Wednesday, July 2, 2014

The Awefulness and Awesomeness of Ascending to the Pulpit

The Awefulness & Awesomeness of Ascending to the Pulpit
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Nothing has as much power as when the voice of God speaks. When God utters a word, His plan most certainly comes to pass and everything obeys His sovereign decree. So then, it only follows that as a man of God ascends the stairs to preach in the pulpit and speak as the mouthpiece of God, he does well to have some truths plastered on his heart and mind.

1. THE FEAR OF THE LORD
Paul wrote that he knew the terror of the Lord. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom. Knowing God and His person and work must produce a deep-rooted and an awe-struck amazement at the majesty of God. God speaks through instruments. God spoke through prophets of old. God has revealed Himself generally through creation. God has provided His sufficient Word in the pages of written Scripture. And in so far as the man of God takes the Word of God to declare God’s truth to the people of God, he speaks for God. The preacher must remember the fear of the Lord.

2. THE PURITY OF THE LORD
The Word of the Lord is tested, true, and refined. God cannot lie nor does His Word ever fail. God’s Word has stood the test of time as the only reliable, verifiable, infallible, and supernatural Word. A false teacher was exposed because of his false prophecies. A true man of God was known to be true because the word which he spoke came true. A man who preaches the Bible must humbly bow before the holiness of God and beg God to cleanse his lips before he would endeavor to herald for God.

3. THE POWER OF THE LORD
God sent a lion to kill a prophet who disobeyed the clear Word of God. God struck down two priests for conducting their priestly duties in a way that God had not ordained. God’s power is unrivaled, supreme and fearful. The man of God with the Word of God in hand must realize that he unquestionably wields the most powerful weapon in existence—the powerful Word of God. The man must humbly bow before God’s power because God promises that all false teachers will necessarily meet their end. May God’s power infuse God’s man with humility.

4. THE PEOPLE OF THE LORD
To ascend to a pulpit, open the Bible, and say ‘Thus says the LORD’ should be the most sober, serious, and solemn moments of the week. The preacher speaking for God is speaking to God’s people. How remarkable is the thought that God entrusts His blood-bought prized possessions to his undershepherds. God’s man who teaches the Word must feed God’s sheep with good, healthy, solid, mature food. God’s man must care for God’s sheep that are wounded, hurting, dying, and straying. What an honor and privilege to tend to and love the people Christ purchased.

5. THE MAN OF THE LORD
The preacher must preeminently be a holy man. God chooses to not use impure vessels for His glory and for the advancement of His gospel. All Christians must be holy since God is holy. How much more the man who speaks for God, with God’s Word, to God’s people, with God’s gospel! He must turn from sin and passionately hate it. He must mortify sin and carefully extract it and slay it from its inception. He must serve Christ, love Christ, worship Christ, and commune with Christ. The man who ascends to the pulpit to preach must have no ongoing sin in his life. He must not live in or remain in any known sin. He must murder sin because He treasures Christ so much more! He must meet with the living God, speak with the living God, hear from the living God, and speak for the living God. Preeminently, he must be holy in his heart, in his mind, with his life and only then may he speak for the Lord.

Download the pdf article here.

How Do You Bleed?

Charles Spurgeon:

Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves! As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf, and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord—not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts. It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the words, or to recollect the poetical expressions, or the historic facts; but it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your very style is fashioned upon Scripture models, and, what is better still, your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord.

I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like the reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved.

—”Mr. Spurgeon as a Literary Man,” in The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, Compiled from His Letters, Diaries, and Records by His Wife and Private Secretary, vol. 4, 1878-1892 (Curtis & Jennings, 1900), p. 268.

Is Same-Sex Attraction Sinful? A 5-Part Audio-Blog Series

Recently, I put together a 5-part audio-blog asking the question: Is Same-Sex Attraction Sinful? Among evangelical Christians, there is a general consensus that rightly affirms that homosexual activity and behavior is sinful.

But what about those that struggle with same-sex attraction? Is that sinful? In this audio-blog, I endeavor to show from the Word of God that same-sex attraction is sinful.

THE AUDIO BLOG SERIES
Part 1: It Opposes God's Creative Order

Part 2: God Looks at the Heart & Not Merely the External Behavior

Part 3: The Outward Act of "Homosexual Activity" Does Not Begin the Sin

Part 4: The Desire on the Part of Men in the Old Testament Is Called "Wickedness/Evil"

Part 5: The Strong Desire of Romans 1:27 (2 Peter 2:8) Is Seen as Sinful

You can also listen to an mp3 sermon from Christ Fellowship Bible Church recently that affirms CFBC's position on homosexuality & clearly addresses the issue of same-sex attraction.

You may also download CFBC's position paper on homosexuality here:
May the church of the Lord Jesus Christ stand upon the true and unchanging Word of God so as to call sin sin and proclaim the gospel to all people that are in desperate need of the gospel — both heterosexuals and homosexuals.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
— 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Biblical Parenting: Foundational Essentials for Faithful Dads and Moms

Biblical Parenting —
Foundational Essentials for Faithful Dads and Moms
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

My son, keep my words, And treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye.
—Proverbs 7:1–2

No one can overstate how important parenting is. God entrusts the important duty and joyous privilege of caring for His precious creatures by pointing them constantly, passionately, urgently, and Christocentrically to the gospel of grace. But how could one summarize biblical parenting? What are some foundational essentials for faithful dads and moms? This essay will provide a few.

1. INSTRUCT your children.
Teachers disseminate information to their pupils. Parents must, in like manner, pass on God’s truth to their children. The parents have the primary duty and responsibility in all of life’s ambitions and endeavors to take biblical truth and teach the next generation to fear the Lord. If parents do everything else and yet fail in this area, they have utterly failed as parents. God commands parents to teach the next generation (Ps 78:1-8) and teach them the fear of the Lord (Prov 1:7) and train up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4).

2. INTERCEDE for your children.
A parent can do nothing more powerful and beneficial for the children than to pray regularly for their conversion. To intercede means that a parent brings the child before God’s almighty throne pleading for God’s grace to touch their souls, for God’s mercy to regenerate them, for God’s power to control them, and for God’s beauty to satisfy them. Parents must pray that Christ would savingly touch their children. Parents must pray that the children must pursue Christ as their supreme and highest ambition in life — above all else. Parents, if you neglect anything, neglect not the duty of praying and interceding for your children.

3. IMPLORE your children.
To implore is to beg and exhort. God commands all men everywhere to repent. On behalf of God, parents must use His Word and implore each of their children to repent and be reconciled to God. Parents must instill this in their children from the earliest days and implore them to trust in Christ and turn from their sin to be saved. Parents must implore each child to think rightly about God, to turn solidly from sin, to trust unreservedly to Christ, and to follow passionately the risen Christ. Parents must implore individually, at family worship, and in both planned and unplanned settings.

4. IMITATE for your children.
To imitate Christ is one of the most powerful tools that a parent has. As children see their parents pursue Christ and the knowledge of Him, and as they see the parents imitate Christ, walk as He walked, love what He loved, hate what He hated, obey just as He obeyed, pray as He prayed, children will be indelibly impacted by this. Parents must repent when they’ve sinned. They must ask for forgiveness whenever needed. They must imitate Christ before they can pass it on. Parents can never pass on to the children what they do not possess themselves — a Christlike and holy life.

5. INFORM your children.
No greater need could ever be taught to the children than the coming reality of heaven and hell. Parents must inform their children of the wrath to come and and the blessedness of heaven. Parents must urgently and passionately plead with their children to see God’s fury at sin and to fly to Christ quickly and unhesitatingly for refuge from the coming storm and then, and only then, will they find God’s mercy abundantly poured out and richly available to cover their sin and Christ as a propitiatory sacrifice. Parents have a duty to inform the children that life is short and eternity is long. Parents must declare to their children that as long as heaven endures, so will hell endure. As powerful and as overwhelming as God’s love and grace is in heaven, so powerful and overwhelming will his hatred and punishment be in hell. As glorious will it be to be in the immediate presence of God’s glory in the eternal beauty of heaven, so horrible will it be to be in the immediate presence of God’s wrath in the eternal torments of the Lake of Fire. Parents, if you love your children, tell them regularly to think often of eternity and their destiny.

Download the pdf article here.

Constructing a Clear Christology — Gleanings from Hebrews 1:1-13

Constructing a Clear Christology —
Gleanings from Hebrews 1:1–13
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Hebrews 1:1-14 catapults one into heavenly, triumphant, awe-inspiring Christological thinking. One cannot read Hebrews chapter one without being amazed at the glorious, divine, eternal, righteous, and sufficient Christ. God has spoken in His Son. Let the text construct a clear Christology for for the reader. It is impossible to have a Christology that is too lofty, too biblical, too robust, and too glorious. So let the text speak for itself.

Twenty Essential Features (in this text) in Building This Edifice of Biblical Christology:

1. God Has Spoken In Jesus, the Son (2a).
Of old, God spoke to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. But now, in these last days, God has manifested Himself, revealed His glory, spoken His will, and made His character visible in Christ.

2. God Appointed Jesus Heir of All Things (2b).
The person of Jesus Christ is so glorious that He is heir of all things. He is, in fact, the one who will receive a future inheritance — a purchased people, bought with His own blood, surrounding His throne worshiping Him.

3. Jesus Made the World (2c).
God made the world. The Father created the heavens and the earth. The text affirms also that Jesus made the world. He is the Creator, the Founder, the Lord and the Author of all creation. Nothing has been made apart from Christ’s sovereign and powerful finger.

4. Jesus Is the Radiance of God’s Glory (3a).
Jesus radiates God. Jesus puts the brightness of the glory of God on display for all to see. If anyone sees the Son, Jesus said that he sees the Father. Whoever sees the Son has seen the Father. God’s glory is in Jesus.

5. Jesus Is the Exact Representation of God’s Nature (3b).
The exact representation of God’s nature is manifested in Jesus Christ. Jesus perfectly, clearly, and exactly portrays the character of God’s being, substance, and nature. Jesus precisely and gloriously represents the divine nature because He is, in fact, God Himself.

6. Jesus Upholds All Things by His Powerful Word (3c).
The power of Jesus finds expression is that He upholds all things by His Word. In fact, Jesus carries all things by the Word of His power. There is nothing in the universe, on any mountain, in any galaxy, in any meadow, in any ocean, or contained in any human being that Jesus does not actively uphold and carry by His powerful Word.

7. Jesus Made Purification for Sins (3d).
The greatest need in all human history is for someone to make purification for sins. No one could ever do this finally, fully, and eternally. But Jesus came and made purification for sins. He brought cleansing and purity through the sacrifice of Himself.

8. Jesus Sat Down at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High (3e).
After Jesus completed His work of redemption, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. No priest ever sat because his work was never complete. But Jesus has sat down at the place of divine honor.

9. Jesus Is Better than the Angels with a More Excellent Name Than They (4).
As revered as the angels were in ancient Jewish thinking, Jesus is far better. He is better than they since God gave Him a more excellent Name! They mediated the Law; Christ fulfilled it and accomplished redemption.

10. Jesus Is the Son of God (5a).
Using language from the Psalms, God affirmed to Jesus that He would be God’s Son. He would have an intimate, eternal, unending, and covenant-bound relationship with the Father. He is the Son since He is God.

11. Jesus Is Begotten of God (5b).
The Father has begotten the Son signifying that whatever God the Father is, God the Son is. The Son has the very likeness, divinity, glory, and blessedness that the Father has. The Father begat the Son since they are One.

12. God Commands All the Angels to Worship Jesus (6).
God commands all the angels of God to worship the Son. God demands that the Son be worshiped. The Father receives worship and He requires that all His created beings — including angels — worship Jesus, the Son.

13. The Throne of Jesus Is Forever and Ever (8).
In a marvelous statement explicitly stating the deity of Jesus, God says that His throne is forever and ever. God even states that Jesus is God. His kingship and sovereignty shall remain forever and cannot end or fail.

14. Jesus Loves Righteousness and Hates Lawlessness (9a).
As the sovereign King and glorious God, Jesus combines two necessary and corollary truths: He supremely loves righteousness and He vehemently hates lawlessness. He blesses truth and He punishes all unholiness.

15. God Anointed Jesus With the Oil of Gladness (9b).
Christ lives forever as God and is joyfully consumed with righteousness. For this reason, God has anointed Him with the oil of gladness above all His companions. Christ rejoices in holiness and is glad in righteousness.

16. Jesus Laid the Foundation of the Earth in the Beginning (10a).
Affirming the power and eternality of Christ, the author affirms that Jesus is the Lord and that He laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning. When all things were created at the outset, it obeyed Christ’s word.

17. Jesus Remains Forever (11).
The heavens will perish one day. But Jesus Christ remains forever. The heavens will grow old, will be rolled up, and will be changed. But Jesus Christ is the same and His years can never end. He remains the same eternally.

18. Jesus Is the Same and His Years Shall Never Come to an End (12).
Everything changes. The planets rotate and orbit. The seasons change. Humans age and change. But God never changes. Christ is the same and shall never be altered, moved, changed, or defeated. He is the first and the last.

19. Jesus Sits at the Father’s Right Hand (13a)
Having purchased redemption and being raised victoriously, Jesus now sits at the Father’s right hand. That position of honor, blessing, glory and power is once for all and eternally given to Jesus, the blessed Son of God.

20. Jesus Will Rule Over All His Enemies (13b)
Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand till all His enemies will be defeated. The day will come when Christ will rule over all His enemies and triumph over them under His feet as the Sovereign King and the reigning Lord of all. The kingship, faithfulness, righteousness, and the glory of Jesus Christ will reign forever over all His foes.

CFBC Distinctives — audio & handouts

At Christ Fellowship Bible Church (St. Louis, Missouri), we have been teaching through the CFBC Distinctives during the Family Bible Hour (at 4pm on Sundays).

Here is what the men have taught through thus far:

Expository Preaching — audio | handout

Expository Listening — audio | handout

Discipleship — audio | handout

Cultivating a Godly Marriage — eBook

Last week, this blog hosted a number of articles on Cultivating a Godly Marriage. Here are the individual links:

Part I — The Meaning of Marriage
Part II — The Husband Leads with Love
Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight
Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently
Part V — The Goal of Marriage: The Exaltation of God & the Christlikeness of Your Spouse
Part VI — The Mystery, Meaning & Magnificence of Forgiveness
Part VII — Your Personal Pursuit in Marriage: For You to Change, Not for You to Change Your Spouse

The entire Cultivating a Godly Marriage eBook can be downloaded as a pdf HERE.

Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 7: "Your Personal Pursuit in Marriage: For You to Change, Not for You to Change Your Spouse"

This is part 7 of the 'Cultivating a Godly Marriage' blog series.

Part I — The Meaning of Marriage
Part II — The Husband Leads with Love
Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight
Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently
Part V — The Goal of Marriage: The Exaltation of God & the Christlikeness of Your Spouse
Part VI — The Mystery, Meaning & Magnificence of Forgiveness

Part 7: Your personal pursuit in marriage: for YOU to change; NOT for you to change your spouse & conform them into your liking.

A Christian wants to please the Lord in all things. A genuinely converted Christian hates his sin, quickly confesses it, endeavors to turn from it, and strives by God’s enabling and empowering grace to walk in holiness. A great problem arises in many marriages when couples want change — and they want it fast. And usually the change must begin with the other person. How easy it is for us as sinners to be blinded to our own sin. How easy it is to see ten faults in others that so blinds us to even one glaring fault in ourselves. O the deceptiveness of sin, pride, and selfishness. The personal pursuit in the Christian marriage must be for godly, genuine, consistent change in you — not for you to change your spouse. Dear Christian spouse, if your marriage is going to change, it begins with you.

In this brief article, I will present five simple helps to aid the Christian in his Godly pursuit of biblical change so as to become the spouse that God wants him to be.

1. Your GOAL: strive to honor Christ!
All those who love God’s salvation say continually: ‘Let God be magnified’ (Psalm 70:4). The Lord is worthy to receive honor (Revelation 4:11). God’s people are called upon to worship the Lord with trembling (Psalm 2:11). All the earth is beckoned to worship the Lord and tremble before Him (Psalm 96:9). Like the Apostle Paul, a believer makes it his ambition to be pleasing to the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:9). That must be the ongoing goal, pursuit, end, and motive in life. The goal for every Christian is to please the Lord. This radically — drastically! — affects a marriage relationship. The goal of marriage is not simply for a better, happier, easier, more comfortable marriage relationship, or even a better and more enjoyable spouse. No! The supreme goal of marriage is found when the believer commits himself to honor Christ no matter what the cost, what the trial, what the hardship, and what the consequences may be. The personal pursuit in marriage must not be to change the spouse, to see them grow in Christlikeness merely. The personal pursuit is for you to strive, excel, work, be diligent, and discipline yourself to honor Christ irregardless of how things change on the parts of other people involved in the home.

2. Your MISSION: strive to emulate Christ!
God commands all believers to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). This necessitates that the Christian not be conformed to this world (Romans 12:1). Every Christian must follow in Christ’s footsteps since He left the example for us (1 Peter 2:21). The Christian wants to emulate Christ, to follow Him, to be like Him (Philippians 3:10). In the specific context of the marriage relationship, the Christian husband or wife must make it their magnificent mission to strive with all the Spirit-endowed strength to emulate Christ. Even if the spouse refuses to reciprocate, you must emulate Christ. Even if the spouse responds with anger and bitterness, you must emulate Christ. Even if the burning coals on the head of your spouse only enflames their rage, you must emulate Christ. Even if the spouse does not even recognize the love and labor of compassion on your part, you must emulate Christ. The mission is for you to emulate Christ. Note, the mandate from God is not for believers to ensure that their spouse emulates Christ. Your duty is to follow Him! Again, it must be repeated, the mission of the believer is to follow Christ and emulate Christ irregardless of the response that he receives.

3. Your HUMBLING: strive to serve like Christ!
The night before Jesus died, He sat in the upper room with His disciples for the last Passover feast before He would die. At this celebration, Jesus got up and took the role of the lowliest servant and washed the feet of all twelve of His disciples (John 13:1-12). Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). Even in the heavenly banquet, the Scriptures reveal that Jesus will gird Himself to serve His people (Luke 12:37). Jesus served His enemies in that He even washed Judas’s feet before Judas left that room to get the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus. Jesus served those who took Him for granted in His earthly ministry. So it must be in the marriage relationship. Every Christian spouse must humbly serve as Christ served. If Jesus Christ, the Eternal God, humbled Himself to wash the dirty, dusty, muddy feet of His disciples, how much more must we humbly serve others. Dear Christian spouse, your humble resolution must be to serve your spouse constantly. Serve them to the max! Love them to the uttermost! Strive to be useful and helpful to them in their growth. Again, this is not pending upon their reception of your endeavors and how they accept, acknowledge, and affirm your acts of service! No! You serve your spouse to the uttermost (without limits) like Christ served you. He loved you! He died for you! He bore your wrath! He became your curse! He drank the cup of divine punishment down to the dregs for you! He came to serve you! So you must strive to serve your spouse with that same kind of humility.

4. Your JOY: strive to unconditionally love like Christ!
Paul worked with the Corinthian believers for their joy (2 Corinthians 1:24).He made it his joy in serving them and seeing them joyfully know the Lord more. Believers must serve one another through love (Galatians 5:13). God is love (1 John 4:8) and He first loved wayward sinners since He sent His Son to be the propitiation for sin (1 John 4:10). God did not wait for us to respond to sent Christ to die. No! He initiated this supreme act of divine love by sending Christ to die for sinners (Romans 5:8). The joy of a Christian abounds when he unconditionally loves like His Savior loves. After all, a Christian has received the ultimate display of love. Moreover, the Christian is the most unworthiest person to receive that love! So he must strive to love his spouse with that same kind of unconditional love. Fervently love one another! Christians must fervently love one another from the heart (1 Peter 1:22).

5. Your PERSPECTIVE: strive to remember the coming judgment seat of Christ!
The Christian does well to daily remember that he will stand before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for deeds in the body, according to what he has done (2 Corinthians 5:10). This will not be a judgment seat that determines salvation; that has already been secured at the moment of justification by faith alone. This future judgment seat of Christ is not a judgment determining salvation but a judgment dispensing rewards for faithful service. Every Christian will be at this judgment. Paul says it again that all believers will stand before the judgment seat of God (Romans 14:10). Therefore, O Christian spouse, love your spouse with such a perspective that you will stand before the Lord Jesus and give an account for every single word spoken, every single deed done, every single way you responded, and every single thought you had toward your spouse. Live with this eternal mindset and let that guide, guard, and govern how you think, talk, and live today.

Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 6: "The Mystery, Meaning & Magnificence of Real Forgiveness"

This is part 6 of the 'Cultivating a Godly Marriage' blog series.

Part I — The Meaning of Marriage
Part II — The Husband Leads with Love
Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight
Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently
Part V — The Goal of Marriage: The Exaltation of God & the Christlikeness of Your Spouse

Part 6: the mystery, meaning & magnificence of real forgiveness
Forgive! That concept perhaps seems foreign to many people. Undoubtedly many misunderstand what forgiveness is because they’ve never received Christ’s forgiveness and are ignorant of its glory and importance.

In this brief essay, I want to uncover the tremendous riches of forgiveness. I want to describe the mystery, meaning, and magnificence of forgiveness by asking some diagnostic questions and then providing helpful, clear and understandable answers.

I. WHY: why is forgiveness needed?
Every needs forgiveness because of one reality — sin. Sin has so infected and corrupted every person in the universe that no person exists who lives without the need for forgiveness. Forgiveness is needed because of sin. This means, ultimately and preeminently, forgiveness must first be given by God to a repentant sinner. All humans have sinned against the Righteous God (Jeremiah 12:1; Romans 3:23) and are dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1-3) and desperately need God’s forgiveness (Luke 18:13). It is no different in the marriage relationship. Because two sinners have come together to form a new relationship, in a lifelong commitment, as sinners by nature, sin will occur. And where sin occurs, forgiveness must be granted by a believer when the other person asks for it.

2. WHO: who do I forgive?
Christ gloriously forgives all who come to Him in repentance and confession (1 John 1:9). He willingly receives sinners (Luke 15:2) and saves even the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). He pardons all who repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15). All who repent will be saved (Luke 13:3). He does not forgive anyone and everyone if they do not ask for it (Acts 13:38-39). God forgives anyone and everyone who genuinely confesses and forsakes his sin. Every sinner who genuinely repents of sin and comes to Christ for forgiveness finds Him gloriously merciful and everlastingly forgiving (Psalm 130:4; Ephesians 1:7). When a brother repents, a believer is obligated to forgive (Matthew 6:14). True forgiveness can only occur when a person asks for forgiveness (Luke 17:3). A believer, then, must forgive just as Christ has forgiven him (Ephesians 4:32). Christ forgives lavishly, abundantly, perpetually, willingly (Hebrews 10:17-18). Thus, in following the pattern of Christ’s forgiveness of sinners, a Christian must be willing to forgive anyone and everyone who comes to him asking for forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32).

3. WHAT: what is required in biblical forgiveness?
Biblical forgiveness includes a promise. Forgiveness is a promise of pardon. In biblical forgiveness, which is supremely demonstrated in God’s forgiveness of sinners in Christ, a promise of pardon occurs.

Thus, biblical forgiveness requires three crucial elements.

First, I promise to not bring up the sin to MYSELF
True love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5). Just as God promises that He will remember the sins of His people no more (Hebrews 10:17), so the people of God must promise to not remember and dwell upon the sins of others. When someone humbly confesses his sin and asks for forgiveness, the Christian is obligated to forgive that sin and to refuse to add that offense to the list of wrongs. He actively chooses to not dwell on those wrongdoings.

Second, I promise to not bring up the sin TO OTHERS
A true Christian forgives like Jesus does. To speak of the wrongdoings of one person to others is slander. A godly person does not slander with his tongue (Psalm 15:3). Indeed, he who spreads slander is a fool (Proverbs 10:18). True believers are trustworthy and when they forgive an offense, they actively choose to not speak of that sin to others.

Third, I promise to not bring up the sin TO YOU
When a person repents and the other party forgives him, the one who granted forgiveness must not ever bring up that offense again to the offender. If it is forgiven, it cannot be brought up again as ammunition for the future. It cannot be kept as a bomb of power ready to detonate whenever it’s needed. How grateful the child of God is that God does not constantly remind him of his offenses against God. When God forgives, He removes the transgressions as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

To sum up, biblical forgiveness is a promise of pardon. It is not a feeling. It is not an apology. It is not a mere forgetting of something that happened. It is a transaction that happens when one party humbly repents of that sin, asks for forgiveness, and then the offended party willingly and generously lavishes forgiveness. All of this is patterned after the full and free forgiveness that Christ grants to sinners who humbly come to Him in repentance and faith. This is the kind of forgiveness that Christian couples must regularly practice. Forgiveness is vital for a healthy marriage.

4. HOW: how has Christ forgiven me?
Christ forgives graciously (Ephesians 1:7). God forgives all the sins of His people (Psalm 25:18). Indeed, God is good and is always ready to forgive (Psalm 86:5). The way that the people of God have received forgiveness from Christ should directly influence the willing, free, lavish, and unrestrained forgiveness offered to others regardless of the enormity of the offense. After all, no offense between two sinners on earth can equal the massive forgiveness that the repentant sinner has received from God Almighty! Indeed, God forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). In the marriage relationship, when a spouse sins — whatever that sin may be — and they confess that sin, humbly acknowledge it, and ask for forgiveness, the Christian spouse is obligated to forgive that spouse since Christ has forgiven his eternal debt of sin. As Jesus said, if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions (Matthew 6:15).

“Obviously the Omniscient God who created and sustains the universe does not forget, but He can ‘not remember.’ You see, forgetting is passive and is something that we human beings, not being Omniscient, do. ‘Not remembering’ is active; it is a promise whereby one person determines not to remember the sins of another against him. To ‘not remember’ is simply a graphic way of saying, ‘I will not bring up these matters to you or others in the future. I will bury them and not exhume the bones to beat you over the head with them. I will never use these sins against you’” (Jay Adams).

“Isn’t it great that God never emphasizes our failures! He emphasizes His forgiveness so that He gets the praise, honor & glory” (John Barnett)!

Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 5: "The Goal of Marriage: the Exaltation of God & the Christlikeness of Your Spouse"

This is part 5 of the 'Cultivating a Godly Marriage' blog series.

Part I — The Meaning of Marriage
Part II — The Husband Leads with Love
Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight
Part IV — The Couple Communicates Openly, Honestly & Frequently

Part 5: the goal of marriage: the exaltation of God & the pursuit of your spouse’s Christlikeness

Marriage exists for and points to one ultimate end, the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ. As is the case for everything in the universe, the end of all things culminates in the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He rules as King over all things. He upholds all things. He created all things and all things exist through Him and for Him.

One misses the real meaning of marriage if one neglects to understand that God created marriage to manifest His glory. So, then, I want to spell out the preeminent goal (end, purpose, reason) for marriage in one glorious thought encapsulating two inseparable features: the magnificence of God and the resemblance to Christ.

1. The goal of marriage is the MAGNIFICENCE OF GOD.
As a child would put a magnifying glass up to an insect to make it larger so the wonder of marriage is to make the glory of God larger and sweeter. To rightly understand marriage is to rightly dwell on God’s glory. To understand the covenantal bond of marriage properly demands that one will savor the sweetness, delightfulness, and blessedness of the heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. To miss this connection is to misunderstand the meaning and goal of marriage.

The Christian marriage serves to broadcast the greatness of God so as to result in His glory. The glory of God is the greatest good. The glory of God is the loftiest goal. The Christian can have no greater ambition than to glorify God. This is the chief end of man and the preeminent boast of every Christian.

The marriage should magnify God for His delight. To bring joy to God should be the Christian’s preoccupation. The child of God always strives to delight his heavenly Father. And so, every Christian marriage should radiate the glorious beams of God’s majesty so as to delight God.

A godly marriage should magnify God for His praise. To praise God is the highest good. Everything everywhere should praise God. Indeed, everything that has breath is to praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6).

2. The goal of marriage is the CHRISTIAN'S RESEMBLANCE TO CHRIST.
As the moon shines the light of the sun so is the great beauty of Christians when they shine the light of Christ in and through them. Every Christian has Christ dwelling within him (Colossians 1:27; Romans 8:10). The greatest goal and chief end of all things is ultimate resemblance to Christ. Christlikeness consists of the goal of the Christian life (1 John 3:2).

When two sinners come together in the covenant-bond and lifelong-commitment of marriage, the grace of God in humility, in grace, and in forgiveness must be demonstrated daily. Every Christian spouse must remember that he is God’s primary tool for sanctifying the spouse. Again, you, O Christian husband/wife, are God's tool for sanctification in the life of your precious spouse. Just as when welding two metals together, fire and sparks fly up, so it is when two Christians come together in the life-commitment of marriage, the sparks of conflict will inevitably arise. But Christian couples must remember that heat and pressure and time results in the inseparable molding of those metals together. And so it must be in the godly marriage. Marriages grow as Christians live humbly, serve sacrificially, think selflessly, labor relentlessly, and serve one another with Christ’s attitude and love.

The tool of sanctification will teach you the necessity of selflessness. You will learn the demand for humility, confessing sin, repentance, and asking for forgiveness. You will learn the glory of giving forgiveness and granting a free and full pardon thus promising to never bring that offense up to the person again so as to hold it against them (nor will you dwell on it yourself or announce that person’s offense to other people). You will love unconditionally even when you don’t feel like giving of yourself to the other person for their benefit and welfare. You will commit yourself to them even in the hard, crushing, lonely, and stormy seasons of life. You will quickly learn to rely on prayer, fervent prayer, believing prayer, persistent prayer, prostrate prayer, intercessory prayer. You will have the importance of the local church and regular, active, personal, deliberate involvement (and sacrificial service) affirmed in your own heart and in your family’s calendar.

The Spirit of God ultimately brings about sanctification (2 Corinthians 7:1; Romans 15:15-16) but He uses means by which He accomplishes His work of grace in believers. One of the means that the Spirit uses in the process of sanctification is the relationship of marriage. The husband is not the ultimate agent of sanctification but he works mightily, striving with the enabling grace and transforming power of the Spirit, to help his wife grow in her walk with Christ.

Thus, the husband wants to sanctify his wife and make her more like Christ. He take the responsibility to do whatever is necessary to make her more Christlike. He will wean her from worldly distractions. He will protect the door of his home from worldliness zealously. He will utilize daily circumstances to teach extraordinary truths about God to his wife and family. He makes it his primary ambition in his life on earth to make his wife pure, clean, spotless, and dazzlingly gorgeous in holiness. One day standing before the throne in heavenly, the husband can present his wife forward before the Lamb so that He will be pleased and glorified with her spiritual growth.

All of this demands that the Christian husband and wife will carefully and deliberately guard what the other person sees, what they hear, what they watch, where they go, how they act, who they spend time with, how they spend time meeting and communing with God, their frequency and commitment to private and family prayer and worship. Every Christian has blind spots. Pride blinds us to our own sins, faults, shortcomings, and areas of growth. How important it is, then, for Christian spouses to love each other enough and to live with an eternal focus so as to shun worldliness and encourage whatever would promote godliness.

“Love wants only the best for the one it loves, and it cannot bear for a loved one to be corrupted or misled by anything evil or harmful. When a husband’s love for his wife is like Christ’s love for His church, he will continually seek to help purify her from any sort of defilement. He will seek to protect her from the world’s contamination and protect her holiness, virtue, and purity in every way. He will never induce her to do that which is wrong or unwise or expose her to that which is less than good” (John MacArthur).

Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 4: "The couple communicates openly, honestly, and frequently"

This is part 4 of the 'Cultivating a Godly Marriage' blog series.

Part I — The Meaning of Marriage
Part II — The Husband Leads with Love
Part III — The Wife Submits with Delight

Part 4: the couple communicates openly, honestly & frequently

The model for communication stems from the Triune God and then from how God has communicated with His people. The community with the Trinity is perfect, eternally wonderful & gloriously open. Each member of the Trinity enjoys perfect fellowship with the other two members of the Trinity. And they always exist in perfect unity, harmony, peace, and gladness. Even still, there is only one God! The communication from the Father to the Son is clear, open, honest and specific. The Father had given the Son a mission to accomplish (John 20:21). Jesus came to accomplish the work of His Father (John 5:36). The Father sent the Spirit into His New Covenant believers (John 14:26) as well as the Son (John 15:26). Thus there is complete agreement, total openness, and glorious communication within each of the members of the Triune Godhead. This serves as a model for marital communication.

I want to provide six brief helps so that marital communication can thrive.

1. Pursue Communication
Humans are selfish. By nature, we as people want to protect ourselves, put up the good-face and appear as though everything is okay. Left to ourselves and our sinful flesh, we live by ourselves, for ourselves, with ourselves, and are happy in ourselves. Sinful human nature is a killer to open, honest, genuine, Christlike communication. Paul tells Christians to put off falsehood and he commands them to ‘speak truth’ with his neighbor (Ephesians 4:25). He gives this command to every Christian. Dear husband and wife, consider how God has communicated with you! Left to yourself you would never know about God, you would never know about Christ, you would never know the Gospel, nor would you ever come to Jesus Christ in saving faith! Yet God has initiated communication with you! He has revealed Himself gloriously and powerfully in creation and most fully and savingly in the Lord Jesus Christ! God has pursued communication with you. So you must, dear spouse, pursue communication in a like manner with your spouse.

2. Be Frequent in Communication
True believers long for fellowship with God. Man lives not by bread alone but by every word that comes out of God’s mouth (Matthew 4:4). Believers find sustenance, strength, and communion with God as they diligently read and study the Word. In this very act, God communicates with His people. Just as God frequently meets with you and you meet with Him through the time in His Word, so you must frequently meet with and spent time communicating with your spouse. Wherever marital conflict arises, a breakdown in communication has happened somewhere. Communication is not merely helpful for a good marriage. Frequent communication is utterly necessary for a healthy, strong, and God-glorifying marriage.

3. Invest in Communication
To communicate involves time. You need to invest time, effort, diligence, and passion in the duty of marital communication. Without investing yourself in communication, conflicts will arise, selfishness will play out, and anger will fester. Deep oneness only can occur when the husband and the wife both communicate. The importance of deep, intimate, and honest communication cannot be overemphasized since God intends that the marriage relationship be the closest and most intimate of all earthly relationships. The husband and his wife have both left their parents, they have joined to each other in a lifelong marriage covenant, and they are now and forever one flesh (Genesis 2:24). It may be that the health of a couple’s communication will largely determine the oneness and loving intimacy that the husband and the wife enjoy.

4. Work at Communication
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). Communication — real communication — is hard work. Couples must constantly be working toward marital harmony and open communication in their relationship. You, O spouse, need to ask yourself frequently questions such as: ‘Do I really have all the facts?’ ‘Is what I would like to say profitable or edifying?’ Is it the proper time for me to say this statement or would it be better, more appropriate or better received, at a later time?’ ‘Am I saying this out of anger, reacting to something that happened?’ Pouting, moping, manipulation, emotionally charged words (you always; or, you never, etc.), or deceptive tears have no positive contribution to deep, honest marital communication. Rather than assuming and expecting how someone will react or answer, Godly spouses need to be honest and work themselves at biblical communication. Rather than assuming you know what someone is thinking or telling yourself that you know the motive of someone’s actions, words, or deeds, you must work at humbly, patiently, and gently communicating with them. Thus, judgmental, demanding, demeaning, bitter attitudes and spirits must be put off, confessed and replaced with a tender, patient, forgiving, and loving spirit toward the other person — always.

5. Have Vulnerability in Communication
Jesus spent time with twelve men and discipled them. He made Himself vulnerable with them as they saw him in his weakest moments, in his tired hours, amidst the crowded masses, and tirelessly speaking to his enemies. He loved His disciples and spent much time communicating with them and training them. Even though Jesus knew that one of His disciples would fall away and betray Him, Jesus still was vulnerable with all of His disciples!

6. Evidence Trust in Communication
To communicate well not only involves speaking ‘edifyingly’ but it also includes good listening. Communication is a two-way street. Just as when believers commune with the Lord through prayer (talking to God) and Bible-reading (hearing from God), so also must it be in the marriage relationship. There must be a time for talking and a time for listening. Without both of these elements, good communication is impossible. It is folly and shame to answer before you hear the matter (Proverbs 18:13). Every person must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger (James 1:19). Thus, when hearing the other person’s heart, especially within the context of marriage, the spouse must guard those statements and ensure that trust will never be betrayed. A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a citadel (Proverbs 18:19).

“The heart of marriage is its communications system. … It can be said that the success and happiness of any married pair is measurable in terms of the deepening dialogue which characterizes their union” (Dwight Hervey Small).

“Christian communication is ‘the basic skill needed to establish and maintain sound relationships. A sound husband and wife relationship is impossible apart from good communication” (Jay Adams).

Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 3: "The Wife Submits with Delight"

This is part 3 of the 'Cultivating a Godly Marriage' blog series.

Part I — The Meaning of Marriage
Part II — The Husband Leads with Love

Part 3: the wife submits with delight
The all-wise God fashioned and designed the marriage covenant to manifest His glory in the best possible way. In the Bible, God commands all wives to submit to their husbands (Colossians 3:18). Since God created marriage, He has all the rights to define marriage and to state how the people in the marriage covenant should act. God created man first in the Garden of Eden and then, from the man, God created woman. The headship of man over a woman is a creation ordinance and is not, therefore, a result of the fall. God’s glorious design in marriage is to reflect the relationship even within the Trinity. The Father has all authority and the Son willingly subjected Himself under the Father’s authority and made it His ambition while on earth to do precisely what the Father had appointed Him to do. This in no way suggests that the Father is more important than the Son or that the Son is inferior to the Father. Similarly, the headship of a man and the submission of a wife in the marriage relationship in no way points to the importance of men and women or their equality before God. Rather, it is entirely connected to their particular roles and specific functions within the marriage just as God has designed and revealed them in Scripture.

Thus, according to the Bible a Godly wife is a gentle, respectful helpmate who worshipfully submits to her husband in all things. I hope to elaborate a bit more fully on this definition in the brief essay that follows so that Godly wives will understand what submission is, why God has called them to submit, and how to submit to their husbands.

I. Wives must submit AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP.
God desires loyalty rather than sacrifice; the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6). In other words, God is not so much interested in mere outward ‘religiosity’ as much as he is in heart-felt, inward genuineness in worship. A heart that rightly loves God will express itself in Godly actions. So it is for the woman in the marriage relationship. God calls all wives to submit to their husbands. To submit is a word that can refer to placing oneself under the authority of another. All Christians must submit to government (1 Peter 2:13) and every Christian must also submit to God (James 4:7). It must be, then, that submission is not inherently evil, bad, sinful, or corrupt. Submission is a God-given gift whereby those who are called to submit must joyfully follow the Lord in obeying His decree while trusting in His wise and sovereign goodness. Ephesians 5:22 calls wives to be subject to their husbands as to the Lord. As a wife submits herself to the Lord in a heartful, worshipful, honest, sincere way, so ought she to submit to her husband in a heartful, honest, sincere, and God-honoring way. She must submit with an attitude of worship.

2. Wives must submit WITHOUT RESTRAINT.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord not for men” (Colossians 3:23). This applies to all of Christian living, including the specific role of being a godly wife. God continues to tell wives that as the church submits to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything (Ephesians 5:24). This little phrase, “in everything” includes no exceptions. Putting all Scripture together, the only reason a wife must not submit to her husband is if he commands her to sin in any way (cf. Acts 5:29: we must obey God rather than men). Otherwise, the wife must submit to her husband in everything. Why must her submission be without restraint or contingent upon the husband’s actions? Because the church must submit to her Lord in all things. As the church submits to Christ, her Head, so also a wife must submit to her husband, her head. When a wife refuses to submit, she essentially refuses God. When a wife decides to pick and choose what areas of the husband’s leadership she will submit to, it suggests that the submission of the Church to the Lord Jesus Christ is optional. So then, let it be said again, God commands all wives to submit to their own husbands in everything just as the Church submits to Jesus Christ.

3. Wives must submit AS AN ILLUSTRATION.
A marriage relationship is the theater by which many spectators watch the drama of the gospel lived out. As friends, acquaintances, co-workers, fellow members at church observe your marriage, what does this illustrate about the gospel of Jesus Christ? A wife is called to submit to her husband in the same way that the church submits to her Lord Jesus Christ. A husband is called to love and sacrifice for his wife in the same way that Jesus Christ loved and sacrificed Himself for His chosen bride. Thus, marriage is an illustration. It is a picture. It demonstrates something. It is the canvas through which the gospel of Jesus Christ is painted. Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 and reminds husbands and wives that a man must leave father and mother and he must cling to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Ephesians 5:31). The next verse cannot be omitted in this discussion. Paul continues by saying that this is a mystery and it refers to Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32). Thus, Paul reveals that marriage has been a mystery: something that was once hidden but now is fully known/manifest. Marriage has always been, in the mind of God, a glorious picture — a walking, breathing illustration — of the gospel between Jesus Christ and His Church. For marriage to properly illustrate the gospel in this specific regard, a wife must submit to her husband in everything since that is the God-created, God-designed, and God-given and God-graced privilege and role for her. To refuse this role is to distort the gospel picture.

4. Wives must submit WITH RESPECT.
A man loves respect. God commands wives to see that they respect their husbands (Ephesians 5:33). The idea of respect is that of holy reverence, holy fear, Godly honor. Whether a man reciprocates the love, responds with selfless sacrifices, expresses gratitude for all the wife’s labor and work, the godly wife still must respect her husband. Again, the parallel to Christ and the Church is paramount. The Church has a holy reverence for Jesus Christ. The Church has a holy fear of Jesus Christ. The Church has a godly honor for Christ the Lord. Similarly, every wife must respect her husband, her divinely-appointed and sovereignly granted head.

5. Wives must submit WITH DELIGHT.
The God of all wisdom has designed the marriage relationship to suit His own purposes and to promote His magnificent glory. The godly wife must fulfill her God-given role with delight and joy. She must serve the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2). To serve the Lord is to do His will (Psalm 103:21). A wife who willingly and worshipfully comes under the headship of her husband with an attitude of delight is a woman of God who fears the Lord and practices biblical submission.

With this kind of submissive wife, only the Lord has a higher place for her. No house, no job, no child, no ministry can hold her; she wants to please and honor the man God made for her. This is her calling and role given by the Lord Himself (John Barnett).

Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 2: "The Husband Leads with Love"

This is part 2 of the 'Cultivating a Godly Marriage' blog series.

Part I — The Meaning of Marriage

Part 2: the husband leads with love
The Bible clearly presents the function and duties of a biblical husband. They do not come naturally and easily to man battling the sins of the flesh. The natural, unsaved, man cannot perform these tasks. To the unrepentant man, these qualities seem foolish, outdated, and outright ludicrous. But to the man of God, these not only are glorious and radical charges, they are personally experienced since every child of God has received this kind of love from Jesus Christ, the delightful Husband.

In what follows, I want to speak of some ways that a husband must lead with love.

1. He must have a SPECIAL LOVE.
A Godly husband has a special, particular, definite and exclusive love for only his wife. Just as Christ has one Bride who receives His love, protection, care, and leadership, so a godly husband has only one wife who receives his love, protection, care, and leadership. This means that the husband has an eye, a heart, a body, and affections only for her. She delights him. Her body enthralls him. Her love excites him. Her character gladdens him. This man has a very special, particular love for his wife. Just as Jesus specially died only for His elect, so also the husband has a special love only for his chosen bride.

2. He must have a SACRIFICIAL LOVE.
Jesus died on the cross to take away the sins of His people. He suffered, was forsaken, was abandoned, became a divine-curse, received the wrath of God, appeased God’s judgment toward sinners and died at Calvary. The love of Jesus is a sacrificial love. Christ loved the church and gave His life up for her (Ephesians 5:25). Christ has loved His people and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). True love sacrifices. The perfect demonstration of this love finds expression in the self-giving of Jesus on behalf of His bride, the Church. In the same way, every husband must have a sacrificial, self-giving, self-emptying love for his wife.

3. He must have a SEEKING LOVE.
To love is to seek. To love is to pursue. To love is to have longings for something accompanied with action. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus fulfilled the God-given mission for Him to take on human flesh and atone for people’s sins. Jesus sought sinners. Jesus pursued rebels. So it must be with a husband toward his wife. He must seek his wife and pursue her. Without the pursuing love of Jesus, no person would ever receive the gift of salvation. Husbands must initiate love toward the wives and they must pursue them lovingly, tenderly, graciously, winsomely, and consistently.

4. He must have a STEADFAST LOVE.
The love of Jesus never wanes. It never fades. It cannot grow dull, dim; nor can it decay. His love endures through the ages. Great is God’s steadfast love (Psalm 103:11). The love of a husband toward his wife must endure, it must continue on, it must live on consistently. The husband’s love should not wane after time, it should not grow dull after a season, the fire should not die out after a brief period. No! The love of Jesus remains flaming hot with zealous love for His people. In the same way, every husband should steadfastly love his bride. To love this way means the husband should find strength every day from the great giver of strength, joy, and grace — God Himself. The biblical husband must come before the Lord perpetually in prayer asking for His enabling grace and gracious power to love his wife persistently, steadfastly, and unendingly.

5. He must have a SANCTIFYING LOVE.
The passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ is to make His church look dazzlingly gorgeous. Every Christian husband must have one primary ambition in this world that must trump every other desire, goal, achievement, hobby, and time-consuming event, namely, to make his wife the most spiritually beautiful woman that she can possibly be. Jesus gave Himself up for the church so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word (Ephesians 5:26). Jesus cleanses believers through the Word and sanctifies her through being in the Word of God. Jesus prayed that God would sanctify believer in the truth; God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). No Christian husband can lead at home and sanctify his wife if he does not open the Bible, read the Bible to, and lovingly instruct his wife/family in the truth of God, the ways of God, and in the glory of God. In other words, for a man of God to live like Christ in the marriage relationship, he must have one preeminent goal that far exceeds all other ambitions: he must read the Bible with his wife, he must pray with (and for) his wife, he must teach/instruct her, he must humbly repent of his sin to her and model Christlikeness for her. He must sanctify his wife.

6. He must have a SPIRIT-ENDOWED LOVE.
No Christian can live the Christian life apart from the Spirit of God’s enabling grace. When Jesus walked the earth, he relied fully on the power of the Spirit. He was led by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, rejoiced in the Spirit, and empowered by the Spirit. So it must be with every Christian man in the home. He must live by the power of the Spirit. And the Word of God wonderfully reminds that believers must “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). In the very next paragraph after describing what this filling — or, controlling — of the Spirit looks like, Paul launches into the roles of the wife and husband in the home. The husband cannot love biblically on his own. The man cannot serve in his own strength. He cannot live selflessly and sacrificially in his own resources and energy. He needs the Spirit to endow him with grace, power, patience, humility, and love. This must drive every Christian man to his knees every morning so as to beg from the Lord, the gracious giver of all things, to impart spiritual power and grace so that he may love his wife in a way that exemplifies the relationship of Christ to the Church faithfully.

Thus, the man of God who has received the outpouring of God’s love in Christ should make it his pursuit to love his wife similarly. He has received love from Christ, so he must impart love to his wife. He has been granted forgiveness in Christ, so he must give (and ask for) forgiveness. He has received abundant pardon, so he must pardon his wife when she humbly confesses and repents of her sin. He has received the sacrificial gift of Christ’s atoning work in salvation, so the husband must sacrifice himself for his wife. He meets with the Lord in daily communion in the prayer and the Word, and so the husband must daily sanctify his wife in both prayer and in the Word. May husbands continually see how Christ has loved them so as to then learn how to love their wives.

Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 1: "The Meaning of Marriage"

This week, I plan to provide some blog posts relating to the topic of cultivating a godly marriage.

Part 1: the meaning of marriage

Marriage points to something much bigger than a husband and a wife. Even the best marriage in the world, with all the joys and blessings that exist with it, serves to direct the focus to something greater. The Bible declares that God created marriage for Himself — to display Himself gloriously, beautifully, attractively, and delightfully.

The meaning of marriage is quite simple: God. God created earthly marriage to reflect His marriage to His people. God’s covenant-keeping marriage with His elect people flows entirely from His grace and results exclusively for His glory.

So then, in what follows, I will simplify the above paragraph by highlighting a number of essential factors.

First, marriage is about GOD.
Marriage exists because God created it. God designed and fashioned marriage to suit His sovereign purposes and His supreme plan. Marriage, thus, is about God and His magnification, and His radiance, and His preeminence, and His power. Marriage cannot be divorced from God. Even non-Christians who have married other non-Christians have embarked upon a divinely-instituted relationship, that has divinely-glorious purposes. The creator of marriage is God. Since He created the institution of marriage, every earthly marriage should be pointing to God and His glory. Marriage, by definition, is a covenantal relationship. The permanent, lifelong, unending, faithful stipulations in a marriage relationship portray who God is. Of course this is to be so since God created marriage to display His marvelous glory and His relational supremacy.

Second, marriage is about the GOSPEL.
The very first institution that God ever made was marriage. Before work came about, before money, finances, sex, communication, friendships, prestige and prominence, or any other organization or mission, God created and instituted and designed marriage. Marriage, by God’s definition, consists of one man leaving his father and his mother and clinging to one woman and they, thus, cleave to one another and become one flesh (cf. Genesis 2:24). The language contained in this account implies covenantal overtones. After all, God does declare in the Bible that marriage, by definition, is a covenant (Malachi 2:14; Proverbs 2:17). Later on in biblical revelation, the Spirit guided the Apostle Paul to write that earthly marriage is a “mystery” — but this mystery is fully revealed in the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32). These clear statements in Ephesians reveal that, since the very beginning of time (before the first marriage was even ratified), every marriage has served to represent and display the heavenly marriage of Christ and His bride, the Church. Thus, earthly marriages point to the divine marriage. The way a husband loves his wife must point to the way that Christ has loved the Church. The love that Christ displayed for His elect bride must serve as the model for how every Christian man must sacrificially love his precious wife. And the way a wife submits to her husband must point to the way that the Church submits to Jesus Christ — in everything. Jesus, as the Creator of the Church is in fact the very Head of the Church (that is, Christ is her authority). The joyful and heartfelt submission and obedience that true believers render to Jesus Christ should serve as the model for every wife to humbly, heartfully, and worshipfully submit to her own husband in everything. After all, God created marriage to present the gospel visibly. In God’s mind, marriage exists as the visible theater upon which the glorious gospel of redemption is seen by all onlookers.

Third, marriage is about GRACE.
God lavishes grace upon His people (Ephesians 1:7-8). So it must be in the spiritual realm as well. Every Christian must willingly and lavishly and unreservedly pour out grace to others. The gospel that saves is a gospel of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). No person in the world can get to heaven without divine grace (2 Timothy 1:9). Since earthly marriage pictures the heavenly marriage, and since the heavenly marriage is glittered brilliantly with grace, so every marriage must also manifest a lavish outflow of grace. A marriage between a man and a woman without grace defiles and poisons the picture of the gospel. The saving relationship between Christ and His bride not only began with grace (Ephesians 2:5) but the believer lives sustained by God’s grace (2 Timothy 2:1) and the believer’s life will culminate in eternal glory all as a result of God’s grace (1 Peter 5:10). Marriage partners, then, should constantly grant grace to one another. Grace is needed because humans sin. That which makes the gospel overwhelmingly delightful is that it is built on God’s wondrous grace. And so it should be in every marriage. What makes every marriage attractive — and what makes every husband extremely attractive to his wife and that which makes the wife supremely glorious to her husband — is the full, lavish, free, and unrestrained outflow of grace to each other. This wonderfully depicts the gospel. Thus, we could say that marriage is about grace since the gospel is about grace.

Fourth, marriage is about GLORY.
When Moses constructed the Tabernacle, that earthly tent where Yahweh dwelt among His people, the glory of the LORD filled it so completely that Moses could not even enter the building (Exodus 40:35). If the glory of the Lord filled an earthly building, how much more does the glory of the Lord fill His specially elect people who have the Spirit of glory dwelling within them (1 Peter 4:14; 1 Corinthians 3:16). God dwells in each of His children (Ephesians 1:13-14) and he guarantees their eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10). And if the divine relationship between God and His people is like this, how much more ought the marriage relationship (which God created to point to this heavenly relationship) point to this glory. For the Christian, glory is promised to yet come (Romans 8:17-21). For every marriage relationship, the husband and the wife should strive to love one another and to sanctify one another with aggressive passion, with Spirit-endowed grace, and with exuberant delight until that final day when we stand before God in glory (Ephesians 5:26-27). God’s gospel results in His glory (Romans 11:36). And so it is with marriage, it serves to radiate the glory of God (Song of Solomon 7:6; Colossians 1:16).

It should be said, in conclusion, that the meaning of marriage is the glory of God, resulting from the grace of God, striving to represent the gospel of God. Only to the degree that God’s people enjoy Him and savor Him can they enjoy and savor the real meaning of marriage. This must drive us daily and constantly to the Word of God. Let God’s Word fill and saturate our hearts, our minds, and our lives.

A Word-filled marriage is a small snapshot of the delights of Heaven—a living portrait of the perfect love of Jesus (John Barnett).

[At the end of this blog series, I'll compile the posts together into an eBook available for download.]

Conversations.

From Spurgeon:

Do you often hear the salutation addressed to you by your brother Christian, "Friend, how doth thy soul prosper?" When we step into each other's houses, do we begin to talk concerning the cause and truth of God? Do you think that God would now stoop from heaven to listen to the conversation of his church, as once he did, when it was said, "The Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name?" I solemnly declare, as the result of thorough, and, I trust, impartial observation, that the conversation of Christians, while it can not be condemned on the score of morality, must almost invariably be condemned on the score of Christianity. We talk too little about our Lord and Master.

From his sermon from Habakkuk 3 on Spiritual Revival: The Want of the Church

The Distinctives of Christ Fellowship Bible Church | A New Course

Beginning this Sunday at CFBC, we will teach through many of the Distinctives of the Church.

Join us at 4pm during the Family Bible Hour. The audios & handouts can be found here.

OUTLINE OF TOPICS:

1. EXPOSITORY PREACHING

2. DISCIPLESHIP

3. PRAYER

4. CHURCH DISCIPLINE

5. BIBLICAL COUNSELING

6. HOMOSEXUALITY

7. ELDER/SHEPHERD LEADERSHIP

8. MALE LEADERSHIP in the HOME (biblical husbanding & fathering/complementarianism)

9. FAMILY WORSHIP

10. BIBLICAL CREATIONISM (6 24-hour days)

11. THE AWFUL MAJESTY OF GOD

12. AGGRESSIVE & ZEALOUS SANCTIFICATION

13. FUTURISTIC PREMILLENNIALISM

14. THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE

15. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

16. THE IMPORTANCE OF BELIEVER'S BAPTISM

17. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LORD'S TABLE

Rise Mightily Against the First Sight of Sin!

John Owen counsels us:

Rise mightily against the first sight of sin. Do not allow it to gain the smallest ground. Do not say, 'Thus far I shall go, and no farther.' If you allow it one step, it will take another. It is impossible to fix boundaries for sin! It is like water in a channel. If it ever breaks out, it will flow on through the breach. it is easier to sop it in the beginning than after it has begun to run.

James teaches that sin is progressive (James 1:14-15). Do you find corruption beginning to entangle your thoughts? Rise up with all of your strength against it, as if it had already started to overcome you. Consider what an unclean thought desires. It desires to have you immerse yourself in folly and filth.

If you do not in this way attack temptation, you will not win the battle. If sin gains ground in your affections so that you delight in it, your understanding will also come to think little of it.

(John Owen, Mortification of Sin, [Banner of Truth, 2004], 85-86).

Romans 8:12-13 — So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

The Kind of Man a Faithful Pastor/Elder Must Be

The Kind of Man a Faithful Pastor/Elder Must Be
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

1. A PARDONED MAN
The man must be saved. God’s grace must have pardoned him and atoned for his sins. The wrath of God must have been propitiated in and through the work of Jesus Christ on his behalf. He must enjoy the grace of God in salvation, bathe in the riches of Christ as his treasure, and strive to walk humbly and purely before God as he continues in the grace of God and in the mercy Lord Jesus Christ through the strength of the Holy Spirit.

2. A PRAYERFUL MAN
A faithful church leader must commune with God in regular, frequent, and private prayer. A shepherd must seek and savor opportunities to quiet himself with God. To be alone with God excited this godly shepherd. To be diligent in prayer is to confess private sins, to adore the greatness of God, to meditate and marvel at the glory of the gospel, to thank God for His undeserved blessings, and to take hold of God in begging for supernatural strength and Spirit-endowed power in the ministry.

3. A PREOCCUPIED MAN
A shepherd has one preoccupation, namely, caring for his sheep. Nothing else concerns him; nothing else conflicts him; nothing else distracts him. To shepherd God’s flock requires that the man of God be preoccupied with God’s flock. Yet the motivation to care for God’s flock grows from a robust and rock-solid drive for God’s glory. The preoccupation for God’s glory drives the shepherd to occupy his mind, time, talents, efforts, and resources to serve His flock.

4. A PRIORITIZED MAN
God’s shepherd must carefully prioritize his time. He cannot lazily sit back and allow the sheep to suffer. He cannot allow distractions to remove him from his foremost calling. He must prioritize his time and ensure that he carries out the few essentials rather than the dozens of profitable tasks. If one busies himself with many helpful items and yet ignores the meeting with God in prayer, the studying of the Scriptures, and the personal shepherding of God’s flock, then he most certainly has misplaced priorities.

5. A PURE MAN
Pursue purity! This counsel that Paul gave to young Timothy must resonate with every man serving in the ministry of the Lord. Purity is preeminent. God loves to use pure vessels for His glory and His purposes. God cannot bless false shepherds, impure leaders and unholy elders. To pursue purity should be regular, constant, zealous, persistent, and delightful. Men must guard their eyes and their hearts. Men who serve Christ and serve His sheep must ensure that all impurities — and even the ‘appearances of evil’ — find no place in their lives. No man of God can protect himself too much from defilement.

6. A PREACHING MAN
A faithful pastor must be one who fits the qualification of being ‘able to teach’. He must be an able man with the Word of God. He must know the Scriptures. He must give himself diligently to working through the Bible and the Bible must work itself through him. He must know the Word and be competent to instruct with the Word. He must hold to sound teaching and refute all those who contradict. Faithful shepherds preach the gospel! Biblical elders can instruct and guard and protect sound, healthy, strong doctrine. The elders must give themselves unquestionably to the Word of God with more frequency and regularity than they do to sports, to news, to headlines, and to other hobbies. The Word must captivate this man. The care for, protection of, instruction of, and guarding of the flock should ever rest on the shepherd’s soul.

7. A POINTING MAN
A faithful and diligent undershepherd will always point to the Chief Shepherd. Jesus presented Himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His own sheep. He knows His own and He calls them by name. A godly pastor will ever point the sheep to the ultimate Shepherd for their sustenance, joy, satisfaction, and salvation! He points with tenacity and with ever-present pathos to the glory of God revealed in the face of Christ! Just like the Spirit of God who points believers to Christ, so all God’s shepherds must point all believers to the beauty of Christ. Christ’s shepherds should always have, as it were, a finger pointing to the text of Scripture and with the other hand, a finger pointing upwards to the risen and exalted Christ! Point to Him!

“Take heed to thyself. Your own soul is your first and greatest care. You know a sound body alone can work with power; much more a healthy soul. Keep a clear conscience through the blood of the Lamb. Keep up close communion with God. Study likeness to Him in all things. Read the Bible for your own growth first, then for your people. Expound much; it is through the truth that souls are to be sanctified, not through essays upon the truth. Be easy of access, apt to teach, and the Lord teach you and bless you in all you do and say. You will not find many companions. Be the more with God. My dear people are anxiously waiting for you. The prayerful are praying for you. Be of good courage; there remaineth much of the land to be possessed. Be not dismayed, for Christ shall be with thee to deliver thee.”
— Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Download the pdf article here.

Hermeneutics — Interpret the Bible Rightly | a 12-part course at cfbc

Here is the 12-part series on Hermeneutics: the art and science of rightly interpreting the Bible. This was recently taught at Christ Fellowship Bible Church (in St Louis, Missouri).

1. Part 1: Hermeneutics: how to interpret the Bible | download
2. Part 2: Hermeneutics: the power & purpose of God's Word | download
3. Part 3: Hermeneutics: truths about the Bible and defining important terms | download
4. Part 4: Hermeneutics: observing the text | download
5. Part 5: Hermeneutics: interpreting the text, interpret normally and contextually | download
6. Part 6: Hermeneutics: interpret in view of culture, history, and literary genre | download
7. Part 7: Hermeneutics: understanding the analogy of Scripture | download
8. Part 8: Hermeneutics: interpreting parables and proverbs | download
9. Part 9: Hermeneutics: interpreting poetry and figures of speech | download
10. Part 10: Hermeneutics: interpreting symbols and types | download
11. Part 11: Hermeneutics: interpreting prophecy and the use of the Old Testament in the New | download
12. Part 12: Hermeneutics: applying the text | download

The goal of this 12-part study is simple: to equip God's people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit to glory God & enjoy Christ's gospel by rightly interpreting the Word of God so as to understand the authorial intent of the text and then to apply it to life so as to produce conformity to Christ.

Note: all the pdf handouts for each individual session can be found at the media page here.

The Coming Millennial Kingdom

What will the coming kingdom on earth be like? It will be earthly, global, peaceful, filled with righteousness, and the LORD will reign with glory from Zion.

Here are a few resources that may help as you read Scripture and grow in hope for this future kingdom on earth when Christ will rule over the nations.

Psalm 72 — Handout with Outline and Supports for Premillennialism (=Future, Earthly, 1,000 Kingdom)

A chart showing the order of events — futuristic premillennialism

The importance of premillennialism, by Norman Geisler

Premillennialism, by Richard Mayhue

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Monday, May 12, 2014

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Friday, May 9, 2014

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Monday, May 5, 2014

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Friday, April 25, 2014

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Monday, April 7, 2014

Thursday, April 3, 2014

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