Day 149 - 2 John
Day 148 - 1 John 5
Day 147 - Devotional
The Problem of Forgiveness
R.C. Sproul
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Forgiveness is a problem for many people due to their misunderstanding of what forgiveness involves and confusion about what forgiveness really is. Part of the issue is that sometimes we are unable to distinguish between forgiveness and feeling forgiven. Sometimes our feelings can get out of sync with the reality of forgiveness.
Once a man came to talk to me about feeling greatly distressed because of his guilt. He said that he had committed a particular sin and had prayed and prayed about it but hadn’t received any relief. He wanted to know what he had to do to experience God’s forgiveness. But since he had confessed his sin and begged God to forgive him, I told him that he needed to ask God to forgive him for a different sin—the sin of arrogance. God says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we don’t believe that God has in fact forgiven us when we have confessed our sin, we are calling into question His faithfulness. We are saying that God’s promise cannot be trusted. That is supreme arrogance, so we need to ask God’s forgiveness for our refusing to believe His promise.
There is more to this problem of forgiveness. When we sin, one of the most difficult things for us is accepting free, gracious, merciful forgiveness. We are creatures of pride. We think that God’s forgiveness is fine for other people, but when we do something wrong, we want to make up for it. However, this is absolutely impossible for anyone to do. God requires perfect holiness. Once perfection is lost, we cannot regain it. We are debtors with a debt we cannot pay. This is difficult for us to accept because we want to be able to pay our own way. It’s because of our pride and arrogance, both fruits of our sinfulness, that we refuse to accept the forgiveness of God.
Back to the distinction between forgiveness and feeling forgiven: forgiveness is objective but the feeling of forgiveness is subjective. I can feel forgiven but not be forgiven because I haven’t repented. I can excuse myself when God has not excused me, and that false feeling of forgiveness can lead me astray. But I can also not feel forgiven even when I actually have been forgiven. If God declares that a person is forgiven, that person is in fact forgiven. Our lack of feeling forgiven does not negate the reality of what God has done.
What is the authority in our lives? Our feelings, which are subjective, or the Word of God, which is objective truth? The Christian must live practically each day by the Word of God rather than by his feelings. The issue of forgiveness is not whether we feel forgiven, but whether we have repented. If we confess our sin and ask God for forgiveness through Christ, we can be assured that He forgives us.
Day 146 - 1 John 4
Day 145 - 1 John 3
Day 144 - 1 John 2
Day 143 - 1 John 1
Day 142 - Devotional
The Significance of Sanctification
Pastor Jake
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. ”
I remember when I first got my driver’s license. Man, what an exhausting process it was to prepare for the driver’s test, learn about what all the signs meant, understand that even though its Illinois, you still need to use your turning signal.
I was a lazy kid growing up, so having to study for my driver’s test was daunting for me. But I took it, I passed, and I was finally issued my driver’s license. Oh, the immense freedom you feel when you get that piece of plastic that affirms you have received the right to traverse the world. But what do we mean by freedom here? When you get your license, are you able to just drive as fast as you want, wherever you want, disregarding signals, signs and the like? Trust me, sometimes I wish that were true – what with the 21 stoplights between my house and the church. But no, that isn’t the case. Instead, those signs – speed limit signs, stop signs, yield signs, caution signs, detour signs – all of them, suddenly have meaning and purpose. And beyond that, they allow our freedom to be the kind of freedom that best serves the purposes of the roadway – the kind of freedom that most effectively gets you to your destination.
Peter had a problem on his hands among the churches of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). He was hearing about false teachers who were not just some random people floating outside of the church, pronouncing wild teachings in the name of Christ. No, these people were actually counted among those who were in the church. 2 Peter 2, verse 1 says they are false teachers who
“…secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” (2 Peter 2:1)
Peter goes on to compare them with the dogs and pigs of Proverbs 26:11 when he writes
“What the true proverb says has happened to them: ‘The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing itself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:22)
He even mentions these teachers in chapter 3 verse 16, where he describes them as “…ignorant and unstable….”
So what were these false teachers doing? What was the problematic doctrine they were pushing on the faithful churches of Asia Minor? Here it is: They were teaching justification without sanctification. They were teaching an over realized Christian liberty and an underrealized Christian chastity. They took justification as if it were a license to drive, and started teaching all who would listen “Oh, those street signs don’t apply to us! We are free from all regulation! Go ahead, drive above the speed limit, disobey the traffic signals, go off the road through people’s yards.” In other words, they were teaching that once we are justified in Christ, we have nothing to worry about. Once saved, always saved. Go and live however you want.
Charles Swindoll describes the twisted religion of the false teachers as
“…sensuality, unbridled moral freedom, and licentious behavior masked by a twisted doctrine of ‘grace.’ … grace to these deceivers means freedom to do as they wish – when and where and with whom they wish.”
Peter is addressing the faithful members of the churches of Asia Minor to help them understand the error of these teachers. Yes, justification is the mighty work of Christ on our behalf to render sin powerless. We have his righteousness, and he bore our sin. But we must understand that justification serves a purpose. It is designed to set us apart as God’s people. It is designed to act as the fuel of our faith that launches us toward Christlikeness. It is designed for sanctification. Having been given our “license” of salvation, all the road signs suddenly make sense and have purpose. God made these signs to instruct us about holy living - about what it means to live a sanctified life. We need only be willing to follow every detour, stop at every stop sign, and go at every green light.
Day 141 - 2 Peter 3
Day 140 - 2 Peter 2
Day 139 - 2 Peter 1
Day 138 - 1 Peter 5
Day 137 - 1 Peter 4
Day 136 - Devotional
Living Under Authority
R.C. Sproul
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”
As I read the Scriptures, particularly the New Testament, there is a theme that recurs again and again regarding the Christian’s willingness to be in submission to various types of authority. Given the rebellious spirit of our age, that frightens me. It’s all too easy for us to get caught up in an attitude that will bring us into open defiance of the authority of God.
In 1 Peter 2:11-16, Peter is speaking to people who were subjected to brutal, fierce, and violent persecution—the kind of activity that can incite within us the worst possible responses, including anger, resentment, and hatred. But Peter pleads with those people who were the victims of the hatred of their culture to behave in an honorable manner before the watching world. Paul gives a similar plea time and time again that we’re to try to live at peace with all men as much as possible.
The “therefore” of verse 13 introduces a key manifestation of living honorably before the watching world. We’re to submit ourselves to the ordinances of man. Why? I find the answer startling and fascinating. The Apostle’s admonition is that we’re to submit for the Lord’s sake. But how is obedience to human ordinances done for the Lord’s sake? How does my obedience to my professors, my boss, or the government in any way benefit Christ?
To understand this, we have to understand the deeper problem that all of Scripture is dealing with—the problem of sin. At the most fundamental level, sin is an act of rebellion and disobedience to a higher law and Lawgiver. The biggest problem with the world is lawlessness. The reason people are violated, killed, and maimed in battle, the reason there are murders, robberies, and so forth is that we’re lawless. We disobey, first of all, the law of God. The root problem in all of creation is disobedience to law, defiance of authority. And the ultimate authority of the universe is God Himself.
But God delegates authority as He reigns and rules over His creation. God raises up human governments. It is God who instituted government in the first place (Rom. 13). That’s why Christians are called to honor and pray for the king, pay their taxes, and submit as much as possible to the authorities in all things—because the authorities are instituted by God. Moreover, He shares supreme authority with Christ, who said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given [by the Father] to me” (Matt. 28:18). So, no ruler in this world has any authority except that which has been delegated to him by God and by His Christ, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Thus, disobedience to the lawful commands of earthly authorities is ultimately disobedience to God and to Christ because they ordained the governing authorities.
The root problem in all of creation is disobedience to law, defiance of authority. And the ultimate authority of the universe is God Himself.
The world has gone crazy in lawlessness, but we’re to be different. Wherever we find ourselves under authority—and we all find ourselves submitting to various authorities—we’re to submit to that authority. Nobody in this world is autonomous. Every one of us has not just one boss, but several bosses. Everyone I know, including me, is accountable not to just one person but to all kinds of authority structures. Throw a brick through a store window, and you’ll find out quickly that you’re accountable, that you’re under authority, that there are laws to be obeyed and law enforcement officers to make sure the laws are obeyed.
Christians are free in Christ, but we aren’t to use our liberty as a license for sin, because even though on the one hand we’re free, on the other hand we remain indentured servants.
We’re bondservants to God. We’re slaves of Jesus Christ. So, even if the rest of the world is running on the track of anti-authority and anti-submissiveness, we aren’t allowed to join in. We’re called to be scrupulous to maintain order. There is such a thing as law and order that God Himself has ordained in the universe. And we’re called to bear witness to that, even by suffering through uncomfortable, inconvenient, and sometimes painful submission to the lawful rules of even those authorities who do not recognize God, for even the godless authorities have been established by God.
I think we all have experiences where we bristle and chafe under authority and under mandates with which we vehemently disagree. Let me just suggest as a matter of practical consideration that if we look to these human institutions or these human persons who are tyrannical, unfair, unjust, and all that, and we seek to submit to them individually or even institutionally, considered in and of themselves, we will find it extremely difficult to submit with any kind of good attitude. But if somehow we can look through them, look past them, look over them, and see the One whom the Father has invested with ultimate cosmic authority, namely, Christ Himself, we’ll have an easier time submitting. We’ll find help with our struggle to submit when we recognize we’re submitting ultimately to Christ, because we know He’ll never tyrannize or abuse us.