Month: June 2023

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 20 ~ ~ Zephaniah 3:17 ~ ~ The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will be quiet in his love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”

Chapter 7 of John Piper’s book—chapter title: The Pleasure of God in doing Good to All Who Hope in Him

Can you imagine what it would be like to hear God singing? A mere SPOKEN word from his mouth brought the universe into existence. What would happen if God lifted up his voice and not only spoke but sang!!!! Perhaps a new heaven and a new earth would be created.

Isaiah 65:17-18 “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth….I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”

What do you hear when you imagine the voice of God singing?

I hear the booming of Niagara Falls mingled with the trickle of a mossy mountain stream.

I hear the blast of Mt. St. Helens mingled with a kitten’s purr.

I hear the power of an East Coast hurricane and the barely audible puff of a night snow in the woods,

I hear the unimaginable roar of the sun, 865,000 miles thick, 1,300,000 times bigger than earth, and nothing but fire, 1,000,000 degrees centigrade on the cooler surface. But I hear this unimaginable roar mingled with the tender, warm crackling of logs in the living room on a cozy winter’s night.

And when I hear this singing I stand dumbfounded, staggered, speechless that he is singing over me—-one who has dishonored him so many times in so many ways. It is almost too good to be true. He is rejoicing over my good with all his heart and with all his soul.

He virtually breaks forth into song when he hits upon a new way to do me good. I would not dare say this on my own authority. Nor could I say it if I had not seen another foundation for his joy than my own righteousness, but I have it on the authority of the prophet Jeremiah in 32:39-41:

“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, FOR THEIR OWN GOOD and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I WILL NOT TURN AWAY FROM DOING GOOD TO THEM; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts,that they may not turn from me. I WILL REJOICE IN DOING THEM GOOD, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, WITH ALL MY HEART AND WITH ALL MY SOUL.”

You can’t escape the happiness in this text by thinking it was promised to Israel and not to you. God won’t let you get away from his goodness that easily. When Jeremiah speaks of an “everlasting covenant” that God will make with his people, he means the “new covenant” described just one chapter earlier, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel—I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts…I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more” (Jer. 31:31-34)

But this new covenant is the covenant Jesus sealed with his blood. Remember how at the last supper he said, “This cup is the NEW COVENANT in my blood. (Mark 14;24, and explained in 1Cor 11:25 and Hebrews 8:6-13.

So the benefits of this covenant reach as far as the blood of Jesus reaches!

Paul said his whole ministry AMONG JEWS AND GENTILES was a ministry of the “new covenant” (2 Cor 3:6). That means that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs with Israel, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Ephes 3:6). so you can’t escape the happiness of Jeremiah’s promise by saying you are not a Jew. By faith in Christ, through the blood of the covenant, you can be a “true Jew” (Romans 2:29). “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”(Gal. 3:29)

Now think about it for a moment. Don’t run your eyes over the promises of God like the wrong pages in a phone book. God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, said,

“I WILL NOT TURN AWAY FROM DOING TOOD TO THEM…I WILL REJOICE IN DOING THEM GOOD…WITH ALL MY HEART AND WITH ALL MY SOUL” Let all three promises sink in.

Promise #1 God will not turn away from doing you good. He will keep on doing good. He doesn’t do good to his children sometimes and bad to them other times. He keeps on doing good and never will stop for ten thousand ages of ages. When things are going “bad” that does not mean God has stopped doing good. It means he is shifting things around to get them in place for more good, if you will go on loving him. He works all things together for good “for those who love him” (Romans 8:28)

“No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11)

“Lo, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness” (Isaiah 38:17).

It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” Ps 119:71

More about this subject tomorrow.

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 19 ~ ~ Galatians 1:4 ~ ~ “who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”

Excerpts from John Piper’s book, “the Pleasures of God”

When the Father forsook the Son and handed him over to the curse of the cross and lifted not a finger to spare him pain, he had not ceased to love the Son. In that very moment when the Son was taking upon himself everything that God hates in us, and God was forsaking him to death, even then the Father knew that the measure of his Son’s suffering was the depth of his Son’s love for the Father’s glory.

In that love the Father took deepest pleasure. The crucifixion of Jesus was a mysterious event. In that hour Jesus “became a curse for us” (Galatians 3;13). but in the very moment when God’s curse rested most heavily on Jesus because of sin, the Father’s love for his Son reached EXPLOSIVE PROPORTIONS.

This is why Jesus, with his dying breath, could say “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Though he knew the wrath of his Father was being poured out on him, he also knew that he was bearing it for the Father’s glory, and that the Father loved him for it. “For this reason the Father loves me.” Jesus said, “BECAUSE I lay down my life that I may take it again.” (John 10:17) The Father rewarded his Son for the very suffering which was the Father’s curse.

“We see Jesus, who, for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor BECAUSE of the suffering of death.” (Hebrews 2:9—see also Philippians 2:9)

When Jesus died, he glorified the Father’s name and saved his Father’s people. Since the Father has overflowing pleasure in honor of his name, and since he delights with unbounded joy in the election of a sinful people for himself, how then shall he not delight in the bruising of his Son by which two magnificent divine joys are reconciled and made one!!!!

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 18 ~ ~ Romans 10:13~ ~ “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Continuing with John Piper’s book, “The Pleasures of God”

He says:

Isaiah 53:10says that the great transaction between God the Father and God the Son that took place in the death of Jesus was the Father’s PLEASURE. It PLEASED the Lord to bruise him. Or as Paul said, the sacrifice of Christ was “a fragrant aroma go God”(Ephesians 5:2) So the question we may be better able to answer now is, How could the Father delight in the sacrifice of his own Son?

One part of the answer is stressed at the end of verse 10, namely, that God’s pleasure is in what the Son ACCOMPLISHED in dying. It says, “THE PLEASURE of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”

God’s pleasure is not so much in the suffering of the Son, considered in and of itself, but in the great success of what the Son would accomplish in his suffering. For example, it says, “When he makes himself an offering for sin, HE SHALL SEE HIS OFFSPRING, HE SHALL PROLONG HIS DAYS; the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

This means that by his death Jesus begets, as it were, spiritual offspring, and he goes before them into eternity, PROLONGING HIS DAYS forever. He rises from the dead and says, to use the words of Hebrews 2:13, “Here I am and the CHILDREN God has given me.” The way God’s pleasure prospers in the hand of the Son is by creating what we might call the “offspring of the cross” Who are these people?

Isaiah 53:11 describes who they are in terms virtually the same as those used by Paul in Roans 3:24. They are justified sinners—people who are recognized righteous because of the death of Jesus. “He shall see the fruit of the travail (suffering) of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my Servant, MAKE MANY TO BE ACCOUNTED RIGHTEOUS.” This is the pleasure of God that prospers in the hand of God’s Servant, Jesus—-the justification of the ungodly. This is the first part of the answer to why the Father was pleased to bruise the Son.

But I think another part of the answer must also be what we have seen in Romans 3:25-26—that the depth of the Son’s suffering was the measure of HIS love for the father’s glory. It was the Father’s righteous allegiance to his own name that made recompense for sin necessary. So when the Son willingly took the suffering of the recompense on himself, every footfall on the way to Calvary echoed through the universe with his message: THE GLORY OF GOD IS OF INFINITE VALUE!!! THE GLORY OF GOD IS OF INFINITE VALUE!!!

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 17~ ~ 1 Corinthians 10:31~ ~”Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

More from John Piper’s “The Pleasures of God”

How did the death of Christ do that (demonstrate the inexpressible passion God has for the worth of his glory and for vindication of his righteousness)

We know that everything Jesus did in life and death he did for the glory of his Father. For example, as he approaches the hour of his death, he says, “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say, ‘Father save me from this hour?’ No! For this purpose I have come to this hour. FATHER GLORIFY YOUR NAME” ~ ~ John 12:27-28

The very purpose for which Jesus came to the hour of his death was to glorify the Father. Jesus wants us to see that his willingness to lose his life is because of his love for the glory of the Father. This is how the worth of God’s glory is magnified in the death of Jesus.

Again, when Judas had left the Last Supper and Jesus’ death was imminent, he said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and in him God is glorified” (John 13:31) This is the basic transaction happening in the last hours of Jesus’ suffering. In his great prayer in John 17 he views his death as virtually accomplished and says, “I have glorified you, Father, upon the earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).

All of Jesus’ work was designed to honor the worth of his Father’s glory. Everything Jesus suffered, he suffered for the sake of God’s glory.

Therefore, all his pain, shame, humiliation and dishonor served to magnify the Father’s glory, because they showed how infinitely valuable God’s glory is, that such a loss should be suffered to demonstrate its worth.

When we look at the wracking pain and death of the perfectly innocent and infinitely worthy Son of God on the cross, and hear that He endured it all so that the glory of his Father, which was desecrated by sinners, might be restored, then we know that God has NOT denied the value of his own glory;

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 16 ~ ~ 1 Timothy 1:15~ ~ “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

Continuing with excerpts from “The Pleasures of God” by John Piper

(Yesterday we touched on the fact that God forgave “former sins” before Jesus paid the price on the cross. In other words, Old Testament believers were forgiven ahead for Jesus’ sacrifice, because of their faith. John now addresses the fact that God’s righteousness is called into question for this, which is what Paul had to clarify in the book of Romans.)

He says:

The reason God’s righteousness is impugned when he passes over sin and doesn’t judge it, is that sin is an attack on the worth of his glory. God’s righteousness is his unswerving commitment to uphold the worth of his glory and promote its fame in all the world.

When sin is treated as though it is inconsequential, then the glory of God is treated as inconsequential.

When God passes over sin, it looks as though he is agreeing that his glory is of little value. But if God acts in such a way as to deny the infinite value of his own glory, then he commits the ultimate outrage; he desecrates what is infinitely holy and he blasphemes what is infinitely sacred. He joins the sinners of Romans 1:23, and exchanges the glory of the immortal God for the creature!!! This prospect is so terrible that if it came to pass, there could be no gospel and no hope, for there would be no righteous God!!! (We would all end up in the lake of fire, with no chance of salvation)

Nevertheless God has chosen sinners for himself. He means to pass over their sins and bring them into his presence and give them everlasting joy. He has done this even though their sin desecrates his glory. How then does he uphold the worth of his glory and yet save sinners? The answer is given very clearly in Romans 3:25-26:

“God put Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood —that is, by his death on the cross—and this was to demonstrate God’s righteousness —his unswerving commitment to the worth of his glory…it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus”

In other words, God would not just sweep the sins of his chosen people (the Jewish nation—specifically Old Testament believers) under the rug of the universe. If he was simply going to acquit guilty, God-belittling sinners by faith, then something terrible and awesome had to happen to vindicate his allegiance to the worth of his glory.

That something was the death of his son. This death demonstrated the inexpressible passion God has for the worth of his glory and for all the vindication of his righteousness.

(Tomorrow we’ll see how that is accomplished)

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 15 ~ ~ Romans 3:23~ ~ “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Going along in chapter six of John Piper’s book, “The Pleasures of God”

The clearest and most important biblical statement of this truth (Christ saving sinners by being abandoned by the Father) is found in Romans 3:23-26. If I were asked, “What is the most important paragraph in the bible?” I think this is the one I would name. It goes to the very root of the Christian gospel and lays bare the heart of god like few other texts. If there is a moment in the symphony of biblical revelation when the contrasting themes of justice and mercy come together into a magnificent orchestral statement of unity, harmony and peace, it is here.

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because of his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.”

( the passing over of former sins is referring to the Old Testament, where the sacrifices were given as symbols looking forward to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, which is necessary for forgiveness of all sins for all time. So, since the perfect sacrifice hadn’t happened yet, God allowed the symbolic animal sacrifices to serve for teaching his righteousness for that time, until their sins could be forgiven in reality through Christ.)

The ungodly are justified –acquitted— on the basis of a divine transaction that happens in the experience of Jesus Christ. This transaction is called “redemption.”

“They are justified by his grace as a gift, THROUGH THE REDEMPTION WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS” Redemption refers to a kind of purchase or ransom that was paid at the death of Jesus.

Something happened in the death of Jesus that is so stupendous that it now serves as the basis for the acquittal of millions and millions of sinners who trust Christ. What happened in the redemption? What was the divine transaction that took place when Jesus died? Paul gives the answer in verses 25-26:

First, we see—as in Isaiah 53:10—that it is God the Father who puts Christ forward to die. “GOD put Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood (verse 25).

It pleased THE LORD to bruise him.

Next, we see that the reason he gave his son up to death was to make a “propitiation”. This old word is important because other words don’t press forward the idea of appeasing wrath which is in this word. The point of the word is that God’s wrath is against the ungodly because of the way they have desecrated his glory, and a way must be found for this wrath to be averted.

This is what happened in the death of Jesus. That is what propitiation means. God averted his own wrath through the death of his Son.

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 14 ~ ~ Isaiah 53:10 ~ ~ “The Lord was pleased to bruise him: He has put him to grief.”

Continuing excerpts from Chapter 6 of John Piper’s book.

“The Lord was pleased to bruise him: HE has put him to grief” Jesus was not swept away by the wrath of uncontrolled men. He was bruised by his Father.

Or as Peter said: “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Why did God bruise his Son and bring him to grief? He did it to resolve the dissonance between his love for his glory and his love for sinners.

We get a glimpse of this in Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord HAS LAID ON HIM THE INIQUITY OF US ALL” Notice two things. Again it is the Lord who is at work: It is the Lord who laid the iniquity on him. Then notice that the issue is INIQUITY, which is just another word for sin.

The Son was bruised because God-dishonoring sin could not be ignored. Why couldn’t it be ignored? Why couldn’t God just let bygones be bygones? Because God loves the honor of his name! He will not act as though sin, which belittles his glory, didn’t matter.

It cannot simply be swept under the rug of the universe, as though nothing awesome were at stake. The judge of all the earth will do right –Genesis 18:25. he will judge the world in righteousness –Psalm 9:8.

So God the Father makes an agreement with his Son that he will demonstrate to all the world the infinite worth of the Father’s glory. How? By taking the punishment and suffering that our sin deserved.

Isaiah 53:5 is more explicit:

“He was wounded for OUR transgressions, he was bruised for OUR iniquities”

Similarly verse 12 says:

“he bore the sins of MANY and made intercession for TRANSGRESSORS.”

Verse 8 also says:

“he was stricken for the TRANSGRESSIONS OF MY PEOPLE,” while verse 9 makes plain that the bruising was not because of the Son’s own sin: “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although HE HAD DONE NO VIOLENCE, AND THERE WAS NO DECEIT IN HIS MOUTH.”

It was not for his own sin that the Father bruised the son. It was because he wanted to show us mercy. He wanted to forgive, heal, save, and rejoice over us with loud singing.

But he is righteous. That means his heart was filled with love for the infinite worth of his own glory. But we were sinners. That means that our hearts were filled with God-belittling affections.

So to save sinners, and at the same time magnify the worth of his glory, God lays our sin on Jesus and abandons him to the shame and slaughter of the cross.

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 13~ ~ Isaiah 53:4 ~ ~ “Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows; ….”

Continuing with John Piper’s book, chapter 6

(speaking yesterday about the contradiction of loving sinners who reject his glory)

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the resolution of the symphony of history. In the death of Jesus the two themes of God’s love for his glory and his love for sinners are resolved. As in all good symphonies there has been hints and suggestions of the final resolution. That is what we have in Isaiah 53 seven hundred years before Jesus came.

God’s pleasure in his name and his pleasure in doing good to sinners meet and marry in his pleasure in bruising the Son of God.

Isaiah 53:10

“The Lord was pleased to bruise him; he has put him to grief —or caused him pain—; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

This is a prophecy and picture of Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead hundreds of years before it happens. The bruising of the crucifixion and death of Jesus, making himself an offering for sin. It is a bruising unto death. This is confirmed in Is 53:8, “He was cut off out of the land of the living…they made his grave with the wicked.” And again in verse 12, “He poured out his soul unto death.” The reference to prolonging his days, on the other hand, is a reference to Christ’s resurrection to eternal life after death. This is confirmed in verse 12 by the prophesy that God will “divide him a portion with the great” even though he had already died. When it says he will see his offspring, it means that the fruit of his suffering will be many people saved from sin and death. This is confirmed in verse 11, “He shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant (Jesus) make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities (sins).

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 12~ ~ Isaiah 53:10 ~ ~ “The Lord was pleased to bruise Him, He has put Him to grief….”

More excerpts from “The Pleasures of God” by John Piper, chapter 6, “The Pleasure of God in Bruising His Son.”

Something troubling has emerged in these chapters. We have seen that Gd has pleasure in His son: He delights in the glory of His own perfections reflected back to Him in the countenance of Christ. We have seen that God delights in His sovereign freedom; the Lord is in heaven and does all that He pleases. We have seen that He rejoices over the work of His hands; day by day they declare His glory.

We have seen that god has pleasure in His fame: He aims to make a name for Himself in all the world and win a reputation for the glory of His grace from every people and tribe and language and nation. To that end, He has called out for Himself an unlikely people who will make their boast only in the Lord.

Clearly God has a great passion to promote His glory. But the troubling thing that emerges is that God has chosen sinners. He is honoring, blessing and exalting a people who are sinners. The essence of sin is the belittling of God’s glory. Something is askew here.

A God infinitely committed to promote the worth of His name and the greatness of His glory is engaging all His powers to bring the enemies of His name into everlasting joy and honor!!!

Make no mistake, sin is diametrically opposed to the glory of God. Romans 3:23 says that sin is a “falling short” of God’s glory. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” all have fallen short of PRIZING the glory of God. We have exchanged the glory of God for something else: for images of glory, like a new home or car or a new phone, or vacation days, or impressive resumes or whatever makes our ticker tick more than the wonder of God’s glory.

That’s what sin is. That’s what all the people are like that God chosen to save. Even after he makes them his own they often bring disgrace upon his name by their inconsistency and half-hearted response to Jesus’ command to love God with their whole heart.

So the troubling thing is that God is so enthusiastic about adopting and exalting people whose sinfulness is a blight on his name. It seems schizophrenic. The Bible makes God out to love his name and his glory with omnipotent energy and unbounded joy, then it pictures him choosing God-belittling sinners for his court, and rejoicing over the very people who have despised his glory and cheapened his name.

I really don’t believe it’s possible to grasp the central drama of the bible until we begin to feel this tension. Until the coming of Jesus Christ, the Bible is like a pi9ece of music whose dissonance begs for some final resolution into harmony. Redemptive history is like a symphony with two great themes; the theme of God’s passion to promote his glory and the theme of God’s inscrutable love for sinners who have scorned that very glory. These two themes interweave and we know that our awesome composer is at work here. But for centuries we don’t hear the resolution. The harmony always escapes us and we have to wait.

GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 11 ~ ~ Philippians 2:15 ~ ~ “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;”

Continuing with “the Pleasures of God” by John Piper, now in chapter 4,

The pleasure of God in his fame is not only the basis of our pardon, but also of our obedience and service. David teaches us to believe that God leads us in paths of righteousness FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE” (Ps 23:3)

Jesus commends the persevering saints at Ephesus, “I know that you are bearing up FOR MY NAME’S SAKE” Revelation 2:3

This is probably what Paul means in Colossians 3:17 when he sums up the whole Christian life in these words, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the NAME OF THE LORD JESUS” That is, live your whole life to honor the name of Jesus—to give him a good reputation and spread his fame.

O how we need to feel the passion for God’s fame that rings through the Bible! Surely there is a great blind spot in the vision of hundreds of thousands of churches. Or perhaps we should say a great NUMB spot—a part of the mind and heart where the light of God’s passion for his glory lands and is simply not felt.

My prayer is that one effect of this book will be to cut the calluses off the mind and heart that keep them from feeling the force of God’s passion for his fame among all the unreached peoples of the world.

We are compelled to return to a much more biblical and radical position—that of being a minority in the world but not of it (2 Corinthians 6:17)

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

1 John 2:15

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 4:4

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

James 4:4 ~ ~ “…..whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

In John 17:16, in His prayer to the Father, Jesus said this: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

We need to return to the concept of the Pilgrim Church. The church that will be hated, rejected, despised, persecuted, yet be an incisive, decisive, victorious minority which one day will be ready for its heavenly Bridegroom as the perfected Bride.

The main reason for this confidence is the indomitable delight God has in his fame among the nations. His promises make plain that he will see his fame extend to all the peoples and his name praised by every nation.

And the prayers of God’s people inevitably lead to the call for believers to move out with courage and confidence.