They are materialists. For them nothing besides matter exists and to them a man is like wood, like an eggshell. With this belief they sink to unthinkable depths of cruelty.
The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe. When a man has no faith in the reward of good or the punishment of evil, there is no reason to be human. There is no restraint from the depths of evil that is in man.
I learned from them. As they allowed no place for Jesus in their hearts, I decided I would leave not the smallest place for Satan in mine.
The above is a powerful quote from a book I am reading called Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand. Wurmbrand was an evangelical minister who endured 14 years of Communist imprisonment and torture in his homeland of Romania, and was a leader in the Underground Church of eastern Europe. He spent 3 years in solitary confinement and his wife, thinking he was dead, was a slave-laborer for 3 years on the Danube Canal.
Wurnbrand was released in a general amnesty in 1964 and Christians in Norway negotiated his release from Romania for $10,000. In 1966, He testified before Congress and was later informed of a planned assassination attempt by the Romanian government.
Wurmbrand went on to found the Christian mission The Voice of the Martyrs and to travel the world seeking relief for the families of imprisoned Christians in Islamic and Communist nations. He died in 2001, but his ministry lives on.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
There are Two Goats - Part II
II. Application of Atonement
The thing about the Day of Atonement is that the blood of the animals could not put to death sin in the flesh. It could not propitiate or remove God’s wrath and it could not expiate or wash away our sin. All of this is a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. It was very important, because it is how God had told them to demonstrate their faith in the messiah. But it was just a picture of the atonement of Christ; his sacrificial, penal, propitiation, and mediation, substitution, & expiation. Just like for Israel, there is both a general and particular picture here. Christ died for the sins of the world, but what was done by the High Priest for the whole is only active in the individual by grace through faith in Christ, alone.
Only by rightly understanding the function of the Two Goats is the atonement fully appreciated, and this is not just theological word-sparring. I fear that many of you struggle with the reality of your sin and the sins of others because you lack this right understanding and appreciation.
A. Christ Died for your Guilt
Guilt - We are guilty of sin. We need to understand the reality of sin. God is angry because He hates sin. He hates it so much He was willing that His Son die in order to overcome it. The Bible never says that God hates the sin and loves the sinner, as if the two can be entirely separated. It was the Hindu Gandhi who coined the phrase “Love the sinner but hate the sin” in his 1929 autobiography, where he also said, “Jesus’ death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it my heart could not accept.” There is no wisdom in any of that. It is like saying, “God loves rapist but hates rape,” as if the two were entirely different things. God hates sin and apart from Christ we can not please God. However, in Christ we no longer have to live with the guilt of our sin, or the sin of others against us. Christ died to take that guilt away.
Wrath - God is not mad at us, He hates sin. Romans tells us that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation particularly because the wrath of God is already revealed toward sin, the payment for sin is death. The death payment was paid by Christ to satisfy the justice of God. That is the only reason why there is now no condemnation for those who believe.
Anger - To be angry but to not sin is to understand that Jesus satisfied the anger of God, and while we should be angry when God is angry, we are to leave justice to Him, for He is the only just one. It breaks the command of God to want grace for ourselves and justice for those who sin against us. When we do wrong to another person, we feel guilty. But when someone does wrong to us, we feel bitter. Bitterness is by definition our response to someone else’s sin against us. The hurt of sin leads to anger. When we can not or do not do anything about the hurt, it settles into bitterness, an intense resentment marked by animosity, hatred, cynicism and contempt. It is cold, raw, destructive misery.
Revenge - Jesus did not just die for your sins, but to satisfy your wrath toward those who sin against you. When we are injured by the sin of others, it is right to want blood. That is the payment God requires. Fortunately for us, Jesus has already spilt all the blood necessary, so we do not have to. Romans 12:19 says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.”
Bill - “My Dad used to beat me.” God’s view of his sin is the view He must have of his Dad’s.
B. Christ Died for your Shame
Shame - Our sin is despicable. We can not be clean alone. Christ died to take away our shame. In fact the Bible says in Hebrews 12 that Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. It is to our shame that we have turned our hearts from God. Jesus, as our mediator has taken our shame upon himself and removed it from us, so that hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5) We no longer have to live in shame.
Separation - Just like Adam, our sin causes us to hide from God and cover ourselves. The result of the shame of our sin is that we are separated from God, even if we do not recognize it. Many of us live, even as believers, covered by the shame of our sin. However, Ephesians 2:13 makes clear that, “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” We no longer have to live in isolation as a consequence of our shame.
Defilement - Jesus did not just die for your sin, but to scorn your shame and take away the defilement of the sin committed against you. There are many of us who have been sinned against in a way that leaves us feeling defiled and living in the filth of the sin of those who sinned against us. Many will tell you that someone else’s sin does not make you unclean. The reality is that those who have experienced rape, or other abuse, do feel unclean. They feel defiled by the sin of the one who sinned against them.
Jesus did not have to kill a bull to atone for his own sins before He could serve as our High Priest. He had no sin of His own. Yet, He died for the sins of those who sinned against Him. He took on the defilement of all of the world’s sin, so that we could be washed white as snow from the filth of not just our sin, but the sin committed against us. We no longer need cleansing.
Filth - We are a dirty people and we live among a nation of dirty people. The filth of our sins and the sins of those around us leave us feeling like scum. The Jesus of the cross was covered in dirt, blood, spit and garbage. He was humiliated, and He willingly bore our guilt and our shame. With it He bore the wrath of God and for the first time in all of eternity he was separated from the Father, the community and fellowship of the godhead was broken. He took our guilt and wrath and gave us His righteousness. He spilled His blood for God’s anger toward your sin and yours toward those who sin against you and others against whom you have sinned. He took our shame and filth and gave us His glory as sons through our adoption as brothers in Christ. He spilled His blood to wash away our sin and the sins of those who sin against us.
III. Two Goats:
We were born in sin and live in sin. Until we are dead to sin and alive to righteousness in Christ, we are in desperate need of two goats, propitiation and expiation, forgiveness and cleansing. As believers who have been made dead to sin and alive to righteousness in Christ, we need to live both under the blood and under the water. We need to live in the truth that there is now no condemnation and that God has, “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Eph. 1:3-4) “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.” (Col. 1:21-23)
The thing about the Day of Atonement is that the blood of the animals could not put to death sin in the flesh. It could not propitiate or remove God’s wrath and it could not expiate or wash away our sin. All of this is a foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. It was very important, because it is how God had told them to demonstrate their faith in the messiah. But it was just a picture of the atonement of Christ; his sacrificial, penal, propitiation, and mediation, substitution, & expiation. Just like for Israel, there is both a general and particular picture here. Christ died for the sins of the world, but what was done by the High Priest for the whole is only active in the individual by grace through faith in Christ, alone.
Only by rightly understanding the function of the Two Goats is the atonement fully appreciated, and this is not just theological word-sparring. I fear that many of you struggle with the reality of your sin and the sins of others because you lack this right understanding and appreciation.
A. Christ Died for your Guilt
Guilt - We are guilty of sin. We need to understand the reality of sin. God is angry because He hates sin. He hates it so much He was willing that His Son die in order to overcome it. The Bible never says that God hates the sin and loves the sinner, as if the two can be entirely separated. It was the Hindu Gandhi who coined the phrase “Love the sinner but hate the sin” in his 1929 autobiography, where he also said, “Jesus’ death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it my heart could not accept.” There is no wisdom in any of that. It is like saying, “God loves rapist but hates rape,” as if the two were entirely different things. God hates sin and apart from Christ we can not please God. However, in Christ we no longer have to live with the guilt of our sin, or the sin of others against us. Christ died to take that guilt away.
Wrath - God is not mad at us, He hates sin. Romans tells us that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation particularly because the wrath of God is already revealed toward sin, the payment for sin is death. The death payment was paid by Christ to satisfy the justice of God. That is the only reason why there is now no condemnation for those who believe.
Anger - To be angry but to not sin is to understand that Jesus satisfied the anger of God, and while we should be angry when God is angry, we are to leave justice to Him, for He is the only just one. It breaks the command of God to want grace for ourselves and justice for those who sin against us. When we do wrong to another person, we feel guilty. But when someone does wrong to us, we feel bitter. Bitterness is by definition our response to someone else’s sin against us. The hurt of sin leads to anger. When we can not or do not do anything about the hurt, it settles into bitterness, an intense resentment marked by animosity, hatred, cynicism and contempt. It is cold, raw, destructive misery.
Revenge - Jesus did not just die for your sins, but to satisfy your wrath toward those who sin against you. When we are injured by the sin of others, it is right to want blood. That is the payment God requires. Fortunately for us, Jesus has already spilt all the blood necessary, so we do not have to. Romans 12:19 says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.”
Bill - “My Dad used to beat me.” God’s view of his sin is the view He must have of his Dad’s.
B. Christ Died for your Shame
Shame - Our sin is despicable. We can not be clean alone. Christ died to take away our shame. In fact the Bible says in Hebrews 12 that Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. It is to our shame that we have turned our hearts from God. Jesus, as our mediator has taken our shame upon himself and removed it from us, so that hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5) We no longer have to live in shame.
Separation - Just like Adam, our sin causes us to hide from God and cover ourselves. The result of the shame of our sin is that we are separated from God, even if we do not recognize it. Many of us live, even as believers, covered by the shame of our sin. However, Ephesians 2:13 makes clear that, “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” We no longer have to live in isolation as a consequence of our shame.
Defilement - Jesus did not just die for your sin, but to scorn your shame and take away the defilement of the sin committed against you. There are many of us who have been sinned against in a way that leaves us feeling defiled and living in the filth of the sin of those who sinned against us. Many will tell you that someone else’s sin does not make you unclean. The reality is that those who have experienced rape, or other abuse, do feel unclean. They feel defiled by the sin of the one who sinned against them.
Jesus did not have to kill a bull to atone for his own sins before He could serve as our High Priest. He had no sin of His own. Yet, He died for the sins of those who sinned against Him. He took on the defilement of all of the world’s sin, so that we could be washed white as snow from the filth of not just our sin, but the sin committed against us. We no longer need cleansing.
Filth - We are a dirty people and we live among a nation of dirty people. The filth of our sins and the sins of those around us leave us feeling like scum. The Jesus of the cross was covered in dirt, blood, spit and garbage. He was humiliated, and He willingly bore our guilt and our shame. With it He bore the wrath of God and for the first time in all of eternity he was separated from the Father, the community and fellowship of the godhead was broken. He took our guilt and wrath and gave us His righteousness. He spilled His blood for God’s anger toward your sin and yours toward those who sin against you and others against whom you have sinned. He took our shame and filth and gave us His glory as sons through our adoption as brothers in Christ. He spilled His blood to wash away our sin and the sins of those who sin against us.
III. Two Goats:
We were born in sin and live in sin. Until we are dead to sin and alive to righteousness in Christ, we are in desperate need of two goats, propitiation and expiation, forgiveness and cleansing. As believers who have been made dead to sin and alive to righteousness in Christ, we need to live both under the blood and under the water. We need to live in the truth that there is now no condemnation and that God has, “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Eph. 1:3-4) “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.” (Col. 1:21-23)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
There are Two Goats
I will be speaking tonight at the Troy University BCM. I know most of the students there well and am excited to have to oportunity to teach on therir turf. I am going to deal with lofty topics and I pray God will give them ears to hear.
I have been reading Death by Love by Mark Driscoll. Form that book, I have been reminded of the great importance of both sides of atonement, as pictured in the OT celebration of the Day of Atonement. I have included below the first installment of notes from my talk at the BCM. I will include the entire outline and more notes tomarrow, as I will also present this for Wednesday night Bible Study at my church this week.
I. The Day of Atonement
One of the central events of the OT was the act of atonement. The annual celebration of atonement was Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). This was the most important day of the year.
The Day of Atonement was intended to deal with the sin problem between humanity (the nation of Israel in particular) and God. The entire nation was called to repent of sin and trust God for salvation from sin and its effects. There was an expectation that each individual would confess is own sins and have his own personal faith in God. So, what was done by the High Priest for the whole was only active in the individual through their personal faith.
Of the many prophetic elements of this day, one stands out. On that day, two healthy goats, without defect, were chosen to represent sinless perfection.
A. The Sacrificial Goat
The first goat was a sin offering. Acting as a substitute for sinners who rightly deserved death as the penalty for their sins, the goat was no longer innocent when it took on the guilt of sin. Its perfection was exchanged for the imperfection of the people. The blood of the goat represented life as payment for sins.
1. OT Action: The first goat was slaughtered by the High Priest. (Lev. 16:2-16)The priest would sprinkle some of the blood of the goat on the Mercy Seat (atop the Ark of the Covenant) in the Most Holy Place. The dwelling place of God was cleansed from the sin of the people and His holy wrath toward their sin was satisfied.
2. Gospel Picture: Doctrine of propitiation; sacrifice whereby God’s wrath is removed from its object (US). We are no longer under God’s wrath, our sin is atoned for and covered by the blood of a perfect substitute. Our guilt is exchanged for His perfection. Double imputation, where He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. That is why we are made righteous by the blood. The goat representing propitiation foreshadowed the cross, where the just wrath of God was satisfied through death as penalty for sins. Jesus did not just die for your sins, but also to satisfy your wrath toward those who sin against you.
B. The Escape Goat
The second goat was an escape goat. Acting as a scapegoat, the animal represented the reality that every person was made filthy by sin.
1. OT Action: The High Priest, acting as a mediator between sinful people and their holy God, would take the second goat and lay his hands on the animal while confessing the sins of the people. (Lev. 16:20-30)
This goat would then be led away in to the wilderness and let go, sent away from the sinners, symbolically carrying their sins with it.
2. Gospel Picture: Doctrine of expiation; whereby our sins are taken away so that we are made clean. When the priest lays his hands on the goat and sends the animal away, it is a picture of how we are cleansed from our defilement by our High Priest, Christ Jesus. The goat representing expiation foreshadowed the cross, where Jesus washed us white as snow. Jesus did not just die for your sin, but also to scorn your shame and take away the defilement of the sin committed against you.
II. Application of Atonement
A. Christ Died for your Guilt
Guilt - We are guilty of sin.
Wrath - God is not mad at us, He hates sin.
Anger - To be angry but to not sin is to understand that Jesus satisfied the anger of God, and while we should be angry when God is angry, we are to leave justice to Him, for He is the only just one.
Revenge - Jesus did not just die for your sins, but to satisfy your wrath toward those who sin against you.
B. Christ Died for your Shame
Shame - Our sin is despicable.
Separation - Just like Adam, our sin causes us to hide from God and cover ourselves.
Defilement - Jesus did not just die for your sin, but to scorn your shame and take away the defilement of the sin committed against you.
Filth - We are a dirty people and we live among a nation of dirty people.
III. Two Goats:
Propitiation and Expiation,
Forgiveness and Cleansing,
Dead to Sin and Alive to Righteousness,
Blood and Water,
Holy and Blameless.
I have been reading Death by Love by Mark Driscoll. Form that book, I have been reminded of the great importance of both sides of atonement, as pictured in the OT celebration of the Day of Atonement. I have included below the first installment of notes from my talk at the BCM. I will include the entire outline and more notes tomarrow, as I will also present this for Wednesday night Bible Study at my church this week.
I. The Day of Atonement
One of the central events of the OT was the act of atonement. The annual celebration of atonement was Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). This was the most important day of the year.
The Day of Atonement was intended to deal with the sin problem between humanity (the nation of Israel in particular) and God. The entire nation was called to repent of sin and trust God for salvation from sin and its effects. There was an expectation that each individual would confess is own sins and have his own personal faith in God. So, what was done by the High Priest for the whole was only active in the individual through their personal faith.
Of the many prophetic elements of this day, one stands out. On that day, two healthy goats, without defect, were chosen to represent sinless perfection.
A. The Sacrificial Goat
The first goat was a sin offering. Acting as a substitute for sinners who rightly deserved death as the penalty for their sins, the goat was no longer innocent when it took on the guilt of sin. Its perfection was exchanged for the imperfection of the people. The blood of the goat represented life as payment for sins.
1. OT Action: The first goat was slaughtered by the High Priest. (Lev. 16:2-16)The priest would sprinkle some of the blood of the goat on the Mercy Seat (atop the Ark of the Covenant) in the Most Holy Place. The dwelling place of God was cleansed from the sin of the people and His holy wrath toward their sin was satisfied.
2. Gospel Picture: Doctrine of propitiation; sacrifice whereby God’s wrath is removed from its object (US). We are no longer under God’s wrath, our sin is atoned for and covered by the blood of a perfect substitute. Our guilt is exchanged for His perfection. Double imputation, where He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. That is why we are made righteous by the blood. The goat representing propitiation foreshadowed the cross, where the just wrath of God was satisfied through death as penalty for sins. Jesus did not just die for your sins, but also to satisfy your wrath toward those who sin against you.
B. The Escape Goat
The second goat was an escape goat. Acting as a scapegoat, the animal represented the reality that every person was made filthy by sin.
1. OT Action: The High Priest, acting as a mediator between sinful people and their holy God, would take the second goat and lay his hands on the animal while confessing the sins of the people. (Lev. 16:20-30)
This goat would then be led away in to the wilderness and let go, sent away from the sinners, symbolically carrying their sins with it.
2. Gospel Picture: Doctrine of expiation; whereby our sins are taken away so that we are made clean. When the priest lays his hands on the goat and sends the animal away, it is a picture of how we are cleansed from our defilement by our High Priest, Christ Jesus. The goat representing expiation foreshadowed the cross, where Jesus washed us white as snow. Jesus did not just die for your sin, but also to scorn your shame and take away the defilement of the sin committed against you.
II. Application of Atonement
A. Christ Died for your Guilt
Guilt - We are guilty of sin.
Wrath - God is not mad at us, He hates sin.
Anger - To be angry but to not sin is to understand that Jesus satisfied the anger of God, and while we should be angry when God is angry, we are to leave justice to Him, for He is the only just one.
Revenge - Jesus did not just die for your sins, but to satisfy your wrath toward those who sin against you.
B. Christ Died for your Shame
Shame - Our sin is despicable.
Separation - Just like Adam, our sin causes us to hide from God and cover ourselves.
Defilement - Jesus did not just die for your sin, but to scorn your shame and take away the defilement of the sin committed against you.
Filth - We are a dirty people and we live among a nation of dirty people.
III. Two Goats:
Propitiation and Expiation,
Forgiveness and Cleansing,
Dead to Sin and Alive to Righteousness,
Blood and Water,
Holy and Blameless.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Excitement of a New Year
It is always exciting to begin a new year. I am not sure why this is such an exciting event. When you really think about it, it is just another day. Nothing really happens. In the end, God created time and space as a means for us to measure our time here on earth. God is eternal and all things of ultimate value are eternal. He is not bound by time and space.
Yet, it is exciting. I think it is because God does interact with us in the context of time and space. The heart of the gospel is that God in Christ makes all things new. For those who believe, old things have passed away and we are a new creation. Just like in the beginning, when God first separated the light from the darkness and called one day and the other night, there is something in things being made new that displays the glory of God.
After the fall, as a result of the sin of our first parents, the new creation of God was made accursed. At that moment, the new thing God had made began to wind down and decay. Since that time, we have been in desperate need of a chance to start over, to begin anew.
God saw the sin of the people and washed the creation clean with a flood. In so doing, He saved the family of the righteous man Noah. God made a covenant with Noah and gave the rainbow as a sign of the promise of a new start.
As the earth became re-populated, God called out a people to be particular unto Himself. He chose Abraham to be the father of a new nation that would be set apart as God’s people. God made a covenant with Abraham and gave circumcision as the sing of the promise of a new start.
When God’s people had forgotten their covenant with God and allowed themselves to become slaves, God heard their cries and sent Moses to lead them out of bondage. God made a covenant with His people and gave them the Law and a Promised Land as the sing of the promise of a new start.
When they again forgot their covenant with God and chose to have an earthly king, God called David and made a covenant with Him and gave him a throne as a sign of the promise of a new start.
God saw His people rebel against Him and worship other gods before God and as though they were God. He led them into destruction, captivity, and exile. Only a remnant of God’s people remained faithful, but God remained faithful even when His people were not.
When the time arrived, according to the plan of God, He sent His Son, Jesus. God separated the light from the darkness. God gave us a chance to begin anew. God washed creation clean and gave water as the sign of the promise of a new start.
God called out a people to be particular unto Himself, a nation of priest for His names sake, and gave His very Spirit as a seal of this promise of a new start. He heard our cries and gave us a new command of love and grace, and a promise of a new land as a sign of the promise of a new start. God gave a new King, a new throne, the inauguration of a new kingdom as the sign of the promise of the consummation of that kingdom and an once and for all, eternal, new start.
I do not know. There is just something exciting about a new start.
Yet, it is exciting. I think it is because God does interact with us in the context of time and space. The heart of the gospel is that God in Christ makes all things new. For those who believe, old things have passed away and we are a new creation. Just like in the beginning, when God first separated the light from the darkness and called one day and the other night, there is something in things being made new that displays the glory of God.
After the fall, as a result of the sin of our first parents, the new creation of God was made accursed. At that moment, the new thing God had made began to wind down and decay. Since that time, we have been in desperate need of a chance to start over, to begin anew.
God saw the sin of the people and washed the creation clean with a flood. In so doing, He saved the family of the righteous man Noah. God made a covenant with Noah and gave the rainbow as a sign of the promise of a new start.
As the earth became re-populated, God called out a people to be particular unto Himself. He chose Abraham to be the father of a new nation that would be set apart as God’s people. God made a covenant with Abraham and gave circumcision as the sing of the promise of a new start.
When God’s people had forgotten their covenant with God and allowed themselves to become slaves, God heard their cries and sent Moses to lead them out of bondage. God made a covenant with His people and gave them the Law and a Promised Land as the sing of the promise of a new start.
When they again forgot their covenant with God and chose to have an earthly king, God called David and made a covenant with Him and gave him a throne as a sign of the promise of a new start.
God saw His people rebel against Him and worship other gods before God and as though they were God. He led them into destruction, captivity, and exile. Only a remnant of God’s people remained faithful, but God remained faithful even when His people were not.
When the time arrived, according to the plan of God, He sent His Son, Jesus. God separated the light from the darkness. God gave us a chance to begin anew. God washed creation clean and gave water as the sign of the promise of a new start.
God called out a people to be particular unto Himself, a nation of priest for His names sake, and gave His very Spirit as a seal of this promise of a new start. He heard our cries and gave us a new command of love and grace, and a promise of a new land as a sign of the promise of a new start. God gave a new King, a new throne, the inauguration of a new kingdom as the sign of the promise of the consummation of that kingdom and an once and for all, eternal, new start.
I do not know. There is just something exciting about a new start.
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