day no. 17,352: defending their innocency (exhortation outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

WLC 144: Defending Their Innocency

April 26, 2026

Defending the Innocent

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are continuing our study of the ten commandments in the WLC and we are still in Q144 which asks, “What are the duties required in the ninth commandment?” The ninth commandment, as you recall, is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The answer provided by the Westminster divines is this, “The duties required in the ninth commandment are, the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man, and the good name of our neighbour, as well as our own; appearing and standing for the truth; and from the heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully, speaking the truth, and only the truth, in matters of judgment and justice, and in all other things whatsoever; a charitable esteem of our neighbours; loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name; sorrowing for, and covering of their infirmities; freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending their innocency; a ready receiving of a good report, and unwillingness to admit of an evil report, concerning them; discouraging tale-bearers, flatterers, and slanderers; love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need requireth;  keeping of lawful promises; and studying and practicing of whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely, and of good report.”

The phrase we will be focusing on this morning is, “defending their innocency.”

The text cited by the WLC in support of this duty is 1 Samuel 22:14, but in order to understand how this verse applies to the duty to defend our neighbor’s innocence, we will need to understand the context in which it takes place. So, here’s some background. Even though Saul was the king of Israel, he was jealous of David. Saul’s son Jonathan discovered that his father was plotting to kill David. Since David was Jonathan’s best friend, he warned him of his father’s plans. As a result, David fled. He stopped to catch his breath in a town just outside Jerusalem called Nob where a man named Ahimelech was serving as the priest.

Because David had left in such a hurry, he did not have any food or even a weapon with him. So, he asked Ahimelech for some assistance. Ahimelech was happy to help. David was a famous warrior and the news of Saul’s change of temper towards him had not yet reached Nob. So, he gave David some bread and then he gave him the only weapon he had on hand: Goliath’s sword which was being kept on display as a trophy. This was the same sword that David had used to cut off Goliath’s head. A man named Doeg the Edomite was also there that day, however, and saw it all take place. Later, when Saul got word that David had gotten away, he was frustrated and began throwing accusations around. He wanted to know who was helping David. Doeg took this opportunity to report what he had seen and that is where our text picks up.

1 Samuel 22:11-18 “Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. And Saul said, ‘Hear now, son of Ahitub.’ And he answered, ‘Here I am, my lord.’ And Saul said to him, ‘Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?’ Then Ahimelech answered the king, ‘And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house? Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.’ And the king said, ‘You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house.’ And the king said to the guard who stood about him, ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.’ But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. Then the king said to Doeg, ‘You, turn and strike the priests.’ And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.”

In these few verses, we see several examples of people failing and fulfilling their duty to defend their neighbor’s innocency. Let’s begin with the failures. The first example is King Saul. This whole episode is a result of him falsely accusing David in the first place. Instead of defending David’s innocence, he accused him of treason.

Saul was insecure and, just like any of us when we feel insecure or afraid, he was tempted to look for ways to blame others for the way he felt. Because we don’t like the way we feel and because we don’t like taking responsibility for our feelings, it must be someone else’s fault. As Spurgeon once noted, "We accuse others to excuse ourselves.” It is often easier to make up things about our neighbor than it is to face the reality about ourselves. And so, we slander our neighbor’s innocence in order to defend our own guilt. But take heed and take note: the sins of others, whether real or imagined, can never cleanse us of our own.

Another example is Doeg the Edomite. He knew that Ahimelech was not trying to help David usurp Saul’s throne. He knew he was innocent. But he also knew that Saul was looking for someone to blame and he hoped that there would be a finder’s fee. Saul slandered David to try to keep from losing his kingdom, Doeg slandered Ahimelech to try to gain a position in Saul’s kingdom. So, we see that our guilt can lead us to lash out at the innocent, either because we are scared of losing something or because we are greedy to get something else.

Now, let’s move on to a few examples of people fulfilling their duty to defend the innocent. Consider Saul’s servants. When Saul ordered them to slaughter Ahimelech and the priests, they refused. They presumed a standard of “innocent until proven guilty” and defended it by refusing to obey a tyrannical order.

A second example is that of Ahimelech himself. At any given point in his interrogation, he could have changed his story to try to save his own skin, but he didn’t. He could have defended his innocence by casting doubt on David’s, but he refused to bear false witness, even if it meant being falsely accused. He stood by David and his decision to help him. Ahimelech was an innocent man who paid the price of a guilty man in order to defend the innocence of another.

CALL TO CONFESSION

Well, since we are so often more concerned with getting our guilty selves out of trouble than we are with keeping our innocent neighbors out of it, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins, whether they be related to this duty or to others. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.

CORPORATE CONFESSION

Gracious Father, if You were to mark iniquities, who could stand? But with You is forgiveness, that You may be feared. Called by You to the throne of grace, and confident in our great High Priest, we bow before You and confess that we have sinned against You and been unfaithful to Your holy covenant. Our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately sick, so that we often do what we hate, and neglect what we love. Out of our mouths we both praise You and curse our fellow men. You promised mercy to our fathers through the seed of the woman. Turn our hearts again, Father, to consider Jesus, who crushed the serpent’s head, and saved His people from their sins. Forgive, cleanse, and restore us for His sake. Amen.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Saints, arise and hear the Good News!

The assurance of pardon today comes from Romans 4:4-8

“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.’” 

The story of Ahimelech points us to Jesus: he was falsely accused and killed for defending his friend, just like Jesus. He was an innocent man who was treated like a guilty man, just like Jesus. But as good of a man as Ahimelech was, Jesus is better. A man will scarcely die for an innocent person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— as Ahimelech did for David, but God shows His love for us in that while we were still guilty, Christ died for us.

Saints, hear the Good News: in the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven… THANKS BE TO GOD!

Now let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise.

day no. 17,299: imputation times two

“The real problem, the problem of justice and heaven, is resolved in the cross. Christ died as a blood atonement so that God could be both just and the one who justifies. God could be just and send us all to Hell. He could be the one who justifies and let us all into Heaven on a boys-will-be-boys basis. But in order to be both just and the one who justifies, Christ had to bleed. And that is our final theodicy. Christ is the one who bled.” ― Douglas Wilson, All the Condemnation

God is not a grandpa. He does not wink at sin. He hates it. So, if He is going to justify a sinner, He is going to have to justly deal with his sin. The cross of Christ is the justice of God. On the cross, God's hatred of sin is realized. On Jesus, the sins of the world were placed. This penal substitutionary atonement is our salvation. It allows us to acknowledge our sins without having to die for them and it allows us to see God forgiving them without losing respect for Him. If God lowered His standard for us, we would gain forgiveness, but lose respect for our Forgiver.

Jesus Christ is just and the justifier. He did not lay aside justice in order to justify us. He justified the requirements of God by offering a sinless sacrifice. He justified sinners by becoming their sins so that they might become His righteousness. 

The sinner has two problems: (1) sin is a debt he cannot pay, and (2) heaven requires a righteousness he does not have. So, if Jesus pays for your sins, you have one of your two problems solved. You no longer have debt, but you are still broke and Heaven requires the riches of righteousness. If you have a lot of righteous deeds, but you haven't confessed your sins, you have more debt than you have righteousness, which results in a negative balance. In Christ, then the solution is realized. He paid it all and He earned it all. He takes every last one of your sins and He gives you all of His righteousness. Your debt is cleared away entirely and your bank account is flooded with the riches of Christ's merit. Double imputation is our saving grace.

Thanks be to God!

day no. 17,004: sons of serpents

“The serpent, in the person of Christ, was impaled on the tree. The wrath of God against all of our vindictive and irrational hatreds was poured over His head and shoulders, and He took all of it to Himself, and then died. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. And why? So that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). The moment He died, His arms were free and so He gathered up all the sin that had been poured over them, took it to His chest, and sank into the grave. And when He rose, three days later, all the sin was gone.” — Douglas Wilson, Anxiety Storms and the Empathy Wars

God turned the Son into a snake so that He could turn the snakes into sons. 

2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The sons of serpents are saved because the Son of God was stuck to a tree.

John 3:15

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.

The Son of Man was lifted up like a snake on a cross outside the city just like Moses lifted up a snake on a stick in the wilderness.

Numbers 21:8-9

And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Those with snake venom coursing through their veins could only be saved by staring at the serpent on the stick. They had to stare their sin in the face. By casting their eyes upon the pierced serpent its venom was counteracted. The only antidote was on that pole. Look anywhere else and the venom would stop your heart. The only anti-venom was doing what God had said.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

By God's grace, the Seed of Eve and the seed of the serpent were set against one another. The Seed of Eve would be bit, but only as a result of stomping on the serpent's skull. The Son of God would break fangs and take names.

2 Kings 18:4

He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

We do not worship the Cross, we worship the man who hung there. We do not cherish the tree, but the blood that was spilled there. Hezekiah had to destroy the snake of Moses because the people turned their backs on the substance and began to stare at the shadow. 

Isaiah 45:22

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:

for I am God, and there is none else.

day no. 16,889: unbelief blames even grace

"The Scripture is what it is, and it contains both promises and imperatives. For the one who reads the Scriptures in evangelical faith, he sees all the imperatives in the context of a larger grace. For the one who reads the Scripture in unbelief, he can sound out the promises, but they are always trumped by what he thinks is the larger demand of ‘do this and live.' The former contextualizes everything as a subset of God’s grace. The latter contextualizes everything as a subset of law. For the believer, even the Ten Commandments can be understood as gracious. The preamble reminds the Jews that these words were coming from the one who brought them out of the house of bondage. For the unbeliever, even the message of the cross is foolishness, an intolerable demand. So that, in a nutshell, is what I think is going on with law and gospel.” — Douglas Wilson, The Auburn Avenue Chronicles Vol. 2, p. 529

Faith sees even the Ten Commandments as a grace of God, but unbelief sees even the Cross of Christ as a tremendous burden. 

Titus 1:15

Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 

Faith thanks God for His good commands, but unbelief blames grace for being too hard.

Romans 3:27

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Faith receives everything from God as good; unbelief rejects everything of God as evil — even the sacrifice of Christ.

Romans 3:28

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Faith is justified empty-handedness; unbelief is condemned fists full of conceit.

Romans 3:31

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

The law is light for the faith-filled who are faithful to it; but faith is a burden too heavy for unbelief to bear up.

day no. 16,888: covenantal presumption vs. continuity

Romans 9:7-8

Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

All men are sons of Adam.

Some are sons of Abraham.

Romans 5:19

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

You cannot inherit election per se, but you can inherit elect parents.

Covenantal presumption kills.

Covenantal continuity saves.

To assume you are saved because your parents are or your grandparents were is to presume upon the covenant, not to put your faith in it.

To continue in the covenant in which you were raised by grace through faith in Christ alone saves you just as much as it saved your fathers.

Romans 11:18-22

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Biblically speaking, everyone is a true son or daughter of Adam by genetics, but no one is a true son or daughter of Abraham but by faith.

In other words, history is not essentially a matter of blood relation, but of covenantal relation. What is your relationship to the covenant? Are you a covenant breaker or a covenant keeper?

day no 16,838: envy as evangelism

Acts 28:28-29

Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.

While listening to Johnny Cash read the New Kings James Version of the New Testament to me today (9/26/23), I heard him read the verse above. This reminded me of something Douglas Wilson mentioned on his Blog and Mablog earlier this week in a post titled, The Case of Owen and the Memorials:

"The place of the Jews in our theology is to be filed under eschatology and prophetic fulfillment. We do not share the quirk that some Christians have in their soteriology, by which they say that everyone must come to Christ except for Jews. No, no one gets a bye. God calls all men everywhere to repentance. Everyone is summoned to faith in the Messiah, the Jews especially. Jews are sinful, and wicked, and fallen, and broken, just like everybody.

God’s plan for converting them is for them to see Gentile nations under the blessings of Christ’s lordship, thus leading them to long for the same. I am invested in this because it is the Puritan postmillennial approach to world evangelization. God’s plan for evangelizing the Jews, and then the world, is not only not antisemitism, it is the photo-negative of antisemitism. If antisemitism is Christians envying Jews, the pursuit of Deuteronomic blessing for Gentiles results in Jews envying Christians. This was Paul’s strategy, and he knew that it would work on his people. He laid it out plainly—'if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.'"

The passage from Acts 28 above provides additional evidence in favor of Doug's assertion that Paul's evangelistic strategy, as far as it concerned the Jews who refused to believe the initial presentation of the Gospel to them, was to motivate them to reconsider through their envy of the blessings of the gentiles that did believe Paul's initial presentation of the Gospel to them. 

And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves (Acts 28:29).

It appears his intentions sparked quite the conversation behind closed doors. Paul knew his target and utilized well the principles of war (objective and maneuver).

day no. 16,821: headship and safe harbor

Leviticus 16:17

And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

Before Aaron could intercede on behalf of Israel, he had to intercede on behalf of his family, and before he could intercede on behalf of his family, he needed someone or something to intercede on behalf of himself. 

Aaron first had to atone for his own sin before he was qualified to atone for anyone else's. He then had to atone for the sins of his own family before he could make atonement for the sins of someone else's.

Federal headship is representative government and it is the way God has made the world. Aaron is by nature and grace responsible for his owns sins before God and for the sins of his family. Because he sat in the office of high priest, he also then became responsible for the sins of every family in Israel. He carried the weight of their sins on his shoulders and close to his heart as he approached their God and King on their behalf. He alone was given the right and responsibility to do so. If anyone else went in, they would die. If Aaron did not go in, they would die.

Hebrews 7:27, 9:7, 10:11-12

Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself... But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people... And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.

Because of federal headship and representative government being established and recognized by God Almighty above, we are set free and saved from our sins down here below. Because He stood in our place for our sins, we can stand in His presence with confidence in Christ. We have atonement with our Father in heaven because our sins have been dealt with once for all by God's Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

day no. 16,583: justification and accusation as inescapable concepts

"The sinful heart can repent, but it can also recoil. When it recoils from God’s holiness, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, the fundamental motion that the soul is making is that of preferring to accuse God than to accuse self. If a man has repented, if he has received John’s baptism, then what he does is justify God (Luke 7:29)." — Douglas Wilson, All the Condemnation in the World

Justification and accusation are inescapable. The only question is who will be justified? and how? and who will be accused? and for what?

The man who justifies God accuses himself. He agrees with God as to his guilt and justifies the wrath of God. He finds forgiveness when he then goes on to agree with God's propitiation provided in Christ alone. 

The man who justifies himself accuses God. He disagrees with God as to his guilt and justifies his wrath with God. He doesn't seek forgiveness from God, he expects an apology from Him.

1 John 1:8-10

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

We either call God a liar or confess that we are. We either call God a murderer or confess that we are. We either call God a blasphemer or confess that we are. When His Word is in us, we confess our sins in order to justify Him. When His Word is far from us, we accuse Him in order to justify our sins.

day no. 16,563: the constant gardener

Colossians 3:1-5

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry

If a gardener gets up every morning to weed his garden, the presence of weeds every morning is not evidence of him being a bad gardener; on the contrary, it is his daily presence in the garden to weed it that serves as proof of him being a good gardener. To be a good gardener is to be gardening; only a bad gardener gardened. To have gardened is to have had a garden. In other words, if you aren't gardening anymore, you no longer have a garden.

The presence of sin does a sinner make per se, but an absence of repentance does. 

Romans 8:13

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

A Christian man must walk his garden. He cannot call it a garden if it he cares so little for its health. He cannot expect fruit to grow where weeds are allowed to live. He cannot with confidence call himself a gardener if he with regularity ignores it.

“Let not man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts.” ― John Owen, Mortification of Sin

You are not maturing in Christ if you are not mortifying your sins. You are not alive in the Spirit if you are not killing your sins. You cannot be at peace with both Christ and corruption. Enmity is inescapable. Sin is at war with God's Son, who gladly returns the favor.

Galatians 5:17-26

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

If you are a Christian, you will desire to be sinless; but you won't be. Your holy discontentment will be made manifest in your daily repentance and ongoing diligence in working out what God worked in. Sanctification is continuous vivification, quickening that which pertains to the Spirit, and mortification, killing that which pertains to the flesh.

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”  ― John Owen, The Mortification of Sin

There will be killing. There is no question. The only questions are "who?" and "what?" Will it be sin killing you or you killing sin? You cannot expect to be sinless. You cannot insist on it. To say that you are sinless is to be dead in sin. To deny today's need is to ensure tomorrow's destruction.

1 John 1:10

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

If we insist on saints being practically sinless, we only ensure an embargo on saints. But if we insist on sinners being definitively, positionally sinless and daily, practically repentant, we confirm the Christian faith and the confession of every honest Christian.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The only way to win against sin is to confess it. You cannot hide it, cover it, or explain it away. The only thing you can do is confess that you can't do anything and that Christ has done it all.

day no. 16,539: God knows is not always good news

“God knows” is good news for the repentant, but bad news for the unrepentant.

Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the Lord are in every place.

God knows. 

He sees everything. That is not good news. That means He sees every...single...sin. Nothing escapes His notice.

For the Christian, that means He has accounted for every sin. There are none left. He didn't miss any. He saw them all and saved you from each and every one of them in Christ.

For the unbeliever, that means you must account for each and every offense against Him. Every ought to left undone and every ought not engaged in must be personally accounted for.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

God knows.

He doesn't miss a beat. Every work will be judged by His standards of good and bad, right and wrong, righteous and evil. There are no secrets or surprise witnesses. When He holds court, He holds all of the evidence.

Psalm 66:7

He rules by His might forever;

His eyes keep watch on the nations;

Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

God knows.

There are no people He does not know. No one has escaped His notice. No one can settle or move outside His jurisdiction. He will collect back taxes from everyone everywhere.

Job 34:21

For His eyes are upon the ways of a man,

And He sees all his steps.

God knows.

This is very bad news for those attempting to skirt Him. It is bad news because you can't. You cannot escape Him. He is inevitable. But it is also bad news because He has sent word on how to approach Him. He has provided safe convoy in Christ into His courts. When the wicked meet Him, they will curse themselves for ignoring His warning.

For the Christian, this is Gospel salve. He sees every hurt accrued for His sake. But He also knows every grain of sin inside you. He sees sins you missed and forgives them for Christ's sake. The fact that He knows is the comfort of the Christian. He knows it all and loves us entirely all, because of Christ.

So, sleep well saints... God knows.

And lose sleep sinners... God knows.

day no. 16,474: where misery pools, mercy reigns

The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. - Isaiah 53:6

“It is the most grievous sentence of the three, but it overflows with comfort. Strange is it that where misery was concentrated mercy reigned; where sorrow reached her climax weary souls find rest. The Saviour bruised is the healing of bruised hearts. See how the lowliest penitence gives place to assured confidence through simply gazing at Christ on the cross!” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening 

Where misery pools, mercy reigns

2 Corinthians 5:21

For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Where sin was concentrated, Righteousness was executed.

day no. 16,419: as long as we call even a mite our own, we cannot call salvation ours

Let our debts be what they may,

However great, or small;

As soon as we have naught to pay,

Our Lord forgives us all.

'Tis perfect poverty alone,

That sets the soul at large;

While we can call one mite our own,

We have no full discharge.

— Joseph Hart, Mercy Is Welcome News Indeed

The only thing you must have in order to be saved is the one thing most people refuse to have: nothing. Nothing is more difficult to muster than nothing. Especially when so much is at stake.

It is only natural to want to bring something to the table. To receive favor without merit is humiliating. So much so, in fact, that only humility can do it. But even then, it is easy to be proud of one's humility. Humility is not the something you use to catch grace, it is the word for having nothing to catch with. Grace is given at the expense of the Giver and the benefit of the receiver. Only empty hands can catch it. The mitts of merit will never catch divine favor, but the bare-handed can avoid catching hell.

Achievements will not get you hired in Heaven.

Only those with blank resumes need apply.

day no. 16,398 continued... Hannah's song

While I was on my regular, late afternoon, lunchtime walk I heard for the first time William Tyndale's translation of Hannah's Song recorded in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 while listening to Calvinist Poetry: 101 Poems by Calvinist Poets edited by Douglas Wilson and Jayson Grieser and published by Canon Press. 

My heart rejoices in the Lord

My horn is high in the Lord and my mouth is wide open over my enemies

For I rejoice in Your saving

There is none so holy as the Lord

No, there is none, save You.

Neither is there any strength likened to our God.

Talk not too much proudly

Let old things depart out of your mouths

For the Lord is a God of knowledge

And judges the thoughts

The bows of the strong are broken

And the weak are endued with strength

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread

And they that were hungry cease to be so

Insomuch of the barren has born seven

And she that had many children has waxed feeble

The Lord kills and makes alive

Brings down to hell and fetches up again

The Lord makes poor and makes rich

Brings low and heeds up on high'

He raises up the poor out of the dust

And lifts up the beggar from the dunghill

To set them among princes

And to inherit them with the seat of glory

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's

And He has set the round world upon them

He will keep the feet of His saints

But the wicked shall keep silence in darkness

For in his own might shall no man be strong

The Lord's adversaries shall be made to fear Him

And out of Heaven He shall thunder upon them

The Lord shall judge the ends of the world

And shall give might unto His king

And exalt the horn of His anointed

day no. 16,396 continued... Jehovah Tsidkenu

While I was on my regular, late afternoon, lunchtime walk I heard for the first time Robert Murray M'Cheyne's poem Jehovah Tsidkenu while listening to Calvinist Poetry: 101 Poems by Calvinist Poets edited by Douglas Wilson and Jayson Grieser and published by Canon Press. He originally wrote it back on November 18, 1834 in Edinburgh, Scotland and visited me for the first time 68,966 days later on a sunny afternoon in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Jehovah Tsidkenu

"The Lord our righteousness."

(The watchword of the Reformers.)

I once was a stranger

to grace and to God,

I knew not my danger,

and felt not my load;

though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure,

to soothe or engage,

Isaiah's wild measure

and John's simple page;

but e'en when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.

Like tears from the daughters

of Zion that roll,

I wept when the waters

went over his soul

yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree,

Jehovah Tsidkenu – 't was nothing to me.

When free grace awoke me,

by light from on high,

then legal fears shook me,

I trembled to die;

no refuge, no safety in self could I see –

Jehovah Tsidkenu my Saviour must be.

My terrors all vanished

before the sweet name;

my guilty fears banished,

with boldness I came

to drink at the fountain, life-giving and free –

Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.

Jehovah Tsidkenu!

my treasure and boast,

Jehovah Tsidkenu!

I ne'er can be lost;

in thee I shall conquer

by flood and by field –

my cable, my anchor,

my breastplate and shield!

E'en treading the valley,

the shadow of death,

this "watchword" shall rally

my faltering breath;

for while from life's fever my God sets me free,

Jehovah Tsidkenu my death-song shall be.

day no. 16,367: witness stands

"[God] is quite willing to be prosecuted. He only asks for the right which every prosecuted person possesses; he asks to be allowed to cross-examine the witness for the prosecution." — G.K. Chesterton, Introduction to the Book of Job

God is not above being called to the witness stand, and is not, if it comes to that, beneath the right to ask some questions of His own. A judge is not exempt from the possibility of committing a crime merely because he is in the business of hearing charges against others. God does not appear to be as offended by the presence of the accusation against Him as by the absence of His opportunity to ask some questions in return. God is not opposed to trials per se, but sham trials are to Him an abomination. Either submit to a cross-examination or drop the charges, but don't expect to lob bombs at God and then refuse Him the dignity of returning fire.

God is not as afraid of your questions as you are of His. In fact, He is not afraid at all. But your fear consumes you. That is why you demand an audience with a caged lion and not a wild one. There's a reason why you long to haul Him into court rather than seek Him in the Sahara. For whatever reason. the accuser assumes the courtroom is a home court advantage. But the one who calls God to the stand demanding answers may just find that He does show up. But He sits down as the Judge, not the defendant, in response to the one who has no plans of taking the stand himself.

day no. 16,366: where there's a want to

"Job is not a pessimist. His case alone is sufficient to refute the modern absurdity of referring everything to physical temperament. Job does not in any sense look at life in a gloomy way. If wishing to be happy and being quite ready to be happy constitutes an optimist, Job is an optimist. He is a perplexed optimist; he is an exasperated optimist; he is an outraged and insulted optimist. He wishes the universe to justify itself, not because he wishes it be caught out, but because he really wishes it be justified." — G.K. Chesterton, Introduction to the Book of Job

Job is uncertain as to the why's. He doesn't know or understand the reason for what is happening to him, but he knows that there must be one. He trusts the One in charge of his circumstances. He takes the good with the bad without refusing to call God "good." His confusion isn't as to whether or not God is sovereign or whether or not He is good, but as to what good his suffering is accomplishing. He doesn't ask, "What good is this?" rhetorically in assuming that there cannot be a good answer, but rather insists that the One who knows is good and has His reasons. Job just wants to peek into what those reasons might be. He doesn't want God on the witness stand to defend Himself, but rather to explain Himself; not to justify himself in the face of God, but to see God justified face to face.

Whatever may be, Job wants to see God. His friends may have explanations according to what they know of God, but none of them hope to actually invoke His actual presence. They appeal to rules and regulations, but not to a Person. They would be shocked to find Him in their midst, which is the very thing Job desires more than anything. He wants answers, but he doesn't want them disembodied. He first and foremost wants the Answerer. He has some questions, but he wants to meet the Questioner.

"In a fine and famous blasphemy he says, 'Oh, that mine adversary had written a book!”'(31:35). It never really occurs to him that it could possibly be a bad book. He is anxious to be convinced, that is, he thinks that God could convince him. In short, we may say again that if the word optimist means anything (which I doubt), Job is an optimist. He shakes the pillars of the world and strikes insanely at the heavens; he lashes the stars, but it is not to silence them; it is to make them speak." — G.K. Chesterton, Introduction to the Book of Job

Job wants to believe. He doesn't know what to believe and thinks answers would fill in the gaps for him, but above it all, he WANTS to believe. He isn't looking for convenient excuses for unbelief, he earnestly longs for confirmation of his belief, even if inconvenient. He acts out to gain God's attention, not to get away from it. Job is like Absalom setting fire to Joab's fields for the sake of gaining an audience. Unlike Absalom, however, he is on the floor throwing a fit in order to be interrupted, not in order to kick the legs out from under God. Where there's a want to, there's a way This is why Job meets God and Job's friends require his mediation on their behalf.

Job 42:8-9

My servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them: the Lord also accepted Job.

Job is sure that God is good and has good reasons for all that He does. He is flummoxed for not knowing them, but faithful in knowing that they exist.

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

day no. 16,334: the Son of Man and the sins of man

"(Jesus) assumed the flesh of unfallen man: it is not for nothing that Paul tells us that he came, not in sinful flesh, but in 'the likeness of sinful flesh' (Rom. 8:3). But this does not mean that the flesh he assumed was not under a curse: it means that the curse under which his flesh rested was not the curse of Adam’s first sin but the curse of the sins of his people: 'him who knew no sin, he made sin in our behalf'; he who was not, even as man, under a curse, 'became a curse for us.' He was accursed, not because he became man, but because he bore the sins of his people; he suffered and died not because of the flesh he took but because of the sins he took. He was, no doubt, born of a woman, born under the law (Gal. 4:4), in one concrete act; he issued from the Virgin’s womb already our sin-bearer. But he was not sin-bearer because made of a woman; he was made of a woman that he might become sin-bearer." -- B.B. Warfield, The Emotional Life of Our Lord

There is nothing inherently sinful about material. If there were, Christ would have committed a sin in becoming flesh. God made stuff. He didn't have to, but He wanted to. In the beginning, through the Word and by His Spirit, He made everything ex nihilo. Everything is made out of nothing plus the Word of God. If God's Word were to be removed, what you'd be left with is nothing. Nothing has existence on its own other than God. He is the only immortal. He alone is the I Am. Nothing exists on its own save Him.

Jesus was not under a curse because He was a man, He was under a curse because as the Son of Man, He took on Himself the sins of man. Jesus was not guilty of sin because He was human, but because He took onto Himself the sins of humanity. Christ was born under the law, but placed Himself under its curse. He kept the Law and fulfilled it for our righteousness and took on its curse and satisfied it for our justification. Jesus was not subject to death by virtue of being a man, but by virtue of being a substitute for mankind.

day no. 16,322: you cannot grow godliness by using godless manure

Galatians 3:2-3

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

You cannot be so good as to graduate from the material to the spiritual. You cannot receive the Spirit of God as a paycheck. No one has ever gotten so good at being good that they spontaneously combusted into spiritual flame. No one ever baptized himself with fire. You cannot receive a gift as a wage. If you earned it, it's not a gift. The giver is merely being honest, not generous, in paying what they owe. 

So, if salvation was received as a mere gift, how could it be kept by sheer grit? That is dumb. If you began by saying, "I can't do it on my own," how can you keep going on by saying, "I just know that I can do it!" You cannot continue by pride what began in humility. You cannot build up by merit what was laid down in grace.

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

You cannot be Christlike without Christ as a reference point. You cannot be unChristlike in the name of Christ. You cannot live in unbelief because you are a believer. There are no worldly wisdom classes once admitted and enrolled in the college of Christian wisdom. You cannot grow in godliness by using godless manure.

day no. 16,308: two distinct mind sets

Romans 8:5-8

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Enmity is hard-wired into existence. God introduced it after the Fall when He placed enmity between the fleshly seed of the serpent and the Spiritual seed of the woman. This is commonly referred to as the Doctrine of the Antithesis. This has been the state of things since Genesis 3:15 and has informed the ongoing conflict at work in this world.

There are two conflicting mindsets one can have. The mind set on the flesh is in opposition to the mind set on the Spirit and not to be outdone, the Spirit cheerfully returns the favor in that a mind set on it is set in opposition to the mind set on the flesh. The end of the mind set on the flesh is death. The end of the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. The mind set on flesh is at war with the Spirit and if it could have its own way, it would perpetuate death and enmity forever and ever. The mind set on the Spirit is at war with the flesh and it will end all war by eradicating the flesh fully and finally forever. In other words, if the Spirit were to lose, death and violence would reign; but because the Spirit will win, life and peace will prevail. The Spirit's violence, in other words, is aimed at peace whereas the flesh's violence is aimed at more violence.

This is binary, just like many other things in the world God created. He is a God of order, not chaos, which means many things require the clarity of on or off, yes or no, black or white, life or death. But because He is a God of poetry, He often uses paradox: black is made into white through crucifixion, no is made into yes through substitution, off is made into on through transformation, and death is made into life through resurrection, But even here, the paradox depends on the distinction. Resurrection is glorious precisely because life and death are at odds. You don't make resurrection more miraculous by erasing the enmity between life and death, you make it less. The distance between the two serves to accentuate the majesty of what Christ accomplished in reconciling polar opposites under one Head.

day no. 16,273: evangelegal

Preach the gospel.

Practice theonomy.

If you preach the Gospel, you will be accused of being antinomian and licentious.

If you practice Theonomy, you will be accused of being ungracious and legalistic.

Some, try to reconcile the two by charging for grace while others try to cheapen the law, but abbreviating the law doesn't make grace abound and making grace more expensive doesn't pay off the law.

You cannot honor both by compromising either. You can only hold both together by covenant. The two must be married and become one flesh.

Psalm 85:10–11

Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed.

Truth shall spring out of the earth,

And righteousness shall look down from heaven.

When law and gospel say, "I do," before God and man, kiss, and walk back up the aisle, the result is obedience springing up in mankind and grace raining down from God.

Preach the Gospel.

Practice Theonomy.

Be an Evangelegal.

Romans 3:31

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.