"What," someone asks, "does it mean to 'trust Christ?' I often hear people use that term but it is not clear to me what they are saying." * * * The bottom-line question each of us must face is this: "Am I personally willing to trust what God has already done, once for all, in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, as the adequate and sufficient basis for my right standing with God, or must I try to supplement that in any manner whatsoever in order to be secure and to feel secure before a holy God?" One's honest, soul-level answer to that question will indicate whether that … [Read more...]
SAYING ‘AMEN’ TO GOD (3)
The same God who dealt with Abraham speaks now to us. "My Son died because of your sins and was raised again because of your declaration of acquital," God tells us in the gospel. "I will count anyone in right standing with me who truly says 'Amen' to those realities." (See Rom. 4:23-25.) "How can this be?" we ask. "Surely we must contribute something!" But no. This God calls into being what does not exist. He did not make the universe from spare parts. He does not need our contribution to make us righteous. God simply pronounces us righteous -- us, who have no righteousness and no right to … [Read more...]
SAYING ‘AMEN’ TO GOD (2)
God promises Abraham that his descendants will be as the stars of the sky in multitude. Abraham believes God's promise, although he and wife Sarah are childless and very old. And God says, in effect, "That is all I need from you, Abraham. An 'Amen.' Your acquiescence in my promise. Your willingness to act on the basis of my promise, totally trusting me to accomplish what seems humanly impossible. That is all I want and need from any of my human creatures. You believed me, Abraham. You are in right standing with me!" Then God who called the universe into being empowered Abraham and Sarah to … [Read more...]
SAYING ‘AMEN’ TO GOD
"A father of many nations have I made you," said God to ancient Abraham. We don't know his mental or physical health, but we do know this much -- the old patriarch, now about 100 years of age, cannot begat a child. Even if he could, his wife Sarah, past 90 herself, cannot contribute to the process. But there is a third character in this scenario, and that makes all the difference. It is God. Not just any god. Not even a fertility god, such as the Canaanite baals. This is Jehovah God, the Creator of heaven and earth. The God who "gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does … [Read more...]
LIFE NOW AND FOREVER
This final week of 2004 has seen what is perhaps the largest natural disaster in the world's history, following an earthquake under the Indian Ocean more than 740 miles long and having the force of a million atomic bombs. The quake, which jolted the earth's rotation, spawned monster waves called tsunamis which swept across the Indian Ocean, killing (says the Associated Press) more than 44,000 people in eleven countries from Thailand to Somalia. Human life is fragile and precious, in the big picture and in our individual cases. Immortality is Christ's accomplishment and the Christian's hope. … [Read more...]
GOD’S ‘POEMS’ (2)
April/May 1997 -- Yesterday we noted Paul's use of the Greek word poema (from which we get "poem") to describe God's workmanship in Creation (Rom. 1:20) and in his New Creation in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10). I described the divine handiwork in Creation, which we experienced recently in California. It aawed us into silence and then elicited outbursts of adoration. God's "poem" in his New Creation awed us as well these past eight days. For four days at Pepperdine, we joined an estimated 5,000 believers who packed the Fieldhouse twice each day to worship God in song and to enjoy soul-stirring … [Read more...]
