Yield Yourselves

At long last I now have a new computer. I wish to thank all of you that responded to my inquiry as to the readers of my blog. I was quite surprised to learn of how many there are of you that read and profit from these meditations. Therefore, I am encouraged to continue with this project. But please be advised that the next six weeks are going to be quite hectic for me. I have three trips that I will be taking, a big weekend with the church here, and a wedding to perform. So do not look for these meditations to be very regular during this period of time.

For my daily Bible reading I have been going through the book of 2 Chronicles. Today I came across this passage that I would like to make some comments on:

2 Chronicles 30:8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

May I suggest that you read 2 Chronicles 30 to get the setting of what I wish to present. The words I have cited were found in the letters that King Hezekiah and his princes sent “throughout all Israel and Judah” calling the people to come “to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jersualem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.” Prior to this, their fathers had been rebellious against God and, as a result, had been given up to desolation. In calling the people to come to keep the passover at Jerusalem, the people were called to yield themselves to God.

Yield – To surrender, give way, submit.

For the people to come up to Jerusalem to keep this feast would be an act of surrender, of submission to God. By their yielding themselves to God, the Lord would turn away the fierceness of His wrath from them. It is interesting to note that yielding to God is placed in contrast to being stiffnecked.

Stiffnecked – Obstinate, stubborn, inflexible, haughty.

Their fathers had been stiffnecked. As a result, God had been at war with them and had brought them to desolation.

The verse we are considering connects yielding to God with entering His sanctuary and serving Him. Under the Old Testament that meant coming up to the temple of God in Jersusalem to observe the passover according to the instructions of the law. For us today who live under the New Testament it means coming to the church of God, the assembly of the saints, to keep the ordinances given to the church to observe in the New Testament. You see, coming to church should be an act of surrendering ourselves to God, of submission to His will. To fail to do this is an act of stubbornness. If the attitude of surrender is missing from our service, then it will not be acceptable to God. When speaking of the service of ministering to the saints, Paul commended the believers in Macedonia (2 Corinthians 8:1-6). They had given abundantly to minister to the saints and they had done so with abundant joy. The key to this joyful service can be found in the attitude with which they approached it.

2 Corinthians 8:5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

You see, service to God begins with the surrender of ourselves to Him. Yielding ourselves to the Lord our God comes first. Only then will we find joy in His service. Nobody, who enters into the service of God begrudgingly, enjoys it. Such service brings no delight to God and no joy to the soul.

2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

So when you come to church, do so with the attitude of one who is surrendering himself to God. It is according to our sinful nature to be rebels. If you are stiffnecked and rebel against God, you are going to have a battle with Him. And He will win! He is a lot stronger than you are. So the best thing to do is give up the fight.

Are you in a state of desolation today? Examine yourself for some area of your life in which you are being stiffnecked. Yield yourself to God and enter into His sanctuary and serve Him. Do this and you will find that instead of the misery of desolation, you will experience great joy as did those souls in Hezekiah’s day, who yielded themselves to God, entered His sanctuary, and served Him.

2 Chronicles 30:25 And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.

26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.

Reason for No Blogs

I have been without my own computer for about a month and a half. I have a new one, but it has yet to be installed in my study owing to circumstances that cannot be controlled. Therefore, I have not been posting any meditations.

In addition, I have had a suspicion that the blog is not read by that many people. It has been several weeks since I posted a meditation, yet only four people have commented about not receiving them. This only confirms my suspicion.

Please understand that I am not offended by this. I realize that people are bombarded with e-mails and other information to sift through. With so much stuff to sort through, my blog can easily become just one more thing to read. If it becomes burdensome to read, then the benefit of it is greatly reduced. My ministry got on well before the blog and can get on well without it.

Now my suspicion may not be correct. One way to find out is if you let me know you read the meditations on my blog and would like to continue receiving them. Of course, if few people are reading the blog, I will receive few replys. And with that I will have my answer.

God be praised for any blessing my blog has been to you up to now. And, blog or no blog, may our Lord Jesus Christ be praised.

The Eternal Destiny of Our Loved Ones

All Christians have loved ones who show no Scriptural evidence of being eternally saved. Our loved ones may be good people, as men judge goodness, but yet show no love for the Lord Jesus Christ, His word, His church, or His service. We may have tried to witness to them only to find them indifferent, resistant, or downright hostile to our efforts. They love us and we love them. We may have or have had a close relationship with them. But we wonder where they go when they die. For some, this causes great distress. I, too, have had loved ones, dearly loved ones, who have passed on. I do not know whether they are in heaven or hell. Yet I do not worry about this. Let me tell you why.

First of all, only God knows the hearts of all men.

1 Kings 8:39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)

Observe how Solomon in this prayer emphasizes that only God knows the hearts of all the children of men. We judge men by what they outwardly manifest in words and deeds. That is all we have to go on. But God, and only God, can see into someone’s heart. And it is in the heart that God begins His work of grace. If God has given a person a new heart, He sees that heart even though we may not. That changed heart can be within even though it may scarcely manifest itself without. Have you ever met someone that even though they were generally very worldly and ignorant of spiritual things, they showed at times what seemed to be a glimmer of spirituality? Maybe that glimmer was a little ray of light from an enlightened heart shooting out from beneath mounds of years of rebellion, resistance to past abuses, accumulated fears, and God knows what all. Or maybe it wasn’t a glimmer of spirituality at all. How do you know? You don’t! Only God knows.

Then our Saviour gave us the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). The parable presents a field with wheat and tares growing together. The wheat represents the children of the kingdom and the tares represent the children of the wicked one. The servants suggested to the householder that they go and gather the tares from among the wheat. But the householder rejected that suggestion. Let’s read what the householder said.

Matthew 13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Our Lord then went on to explain that the harvest is the end of the world. It is at that time that the wheat and tares will be finally separated. If we try to distinguish them now, then we are apt to mistake wheat for tares. You see, sometimes the children of the kingdom can act so much like the children of the wicked one, that we might assume they are the children of the wicked one. So from this I think it wise to defer this judgment unto the harvest.

And then let us remember that we are still in this world very much caught up in the relationships and affections of this world. That is why it grieves us so much to think of our loved ones not being eternally saved. Have you ever noticed that you do not grieve so much over the unsaved loved ones of others? After all, how much sleep do you lose grieving over Esau, or Judas Iscariot, or the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah being in hell? That is because you do not have the natural affection for them that you have for your own. Consider these words of our Lord Jesus:

Luke 20:34 And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:

35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Our earthly family relationships in this world result from the marriage of men and women. At least that is the Biblical norm for these relationships. But the marital relationship of this world does not carry over into the next world. We will not be related to one another there as we are here. Every child of God will be equally my brother in that world, whether or not he was my father, my spouse, my child, my brother, or my cousin in the flesh in this world. We get a glimpse into this relationship in the relationship we have with our brothers and sisters in the church, even though we have no tie to them by our earthly family. So when we get to the other world, we will not be related as we are here. Our relationships and affections will be totally transformed and we will view everyone saved or unsaved with the mind and affections of the glorified Son of God. Indeed, we will be like Him!

God is absolutely just in all that He does. If he sends one of my loved ones to hell, He is just in doing so. For that matter, if He sends me to hell He is just in doing so. And considering how completely I will be conformed to the image of the just God in that great day of His judgment, I am confident that I will have absolutely no problem with anything He does with any soul in that day. I’ll just be shouting “Allelujah” that I am on His side in the judgment (Revelation 19:1-4).

Lastly, let us ever remember that eternal salvation is by grace and not by works of righteousness that we or our loved ones have done (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:4-5). The salvation of a soul was determined in God’s election of grace. It was secured in the death of Christ for the elect by the grace of God. And it is applied by the Holy Spirit to the elect in regeneration by God’s effectual grace. Nothing but nothing that we do or fail to do has any effect on God’s saving grace. I have preached funerals of people I did not know. I had no evidence that these people were children of God. In these cases I preach the same gospel of grace that I preach over the most devout believers. I tell people that if God wants to save this soul, his bad works will not prevent God from saving him. And if God does not want to save this soul, his good works will not make God save him. Salvation is all of grace and none of works. On such occasions I refer to this verse:

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord (not you, not I, but the Lord) knoweth them that are his.

Well may we rest all of our concerns for our loved ones on this sure foundation. Did this meditation bless you?

When Enemies Preach the Gospel, Part 4

The last gospel sermon from Christ’s enemies that we will consider in this series is the one preached by the chief priests and the scribes, who mocked our Lord as he hung upon the cross.

Mark 15:31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

The chief priests and scribes were joining in the mockery of those who were challenging Christ to prove Himself by coming down from the cross. It was in connection with this challenge that they mocked our Lord saying: “He saved others; himself he cannot save.” Christ indeed had saved others during His ministry on this earth. His miracles were miracles of salvation, saving men from physical, emotional, circumstantial, and spiritual calamities. But now in the time of His dire calamity, Christ could not save Himself.

Little did these chief priests and scribes realize that it was in order to save others that Jesus did not save Himself. Had he saved Himself, we all would have perished in our sin. It was absolutely necessary that He suffer and die on that cross, because that was the means God had determined to make satisfaction for the sins of His people and thus to secure their salvation from sin and all its consequences. Had Christ not suffered and died on that cross, He would not have obeyed His Father.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The very determinate counsel of God was being fulfilled in that crucifixion death.

Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain….

Had Christ come down from that cross, Christ would have disobeyed His Father and the counsel of God would have come to nought. This would never be. This could never be. Had Christ come down from that cross, His whole ministry would have been a lie and His miracles a cheat. It was because He was God’s Christ appointed to die on that cross that He had been able to save others. Indeed, the chief priests and scribes had it right: “Himself he cannot save.” Unbeknown to themselves, they were proclaiming the gospel.

And not saving Himself, our Lord has saved others, yea, a multitude no man can number, a multitude redeemed by the blood He was shedding on that cross.

Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation….

Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

It fascinates me that the life and ministry of our Lord was such that even some of the criticisms leveled against Him were testimonies to the truth of His mission. Thank God, He did not save Himself. In not saving Himself, He saved me!

When Enemies Preach the Gospel, Part 3

We now come to the next enemy of our Lord Jesus Christ who unwittingly preached the gospel. He was Pontius Pilate, who issued the decree to have our Lord crucified.

Before we get to his words that express the gospel, let’s establish that Pilate was indeed an enemy of Christ. During the trial of our Lord, Pilate sought to release Jesus as the following verses prove.

John 19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

Pilate could find no fault in Jesus. Hence, he tried to persuade the people to release Him. But the pressure of the crowd to eliminate Jesus was so great that Pilate capitulated and gave the decree to have our Lord crucified. Pilate’s cowardice in the face of public pressure placed him in the list of the enemies of Christ as the following passage makes clear.

Acts 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together….

And you will be in that list as well, if you allow the fear of man to move you to act contrary to the truth of Christ. This calls to mind these words of Christ:

Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me….

It was during the trial that Pilate uttered the following words that express the gospel of Christ:

John 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.

Notice Pilate’s reason for delivering Christ up to be crucified: “For I find no fault in him.” According to Pilate’s decree, Christ was condemned to die a criminal’s death because he had committed no crime. This is the very heart of the gospel.

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 reason Christ could bear our sins and suffer the condemnation they deserve was because He had no sin of His own. Had He had any faults, He would have had to die for His own sin and, therefore, could not have died for ours. Hence, it was precisely because there was no fault in Him, that He was delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God to be crucified, to be nailed to a tree to be made a curse for us.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree….

This agreed with the Law of Moses that required the sacrifice of innocent beasts in the place of guilty sinners to make atonement. This was also according to that vivid prophecy of the sufferings and death of Christ given in Isaiah 53.

Isaiah 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Our Lord died, and that violently, “because he had done no violence.” “Take ye him and crucify him.” But why? “Because he has done no violence.” Or, to put it in Pilate’s words, “For I find no fault in him.”

Don’t you see the gospel in Pilate’s decree? Christ was crucified in the place of sinners because He Himself had no sin. What a sermon Pilate preached that day! As a gospel preacher Pilate did a good job. But given what a compromiser he was, I would also not recommend him for your pastor.