Category Archives: Reformed Theology

The Growth of a True Faith

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The Growth of a True Faith

by Bob Burridge ©2011
(Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 86 Part 3)
(watch the video)

Not everyone who hears the gospel, and discovers what the Bible actually says, believes it. Of those who say they believe it, not everyone really trusts in it sincerely and with confidence. The problem is not found in their lack of intelligence. It cannot be blamed on those who have influenced them or raised them. It has to do with the state of their soul.

In previous studies we have seen how the guilt and effects of Adam’s sin have infected and condemned the whole human race descending naturally from him. They are unable to do what is truly good by God’s definition of it. However, their moral inability to understand and to trust in what God said in his word does not make them excusable for their rejection of what is right and true.

The Parable of the Sower and the Seed in Matthew 13

Jesus had been teaching in Galilee. Crowds followed him wanting to hear more about what he had to say. From a boat along the shore he taught another of his parables about the Kingdom. Most of the teachings of Jesus during his time on earth centered around the Kingdom of God. However, the message was not going to take effect the same way in the lives of everyone who heard is lessons. Interest in the Kingdom of God would fade away in some who seemed interested at first.

In the parable of the sower, there are four kinds of soil that receives the seed. Jesus started the Parable saying, “Behold, a sower went out to sow.”

Matthew 13:4, “… some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.”

Theses seeds fell in places on the side of the prepared fields. They landed on the path. The narrow foot paths that go through fields dividing the sections were made of packed down dirt from people walking on them. Birds would easily find these exposed seeds and eat them.

Matthew 13:5-6, “Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.”

These seeds fell in areas where there was a thin layer of soil over an underlying rocky foundation. Seeds planted here would sprout and start to grow but would not be able to put down firm roots. The growth was superficial. Without a root system there was no supply of water and other nourishments. The rock under them would get hot in the sun. The heat from below and above would dry the young plants out, and they would die.

Matthew 13:7, “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.”

This third group of seeds fell in a place where weeds were growing rampantly. These thorns were weeds that took the nourishment away from the planted seeds. They also produced shade on the ground that blocked the sun from the seeds that fell under them. These seeds were choked by the unwanted wild growth around them.

Matthew 13:8-9, “But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

These seeds landed in soil which was rich with nutrients, and had the right consistency to support growth. These were the seeds that produced a good, healthy crop.

A few verses later, Jesus himself explained what his parable meant. He made it clear that the seed was the word of the Kingdom of God. The soil represented the hearts of those who hear that word. The growth of the seed depended upon the soil prepared for the seed.

Matthew 13:19, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.”

Like the seed that landed on the hardened paths, the message about God’s Kingdom sometimes falls upon hardened hearts. The natural heart of every person lacks the ability to understand kingdom truths as they really are. They do not have confidence in the truth of God’s promises. They lack that saving faith which grows only in the hearts of those redeemed by Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

In these hearts, the truth about God’s Kingdom and the ways it teaches us to think and to live are replaced by worldly habits and myths which are preferred by the hardened heart. The truth God reveals is distorted by spiritual blindness and confused understanding. The promises of the Kingdom are snatched away and never really take root.

Matthew 13:20, “But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”

Someone can appear to be a true child of God for a time, even if it is only superficial. They seem to receive God’s word with joy. They endure for a while but then turn away. They might be discouraged by persecution, trials, and temptations of various kinds. Since there is no real root to what they believe, they abandon their professed convictions. In difficult times a person’s true character is revealed. Some show that their faith was not the kind implanted by grace. It was a trust in their hopes of personal benefits, not a trust in the redeeming work of a Savior who calls us into service with the family of God.

1 John 2:19 makes it clear that this happens, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

In Revelation 2:9 the Bible shows us where these false believers have their real church membership, “… I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

Matthew 13:22, “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”

The thorns are the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of material riches. A heart set upon self-satisfaction is not dedicated to the service of Christ as Lord of his life. A person like that is shallow, and lacks evidence of a true Saving Faith. The person who receives the word among thorns lets his personal goals and comforts crowd out his service for God’s Kingdom. With no sound foundation, the truth is choked out in his life, and becomes unimportant to him.

This is the tragedy of many who put other values above the supreme value of trusting and honoring the Creator. There are many important responsibilities God gives us, and many wonderful blessings he bestows upon his children. They all must be handled with the right outlook. Our jobs are important to provide what we and our families need, but we should be careful to keep God’s priorities as we set up our budget and advance in our careers. Our families are important too, but we do the family no good if we elevate family fun or prosperity over helping one another grow into mature Kingdom workers in all we do, declaring God’s glory and living with a true trust in all he said is right and good. When our jobs or families are valued above God’s Kingdom Principles, they become a form of idolatry and a great evil. The same is true of education, social status, sports, hobbies .. all the good things God lets us enjoy in this life.

If the Principles of God’s Kingdom become secondary, then the weeds of this world are choking it out and the person is unfruitful. The word is choked out by foolish distractions, and their lives become spiritually unfruitful. In those who live this way, there is no evidence of a true saving faith.

It’s ironic that one of the greatest reasons given for people skipping worship and church involvement is family activities. As a Pastor I’ve seen some families stop attending worship, or avoid involvement in other activities of the congregation. I’ve seen some of those families break up horribly, or pay the sad price of children who have no interest in living for the glory of God. I remember one family where members became involved in illegal activities and were arrested shortly after a pastoral visit in their homes where they said they needed Sundays for family time, so they decided they were not going to continue to come to Sunday worship. We do our family no good, if we teach them that our own enjoyment is more important than obeying the ways our Loving Lord teaches us to live as his children. If our faith is not a firm confidence that God’s ways are the best ways for us, then we do not have the kind of faith that evidences the work of grace.

Finally, Jesus explained the seed that fell on good ground.

Matthew 13:23, “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

What made this soil good and productive? The soil was prepared for the seed. The good news of God’s Kingdom only takes root in hearts God has prepared to receive it. Only those transformed by his grace and given the quality of a true faith in God’s word, are made able to understand it, and to bear fruit in their lives to the glory of their Creator.

As we tell people the good news about being made right with the King of kings by grace, we have to remember that we cannot change the soil the seeds fall upon. We cannot prepare the hearts of those who need the gospel. That is God’s work. Our duty is to receive the word of God ourselves, and to sow the seed prayerfully where we can.

We are to live by what God says in his written word, and by putting those principles to practice in our lives above everything else. Not to do so is not just a poor choice — it’s tragic!

Knowing that success is all a matter of God’s grace, that we are not the ones who make it effective, does not mean we give up our efforts to proclaim the good news diligently. Just the opposite. Grace at work produces fruit in us. It makes us trust what God has promised, and it stirs in us a concern for the proclaiming of the Gospel of the Kingdom in Christ. Our concern should be a reason to rejoice over the evidence in us that we are prepared soil.

If we are prayerfully trying to live as God says we should, then we see evidence that a true saving faith is at work in us, growing in us, and that we can know that we are the objects of his grace.

In Philippians 1:6 Paul wrote, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

A true faith is a growing faith. Our confidence matures as we are made to conform more and more into the image of Christ. More and more we humbly realize that left to our own ways we will fail. As we strive to do what is right, it is by resting in what God has done, not by hoping in our own efforts.

Dr. Charles Hodge in his commentary on the Book of Romans calls it a “lamentable mistake” that we should ever assume that God loves us for our goodness. Nothing contradicts the gospel more than for us to make God’s blessing into something we earn. Hodge explains that this unbiblical idea leads us to believe that it is up to us to cling to God, and to maintain his love by our own efforts. We do not make ourselves worthy. The soil which represents our hearts produces fruit because it is prepared by our Redeemer.

When we see a concern in our hearts, when we sincerely desire to put God first, and when we strive to tear out the choking weeds, we have evidence from God’s own word that he loves us deeply, and has caused that concern and trust. It shows that the message of God’s Kingdom has fallen on prepared soil. It should humble us and make us all the more grateful for his undeserved love.

Rather than worrying over what kind of soil your heart is made of, focus upon getting your priorities right and getting busy doing what you say you believe is right. Put the principles of God’s Kingdom in first place, and fit the rest of your life around them. Then you will be demonstrating that you received the seed on good soil, and that God is busy at work in your heart.

When you bring the word of Christ’s Kingdom to others, when you challenge them to live as God commands, when you encourage them to put their eternal trust in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, be patient for this good work of God to do the convincing and convicting.

Good seed grows when it falls upon good ground with all the right conditions. The sower does not have to make it grow. He makes sure he has the right seed, then simply casts in on the good soil. Since this is not just literal seed, and God calls us to be part of his work in prayer, we also beg him to make our hearts and those we evangelize to be good soil.

Faith always has an object. A true saving trust rests in the promises of God, and shows that it is genuine by acting confidently and boldly upon what is claimed to be believed. This is what evidences a true saving faith.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Index of Lessons in the Westminster Shorter Catechism

The Good End of All Things

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Lesson 29: Romans 8:28

The Good End of All Things

by Bob Burridge ©2011

When things do not go well, people often try to find comfort by looking for something good in the situation. There was an old song I remember hearing a lot when I was very little, “Look for the Silver Lining”. It was my parent’s favorite song. Optimism has always been a popular attitude. Stories of “Pollyanna” and “Little Orphan Annie” have been favorites to tell children. Even when things look gloomy, something in our human nature hates to see naked tragedy. We instinctively try to dress it up in more attractive attire.

Often the trials mount up, the hard times linger on, or catastrophe crushes the spirit. The clothing we use to dress up our calamities just doesn’t seem to fit any more. The ugly nakedness of adversity shows through. Optimism fades into doubt and pessimistic gloom. People ask in discouraged frustration, ” What good could possibly come of this?”

This is the troubled world in which we are called to live. God has not left his children to live here in false hopes or in dismal gloom.

In the last section of his letter to the Romans, Paul talked about how believers long for the glory that lies ahead for them. All our sufferings here, and all that’s in the sin laden world we live in, are eclipsed by the glories promised in which we hope. Creation itself looks to be set free from the way man abuses God’s world for self glory. We long for the day when we will inherit the promises of eternal glory. The Holy Spirit in us encourages us along as we agonize toward that day.

Paul assures us that there is
a Christian optimism for his children.

This optimism is not just self deception or wishful thinking. It is based upon an unfailing reality.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

What Paul teaches us here is something he says “we know …” It’s not just an empty hope that things will work out — somehow. It’s not just a selective blindness to reality. It’s a certainty that comes to our hearts by the testimony of God’s Spirit testifying in us by the written promises in God’s word. Since it is based upon the assurances of God himself it cannot fail.

This is not something new he gives us here. It’s something we already know from what God has told us. This is a reminder of what we can rely upon when times get tough. Though we groan, we know that everything is under the control of our Heavenly Father.

The good he is promising here is made clear in the context. It’s not just some theoretical “good” that has nothing to do with us personally. It is the future glory Paul has just been writing about. It’s the inheritance that all believers will receive as heirs with Christ. All our trials and disappointments fit us for our life in eternity and the perfect blessings of God.

There are benefits for us in this life too. Our Lord lets us go through tough times to make us grow in holiness, and in humble dependence upon our Heavenly Father.

Everything works together to produce this good. Specifically here, Paul is speaking of the hard times we face in this life. The theme of this passage is enduring through the groanings and anxieties of our fallen world. Paul tells us plainly that nothing is excluded. All of life is a complex and intricate pattern displaying the plan of God. But it’s our afflictions that particularly contribute to our growth and benefit.

Paul wrote in Romans 5:3-5 “… we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Paul suffered some type of physical problem he called his “thorn in the flesh”. Many have debated what that was. We don’t know for sure. Paul prayed repeatedly to be cured of it, but God said it was needful for him to suffer with it to keep him humble. (2 Corinthians 12:7)

It’s hard to imagine any suffering greater than what Job went through. In one sudden moment his whole life changed. He got news that invasions and disasters had wiped out all he had: his servants, his oxen, sheep and camels. A storm collapsed the house where his children were eating and all were killed. Later he was stricken with a horrible disease that caused intensely painful boils all over his body. By it Job learned a classic lesson that is basic to all human struggles. Though we may not understand tragedies as they occur, we dare not question God. Job, as far as we know, never learned about the great spiritual battle behind the scenes. But he did learn from God that there is comfort for believers as they endure great suffering.

It’s not just the afflictions. All things are orchestrated together by God in concert for good. The absolute sovereignty of God is one of the clearest, most direct teachings of Scripture. Aside from our human philosophies, assumptions, and prejudices, it is undisputed that nothing but the decree of God directs events in the course of time.

God uses even evil and our sins to promote his holy and wonderful plan. He used the ancient rebellion of Satan to display his justice against evil. He used the fall of man in Adam to show his grace in the plan of salvation. He used the wicked men who crucified Jesus to accomplish the atonement

By the goodness and power of him who brings light out of darkness, God overrules the evil of our sins and produces exactly what he had eternally intended. Even from his own children’s rebellion, he draws out benefits for those saved by grace.

Far from condoning or excusing sin, God, by means of it, exposes how deplorable it is. He shows us what is in our own hearts aside from his restraint. He shows us what we deserve if it was not for the forgiveness we have in the Savior. He reminds us how much we need to depend upon him in all things. He stirs us to prayer and vigilance all through the day. He keeps us humble in our reliance upon his mercies, presence, and power.

David learned by his own sins and sufferings. He wrote in Psalm 119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.”

God’s care is an amazing orchestration of the most minute incident into the symphony of eternal glory.

Children have a hard time seeing the wisdom of the lessons they need to learn. Homework seems like a cruel punishment. It takes up their time and it’s intended to be challenging. However, without struggling through it our brains will not learn to think logically, we will not know the lessons of history to avoid mistakes of the past, we will not know how to communicate our ideas to others, we will not have the facts we need to make good decisions and be good in our life’s callings.

No one likes to have to go through surgery, suffer the bruises of learning to walk or ride a bike, go through the agony of losing a ball game or of apologizing to someone we offended. Yet, all those things help us to grow into what we need to be.

God our Heavenly Father brings us through very trying times. It’s hard to know why we get diseases, why loved ones die, why we lose our jobs, have our homes destroyed in calamities, or are injured in accidents. It’s hard to see criminals lose in our society, and to see people lie and seem to get away with it.

God uses all these things to make us grow into what will make us stronger and more humble. He uses them to best fit us for eternity. When that day comes, when the promised inheritance is ours to enjoy fully, when we move into the house of God to dwell forever, we will see how well he has prepared us.

This good is not assured to everyone.

The good is directed to a specific group: those who love God, and are called by him.

Those outside of Christ have no such promise from God. The world must therefore either live in resigned despair, or in unfounded optimism. It must convince itself without promise, that “all things work out for the best.” For the sinner not redeemed in Christ, all things work toward his eternal damnation. That is not an easy concept for us to accept with our limited understanding and yet flawed appreciation for the larger picture of things. As difficult as it may be to comprehend, it is clearly true according to what God tells us in his word.

On the other hand, for those in Christ, there is great promise and hope. They are called “The loved of God.” Those of the world believe they love God, but the god they love is a false god. He is not the Sovereign and Holy Creator. To them, god is not offended and is not bound by his holy nature to punish sin forever. To them, the Savior is just a good teacher or example, not a substitute for what they deserve. To them, their choices and determinations control all things. They cannot accept the full kingship of the King of kings. To love a false god is to offend the True God.

The believer in Christ has the love of the True God implanted into his heart. To them God has made a solemn promise that cannot fail. All things work in one complex plan for good. To battle the temptations of this world and to escape the despair of false optimism, we must love God as enabled by the work of Jesus Christ.

The concept of “good” itself is understood differently when we see things as they really are. At each phase of his creation God looked at what he had made and said it was “good”. The light was good, the seas and dry land were good. The vegetation, appearing of the sun, moon and stars was good. The same with the animals and humans he made to populate his new world. It would be self-centered to think that he meant only that it was good for us. It was good to him primarily. That is, it exactly conformed to what pleased him as Creator.

The good promised here is both good for us as God’s children, and good in the great plan of our Heavenly Father. All things are part of a wonderful plan that displays and declares the Creator’s glory. We cannot know how it all fits together, but we know that it does. One day we may be privileged to see what is not revealed to our finite minds at this time.

God’s children are also
“the called according to his purpose”

This is not a promise to all those invited outwardly to follow Christ. It means those called inwardly by his Holy Spirit, those called from all eternity to be part of God’s family. God’s eternal decree cannot fail or fall short of all it intends to accomplish. God decrees not only the faith he gives them in this life through the work of Christ. He also decrees their glory forever in him. Paul extends this promise beyond question in the next section of this chapter of Romans (Romans 8:29-30).

The unbeliever and the believer respond very differently to calamity.

Wicked King Saul faced challenges which he answered sinfully, disobediently. He tried to wrench blessings from the hand of God by his own efforts. He suffered in this life without comfort, and died without hope.

In contrast with Saul, King David, when he faced temptation, and even when he sinned, came in humble repentance and faith in God’s promises. He found forgiveness, comfort and hope. David was able to pray in Psalm 84:11, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.”

In Psalm 27 he began, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?”

Psalm 73:21-28 expresses this contrast between those without hope and the believer.

Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.

If the God of creation, who rules all the heavens and the earth, is our Lord in Christ, then what can be lacking for our absolute and complete security both now and forever? If God’s decree is certain and sure, and by grace we are a part of that perfect decree, then all things will work together in our lives for good.

This coordination toward good ought not to lead us to carelessness in living. It is our love for God and our call in his eternal purpose that makes us his. Our duty in the midst of all adversity, calamity, and tragedy is two-fold:

1. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and might. We must not let the love of the things in this world distract us from our true hope, or let temptation bring our belonging to Christ into question.

2. We are to obey that eternal calling to be a part of the purpose of God all the way to glory.

Do you want more of the confidence in times of trial and comfort in seasons of adversity? Take this verse to heart — keep it in your mind often. Dwell upon its promise until it becomes a part of the way you think every moment of every day. God assures us that all things work together for good. It’s a fact. Be reminded of, and practiced in, what you know already from what God has said.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Reforming Ourselves

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Reforming Ourselves

by Bob Burridge ©2011

Reformation Day is October 31st. On that day in 1517 Augustinian monk Martin Luther drew up 95 statements for scholarly debate. He had them posted on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.

People from all over Europe were coming there to celebrate All Saints Day on November 1st. They believed they would receive special blessings by looking upon the relics, attending Mass, and by doing various kinds of penance at its reputable church. Superstition dominated the church then, and had enslaved the people with false hopes.

Luther wanted a biblical foundation for the church’s beliefs and practices. He didn’t have any interest in becoming one of history’s most influential people. But what he did on that seemingly average October morning shaped the whole course of Western civilization.

As an Augustinian Monk, Luther struggled with a sense of his own moral guilt. He could see that a perfectly Holy God could not ignore crimes against his created order. What God called “sin” had to be dealt with in some amazingly powerful way.

Luther could see from Scripture that nothing man or church could do would be enough to atone for a person’s sins. His sense of guilt led him into deep fear, self-beatings, and tears of shame and agony. His knowledge of God’s word was confused by the teachings of a popular and powerful church.

He was overwhelmed when he first saw a complete copy of the Bible. It was chained to a podium at the University of Erfurt. For ten years he avidly studied the Scriptures in search of what God actually said, instead of what the popular pastors were saying.

When he rediscovered the truth of grace in that book, he became a Reformer. Since only God’s word could be the standard for what was absolutely true, a sound and accurate knowledge of the Bible was the only way to set people free from lies, false teachers, and manipulative leaders.

The historic meaning of reformation
has been mostly lost in today’s world.

I often have people ask me why anyone would want to reform Christianity. Reforming does not mean revising or updating something. It means taking it back to its original form. It means we honestly examine the way things are, determine carefully what they should be, then try to remove the corrupted parts to restore the original.

In the days of King Josiah, a copy of God’s word was found in the rebuilding of the Temple. The reading of the long ignored word convicted the King and reformed Israel. Worship and daily life were restored to the way God said they should be.

In the days of Jesus the main religious groups had again corrupted God’s teachings. Jesus corrected their errors challenging them to return to the teachings of Scripture. He was the one promised in the writings of Moses, David, and all the Prophets. Those who listened to him returned to those ancient promises and discovered the much forgotten work of grace that changed their lives.

At the time of Martin Luther the church of Rome had again wandered far from God’s truth. New doctrines and rituals had been added which were not based upon the Bible. Luther and the other reformers worked to restore God’s Kingdom as seen on earth to it’s original form.

During the battles of the early 20th Century, Liberalism and Post-Modernism challenged us. Men such as J. Gresham Machen, Archibald Alexander Hodge, Francis A. Schaeffer, and Cornelius VanTil stood up for soundly understanding biblical truth.

Today in the 21st Century there is still a need for reformation. There’s an old Latin saying: Semper Reformanda. It means, “Ever being re-molded, re-formed.” Reformanda is a Latin Gerundive Participle from the verb, reformo. It is not as much about changing things, as it is about being changed.

It means, we should always be submitting our every belief and practice, our every love and goal, to the test of God’s word, then reshaping what we find so that it conforms to God’s truth and ways. Only what God has revealed should be our standard and foundation.

I have often heard this slogan misused, even by ministers who should know better. Some represent it as meaning, “always finding a new shape for things” – as if our duty is to be innovators.

That’s not at all what it means. As a Latin reflexive verb, it is something done to us, not something new we come up with to impose upon something else. Our duty is to be always re-shaping our beliefs and practices back into the original form given to them in Scripture.

Sadly, in our modern world, even among those who might say they are reformed believers, another Latin expression better describes their objectives: Semper Neo-formans. This Latin active verb structure means always forming something new.

Innovation is important. God calls us all to subdue his world for his glory, but it should never go beyond the boundaries set by God’s unchanging standard.

Reformation is not a change in God’s truth, or in the way he calls us to live and to worship. It is a change made in individuals, churches, families, and societies that brings them back to God’s ways.

Ignorance of the Bible lures people to unbiblical beliefs and practices. Some are unaware of how much the New Testament says about the form of worship, and how the church should be governed under the headship of Jesus Christ, and about how we each person should live in their homes, work places, and community.

The tension we see today, is the battle between two ways of looking at life: either we are re-forming our lives and beliefs to fit the form God gave us, or we are making up new forms that better fit a society in love with its own pleasure and comfort.

This principle of reformation is
a clear mandate from God in his word.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” What God says, is the only true light. Jesus is called the light of the world because he is the greatest communication of eternal truth into our world from God himself. He came to correct our errors, to show us the right way to live, and to secure our only hope of forgiveness and eternal life by his life and death.

To look for other sources of light, is to end up wandering down a wrong path. Notice how clearly God directs us to use his word as our guide, our only standard, and the only form by which we should direct our practices and beliefs.

Psalm 119:9, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.”

John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Reformation is not just a matter of theoretical theology.

Biblical Reformation includes re-molding our lives as individuals, and as the family of God. It brings us back to principles that guide us through our every-day situations.

Our imperfect hearts are easily tempted by the world around us to develop wrong attitudes and behaviors. Each of us needs to be being re-formed into what God lovingly explained in his word.

1. We need to reform how we treat others with whom we come in contact. The attitude of the lost is to see others only as ways of making themselves feel good, or of accomplishing their temporal goals. The fallen nature tends to take advantage of others as long as it can get away with it.

To the lost, reputation becomes something that helps a person feed his self-centered life. They may act in a kind way toward others, and avoid obvious lies because they know it is harder to get what they want from others if people are offended by them or can’t trust them. What they see as “good deeds” are often driven by these very wrong motives. People try to act in a good way so they can get “points with God,” “respect in the community,” or “advantages in business.”

I once knew a couple who seemed very friendly. They had people over for dinner, went up to others in the worship service to greet them, and came to every church service. After some time we found out they were really there to network for their business. They were recruiting sales representatives to help sell their home care products. Once they went through their list of prospects in our church, they moved on to another congregation. They impressed many of us with their friendly attitude, until we chose not to join their pyramid scheme.

The lost might reach out to help others in need, but they do it to avoid facing a troubled conscience, or to fuel self-pride and gain postition in the community.

When self is the reason we do good things, God is no longer at the center or our thoughts and motives. Certainly we want good things in our lives. We should want to help others, and to be able to provide for those facing real needs, but these actions should proceed out of us as service to God, not as fruits of self-serving covetousness and greed.

When we are re-formed into what God’s word says we should be, we have a higher purpose. We pray and work hard while resting in the power of Christ to overcome our self-centered attitudes and behaviors.

Galatians 5:19-21 describes the works of the flesh, the things that issue from imperfect hearts. They are listed as, “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like …”

In their place, we should be cultivating the fruit of the Holy Spirit who works within us. That is what we see described in the next two verses of Galatians 5, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

For those redeemed by grace, honoring God should be first in their lives. It becomes their motive for being good, and for doing good to others.

We are obligated to show these evidences of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts. This effects how we take part in conversations, and how we respond to rudeness. Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, That’s our mission, our responsibility in life.”

It is easy to walk away, to ignore those who make you uncomfortable, or to strike back at them, but God calls you to be light. He tells you to shine in the darkness, not to hide the light away. Lights are designed to shine in all those dark places. It is this standard that should shape our lives as we strive by the power of Christ to be truly reformed believers.

2. We need to be reformed in how we worship and fellowship with God. We all benefit from getting together on Sundays to sing, to pray, and to hear God’s word. However, worship is not primarily for our benefit. We come together as a congregation to honor God, the one who brought you through the week just completed, and who promises to guide and comfort you during the week ahead.

Biblical worship should be centered upon our Redeemer, not upon ourselves. We should not worship to feel entertained, but to be challenged to appreciate, love, and honor our Redeemer.

3. Being personally reformed effects how we handle our regular responsibilities. Marriage and family relationships and all our duties are not always carried out the way God says they should be. They must be reformed to again take the shape of what God says they should be according to his word.

Our work, studies, family relationships, and occupations are not just to get more things for our own pleasure. God says we are to work as his servants in are we are called to do. We should keep his glory first as we manage our time, resources, and opportunities. A reformed worker is diligent and careful to do his best in all he does. It is Kingdom work, done as citizens of God’s Kingdom as it is displayed here on earth.

In all things we need to be re-shaping our attitudes and behaviors so that they conform to what God says they should be. We do them to show our love and devotion to our Creator above every other goal and motive.

4. We also need to be reforming our private lives. Your alone time, when it is just you and God, needs to be shaped by the mold of God’s word. All your thoughts, secret wishes, opinions, likes, and dislikes, should be constantly re-modeled into what the Bible says they should be.

What do you secretly dream about and hope for? Would it please those around you if they knew? Would it please God? No one else can know what goes on inside your own mind, but God not only knows, he cares.

Reformation is not limited to the great accomplishments of large movements in the course of history. It is not found only in theses posted in public places to challenge the church to examine its doctrines and practices. It is about families making biblical principles the rule in their homes and relationships. It is about people doing their daily chores aware that they are advancing Christ’s Kingdom. It is about believers and their churches restoring God’s word as the foundation of their lives. It is about you bringing every thought captive to Christ, making your moment-by-moment choices in ways that show God’s word as your most respected and treasured guide. It is about showing God that you really love him supremely — above everything else.

When you take time to sit down each day to read your Bible and you pray, look for guidance there about how your life can be different, more honoring to the God you love. Be always being reformed.

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted.)

A Practical Kind of Faith

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A Practical Kind of Faith

by Bob Burridge ©2011
(Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 86 Part 2)
(watch the video)

Faith in the most general sense of the word itself is a trust we put in something. The kind of faith that delivers us from sin and restores our fellowship with our Creator is special. It is a certainty God puts into our hearts when we are restored to fellowship with him. The barrier of our guilt is removed because Jesus Christ paid our debt of sin, and clothes us with his perfect righteousness.

This restoration opens our minds to see things as they really are. This true saving faith has God’s revealed truth as its object, and his promises as the rest for our souls. There ought to be practical outworkings of it in our lives and attitudes.

Faith that does not lead us to act upon that in which we say we fully trust, is a rather empty concept. Either we trust in God’s word or we don’t. We may have in immature understanding of what the Scriptures say, but once we know what God has said, we either trust it or dismiss it. There is a practical side of a true saving faith that continues to work in our lives after being adopted into the family of God.

Hebrews 11 is a good place to start in appreciating
that continuing work of Saving Faith.

Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11 is about the practical side of what faith does, rather than defining what faith is. It is a chapter about the heroes of the faith God implants into our hearts. They are individuals who in spite of their backgrounds, trusted what God made known to them, and acted upon it faithfully.

Sadly these words that begin the chapter have been misused to promote and to support a very unbiblical concept of faith. This verse gives us a helpful introduction to an important chapter of God’s word. If we misinterpret it, we confuse all that follows. This verse shows what a true faith accomplishes in us. It is a practical definition, rather than a strict explaining of the meaning of the word.

The verse begins with the word “Now.” This connects back to the previous chapter. There, in 10:38, the writer quotes from the prophet Habakkuk. The prophet had learned that instead of questioning God when troublesome things occur, we should live by faithfully trusting in his promises.

The verse quoted is Habakkuk 2:4, “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” There the word translated “faith” is the Hebrew word emunah (אמוּנה). It is usually taken as meaning, “to be firm, faithful.” The upright, instead of being proud and trusting in himself or in his own judgment, trusts in God and in his promises without wavering from them.

This genuine kind of faith is also what James had in mind in his epistle. In James 1:22 it warns us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Then in the next chapter, James 2:17-19 says, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble!”

When someone says he has faith in God, but lives as if his Creator was just a factual part of his life, he does no better than the demons. Simply trusting something to be true is not what saving faith means. Those who have a true kind of faith, show by their lives that it is genuinely produced by God. God never gives true faith to a person without also making changes in his heart and life.

The text tells us that true faith gives a foundation for our hope. It says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, … .” Faith is not just things we hope will happen. It is not a mere wish, fantasy, or dream. It is the “confident reality” of things hoped for. The NASB translates it, “… the assurance of things hoped for …”

The Greek word that modifies the things hoped for in the originally inspired text is hupostasis (ὑποστασις). It is a compound word. “Hupo-” (ὑπο) is that which lies under something as it’s foundation. the word “stasis” (στασις) is that which exists, or stands upon it. Faith is that well supported hope God gives us in his word. True faith gives us confidence in the reality of the things God promises. It applies God’s words personally in our hearts. It goes beyond reciting theoretical creeds.

This confidence is a work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. Faith is listed among the elements that make up the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.

1 Corinthians 12:3 shows that this inner trust comes only from the Spirit. It says, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”

This verse is not just talking about saying the words “Jesus is Lord”. It means that no one can actually mean that they trust in Jesus as their Lord, unless the Spirit enables them by applying the finished work of Christ to them.

Jesus explained that this coming in faith is exclusively a work of God. In John 6:44-45 he said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”

Faith is not just a blind trust. It is always faith in something in particular. The only proper thing for true faith to trust upon is the word of God. That is why in bringing the gospel to somebody we should not just ask them to have faith in whatever it is they believe God is. We need to make sure they are trusting in God’s promises in Christ as revealed to us in Scripture. We always need to explain to people what the Bible says. They are to trust in what the gospel says, not just in some vague concept of God.

Romans 10:13-17, “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

When the Holy Spirit implants this saving faith in someone’s soul, he will believe whatever he knows God has said. Our duty is to point people to that truth. If they truly believe God and take him at his word, they will not only trust in the promises about salvation, they will trust all the moral principles and truths they know are revealed in the Bible.

There’s another practical outworking
of true faith in Hebrews 11:1.

Faith is, “… the evidence of things not seen.”

There are things we are not able to take into the science lab, things we cannot see, touch, or measure. Spiritual realities are just as real as physical ones. They are not seen with our five senses, or measured with scientific instruments. God testifies in his word. That becomes confident certainty to us.

This is not saying that faith is in itself evidence of unseeable things. We live in an age of religious existentialism and nihilism. Those are fancy words for complicated philosophies. They reflect some very popular opinions which are promoted in movies, music, books, and in our public schools. They teach that just deciding that something is true is all the reality we can know. Having faith in your faith is meaningless nonsense. The Bible does not teach that here or anywhere.

The word for “evidence” here is elenchos (ελεγχος). It means evidence in the negative sense of correcting wrong impressions or understandings of something. It is often translated as “reproof” or “conviction of sin or wrongdoing.” When truth is brought to the light, wrong things are exposed for what they are.

This text in Hebrews 11 teaches that what God says becomes our firm conviction when the Holy Spirit gives us a true faith, confidence that what God says is right, and that anything contrary to it is wrong. This living inner testimony from God is better evidence that scientific measurements. It gives us an inner assurance that God’s written promises can be counted upon and live by.

Saving faith is that convincing proof that makes our hearts accept and trust God’s word simply because we know God said it. It exposes errors and myths about things that come from the vain imaginations of lost hearts.

Faith in what God says brings comfort and confidence which are available nowhere else. Upon divine authority believers take action based upon what God tells them is best. They organize their lives around his advice. They begin to realize the rich spiritual blessings that come to us by grace alone.

Jesus said in John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Principally, faith is the accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace (WCF 14:2).

This true faith produces a confidence and certainty that makes us thankfully obey God. We obey with more confidence than what any human reasoning could ever give us.

People are often quick to take human advice and risk all they have by resting upon it. Some make risky investments in the stock market because of a tip or hunch. Some take unproven medicines because of desperation and some partial research findings. People trust their lives to surgeons, pilots, bridge inspectors, restaurant cooks, and to thousands of other drivers when they take their cars out on the interstates. They trust TV infomercials, ads on coupons, the advice of friends who are no wiser than we are, and celebrities who not only act and sing, but tell us who to vote for, what soap to buy, and what foreign policy we should support for America’s future.

Even the best of human advice cannot compare with the confidence we should have in the words of God himself. If he made us and rules the entire universe, it makes no sense for anyone to hesitate to take his advice about the lessons of Scripture that effect our daily lives. He teaches us about responsibly managing our finances, about how his Sabbath Day should be honored, about how we should worship, about sexual morality and the preservation of our families and marriages.

The faith that comes to us by grace in Christ directs us to the one perfectly sure and secure foundation of truth — the word of God. We are fools not to fully entrust all we have and do to that perfect counsel.

Keeping these principles in mind, take a fresh look at Hebrews 11. Notice that each of the heroes of the faith did not simply have a blind or undefined ability to hope all things work out in the end. They did not have a leap-in-the-dark attitude which convinced them that God will do what they wanted him to do. They had a trust, a full confidence, in something specific that God had said. They believed his promises and spoken assurances. Beyond that, they showed the sincerity of their faith by acting upon what God said to them. They each did something in response to the promises of God. Their faith did not stand in a vacuum. It was such a firm trust that they could put their lives on the line knowing that if God said it, it was true and reliable.

This is the fruit our faith should have too. We do things God’s way, trust in his promises, act confidently in all we set out to do, because we are following the instructions and assurances of our Creator, the one who redeemed us undeserving sinners, and adopted us to become his beloved children forever.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Index of Lessons in the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Anticipation

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Lesson 28: Romans 8:18-27

Anticipation

by Bob Burridge ©2011

In my study I have an old time-worn teddy bear sitting on a shelf along with my books. When I was little more than a year old I named him “Mike.” We have no idea where I got that name. We didn’t know anyone named Mike. Today he looks a bit thin and limp. I don’t know where the long lost stuffing has ended up, and like his owner — he has a lot of hair missing. I dimly remember clinging to him in those lonely times when children feel alone. In a child’s way, Mike became a symbol of that need we all have for something secure.

Of course it was my family, not Mike, that actually guided me through the difficulties of growing up. As I got older my family expanded to take in my wife and two children. We stood together through those challenges that come along in God’s providence.

Nothing we cling to in this world around us is perfect and infallible. We imperfect people often need to give comfort as well as receive it. Mike was just a stuffed toy. Our family members, friends, and we ourselves are mere humans saved and kept by God’s grace alone. Through these flawed but important earthly channels God displays his care for us, and sees us through. It ought to be to him and to his promises that we look for security and unfailing comfort in times of need.

We live in a world that often makes us very much aware of that deep need for security and comfort. It is a place full of changes. The things we rely upon and take for granted today may be gone tomorrow. Sometimes tragedy seems to close in around us like a dark cloud. We feel empty and isolated. Our plans for our futures may suddenly change taking us down paths we had never imagined. Familiar things are taken away needing to be replaced with new things. As a pastor I stood by many of the people in my congregation through times like those. They stood by my family and I when we faced deep losses too.

Living here means needing to find ways of coping, dealing with changes, handling daily disappointments in ourselves, in our friends, and in our community.

Tough and uncertain times make us aware of how much we need comfort and security based upon something that is certain to always be there reliably. Our Lord has given us a hope that is so great that nothing in this fleetingly short life can dim its promises. If only we could, in those hard times, fix our eyes effectively upon that for which all this is preparing us.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians
he directed them to that hope.

Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

What we suffer through in this life is brief compared with eternity. In that day there will be no more losses, no tragedies, no unwelcome changes. Infinite and eternal blessings will dwarf our present struggles.

God encourages us with a glimpse of what lies ahead. He has often done that for his people. Israel was able to see fruit from the land of Canaan which was brought back by the spies. It was to encourage them while they were still in the wilderness with memories of Egyptian slavery. Many missed the message and doubted God’s promise represented by the fruit. Those who believed pressed on until the land became theirs. The Disciples saw the transfiguration of Jesus Christ as a foretaste of glory. That prepared them to face the trying years of ministry ahead.

Paul could say “I consider …” as he began this verse because he had suffered so much personally. The Lord privileged him to see a bit of the glory that lies ahead for us all.

In Christ, and through God’s word, we can see in advance the fruit of the “heavenly Canaan.” It is encouraging to think upon the divine promises when we face times of trouble. If we become so focused on our own sufferings that we hardly see our Lord’s promises, we miss the consolations that outweigh the discomforts of this life.

With our eyes fixed upon this hope, it helps us to keep things in perspective here. It helps us understand that our loving Father is preparing us to live with him forever. The pains we go through help us grow into the image of Christ. They are to discipline us when we get out of line before our foolishness and doubts cause us greater harm that we anticipate.

The hope of glory helps us keep our values straight too. If we treasure these material, temporary things too much we forget the greater value of the treasure laid up for us in heaven forever. We need to remember that this is not our Canaan. It is not our land of rest. Even the best things here are only a foretaste of the glories that will be ours forever. When tempted by the fleeting things of this world, we should remember to say to them, “No. It’s just not worth it.”

Moses gave up the glories of Egypt, the “pleasures of sin for a season”, because he looked at the outcome of all things, the reward that was ahead (Hebrews 11:25-26). Even King David, when he looked to this world as his standard, was confused by the temporal prosperity wicked. But he saw their end and the future glory of God’s people (see for example Psalm 37:9-22).

When we look to God’s promises, we find that consolation that bears us through. Not only will we behold his glory when all things are completed at our final day of reward, we all so will be the redeemed testimonies to all the inteligent creatures of God. In us and unto us God’s wonders and grand attributes will be displayed in richer detail than we can anticipate in this life.

Creation itself longs for the day when it will be set free.

Romans 8:19-22, “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

The “creation” Paul speaks of here icludes the material world of things and animals. It is not specifically speaking of men, angels, or a combination of them. We know that rocks, roaches, and rain have no emotions or consciousness of suffering. The expressions here are figurative and poetical. They are a “personification,” a common figure of speech where things are described with human characteristics to help us understand through terms with which we are familiar. God often does this in his word.

Isaiah 55:12, “… The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

Jeremiah 12:4, “How long will the land mourn …?”

Isaiah 49:13, “Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted.”

The mountains cannot literally shout for joy. The trees have no hands to clap. The land does not actually weep in mournful cries. However, there is an anticipation in creation itself related to the hope that awaits us.

When God made all things, he declared them “good” — suited to what he made them to be. When Adam sinned a curse came upon all the earth. It became subjected to “futility” or “vanity.”

When God created Man, he gave him dominion over all that was made. He was to represent the rule of the Creator, the Sovereign King. Man’s job was to subdue all things for God’s glory. When mankind became corrupt, humans abused their dominion. The things God made became tools of sin and self indulgence. Creation was used to serve evil instead of good. Dr. Haldane says about the created things mentioned in this verse, “they have become subservient to the criminal pleasures of man and are the victims of his oppressive cruelty.”

There is a hope of deliverance for creation. The things God made groan anticipating the revealing of the sons of God. The “groaning” should not be thought of as a vocal moaning as we use the word today. The word here has to do with the emotion of agonizing.

The Greek word is stenatzo (στεναζω). It comes from the root word stenos (στενος) which means “something narrow or constricted”. We use “Stenosis” today as a medical term. Stenosis of the heart’s mitral valve is a hardening or narrowing of the opening of a valve in the heart that restricts the flow of blood into the left ventricle.

The word picture Paul uses is of agonizing to squeeze through a narrow opening. Creation groans in its agonizing struggle through these times of sinful abuse by man.

The suffering of the soul as it strains to get through hard times is a spiritual stenosis. It is compared with the straining pains of childbirth in verse 22. The process of child labor is hard and agonizing, but there is a promise that helps the mother endure it — the birth of that baby.

Creation has a promise too. One day its misuse by fallen man will end. Those who are the sons of God will be completed into the likeness of Christ. The heavens and earth will be renewed and set free of that abuse to declare fully the glory of the Creator.

There is a deep longing with in us too
as we look toward that day of promise.

Romans 8:23-25, “Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

God’s redeemed children also groan toward the promise of full salvation. Salvation includes all the benefits of our redemption in Christ. In one sense all believers in Christ are already saved. They are immediately delivered from their guilt and bondage to corruption. In another sense all believers are being saved. They are being sanctified more and more as they are set free from the ways of sin which remain in this life. In another sense all believers are yet to be saved. When we are raised up at the coming again of Jesus Christ we will be delivered from all the workings of corruption, and transformed into glory. Then we will be free from all sin and suffering. It is in this sense that the Bible says “he that endures to the end shall be saved.”

Hope is at the center of this whole passage. It is the focal point. Hope has to do with things yet future, things net yet seen by us. It is meaningless to speak of hope in things we already have. It points toward wonderful things yet to be enjoyed.

In this way Hope is contrasted with faith. By faith we believe God’s promises. By hope we expect to receive the good things God has promised. The object of faith is the promise that is present with us now. The object of hope is future and unseen, it is the reward yet unrealized.

Therefore faith is the foundation for hope and precedes it. Faith is a convincing certainty. Hope is a comforting expectation.

Paul says, “in hope we have been saved.” Some translations say we are “saved by hope”. That is not as accurate. Hope is not the way of salvation. It is the fruit of it, and the promise of its final results. Faith, not hope, is the means of our laying hold of the promise of Christ. It is by means of this faith that we are justified.

Only those who are redeemed can have this strong expectation of things yet to come. God does not implant true faith in the hearts of the lost. Without that foundation, hope becomes just wishful thinking, a vain vision of possibilities. To the believer, hope is founded upon the word of God himself. This hope is called an “anchor for the soul.” Through storms of doubt and tragedy it keeps us from drifting from the things promised.

Hope also generates patience in us (verse 25). By it we persevere through the trials and the agonies of this present life.

To confirm the promised blessings, he produces in us certain “first fruits”. Paul’s readers would have known the historic meaning of that term. Jews were required to bring the first fruits of harvest to God as a thank offering. It meant several things. On the one hand it was a way of showing faith in God as the giver of all things. On the other hand it was God’s pledge that the rest of the harvest was yet to come. The spiritual fruit produced in us is a pledge of what God promises to complete in us one day.

The Holy Spirit also helps us anticipate
the glory that is ours to come.

Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Spirit helps our weaknesses while we are yet not in full possession of what lies ahead. He intercedes in groanings too deep for words. Groanings, as we have already shown, are not sounds. They are agonizings and longings. Those who look here for support that the Spirit stirs us to pray in special prayer languages, in the tongues of angels, not only misunderstand the passage, they miss the promise given to us here.

It does not mean that the Holy Spirit prays for us as Jesus does. Jesus is our intercessor in heaven. He represents our needs to the Father. The Holy Spirit is our intercessor here, in our hearts. He moves us to pray as we ought. He affirms the truth of God’s promises in us, and causes us to call out to our Heavenly Father.

God searches our hearts. In our fallen condition we do not know what is best for us, or how our needs are best met. David said, “I am so troubled that I cannot speak” (Psalm 77:4).

When we are confused about the will of God, the Spirit in us knows. He is God! He is omniscient and alone knows perfectly the decreed outcome of all things, and the holy way to those ends. He brings to pass that for which he leads us to pray. The Holy Spirit always works in perfect harmony with the will of the Father. 1 John 5:14, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

This is our great expectation. While we agonize here through the struggles of life in this world, we have a great hope.

The focus of our heart is Paul’s great concern for us here. If we mind earthly things, what we gain here, what we feel at the moment, then our struggle will be hard, agonizing, uncertain, and unrewarding. If we mind God’s promises when we think about what lies ahead, and live for the things yet to come, when we obey the ways of God, and hope in his certain rewards, then we will have strength to endure all the way to the end.

Turn your eyes to the hope that is yet to be realized in us as the children of God. Hope in the things promised, and think about them a lot. This will carry you through the toughest of times. It will bear you through and ease the burden of what you face in this relatively short and fleeting moment.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Faith as God Describes It

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Faith as God Describes It

by Bob Burridge ©2011
(Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 85-86 Part 1)
(watch the video)

Not Just Any Kind of Faith

Sales representatives are one of the foundations of our economy. They deliver products and services to their customers, and secure the customer’s money for the producers and providers.

Sadly, some have earned bad reputations for themselves. We can all picture some sleazy sales person fast talking a naive customer into paying a lot to get very little in return. Sometimes they misrepresent their products. They sell things that will never do what they promised they would do. Television and movie writers have often made a caricature of that kind of person. We see him putting his arm around a customer, giving him an exaggerated wink, and saying, “Just trust me.”

We hear the same from those politicians who have made government more a contest for getting votes, than a means for getting fair laws passed to preserve our liberties and core principles.

Today we are surrounded by advertising agencies pushing gimmicks promoted by slick infomercials, authors and publishers offering books that promise life changing secrets, the lawyers who promise to make you rich if you just help them sue those who seems vulnerable, preachers who primarily want to promote their books or CDs promising all sorts of things God never promised. These are the ones who discourage us from thinking things through, or checking them out first. They come up with the same line, “Just trust me.” They often throw in those words that sound so noble; “You just have to have faith.”

Rumors have always been a problem too. It’s hard to know which ones to trust, and which ones are lies. Theories of conspiracies abound in our world where people who know little, suppose a lot, and are quick to spread rumors to make them appear to be smart and others to seem stupid.

It’s not uncommon for people to tell us that we should just trust them. It’s hard enough to decide about choosing cars and soap. When it comes to what we should believe about God, about our eternal hope, and about how we ought to live day by day, these are too important to depend upon the opinions of others.

Our faith needs to be the kind God promises to bless. It needs to rest upon things more sure than just what people tell us, or what we think we know by our own experience and limited information.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism in questions 85-87 introduces us to both faith and repentance as the Bible presents them. Question 85 asks, “What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?” It’s answer is, “To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.”

In this study, we take up the matter of faith. Question 86 asks, “What is faith in Jesus Christ?” The answer summarizes what the Bible says about it, “Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.”

Faith, as it is seen in God’s Word

Real biblical faith does not mean just accepting things blindly without evidence. That would be nothing other than being irrational. Trust never stands alone. It must be placed in something we believe to be true and reliable. It is not something that operates aside from content. Notice how Paul put content into that in which believers hope. In Ephesians 1:17-18 he said, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…”

It is God who enables our fallen minds to see clearly again when regenerated by grace through the work of our Redeemer. Our restored sight puts reliable content into our trust. Our Heavenly Father gives us the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding we need, so that we can know the hope of that to which he calls us. It makes us appreciate the riches of the promised blessings. This confidence we have in God’s promises is the core of the biblical concept of faith.

The world in general doesn’t use the word “faith” in that same way. People debate about having faith in the economy, or in what people tell them. There is that foolish kind of faith that ignores dangers and presses on anyway hoping things will just happen to work out in the end. Some people think of faith as a totally irrational, believing in things the way children believe in fantasies — not really caring if they’re true. Our minds have the ability to consider things and come to conclusions about them. This concluding mechanism decides what to safely act upon or believe is true. In a broad sense, people call this trust, “faith”.

The Old Testament Hebrew word for “faith” is emun (אמון). The New Testament Greek word for “faith” is pistis (πιστις). Both words are like our English words, “faith” or “trust”. “To have faith” means to trust something to be true. When used as a noun, “faith” is the trust or confidence we have in something to be true and reliable. The Adjective “faithful” describes something or someone that is reliable and can be trusted.

In daily life we come to trust things for various reasons. We trust in, or rely upon things primarily because they gain our confidence through our experience with them. We know that certain chairs look safe to sit upon because of the reliability of ones we have used before. There are certain products we believe are reliable because we have tried them in the past. Sometimes we trust the experience of others about what is reliable and what is not.

Some trusted in Jesus as a miracle worker because they saw him do things they could not explain naturally. Their past experience with him convinced them that he had supernatural powers. They might not have believed he was their Savior, but they trusted him to be able to do what they saw him do before.

The Bible describes a special kind of trust we call a Saving Faith. This is a confidence implanted supernaturally directly into human hearts by the Holy Spirit. Our trust is not based upon research, experience, debates, proofs, or arguments. It does not come from our senses, our experiences, or from the testimony of others. It is one of the results of regeneration.

The saving work of Jesus Christ is applied to certain fallen human hearts removing their guilt forever. Their sins were paid for in his death, and his righteousness is credited to them. With the guilt barrier removed each redeemed individual is joined back into fellowship with God. The separation of spiritual death is ended. In its place there is new spiritual life. This is why we say say a redeemed person is “born again”.

This saving faith receives as true and reliable all that it learns that God has actually revealed. It confidently rests in the atonement of Christ for salvation. The guilt of sin that once condemned, is forgiven.

This restored ability enables the redeemed to see the soundness of God’s truth. It opens their understanding to the authority behind Scripture and the truth of the cross. By this faith the redeemed trust in all they know God has said. They learn to evaluate everything else learned by comparing it with what God tells us in his written word.

John Calvin summarized these ideas in his definition of saving faith in his Institutes (Inst 3:II:7 end). There he said that faith is “… a firm and sure knowledge of the divine favor toward us, founded on the truth of a free promise in Christ, and revealed to our minds and sealed on our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

Not all people have saving faith.

In 2 Thessalonians 3 Paul was concerned about persecutions if God’s people. He begins the chapter with these words in verses 1-2, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.”

This same idea of faith as a special gift is expressed in Philippians 1:29. “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,”

Faith then is clearly a gift from God. It is undeserved and unearned. The fallen soul is unable to perceive as true what God has made known. He refuses to accept what God says about his fallen condition, and he will not trust in the provision Jesus Christ made for salvation.

False and unbiblical religions must deny these limits upon human faith. They cannot accept our inability to determine our own salvation. They deny that saving faith is a supernatural gift. They see faith as either a rational choice based upon information we can prove scientifically, or as an irrational leap in the dark. They say that it doesn’t matter if what we believe is true or not, but it helps us emotionally if we believe that something bigger than us is true.

In the Bible saving faith is neither a belief based upon observed facts, nor a blind leap to embrace the irrational.
It is a supernatural gift of God’s grace whereby we are convinced of the reliability of God’s word, and the certainty of his promises in Christ.

Those who have it should most humbly thank God for it, and confirm that it is genuine by acting confidently upon all that God instructs us in his word. Those who lack this faith should be the objects of our neighborly kindness and evangelism.

People of true faith are neither gullible nor cynical. The Holy Spirit guides them in comparing what they hear and think with the written word. They should prayerfully test all they hear to see if it fits what God says is true. This doesn’t make God’s children just doubt everything either as a bunch of cynical skeptics. Once they know what God said in his word, they know they must trust it to be reliable and true, and act upon it with confidence.

Those who say they believe God but are hesitant to live by what he says is right and true, show that they really do not trust him as much as they say they do.

Part Two of this lesson will take up the practical and positive side of the faith God works in our hearts as believers.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Index of Lessons in the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Who Is Your Father?

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Lesson 27: Romans 8:14-17

Who Is Your Father?

by Bob Burridge ©2011

The scene in John 8 must have been quite dramatic. Hostile Jews stood around Jesus hearing his words but not understanding him. They claimed to be children of God, but would not face the fact that they needed to be set free from sin and guilt. They had corrupted God’s word, and made excuses for living to serve their self-interests. They trusted in their heritage, as if that was all God’s promise considered (John 8:39a). They proudly said to Jesus, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus made it clear that God never defined his people as those merely descended from someone God had blessed. His covenant with Abraham did not promise forgiveness and eternal life for all those born into the line of the covenant family. Jesus said to them in John 8:239b-41a, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”

This only confused them more. Is he saying that Abraham isn’t our ancestor? that we’re not Jews? Does Jesus mean that we are illegitimate children of some Gentile? They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father — God” (John 8:41b). They were so sure that they were the true sons of God, but it was based upon misunderstandings.

Jesus showed them that their claim did not fit the way they lived. He said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.” (John 8:42-43)

They really thought they were God’s children, but Jesus exposed the hard truth; “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44)

Jesus did not cater to their confused beliefs. Claim what ever they will, Satan was their spiritual father, not the God of Abraham. They behaved like the one who wanted God’s glory for himself, who obscured God’s truth. They shared the desires, values and goals of the Devil.

The Apostle John later wrote about this same truth in his first Epistle (1 John 3:10), “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”

Today, DNA testing has given us a powerful tool for identifying a person’s real physical father. A child may have been made to believe that a person is his father who is not. DNA profiles rule out all pretenders, and show the child’s true parent. Many cases of paternity, and of baby switching by hospitals, have been solved this way.

So then, how do we test for spiritual sonship? How can we know if we are truly Sons of God? Some believe all people are sons of God, but that is contrary to the revealed facts of Scripture. Many believe themselves to be specially God’s true children, but they have no grounds for that belief.

Who really are the sons of God?

Romans 8:14-17, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Being a child is a creation principle set up to demonstrate the relationship between God and his people. It is far more than just being born to a parent physically. It ought to imply a special relationship. There should be a special love and affection of the parents toward their children. It includes special privileges that go along with being part of a family. It means that children take after their parents in some ways. They have or develop many of the same habits and dispositions.

Those who are made into members of God’s family enjoy all these special advantages. God has a special love for his true children. He redeems them and keeps them. God cares for them specially, and promises blessings both in this life and in the life to come. At their new birth, God begins the process of improving holiness in them. They begin to take on the characteristics of God, their Father. They grow in love, mercy, patience, gentleness, holiness, and faith.

There are certain characteristics that identify the true sons of God. These charcteristics are not causes of sonship. They are evidences of it. Paul brings this up here in Romans to assure the believers. Though they struggle with overcoming the inner remains of sin, there is a promise from God: If someone is truly God’s child, they should have no reason for doubts about their salvation, or terror as they look to the day of God’s final judgment.

Being God’s child is the most wonderful assurance of hope in all the universe. The evidences in this text are unmistakable marks that show a person that his sonship is genuine.

1st – There is a walk that characterizes the sons of God.

Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

It is not our walk or our life that makes us children of God. It is our true sonship that produces our walk.

They are the Sons of God who are led by the Holy Spirit, those who are governed by him in their living. His word tells what a godly walk is like. It tells us what kind of living pleases God. It is the Holy Spirit in us (as explained in 8:9-11) that produces that walk.

The Spirit does not work in God’s children to get them to walk in a more godly way against their desires. The Spirit changes their desires by regenerating them through the work of Christ. He does not just externally hold them back from sins they love and would rather do. He takes away the love for sinning, and makes them truly want to honor God. Though this love and devotion is never perfect in this life, it is an unmistakable longing the Spirit puts in them. The Spirit enlightens their understanding of spiritual things revealed in the word. Inwardly he guides his people into all truth, and produces in them behaviors and attitudes which the Bible calls “the fruit of the Spirit.”

Those who see this spiritual inclination in their living, are the sons of God. Those in whom these things are absent have no assurance of sonship.

2nd – The sons of God have a different motivation for obedience.

Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ “

The sons of God are those who are delivered from fear into confident dependence upon God. Their inner disposition is not moved by the workings of dread about their standing before their Creator.

Before God’s grace is applied there is a slavish anxiety in the soul. It believes that its future must be deserved, that it must be earned. The fallen heart looks at God’s law not as a revealing of an insurmountable need, but as a formula for becoming a child of God.

The lost struggle against impossible odds. God’s law demands a perfection no one can produce. It is plain from their own conscience that they are guilty before a holy God. They also have a love for sin itself. They would rather put their own desires first, than to deny themselves things God forbids. Over their heads hangs an inevitable apprehension of eternal punishment. To suppress this often denied awareness, they must live in self deception.

For the child of God there is a different motive for obedience. In place of that awful dread and personal cravings for immediate pleasures, there is a sense of adoption into the family of a loving and caring God. God’s sons want to live to please God out of gratitude. They understand that Jesus Christ paid their awful debt of guilt and has forgiven them. They know that they have been set free from sin’s blindness and slavery. They want to do what pleases God for his sake, not just for their own benefits.

What changes them is the spirit of adoption. Where once they were sons of Satan, they are now transformed inwardly, and given a new love. As sons they know their Heavenly Father hears them so they cry out to him saying, “Abba! Father!”

There are two words in the original text. The first is Abba (אבא) which is Aramaic, the common language of the Jews at that time. The second word is pataer (πατηρ), the Greek word for “father.” Both words mean the same thing. Each meaningful specially to the readers, each in his own language. We in English call him by the word “Father.” Contrary to some popular commentaries, neither word is demeaning or informal. Both these words openly confess true sonship and family confidence.

Just as a child cries out to his father for help and comfort in times of need, we who are born again, adopted into the covenant family, call out to our Heavenly Father in confidence and expected blessing.

No child in this life is all he ought to be. Even the sons of God struggle with imperfect faith and imperfect obedience. This is the struggle Paul had been explaining in the previous chapter (Romans 7). In Galatians 5:17 Paul summarizes this battle, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” There is a desire and effort daily to be putting their sins to death, and to be coming alive more and more, growing into the life of Christ. They are the sons of God who persevere in that struggle and will not give up.

3rd – There is an inner testimony from God that we are his children.

Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,”

This is something more direct that just watching our lives for evidences alone. Even before much progress is made, when we are fresh from the womb of the Holy Spirit, the youngest child of God has a spiritual awareness of the touch of grace on his heart.

Dr. Charles Hodge, as great a Bible scholar as he was, said, “How this is done we cannot fully understand, any more than we can understand the mode in which he produces any other effect in our mind. The fact is clearly asserted here, as well as in other passages.”

The unregenerated person cannot understand it at all. Even the true child of God, in his imperfect soul sees this testimony only dimly, but it is there none-the-less.

The Holy Spirit bears testimony directly with our own spirit to confirm this sonship with God. Hosea 2:23 speaks of this direct testimony of God to our spirit, “Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘ You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

The Apostle John explains this in his first Epistle (5:10-12), “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

And in 1John 2:20 he said, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”

This inward testimony is far from mystical visions and private revelations. Though it comes inwardly from the Spirit to the regenerated soul, it never imparts information beyond what God has preserved for us in the Bible. It convinces us by an enriched awareness, and by working the evidences of faith and obedience in our hearts. We would not know what our faith should be place in, and what standards we should honor and obey, if it was not for the recorded principles and promises from God in our Bibles.

In our yet unglorified minds this testimony is not understood without defects. There is nothing wrong or weak in the witness of the Spirit, but there is weakness in us. Moments of questioning and faltering should not be seen as proofs against true sonship. In moments of doubt, we dare not trust our own judgment or imperfect minds. Instead we cry out to our Father holding to his infallible promise. Paul explained in his First Letter to the Corinthians, 2:4-5, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

The results of this amazing doctrine are very practical and filled with promise.

These sons of God are also heirs with Christ.

Romans 8:17, “and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

What is earned for us by our Lord Jesus Christ has become our promised inheritance. Galatians 3:29, “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

The promised inheritance of the saints is not like an earthly estate. It is not valued in goods that become outdated or that wear out in time. It is not a title or honor that lasts for a term, then is passed on to the next generation. There is no worldly inheritance that is of the same nature as that which is ours in Christ. It is an eternal heritage in glory which will always be precious and good.

This verse also mentions our suffering with him. The single Greek word translated as “that” or “in order that” by some translations is hina (ἱνα). It does not mean that our being glorified is “caused by” or “earned by” our suffering. Our heritage is ours by God’s grace. There is no suffering that can help out or add even a little to the work of Christ for us. All the good things we gain or hope for are ours by the finished work of Christ alone.

It means that by going through the ordinary and sometimes special sorrows and pains of this life, we are refined and made more mature spiritually, preparing us for our stay in glory. It is to set us into the right order for living as glorified saints forever.

This refining process is described by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:6-7, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,”

Suffering in this life through various trials, far from making us doubt our sonship, ought to confirm the process of the Father’s work in his sons as he prepares them for glory. He chastises the children he loves because it is best for them. The writer of Hebrews quotes Proverbs 3 when in Hebrews 12:5-6 he wrote, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.’ ”

The work of the Holy Spirit leads us to walk in the ways of holiness, purifies our motives to want to obey God out of gratitude and love, and confirms the Spirit’s presence to us inwardly proving our sonship. By these actions he removes all reasons for doubt that we are truly God’s sons.

It is important that we do not get things turned around. It is God who produces these things in us. If we see our obedience, gratitude, and confidence as things we do to move God, then we turn assurance into uncertainty, and blessing into a burden.

When we struggle in the weakness of our flesh, when we doubt our salvation, the remedy is not found by looking more and more at ourselves, neither inwardly nor outwardly. Though there are evidences there which are certain and irrefutable, there is a problem in our confident grasp of them. We ought instead to turn our attention to the foundation of our assurance, the promises of God. The words of the Bible are what the Spirit uses to assure our hearts that we are his.

There’s a wonderful summary of this in the Westminster Confession, chapter 18, Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation. I highly recommend you carefully read and study this section. Look up the Scriptures cited in the full version. The last paragraph leaves us with these words,

True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Sin’s Extensive Damage

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Sin’s Extensive Damage

(Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 82-84)
(watch the video)
by Bob Burridge ©2011

The Extent of Sin’s Damage

Sin is not a minor breaking of a rule. As would be expected, the fallen world minimizes the idea of sin making it an acceptable or even desirable stepping over unimportant boundaries for a few moments of innocent pleasure. To attract those hungry for an escape from the ordinary, we hear advertizing to attract people to “Sin City”, to be a little “naughty” now and then, to try a “sinfully delicious” dessert, or to take in a little “adult” entertainment.

The truth is that sin is not just a little infraction of a rule. It is the violation of the moral principles revealed by our Creator. It is open rebellion against God’s authority and glory. The guilt of even one sin erects an uncrossable barrier that separates every fallen human from fellowship with his Maker.

In question 14 of the Shorter Catechism, sin is defined as the Bible describes it. It says, “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.”

No one is able to keep
the commandments of God perfectly.

The answer to question 82 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that no one naturally descended from Adam can keep the commandments of God when they are rightly understood. He breaks them every day in his thoughts, words, and deeds.

Humans were created in a condition of moral goodness. In Eden there was no inclination to do evil. Adam and Eve were holy and free. To be “free” does not mean that God had no idea what they would do, or that humans could change the plan of God. Eden was not a cosmic moral experiment. God is Sovereign and unchangably knows all things. By “free” we mean that man had no built in pull toward evil, and no blindness about what is true and moral. He had the ability either to do true good for God’s glory, or to sin. The outcome was known by God eternally.

Humans became corrupted in the fall. Adam’s rebellion against God brought death and the bondage of his desires to the mastery of sin. Since Adam represented us all, this depravity entered the human race and our moral freedom was lost. Ecclesiastes 7:29says, “Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes.” Romans 6:23 explains the consequences very clearly, “the wages of sin is death.”

Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus 2:1-3 explaining the death from which Christ delivers them, “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

Romans 5:12 explains this representative relationship we had with Adam, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned —”

Fallen humans are cut off from their Creator, the only source of life. Sin alienates them from the Holy God. Their guilt deserves eternal judgment. This spiritual bondage corrupts everyone to the very core of his soul. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

The Bible is filled with verses detailing the depth of fallen man’s resulting inability to do anything that pleases his Creator.

Ecclesiastes 7:20, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.”

Romans 3:10-12, “As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Jeremiah 13:23, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.”

No one can change his basic nature. To do that, he would have to decide contrary to his own corrupted desires.

Humans bear eternal guilt for their corruption and alienation. Though God restrains sin so that no one becomes as evil as he could be, yet we say his depravity is “total” because it extends to every part of the person’s soul. The lost have no ability to understand God’s revealed truth, to believe God’s promises, to sincerely repent of his offensiveness to his Creator, or to do good with a humble and thankful heart. In John 6:44 Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

We stand condemned. Psalm 130:3 explains the horrible situation in which we find ourselves, “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”

God’s word clearly reveals our depravity. No man can keep the moral commandments purely. What God has revealed should drive us to repentance begging for grace, but in our corrupted estate it doesn’t. Man’s corruption is so complete that he refuses to see things as God presents them.

Fallen humans hate what the Bible says about God’s grace. He demands to be in control and that God is there for his benefit. The truth in Scripture will either be used by the Holy Spirit to bring him repentantly to Christ for forgiveness and restoration, or it will offend him and stir him to vicious rebellion. He does not want his corruption to be exposed for what it is.

Fallen man is arrogant, proud, and foolish. He finds the idea of a Sovereign God repulsive. W. E. Henley wrote the well known poem “Invictus” saying, “In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.” and, “It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”

Fallen man makes excuses for himself. He refuses to admit the great danger he is in. He speaks of sin as if it was a little matter. He says, “We all have our faults,” as if we should just accept and excuse this rebellion. Experience shows that even sins dismissed as “minor” bring horrible consequences. They break up homes, instigate mistrust, drug abuse, crime, depression, and despair. They are but symptoms of a deeper problem, our depraved condition. 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” In verse 10 it says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

Fallen man dresses up his depravity. He brags about his education, culture, and what he sees as his own accomplishments. Some say, “Change the external circumstances (housing, medicine, education …) and you will see men at their best” But if you educate a criminal, all you have is an educated criminal. It is his heart that needs to change, not his score on standardized tests. Culture can be like a narcotic that makes the symptoms seem to go away, but it just puts a cover over them. It masks their warning. It is like those pain killer medicines which often keep you from feeling the pain, while the cause remains untreated.

Jesus said, “the tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). Hanging peaches on your palm tree, will not make it a peach tree. Putting culture over a corrupt heart will not make it good. It is what comes out of a man that reveals his true condition.

Some sins are more damaging than others.

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 83 asks, “Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?” The answer it gives is, “Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.”

Under the Levitical order God set up for the guidance of Israel at Mount Sinai, not all civil crimes had the same punishment. Some sins cascade into the lives of many others created in God’s image. Though selfish hatred is an evil rebellion against God, murder strikes down a human life, deprives children of parents, loved ones of spouses, and the community of its citizens. Coveting what God has given to others shows dissatisfaction with God’s provisions, but theft harms the rightful owner and destabilizes neighborhoods. These aggravations of certain sins multiply their damage, and therefore offend God in many more ways than mere evil intentions.

Some sins more obscure the revelation of God’s nature than others. For example, unfaithfulness in marriage damages the institution set up to reveal God’s faithful love for his covenant people. This is why adultery was punished so harshly in the Levitical justice system.

This is not to say that some sins are not as evil as others. Every sin is at its root rebellion against God and the order he has embedded in his Creation. This is taken up in the next question of the Catechism.

Every sin demands God’s harsh judgment.

Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 84 asks, “What doth every sin deserve?” The answer it gives is, “Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come.”

The verses quoted in the earlier part of this study make it undeniably clear that even one sin alienates the creature from his Creator forever (Romans 3:23). God cannot accept any immorality. It is all an offense to him and places an uncrossable, impenetrable barrier between fallen humans and their Maker. Habakkuk 1:13 says to God, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness…”

Man’s Total Depravity is answered only by the Doctrines of Grace. Only as Jesus the Messiah satisfied the penalty with his death, can sins be forgiven. The cross sufficiently provides healing and restoration for the totally depraved soul who comes to him in true repentance and trust in the Savior’s work of redemption.

When there is a humble sense of need, a dread of God’s deserved wrath, and a craving for the work of grace, there is clear evidence of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon that lost heart. When this conviction drives the lost to the cross, there is reason to rejoice and worship, for a lost sheep has been found and reclaimed by the Good Shepherd.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Index of Lessons in the Westminster Shorter Catechism

The Spirit Within

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Lesson 26: Romans 8:9-11

The Spirit Within

by Bob Burridge ©2011

The person who has an honest understanding of himself, and a true understanding of God, knows that he is far from all he ought to be. Only those who are willingly blind to their own covetings and shortcomings, or who have a very low view of God and his holiness, dare to think they deserve his blessings, or have merited his forgiveness.

It is impossible to live in a way that consistently pleases God. Of course you cannot please him at all if you have not first known Christ as your Redeemer. But our new birth is just the beginning. Those who have come to know his forgiveness and restoration often become frustrated over the agony of their moral failures. When we love God so much, and are so very thankful to him, it hurts all the more when we fail to live as Christ would live in our situation.

God has promised a most amazing provision for his children.

The same Spirit that gives us life is also given to be an indwelling presence in us. In the midst of Paul’s lesson on the importance of holy living in this Epistle to the Romans, he makes reference to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his people.

Romans 8:9-11, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

What is this indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

A good start in answering that question is to rule out a few common misunderstandings of it.

Indwelling is not that the Holy Spirit comes into some place where he had not been before. God is everywhere, always. He fills all space in the universe he created. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 139:7-10, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

There is no place where any person of the Trinity is ever absent. He is there inside and all around the believer and the worst infidel or pagan. He is just as present in heaven as he is in hell according to this Psalm and other texts. It is true that in Heaven God specially shows his glory. In Hell he specially shows his justice and wrath. In the Lord’s Supper he specially shows his work as Redeemer. In the heart of a good parent he shows his love and tenderness. Though he manifests himself differently in different places, he is altogether present in all of them all the time.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit begins when a person is redeemed. It is first seen when the person acts in faith to show life implanted by the grace of God. The Spirit does not come in where he had not been before. However, he begins to show himself in new and special ways. That is what indwelling is all about. Indwelling does not tell us where the Holy Spirit is. It refers to that special blessing and relationship a child of God bears with his Lord.

Therefore, the Spirit’s indwelling cannot be something unique to the New Testament church. We see many of the same things attributed to the Holy Spirit being produced in believers before the time of Christ that we see in the church after Pentecost. There is clear evidence that the same indwelling Spirit blessed the Old Testament believers.

In Numbers 27:18 Joshua was called, “a man in whom is the Spirit”. Psalm 143:10 testifies to the desire of the Psalmist, “Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.” There are many other references to the work of the Spirit in the lives of Old Testament believers.

Just as in the New Testament church, believers before Jesus experienced Spirit given understanding, enablement to special callings, ability to desire and to do good, an assurance of God’s grace and blessing, comfort in hard situations, and a hope of eternal glory. Without the Holy Spirit’s special work in the heart of the believer these things would always be impossible.

After Pentecost there is a new and special relationship of the believer with God. Jesus sent the Spirit to be a special comforter to his church after he left. Instead of ministering through human priests and blood sacrifices, believers by the Spirit know directly of the work of Jesus Christ. Our Savior is the archetype High Priest, the Lamb of God. Pentecost was the expansion of this special relationship. It was not the beginning of “indwelling”. That has always been the treasure of believers.

The Spirit’s indwelling produces valuable qualities in the believer.

The Holy Spirit maintains and upholds the life given to us in regeneration.

He gives us spiritual understanding. Earlier in this epistle Paul reminded us that the fallen human race is devoid of spiritual understanding. Romans 3:11, “There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God.” Paul was quoting from the Old Testament Book of Psalms. This is a tragic principle that has existed since the fall of man in Adam.

The indwelling Spirit gives that spiritual understanding which we otherwise could not have. In 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Paul wrote, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Jesus Christ, working by the Spirit which he puts in us when he saves us, enlightens our minds. In Ephesians 3:17-19 the Apostle wrote, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

The Holy Spirit enables believers to do what God calls them to do. These are often called the “fillings” of the Spirit. The indwelling Spirit strengthens us inwardly and helps us as we pray for his enablement. Just as too much wine influences a person’s judgment and behavior, so also the Holy Spirit influences the believer’s judgment and behavior. Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,” and Acts 2:4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit … ” (compare with Acts 2:13, “Others mocking said, ‘They are full of new wine.’ “).

The filling of the Holy Spirit enables believers to specific tasks God calls them to do. In Exodus 28:3 it says, “So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments”, and Exodus 31:3 where God says of Bezalel, “And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.” In Deuteronomy 34:9 it speaks of Joshua who was filled with the “spirit of wisdom” to lead the people. In Micah 3:8 the Prophet writes, “But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, And of justice and might, To declare to Jacob his transgression And to Israel his sin.”

Paul said in Ephesians 3:16, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,” and in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Any success that honors God with our talent in being salesmen, managers, teachers, parents, spouses, programmers, Deacons, Elders, students, builders, fixers, or servants is provided to us by the work of the Spirit in us. This is why David feared when he sinned with Bathsheba, and had her husband killed, and then lied to cover it up. He had seen God abandon Saul, the king before him. So David humbly confessed and prayed in Psalm 51:10-12, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” David did not want to lose that enablement of the Spirit that made him able to rule God’s people as their king. He saw that happen to Saul.

Of course it is the work of God that makes even the heathen able to succeed in his work. That is the condemning tragedy of it all. They take what God gives, but fail to honor him with it. Our ability to do these jobs in a God pleasing way is specially a result of the indwelling Spirit. So Paul warned Timothy about the talent and opportunities God had given him. In 2 Timothy 1:14 he wrote, “That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.”

The Spirit also begins the process of making us holy in practice and thought. This is the continuing work of sanctification. It is the indwelling Spirit who helps us to live a holy life. This is the point Paul is making in our present text. The indwelling work of the Spirit is the opposite of being “in the flesh.”

Romans 8:9, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

It is the work of Jesus Christ as our Savior on the cross that removes our guilt before God by paying for what we deserve. It is that continuing special work of the Holy Spirit that infuses us with life, and makes us able to honor God in our thoughts, words, and deeds. It proves that our sonship with God is genuine. Rather than seeing our joy as being fulfilled only in the flesh, the physical realm we can see and feel, we see the spiritual side of things. We know we are not merely living beings, we are creatures of a living God.

These qualities generate wonderful treasures of blessing.

These are the things all people seek, but can never find in any other way. This is why they make up all sorts of strange cults and religions. This is why people flock to psychiatrists and psychologists, yet find no cure for their problems. It is why some resort to mind altering drugs and indulge in immoral life styles. They want some kind of assurance, comfort, and hope.

Only the indwelling Spirit gives us true assurance of God at work in our lives. He assures his people of sonship and of salvation. Paul wrote in Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

When we see our Creator producing the evidences of understanding, godly enablement, and thankful obedience in us, there can be no doubt that we are his. Even the deep grief we experience when we sin is proof that we are changed by grace. 1 John 4:13 says, “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

The indwelling Spirit is the seal of genuineness from God. It assures us that we are his. The indwelling Spirit produces comfort and assurance in the heart of the believer. In 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Paul said, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” In that same epistle in 5:5 he wrote, “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” In writing in Galatians 4:6 he said that it is the Spirit in us that makes us cry out as children saying, “Abba! Father!”

The Psalms are filled with verses about the peace and comfort God the Spirit brings to his children. In Psalm 23:2 it says, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” Psalm 139:7-10 shows that it is the Holy Spirit that brings that contentment. There the Psalmist writes, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

As the church spread in the days of the Apostles, Acts 9:31 shows us the source of comfort. It says, “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.”

The indwelling Spirit gives us an eternal hope that cannot fall short or ever fail. This is Paul’s other main point in this portion of scripture.

Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

The Holy Spirit is the conveyer of spiritual life from God. A life that is eternal. He is the down-payment of the promise that we will live in the house of the Lord forever. Notice the confidence we have which Paul explained in his letter to the churches in Ephesus.

Ephesians 1:13-14, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Ephesians 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

It is the Holy Spirit who assures us of the promise that even our physical bodies will be glorified one day.

The presence of the Holy Spirit ministers the Love of God which is sent into our hearts. In Romans 5:5 Paul said, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

So, do you lack understanding of God’s word? Do you long for his enablement to the jobs he calls you to do? Do you do all things with right motives to give God all the glory? Do you strive for holiness in your life instead of looking to forbidden things for satisfaction? Do you long for assurance, comfort, and a true hope that is not just an empty wish? You need to look no further than the promises of God’s word about the Holy Spirit. You need no deep intellectual insights, or manipulations of your emotions.

Step 1 – Make sure you are in Christ. Trust in no other hope, nothing in yourself, in your church, in your deeds or intentions. Trust in the life and death of the one True Savior as promised from the beginning.

Step 2 – Rest in God’s promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit. You need no special skills, no other resolutions or strength. Humbly seek that which is confirmed in the Word of God to his children.

If the Spirit dwells in you, you lack for no other enablement. Live for him, serve him, love him with all of your heart. The God who promised cannot fail. These treasures of assurance, comfort, and hope are yours.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies In Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Wrong Desires

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Wrong Desires

(Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 79-81)
(watch our video)
by Bob Burridge ©2011

In Question 79, the Westminster Shorter Catechism introduces the 10th Commandment by quoting Exodus 20:17, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

The Catechism explains the commandment in questions 80-81.

Question 80. What is required in the tenth commandment?
Answer. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his.

Question 81. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
Answer. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions or affections to any thing that is his.

If you look carefully, you can see that this commandment does not forbid coveting. It tells us not to covet things God has given to someone else. The original Hebrew word translated “covet” here is khamad (חמד). This is a common word that means “to desire, or to take pleasure in something.” That can be a good thing.

The Bible itself often uses this same word in a good way. Psalm 19:10 tells us to covet God’s judgments and righteous. In those places it uses this same word, khamad (חמד). Psalm 68:16 uses this same word to describe God’s own desire toward his dwelling place. These desires are obviously a good things. If we are commanded to covet good things, and God covets his dwelling place, the 10th Commandment cannot be forbidding us to have a strong desire for things.

In the New Testament the Greek word that translates this commandment is epithumeo (επιθυμεω). It is also used in a very positive way at times. In Luke 17:22 we are told to covet or to long for the return of Jesus Christ. In 1 Timothy 3:1 men are told that desiring the church office of Elder is a good thing. 1 Peter 1:2 says that the angels covet or desire to see the work of the gospel in God’s people.

We have to be careful if we simply shorten this commandment to say, “Thou shalt not covet … .” It is never wrong to have a strong desire for good things, or to strive hard to advance ourselves in ways pleasing to God.

God’s people are passionate about doing all they can for God’s glory. They want to be managers and enjoyers of all they rightly get and own. There is no excuse here for laziness, apathy, or indifference about the things God calls them to be doing.

This commandment warns us not to covet things
God has assigned to the care of others.

Exodus 20:17 lists some of the common causes of discontent in the time of Moses. It says that it is wrong to covet someone else’s spouse. The 7th Commandment makes it clear that it is immoral to be unfaithful to the person you marry. It is important to desire a good husband or wife while you are single. Once you are married, you need to be content with the one with whom you are joined.

To look for physical gratification outside of marriage is a tragic offense against God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28 that even the desire for a different partner is in itself sin, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

The commandment forbids coveting someone else’s servants, both male and female. In our culture most of us do not have the same kinds of servants they had then. In our economic system, this principle still applies as it applies to coveting another person’s hired helpers. Jealousy over someone else’s business deals or staff is morally evil.

It says that it is wrong to covet another person’s ox or donkey. I have never owned an ox or donkey. Few of us have today. Few of us want them. They were the tools for transportation, for clearing land, for construction, or for growing crops. Today you violate this moral principle when you covet your neighbors car, truck, lawnmower, cellphone, or computer. You should appreciate what they have, even work to be able to get one like it, but not to where you become upset that God gave it to them and not to you. You should be satisfied for the moment with what God gave you to use, and rejoice with your neighbor over his good blessings and without jealousy.

Then, to show how general this principle is, God adds that you should not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. Each person’s only concern is what God entrusts to his own care. What God gives to someone else should not be jealously coveted.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained
the moral principles behind God’s Commandments.

It is nothing less than rebellion to want things to be other than the way God wisely decrees them to be. Wrong desires are immoral.

The 10 Commandments are not ten separate laws made up at Sinai. They are summaries of larger moral principles God built into Creation. Taken together they show how the created world was designed to be so that it honors it’s Creator. It is how God’s eternal nature shows itself in the world he made.

Those who covet a different God, one who can be seen by our eyes, or treated more casually, violate the first 3 Commandments. They are discontent with what God truly is.

Those who covet the time God sets aside for the Sabbath break the 4th Commandment. When creation was completed the Creator set aside one day in seven to remember his making of all that is. This was given before sin entered the world, before nations arose out of the seed of Adam. He represented us all when God consecrated that 24 hour period out of every week. Though many temporary Sabbaths were later set up for Israel to teach about redemption from sin’s bondage, this Creation Sabbath is the Lord’s Day. He is Lord of the Sabbath. To make that day your own day, or to neglect honoring him on that day, is coveting and theft of time that is not yours.

Children who covet their parent’s authority, or adults who rebel against rightful authority, want things their own way. If we rebel against the order God established for our homes, our work, our church, or state, we violate the 5th commandment. It begins with wrong desires.

Violence and murder begins with discontent with someone else. Coveting their death or harm in ways contrary to God’s law violates the 6th Commandment.

We have already shown that the 7th Commandment is violated by any lusting outside of marriage.

The 8th Commandment against stealing begins with the desire to take what is not yours. It is wrong to covet things or money which God has given to someone else.

Even the 9th Commandment which forbids bearing false testimony begins in the heart with coveting. It starts with wanting things to be true which are not, and replacing them with a lie.

Coveting things contrary to God’s word and providence shows discontent with God himself. Coveting also shows a lack of love and appreciation for other people’s blessings.

Coveting rejects God’s order of things, shows a low respect for God’s blessing on others, and foolishly imagines that its own way would be better than God’s ways. It is wrong to covet against God’s provisions and moral principles. James 3:16, “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”

Since discontent is such a common weakness
we need to know how to deal with it.

There will be wrong desires that well up inside us. We need to know how God tells us to overcome them. There are three character traits connected with overcoming the sin of the 10th Commandment. God enables these traits in us by his gracious provision in Christ.

The first of these traits is honesty. Part of that is honestly admitting our guilt. That is what the word confession means as it is used in the Bible. Whenever you realize you are not satisfied with God’s blessings, admit it immediately. Admit it to yourself with no excuses. Admit it to God in sincere and humble prayer.

You can pray the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”

When a person is prone to be discontent with the way things are in God’s plan, when he makes excuses for his coveting, or wants to stay blissfully blind about it, if he isn’t concerned to repent sincerely of it, and come to the Savior to have his wrong desires forgiven and removed, then there is little confidence that he has been transformed by God’s grace.

Some say that desires alone are innocent, as long as you don’t act on them. God’s word tells us otherwise. Jesus corrected that excuse used by the Pharisees in his Sermon on the mount. The Pharisees allowed hatred in the heart, as long as it did not result in actual murder (Matthew 5:21). They allowed lust for another person’s wife, as long as it did not result in actual adultery (Matthew 5:27). In both cases, Jesus condemned the heart sin as being just as evil.

The heart and hand work together. We are whole persons not disconnected pieces. The hand is moved by the desires of the heart. The heart craves for a hand to do its bidding. This 10th Commandment condemns the wrong desire itself as being morally wrong.

Virtual sins, ones that are only in our minds, are still sins. This includes private fantasies, the use of pornography, computer or game simulations where sinful things are done by a person’s avatar, evil imaginations, unspoken jealousies, envy, and greed.

Those who truly love Christ should honestly admit how offensive discontent is toward God. Repentance is not simply regretting the consequences of your sins. It is about recognizing the depth of inward rebellion against God’s will.

Some excuse wrong secret inward desires because they do not do any real harm to anybody. However, harming someone is not what makes something a sin. God is offended. That is always morally unhealthy, and causes great harm to the offender, even if no other human ever finds out about it.

If you look to sinful thoughts for mental entertainment, then according to God’s word you’ve broken this 10th Commandment.

The Bible lists coveting among the most offensive sins against God. This is how it is treated in 1 Corinthians 6:10, Ephesians 5:5 and in other places.

Realizing the seriousness of inward discontent is God’s wake up call to the drowsy soul. In Romans 7:7 Paul said, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ ”

It was coveting that helped convince the Apostle Paul that he was a sinner in need of forgiveness.

Repentance is that deep sorrow and grief that comes when we know we have offended God. It is when we sincerely determine to stop doing what’s wrong.

The next character trait for overcoming discontent is trust. Faith is that faculty of trust implanted by God into his children when he regenerates them. The redeemed person comes to Jesus Christ humbly by sincere faith. He understands that Jesus Christ paid for even the most wicked of sins for his people.

When you covet, you should come to the Savior trusting in his forgiveness. Rely upon God’s promise that by faith in the work of the Savior who died in your place, you will be restored and transformed so that you can overcome your coveting.

When restored to fellowship with God by the mercies of Christ, you have the power to get so busy counting the blessings, that you stop being taken in by thoughts of greed, envy, and jealousy.

That brings us to the third character trait in overcoming our discontent: gratitude. You should appreciate what God gives you, rather than being jealous about what he gives to others.

Some have abused this commandment to justify apathy, laziness, and irresponsibility. No one should be so content that they do nothing to both use and improve what God entrusts to his care. Complacency is not the same as practicing contentment with God’s blessings. Contentment with what God gives does not mean you can be apathetic about improving your situation.

While Paul was held in Roman custody he wrote in Philippians 4:11, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

The apostle did not covet the blessing of being free from prison. He did not complain that God was unfair in making him suffer while the wicked sat in palaces. He did not envy those living in their own comfortable homes back in Tarsus.

However, he did not just sit around apathetically accepting his imprisonment as an excuse to do nothing. He wrote elegant letters of inner peace and joy to encourage the churches. He knew that he should not be coveting the things God at the moment was withholding from him. His situation would not be improved by being envious and jealous of others. Instead, he made diligent use of the circumstances and blessings God had given him. He diligently prayed, he wrote letters, he testified to those in Rome about Christ.

There is a moral balance between contentment, and a desire to improve what God gives you. Some are so ambitiously driven that they hurt others to get what they want. We need to have contentment without laziness, and ambition without greed.

Overcoming covetousness includes active thankfulness for all of God’s blessings. It is important to remember that God is the source of all the good things we and others have. Never complain to him that you do not have all you want. Instead thank him for his promised comfort and presence even in times of want. Be glad for your brothers and sisters in the Lord, when your Father blesses them, even when they have things you do not have.

Thankfulness helps you develop throughout the day a more conscious awareness of God’s presence, goodness, and power.

It’s such a waste of life, when people are eaten up by covetousness. They spend their precious time regretting what they lack, being jealous, and envious of what others have. They miss out on making good use of what they do have.

Galatians 5:26, “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Discontent is a dangerous and unhappy rebellion. The discontented person finds little joy in seeing others advance above himself, in their having things he cannot afford, or in the talents, popularity, and skills he lacks.

Never be jealous of someone else’s great hair, healthy constitution, clear complexion, or that they were born into a different economic level, a better family, or in a different era. The best satisfaction comes from knowing that God wisely orders things in his world. He blesses all with what he wants them to have, even though no one really deserves any good thing.

God’s word gives us a simple exercise to build up this spiritual virtue. He tells us to center our minds on the good things of God. In Philippians 4:8, Paul wrote these words from his imprisonment in Rome, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

The mind busy with appreciating the things of God while being thankful for every blessing, and making the best of what God has given, will have little room for wishes that things were different than what God has decreed to take place.

The steps to overcome covetousness are not complicated.

1. Be honest with yourself about your guilt. Confess it. Admit it openly to God. Be honest about how offensive discontentment is to God. Sincerely repent of it.

2. Trust the wisdom and love of God your Heavenly Father in how he gives things. Have faith in his perfect wisdom that cares deeply for you as his redeemed child. Be confident in his promises that the guilt of every believer is fully paid for in Jesus Christ.

3. Be humbly thankful for all God entrusts to your care. Be grateful for your part in the advance of his Kingdom, and for how he uses others differently, entrusting them with different responsibilities, opportunities, and possessions.

Find ways to use what you have, rather than being jealous for what you do not have. Be actively thankful for all that God gives you, and for what he gives to others. Fill your mind with thoughts about the good things that please God.

Coveting looks in the wrong place for inner peace and contentment.

Satisfaction in life does not come from what car you own, or what clothes you have in your closet. It is not found in how much people envy you, or in how much entertainment you can afford. It is found in the blessing of God upon lives lived humbly trusting in his love and grace.

Psalm 23 begins with those familiar words, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” When you put what you have to use in the best way you can to please God, you will be coveting only the good things our Lord promises and gives you.

God is the source of every good thing. He has determined what is best for his glory, and for you as his child. There is no rational justification for greed, discontent, envy, or jealousy. Coveting what God has given others is a deceptive infection that hurts and never helps.

Instead of vainly trying to push out greed, or to promise away jealousy by your own efforts, turn your eyes to Jesus Christ, and to the work of grace that redeemed you from your guilt. Look so hard at God’s mercy and blessings, both in yourself and in others around you, that greed and its companion sins will die from lack of attention.

This good focus for your thoughts will crowd out the wrong desires and jealousies. It leaves those discontented attitudes no soil in which to take root. It plants a fertile garden of God honoring attitudes that make for a healthier and happier family of God.

(The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Index of Lessons in the Westminster Shorter Catechism