secret password Jesus‏

James 2:14

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

Don't be so foolish as to try to answer James rhetorical question in saying, "Yes."

People are not reconciled to God because they are clever enough to remember a password or fortunate enough to know someone who tells them the password.

Heaven is not encrypted.

Jesus is the only way to be welcomed into God's presence. This is true. The hope, however, is not in the words. This is not "abra cadabra, open sesame." The hope is in Jesus. Do you believe in Him? Do you place your faith and trust in Him? If you would say you do, how does your life reflect that? If your answer is that you said a prayer once or that you walked down an aisle once or nailed a piece of paper with your sins to a cross at church camp once; you are living a life of secret password Jesus. You will not be saved someday because you know the right words. God is not so weak as to be forced into allowing entrance to those who merely have remembered the right words as a irresistable incantation. There are no right words. There is a right heart. And if your hope is merely in words, you don't have one.

Your life of sin and selfishness is not simply overcome by telling the judge you knew it was wrong the whole time. You do not make things right by doing wrong with the intention of later reporting that you knew the right way while you were doing wrong. This is not me saying you are saved by living rightly now. Quite the opposite.

Do not hear me saying that you must live a life that impresses God or me in order to be ushered past Heaven's velvet rope.

It is not your knowledge that gets you in, but God's acceptance of you in Jesus.

So the question really becomes:
Are you in Jesus?

Do not live another day so apathetic and ignorant of God.
If you believe the war is over, stop fighting.
If He is worth praising someday, praise Him today.
Repent of your secret password Jesus confidence.

Do not make faith a mystery or a secret.
Demons know the password.

Do not treat Him and His Name as though they were merely facts and bloodless data.Do not presume that intectual assent equals belief.
Do not assume that merely thinking positively about Jesus is having faith in Him.

God saves sinners by His Son, not students by their words.

Creeds are awesome.
I love doctrine and catechisms and confessions.

But I love the God to whom they point more.
I love His Son.
I believe Him.

My only hope is that He is Who He says He is and has done what He said He did.

For me.
In this I hope.

I will work hard to articulate it.
I will struggle for the right words.
Because I want you to know.
Because I want Him to be honored.
Not because the words themselves are magical.

a simple little matter of life and death‏

I was stretching after running on the treadmill today and my mind was thinking about communion. I was thinking about the different "scripts" of how it is administered. I was thinking about using Question 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: What is your only hope in life and death?

A: That I do not belong to myself. But in body and soul, life and death, I belong to my Savior Jesus Christ.

In dwelling on this, I realzied something by way of God's grace and revelation:

The Gospel is our hope in life and in death. 

I know, I know. 

I just said that and it wasn't all that brilliant or revolutionary. 

I didn't even restate it.

I just said it again. 

But I think more often than not, many of us really only hear half of that. We rush to the second part and assume the whole thing is constructed largely to reinforce this last contention. But I think we often miss out on lief by doing so. It also highlights our ignorance of our conditions. 

We think our biggest problem is that we will one day die. 

We are only half right. 

We, again, jump to the conclusion and miss the other half. Our other problem is that we have so many days between now and that day we die to live. We have so much life to live and all of it is under the scrutiny and judgment of God. We are judged at our death by the days we lived prior to it. But we often give no thought to the Gospel yesterday or today.

For most of us, our hope in life is NOT the Gospel. 

The Gospel will benefit us one day (read: someday) when we die. 

It is our hope in death ONLY.

But the Gospel is often not part of our "today." 

It is something we believed when somebody told us once and the thing we hope will protect us someday, but as far as today goes, we're on our own. Yes, Jesus died for my sin yesterday and I hope to meet Him someday to say, "Thank You," but today I do not think much how a man on a cross has anything to do with these dishes, these children, this headache, this laundry, this commute, this pimple, this schedule, this co-worker, etc... 

Death is scary. 

We do not know how we will survive it. 

So we hope in a promise made by God to save us by faith in Jesus.

But today is scary too. 

We do not know how we will survive it. 

So we often strive and panic and cry and have fits of rage.

What is your only hope in life?

What is your only hope in death?

God wants to provide for you a hope in both life and death in the gift of Himself in Christ:

This Good News.

substitute teaching‏

Hebrews 9:22

²²…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Forgiveness requires death.

There is no other way.

In our society, most people believe the only thing you have to do to go to Heaven is die.
That is not, however, what the verse states.

It is the shedding of blood that is required. The natural question is then, “Whose blood?”

Hebrews 9:25-28

²⁵ He did not do this to offer Himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.²⁶ Otherwise, He would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world.But now He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷ And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— ²⁸ so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

Jesus’ blood.
His only.
His alone.
His ever and after.

You cannot atone for your sin, let alone the sins of others. You could not pay for your sins by being crucified. You cannot pay for your sins today by enduring hardship or completing service. The best person you know cannot absolve their own sin, let alone absorb yours. They cannot “cover” for you when you show up late or fall short, again.

Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

~ Nothing But The Blood

More than just death.
Forgiveness requires life.
Perfect life.

Hebrews 9:24

²⁴ For the Messiah did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that He might now appear in the presence of God for us.

Jesus is not dead.

He died to confirm the covenant and ensure we inherited that which He determined in God’s will. No, not the “should I buy this house or marry that person” kind of will, but the type of will that is a document that contractually allocates the full and final wishes and resources of the one who has died. A last will and testament if you will. Man, I am full of puns of fun on this one. And I can’t stop rhyming!!!

Perfect death.
Perfect life.

Perfect sacrifice.
Perfect Priest.

Jesus pays our debt in full.

Jesus earns our inheritance in full.

He is our substitute.

He takes our place and then allows you to take His place in line.

Jesus is our perfection and before God, in Him, we meet God’s standard of perfection by His grace imparting faith to us to believe in His perfection for us ALONE!

the halls of faith have no statues‏

Hebrews 11:3-40

³⁹All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised,⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

Ever wonder how the Old Testament and New Testament fit together?

It's easier than you think: when you finish reading Malachi, just start reading Matthew. 

Ok, but conceptually.  How do they mesh?  What is the unity in diversity? How can we read one in light of the other?

The simple answer: Jesus.

All of the people mentioned in this 11th chapter of Hebrews lived and ended their lives prior to the Messiah being revealed as Jesus. Yet, they lived by faith. They believed God and it was credited to them as righteousness. How were these men and women saved? By grace through faith in God’s provision, just like us. Only we now have the benefit of knowing that provision has a specific name: Jesus.

Hebrews 11 lists a lot of things people did or refrained from doing. But the point is not to highlight that these acts earned them anything, but rather to reinforce that these actions were produced from an earnest faith in the One in whom they placed their hope. 

They all died never seeing Jesus live in the flesh.

We all live never having seen Jesus live in the flesh.

They looked foreward.
We look backward (and foreward again).
All of us are united by a common faith in what God has done in Christ.

These OT heroes were“not made perfect without us.”

There is only one way any one of us is made perfect and it is not unique to us. It is the same, consistent method by which God has granted righteousness and justification from the beginning of time:

It is by grace, through faith, in Jesus, for the glory of God, ALONE.

God does not make us into statues for museums.

He brings us to life to live for Him.

These heroes of the faith are not dead people we should admire.

Abraham and Moses are not dead.

They are not heirlooms we pass down to others.

They are alive in the presence of God now because they lived once by, for, through, and to God.

happy birthday Atticus!

My son, Atticus, turns 4 years old today!

He is a thinker. 

He is cautious. 

He does not rush into anything. 

He is inherently skeptical of anything new he comes across. 

He is funny. 

He has lots of energy. 

He likes to build things from blocks. 

He likes to draw. 

He likes to sing songs about Jesus (that he makes up). 

He likes to play the drums, even if by "drums" he means chair and by "play" he means banging on them with wooden spoons. 

He knows that Jesus healed his heart when he was a baby and that this is evidence that Jesus hears our prayers and that He is all-powerful. 

He even knows that the fancy word for this is "omnipotent," although it is usually articulated more as "onmipnotent" 

He is awesome. 

You can watch my wife and me meet our son for the first time in person HERE.

I thank God for him daily and ask that he may be given faith at a young age, that he may escape many of the trappings of youth, and that he may live by and through faith in Jesus alone.

Today I get to celebrate 4 years of knowing my son. I am getting to know him more daily as God forms and reveals more of his personality through our interactions. 

I love you my son.  I pray that someday in the future you will presently be reading this post as a young man in whom God lives by His Spirit.  I pray you know then how much I have always loved you and still do.  You are my son.  You bring me joy upon joy and I am proud of you. 

I pray that you would on the day you are reading this know that you are loved by God above and by me beside and that this would produce in you reciprocity to us both.  Because you are so loved, I pray you love deeply in return.  May your heart belong to God and may you one day be more than a son to me, but also a brother in Christ, that we may be family forever in Him.

I love you my son. 
I always have. 
I always will. 

I loved you before you knew me. 
I knew you before you loved me.

I spoke to you before you could speak. 
I took care of you before you could care. 
I saw you before you could see. 
I heard you before you heard me.
 
I waited on you before you could wait.   
I waited for you before you were here.

I couldn’t wait to meet you before you were born.
And now I can’t wait to meet the man you’ll become.

from zero to punchy in 4 point 6

Well, maybe not 4.6 seconds. 
But it's chapter 4 and it only takes 6 verses.

Piqued?

Proceed.

Luke 4:16-30

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

What just happened here?

Jesus read from Isaiah, but He stopped mid-sentence...

Isaiah 61:2

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn

Jesus was here to fulfill the proclamation of the year of the LORD's favor. 
This is why He proclaims that these verses have been fulfilled in their hearing. 
The proclamation is Jesus. 
He is God's favor for us.

This was His message. 
This is the Message we are to be proclaiming now.

So why did they turn on Him?
They liked the gracious words He spoke. 

"And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth."

So what happened?

It's His Message.
His to send where He wants.

Does that piss you off?
You wouldn't be the first.

When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath

the bride who wore her Husband's whiteness

Isaiah 61:10-11

10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.

Wedding ceremonies are largely lost on most people.

The garments of salvation are granted. 
They are given.

The robes of righteousness are received.
They are a covering.

The wedding ceremony is about the bride inasmuch as the Groom has set his affections on her.

She is made so much of because He has so much to give. 
Not only can give it, but has given it and gave it all.

The Church is beautiful because she wears the beauty of the Groom.