Podcast: He's Come

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

1

In darkness trapped, in cold confined,
I had heard tell of fire’s glow.
Yet in this deadness that was mine,
It ’twas a mercy I could not know.

I could not tell it clearly then,
but that, my cell, by me was built.
With every single hateful sin
the last of life did I there melt.

In every thought of lust and pride,
with every action, wrath I stored.
Yet darkness here this call can’t hide:
“He’s come, He’s come: the Christ, our Lord.”

2

So long had I attempted good,
and tried to earn a better place,
to stand upright, do as I should,
But ’pon the Law, I am disgraced.

In every lie I do offend
the righteous glory of our God.
So tell me how I am to rend
unto the throne but filth and sod?

No, this I tell in truth, at last,
that evil ’lone our hearts can bring.
But still a mercy such is cast –
“He’s come, He’s come: the Christ, our King.”

3

So small a thing my life has been,
yet I was so consumed by this,
until His glory I had seen,
and knew that I, in all, was His.

Upon the Cross He died for me,
banishing this dark and cold.
By wounded hand He set me free,
and breathed His life into this soul.

Upon Himself He took the shame,
so by His Blood, He’s conquered Hell.
And by His Grace, I can proclaim,
“He’s come, He’s come, Emmanuel!”

Podcast: 1 John: The Rule of Love

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
-1 John 2:9-11

Welcome to the Christian Pilgrimage Podcast; I’m your host, Paul Lytle. Today, we’re going to be discussing “The Rule of Love.”

Does it surprise you when people in a particular family look alike? Now, certainly, it’s a little strange when they all look TOO much alike, but we would expect a family resemblance within a family. We would expect siblings to look somewhat like each other, and somewhat like their parents. In my case, there’s not much doubt that I’m my father’s son. You see us together, and you will see the resemblance.

And as often as I see, in the Bible, that the Church is described as a family, I sort of wonder why I don’t see more family resemblance there. Obviously, I’m not talking about physical appearance here. We’re not physically related that closely. But the Bible is clear about how we are supposed to act, and most people who say they are Christians don’t act that way.

And this brings up the dreaded topic of works when it comes to salvation, which has only been argued for a couple of thousand years.

We can describe this debate as happening between two basic camps. These camps have a distinct view of works in relation to the Christian. The first is that Jesus’ Blood forgives us to a point, but we really need to earn our way into Heaven by our actions. So if there are people who claim to be Christian and yet aren’t acting very well, they probably need to look out, because they may not earn their salvation. The other camp will say that faith alone saves us, and works don’t really mean anything. We would like all Christians to be good people are leaders in their community and love everyone, but it’s not always going to happen. It’s the faith that matters, not really anything else.

Verses like this seem, at first glance, to support the first theology. It seems like John is telling us that we need to love everyone if we claim to be Christian. But there are clearly other verses in the Bible that tells us that faith alone saves us.

I don’t think we’re going to end this debate today, but we can try to help. Let me see if I can explain it briefly, and this explanation brings me back to what I was saying about family. We are part of a family, and so there is a family resemblance. Let’s look at the text.

John has previously set up this extended analogy of light and darkness representing where we are in this life. We all start in the darkness, in sin and death. But because of Jesus, because of His death, because of the gift of faith, we are able to move into the light.

The only thing required to go into the light is faith. Don’t lose the context here. If you lose the context, you’re going to miss the point. John states over and over again in this letter that we are saved by Jesus’ finished work on the Cross. Jesus did it all for us. We don’t deserve it, certainly. We have all sinned, which is rebellion against God. We have all sought our own selfish desires, which is an offense to Him. We deserve death for these crimes, but Jesus died on the Cross to bear our punishment for us. He has made a way for us to walk in the light.

In repentance and faith we walk there with Him. It’s not that we have earned it, or even can keep it by being good. Jesus did that part of it for us. It is by faith.

But there is more going on there than just praying a prayer and then going on our way. When we are saved, God takes our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh. Jesus clothes us in His righteousness and gives us Holy Spirit as a guide. He changes us. As the Reformers used to say, it is faith alone that saves us, but faith that saves is never alone.

So when we look at passages like this, where it tells us how people of the light act, we’re not looking at a list of requirements to get to Heaven. Again, Jesus already took care of those. We are looking at how children of the light act. We have a saving faith, and that faith brought some friends.

We do what we do because we are what we are. Sinners sin. Why? Because they are sinners. Children of God, bought by the Blood of the Lamb, love. Why? Because they are children of God.

This is important to get. True Christians act in certain ways. Why? Because of the family resemblance. All Christians have the Holy Spirit. All Christians are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We act differently because we are different. We have been changed.

So John is not here saying, “Love your brother or you won’t get into Heaven.” He is saying, “Loving your brother is evidence of Jesus’ work in your heart. It’s a way to KNOW that you are going to Heaven.”

In other words, if you took a poll amongst true Christians (and pay attention to the word “true” there), you will find a real concern and love for the people around them. Why? Because we are Christians. That’s who we are.

The Holy Spirit’s guidance is like a light for us. Those people in the darkness cannot help but to sin. They’re in the darkness; they don’t know where they are going. But in the light, things are more clear.

It is important to remember that we are not saying that Christians do not sin. John makes it clear that we do. Even in the light, you sometimes trip over a rock. He’s not saying that you won’t make it to Heaven if you don’t unconditionally love every person you see. That’s not it. He’s talking about a change in you.

He’s writing these things so that we will know that we are in the faith. And this is how you know. Look at your life. Do you love people or hate them? Do you want to help those people in church who are having a rough time? Do you want your friends and family to know about Christ so they can be saved? Are you looking out for your spouse’s good above your own? Do you pray for those people around you?

If you answered no to any of these questions, the solution is not to try harder. No, the solution is to make sure you are in the light. Repent of these sins and believe in Him. When you fail to love the next time, repent. Jesus will be your advocate with the Father if you are in Him. The Spirit will continue to work in you. Faith brings about the change, not force of will.

And here’s why we have people in the churches who do not love – because they are probably not Christians. Being Christian is not about going to church every week, but about being transformed by the power of God until salvation. If you have not experienced Jesus in that way, then look at your life and figure out if you have experienced him at all. That’s why John is telling us these things – so we will know.

So many times I have heard these passages preached as goals for the Christian. No, they are descriptions of a Christian. They talk about who we are in Christ. Let’s pray.

Sweet, sweet lovin’!

“Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,”
-Proverbs 5:18

There’s a long debate in the Church on if people should preach on sex. I know why this debate is around. It’s not because the Bible is vague on the subject. It’s not. It’s not that fundamentalists don’t think we should teach the Bible. They do. It’s because the subject is so darn awkward, both for the teacher and those listening. Sometimes it’s just easier to pretend like the subject isn’t there.

Well, the whole idea behind this blog is to walk through Proverbs verse-by-verse. And guess what? Chapter 5 is mostly about the adulterous woman, and now we come to a verse that basically says, “Go home and enjoy your wife.”

And it’s doesn’t add “only when necessary” or “about once a month.” Actually, it talks about your fountain being blessed, and if you look back at the previous verses, that fountain is your sex life.

It sort of seems as though Solomon is saying, “Go home and enjoy your wife. A lot.” It seems that way because that’s what he’s doing.

Here’s the truth of it. God invented sex. He designed it not just for procreation, but also for pleasure, comfort, and connection. It is supposed to be a matter for, to borrow the word from the verse, “rejoicing.”

In fact, the Bible commands more sex rather than less: “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:5).

That’s right. God is not a prude. He wants us to make love to our spouses. It’s only that He wants us to have sex in its proper place – marriage.

Does that surprise you? Why? Marriage has been given as a gift. It is a reflection, in fact, of the love that Christ has for His Church. It is not wrong to enjoy each other. It is not wrong to burn in passion for one another. It is not wrong to want to come together all the time. It’s not wrong, because we’re supposed to be talking about the same sort of love that took Jesus to the Cross for His Church. That sort of love that brought Him to His death for a people who did not deserve it.

Don’t misunderstand. The Church does not have a sexual relationship with Jesus. But marriage is reflecting that sort of love that is so strong that it conquers death itself. We should be passionate about each other!

Do you feel that way about your spouse? Are you unmarried, but have sinned sexually? Have you betrayed a spouse? You can’t fix it. You cannot make things right. But Jesus can. Repent and accept the forgiveness of sins by believing on Him who can save you. See, this love that He has for His Church is not based on what we can do for Him, but based on Him alone. He is faithful to forgive, even when we do not deserve it.

Prayer and repent. And then, if you want to, go sleep with your wife.

The beautiful first kiss

“Let them [your springs] be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.”
-Proverbs 5:17

I had some friends several years ago who had never even kissed someone romantically until the day of their wedding. It was in that church that each of them experienced that first kiss.

There’s something special about that. In an age where sexuality is quickly becoming a assumption rather than exception, where sex is more and more common in high schools and even middle schools, where homosexuality no longer is shocking, and where even parents are telling their children to move in with their boyfriends or girlfriends before getting married, there is something profound about viewing sexuality as a treasure or gift rather than a pastime.

It’s not that kissing is wrong. I’m not even saying it is wrong before marriage. There is no Scripture forbidding kissing before marriage, so long as it does not arouse lust.

And it’s not that sex is wrong. Within marriage, sex is not only not forbidden, but it is encouraged. These are wonderful things, gifts from eternal God. No, the issue is WHEN it is right, and WHEN it is wrong.

Solomon is giving us a metaphor between sex and a spring of water. The question he is asking is whether your water is contained properly and clean, or is it running through the dirty streets. Is your sex life good and God-honoring within a marriage, or is it muddied by the world, available to whomever wants it.

This isn’t an idle comparison. There are things in this world that are good, but when misused, they become sinful. Food is a gift from God, but when overused, it becomes an idol of its own. Money is a gift from God, but when misused, can cause all sorts of problems. So too is sex. Sex was designed by God as a joining of two people into one, to be a symbol of the love and devotion that Christ has for His Church.

To misuse the gift is to sin. It is a betrayal against God. And you can blow that off, saying that God is a prude, or that He doesn’t understand. Which is weird, because He’s the one who invented sex in the first place, so we might assume He knows the best ways to go about it.

In truth, when we do things against God’s commands, we do it because we have decided that we know better than Him. That, even though He has given us guidelines on how to behave, we have found something more pleasurable than God. We have chosen something created over the very Creator.

My friends had the right idea. Sex is a treasure and a gift. And I don’t care what reasons you come up with that you need to get laid now, the truth is that there is something truly wonderful and beautiful about two people who have never known anyone else before becoming one on their wedding night. More than that, there is something godly about it.

Even if some of us managed to hold out that long, don’t get too proud about it. Jesus tells us to even look upon another person with lust in our hearts is to commit adultery. The true beauty of a perfect marriage is that even our thoughts are wholly devoted to our spouse.

We don’t meet that standard. We have fallen a hundred times today. Even if you are a virgin, you still fall short in lust or pride. But here’s another really awesome thing about the relationship between Jesus and His Church, that relationship that is supposed to be mirrored in our marriages – we can be forgiven.

We deserve death for our rebellion against God, but Jesus, upon that Cross, took our place in death so that we might live. He paid a bride-price for His Church that cost Him His life. He bought us by His Blood. In repentance and faith we can be forgiven.

We have not been perfect, but we have a Savior who was. Cling to Him, and He will guide your steps.

The fountain

“Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?”
-Proverbs 5:16

I’ve met a lot of people in my time that say that Christianity is stifling, that it’s oppressive. “The rules of the Bible just ruin our fun,” they might say. Others have told me that they will think about God when they are older, but now they just want to have fun.

And let’s be honest, this is one of the main reasons people avoid God. They see Him as sort of this cosmic principal just waiting to call you into His office to punish you for some minor infraction.

But that’s not really true. And this is exactly why I love this image so much. If you take a look at the surrounding verses here, you’ll see that Solomon is advising his sons to not stray from their wives, to not chase after sex outside that relationship. Sex is metaphorically seen in this section as water, and Solomon tells us to get water from our own well.

Now we’re going to see the other option, and he has in mind here a spring that flows from the ground. Think of a fountain. What happens if the water from that fountain just hits the dirty ground and flowed off whichever way gravity took it? It wouldn’t be very clean. You definitely wouldn’t want to drink any of it. But what if the waters were contained into a pool?

Sometimes it is better to be constrained. Sometimes it is better to have boundaries. Sometimes freedom isn’t all its cracked up to be. Sex is one of those areas. Sex was designed as a joining of two people, of love and sacrifice, under the blessing and care of our Lord. When we turn it into just something to do on Saturday night (with whomever is willing), we’ve lost that. The water from the spring is just muddying up the area. But in the confines of a godly marriage, it becomes something deeper and more satisfying.

Maybe we lose some of that image in the way we go about marriage. We go into a marriage expecting the other person to satisfy is in every way, but not really willing to change at all for the other person. It so often becomes a selfish act rather than a loving one. When the other person fails to satisfy, we go looking for that satisfaction elsewhere – the internet, a club, another woman. The borders of the fountain become cracked, and the water starts spilling out. It sounds like a good idea at first. After all, that little pool was so confining!

But a marriage is supposed to be a picture of Christ’s love for his Church. It is something we do not deserve, but is a mercy – a gift that is so wonderful, that it could only have come from God. Jesus so loved us that He came to earth to die for us, even while we were still in sin and rebelling against Him. Such giving love and devotion is that. It is He who purifies us in His Blood and then clothes us in His righteousness. He keeps us for eternity and never betrays us.

It is only through Him that we could ever hope to be like that. It’s not something we can force ourselves to do, because it is a divine love that comes from God. Repent and believe in His sacrifice, and by His Spirit He will begin to work on you.

Has your spring been spilling out into the streets? Repent and believe, and let Him build that fountain for you.

Podcast: 1 John: Old is the New New

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
-1 John 2:7-8

Just recently, my family was going through a rough time. My wife was particularly affected by things. I tried to react with patience and love, and by God’s grace I think I was relatively successful. A couple of nights ago, my wife hugged me and thanked me for how I had helped. And I told her I loved her.

Certainly it wasn’t the first time I had said those words. I’m not one of those guys who shy away from an “I love you.” I tell my wife that multiple times a day. So I wasn’t saying something new. And yet, with everything that had gone on in these last weeks, and everything that was happening in that moment, and in the context of the conversation, I have no doubt that there was something new to it. My wife knew the words, but she had learned something new of the depth.

That’s the sort of thing I was thinking about when I came upon this passage. We can certainly get confused by John’s words here. “It’s not a new commandment, but it is.” You have to reread the text just to make sure you didn’t misunderstand the first time. And you may start to wonder if John is confused here, because we certainly are!

So let’s slow down a little and figure this out. I’ve mentioned this before, but we need to address it again. Some of the epistles of the New Testament address doctrine – what we should believe. Others talk about how that belief should be lived out. John just takes both of them and shoves them together and shows us how it mixes. This is wonderful of John, but it also means we need to be a little more careful to figure out exactly what he’s talking about.

A little context will help. John sets up this image in the first chapter of light and dark. Those who are without Christ are in the dark, trying to hide their sins away in the shadows. Those who come into the light to walk with Christ have their sins exposed to the light. It is not that they are without sin. John makes that very clear in verse 10: “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” No, it is that we have confessed our sins, and Jesus has forgiven them.

But now we are walking in the light. We don’t walk perfectly, but John again reminds us that Jesus is our advocate with the Father to forgive sins. But walking in the light does bring about a change. Simply put, if we want to be sure we are walking with Jesus, we should look at our lives and see if there has been a change in us that has brought about obedience to God. That is a sign that we are in the light.

What about this obedience? What does this obedience look like? And here we get to today’s passage. John is not talking about a new set of rules here. We’re not suddenly given new restrictions and expectations. In other words, God hasn’t suddenly changed His mind about what He expects from us because Jesus died on the Cross. He’s the same God He has always been.

This is very important. There are a lot of people who will talk about an “Old Testament God” and a “New Testament God,” as though there is a difference. There isn’t. If you read the Old Testament, you will find a God who is longsuffering, merciful, loving, personal, as well as just and wrathful. In the New Testament, you will find a God who is just and wrathful as well as longsuffering, merciful, loving, and personal.

The people of the Old Testament and the people of the New Testament (and after) are all saved or damned in the same way – by their faith in Jesus or their lack thereof. The people in the Old Testament did not know His name, and yet we read how, for example, Abraham was saved by faith. They had faith in a hope yet to come, while we look back upon our hope, who is named Jesus.

John is not throwing out the Old Testament here. He is affirming it. He tells us that the old commandment is the word that you have heard. In other words, this revelation from God in Holy Scripture has been given to you. John is building on that foundation, not laying a new foundation. Christianity has not done away with Judaism, but it is a COMPLETION of Judaism.

And here is where is gets to be new. In Jesus, we have a freedom to be lawful. Let me explain a little here.

We all know basically what is right and what is wrong. At the same time, we have all done wrong, probably more often than we would admit. At the very core, we are greedy, lustful, selfish, ambitious, and proud. Even if we can control our actions most of the time so that we appear to be good people, we cannot control our hearts. We are sinners, hopeless to control ourselves by sheer force of will. We are corrupted to our very cores.

So when we look at this Law, we are helpless before its holiness and purity. Oftentimes, we pretend that we are abiding in it, but in truth, we are sold out to sin in our hearts.

But then Jesus came, and He died upon a Cross. He lived perfectly, right down to His thoughts and words. He did not deserve to die, but in that death He took the punishment we deserve for our sins. He put them to death upon that cross so that we may live.

When we repent and believe in Him, He takes our sins from us and clothes us in His righteousness. He gives us His Spirit as a guide. He gives us a new heart, one that is spiritually alive and able to love as He intended from the beginning. In other words, by His Grace and the guidance of His Spirit, we are able to do good without them being corrupted by a sinful heart. Romans teaches us that we have died to the Law and have been born again in Christ. It is no longer by works that we succeed (because we never could with works), but in faith.

This is part of what John is talking about when he speaks of how we are now walking in the light. We have left the darkness, exposed our sin to the light, and they have been forgiven. We walk with Jesus in that light. Everything has changed.

So we get back to the commandments. Now the Law is not this mountain that we cannot climb. It’s not a wall we cannot go around anymore. The Law has been fulfilled in Jesus, and we are walking with Him. Let me repeat that, because it is important – The Law has been fulfilled in Jesus, and we are walking with Him.

Do you see the difference? We are able to obey not by the effort of our wills, but because of the One beside whom we walk. It is not a new commandment, but it is. It’s not a new one because it’s the same one we’ve had all along. But now WE are new.

The darkness is passing away. The true light of Christ is shining. It changes everything. And in that light, we can go back to thaw which has come before in a new way. The Law is not new. But it is.

Stay home, make love, read your Bible, repeat

“Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.”
-Proverbs 5:15

Chapter 5 of Proverbs mainly focuses on the “forbidden woman” or “adulterous woman.” Solomon is going to turn away from her for a little while and to someone a little more close to home – your spouse.

This analogy of drinking water from your own well may be a little lost on our generation. We have filtered water, bottled water, and laws that regulate the quality of tap water. But still, there is something about the water you have at home. Hopefully it is water you can trust. You never know what you’re going to get when you drink the water somewhere else. When you go to Mexico, for instance, people will tell you to stay away from the water completely.

So this is something we can understand, but it had even more meaning then. A well was something you probably dug yourself, or one of your ancestors did. It was YOURS, and no one else’s. You put the work into it, forming it as you desired. By your sweat it was perfected, ready to offer clean water to quench your thirst.

The Bible speaks in much the same way about marriage:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
-Ephesians 5:25-30

It is something you put your heart into, something that becomes so much a part of you that to dissolve it would be almost like death. Not that there isn’t work. Not that there aren’t problems. But by grace these come to produce something truly wonderful.

A thirsty man may think that any water fountain is okay. But like that well at home, a wife has been given to satisfy those longings. Like the water produced by the well you built, the satisfaction you get comes from the marriage of your making.

God is not opposed to sex. We may look at this whole section of Proverbs and wonder about that. No, God invented sex, and He’s plainly telling us here how to have our thirsts sated, so to speak. That’s not why He tells us not to have sex outside of marriage. It’s that He’s going for something here that cannot be accomplished with the girl in the bar, or on the internet, or in the magazine. He’s going for something that more reflects the relationship between Christ and His Church.

The love Jesus has for His bride cannot be compared with anything we have encountered before. Though we were lost in our sin, He came from heaven, lived on earth, and died on our behalf. He bought us with His very Blood. He purifies us in His sacrifice and prepares us, sanctifies us, for eternity.

And He is true. He does not stray. He is faithful to us in all times. There’s something beautiful about His love for us. The love God desires in our marriages looks more like that. It goes beyond sex and into something far better.

A good man is hard to find

[On your deathbed, you will say,] “I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”
-Proverbs 5:14

Hopefully, this day will be a long way off still, but I can almost picture my funeral. I don’t know who will be there. You never know what friends you’ll keep and which ones you will gain over time. I don’t have children yet, but I imagine that I’ll have some children who will come. I’m hoping to draw a little crowd. I’m not greedy – it doesn’t have to be a lot.

The pastor will say something about how dedicated I was to the church. After all, by that time I will have been writing about Proverbs for decades. I was always there, ready to help out. He will talk about the great books on the faith that I have written (or will write at this point). He will talk about my devotion to spreading the Gospel and to my family. My daughter will be so distraught that she will be overcome with tears at this time. He will say that I was a GOOD MAN.

Two or three people will stand up then to speak. Each one will have personal stories to tell, many of them funny to lighten the mood. Then they will speak of how they will miss me, but that I am in a better place. I was a GOOD MAN, they will say.

And they will be LYING.

The scene in before the throne of God will be much more accurate. All my thoughts, words, and deeds, will be laid out before me, and there will be far more bad than good. How many times will my own lust be shown to me? How many times my hatred? How many times my greed? My ambition? My selfishness? How many lies? How many hateful words? How many moments of covetousness? How many times when I sought my own goals rather than God’s? How many times when I loved myself more than I loved others?

We have such low standards for a GOOD MAN. We think someone who gives a little money to charity and seems to love his wife is a GOOD MAN. We think that someone who goes to church every week and seems to have his life together is a GOOD MAN. We think that someone who occasionally seems giving is a GOOD MAN.

If that’s the standard you are relying on, let me fill you in to God’s standard of a GOOD MAN. He will judge your every thought to see if you loved Him with everything you have and that you loved other people as much as you loved yourself. How are you going to do against that standard?

A lot of us are going to be faced, at the end of our lives, with the understanding that we were not good in the least. We are going to be faced with shame and regret. I pray that you face that shame sooner rather than later.

Not that you can fix it. You can’t. You’ve already rejected God. You’ve already decided that you are more important than everyone else. But you can be forgiven.

We deserve death by our sins, but when Jesus died on the Cross, He paid the price that was meant for us. He died so that we may live. In repentance and faith we will find life when we deserved death.

It is a gift from God against the worst of sins, and also those little thoughts that no one knows about but you. It is a gift against murder and blasphemy, but also those things we usually ignore, like gossip and pride.

It is His gift of life, a gift that cannot be earned.

The common rebellion of us all

[On your deathbed, you will say,] “I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.”
-Proverbs 5:13

It seems the curse of every generation to make the same mistakes as the previous ones. You see this in every area of life. Politically, we continue to try the same programs that failed ten years ago. Children generally turn out like their parents, even in those faults that they despise in their parents. Even churches do this. I have seen so many churches, in trying to be hip and new, fall into the same heresies that have been around since the first century.

And this is what it is – there is something in us that just wants to rebel. If our elders are telling us to do something one way, we will run in the opposite direction, not thinking that our elders may be telling us to go this way because they’ve already been the other way, and it was no good.

It’s a strange truth, but a truth nonetheless – in our rebellion we tend to conform to every generation that has come before. We don’t know this, of course. We just think we’re looking out for ourselves, having a little fun, seeking pleasure, and finding our own identity. But that’s just what our parents did, and their parents before them. We rebel, and in rebelling we prove that we are just like them.

Here’s the other truth of it – normally we sin for our own self promotion. We sin to have more fun, or to climb higher, or to be better. And in the end, we find out that we’ve had less fun, we’ve sunken lower, and we’ve been worse than we could have dreamed.

Our lives are driven by sin. We follow our greed, lusts, ambition, pride, and selfishness for almost every minute of the every day. We have not sought God, the very Creator who gave us life. We have not loved one another, but used one another for our own advancement and pleasure.

Some of us come to this realization before we die. Some of us discover it on our deathbeds. There are so many people, at the end of their lives, looking back in disgust and regret.

In our rebellion against God, we all end up in that place. Some of us get there before death. For some, it won’t be until the Day of Judgment, standing before the throne of God, when every sinful thought, word, and deed is revealed.

I don’t want to be there on that day, thinking, “I didn’t listen to the warnings. I didn’t listen when they told me to seek God and love first. I didn’t listen, and I fell into the same trap that everyone else did.”

We have all spent our lives in rebellion against God. But it’s not too late for it to be fixed. It can’t be fixed by you, but it can by Jesus. In love, He came from Heaven to die in our place. He paid the price for our rebellion. If we repent and believe, His righteousness will be credited to us, and our sin will be paid for by His Blood.

This is the wisdom passed down through the Word of God. Don’t ignore the voice of this particular teacher.