HE MADE IT AGAIN

Jeremiah 18:4

"And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make." 

Oh my soul. These 4 words - "he made it again" - proclaim a Sovereign Savior who has not allowed my sin to be the last words in my story. I ruined my life. He made it again. I polluted my heart. He made it again. I forfeited my soul. He made it again. The Lord God is not only the Creator. He is the re-Creator. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

These words remind me that every life is a gift of God. Whoever you are or wherever you are, God made you. Like the clay vessel in the potters house was made by him, so your life was made by God. “The Lord who made you and formed you from the womb,” says the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 44:2). He planned your birth. He chose your parents. He determined the hour of your first breath. He framed every circumstance and influence you ever had. “He made it.” Men proudly call themselves “a self-made man.” You did not make yourself. God made you. Rich or poor, black or white, male or female, healthy or sick…the Lord God made you. The very God who made the sun, moon and stars also made you a living soul. Have you given this much thought? Have you ever paused to consider that a holy God, for His own good pleasure, chose to make you? He did not have to. No force compelled your creation aside for the force of His own desire, His own will, His own plan. God made you. “The breath of the Almighty gives me life (Job 33:4).”

These words remind me also that every life has been wrecked and damaged by sin. If God is making “again” it can only be that we have ruined this gift of life by willful disobedience. We have polluted our souls in pursuing evil. "Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes.”" (Ecclesiastes 7:29) Not a day has gone by in which I have not willfully added to the ruin of my own soul. Not a moment passes that does not find me in some neglect of God’s law or some violation of His command. “Oh wretched man that I am” (Romans 7:24) is the cry of a soul that really understand the weight and seriousness of sin. Do you think your life successful? The only thing we are successful at is ruining our lives. I may have money, friends, influence, power, good works and a good name, but God has said “treasures of wickedness profit nothing (Prov. 10:2).” People today want a good life. What we need is a new life. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

But these words finally remind me that our God alone can rebuild what we have ruined. “He made it again.” Oh my soul, and you my dear reader, have you engaged the help of this God who came and died and rose again to give you new life through faith in Jesus Christ? You have tried to rebuild on your own. You have sought to “build again the things [you] have destroyed (Gal 2:18).” You only make it worse. Repent and believe the gospel. What are you waiting for? Why do you linger? I fear that many today do not come to Christ because they really do not want a new life. They want a new wing added to their home, but they do not want to demolish their home and start again with God. You need a new foundation altogether, and His name is Jesus Christ. When God “makes it again” He does not make half a life, half a home, half a new creature. With God it is either all made new, or not at all. You must die to all that was before: old thoughts, old patterns and old priorities. Only the grace of God can do this. And He will do it for all who call on Him. "For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you." (Isaiah 41:13) Dear reader…linger no longer! Your life is not ruined beyond repair. His grace saved a wretch like me. I wrecked my life, but this is what He did for me through Jesus Christ: “He made it again.”  Praise be to God...Glory to God in the Highest....for "He made it again!"

Killed by Kindness

Matthew 21:31
“Jesus said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.’"

Love is kind. But there is a type of popular Christianity in the world today that is ironically cruel in its kindness. Not the generous and gracious kindness that looks out for the well-being of others, but rather a fiendish sort of friendliness which spares your feelings but forfeits your soul. It is a selfish kindness of sorts that avoids awkward confrontation because it abhors the unpleasant experience of being uncomfortable, even for a moment. This type of religion would never dare to openly offend. Its preaching is always pleasing; its atmosphere is always approving. It grants you not merely the right to your opinions, but the rightness of all opinions, so long as they are sincere. It is a sort of be-cordial-at-all-costs religion. Simply put, this religion tells no one they’re wrong.

Now whatever you wish to call this faith, it is certainly not Christian and it is certainly not kind. It may boast the same Bible, it may tout the same traditions, but it certainly cannot claim the same Christ. In the text above our Lord was exposing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He told them a story of two sons. One said he would not obey the father, but afterwards repented and did. The second said he would obey, but afterwards did not. These Pharisees were like the second son. And just in case the story was not clear enough, Jesus looked these religious leaders in the eyes and said “tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” Before YOU! It would be hard to imagine words more calculated to offend and upset.

O my soul, do you understand what you have read? The point of this parable is plain. Our minds miss the message because it is too painful to ponder. Let me state it bluntly: Heaven is for bad people who repent, hell is for “good” people who won’t. Do you think yourself a good person? So did these Pharisees. Are you basically kind, generous, and good to others? Hell is filled with similar folks whose lives were far too respectable to merit repentance in their eyes. Do you have a certain moral standard you try to model, a personal code of conduct as your creed, a list of do’s and don’ts by which you measure yourselves and others? Who doesn’t measure up in your mind? He or she, if they repent, enters heaven before you. “Tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.”

Dear reader, are you bad enough to be a Christian? Or are you too good for the gospel? The only place men get to on the basis of good behavior is Hell. Heaven is for sinners who repent. I may not have spared your feelings, but I hope to save your soul. You may count me unkind. So be it. Better to be accounted cruel for telling the truth than to kill you with kindness. Better the somewhat bitter boldness of Christ than the sweet lies being served and swallowed in so many sermons today. Unless we repent, we cannot be saved. Continue just as you are, go on in the way you’ve been going, be true to yourself…but know this…“tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.”

Allow me another moment for 4 brief points of application:

1. Is it not clear that you and I have failed to divide this world up the way God does? We tend to split mankind into the blameless and the bad, the worthy and the wicked, the saint and the sinner. Christ says that the real difference is between those who repent and those who do not. The gospel does not call upon men to be nice; it calls all mankind to repent. C.S. Lewis once put it this way “We must not suppose that if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world." The religion of our culture calls all men to be kind. The religion of the cross calls all men to repent.

2. Is it not clear that there exists a wide and comfortable road that goes straight to Hell, made up of good people? This crowded course permits men and women from various religions to travel together, differing in their opinions of each other, but quite uniform in their opinions of themselves. On this path the moralist blissfully meanders and the righteous ramble along. Here the church goes chugs, proud of his churchly ways. Here the spiritual independent strolls, equally pleased that she can be just as good without it. Here the atheist gleefully glides, calmly convinced he can be quite good without God. All are Pharisees in their own way. None are particularly prone to repent. Each one is happily on their way to Hell. William Secker, Puritan pastor and author once characterized such travelers in this way “Many have passed the rocks of gross sins – who have suffered shipwreck upon the sands of self-righteousness.”

3. Is it not clear, dear reader, that there is still time to repent? Jesus’ words may have stung the self-righteous Pharisees, but it was a sting designed to drive them to repent. What about you? Have these words spoken to your soul? At the end of this chapter we read of the chief priests and the Pharisees that “they perceived that He was speaking of them (Matthew 21:45).” Is He speaking of you? Is He speaking to me? There is still time to repent. This will not always be the case. A hundred years from now the case will be settled forever. A thousand years from now it will be clear how important this moment was. In a million years will Christ’s words be crying out to your condemned conscience “tax collectors and harlots HAVE entered the kingdom of God before ME?”

4. Finally, is it not abundantly clear that Christ came for sinners like us? Drink for the thirsty, food for the hungry, and Christ for sinners like you and I! Great sinners have already entered and more are yet to come. Christ Himself has said so. “Assuredly” He said “tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” They enter…they enter!! Oh dear reader, will you not repent and believe the gospel and enter also? You can never be too bad to be saved, but you may sadly be too good. Are you bad enough to be a Christian? J.C. Ryle said this “Let it be a settled principle in our Christianity that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely willing to receive penitent sinners.”

YOUR KING IS COMING

A Palm Sunday reflection...

“Behold your King is coming to you…”
Matthew 21:5

Oh my soul. This day thy Savior came into Jerusalem upon a colt. One day He shall return to this world upon a cloud. This lowly entrance to the holy city was prophesied of old (Zech. 9:9). His glorious return in holy splendor is promised to come (Rev. 22:20). On that first Palm Sunday opinions about Jesus were divided. The disciples cried “Hosanna.” The Pharisees cried “hush!” “Teacher, rebuke your disciples” (Luke 19:39) they said. But one day neither your opinion nor mine will matter because every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. And so now, oh my soul, there is a far more important “coming” to consider. Yes, “Blessed is the King who comes” Luke 19:38. But the question on my mind today today is this: “Have I come - have you come - to the King?” What is the response of your soul to this coming King? “Behold your King is coming to you…”

The King is coming. But have you come to Him? Have you come to Him tired and wearied by your own wicked heart and wicked ways? Have you come to Him burdened by a law you cannot keep? Have you come to Him casting off all hope of saving yourself? “Come unto Me” He said, “all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28)"

The King is coming. But have you come to Him? Have you come upon His terms? Have you, oh my soul, cast the cloak of your self-confidence upon the ground? Have you abandoned all hope of salvation by your own good works, your own religious exercises, your own sacrifices, sufferings and sorrows? By nature we are all too proud to come. Hence it is only by His grace we can draw near. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him (John 6:44).”

The King is coming. But have you come to Him? Have you come as a child, accepting and receiving Him at His word? Have you come trusting His promises, embracing His commands, and honoring His authority? Jesus said “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14).”

The King is coming. Have you come to Him? Are His commands your delight? What place does His Word have in the home of your heart? Do you merely like the “thought” of Christ, while at the same time ignoring the “commands” of Christ? Oh my soul…be not deceived here. You cannot come to Christ while rejecting His right to rule your life. To love Christ is to obey Him. To come to Him and follow Him is to submit to His ways and His will. “Whoever comes to Me AND hears my sayings and does them...” (Luke 6:47) is the rule of the kingdom of Christ.

The King is coming. Have you come to Him? Does He have the first place in your life? Have you put your reputation behind Him? Have you put your family behind Him? Have you put your financial success, your friends, your popularity, your comforts and hobbies and habits all behind this Savior who must be FIRST if you will have Him at all? “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life also, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26).”

The King is coming….and now Oh my soul…have you come to Him? What? Are you still waiting? If you have not come to Him, then He is not your King today. You do not belong to His kingdom. Oh dreadful day to not belong to the kingdom of this King when He comes! Won’t you come to Him today? Such coming is nothing short of life ordeath. It is heaven or hell. It is light or darkness. Oh may it not be said of thee, my soul, as it is of so many others, that “you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life (John 5:40).”

"Behold your King is coming to you..."

THE SEVENTY PALM TREES

AN APOCRYPHAL ACCOUNT OF THE 70 PALM TREES

“Wonderful sermon today Moses” said the appreciative Israelite worshipper as she left the assembly and headed back to her wilderness tent. “May Jehovah be praised” respectfully replied her desert pastor as he shook her weathered hand. The warm sun was pouring down its dry heat onto their sandy sanctuary, and it seemed as though he could feel the very smile of God upon them. “It was an unusually effective message,” he thought to himself, as he recalled some of the pointed expressions and powerful illustrations that were artfully weaved into the fabric of his Sabbath sermon. More grateful expressions from the thankful congregation greeted him as his flock made their way toward the wells where they gathered to wet their thirsty throats. “Many dry mouths,” thought Moses, “but not many dry eyes today.”

That illustration with the wells really hit home. He could almost feel the Spirit descend upon the church as he pointed to each of those twelve wells surrounding them, reminding the wanderers of Jacob’s twelve sons and how the Lord had built for Himself a people out of nothing. “They were like twelve wells,” he had said, “out of which the Almighty drew forth a living nation as great as the sea.” Ah, that was good. “And just as the Eternal ‘I AM’ preserved our people in Egypt, so He is preserving you His children here in the desert.” Then, departing somewhat from his notes, but sensing something of the Lord’s leading, he had said “And I wonder, I just wonder, if this same great God of ours will one day raise up twelve more men who will carry His glorious message of salvation to the very ends of the earth itself.” You could see it on their faces. They knew they were a part of something much greater than themselves. They were worshipping like they had never worshipped before. A sobering sense of the awful majesty and awesome wonder of the Lord surrounded them. As the preacher pondered these things he could begin to feel a little surge of pride at this accomplishment. It was as though someone were secretly whispering in his ear “Moses…what would this people do without you? You are their leader, their prophet, their guide. Moses…you are the man! There is no preacher in all of Israel like you! Moses…you are their god!”

Moses shuddered. Without wasting another moment he cried out in his heart to the Lord “O Lord, humble me, make me to know my own meanness and lowliness and weakness. Forgive these proud and blasphemous thoughts. Crush my arrogant heart. Make me meek and lowly. Have compassion on me, O my God. I am an unprofitable servant at best. O LORD, deliver me.”

As Moses finished his silent prayer he opened his own wet eyes and saw little Benjamin walking toward him. He loved this boy. And Benny had seemed especially attentive today. Moses reached down and gave the lad an affectionate pat on the head. “I saw you making some notes in the sand during the sermon Benny,” said Moses, “what were you writing?” “Oh,” said Benny, “I was counting.” Moses grinned. “Ah, I see,” he said “counting the wells I presume, checking my numbers. Good boy. Contemplating the mercies of the Lord God, the provisions of the Almighty, the emblems of salvation planted here in the desert for our instruction.” Moses felt satisfied with himself again, and could feel those bubbles of pride beginning to rise to the surface of his heart. “Oh no,” said young Ben, “just counting the palm trees in the camp. There are 70 you know. I counted twice just to be sure. Oh, did you preach today?” And with that young Ben made his way over to a gathering of his friends.

Moses smiled and offered up a brief prayer of thanksgiving to the LORD. He walked back to his tent and pulled out the manuscript of their travels he had been working on. With a grateful and humbled heart he made a little inspired alteration to his journal. “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters” (Exodus 15:27). He wondered if he should include a little explanation of the story of how the palm trees were counted. “No,” he thought to himself “I’m sure they will figure that one out all on their own.”

Where Are You?

“…where are you?”
Genesis 3:9b

Oh my soul. This text above records for us the very first words spoken to fallen man by the mouth of God. It is, therefore, a suitable text upon which to meditate on the first day of this New Year. Where are you? Have you given this any thought as of late? Where are you in the timeline of your life? Where are you in the maturity of your thoughts? Where are you in the development and improvement of those relationships the Lord has set you in? But most importantly, and the question upon which I wish to focus my heart, where are you in your walk and relationship with Jesus Christ?

Where are you? It is interesting that the Lord, of course, knew full well where Adam and Eve were. The question therefore could not be one of mere location. The question, I believe, was designed to force our forefather to reflect upon the tragedy of his sinful rebellion against God. They were hiding. They had formerly walked with God in pleasant fellowship and delight. Now they were running from Him and hiding in the shameful awareness of their own transgression. So, my soul, where are you? Are you too hiding behind the foolish foliage of self-righteousness? Are you hiding from spiritual exercises to escape the painful presence of a guilty conscience? Are you avoiding Christ in order to ignore addressing your own iniquity? Where are you? The church bell rings, the Word of God sits collecting dust upon your shelf, the prayer closet is left vacant and unattended, spiritual friends avoided…all because you will not deal with these pressing matters upon your heart.

Oh my soul, and oh dear reader, listen to the New Testament answer to this Old Testament question. The triune God said to Adam, “Where are you?” Adam had fallen into sin, and with him the whole race of mankind fell with him. But Jesus Christ came to earth to find and rescue fallen man and calls to him with these words “Come unto Me!” Oh my soul, wherever you are hiding today, come out and run to Christ. Where are you right now? It matters not, so long as you turn your eyes upon Him who gave His life for you. He has come to “seek and to save that which was lost.” Are you, dear reader, lost in sin? Where are you? Are you fleeing the tents of your own wickedness for the solid ground of God’s righteousness provided for you in the person of Jesus Christ? Will you continue to sit and hide when Christ says “Come?” Will you let yet one more year roll by without coming out of the shrubbery of your own shame and forests of your own failure? Where are you?

And you, Christian, where are you in your walk with God and your relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you seeking to grow in grace by employing those means appointed by God for those ends? Will you seek with greater diligence to subdue and destroy those sins that still cling to your life? Will you humbly reach out this year to serve your neighbor’s needs? Will you, as William Carey once put it, “expect great things from God, attempt great things for God?” Are you headed for heaven? Then let us prepare for heaven now. Richard Baxter said “This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it.” Where are you right now? Dear reader, may we walk together this year as we head toward the Celestial City and our Eternal Home? I would be glad of the company, and certainly we would be mutually helped as we “stir up one another to love and good works.” Oh my soul…where are you?