The Confused Conscience

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In response to my last post, a dear reader named Karin posed the following question:

Some folks have a wrongly calibrated conscience, i.e. it is sin to see a movie, to dance,to play sports or even shop on a Sunday, etc. etc. It would be wise not to do anything that goes against their conscience, but they see other godly believers doing it. That's where their struggle begins and their feelings of guilt about having their particular weakness are not based on truth. Not sure if I explained this well enough. What are your thoughts on that?

Karin, that's quite a good question.

Legalism is a deadly thing, and it often keeps its grip on people even long after they've begun to understand grace and freedom in Christ. On the other hand, some people throw off legalism and exchange it for sinful self-indulgence...just trading in one wrong for another.

Maybe before we can discuss this problem, it would be helpful to define what we mean by "legalism." I don't know what anyone else's definition is, but this is the one I've come up with that best expresses my understanding of it:

Legalism is an attempt to make the lost act like the saved;

to make those who don't love God behave as if they did,

and to make those who do love sin behave as if they didn't.

When people cast off legalism and turn to sinful self-indulgence, what we see is more honest, though not more admirable living:

those who are lost act like the lost

those who don't love God act like they don't

and those who love sin act like they do.

By contrast, when we are truly saved, grace changes who we are (gradually at times, and suddenly at other times), to give us hearts that delight in doing good. We are freed by God...not to do evil and get away with it, but to do good and love it. That is the truest form of freedom.

When it comes to matters of conscience which are not "black and white:"

I have met miserable and/or prideful legalists who don't do certain things, but I have also met joyful, free lovers of God who don't do those same things. The legalists are under compulsion not to do them, and the grace-led ones are free not to do them. (And still other joyful lovers of God are free to do them!)

Those who tend to have legalistic consciences may feel a great deal of guilt because of the attraction they feel towards the "forbidden" item or activity. And yet they desire to find the freedom that Christ promises.

(Allow me to stress again that I am not referring to clearly-defined sin, which all Christians should scrupulously avoid. I'm referring to matters which Scripture leaves up to individuals, but about which some Christians have tried to force their own convictions onto others.)

What should the guilt-ridden person do in this instance?

Scripture forbids us to do anything that we believe may be wrong (Rom 14:23). The heart which looks at something it believes is wrong, and chooses to do it anyway, is by definition a heart that is willing to sin. It doesn't matter if the activity was truly allowable. What matters is the attitude that said, "I think it's wrong, but I don't care if it's wrong or not. I'll do it anyway."

So how is the person trapped by legalism to be set free? Should he focus on the behavior in question, examining it from every angle to decide if it can be justified? Should he go see a Christian counselor to get cured of his hang-ups?

Perhaps. There may be some benefit there for some people. But look again at the definition of "legalism" above, and the definition of "honest self-indulgence" just below it.

Think it through. How would you counsel the person trapped in legalism who wants to be free, but is afraid of freedom?

I'd love to hear your feedback, and next time I'll give you what I believe I would say to such a person.

(P.S. While I would dearly love to have lots of comments on this entry, I do not want anyone to hijack it and turn it into a forum for arguing over whether certain "grey areas" are really black or really white. I will moderate all comments in the spirit of Romans 14.)

To Hate Sin, Consider Hell

Part 8 in a series

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We’ve been looking at the writings of Richard Baxter (1615-1691), particularly his “Directions for Hating Sin.”  If you haven’t been with us all along, please look at the earlier entries.  If you only have time to look at one of them, I would suggest Part 1, because it explains why we should hate sin.  In today’s sin-worshiping world, that may not be as obvious as it should be.

We’ve reached “Direction 8,” and I’ve got to warn you…it is not politically correct.  Hell is not a welcome topic in most circles these days.  Yet I have to talk about it…because where Hell is not a welcome topic, God Himself is not welcome.

Now, I don’t mean to imply that Hell should be something we talk about with great joy, or with callousness for the damned.  What I am saying is that the truth of Hell can only be rejected at the cost of rejecting God Himself. 

Hell is not based on evil.  It was not born in the mind of Satan.  Hell is an offshoot of holiness, born in the mind of a God who cannot wink at evil and must dispense justice.  So if we reject the doctrine of Hell, we reject the very holiness of God.

Does that offend you?  It wouldn’t, if you could glimpse for a moment the holiness of God and the vileness of sin.  But our own depraved natures don’t allow us to see these things.  And so we must remember that God has told us the truth about what sin deserves, and His judgments are perfect.  Since He has declared that Hell is the just penalty for sin, we must grapple with that fact if we wish to understand, at least a little bit, how detestable sin is.

But we have to be careful here.  There is no benefit in using Hell as a simple scare tactic to make people avoid sin.  The goal is to hate sin, not just avoid it while still longing for it.  And that’s what I appreciate so much about Baxter’s words on this subject.  He doesn’t bludgeon you with the doctrine of Hell, but rather points out what Hell teaches us about sin itself. 

Think about it this way.  In a recent case in Oklahoma, a man who raped a 4-year-old girl was given only a one-year sentence because of a plea deal.  The public is outraged, and rightly so.  The punishment should reflect the seriousness of the crime.  And any society which lightly punishes child rape sends a message that child rape really isn’t such a terrible thing. 

Yes, the punishment should fit the crime, not only because justice should be done to the perpetrator, but because justice vindicates the worth of the law that was broken, and expresses the value that we place on the victim.  The innocence of a 4-year-old girl is priceless!  We know that!  And so every decent person is outraged at such a light sentence.

In the same way, Hell is not arbitrary.  It is God’s declaration of how horrible sin is and what it deserves.  And it is His declaration of how Holy He is and what His Holiness is worth.  His holiness and glory are priceless!  The problem is, we don’t know that.  Even the most godly among us don’t know it as well as they should.  And so our sinful hearts need to look at Hell and what it teaches us, if we are to have a proper view of sin and of God Himself.  And so Baxter says:

Look but to the state and torment of the damned, and think well of the difference betwixt angels and devils, and you may know what sin is.  Angels are pure; devils are polluted: holiness and sin do make the difference. Sin dwells in hell, and holiness in heaven. Remember that every temptation is from the devil, to make you like himself; as every holy motion is from Christ, to make you like himself. Remember when you sin, that you are learning and imitating of the devil, and are so far like him, (John 8:44). And the end of all is, that you may feel his pains. If hell-fire be not good, then sin is not good.

Yes, the threat of punishment is there, as it must be.  But if that is all you see, then you’re not yet hating sin.  You only hate its punishment.  Read this quote again, or better yet, read your Bible with a prayerful heart, asking God to open your eyes to the preciousness of His holiness and the vileness of your sin.  As counter-intuitive as it sounds, you will not know true joy in salvation until you comprehend a little of what you’re saved from…not just being saved from Hell, but being saved from the kind of sin-soaked heart that deserves Hell!  Because the Good News is NOT just salvation from Hell, but salvation from sin!  It is the gift of a new heart that grows in purity (2 Co 3:17-18), in love for God and for others (Deut 30:6, Matt 22:37-40), and in hatred of the sin that still clings to it (Eph. 5:1-12).

What greater gift could He give?

For those of you who want to think more deeply about this subject, I recommend a short blog entry by Tim Challies, which you can find here.  In that entry I read a quote which struck me powerfully.  I’ll share it here in the hopes that it will touch others in the same way.  It’s a quote of someone named Ligon Duncan.

So often we speak of hell as a place where God is not. Let me, however, say something provocative.  Hell is eternity in the presence of God without a mediator.

Heaven is eternity in the presence of God with a mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chew on that one for a while, and bless the precious Mediator who enables us to stand faultless before His holy presence with great joy!  (Jude 1:24-25)

To Hate Sin, Consider God’s Goodness

Part 4 in a series

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Know and consider the wonderful love and mercy of God, and think what he has done for you; and you will hate sin, and be ashamed of it. It is an aggravation which makes sin odious even to common reason and ingenuity, that we should offend a God of infinite goodness, who has filled up our lives with mercy. It will grieve you if you have wronged an extraordinary friend: his love and kindness will come into your thoughts, and make you angry with your own unkindness. Here look over the catalogue of God’s mercies to you, for soul and body. And here observe that Satan, in hiding the love of God from you, and tempting you under the pretence of humility to deny his greatest, special mercy, seeks to destroy your repentance and humiliation, also, by hiding the greatest aggravation of your sin. ~From Richard Baxter (1615-1691), "Directions for Hating Sin."

I had to go look up the word “aggravation” to try to understand how it was used in the quote above. One of its meanings is, “Action that makes a problem or a disease (or its symptoms) worse.” So what Baxter is pointing out is something we all instinctively know…it’s bad for a dog to bite, but it’s worse for him to bite the hand that feeds him. It’s bad to sin no matter what, but it’s worse to sin against purity, innocence, and goodness. The goodness of God makes our sinfulness against Him even worse.

But what if we don’t understand the goodness of the one we’re sinning against?

As I’ve been trying to point out in previous posts, we have to re-think our ideas of purity, innocence, and goodness. In our modern culture, we associate innocence with naiveté. We think of sensitivity as weakness, and paint our heroes with the brush of callousness towards sin. We admire the “hard-bitten” fellows who’ve been around the block a few times. Innocence and purity are nice things for children, but in adults they’re an aberration, freakish and out-of-touch.

We don’t call moral filth “dirty” anymore. We just call it “adult entertainment.” By implication then, those of us who don’t consume filth are childish, inferior, and stunted in our development. In our culture, a call to innocence and purity is a call to regression. It insults the pride of those who think that sin is sophistication.

And so we have ceased to honor the purity and innocence of our Lord. He is viewed as obsolete, and his followers as childish, timid “do-gooders” who can’t cope with the realities that mature adults can handle with ease.

Why do we see it that way?

Because it’s true that, among sinful creatures like ourselves, innocence only accompanies infancy. The longer we live, the more our “eyes are opened” to sin. The kind of innocence we’re familiar with is the kind which cannot survive “hard knocks” in the “real world.”

That’s why, as far as many people are concerned, if God is still innocent, then He is a naive inferior; one whom our culture is tired of humoring. Let Him go entertain Himself with His baby toys if that’s what makes Him happy, but He’d better leave the rest of us alone to enjoy the perks of our adulthood.

And if that’s how we view “innocence” and “purity” in our culture, then how do we view “goodness?” Quite simply, we view it by how it affects us or reflects on us. And we attach the word “goodness” to actions more than to people. Therefore we conclude that it does not matter if our politicians exhibit a degraded moral character, as long as we approve of the laws they pass. We reject moral absolutes, excusing even the grossest perversion by saying, “Whom does it hurt?” Goodness matters only if we, or someone we care about, are the ones adversely affected by its absence. “Too much” goodness is viewed with the same condescension that is aimed toward innocence.

As a culture, we’re proud of our sin. And yet to us, a voice 300 years dead says, “Know and consider the wonderful love and mercy of God, and think what he has done for you; and you will hate sin, and be ashamed of it.”

I hope to God that we have not come so far in our degradation that we’re past feeling such an appeal. Perhaps we could feel the force of those words more strongly if we had clearer thoughts of what God’s attributes really are.

His innocence and purity are not naiveté. He sees the horror of sin far more clearly than you and I can. His innocence exists because, despite all of history’s insults towards Him, all of the evil which has infected and perverted His creation, even all of the temptations which He faced when He wore human flesh, he still remains powerfully uncompromising. There is no darkness in Him. He remains, and always will remain, unutterably Holy.

Humanity’s “eyes were opened” in Eden when we believed the lie and ate of the forbidden fruit. But our eyes were opened only to see how life appears when viewed by warped, depraved souls. Sin is like a psychedelic drug. It enables people to see distortions we could not see before, but it also blinds us to truth, renders us useless, and at the same time convinces us that we’ve entered a higher plane.

When humans “lose our innocence,” it is not because we have seen sin, but because when we are exposed to sin, we feel the dormant sin in our own hearts stirring to life. We are drawn, even by that which horrifies us. We are deceived and lured toward our own destruction. We’ve discovered the part of ourselves that falls for the lie every time. And we tend to congratulate ourselves for making this discovery. We’re not children anymore!

God is undeceived. His goodness, purity, and innocence are not things which shrink away from evil with a horrified shudder, crying “I can’t handle it!” He is not somehow our inferior. Instead, because of His goodness and innocence, he destroys evil with unquenchable fire.

Yes, mercy is part of God’s goodness, and it’s flowing right now with unfathomable generosity. But justice is also a vital part of goodness, and the day is coming when justice will decisively act against sin. Justice and mercy are but two sides of the same “coin” of God’s goodness, and to reject one side is to reject both.

God’s goodness offers merciful forgiveness to sinners now, and God’s goodness will one day withdraw that offer from those who reject it, and will render the goodness of retributive justice in its place. Will you be one who received His mercy by repenting of sin and turning to Him as your life, your joy, your all? Or will you be one who treasured your sinful “sophistication” and despised His goodness?

It will depend on your view of sin, and your view of His goodness. I pray that, in considering His goodness, you will find yourself hating the sin that would separate you from His kindness and mercy.

Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Rom 2:4 (HCSB)

When Jesus Turns Off The Lights…

When Jesus turns off the lights, the darkness is palpable.

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Rev 2:5

What is the lampstand?

According to Rev. 1:20, the seven lampstands in John's vision are the seven churches to which Jesus was about to speak. One of those churches was the church at Ephesus, to which He gave the warning above.

If the lampstand is a church, then what does Jesus mean when He says, "I will remove your lampstand?"

It's a troubling warning, to say the least. 

What is a lampstand's job? Is it the light, or does it hold the light? Does it create light, or just display it?

What happens when the lampstand is removed?

 
Some take it to mean that the church will lose its influence in the world. And I'm sure that's part of the truth. But I'm not convinced it's the whole truth. Because you see, no one lights a candle and puts it under a basket.

Nor do they light a lamp
and put it under a basket,
but on a lampstand,
and it gives light to all
who are in the house.
Mat 5:15

I don’t see Jesus taking away a glowing candle and hiding it under a cover. If He takes away the lampstand, it's because its fire has gone out.

The lampstand isn't merely unable to give away light. No, the truth is far more desolate than that.

It no longer has any light!

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mat 6:23

America was once a lampstand. It may not have been a “church,” and may not have appeared in John's vision, but nevertheless, it held up the light for a time.

Watching The Truth Project last night, I heard once again the thundering voices of our nation's founding fathers, proclaiming unashamedly the name of Christ, honoring Him, giving their allegiance to Him, and warning that our nation and its Constitution would collapse if the nation abandoned Christ.  Yes, America once held up the light…imperfectly, because the men who held it were flawed.  As are we.  And what is that light which our nation once displayed?

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
John 8:12

As long as I am in the world,
I am the light of the world."
(Jesus) John 9:5

"You are the light of the world."
(Jesus to the disciples) Mat 5:14

Jesus is the light of the world because He is light. (1 John 1:5)

We are the light of the world because we are the lampstands that hold His light.

Do we hold His light because we've adopted a creed? Because we've prayed a prayer? Because we attend church on Sundays and do good deeds?

No?  Then how do we get this light?

For it is the God who commanded
light to shine out of darkness,
who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:6

God shines the light in our hearts! He is the one who gives it. And He is the one who can take it away. (See Job 1:21.)

According to the passage in 2 Corinthians, the light we display is the knowledge of the glory of God...the awesome, holy, pure, incorruptible, unbearably bright Shekinah glory of God...all found in one place and one place alone…in the face of Jesus Christ.

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Rev 2:5

Does this nation even have its lampstand any more?  I have grave doubts.

 
True, there are lights here. There are Christians who carry the light because they behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, and their own faces glow in response. But the world around them still sits in darkness, untouched by their shining.
Why?

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
2Co 4:3-4

And why did God allow Satan, the god of this age, to do this?

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 3:19

 

they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:10-12

For those who love darkness, there is a judgment. In poetic justice, God hands down a sentence of perpetual darkness which cannot see even those few shining candles which remain.  Lovers of darkness are blinded.

So where is hope?

• We must fight for just laws, but laws never cured blindness.
• We must hate sin and be angry about it, but hatred and anger never restored sight.
• We must make sure our own lights burn brightly, but no lamp ever made blind eyes see.

Where is hope?  It is in the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who alone can shine into hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  While we fight for just laws, while we hate sin, while we seek to hold up the light, are we beholding His glory in that precious Face?

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2Co 3:18

If our main focus is on our political agendas, we will not be gazing on His face.  If our vision narrows to see only the sin of our neighbor, how will we see Christ?  If the source of our light is not our transformation into His image, then whose light are we really shining?

Why has America lost its light?  It’s not because darkness has overcome it.  Light always triumphs over darkness.  So why is darkness now prevailing?

Have we, as individual believers, lost our light?  Are we trying to replace His light in us by kindling lights of our own?  If so, let us heed this grave warning:

"Who among you fears the LORD? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon his God.

Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with sparks: walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled— this you shall have from My hand: you shall lie down in torment.
Isa 50:10-11

Beware of self-made lights!

Christians, what is our focus?  Where does our fire come from?  From self, or from gazing on the face of God?

• If we are not God-centered, there will be no transformation in us. 
• If we are not God-centered, our hatred and anger towards sin will degenerate into hatred and anger towards our neighbor. 
• If we are not God-centered, our activism will be ultimately self-centered. 
• If we are not God-centered, we will spend far more time trying to change externals by force of will and law than we will spend on our knees pleading with God to grant repentance to those who oppose us (2 Tim. 2:25), and asking Him to shine in their hearts as He has shone in ours.

Father, please grant us repentance, turn our hearts back to You, and enable our lights to shine brightly once more as we gaze upon You.  And then, dear Lord, please open the blinded eyes of those around us, and help them see not us, but You.  You are the Light, and all our lampstands are in Your hands.  Kindle us, Oh Lord, and place us on a hill where we cannot be hidden…not for our glory, but for Yours alone.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Photo from YlvaS via Flicker

Hard Words for Hard Times

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Normally I would be participating in "Friday Fiction" today, but I'm not doing that this week. For one thing, I ran out of pre-written fiction articles, and I didn't write a new one. But that's minor.

Mostly I'm just not in a fictional frame of mind.

This isn't a political blog, and I won't let it become one. Even yesterday's post wasn't primarily political. It was mostly about sin, righteousness, and judgment. Already it has become by far my most read article - in the past few days it has been accessed over 4 times more than the 2nd most read article, and readers have been emailing links to it to various points around globe. That tells me that a lot of people aren't in a fictional mood either. And I hope it means that a lot of people want to look at this presidential election in a way that brings us closer to God.

God-centeredness. That's what it's all about.

Now, this may sound like an unrelated topic, but hear me out. Last night I was with my Small Group, watching The Truth Project. The episode (if you want to call it that) was "Science, Part 2."

It was glorious.

I sat entranced as I watched the inner workings of a cell, and the only word that kept coming to mind was, "GLORY!" I wanted to burst out in praise of the Creator right there. It is inconceivable to me that anyone can see this level of complexity at a microscopic level and deny God. Not only that, but it makes me a little bit angry.

He deserves the glory for what He has done!

Imagine if you had been a close personal friend of the great Michelangelo. Think how you would Image by Robert Scarth via Flickrfeel at the unveiling of his masterpiece, "David." Now imagine standing there, bursting with joy for your friend and exulting in what he had accomplished, when two strangers walk up beside you. One points to the statue and says to the other, "Look, isn't it amazing what years of wind and rain did to that giant slab of marble? It looks like a person!" First of all, you wouldn't be able to believe their stupidity, and secondly, you'd be angry on behalf of your friend (especially if you told the strangers that the statue had been sculpted by someone, and that you personally knew the creator, and they refused to believe you).

The greatest human minds cannot create even a minuscule approximation of God's handiwork, and yet they have the gall to say that His work could be made by nothing at all. What an insult!

And yet there is another way to insult God, and perhaps it's even worse.

It is a greater insult to acknowledge Him with the mouth, but deny Him with the life.

Those who deny His existence do not cast His character in a negative light by their own actions. But when people (or when nations) name the name of Christ and live like the Devil, they throw mud on His reputation.

America has thrown enough mud on Him to cover the continent a thousand miles deep. Have you heard what the president of Iran has said about Christ because he believes that America is a Christian nation? He said (I paraphrase), "The followers of Jesus walk around half naked, but Allah's followers are modest."

The nations blaspheme because of us (Rom. 2:24).

We American Christians need to get our thinking straight on this subject. Because the way we "do Christianity" in this country has helped to bring us to the grave situation we find ourselves in today.

- We insult God when act as if we can and should expect unregenerate people in our society to live just like those who have been born again by God's Spirit.

-We insult God when we insist that our nation must officially talk the Christian talk even though it doesn't walk the Christian walk.

-We insult God when we cheapen His grace into an excuse for sinning, pampering our own favorite iniquities while yelling at our society for committing sins that are on our lists of pet peeves.

(There will be more on each of those points in future entries.)

We speak of God judging America, and I believe that is happening. But let's remember where God's judgment always begins.

For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1Pe 4:17)

And what does Paul tell us we can do when we realize we are undergoing judgment?

For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. (1Co 11:31-32)

May God in His mercy show us our sin and grant us repentance (2 Tim. 2:25) as we seek His face in humility. And then let us heed the wise counsel of the prophet Hosea:

Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. (Hos 6:1)

Conviction Gets Personal

Yesterday I promised to tell you about the day that changed everything. If you haven't read yesterday's entry, "Convicting of Judgment," please do that first, and then come back here.

I'd been a "Christian" for decades. I may have looked fairly good if people didn't look too closely, and I could truly say I wasn't guilty of any of the big outward sins (you know, I didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't cheat on my husband, that sort of thing). Yet I had no real victory over the sins that I did indulge in, no love for God Himself, no joy or peace in tribulation, no signs of the Holy Spirit at work in my life.

In fact, I pretty much loved me, myself, and I, and any sin that served me. My sins may have not been on the "Comfortable 21st Century American Christians' Big Bad No-No List," but they reeked in God's nostrils.

Well, I guess I can't say that there were no signs of the Holy Spirit at work. As I've said before, the Spirit was working on me. But the best way I can think to describe it is that He was working on me from the outside, not yet from the inside. And any time that I had the good sense to wonder if I really was saved, I would pray with an unspoken attitude that said, "I hope God will be reasonable, do right by me, and make sure I'm really going to Heaven." My head-knowledge would have known better than to say something like that, but my heart lived there.

That changed one night.

I lay in bed feeling the Spirit's conviction about my love for my sin. He seemed to be peeling off layers of denial and opening my eyes to the depth of my depravity. After a while my soul sank down with the knowledge...no, the certainty that God would be absolutely within His rights to condemn me eternally. He would be just if He did so. I truly deserved no better.

I didn't just think this in my head. I felt it in my heart.

How do I know it was the Spirit, and not just a self-generated guilt trip? Well, in addition to all of the previously discussed differences between conviction and guilt trips, there was also this:

For the first time, true faith dawned.

You see, when the Spirit showed me my own hopeless depravity, He also showed me Christ's mercy as my one and only hope. That was one of the most wonderful gifts the Spirit has ever given me. I felt, for the first time, the preciousness of God's grace and mercy. Whereas before I had intellectually assented to some facts about Christ, on this blessed night I threw my helpless soul completely onto His mercy, knowing that if He didn't catch me, I would fall into the inferno.

That leap in my heart was saving faith.

He caught me, and nothing has ever been the same.

I can't tell you how long ago that was, because I seem to have lost all ability to judge the passage of time. But it couldn't have been more than a few years ago.

And what about now?

I still have weaknesses for sins. Satan still has the ability to pull the wool over my eyes. And I know that I have a long, long way to grow. BUT...

My insides feel different. My priorities are changing. Old bitternesses are healing. Loyalty to God is growing. I feel a newly-budding desire to love others. Sin's grip on my affections is loosening.

God is at work. And when He decides to do something, He does it. Who is going to stop Him? So while I have a long way to go, and I know I won't "arrive" while I'm on this earth, I feel ever-increasing confidence in what He (not I) will do.

Not everyone will have the same salvation experience. If we did, then each of us should have had a blinding light strike us, like what happened to Paul (Acts 9:3). Of course that's not the case. But there are certain things that will be a part of every true Christian's life. And among those will be the Spirit's work of conviction about sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).

Christians, let's never shy away from speaking the truth in love, even unpopular truths about such things as sin or judgment. Remember God's warning to Ezekiel (Eze. 3:18-21). You might even want to memorize it. The Holy Spirit is the one who applies such truths to people's hearts, and He may even do it as a result of something you've shared. You will not lose your reward.

To those of you who may not be believers, my prayer is that God will grant you the precious gifts we've been discussing in this series, and will bring you to the point of receiving the very greatest that He has to offer...the gift of Himself.

(Photo from Stock.xchng by Scyza)

Convicting of Judgment

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this interrupted series based on John 16:8, we've talked about recognizing Image via Wikipedia the true ministry of the Holy Spirit versus counterfeits. We've talked about how He convicts the world of sin and of righteousness.

Today we continue this series with the fact that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of judgment.

I guess that means He wouldn't be welcome in most places, including in many churches.

That may also mean that this blog will be unwelcome on some computer screens, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Why? Read what God said to the prophet Ezekiel in Eze. 3:18-21.

When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.

There are warnings to be given, and there are severe consequences for those who refuse to give out that warning when they should. But there can also be joy in this message, and it's infinitely precious.

The fact is, before we can appreciate the good news, we've got to come face-to-face with the bad news. (More on that subject here.) So here's some of the stuff that's hard to read, coming from the mouth of none other than our Lord Jesus.

"Whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matt. 5:22)

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matt. 7:19)

"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment." (Matt. 12:36)

"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 13:41-42)

To keep this entry from getting too long, I'll stop there. But if you want to read more, just hover your mouse over these verse addresses: Matt. 5:28-30, Matt. 7:21-23, Matt. 18:23-35. They're not a complete list, but they give the idea.

When Jesus spoke those words, crowds of people stood around and listened. And since those words were written down, countless millions have read them.

For some people, these words have led to disdain for Christianity. They have rejected it as harsh and unloving.

For some it has led to rejecting certain portions of Scripture, while continuing to accept the parts they like. (And they fail to realize that the parts they like become grossly distorted without their missing counterparts.)

For some it has led to fearful legalism, the desire to protect themselves from God's judgment by jumping through religious hoops of some kind.

For some it has led to a healthy fear of the Lord, repentance, forgiveness, faith, and love.

What makes the difference?

It's the Holy Spirit. He convicts the world of judgment. And the key word there is "convicts." It's a heart-work, not the mere delivery of a message. The heart change required to respond properly to God is a precious gift, to be received with thanksgiving.

I speak from very personal experience. I grew up in the Word, enjoyed memorizing it from an early age, and often shared my Biblical insights with others. Yet I had the uncomfortable awareness, down in dark corners of my heart, that no supernatural transformation had ever taken place in me. Sometimes, when I would be expounding truth to others, my heart would tug at me. That hasn't been your experience.

When I read Biblical warnings of judgment, I usually reacted in a purely academic fashion. Nothing emotional. After all, I "believed," so none of that applied to me. If I did respond emotionally, it would either be with avoidance, resentment of this 'judgmental God," or the uneasy feeling that I needed to do better so I could feel reassured.

Then, finally, came the day that everything changed. I'll tell you about that next time.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts, or what is your story? Please leave a comment by clicking on the underlined "comments" link below.

(By the way, it has come to my attention that some people were unable to post comments earlier in the week. I had recently made a change in how Blogger handled comments, and evidently it wasn't working. I have changed back to a different setting now, and hopefully that has fixed the problem. If you tried to leave any comments and weren't able to do so, please feel free to try again.)