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By ncstewart, 02/08/2012 9:15 AM

All of us long to be loved.  In this life we are used to people loving us because we seem lovable: who we are compels and draws out their affection.  They love us because they think we are worth it.   If we are honest, we would have to admit to spending  much effort every day in a reveal/conceal PR campaign. Desperately trying to Reveal the good and to conceal the bad.  We just can’t bear the thought that others will discover what we know only too well.

God, however, knows otherwise. He sees through the facade.  He knows us.  He knows all about us. And, what is more, He has always known us.  There has never been a time when He knew us not.  As the old adage goes, we can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but we cannot fool God any of the time.

This presents the sensitive soul with a problem.  How can a holy God love what is inherently unlovely?  We expect the answer: He cannot.  This is why we  instinctively spend so much of our time trying to generate reasons for God to love us.  In the final analysis, however, there are none, there never can be any, and we know it.  Moralism is always doomed to fail.  Who we are can only qaulify us for more wrath.  Our best days give God more reasons to hate us.  They give Him no reason to love us.

The gospel, however, preaches an answer to this riddle.  The secret of God’s love does not lie in our goodness, it lies simply  and solely in His own.  God does not love us because we are good enough to attract His love.  He loves us because He is good enough to give His love.  And to give His boundless love to the worthless, to those who offer Him nothing He needs.  God’s love reaches out to the chaff blowing off the worlds trash heap.  His love affectionately and unreservedly embraces that which is inherently rootless, lifeless, weightless, and worthless.  He loves not just the undeserving but the hell deserving.  And – bask in this truth – He needs no reason outside of Himself to do so.

Was it Packer or Stott who said, “By nature, we need God but do not want Him.  God wants us but He does not need us!”  No one has ever loved like this before.

And wonder of wonders, while this love costs us nothing, it cost God very dearly indeed.  He loves us at the cost of His own dearly beloved Son.  It is, therefore, at the cross that we find answers for all our insecurity.  How can we know that God love us?  We can know that God loves us because He sent His Son to die in our place and for our sins.  This is God’s demonstration.  Dare we require more (Romans 5:1-11).

In your dark nest moments of doubt, therefore, may I encourage you to echo back to God His own words to Abraham on Mount Moriah, “Now I know that you love me, for you have not withheld your Son, your only Son whom you love!”

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By ncstewart, 09/14/2011 10:23 PM

Why Believe the Bible? from Neil Stewart on Vimeo.

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By ncstewart, 05/31/2011 4:24 AM

Really very helpful advice from John Piper on how to deepen your own personal prayer life….

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By ncstewart, 05/27/2011 1:48 PM

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. ” (Psalm 1:2–3, NASB95)

The man who lives in the Bible is like a tree that lives by a never failing stream of life giving water.  He is fruitful, vital, and successful.  This prosperity might not stack up in worldly terms.  Don’t forget, the Psalms are written from the perspective of heaven not hell.  It is in God’s eyes that this man has made it big.  From the vantage point of eternity that will be all that really matters.

A couple of observations: The term “planted” in the Hebrew carries the idea of the activity of a farmer.  It can be translated “Transplanted” and can also describe the process of grafting a cutting into a mature plant.  In other words, this tree didn’t grow here naturally.  It is here by grace.  It is here because of God.  The tree began life in the wilderness of sin, but it has ended up by the River of Grace.

The metaphor of water is extremely important in the Bible.  It describes not so much something God gives to His people, but rather the way God is to His people – the way we experience the life giving presence of the living God.  Let me show you this:

“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. ” (Psalm 46:4–5, NASB95)

Remember, in Jerusalem there was no river.  That was part and parcel of what it means to live on top of a mountain.  But here the Psalmist says there is a river that makes this city glad.  And notice how he moves seamlessly into the reference of God’s presence in the midst of His people.  Could He be telling us precisely what He means by this river?

We see the same idea in Ezekiel 47:

“Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side. When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. “It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. “And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. “But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. “By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” ” (Ezekiel 47:1–12, NASB95)

Notice how the water of life flows out from under the place of God’s presence (the Temple) and it flows out from under the place of death (the altar where the sacrifices were made.)  Notice also how the leaves of the trees planted beside this life giving stream are for healing.  We will see  a similar reference in a minute in the book of Revelation.  Notice also how the water from this temple flows south into the Dead Sea and makes its salty waters fresh and full of life.

Now let’s turn to the gospel of John (who loves to pull metaphorical language from the Old Testament).

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. ” (John 7:37–39, NASB95)

Interesting here, picking up on the continual metaphor in John’s gospel of living water for thirsty souls (Cf. John 4), Jesus describes the results of faith in Him.  What will happen?  A fountain of living life giving water flows from the soul born again in Jesus.  What is this Water?  It is the Holy Spirit.

Now its all beginning to come together, isn’t it?  Remember how in the New Testament the Christian Church is described as a Temple of God in the Spirit – a Spiritual dwelling place for God in the Spirit.  Do you see: it is the church that fulfills the vision of Ezekiel 47.  We believers are the New Temple that the prophet saw.  We are the place where God dwells.  It is from our souls that this life giving water of God’s Spirit in the gospel flows giving life to a thirsty world.

The great question, however, is how can God dwell with a sinful people?  The answer is found in the death of Jesus.  Let me make two more connections before we come to a conclusion.  Jesus describes His death as a breaking up of the Temple of His body.

“The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. ” (John 2:18–22, NASB95)

With that in mind, isn’t it interesting to note how John describes the moment Jesus died and His Body-Temple was broken.  What came out of Him?

“So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. ” (John 19:32–34, NASB95)

Just like in Ezekiel’s Vision – water flows out from the place of death and life comes to a thirsty world.  It is also interesting to note that, through the gospel of John, Jesus is constantly offering water to people immersed in the inevitable thirst produced by godless living.  Whether they know it or not, they are thirsty for God (John 4:13ff; Cf.Psalm 42:1).  Isn’t it interesting to note, once again in John’s gospel, as the sin-bearer dies, as he is excluded from the life giving presence of the living God, how does He describe His feelings?

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” ” (John 19:28, NASB95)

Notice, how John draws our attention to this statement.  Jesus is describing much more than His bodily need for water during the dehydration of crucifixion.  He said these things to fulfill Scripture.  He is dying as a thirsty sinner in the place of thirsty sinners.  He had no sin of His own, of course, but He is fulling the full weight of the sins of His people.  That is why He feels so very thirsty.  He is no longer by the river of God’s delightful presence.  He is in the wilderness of damning punishment.  It is in the fires of hell that He feels so very thirsty.

It would be remiss of me if I were not to draw your attention to the very end of the Bible.  What has our great savior achieved for His people?

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face….” (Revelation 22:1–4, NASB95)

We will spend eternity Living in the Life giving presence of the living God.  This paradise. We are going back to Eden (Genesis 2:10).

Meanwhile back at the ranch, what is the Psalmist saying when he describes the experience of the saint living in the constant delight of the Torah.  Given all that I have just said, I am not so sure the focus is meant to terminate in the Word of God, but in the God of the Word whom we meet as we read.  It is in the Bible that this man meets God.  What does this meeting feel like?  What does it feel like to life a life immersed in the Torah (the Fatherly instruction) of God?  It feels like crystal clear, ice cold water on a dust dry throat.  What a beautiful metaphor! Have you drunk from this river?  It is free to all who want it:

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. ” (Revelation 22:17, NASB95)

What cost Jesus everything, will you cost you nothing but the humility to admit your thirst, confess your unworthiness, acknowledge your emptiness, and cry out to God for mercy – a just mercy purchased by one who took our thirsty death that we might live His eternally satisfied life.

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By ncstewart, 05/26/2011 1:55 PM

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. ” (Psalm 1:1–2, NASB95)

The answer to Satan’s bright lies is not truth; it is the love of the truth.  The Happy man’s delight is in the law of the LORD.  It is His rule for life.  It is where He goes for counsel.  It keeps Him out of the path of sinners, the broad road that leads further and further away from God, and the happiness knowing Him Brings to the soul.

In our day, we often think of Torah in cold, harsh, legalistic terms.  Nothing, however, could be further from the truth.  To the Hebrew mind it carries the idea of a Father’s instruction to a beloved son.

“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction (torah) And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. ” (Proverbs 1:8–9, NASB95)

How could we not love this book.  It is where we go to hear the Father’s secrets:

“The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant. ” (Psalm 25:14, NASB95)

And yet how many delight in other things that serve only to quench their desire for God and His truth.  One cannot but be reminded of the thorny ground hearer in Christ’s parable of the sower:

““And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ” (Mark 4:18–19, NASB95)

May the Lord deliver us all from such dangerous delights.  Who can forget Paul’s fearful warning of the days of Anti-Christ….

“Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. ” (2 Thessalonians 2:8–12, NASB95)

So we must pray: Father unite my heart to fear your Name and to love Your Word.  Work in me to will and to do for your good pleasure that I might let your Word dwell richly in me.  Help me to hide your Word in my heart that I might sin against you.  Let me never be a Christian of a dust gathering Bible, but may it always be living and active in my heart and life.  May I hunger for its pure milk like a newborn baby for its mother’s breasts.

How can I know if I delight in the Bible?  Well, quite simply, we will find our heart’s gravitating to it as our constant companion.  As David said in Psalm 16, “I have set the Lord before me, because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”  Whatever this means, the Word of God must be in our minds if we are to be conscious of the presence of God by our side.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways (Know Him intimately), And He will make your paths straight. ” (Proverbs 3:5–6, NASB95)

“Day and night” in this verse functions as a merism (two opposites that are all inclusive).  So the idea is not so much that he reads the Torah in the morning and last thing at night.  No, in the life of the blessed man, the Torah’s effects are much more pervasive than that. It quite literally fills His mind all day long.  It is almost as if he daren’t think, speak, or act without consulting His heavenly Father’s mind.

Part and parcel of such a mindset is meditation.  In the Hebrew, the word meditate carries with it the idea of muttering over to oneself.  As Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones would say, “I good deal of our problem is that we are much too prone to listen to ourselves when we should in fact be talking to ourselves.”  For the Christian such self talk must involve rubbing in the truth of God into our hearts, taking every thought captive to Christ and His Word.  “I must not think like this or like that, it is not true to the Word.”  If your mind is a glove, let the Word of God give shape to the limp fabric.

This word centered mind lies at the heart of a Christian’s ability to obey God.  As the LORD said to Joshua,

““This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. ” (Joshua 1:8, NASB95)

In other words, what fills your mind will direct your life.  If we don’t have enough of God’s word in our lives, perhaps the problem might be that we don’t have enough of it in our minds.  This is where the pious life begins.  It is this delight that leads to happiness.  Press on…

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By ncstewart, 05/25/2011 7:22 PM

Yet another tract that I have found helpful in explaining the nature of true saving faith and the difference it makes to the soul of a man…

what-is-a-true-christian.pdf

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By ncstewart, 05/25/2011 7:02 PM

Here is a tract I wrote in response to the terrible Tornado that swept through Yazoo City Mississippi last year.  Please feel free to hand this out now in the face of these recent, terrible disasters that have swept through our nation.

Tornadoes Call us To Repentance.pdf

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By ncstewart, 05/25/2011 6:59 PM

Another free gospel tract….

God Saves Sinners.pdf

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By ncstewart, 05/25/2011 1:54 PM

“How blessed (Literally: How happy) is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. ” (Psalm 1:1–2, NASB95)

The Happy man is distinguished from His wicked counterpart in 3 areas:

1. His Rule for Life (vv.1-2)(Today’s devotional)
2. His Experience of God (vv.3-4) – As we shall see in the days ahead, water is used metaphorically in Scripture to describe the life giving presence of the living God.  As such, it is not so much the word of God, but the God of the Word who meets and irrigates the soul in the reading of the Torah (law).
3. His Hope for Eternity (vv.5-6) – Standing or perishing in the Judgment.

This morning, in our devotion, we will consider the first of these points.

When I was a child, an advert for a well known tobacco product began with the catch phrase, “Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.”  We can debate the merits of that advert later.  The Psalmist sees happiness flowing from a different source altogether.  Happiness begins by the determination to listen to the right counsel, and perhaps even more fundamentally, the road to happiness begins with the insight to avoid the wrong counsel.

This is not always as easy as it might seem. “Counsel”, after all, is advice that seems wise.  We can therefore find ourselves easily duped.  Isn’t this what happened to our first parents in the garden?  How wise and how helpful the serpent sounded as he breathed forth His poisonous and treacherous lies.  To the fallen mind, the darkness can seem deceptively bright.

How many slip at this first hurdle on the path of wisdom.  Did you notice how the majority seem to be going the wrong way in verse 1.  Wisdom is always a minority grace.  “How blessed is the man (singular) who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked (plural), nor stand in the path of sinners (plural), nor sit in the seat of the scoffers (plural).”  What was it Jesus said?

““Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. ” (Matthew 7:13–14, NASB95)

When it comes to the issues of life and of wisdom, following the crowd is seldom the best way to go!  How undemocratic!

Going wrong at this juncture, is not only very easy and very common, but it is also very dangerous.  Take the wrong road and you find yourself very quickly further and further away from the right way.  Did you notice the progressive nature of the verbs in verse 1:

First he is listening, then he is standing, and finally he is sitting.  First he is listening to counsel,  then he is living the life (the way of sinners), and finally he is teaching the lying lifestyle to others.  In the Ancient Near East, teachers sit to teach.  Jesus spoke of teachers in His day who ‘Sat in Moses’ Seat.’

So what is this counsel of the wicked, where is it found, and how can it be recognized.  To answer this question we need to realize that wicked people are not necessarily axe murderers.  In the Old Testament, the wicked can be very religious:

“But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth? “For you hate discipline, And you cast My words behind you. “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers. “You let your mouth loose in evil And your tongue frames deceit. “You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother’s son. “These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes. “Now consider this, you who forget God, Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver. ” (Psalm 50:16–22, NASB95)

These are people whose mouths are full of “God-talk.” They say “Lord Lord” with their lips, but do not live out that confession in their lives.  Instead, their lives tell the story of a person who:

• Has A Bad Attitude – They hate discipline and cast God’s words behind them.  They give absolutely not heed to what God says in His word.  They may read the Bible, but they do not follow it.
• Keeps Bad Company: They are pleased with thieves and choose as their friends adulterers.
• Speaks With A Bad Mouth:  They set their tongue loose in evil, and slander other members of the covenant community (their brothers).
• Lives out A Bad Theology: “You thought I was just like you”, God says.

They may talk about God, but they live their lives forgetting about Him.  “Now consider this you who forget God.”

I don’t know about you, but this verse grabs hold of my conscience.  To listen to the counsel of the wicked really means: listening to the apparent wisdom of those who seem religious outwardly but who in reality are quite happy living at a distance from God. David confirms this interpretation in Psalm 18:

“For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. ” (Psalm 18:21, NASB95)

Note how David uses wickedness as an adverb to describe the activity of departing from the Lord.  Do you see?  Every time we choose a life trajectory that leads away from God, away from the path of righteousness, we are choosing to live wickedly.  And sooner or later, if we make this choice enough times so that an act of wickedness ceases to be a momentary blip on an otherwise faithful life but becomes instead the governing and defining trajectory of our lives: we cease merely to act wickedly, we actually become wicked.

And so it is in our Psalm.  The pathway away from happiness and God’s blessing begins with giving ear to the wrong advice, quickly this idea bears the bitter fruit of a life heading the wrong way (the way of sinners), and before long the fool not only teaches the way to hell, but he is laughing at those on their way to heaven (sitting in the seat scoffers).

May the Lord keep us all from such a catastrophic mistake. We will look more at this tomorrow, but our only defense against the lie is the truth.  And that is why the happy man doesn’t merely expose His soul to the truth, He delights in it (verse 2).  As we move from the Old to the New testaments, we discover that the truth is not so much an idea, as He is a person, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come unto the Father except through me (John 14:6).”  As Jesus said to Pilate, “Whoever is of the truth, listens to my voice.”

So let me ask you one question two different ways this morning?  Are you happy? To whom do you like to listen? Do you prefer to listen to the apparent wisdom of those who are quite happy to life life keeping God at arms length?  Or is your soul in bondage to Jesus, the Living Word who came to die to give life to dead and dying sinners?