that the counselors have had something to do
with it, too. Arrogant men thrust
themselves into the place of God, presuming to know what is in the hearts of
men. They fancy themselves able to
provide remedies for man’s sin and misery.
How dare they pretend such things!
God does not give men such privilege.
God has reserved for Himself the knowledge of men’s
hearts. Men do not even know their own
hearts, let alone the hearts of other men.
Jeremiah 17:9,10 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the
reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit
of his doings. Only God can penetrate
the inner man and reveal motives and secret things. Solomon had it right again: 2 Chronicles 6:30 Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place,
and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart
thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men.
There were other turning places before
Candidate Dukakis, such as the legalization of homosexuality; the decadent and
cowardly decision of psychiatry to label the sin normal. [Of course, sin is man’s “normal” condition
since the fall and the curse of God – but it is wicked to surrender to
perversity, setting evil for good and good for evil.]
We do not want to be uncomfortable or ill
at ease. That’s why we find churches
that “minister to our felt-needs,” saying little about our real needs. It is good that Jesus didn’t follow that
formula. Who among men felt the need for
the Son of God to die on the cross?
After all, a man should be comfortable in church, shouldn’t he? Isn’t that what Jesus is all about?
No wonder we have become a nation of
crybabies, victims, and whiners, multiplying
suits at law. We have no
fortitude to endure tough things. We
used to be told, “That’s life,” and we knuckled down and worked harder in face
of adversity. Now we expect comfort and
ease, so that not even our feelings are disturbed. We look for someone to blame if things don’t
go to our choosing. We choose leaders,
not for their policies or for their fortitude, but because they can “feel our
pain.” We have become limp-wristed and
effeminate. It is no longer a good thing
to teach your boy to be a man. It is
better to teach him to be sensitive, to smother his aggression, to be
girlish, as if God’s gift of
testosterone is a curse.
Access into
Grace
Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ: By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
God. --Romans 5:1,2
I finally
got around to reading my January/February issue of Books and Culture. In it Robert H. Gundry at Westmont College
was taking Calvinists to task for insisting that Christ’s life of perfect
righteousness, including His death, was the foundation of our justification. His specific complaints had to do with the
“strongly Reformed tone” of the document “The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An
Evangelical Celebration,” published by Christianity Today, June 14,
1999.
In the
theological battles that followed the Protestant Reformation none were more
important than the struggle over the relationship of faith to the salvation of
the soul. Against Rome the Reformers
insisted that salvation was by faith alone.
Against the Reformation, Rome expressed her doctrine clearly at the
Council of Trent: Sixth Session:
CANON IX.-If any one saith, that by faith
alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is
required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification,
and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by
the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.
The issue was, and is,
not unimportant. Rome has never yielded
on this, for to do so would eliminate the whole system upon which her wealth
and influence depend.
But a major crack soon
appeared in the ranks of those who opposed Rome. The Remonstrance [followers of Arminius] and
the Socinians [Unitarians] brought in a deadly error that has become widespread
in evangelical circles in America. This
was the idea that faith takes the place of righteousness in the eyes of
God. The faith of the individual
substitutes for Christ’s righteousness.
Subjectivism replaces the objective anchor of the obedience of Christ.
Although there were many
variations of the error, the essentials were something like this: “God knows that no sinner can do that which
will make him just before God. Obedience
to all the precepts of the Law of God lies beyond man. Man would therefore be without hope, if God
did not require of him something which man could do. In mercy and grace, God sent His Son into the
world to show man that He loved him. If
man would just open his heart and believe that God loves him, then God would accept
his faith instead of obedience to His law.
Like a bankrupt, man cannot pay the whole bill, but God will accept what
man can pay. Man can choose to believe,
and God accepts that faith in place of righteousness. God accepts man’s good intentions of which
faith is the prize and gem.”
The doctrine does not
bear the weight of the examination of Scripture. The Bible is clear. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and
His perfect obedience to the law, including suffering its penalty on the cross,
which clears man’s debt and sets him free.
God cannot deny Himself, and He cannot pretend that man has fulfilled
the law when man hasn’t done so.
Justification is not based upon some pretense in God or some overlooking
of transgression. This would require God
to deny His own word: Exodus 34:7 Keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that
will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the
fourth generation. The mercy that
God shows does not involve clearing the guilty.
The text
quoted above gives the true doctrine. It
is by faith that we have access into the grace wherein we stand. It is grace that brings us to Jesus Christ,
and it is His righteousness that satisfies the debt we owe to God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The
righteousness which the redeemed offer to God has nothing of them, but is wholly
the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
He took our sin, so that His righteousness could be imputed to us. Paul clearly makes the case in Romans 7:18,19
“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
Just as
the sin of Adam came upon all men to condemnation, so the righteousness of
Jesus Christ comes upon all those who believe in Him. By faith we see that Christ died for our
sins and we give assent to the verdict of God concerning His Son: Galatians 2:19-21 For I through the law am dead to the law,
that I might live unto God. I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
The
doctrine of the Arminians and Unitarians has been devastating on morality and
decency among those who are in error.
Good intentions replace obedience, and good feelings are offered in
place of good deeds and sound doctrine.
If God will settle for some human-generated good feelings concerning
Jesus Christ apart from union with Him, then why shouldn’t my neighbor be satisfied
with my good intentions? “I am convinced that I had no idea I was breaking the
law,” becomes the excuse for every crooked politician who corrupts the
law. “He is such a loving man,” is a
justification for every kind of misdeed among the clergy. Truth gets overwhelmed with globs of
sentiment and professed intentions. “God
knows my heart,” is supposed to cover all.
But
doesn’t Paul say that Abraham’s faith was imputed to him for righteousness
(Romans 4:22)? The great theologian
Charles Hodge wrote on this verse:
“Faith justifies by appropriating to ourselves the divine promise. But if that promise does not refer to our
justification, faith cannot make us righteous.
The object of justifying or saving faith, that is, of those acts of
faith which secure our acceptance with God, is not the divine veracity in
general, nor the divine authority of the Scriptures, but the specific promise
of gratuitous acceptance through the mediation and merit of the Lord Jesus
Christ.” {Charles Hodge, Commentary
on Romans 4:22)
Abraham
was justified by faith because his faith united him to Jesus Christ, who was
present in the promises of the Old Testament.
Just as Paul wrote to the Galatians: And the scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all nations be blessed. So
then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. [Galatians 3:8,9] Abraham by faith looked forward to the coming
Redeemer, just as we look back to Him.
As the Heidelberg
Catechism puts it:
Q61:
Why do you say that you are righteous by faith only?
A61: Not that I am acceptable to God on account of
the worthiness of my faith, but because only the satisfaction, righteousness
and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God; [1] and I can receive
the same and make it my own in no other way than by faith only. [2]
1. I Cor. 1:30; 2:2
2.
I John 5:10; Isa.
53:5; Gal. 3:22; Rom. 4:16
By this one statement,
Christ revealed the carnal dreams of Israel and showed the nature of His
kingdom. Israel expected that when
Messiah came, He would drive out the Romans and their oppressors and set up a
carnal kingdom, and they would rule with him in a kingdom of peace and
prosperity.
They didn’t know the
nature of their enemy. The real enemies
of men are the evil ideas and lusts that reside in their own hearts. The real conflict for the souls of men takes
place there, not on the bloody battlefields of the world.
It is the truth that
sets us free, the conviction that all our sins are forgiven in Jesus
Christ. In delivering us from guilt by
faith through the Gospel, the Lord Jesus sets us free to please Him, whether it
is in life or in death. To God be the
glory!
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