Justification Through Faith

Having faith in the Bible won’t save you. Only faith in Jesus will. But, since faith is what we must have for eternal life, it behooves us to search the Scriptures diligently to learn all we can concerning it. As we investigate faith, we quickly learn faith and justification go hand in hand. That’s vitally important because only those justified can enter heaven’s gate.

Regarding justification Calvin wrote, “He’s said to be justified in the sight of God who, in the Divine judgment, is reputed righteous, and accepted on account of it. For since iniquity is abominable to God, no sinner can find favor in His sight so long as he’s considered as such. Wherever sin is, it’s accompanied with the wrath and vengeance of God. He is justified who’s considered not a sinner, but a righteous person, and on that account stands in safety before the tribunal of God, where all sinners are confounded and ruined.”

God’s Holy Word states repeatedly that faith and justification are inseparable. For example, “The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the heathen through faith“ (Galatians 3:8) and that God “justifies the ungodly who believe in Jesus“ (Romans 3:26). On judgment day Jesus will defend His own. “Who’ll bring any charge against God’s elect? It’s God who justifies. Who’s the one who’ll condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, He was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us“ (Romans 8:33-34).

Calvin wrote, “Since God, therefore, justifies us through the mediation of Christ, He acquits us, not by an admission of our personal innocence, but by an imputation of righteousness; so that we, who are unrighteous in ourselves, are considered righteous in Christ.” Really? Can this be true?

Yes, due to God’s covenantal vow. “We proclaim to you the good news about the promise to our ancestors, that this promise God has been fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus…” (Acts 13:23-33). Why? “He did this by predestinating us to adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of His will – to the praise of the glory of His grace that He’s freely bestowed on us in His dearly loved Son“ (Ephesians 1:5-6).

“If anyone is in Christ, he’s a new creation; what’s old has passed away – look, what’s new has come! All these things are from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and who’s given us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and He’s given us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).

How incredibly gracious and merciful God is to make attaining redemption, justification and salvation so uncomplicated! “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness“ (1 John 1:9). Pause for a moment. Let that sink in. Jesus opened the door to paradise that we could never have opened. “We’re made righteous by the obedience of Christ“ (Romans 5:19).

Sin-wise, I’m no different from Paul. I humbly and shamefully admit that I “don’t do what I want – instead, I do what I hate… For I know nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I can’t do it. For I don’t do the good I want, but I do the very evil I don’t want!“ (Romans 7:15,17-19). I’m so far from being righteous it’s disgraceful. I’m still a mess. What’s up with that?

Calvin wrote, “Since it’s sufficiently known from experience that some relics of sin always remain in the righteous, the manner of their justification must of necessity be very different from that of their renovation to newness of life. For the latter God commences in His elect, and as long as they live carries it on gradually, and sometimes slowly, so that they’re always obnoxious at His tribunal to the sentence of death. He justifies them, however, not in a partial manner, but so completely that they may boldly appear in heaven, as being invested with the purity of Christ.”

Amazing. In other words, it’s not my righteousness that justifies me before God, but the sublime, pristine righteousness of my Savior. Like Paul, “I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I’ve suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness“ (Philippians 3:8-9).

Therefore, no Christian has anything whatsoever to brag about. We all fall woefully short of God’s glory. As Augustine wrote, “The righteousness of the saints, in this world, consists rather in the remission of their sins than in the perfection of their virtues.”

Spurgeon pleaded, “Get yourself firmly to believe that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin“ (1 John 1:7); that His sacrifice is complete and fully accepted of God on man’s behalf, so that whoever believes on Jesus is not condemned. Believe these truths as you believe any other statements… Believe the witness of God just as you believe the testimony of your own father or friend.”

In the Celebrate Recovery ministry we never withhold the hard truth that developing patience is necessary as the Holy Spirit renovates one’s heart. He rarely heals instantly. Lewis B. Smedes wrote, “Half our struggle in growing up is coming to terms with the real reason we have (and often hide) for doing the things we do. The same is true in our spiritual growth. It takes time and it takes growth to uncover the real reason we have, even for the basics – being a believer, for instance. Our hearts have reasons our heads are too superficial to know – at first.”

R.C. Sproul summed up justification well: “God doesn’t declare the sinner just because the sinner, considered in himself, is just. No, God deems him just because of what’s added to his account, the merit of the righteousness of Christ.”

Shame On Us

If not dealt with honestly, unwarranted shame will weigh us down and rob us of the joy that comes with belonging to our Lord Jesus. If that should happen, shame on us. The devil will use it to convince us we’re unacceptable. Gerhart Piers opined, “Behind the feeling of shame stands the fear of abandonment.” Carl Schneider said, “The underlying dynamic of shame is the fear of rejection.”

Unacceptable. Abandoned. Rejected. Few feelings are harder to bear. However, Jesus promises, “Everyone whom the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I’ll never send away” (John 6:37). Therefore, for a Christian to allow shame to make them think they’re unwanted is shameful in and of itself. Our Savior made it clear His grip on each believer’s soul is unbreakable.

Therein lies our hope. Lewis B. Smedes commented, “The experience of being accepted is the beginning of healing for the feeling of being unacceptable. Grace is the beginning of our healing because it offers the one thing we need most: to be accepted without regard to whether or not we’re acceptable. Grace is the gift of being accepted before we become acceptable.”

One of God’s blessings we treasure in the Celebrate Recovery ministry is that we don’t have to first clean ourselves up or rid ourselves of all our sinful behaviors prior to laying our guilt and shame at the foot of the Cross. Grace is the “come as you are” bargain for habitual sinners. All we have to do is surrender our self-centered pride, admit that only God can fix what’s wrong with us, and then help Him do it.

Smedes wrote, “We’re ready for grace when we’re bone tired of our struggle to be worthy and acceptable. After we’ve tried too long to earn the approval of everyone important to us, we’re ready for grace. When we’re weary of trying to be the person somebody convinced us we had to be, we’re ready for grace. When we’ve given up all hope of ever being an acceptable human being, we may hear in our hearts the ultimate reassurance: we are accepted, accepted by grace.”

Skeptical unbelievers label grace a cop-out. A “get out of jail free” pass. An excuse to avoid responsibility for our wrongdoings. From their point of view, it’s a fairy tale. And, in a way, they’re not far from the truth. For those of us who’ve experienced the forgiveness and healing that comes via grace, it’s indeed an improbable and wholly unexplainable miracle from God. That’s why, out of uninhibited gratitude, its recipients welcome turning into a “new creation” whose greatest desire is to please Him.

“Be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:15-17).

Grace doesn’t mean we’ll never sin or feel shame again. On the contrary, our Holy Spirit-infused conscience will employ shame to convict us and let us know when we’ve veered off the narrow path of righteousness. Even lifelong Christians are still all-too-human, walking, talking contradictions who occasionally require a jolt of guilt to refocus our attention on Christ. That’s okay. We recognize shame for the positive warning sign it’s supposed to be. We’re to let it do what it’s intended to do and then let it go.

Grace declares us worthy of God’s love, forgiveness, redemption and salvation. When we sing “Amazing Grace” we express the wondrous, description-defying generosity of our Master as best we can. “Amazing grace/how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me/I once was lost but now I’m found/was blind but now I see.” As we openly confess our wretchedness, we also celebrate our worthiness granted solely by the grace of God.

Smedes offered his personal perspective on what worthiness is: “My mother made huge sacrifices for me and I’m still trying to come to terms with her heroic grace. Did I deserve it? I know for sure I didn’t. Was I worthy of it? I believe I was. I was worthy of her sacrifice simply because she brought me into the world as a magnificent human being with my own potential to make something of myself. I was worthy of what she did for me, even though I didn’t deserve it.” Most of us can relate.

For our part, only developing a willingness to forgive can rid us of shame. Hannah Arendt wrote, “The only possible redemption from the predicament of being unable to undo what one has done is the faculty of forgiving.” Most assuredly, it’s often a very challenging remedy. Nevertheless, it’s the only one we have. There’s no “second opinion” to seek out. Revenge is bad medicine. It makes things worse so “getting even” is always a waste of time. We must forgive.

Jesus made forgiveness the cornerstone of His earthly mission. “If you forgive others their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins“ (Matthew 6:14-15). There are no loopholes in that statement. C.S. Lewis wrote, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

At Celebrate Recovery I’ve met many who found it easier to forgive others than to forgive themselves. I tell them it’s a matter of accepting themselves for who they are – a sinner. And that designation puts them in the same boat with everybody else! Thus, holding a grudge against yourself is pointless. Acceptance is more than “feeling good” about yourself, it’s a full-time job that entails constant self-assessment. “Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the LORD“ (Lamentations 3:40).

Shame can be beneficial or harmful. Smedes wrote of grace’s healing power: “It gives us the courage to track down the sources of unhealthy shame, see it for the undeserved pain it is, and take steps to purge our lives of it completely. It sets loose the lightest feeling of life; being accepted; totally, unreservedly accepted.”

The Shame of It All

Anyone who’s read some of my blog entries knows I’m not only a survivor of porn addiction but also a leader in our church’s Celebrate Recovery ministry. The compulsion’s gone but I know better than to assume I don’t need to be wary of relapse. I prevent that from happening by making our weekly meetings a priority where God uses my weakness to display His healing power.

One thing I’ve noticed over the 15 years I’ve been serving there is that everyone who shows up the first time has something in common – they’re ashamed of their sinful ways. Even those who came “only to support their spouse” eventually realize shame is keeping them from experiencing the joy of knowing Christ more intimately. The paradox is the more we learn about Jesus the more we recognize our unworthiness of His saving grace. The result is shame.

Lewis B. Smedes wrote, “We have shame when we persistently feel we’re not acceptable and are less than the good person we’re supposed to be. Shame’s a vague, undefined heaviness that presses on our spirit, dampens our gratitude for the goodness of life, and slackens the free flow of joy. It’s a primal feeling, the kind that seeps into and discolors all our other feelings, primarily about ourselves but about almost everyone and everything else in our life as well.”

Shame, in and of itself, isn’t sinful. In fact, it can cause us to dedicate ourselves to “working out our salvation with fear and trembling“ (Philippians 2:12). It’s important to bear in mind that there are two different kinds of shame, healthy and unhealthy. In the future I’ll get around to exploring the healthy type but, in the meantime, destructive, debilitating shame will be the focus.

Merle Fossum commented, “A pervasive sense of shame is the ongoing premise that one is fundamentally bad, inadequate, defective, unworthy, or not fully valid as a human being.” Sadly, what David expressed so explicitly is true, “All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there’s no one who does good, not even one“ (Psalm 14:3). Those of us who concur with Calvin regarding our “total depravity” often have to defend our faith in God’s merciful forgiveness against those who take that designation to mean everybody ought to go ahead and do whatever they please. They don’t believe we’re all born spiritually dead, anyway.

Of course, nonbelievers are often charitable, kind and compassionate. R.C. Sproul wrote, “They’re still capable of performing what the Reformers called works of ‘civil virtue.’ The moral ability lost in original sin is therefore not the ability to be outwardly ‘moral,’ but the ability to incline oneself to the things of God. In the spiritual dimension we’re morally dead. The sinner isn’t biologically dead. Indeed, the natural man is very much alive. Corpses don’t sin. The death in view here is clearly spiritual death.”

It’s precisely why we desperately need a Savior.

Feeling shame isn’t unnatural. Smedes wrote, “The feeling of shame is about our very selves – not about some bad thing we did or said but about what we are. It tells us we’re unworthy, unacceptable. And to feel that way is a life-wearying heaviness. Shame-burdened people are the sort whom Jesus had in mind when He invited the ‘weary and heavy laden’ to trade their heaviness for His lightness.”

In other words, don’t get discouraged. Being unworthy of God’s grace doesn’t mean we’re worthless. As I’ve said before, Christ didn’t suffer torture, ridicule and a gruesome death for “worthless souls.” On the contrary, His love for His own is unshakable and eternal. That’s why we must deal with shame honestly and allow Him to heal us of it.

It’s vital to understand guilt and shame aren’t the same thing. Smedes commented, “The difference between guilt and shame is very clear – in theory. We feel guilty for what we do. We feel shame for what we are. A person feels guilty because he did something wrong. A person feels shame because he is something wrong. We may feel guilty because we lied to our mother. We may feel shame because we’re not the person our mother wanted us to be.”

I’m not implying we don’t sometimes feel guilt and shame at the same time. We can feel guilty for cheating on our tax return and shame for being dishonest. We can feel guilty for not leaving a decent tip at a restaurant and shame for being a selfish tightwad. I’m sure you catch my drift.

Shame is so common it’s mentioned in the Bible over 430 times. Interestingly, the first instance of shame appears when Adam and Eve got caught disobeying God. Up till the moment they decided to eat the forbidden fruit they were innocent. “The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed“ (Genesis 2:25). That changed when their blatant disobedience “went viral.”

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the orchard. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ The man replied, ‘I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid’“ (Genesis 3:8-10).

Hiding is one tell-tale symptom of shame. Therefore, the first step in the Celebrate Recovery program is to leave denial behind and come clean about our hurts, hangups and habits. We’re all as sick as our secrets. Adam and Eve’s deceitful behavior following their fall into sin isn’t all that surprising. Shame can cause us to act illogically, like trying to keep our sins hidden from our sovereign God who sees and knows everything.

Smedes wrote, “We feel properly embarrassed when we’re caught doing something that makes us look inept, knuckleheaded, or inappropriate. Maybe the difference is this: we feel embarrassed because we look bad, and we feel shame because we think we are bad.” It’s usually a combination of both.

Yet shame isn’t incurable. The Bible offers the remedy: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed“ (James 5:16). CR provides a safe place to confess and pray.

More About the Soul

A month ago I wrote about the soul, something everybody has, but I felt there was more to explore within this vital subject. As Dallas Willard opined, “What’s running your life at any given moment is your soul. It’s the aspect of your whole being that correlates, integrates, and enlivens everything going on in the various dimensions of the self.” Yet nothing’s more mysterious. He agrees: “The soul is ‘deep’ in the sense of being basic or foundational and also in the sense that it lies almost totally beyond conscious awareness.”

Still, believers are urged to pay close attention to it. “Give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen“ (Deuteronomy 4:9). “You’re standing at the crossroads. So, consider your path. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you’ll find rest for your souls“ (Jeremiah 6:16). Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you’ll find rest for your souls“ (Matthew 11:29).

David describes a man whose soul is at peace with God. “How blessed is the one who doesn’t follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers! Instead, he finds pleasure in obeying the LORD’s commands; he meditates on His commands day and night“ (Psalm 1:1-2). Obedience isn’t a chore for him. It’s a blessing. It delights him.

Sadly, there are billions of unconverted people across this planet whose soul is in a constant state of cold despair. They’re “dead in their transgressions“ (Ephesians 2:5), slaves to their sinful nature that always goads them to satisfy the longings of the flesh and blinds them to the truth that can set their soul free. Willard wrote, “The protective walls of the soul have been broken down by pain and evil, leaving the person at the mercy of everything that happens.”

But in Christ there’s hope for the hopeless and for Christians who’ve gone astray. God never turns His back on a soul that sincerely seeks to know Him. Robert Wise commented, “Reconnected to the Spirit of God, lost souls discover they have power and capacity beyond anything they could’ve dreamed. The restoration of soul is more than a recovery of connectedness. Significant strength, ability to achieve, guidance, and awareness are imparted.”

A leader in our church’s Celebrate Recovery ministry, I’m often troubled by the number of desperate individuals who crawl into a meeting with their souls in turmoil, yet, upon hearing they can be cured if they’ll only surrender all their hurts, habits and hangups to Jesus, they leave and never return. Borrowing from a 90s song title, it’s as if they say to themselves, “I’ll do anything to be healed, but I won’t do that.” Perhaps they’re afraid Christ will change them too much.

Back to the soul. The word has been overused, misapplied and misunderstood for so long that many don’t even know they possess one. It’s real, nevertheless. The shame is, it’s rarely brought up in sermons anymore. It’s almost as if the term has been labeled “offensive.”

At one point during my backsliding 20s I was suffering from a severely broken heart, so I decided to give kundalini yoga a shot. It involved a lot of very deep breathing. While participating in one of the hyperventilation-heavy classes I was able to mentally strip off everything physical piece by piece until I arrived at a place where I felt like the only thing left was me. I couldn’t go any further. Bingo! I’d found my soul.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m no advocate of any Eastern religion’s doctrines or practices. Jesus is all I need. It wasn’t the yoga exercise; it was my Heavenly Father who led me to encounter my soul that evening. He blessed me to see for a few seconds that I not only have one but that it is, indeed, immortal. While that experience was memorable, it still wasn’t enough at the time to draw me back to the Gospel truths I’d been taught. I had many more dark nights to endure before I was ready to step from denial, accept Christ and let the Holy Spirit begin renovating my heart. Perhaps you’ve walked through the “valley of the shadow of death“ (Psalm 23:4) yourself and have a similar story.

The Bible indicates God Almighty has a soul. Thus, it shouldn’t seem strange that humans, having been “made in God’s image“ (Genesis 1:27) have one, too. When chastising His chosen people the Lord spoke through a prophet, “Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you; and lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited“ (Jeremiah 6:8) and “Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?“ (9:9).

What are the Scriptures telling us? Willard wrote, “The heart of the matter is that to refer to someone’s soul is to say something about the ultimate depths of their being and something that can’t be communicated by using terms like ‘person’ or ‘self’ or various available pronouns. It’s the most basic level of life in the individual, and one that’s by nature rooted in God.”

How do we elevate our soul to the prominence it surely deserves? It’s rather simple, actually. We do it by shoving our pride out of the way and letting God’s will be done in our lives. Once again, it’s David who described God’s graciousness clearly: “The LORD is my shepherd; I will not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…” (Psalm 23:1-3).

Jesus’ path is narrow. “Be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; don’t turn aside to the right or the left“ (Deuteronomy 5:32). But it’s the only path to heaven. Willard wrote, “One whose aim is anything less than obedience to the law of God in the Spirit and power of Jesus will never have a soul at rest and will never advance significantly in spiritual transformation into Christlikeness.”

Allow Christ’s open arms to embrace you. Pray for the power to obey, trust and love Him.

Our Dark Side

In his song, “Dark Side,” Eric Church sings: “Over there in the shadow/hanging out in the corner of my mind/stringing up the gallows/waiting on me to cross that line/that man’s dangerous as hell/a threat to himself…” Those lyrics apply to each human being, Christian or otherwise. Every soul was made by God but, because of the Fall, they’re all stained with a dark side.

Why’s it there? The answer’s found in Genesis 3. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said of that chapter, “It’s the most important key to history available. It explains the past, the present and the future. This is not allegory. It’s the account and description of the very thing that happens to us one by one. The astounding fact is that every one of us repeats the action of Adam and Eve.” We sin.

R.C. Sproul wrote, “To say that fallen man is unable not to sin means we’re able only to sin. We’re simply unable to live without sinning. We sin out of a kind of moral necessity because we act according to our fallen nature. We do corrupt things because we’re corrupt people. This is the essence of what it means to be fallen.”

The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?“ (Jeremiah 17:9). Yet billions of people don’t believe that verse. They tell themselves, “I’m no criminal, alcoholic or adulterer. Okay, I’m a sinner but not a bad one. Not like those folks are.” Calvin wrote, “The surest source of destruction for men is to obey themselves. Blindly we all rush in the direction of self-love where everyone thinks he has a good reason for exalting himself and despising all others in comparison.”

He added, “So long as we don’t look beyond the earth, we’re quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms and seem only less than demigods.” Oh, how we can fool ourselves!

In the Celebrate Recovery ministry lesson #1 addresses denial. Dallas Willard explained, “It’s a capacity inseparable from the human will as we know it, and it has its greatest power when it operates without being recognized as such. In a world apart from God, the power of denial is absolutely essential if life is to proceed. The will or spirit cannot – psychologically cannot – sustain itself for any length of time in the face of what it clearly acknowledges to be the case. Therefore, it must deny, evade and delude itself.”

I know all about denial. For decades I was covertly obsessed with pornography, but I told myself it wasn’t a big deal because my habit wasn’t hurting anybody. That is, until my wife discovered my secret addiction, and I saw in her beautiful eyes the pain my blatant betrayal of her trust inflicted. That was 15 years ago, when I stepped out of denial and sought healing from the source of all healing – Jesus Christ.

Quotes about denial abound. “Denial is a psychological defense mechanism that helps a person avoid a potentially distressing truth.” Cesar Millan employed an acrostic: “Denial stands for ‘Don’t Even Notice I Am Lying.’ Human beings are the only animals who are happily lied to by our own minds about what’s actually happening around us.” Carl Alasko said: “Denial doesn’t work – long term. Reality always wins. And when it does, the next step in the process is blame, which shifts responsibility onto someone or something else.”

Denial and blame-shifting are imbedded in our DNA. In the Garden God asked Adam, “‘Did you eat from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ So, the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you’ve done?’ And the woman replied, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate’“ (Genesis 3:11-13).

Our dark side wants us to believe there isn’t an all-knowing sovereign God. But deep down everybody instinctively knows there is and that we’ll appear in His courtroom someday to be judged. All should have a healthy fear of Him because “It’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God“ (Hebrews 10:31).

Why? “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth, because what can be known about God is plain to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they’re understood through what’s been made. So, people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they didn’t glorify Him as God or give Him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened“ (Romans 1:18-21).

Willard commented, “Human beings have always known there’s a God and have had some degree of understanding of who He is and what He’s like. Actually, they still do. But they’re not pleased that He should have the place in the universe He has merely because He is who He is. This is essential to understanding humanity’s present condition. God being God offends human pride. If God’s running the universe and has first claim on our lives, guess who isn’t running the universe and doesn’t get to have things as they please.”

Thankfully, God is merciful. Jones wrote, “By nature you belong to the devil. That’s why the world’s living as it is. That’s why it laughs at the gospel and ridicules talk about the blood of Christ. It’s blinded by its god, its master. But if you believe God sent His own Son into this world to rescue you from that bondage, you have nothing to fear about the end of the world and the judgment of God. The devil can’t touch you because in Christ you’ve already passed from judgment to life.”

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you’ll be saved“ (Acts 16:31).

God’s Forgiveness

Celebrate Recovery’s lesson #17 is about forgiveness. It teaches accepting God’s pardon for our sins is vital to the healing process. Scriptures say repentant sinners are “…justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that’s in Christ Jesus. God publicly displayed Him at His death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because God in His forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed“ (Romans 3:24-25).

Believers are forgiven by divine grace. It’s nothing short of amazing.

Yet there are billions of people across this cursed globe who think they don’t need God’s forgiveness. They’re pretty sure they haven’t done anything all that sinful. Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, “No cumulation of contradictory evidence seems to disturb modern man’s good opinion of himself.” J.I. Packer commented, “The thought of themselves as creatures fallen from God’s image, rebels against God’s rule, guilty and unclean in God’s sight, fit only for God’s condemnation, never enters their heads.”

However, God’s Holy Word clarifies: “There’s none righteous, no, not one; there’s none who understands; there’s none who seeks after God. They’ve all gone out of the way; they’ve together become unprofitable; there’s none who does good, no, not one“ (Romans 3:10-12). Want proof? Add up the inhuman travesties’ mankind has wrought both past and present. You’ll find it difficult insisting the majority of folks are “good.”

The Biblical truth of “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one“ (1 John 5:19), is hard for secularists to swallow. James S. Stewart wrote, “What we’re realizing today is our corporate involvement in the human dilemma; the moral failure of one generation impairs the moral insights of the next, confuses its judgment and perverts its will. …No one who’s honestly confronted the chaos of the world can long keep up the pretense of talking about forgiveness being unnecessary.”

Agnostics feel Christianity’s a joke because, while they’re not certain God exists, they have no doubt humanity’s “Fall” in Eden is a fairy tale. Thus, there’s no “original sin” to overcome. It also renders the entire Bible “fiction.” Yet everybody knows when people become selfish and/or prideful they’re capable of committing horrendous acts. Therefore, the claim we all harbor a “sinful nature” isn’t absurd. R.C. Sproul posed this question to skeptics: “If each of us is born without a sinful nature, how do we account for the universality of sin?”

There are others, even some Christians, who’ll admit that while they’re not perfect they’re still far better than, say, a murderer. The problem is they compare themselves to other fallible humans. We believers are to imitate the sinless life of our Savior and to compare our thoughts and behavior only to His. Stewart wrote, “Where’s the man who can bring his life into the white light of the character of Jesus – that matchless nobility, that measureless spirituality – and still think he has nothing to be forgiven?”

Then there’s the unspeakable ghastliness of the Cross to ponder. For someone to opine their sins aren’t all that serious is to imply Jesus suffered torture and the grisliest execution for no reason. Perish the thought! Does anyone in their right mind deem themselves godly? Thanks be to our Heavenly Father who, due to His mercy, “declares the ungodly righteous“ (Romans 4:5).

Spurgeon preached, “God makes just those who are unjust, forgives those who deserve to be punished, and favors those who deserve no favor. Did you think salvation was for the good? That God’s grace was for the pure and holy? Only for those free from sin? Jesus comes, not because we’re just, but to make us so. He justifies the ungodly.” The truth is everyone needs God’s forgiveness whether they concede they do or not.

Then there are those who know they need God to forgive their sins but don’t think He will due to their severity. Others mistakenly think forgiveness means their sins never happened. Stewart wrote, “Put away the thought that being pardoned means escaping all the consequences or the penalty of sin: it rarely means that. The prodigal was forgiven; but that doesn’t mean there weren’t months of slow, difficult readjustment and rehabilitation.” He then adds a silver lining. “Yet if the prodigal had to face the consequences, at least he was at home.”

The message of the Celebrate Recovery ministry is you can go home to the Father again. No one’s so wretched God won’t gladly accept and restore them. It’s Biblical. “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed“ (James 5:16) and “If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness“ (1 John 1:9). What CR provides is a safe place where sinners can confess.

God’s forgiveness raises the logical question: “Is it fair and practical?” The Apostle Paul addressed what some feared God’s free grace would cause to occur. “What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?“ (Romans 6:1-2). Every sincere believer’s nature is being transformed by the Holy Spirit. We now loathe our sins and do all we can to repent of them.

Packer wrote, “Those who suppose that the doctrine of God’s grace tends to encourage moral laxity (‘final salvation’s certain anyway, no matter what we do; therefore, our conduct doesn’t matter’) are simply showing that, in the most literal sense, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Lastly, the miracle of divine forgiveness and its necessity doesn’t depend upon our ability to understand it. Only unwavering faith in the absolute goodness of our magnanimously loving God is required to receive it. Yes, it’s a mystery. Yet not a contradiction. R.C. Sproul wrote, “All contradictions are mysterious. Not all mysteries are contradictions. Christianity has plenty of room for mysteries. Mysteries may be true. Contradictions can never be true, neither here in our minds, nor in God’s mind.”

A Living Sacrifice

The third of the 12 steps in Celebrate Recovery reads, “We made a decision to turn our lives and wills over to the care of God.” The corresponding Scripture is “Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service“ (Romans 12:1).

I recently posted an essay about surrender. To now present one about sacrifice may seem redundant but there’s a big difference between the two. As we learn in CR, the former’s what a repentant sinner does when they lay down at the foot of the cross a hurt, habit or hang-up that’s become unmanageable. It could be alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, overeating, codependency, etc. No matter what it is, Christ can take it away and begin the healing process. Most will gladly surrender what they don’t want.

Conversely, sacrifice involves giving up something/someone we cherish and deem so valuable we’ve placed it/them above our Savior. Charles Swindoll wrote, “What Paul asks for doesn’t come naturally, easily or automatically. When people sacrifice, they’re usually not doing it on a whim. Sacrifice hurts. Sacrifice works against our natural inclinations to keep a tight hold on our possessions and creature comforts. We come hard-wired with the instinct to watch out for ourselves, guard against risk, and preserve our own lives at any cost.”

Understand that Paul’s not promoting suicide. Hardly. Everyone’s life is a gift from God. What he’s advocating is voluntarily choosing to abandon our self-centered manner of doing things and more faithfully follow Jesus. “Be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God“ (Ephesians 5:1-2).

Calvin called it “…the sacrifice with which we dedicate ourselves, soul and body, to be a holy temple to the Lord. It’s not enough that our external acts be framed to obedience, but we must dedicate and consecrate first ourselves, and, secondly, all that we have, so that all which is in us may be subservient to His glory and be stirred up to magnify it.”

He added, “This kind of sacrifice has nothing to do with appeasing God, with obtaining remission of sins, with procuring justification, but is wholly employed in magnifying and extolling God, since it can’t be grateful and acceptable to God unless at the hand of those who, having received forgiveness of sins, have already been reconciled and freed from guilt.”

Jesus said, “My commandment is this – to love one another as I’ve loved you. No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you“ (John 15:12-13). Christ didn’t just talk the talk. He walked the walk – all the way to Calvary.

James S. Stewart commented, “Christ unites Himself with us, and takes our place and bears our sins. We then identify ourselves with Him by sacrificing to Him our life. Thereby His attitude to sin becomes our attitude, His love for the Father our love, His passion for holiness our passion.” Stewart then said of the resulting reward: “The man who’s in Christ is right with God. He may be far from perfection yet, but that union is the seed which contains within itself all the promise of the future. In the face and in the soul of Christ, God sees what the man yet may be.”

Most Christians discover sacrificing things is a lot easier than sacrificing loved ones. But it’s not about ceasing to love and care for them. Jesus made it clear we’re to love one another unconditionally. However, we must be willing to let go of our insistence on running their lives for them and let God’s plan play out. I have two unbelieving adult offspring. I adore them both, but I had to put God in charge of them and trust in His providential sovereignty. He loves them, too.

A.W. Tozer wrote, “We’re often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety. This is especially true when our treasures are loved ones, relatives, and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything’s safe which we commit to Him, and nothing’s really safe which is not so committed.”

Tozer added, “Let us never forget that a truth such as this can’t be learned by rote as one would learn the facts of physical science. It must be experienced before we can really know it. The tough old miser within us won’t lie down and die in obedience to our command. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ expelled the moneychangers from the temple.”

While I prefer to label myself as “frugal”, the truth is I’m the tough old miser Tozer identified. I was raised by parents whose motto was “If you don’t really need it, don’t buy it.” Therefore, I’ve always been reticent to part with my hard-earned savings. But when this prodigal finally went back to church in 2009, I began to tithe and contribute to our missionaries. And you know what? Not once have I regretted giving back to the Lord what’s His. Not once.

I’m not patting myself on the back. I’ll let other Christians decide how and when they support their church. Having the funds automatically drawn from my bank account helps immensely because it keeps me from having to sit down and write out a check every week. It happens without me thinking about it and I’m good with that.

The Bible promises, “God will supply your every need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus“ (Philippians 5:19). It’s true. I have yet to miss even one cent I’ve contributed. This Jim Elliot quote sums it up well: “He’s no fool who gives what he can’t keep to gain what he can’t lose.”

Letting Go

A close friend of mine, Todd Agnew, is the worship leader at my church. A song he wrote and released on his fourth album is I’m Letting Go. Those of us in the Celebrate Recovery ministry can relate to his lyrics: “I’m letting go of the chains that are holding me down/I’m letting go of the lies that I believe/I’m letting go of the shame I let define/this hurting heart of mine/When I let go of my life, you give me yours/so I’m letting go…”

It’s all about surrendering whatever is keeping us from knowing Christ more intimately. Hebrews 12:1 reads, “Therefore, since we’re surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”

Notice “the sin” is singular. We all have a roster of sins we’re inclined to commit but the sin in particular is unbelief. It’s what all Christians must rid themselves of in order to rely completely on God; to trust in Him without reservation; to forfeit all our fears and worries and place them in His loving care.

However, total surrender is easier said than done. Releasing our grip on the people and things in this fallen world is the toughest discipline to master. We’re more than happy to jettison unpleasant individuals and complications that are annoying, frustrating, irritating, distracting, etc. But surrendering our time, our rights, our plans, our dreams and, most of all, our will are a thousand times harder because we’re so sure they’ll make us happy. Charles Swindoll opined, “We often fail to go God’s way because we’re so captivated by our own.”

Yet if we can’t trust the One who designed and made everything in existence, who can we trust? Only Jesus. “Now to the one who’s able to keep you from stumbling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before His glorious presence, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity“ (Jude 1:24-25).

Spurgeon preached, “Christ alone can save you! Look away from yourself to Christ! Trust yourselves in His hands! He’s ‘able to keep you from stumbling.’ You can’t even stand upright yourselves, and if He should set you upright, you can’t keep standing for a minute without His protecting care. If saints need to be kept, how much more need have you to seek the shelter of the Savior’s wounded side? If holy men of God cry daily for pardon and profess to have no right of themselves to heaven, how much more urgent is your case? You’ll perish if you die as you are! You can never make yourself faultless, but Christ can.”

How do we accomplish the difficult task of surrendering all? We’ve been taught to “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.” Swindoll wrote, “As He lived, we’re to live. As He decided, we’re to decide. As He obeyed, we’re to obey. As He pleased the Father, we’re to please the Father. As He surrendered, we’re to surrender.” Never forget that Christ, our merciful Creator, let go of His very life to save you and me. He gave up everything on the cross.

Paul offered us God-breathed instructions: “Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had…” (Philippians 2:3-5).

If we take our eyes off our Savior surrendering becomes even harder. Therefore, we’re to constantly “think of Him who endured such opposition against Himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up“ (Hebrews 12:3). Understand that letting go isn’t the same as accepting defeat. On the contrary, the Bible states: “In all these things we’re more than conquerors through Him who loved us“ (Romans 8:37). God’s adopted children can’t lose!

We’re not to surrender to just anyone or anything. We’re definitely not to give in to a tyrannical leader or government that demands we deny our Savior. Solomon explained what we are to do every day. Cultivating humility is the key. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He’ll make your paths straight. Don’t be wise in your own estimation; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. This will bring healing to your body, and refreshment to your inner self“ (Proverbs 3:5-8).

Also remain aware that the Scriptures never tell us to become lackadaisical, to formulate no personal goals or to meander through life as if we’re floating upon a rudderless raft on a river. We’re to actively spread the Good News, further the kingdom of God and follow our Lord’s commands faithfully and without reservation.

Swindoll wrote, “I’m convinced that wise planning is good. But plans, like material possessions, must always be held loosely. Yes – always! Plan wisely, but be ready for God to rearrange things and take you along paths that may feel dangerous to you. Don’t sweat it; He knows what He’s doing. And He isn’t obligated to inform you or request permission to upset your neat little agenda!”

Larry Crabb, in his excellent book The Pressure’s Off, said of surrendering, “The spiritual journey is rooted in liberty, the freedom of grace: Come as you are, trembling, and learn to rest. Then go out into life doing what’s right because you’re privileged to do so, because you want to be holy, not because doing right is the way to a pleasant life. Life may provide rich blessings. Or it may not. Either way you can know God.”

Silence is Golden

When I was growing up my parents would sometimes tell me to “pipe down”. That was a nice way of saying “shut your trap”. In our spiritual journey, as we “work out our salvation“ (Philippians 2:12), it’s vital we “pipe down” often so we can hear God speak to us through the silence. He doesn’t do it audibly. He can, but probably won’t.

The Hebrew word selah appears frequently in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms. Scholars agree it likely means “pause”. God’s telling us there are times to quieten ourselves, relax, breathe deeply and patiently wait on the Lord. David wrote, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD“ (Psalm 27:14).

Dan Rather once interviewed Mother Teresa. He asked, “When you pray, what do you say to God?” She replied, “I don’t say anything. I listen.” He then inquired, “When God speaks to you what does He say?” She said, “He doesn’t say anything. He listens.” This stumped Rather. She politely added, “And if you don’t understand that, I can’t explain it to you.”

Most of us talk too much. A.W. Tozer opined, “The inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience can be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the Kingdom like children in the marketplace, chattering about everything, but pausing to learn the value of nothing.”

Solomon wrote, “My child, if you receive my words, and store up my commands within you by making your ear attentive to wisdom and by turning your heart to understanding, indeed, if you call out for discernment – raise your voice for understanding – if you seek it like silver, and search for it like hidden treasure, then you’ll understand how to fear the LORD, and you’ll discover knowledge about God“ (Proverbs 2:1-5). Of course, our “calling out for discernment“ should be done before we silently listen.

Our prayer time can present our best opportunity to selah. Brennan Manning recommended, “Speak to Jesus – or just lovingly stay in silence and communicate with Him beyond words.”

Charles Swindoll preached, “Our only reliable source of communication from God is the Bible. The purpose of silence isn’t to receive extrabiblical instructions or secret messages. Yet somehow in the crucible of silence the Holy Spirit boils the truth we get from Scripture down to its essence, reveals specific insights that are pertinent, then applies them to our most perplexing problems and our most stubborn misconceptions. As God transforms our heart to beat more truly for Him, our decisions accomplish His will as we reflect His character.”

Henri Nouwen wrote, “We’re left with the question of how to practice a ministry of silence in which our word has the power to represent the fullness of God’s silence. This is an important question because we’ve become so contaminated by our wordy world that we hold to the deceptive opinion that our words are more important than our silence.”

Realize God isn’t asking much of us here. We don’t have to assume a yoga position, chant a mantra or do anything except to not utter a single sound. The hardest part for us is turning off our phones and other distracting devices, instructing others to give us some “alone time,” then closing our eyes and making room in our mind for God to enter. It’s not rocket science but it’s essential to maintaining spiritual intimacy.

I’m not downplaying the difficulty involved in achieving even a semblance of solitude sometimes. But if you keep at it consistently it’ll become a habit others will eventually accept as an aspect of your deepening relationship with Christ. The peace, serenity and contentment you’ll gain will be worth it to both you and them.

Christians are to emulate our Savior. He didn’t spend His life sequestered in a cave. On the contrary, He was “out there” among the people. He stayed busy converting lives, healing the sick, exorcising demons, restoring sight to the blind, raising the dead, etc. Yet after one particularly harried day we’re told: “Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there He spent time in prayer“ (Mark 1:35).

I used to have a hard time listening intently when someone was speaking to me. I’d be preoccupied with coming up with an impressive or clever response. Therefore, I often misheard. (My wife complains that I still “don’t listen” well to her. Guilty as charged.) But Celebrate Recovery has helped me immensely in that regard because in our small group gatherings nobody’s allowed to speak except the person sharing so it’s pointless to do anything but listen and, over time, it became natural to do that with everyone.

In one Old Testament story the prophet Elijah was depressed and distraught. He wanted to die. But then God quietly “spoke” to him. Nouwen commented, “Wind, earthquake and fire manifested themselves in succession, but God is said not to have been in any of these. Then a different phenomenon followed. The translations a gentle whisper and ‘a still small voice’ don’t do full justice to the enigmatic Hebrew expression, which may be better rendered ‘a brief sound of silence.'”

May we never lose sight of what God has commanded is our principal goal. Paul wrote, “My aim is to know Him, to experience the power of His resurrection, to share in His sufferings, and to be like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead“ (Philippians 3:10-11). The most efficient way to know Him is to meditate on Scripture, pray for guidance and then selah long enough to listen.

Swindoll advised, “Make silence and solitude a priority. In that quiet aloneness, let the Holy Spirit cultivate serenity in you. You owe it not only to yourself but to those you love most. If you don’t, you’ll never really know the God you worship, and your loved ones will never really know who you are.”

It’s Not Easy Being Meek

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth“ (Matthew 5:5). Jesus’ third Beatitude presents a challenge because a meek demeanor doesn’t come easily in a world where aggressive people dominate. Previously I described a meek person as humble, gentle and patient. Add to those traits forgiving and content.

In the Celebrate Recovery ministry we’ve found convincing some folks they must forgive those who’ve done them great harm (physically and/or emotionally) to be tough sledding. They feel God’s asking too much of them. However, forgiveness isn’t optional. Christ made that clear: “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins“ (Matthew 6:14-15).

Those words were spoken right after He delivered what’s known as “The Lord’s Prayer” wherein we ask God to, “…forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors“ (Matthew 6:12). Sinclair Ferguson wrote, “The man who mouths the phrase ‘forgive us our debts,’ but won’t forgive others their debts, hasn’t begun to understand the weight of his own sin. If he did, in light of it being forgiven, he’d be prepared to forgive his brother ‘seventy-seven times‘ (Matthew 18:22).

J.I. Packer commented, “Those who hope for God’s forgiveness must be able to tell Him they’ve forgiven their debtors. This isn’t a matter of earning forgiveness by works, but of qualifying for it by repentance. Repentance – change of mind – makes mercy and forbearance central to one’s new lifestyle… One whose only hope is that God won’t hold his faults against him forfeits his right to hold others’ faults against them.”

To forgive is to love like Christ. James S. Stewart wrote, “What Jesus meant by love was a spirit that never harbors a grudge, because it’s much too big for that kind of pettiness. It always discovers the best in men, because it can see underground; full of understanding, because it’s been through hard places itself; wonderfully patient, because it has a great hope at its heart; utterly pure, because it knows God.”

Calvin recommended taking the high road: “To love those that hate us, to render good for evil, and blessings for cursing, remembering that we’re not to reflect on the wickedness of men, but look to the image of God in them, an image which, covering and obliterating their faults, should by its beauty and dignity allure us to love and embrace them.”

The meek are content. Spurgeon wrote, “The meek-spirited man isn’t ambitious; he’s satisfied with what God provides for him. He’s content with what he has. Whatever happens to him, seeing that his times are in God’s hand, it’s well with him in the best and most emphatic sense.”

Paul’s attitude should be that of all Christians: “I’ve learned to be content in any circumstance. I’ve experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I’ve learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing“ (Philippians 4:11-12).

It’s definitely not easy being meek. Spurgeon preached, “There are some people who are very gentle and meek as long as nobody tries them. We’re all quite good-tempered while we have our own way, but true meekness, which is a work of grace, will stand the fire of persecution and endure the test of enmity, cruelty, and wrong, even as the meekness of Christ did upon the cross of Calvary.”

Each Beatitude has a promise attached. As for the meek, “…they shall inherit the earth.” For the longest time I wondered why anybody would deem inheriting this fallen planet God has cursed a blessing. But I finally realized Jesus was looking ahead to when there’ll be “…a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist…” (Revelation 21:1). In other words, faithful believers are destined to dwell in a fully restored Eden eternally.

David wrote, “The meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace“ (Psalm 37:11). Spurgeon commented, “After this earth has been purified by fire, after God has burned the works of men to ashes, and after every trace of corrupt humanity has been consumed by fervent heat, then this earth will be fitted up again, angels will descend with new songs to sing, and the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven from God in all her glory.”

Stewart wrote, “When man has done everything man can do to build the everlasting Kingdom, it’s God, and God alone, who can make that Kingdom perfect; that somehow and somewhere, in ways beyond our present comprehension, God’s going to come breaking in triumphantly.”

Now that’s a future worth waiting patiently for. Imagine a world without sin! It’s coming – soon. Ferguson wrote, “One day the sovereign rule of Jesus will be seen publicly. For the moment, it’s seen only through the eyes of faith. But because it is seen by the eyes of faith, the people of God already have the assurance that this earth belongs to Christ; He’s won it back for His own.”

On that glorious day when our Lord returns the meek will no longer be regarded as the misguided doormats of the world. On the contrary, the meek will be its conquerors as well as the new earth’s grateful stewards. We’ll enjoy everything, including the literal presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “He’ll live among them, and they’ll be His people, and God Himself will be with them“ (Revelation 21:3).

This doesn’t mean we’re to stop spreading the gospel in the meantime. Heaven forbid! Souls are at stake. John MacArthur preached, “The future of the unrighteous and the righteous could hardly be more starkly different. The time to prepare for judgment is now. The day of salvation is now. Those who wait until Christ returns will find it’s already too late. We don’t know the day or hour of His return. But the time is fast approaching. It’s time to get ready.”