Words from the Pastor’s Desk

When the Scripture speaks of Christians living as a sacrifice to God, it means to continually and perpetually live for Him.

What does it mean to present your body as a living sacrifice to God?

Intimate knowledge of Jesus and the Gospel is no guarantee of faith and salvation; in fact, familiarity can be an enemy.

The disciple's greatest danger, not surprisingly, is sin. Its threat comes primarily in two ways: in causing others to sin, and in tolerating personal sin.Six affirmationsHow serious is God about sin in the life of a believer? In Mark 9: 32-48, Jesus makes six distinct affirmations about sin's danger, and explains how to deal with it.1) Tolerating our own sin is the greatest danger to our souls. Jesus says that anything that causes us to sin puts us in such mortal danger that we have to be willing to take extreme measures to protect ourselves. Anything that causes us to stumble is extremely serious and a great danger.2) Eternal punishment in hell is a reality. Most people in our world cannot allow the possibility there is such a place. But Jesus Himself taught that there are only two alternatives after death: Dwelling in God's kingdom, or in the fire that can't be put out. If our Lord doesn't return, every one of us will die. And according to our Lord Jesus, we will open our eyes in one of two places. Let the reality of that burn into your soul and make sure you know Jesus Christ.3) Sin is what will ultimately send a person to hell. Jesus specifically says that a pattern of sinning will be the reason for being cast into hell. It's a pattern you see throughout the New Testament. Individuals will be condemned to hell because of sin - because of transgression against the law of God.4) Nothing is more important than your soul's eternal destiny. Jesus taught that it's more important than keeping the most precious things in this life. Think for a moment of all the things like relationships, your body, its health, that are most precious to you. Giving up those things to have eternal life is worth it.5) Be radical in hating sin and killing it whatever the cost. In Mark 9, Jesus told his disciples that they must hate their sin in all of its forms and be willing to kill it whatever the cost. It's a constant theme of the New Testament. You must kill sin in all its forms. You cannot play with sin and not be terribly burned. John Owen, the English Puritan, famously said, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you."6) Make your ultimate goal pursuing a pure and holy heart. Jesus taught these same truths early in His ministry. In that context, He emphasized that the heart is the real issue.Call to examineOur Lord says those who claim to be His disciples but are tolerating an ongoing pattern of sin may not be truly His, and end up being cast into hell. Are you willing to take radical steps to deal with your sin?If you're not really in the faith, Mark 9: 32-48 should drive you to Jesus Christ.

None of us likes to be ridiculed. Since the gospel is often the source of the ridicule we receive, it's a temptation for every Christian to be ashamed of the gospel.

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus gives a profound warning about the deadly danger of self-deception:"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven... Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"It is a sobering message. How does that kind of self-deception happen?It comes when people base their confidence of salvation on the wrong evidence. Specifically, many believe that if they affirm certain facts and make certain claims, they can be sure they belong to Christ.So how can a professing Christian tell if they are self-deceived and not a Christian at all?First, merely referring to Jesus as "Lord" because of a prior a profession of faith does not guarantee someone is a true believer. Matthew 7 says that at the judgment many will claim Jesus is their "Lord," but have no real relationship with Him.Second, merely believing the right doctrine does not make you a Christian. In the context of this passage, those who address Jesus as "Lord," are referring to Him not only as Master but as God. They are acknowledging His deity. But you can acknowledge Jesus' claims and the truth of the gospel and still not belong to Christ.Third, spiritual fervency doesn't mean you are a Christian. In these verses, the repetition of "Lord, Lord" implies fervency both in life and at the judgment. These people are sincere! But an emotional response to Jesus Christ and His message is not a guarantee of genuine Christianity.So, if none of those things is solid proof of saving faith, what is?Matt. 7:21 gives the answer: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."Jesus specifically identifies who will enter His kingdom: those who not only claimHim as Lord, but also obey Him as Lord.Jesus is not teaching us here how to be saved, but rather how to distinguish between a genuine profession of faith and a false confidence. He says that doing the will of the Father - hearing and obeying the Word of God - will always follow a genuine confession of Jesus as Lord.You will never get to heaven because of your obedience, but you won't get there without it (Heb. 12:14). The test of loving obedience reveals the condition of the heart.

Before responding to the sin of others, we each have to deal with the sin in our own heart.Scripture likens it to trying to remove a speck from someone else's eye but never realizing there's a massive beam in your own. This happens when our self-righteousness blinds us to our sin.But how do we take the log out of our own eye?First, instead of sitting in judgment on the sin of others, we must judge our own sin. Sometimes we know exactly what our sins are - we're painfully aware - but we're tempted to ignore or excuse them, downplaying their seriousness compared to the sins of others. We grow accustomed to the sins that are part of our lives and begin to act as though they are not really all that bad. We need to ask God to give us a fresh awareness of the sinfulness of our sin.But often we are completely blind to even the existence of our own sin.Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" We can't fully know our own hearts. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:4, "I am conscious of nothing against myself." He knew of no issues - no sin. But then he adds, "Yet I am not by this acquitted." Just because we don't see our sin doesn't mean it isn't there.So how can we take the log out of our eye when we don't know it's there in the first place?Begin by praying what David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." Say, "Lord I'm not aware of a beam in my eye, but it may be there. Please open my eyes through Your Spirit and Your word. Convict me - let me see it so I can deal with it."Then, when you see your sin, confess it to God.David did this when he finally saw his sin. I love Psalm 32:5, "I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord;' and You forgave the guilt of my sin."But we must not only confess the sin we already know about (or that God reveals in our lives), we must also be willing to turn from that sin and pursue obedience. Many Christians spend their lives confessing sin, but take no action to remove it from their lives. Jesus said if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off (Matt. 18:8-9). He meant we must be willing to radically deal with sin, even if it's painful in the short run.Serious repentance of sin means being willing to take steps to cut it out of our lives. It may mean turning off the television, putting an Internet filter on your devices, or even getting rid of the Internet altogether. It may mean changing jobs or putting limits on a relationship.The point is to be willing to take active steps to pursue obedience.Those two things together constitute true repentance: See your sin as God sees it, and be willing to turn from it to true obedience.We serve a forgiving God. When we come to Him in confession and repentance of sin, "He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Romans 1:16: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

In church we boldly sing Blessed Assurance, but privately many believers struggle with assurance of their salvation. Can Christians really have this assurance? And if so, how do we find it?The answer is actually two-fold. Scripture lays down the path to assurance along parallel but separate tracks. Like guardrails, both are necessary to keep us from the ditch on one side or the other. First, we must rest in the promises of the gospel. Embrace the truth of John 3:36: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life," and John 6:35, where Jesus says, "I am the bread of life; He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." In John 10:27-28, our Lord promises, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand."We find great hope and confidence as we rest in promises like these. The Apostle Paul himself clung to this truth in 2 Tim. 1:12: "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." Assurance comes from resting in the promises of God.But the promises of scriptures are just one track. Alongside them, we must examine the evidence of our lives. It is a commandment for all Christians - we are required to examine ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5). Some may argue that introducing evidence of a changed life as assurance of salvation produces legalism. But when Scripture presents tests of whether or not one is in Christ, it always comes back to examining the reality of a changed life.And what is the evidence of this change? First, it's a life characterized by obedience to the Word of God. Does what you believe about Jesus line up with scripture? Do you love other Christians? Are you dealing with any patterns of sin in your life? Is your life characterized by - not in perfection, but in direction - submission to the Word of God? Second, a changed life is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit. In Gal. 5:22-23, Paul assures us that when the Spirit is truly present, these qualities will be evident. Do love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control characterize your life? Would the people close to you describe you this way? Again, not to perfection - no one is patient allthe time - but is there a pattern of these qualities growing in you? Can the people around you see increasing evidence of these in your life? Scripture never suggests that the fruit of Spirit can be convincingly faked by an unbeliever.Resting solely in the promises of the gospel can lead to a superficial, or even misplaced assurance. There will be those who will stand at the judgment and claim Christ, only to hear, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you do lawlessness." On the other hand, if all we do is examine the evidence of our life and behavior, the result will be an unhealthy form of legalism. It can even lead to thinking that God accepts us on the basis of our personal holiness. Then our joy, gratitude, and eventually our assurance will disappear.So, we need this balance: Trust entirely in Christ for justification, and have a sincere and universal love of holiness - a genuine and overarching desire to be, in every part of our character, more and more like Jesus Christ.

Jesus' personal diagnosis of legalism is shown in Mark 7: 6-13. His piercing, penetrating omniscience sees into each of our hearts. He knows whether we're trying to present ourselves as something we're not.

Jesus' personal diagnosis of legalism is shown in Mark 7: 6-13. His piercing, penetrating omniscience sees into each of our hearts. He knows whether we're trying to present ourselves as something we're not.The most common route to legalism is when tradition gradually becomes equal to the requirements of Scripture.Four stepsWhat can we do do to avoid turning tradition into legalism?1) Adopt the commitment of the early church. In 1 Corinthians 4:6, Paul quotes a famous saying of the early church: "Not beyond what has been written." That was their shared commitment. We must ask ourselves, "What does the Word of God say?" And we must resolve not to go beyond that.2) Examine our personal convictions and traditions to determine if they are undermining God's own commands. Are any of our personal fences, rules, of convictions, in fact, undermining God's law? When we add our own rules to the "bare Word of God", as Martin Luther called it, we risk undermining the original intention of God Himself, just as the Pharisees.3) Examine ourselves for hypocrisy. Are we wearing a mask? Are we serving God with our lips, but not with our hearts? We must remind ourselves that Jesus still sees as clearly today as He did in the first century. He saw through the facade - all the things that were impressive about the Pharisees - and He knew their hearts. We need to examine our own hearts, and more importantly, ask God to examine them. We need to follow the Psalmist's example in Psalm 139 and pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart...see if there be any way in me that causes you pain."4) Be grateful that God has revealed Himself in a Book, that is complete, and sufficient. It has everything we need. The Bible is enough, and we don't need to add anything to it. And when we do, like the Pharisees, we may end up creating a system that actually undermines the will and purpose of God.Man-made, false religion always substitutes human ideas for divine revelation. May God help us to see the false, and to stay committed to the true Word of God.

Romans 1:16: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

Justification is the act of God, as a judge, whereby He declares the believing sinner right with Him and His Law, because of the merit of Christ's righteousness and death that He credits to the sinner by faith and faith alone.Three transactionsIn justification, there are three transactions. Two are accounting transactions. One is a legal transaction.First, in justification, when the sinner believes, God credits our sin to Christ. The word "credit" or "impute" is a financial term. It literally means "to post to a ledger, to deposit something in someone's account." So, in justification, God takes my sin, every sin I ever have or ever will commit and credits that sin to Jesus Christ. And on the cross, God treated Jesus as if He had committed every single one of those sins I had committed.Second, God credits Christ's righteousness - His life of perfect obedience - to us. He deposits Jesus' perfect life in my account. That's exactly what 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." God takes Jesus' perfect life, puts it in my account, and He treats me as if I had lived His life.Third, on the basis of crediting our sin to Christ and crediting Christ's perfect life to us, God forgives us and declares us forever right before the courtroom of His justice. Forever! Think of that! Every single sin you and I have ever committed carries enough guilt to deserve God's eternal wrath and curse. But through the life and death of Jesus Christ, all our sin has been pardoned!The divine standardIf you want to try on your own to gain that right standing before God, you've got to meet the divine standard.First, you have to deal with the guilt and pollution you inherited from your parents. Then, you must never once in your life put your own desires or interests ahead of that of others. Instead, you must constantly love them and pursue only their good without a single moment of selfishness.Second, from the moment of birth to the second you die, you must love God with all your heart, and your mind, and your strength, obeying Him perfectly in everything He's revealed. But if you sin even once, your entire house of cards tumbles, because James says, "Whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles in one, he is guilty of all."Obviously, you and I can never gain a right standing with God by our own efforts.The good news is that there is another way. God will declare you legally right forever in the courtroom of His justice, if you will believe in His son.

None of us likes to be ridiculed. Since the gospel is often the source of the ridicule we receive, it's a temptation for every Christian to be ashamed of the gospel.

Christianity has often borne the brunt of the world's sarcasm and ridicule. But why is our faith so often the object of the world's scorn?The Gospel of GodOne of the chief reasons is that the gospel is confrontative. The gospel says every man and woman is a fallen sinner living under the looming wrath of God. Unless the grace of God intervenes, he will spend eternity separated from God paying the penalty for his sins against God. That is a very unpopular message.And let's be honest. None of us likes to be ridiculed. Since the gospel is often the source of the ridicule we receive, it's a temptation for every Christian to be ashamed of that gospel.Romans is the most magnificent and profound explanation of the gospel ever written. The theme of this book is the righteousness which comes from God to the believing sinner in the Gospel of God. But notice Paul begins his brief powerful statement of the thesis of Romans in a shocking way. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel."Tempted to be ashamed of the gospelWe live in a society that's happy to accept an emasculated form of Christianity, as long as we're content to have it be one of many viable choices. But the people around us are every bit as intolerant of the true gospel and those who embrace it as they were in the first century.If you really understand the Christian message, you have been and will be tempted to be ashamed. It's a temptation because the gospel is nothing but the story about a publicly shamed man. To the Greeks and the Romans, it was foolishness.To the Jews, it was a stumbling block. They just couldn't conceive of the Messiah being publicly shamed like Jesus was on the cross. In fact, in the second century there were a series of debates between Christian apologist, Justin Martyr, and a Jewish teacher of the law named Trypho. In one of those debates, Trypho responds to Justin Martyr's argument with these words: "It is clear that the scriptures announce that the Messiah had to suffer, but prove to us whether he must be crucified and die so disgracefully and so dishonorably the death accursed in the Law. For we cannot bring ourselves even to consider this."Because of Paul's message, the world, both Jews and Gentiles, had labeled him as a fool and as a shameful man. He was without a sense of honor and thus deserving of ill treatment.In spite of all this, Paul said he was unashamed.Are you ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ?