In May 2024, a historic church in Heidelberg, Germany, decided it needed a new way to reach younger people. Instead of simply gathering around the ordinary means God has given his church—the Word of God, prayer, and worship—they advertised a “Taylor Swift Church Service.” Some 1,200 people came. A band performed Taylor Swift songs such as “Shake It Off” and “Love Story,” and the pastor reflected on Swift’s lyrics and life. The event was such a success that the church reportedly began planning similar services centered on Billie Eilish and Beyoncé.

Things like this make me pause and ask a simple question: What exactly is the purpose of the church? Does this even honor God? What would Jesus think of what this church is doing?

Is the church’s purpose to get people through the doors no matter what? Are we free to redesign worship around whatever the culture finds appealing?

Or has God already told us why the church exists and what we are supposed to do when we gather together?

Who are we as God’s people?

Exodus 19:3–6: While Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

1 Peter 2:9–10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Based on these two passages and the overall teaching of Scripture, we are a chosen and treasured people united together by sovereign grace in the Triune God.

Ultimately, we exist to DISPLAY GOD’S GLORY.

We are commanded throughout Scripture to display God’s glory. It is not an option, but the most important thing we can do as God’s people.

Psalm 29:2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

1 Chronicles 16:29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Thomas Watson said, “The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through ALL our actions.”^[1]

Let me offer some practical ways we should display God’s glory as individual believers and also through the local church.

First, we submit to the authority of God’s Word in all areas of life.

Isaiah 66:2 . . . But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

As a church, do we TREMBLE at His Word? Do we submit under the authority of His Word?

Jude 3: Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

God has entrusted us with His truth, and this is a sacred trust we must take care of well. Do we teach the truth? Do we love the truth? Or are we embarrassed by the truth?

Do we only want to discuss half the truths of the Bible, but we don’t submit to ALL of it?

Gregg Allison urges, “The church must proclaim-clearly, urgently, persuasively-the Word of God without confusion, without change, without compromise-as its first order of business.”^[2]

That should be the mission of your church and your desire as a Christian. To live under the authority of the Bible as the Word of God, so there is no confusion, no change, and no compromise.

Second, we find our greatest joy and satisfaction in the Triune God.

2 Corinthians 5:9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Do you make your life’s aim and purpose and chief end to PLEASE God?

The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with this famous statement: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

There is a direct correlation between displaying God’s glory and finding your joy in Him alone.

Do these Psalms express the desire of your heart?

Psalm 16:11: You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Do you find your ultimate JOY in Jesus?

Psalm 73:25–26: Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Do you DESIRE nothing else than finding joy in Jesus? He is your all in all.

Matthew 22:36–38 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

Displaying God’s glory means we LOVE Jesus with all our being!

Is your conscience sensitive to the holiness of God?

Is your mind filled with the truth of God?

Is your imagination captivated by the beauty of God?

Is your heart open to the love of God?

Does the glory of God consume everything about you?

Third, we are not driven by pragmatism.

Pragmatism basically asks the question: “What can I do to make this work, rather than what is the right thing to do that honors God?”

John MacArthur defines pragmatism this way: “It is a philosophy that says that results determine meaning, truth, and value—what will work becomes a more critical question than what is true.”^[3]

Pragmatism focuses on what will work. What will bring results. What will make us relevant.

What will give us success... to the neglect of asking: What is truth? What is faithfulness to Christ? How does it bring glory to God? How do I depend utterly upon Him alone for everything?

Pragmatism prioritizes relevance and success over faithfulness to Christ and dependence on His power alone.

A church driven by pragmatism always does whatever yields the best results, by any means necessary, through human ingenuity, to be relevant or popular, never to offend or address difficult topics.

The glory of God, no matter the cost, should always be our priority, rather than taking the path of least resistance or doing what works or what will yield the best results.

Colossians 3:17: And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The ultimate question we should always ask before we do anything as a church is: Will this bring glory to God?

Fourth, we reflect the character of God to a watching world by our distinctive holiness.

1 Peter 1:14–15 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

Philippians 2:14–16 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life. . .

Let’s ask a final question: WHY do we display God’s glory?

Look at 1 Peter 2:8-9: The answer: He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

What exactly does it mean that we were once in darkness and not a people?

John 3:19-20 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

Ephesians 5:8: For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

The greatest miracle is that God called us out of this darkness, out of this pit of destruction, into his marvelous light.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

We are a new people. We are a saved people. We are a chosen people. We are a kingdom of priests. We are a holy nation. We are a treasured possession.

Who are we? We are a chosen and treasured people united together by sovereign grace in the Triune God.

What a glorious and beautiful identity.

What has God called us to do first and foremost? Display His glory!

May we be faithful as both individuals and a church to display His glory IN ALL that we DO!

May our eyes ever be fixed on Jesus, and may we point others to Him by a lifestyle that consistently and faithfully displays God’s Glory!

To Him be the glory ALONE!!

^[1]Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1983), 6.

^[2]Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway), 435.

^[3]John MacArthur, “What’s Inside the Trojan Horse?” para. 2.

Have you ever sent a text message and immediately wished you could unsend it? Or spoken in anger and spent months trying to repair the damage? Words can never truly be taken back. Has your mouth ever gotten you in trouble? Have you said things you regretted and/or had to take back that caused serious conflict in a relationship? After the fallout, you banged your head against a wall and said, “Why did I have to open my big mouth? Why did I move so quickly to make that decision?”

Judges 11 introduces us to Jephthah, who opens his big mouth and makes a really dumb decision with terrible consequences.

Scene One: An Unlikely Hero (vs. 1-11)

Jephthah is a mighty warrior who must have proven himself in battle before this to earn his reputation. The only problem is that he is the most unlikely of heroes. He’s the illegitimate son of a nameless prostitute. Jephthah has an interesting name. It means “He has opened.” Jephthah’s prostitute mother was probably happy that her womb was opened to give birth to a son, but who is the “He”—the one who gave her the ability to give birth? Is it the LORD? Is it a pagan “god”?

We are left with the ambiguity. Jephthah is the son of a prostitute, whom his family disowned and kicked out, and he lived in the land of Tob, surrounded by worthless fellows. Who is his mother? This nameless prostitute? And why did his father, Gilead, sin with her? Did his father have a nasty habit of visiting prostitutes? If she was an Israelite, he committed a flagrant sin.

Leviticus 19:29: “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.”

If she was a Canaanite, he also committed a flagrant sin, as stated in Exodus 34 and Deuteronomy 7. And if she was a temple prostitute to one of the pagan gods, he committed the worst of sins, not only because he had sex with a prostitute but also because he gave in to idolatry and pagan worship. The first three verses show us the sordid situation in Israel. Who thought the Bible spoke of illegitimate sons of prostitutes?

In essence, Jephthah became something of a “gang leader’ who had to flee his hometown and surrounded himself with “thugs” or “worthless fellows.” Does this sound like the “likely” candidate to be Israel’s leader? In the world’s eyes, he was a loser among losers. He was the lowest of the low.

1 Corinthians 1:2: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

The Israelites who had rejected Jephthah came looking for him to be their leader after being overtaken by the Ammonites.

We see this in verse 6: Come and be our “leader”—the Hebrew word means chieftain or military leader. They don’t want him to be king. Remember how badly it went with Abimelech—the son of Gideon. He was a terrible king. But notice they don’t call him a “judge” or “savior” either. The people who rejected Jephthah now have to eat crow and call him back to be their general because, in their eyes, he’s the only one who can defeat the enemy. We see that Jephthah has some sense of the LORD’s direction in verse 9, when he attributes the victory to God’s hand of deliverance. In verse 11, the people make him their head and leader.

I want you to notice a detail in verse 11 that may seem insignificant at first glance. Jephthah SPOKE all these words. This entire chapter focuses on Jephthah’s words. He is ALWAYS talking. We will see that he is a smooth talker, and his words both save him and get him into major trouble.

Scene Two: A Master of Words (vs. 12-28)

This entire section consists of Jephthah’s negotiations with the king of the Ammonites. Before fighting, he tries to persuade with words. Jephthah gives three primary defenses to the Ammonite king. The first is historical, in verses 15-20. He recounts what happened and was recorded in Numbers 20-21. During Moses’ time, the Israelites did not invade the Moabites or the Ammonites but asked permission from their respective kings to pass through peacefully. Instead, the kings attacked Israel, and God delivered them from their hands.

The second is theological, as seen in verses 23-24. God sovereignly gave the land to Israel and conquered the Amorites. God gave us this land, and it really doesn’t belong to you.

The third is legal, as stated in verses 25-27. We, as Israelites, have lived here for 300 years, so why are you raising a stink NOW? It has been our land for a long time. We have legal rights to this land dating back 300 years. The Ammonite king did not listen and went to war with Israel.

Scene Three: A Misery of Words (vs. 29-40)

Jephthah’s words are his downfall. He starts out strong, with the Spirit of the Lord empowering him for service (v. 29). Verses 30-31 show how Jephthah’s words are his downfall.

Judges 11:30–31 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”

The text is ambiguous in verse 31: “Whatever” comes out of the house, he will offer “it” up as a burnt offering. Did he expect an animal that would be an “it” or a person who would be a “whoever”? We really don’t know. Did he expect his pet dog to greet him as dogs do, or a lamb to stroll into the house? I don’t think he ever expected his one and only daughter.

Two things we do know about the Law: First, Burnt offerings were only reserved for animal sacrifices—it would be somewhat unthinkable for Israelites to burn people. Second, human sacrifice by burning in a fire was an abomination to the LORD.

Leviticus 18:21: “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.”

Some argue that Jephthah made a “rash” vow because he wasn’t thinking it through. This is problematic because the narrator does not reveal his inner thoughts and intentions. Could it be that Jephthah was acting like a pagan and was less spiritual or mature than we thought? Here’s where it gets troubling. Is Jephthah taking the Lord’s name in vain? He’s not even invoking a pagan deity or making a vow to Baal or any other false god. He is doing this for what appears to be very religious reasons.

In fact, the word LORD appears about six times in verses 29-36. Jephthah is unafraid to invoke the Lord’s name, talk about the Lord, and sound religious. He’s not speaking like a pagan but like an Israelite who worships the Lord. Again, all his talk is going to get him into trouble.

Notice how quickly the victory is reported in verses 32-33—no gory war stories or battle descriptions. The reason: The focus now shifts to his one and only daughter. She is nameless. Historically, she has been named Sheila, but that is extra-biblical.

There is dramatic tension in verse 34 with “And BEHOLD, his daughter. . .” You don’t quite get this in your English translations, but the Hebrew word for “behold” means something like “And wouldn’t you just know it. . .” or “would you look at that!”

Or, in the Sean Cole Version, it would say, “Are you KIDDING me!”

Sadly, she behaves like any young girl who idolizes her father. She happily greets him with a victory dance because he is Israel’s valiant warrior. And what does Jephthah do? We learn a great deal whenever this man opens his mouth. What does he say?

He acts with self-centered brutality. There is no tenderness toward his daughter, only accusation. Verse 35 is chilling: “You are responsible for my ruin! I had to open my big mouth.” He doesn’t hug her or get on the floor and weep. He blames her. He’s self-centered, thinking only of himself, not of her. Instead of her being the victim, he acts like the victim.

Verse 39 is also chilling: Jephthah sacrifices his own daughter as a burnt offering. This does not mean she was burned alive. Even the lambs and bulls that were sacrificed were not burned alive. Their throats were slit with a knife for a quick death. We don’t even know whether Jephthah had the nerve to do it himself or if he had a servant or one of his worthless thugs do his dirty work.

All we know is how the narrator explains this in five simple Hebrew words, translated as: “And he did to her his vow which he had vowed.” Some scholars have tried to soften the reality here by saying that all Jephthah did was make her live as a virgin for the rest of her life, so she would be unmarried and childless, but the text will not allow that. We aren’t given the graphic details, but she is killed because Jephthah opened his big mouth and had to live with the deadly consequences.

WHAT SHOULD JEPHTHAH HAVE DONE?

Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

He should not have talked so much and should never have made the vow in the first place. But after the fact, when his one and only daughter walked into the house, what should he have done? He should have brought a curse upon himself, broken the vow, and spared his daughter. In addition, he should have at least appealed to the Mosaic law on vows and paid thirty shekels to the priest as compensation for his daughter’s life, as Leviticus 27 tells us.

Here’s the question that baffles us: WHY did Jephthah carry out this vow? The text does not give us a direct answer, but I can offer two observations.

First, it could be that he was so desensitized to the violence around him by the pagan culture that it did not bother him enough to break the vow.

Ephesians 4:17–19 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Unbelievers are ignorant of the things of God. They have hard hearts, and repeated sin builds calluses impervious to conviction.

1 Timothy 4:1–2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,

Sadly, some people’s consciences can be seared like a hot iron, with no sensitivity to right and wrong.

Titus 1:15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

The Bible says that your conscience can be dulled, seared, calloused, and defiled. These passages speak of non-believers who do not have the Holy Spirit in their lives, but I do believe that Christians can, at times, become calloused and hardened, with dull consciences and desensitized to flagrant sin. It may be no different for us today.

Have we become so desensitized to sex, violence, and profanity in our movies, TV shows, video games, and YouTube clips that they are like white noise to us, and we aren’t that bothered by them?

I often wonder what utter shock it would be for my great-aunt Ruth, who was born in 1902 and died in 1990, if she had lived long enough to see our world today. Even when she died in 1990, the world was crazy, as that was the year I graduated from high school. But it’s nothing compared to today’s entertainment, music, and media. She was a piano player for silent movies in the 1920s. She was a godly woman, and I wonder how shocked she would be to watch a PG-13 movie—not even an R-rated movie today. What was scandalous in movies in the 1920s and even the 1960s, compared with what 7-year-olds have access to now on smartphones and tablets, is unsettling. What was taboo and scandalous, even 40 years ago, is mainstream today, and nobody blushes.

This chapter is about voices—especially Jephthah’s voice. Yet he lives in a culture of conflicting voices. He’s surrounded by pagan gods and idolatry, prostitution, and compromise. Do we see anyone in this chapter emerge as a prophet or preacher to declare God’s truth? Do we see anyone speaking the words of God?

In the same way, we live in a culture of worthless noise and talking heads, godless chatter, vulgar language, and mindless banter. Think about how many sources or inputs go into your ears and eyes daily, from social media, video games, streaming services, podcasts, radio stations, cable news, and anything else you can think of. We are surrounded by voices that, at times, are flat-out lies and, at other times, are just stupid and unproductive. If we’re not careful, we, like Jephthah, can be desensitized by the voices and noise around us so that we look no different from the godless culture. We don’t even notice it, and it doesn’t even bother us because it’s become such a part of who we are.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Here’s another observation: Why did he make the vow to God in the first place? What was he trying to prove? He acted like the nations around him, who reacted to their pagan gods. He thought he could “buy off” God for the victory. If God gave him the victory, he would reward God with a sacrifice to repay God for helping him out. This is none other than works-righteousness, where you do a good deed for God to gain God’s favor and show that you are good enough to worship Him.

Romans 4:4–5 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Here’s the bottom line about Jephthah: Although he was a Spirit-empowered military leader, he was also acting like a pagan who did not trust in the sovereign grace of God. Can that happen to you today as a true believer indwelt by the Spirit? Can you fail to trust in God’s grace and try to work for Him or perform something religious or spiritual that you think will somehow get you into His good graces? You want to win brownie points with God by your good deeds, hoping that if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, then maybe, just maybe, God will love you and let you into heaven based on your performance.

Jephthah is an example of someone who has become so consumed by paganism that he has been desensitized to sin, and he is also operating out of trying to work hard and do good deeds so that God will accept him.

That said, here is the telling fact about this entire episode: GOD IS SILENT.

This may bother you that there is no commentary on whether what Jephthah did was sinful. All we have is the narrative before us, without any explanation of its morality. And that is the point. Jephthah acts with pagan brutality after starting so well, and God is silent.

However, who does ALL the talking in this chapter? Jephthah! He starts out well. He is empowered by the Spirit and gifted with words to persuade leaders, yet his foolish vow becomes his downfall. Jephthah is a poignant picture of a man who knew enough about God to talk a great game. He knew Israel’s history and had strong head knowledge of God’s power. Yet he was also as pagan as they come. He nullified God’s law, acted brutally, and, in a self-centered act, killed his daughter. And when we read this, we should be shocked and angry at his actions.

Does God approve of what was done? ABSOLUTELY NOT! His eerie silence shows that Israel had spiraled into gross depravity.

Chapter 11 ends with brutality and sadness. The daughters of Israel lament this young woman’s death. The chapter ends with terrible news on a very sour note. So, how do we bring the good news of the gospel to bear in this ugly chapter?

We must stop talking and HEAR GOD SPEAK loudly and clearly about what He did in sending Jesus. While the sacrifice of this one and only daughter is tragic and sinful, God sacrifices His one and only Son for our sins, bringing hope and forgiveness.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

God is not silent on the cross because Jesus shouted a victorious cry: “It is FINISHED!” God is not silent but gets the last word when He raised Jesus from the dead.

The resurrection is the exclamation point on “It is FINISHED!” When we hear God’s emphatic VOICE of Victory at the cross and in the resurrection, there is no weeping, lamenting, or grieving, but there is joy, peace, and forgiveness.

There is only one way to respond to this good news: GOD is NOT SILENT but shouts His love for us on the cross of Christ. What is that response?

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

Ecclesiastes 5:2–3 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

Habakkuk 2:20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

I like what Martyn Lloyd-Jones says about this verse: “How do you know whether someone is a Christian? The answer is that his or her mouth is ‘shut.”^[1]

We like to hear ourselves talk. We talk too much. Today, the best we can do is to shut our mouths, open our ears, and HEAR the message of God’s grace in sending Jesus to die for our sins. Let us remain silent, hands over our mouths, because we know that all we can offer God is our sin and guilt. We can’t argue our case. We can’t put forward our resume. We can’t justify our actions.

Let us shut our mouths and simply receive GRACE upon GRACE in Jesus. Let us shut our mouths and open our hands to receive the gift of eternal life. Let us shut our mouths and know that Jesus alone is LORD, worthy of all praise and worship!

When our mouths are silenced before God’s majesty, our hearts become teachable. We stop defending ourselves, stop boasting, and begin to submit to His Word. That humility is desperately needed today.

One of the greatest marks of biblical maturity is not loudness, bravado, or self-assertion. It is humble submission to God. Pride always produces conflict, but humility produces peace. Self-confidence divides; godly character unites.

^[1]Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: Exposition of Chapters 3:20-4:25 Atonement and Justification (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), 19.

When a new President is elected, he is inaugurated and usually gives a speech. It’s a dignified affair with pomp and circumstance. But that’s not what happened on March 4^th, 1829, at Andrew Jackson’s swearing-in.

After giving his speech, he retired to the White House, expecting a formal reception. He was so popular that a crowd of about 20,000 (some traveling 100 miles) descended on the White House. They were drunk, rowdy, and excited. They climbed on furniture, knocked over glassware, and desperately tried to see the new President.

Jackson’s staff tried to control the crowd by serving them free alcohol, which made matters worse. The President had to flee out a window to a nearby hotel to avoid being crushed by his drunk supporters. Things improved when his staff moved tubs of whisky punch out onto the White House lawn.

That’s a wild and unexpected party. I’m sure many of you would admit that you may have attended a wild and crazy party at some point in your life. Things get wild and out of hand, with a frenzy of chaos, loud noise, and all manner of immorality, where people lose all control.

But what if God’s people—the Israelites—partied like crazy, made a lot of noise, and got wild over a golden calf?

In Exodus 24 we see the most offensive and graphic displays of idolatry in the Old Testament.

How did the Psalmist express their idolatry?

Psalm 106:19–23: They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

Notice the wording here—they exchanged the glory of God for an image. They forgot God. That is what idolatry is—exchanging the glory of God for something He created.

Here is the main idea of this passage on idolatry:

Insecurity often leads you to create idols that replace the security found in the living God.

This narrative of the Golden Calf fits neatly into FOUR main scenes or sections that illustrate for us the nature of idolatry.

First, let’s explore the ROOT of idolatry.

Exodus 32:1–6 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

In verse 1, the people gathered around Aaron. You don’t get the force of this in our English translations. The original language indicates they gathered in hostility against Aaron out of their impatience.

Their impatience had turned to anger and frustration, so they ambushed Aaron and put major pressure on him to act in Moses’ absence.

Here’s a plaguing question: Why in the world would the people want Aaron to make an idol? Why were their hearts so turned away from the living God?

Here’s where we see the root cause of idolatry rear its ugly head. It was a combination of impatience, insecurity, and fear. You could say it was fearful insecurity.

What had God promised them? That they would inherit the Promised Land, conquer the Canaanites, and settle there in freedom in a land flowing with milk and honey, as God had promised Abraham way back in Genesis.

And this is not happening on their timetable. Moses has been up on the mountain way too long, and it’s time to get moving and enter the Promised Land. So there’s impatience.

They no longer trusted in the faithful security of an invisible God who called them to walk by faith, not by sight. Because of their impatience and fearful insecurity, they needed a visible, tangible “god” they could control to lead them to the Promised Land.

Instead of worshipping God on His terms—through the invisible means of only His voice from the mountain or a pillar of smoke and fire—the people wanted a “god” they could see, touch, and control. They wanted something tangible before them to give them security.

What specifically makes you insecure? Where do you look for security that is not God Himself? Do you find it hard to live by faith in an invisible God rather than by sight?

So, in an amazing act of peer pressure and complicity, Aaron gives in to the mob and actually makes the golden image.

You wonder if Aaron ever stopped to think about what he was doing? As he took the time to smelt the gold, personally fashion the mold, and then use the stylus to engrave the details. This was not a passive activity in which Aaron wasn’t fully invested. He was engrossed in making this idol, and he never stopped, shocked, stepped back, searched his heart, repented, and stopped.

When you replace God with an idol for your security and comfort, do you ever pause to consider the absolute foolishness of what you’re doing, or are you so engrossed in that idol that you can’t think straight? That’s what idolatry does to us. It clouds our thinking, and we believe the lie that the thing we’ve elevated will meet every one of our needs and give us the security, comfort, meaning, and purpose our hearts so desperately want.

Now, we need to understand the significance of the calf. When you think of a calf, what do you think of? The original word means “young bull”—a symbol of virility and power in Egyptian mythology.

In other words, God wasn’t powerful enough to lead the people, so they created what they believed was the most powerful symbol of strength, straight from Egyptian pagan mythology—a young, virile bull.

We see the exchange or replacement in verse 4—they claim that this graven image of a young bull is actually the god who delivered them out of Egypt. That’s a bald-faced lie. Who delivered them out of Egypt—the powerful outstretched arm of Almighty God—not a young golden bull.

And then Aaron leads them to bow down and worship the bull and to sacrifice to it as if it were God. Notice in verse 5 that he ordains a feast to the LORD? But that doesn’t make any sense. How can this be a feast to the LORD when they just made a young bull as a replacement for God?

Aaron and the people have become blinded to reality in their idolatry.

And so what do they do? They engage in gross debauchery—they rise up to play. This has sexual overtones. It was probably a drunken orgy with wild dancing, loud music, and mayhem of all sorts.

Second, we see the RESULT of idolatry.

Exodus 32:7–10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

God addresses this idolatry in very expressive language that shows how this exchange or fearful insecurity actually results in destructive behavior.

In verse 7, they have corrupted themselves. It could be translated as “they acted perversely.” They were doing things that were perverse and dirty.

In verse 8, they quickly turned aside from God. Notice how quickly it happened. It was a full-scale turning in the wrong direction.

In verse 9, they were stiff-necked, which means stubborn or rebellious.

So what does idolatry result in? Perversion, corruption, a rapid turning away, and stubborn rebellion.

Here’s the issue: Instead of trusting in God and in how God Himself had chosen to reveal Himself to them in fire, smoke, and a powerful voice from the mountain, they wanted a dumb idol made of gold that could do none of these things. A golden bull cannot speak powerfully. It cannot produce fire and smoke to lead the people.

In their stubborn perversion, they wanted a “god” they could control, above all, one that would be CONVENIENT. They wanted a god who would not demand that they live a holy life. They wanted a god who would let them have a good time with no consequences. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

Have you made your personal comfort and convenience an idol? How do you respond to a holy God who demands that you live according to His Word and ways? Do you trade pleasing God for your personal comfort?

This was a foolish, corrupt, perverse, stubborn choice by the people to exchange the power, glory, faithfulness, and security of the living God for a dumb idol that could do nothing for them.

They put all their hope in a dead idol that could not deliver. Because of their impatience, insecurity, fear, and desire for a convenient god, they traded in the only God who could give them security, power, and direction.

Third, we discover the RESPONSE to idolatry.

Exodus 32:11–14 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

In verse 10, we see three things: (1) God’s wrath burned hot against them, (2) He wanted to consume them, and (3) He wanted to start over with Moses.

But Moses emerges as a mediator—an intercessor who prays on behalf of the people. He has no desire to replace the promise God made to Abraham or to start over as a new nation.

God relented from His anger and did not destroy the Israelites. We see Moses standing in the gap on behalf of sinful Israelites, pleading for God to show mercy rather than wrath. He is the great Old Testament mediator and intercessor.

Yet, that does not mean that God doesn’t give a strong warning and bring harsh discipline.

As Moses and Joshua come down the mountain, they hear the loud noises of partying, carousing, and debauchery, and it’s so loud it sounds like a battle is going on. Maybe it’s a mixture of drunken singing, wild dancing, men shouting as they chase women, and women screaming as they are chased, fighting over food and fighting over women. We really don’t know. All we know is that Joshua thought it was a battle because it was so loud.

In an act of discipline, Moses burns the golden bull, grinds it to powder, and puts it in the water supply to show that the idol was completely destroyed and that the people would have to drink its corruption, experiencing for themselves the physical aftermath and sickness of their idolatry. This is not God’s wrath consuming them but His discipline, meant to warn them to repent and not do it again.

Exodus 32:21–25 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” When Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them run wild, to the derision of their enemies),

And in verses 21-24, Moses confronts Aaron, and we see him take no responsibility and completely dodge the issue. He says he was just an innocent bystander and that it was really the people who did this. He blames the people even though he was in charge of the whole affair.

And notice how he explains away how the calf came to be (v 24) —I threw it in the fire and POOF it just came out as this calf. Moses, I can’t explain it!

There is an interesting description of what this idolatry led to in verse 25—the people had “broken loose,” meaning they had gotten out of control.

Do you notice all the terms used in this narrative to describe the consequences of idolatry?

It is corrupting. It is perverse. The people turned aside quickly. They had become stiff-necked and stubborn. They had incurred God’s wrath. They rose up to play and party so loudly it sounded like a battle.

The only way Moses can describe all of this is that the people were literally out of control. They had been let loose from all restraints.

Let’s retrace our steps for a moment.

The root of idolatry is impatience and fearful security, in which we are prone to replace or substitute created things for the faithfulness and security that only God can bring.

The result of idolatry is corruption, perversion, rebellion, and being literally out of control.

The response to idolatry is that God expresses wrath against sin and may discipline or strongly warn us to move us to repent of that idolatry.

But there is one final issue that is ultimately a gospel issue.

Finally, we see the REDEEMER of your idolatry.

Exodus 32:30–35 On the next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front of you. Nevertheless, when the day comes for punishment, I will punish them for their sin.” Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf—the one that Aaron made.

What did we see the first time with Moses when God was angry? He was a mediator who went and prayed on behalf of the people to God. He interceded for them. Because in their sin, they could not approach God or plead their case. The only representative for the people was Moses.

And here, a second time, we see Moses doing just that, but on a deeper level. He’s not just praying for the people; now he is the one mediator offering atonement so that God could forgive their sin through the shed blood of an animal.

The word “atonement” (v 30) means to “completely cover or completely forgive their sins”

What was the bottom line for these idolatrous Israelites? They had sinned so grievously that only an atonement for sin could forgive the magnitude of their rebellion.

The covenant had been broken. Remember Moses throwing down the tablets and smashing them. Their relationship with God was shattered. They were guilty of breaking the law and worthy of condemnation.

Notice the passionate way Moses intercedes for them in verse 32—he is willing to have his name blotted out of the book of life—even if that were possible, because he has so much compassion for these people.

In verse 33, we see that sin is so serious that the people needed a mediator. They needed a representative. They needed one who would stand in their defense, take their punishment, pray for them, and make atonement to forgive their sins.

That man was Moses. Moses was the great Mediator of the Old Testament who, time and again, stood in the gap for the sinful people, prayed for them, and made atonement for them so that God’s wrath would not consume them.

And yet Moses was only a man who died and needed his sins atoned for as well.

But there is the greatest Mediator of all time, whom Moses foreshadowed—Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the only One qualified to stand in the gap, serve as our representative, make atonement for our sins, take the wrath of God in our place, and accept our punishment so that we won’t be destroyed.

He is our Redeemer who rescues us from idolatry. The only way to have your sins forgiven, to appease God’s wrath against your sin, and to avoid eternal punishment forever is for Jesus to die in your place as an atonement, completely forgiving all your sin.

1 Timothy 2:5–6 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

So what is the danger in idolatry? Fearful insecurity often leads you to create idols to replace the faithful security of the living God.

You commit idolatry when you’re afraid. When you’re insecure. When your comfort is threatened. When you’re impatient. When you want physical proof of God’s work in your life, when you want to live however you want and not be accountable to God.

And when that happens, you make the damning exchange. You trade in the glory, security, and fulfillment that are found only in Christ and replace them with idols that you think will bring you the things your heart deeply needs.

What you need most is Christ as your Mediator and Redeemer. What you need most is to have your sins forgiven by the only One qualified and worthy to die in your place. What you need is the grace of Jesus, who, by His cross, gives you the power to repent of idolatry.

Only Jesus, by His grace, can get to the root of your idolatry. Only Jesus can give you the security and purpose your heart longs for. Only He can truly satisfy your soul.

Only Jesus, by His grace, can overcome the corrupting, pervasive, and out-of-control nature of idolatry through His powerful presence and faithfulness.

Only Jesus, by His grace, can absorb God’s wrath against your idolatry and take the punishment you deserve by dying on the cross. In reality, God has every right to consume us as a holy God, but since Jesus is our Mediator, that righteous justice was poured out on Jesus in our place.

Only Jesus, by His grace, is the Mediator, Redeemer, and Savior you need.

When you find yourself impatient, fearful, or insecure, and you are tempted to trade in, replace, or exchange everything you have in Jesus for something else to give you comfort, security, and meaning…Repent! Look to Jesus as the only One who can satisfy.

Remember how He has been faithful to you in the past. Remember how He has brought you comfort and peace. Remember how He has helped you through trials and hard times. Remember how He has always been there for you. Remember Jesus and His love for you.

And when you fix your eyes on Jesus and remember His love for you, most fully expressed on the cross, your heart will want to cling to Him for security. Your heart will want to find satisfaction in Him alone. Your heart will want to worship and obey Jesus above all else.

Samson was a tragic figure who started out well but ended his life in disgrace. The Bible says he killed a lion with his bare hands and tore it apart like a little child. Was this because he was on an ancient form of Israelite steroids that gave him massive biceps? The reason for Samson’s strength was that the SPIRIT of the LORD rushed upon him.

Judges 14:6 The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid.

Would not all men who aspire to become bodybuilders want the Holy Spirit to rush upon them so they can have this massive strength? Or those who hunt wild game on an African safari?

While I joke about this because it is rather fascinating to think about tearing a lion apart with your bare hands, it does raise a question about the role of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

In the previous article, I answered the question: How were the Old Testament saints saved? The answer: The same way we are today, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

In addition to this question, I am often asked a follow-up that makes perfect sense: What was the role of the Holy Spirit among Old Testament saints?

The Old Testament teaches that the Spirit either rushed upon, came upon, or clothed a man. Here are just a few examples:

Othniel — Judges 3:10 — “The Spirit of the LORD was upon him, and he judged Israel and went out to war.”

Gideon — Judges 6:34 — “But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon”

Samson — Judges 14:6, 14:19, and 15:14— “Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him.”

David — 1 Samuel 16:13 — “And “And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.”

Zechariah — 2 Chronicles 24:20 — “Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest.”

What exactly was the Holy Spirit’s role in the lives of Old Testament believers?

Did He come “upon” them to empower them for service, or did He actually indwell and regenerate them as we are today?

The Old Testament reveals THREE overarching ways the Holy Spirit worked.

First, the Holy Spirit was active in creation.

Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Second, the Holy Spirit empowered or anointed specific people for service.

Exodus 31:1–4 The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,

1 Samuel 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

We also see the Spirit coming upon judges such as Othniel and Gideon to deliver Israel from their enemies.

2 Kings 2:9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”

Micah 3:8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

Third, the Holy Spirit did regenerate and indwell individual Old Testament believers.

Now, I want to build a case for this so that you don’t take my word for it but see it biblically and theologically.

Let us consider some biblical truths about the nature of man and how God saves sinners.

First, all people are born spiritually dead due to the Fall.

Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Ephesians 2:1–3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Second, the Holy Spirit sovereignly brings a spiritually dead person to life and grants faith in Christ.

John 3:7–8 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Ephesians 2:4–5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

Third, if these first two truths are valid for all people, then for O.T. people to hear, believe, and respond in faith to the LORD, the Spirit must also grant them the supernatural ability to do so.

While it is not called “regeneration” in the OT, we see evidence that God performs a work of supernatural grace, making a sinner a new creation by granting saving faith.

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Notice the order: God will first do this internal work on their hearts. This work will lead them to love and serve God.

The implication is that an Israelite could not love or serve God WITHOUT this circumcision, cutting away, or supernatural working of God in the depths of the heart.

Fourth, Old Testament believers had faith in the promised Messiah and were obedient.

While the New Testament terms such as being born again, regeneration, and indwelling do not appear in the Old Testament, what evidence do we see?

Noah: Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Abraham: Genesis 15:5–6 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Joseph: Genesis 41:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Moses: Hebrews 11:24–26 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Seventy Elders: Numbers 11:25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.

Joshua: Numbers 27:18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.

John the Baptist: Luke 1:15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

Elizabeth: Luke 1:41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

Zechariah Luke 1:67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

These are examples of individuals before the birth of Christ who were indwelt or filled by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, Old Testament saints were regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, just as we are today.

Can anyone truly be saved outside of faith in Jesus, or in the promised Messiah revealed in the Old Testament’s Covenant of Grace?

In addition, can anyone be truly saved without the regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit? The answer is no.

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him

How could Old Testament believers have faith, obey, pray, worship, or respond positively to God WITHOUT the Holy Spirit?

You have to argue in one of two ways:

One: They could do spiritual good without the Holy Spirit, but we really don’t know how. It cannot be the law because they remain sinful.

Galatians 5:16–17 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Was this internal battle with the flesh NOT present among Old Testament people? Was their human nature somehow different from ours?

They may not have had the categories we have for the flesh and the Holy Spirit, but they needed the power of the Spirit within them to obey God and walk in holiness, just as we do.

Two: The Holy Spirit came upon them to give them the power to believe and obey, but He did not live in them continually.

If so, how could they remain faithful continually? Did the Holy Spirit come and go? Did he empower at times but not at others?

I want to show two Old Testament passages from the Psalms of David that reveal to us that the Holy Spirit performed an internal, spiritual work in the lives of individual believers.

Psalm 51:10–11 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

David is pleading with God to create and renew! These powerful words remind us of God’s act of creation. He also references the Holy Spirit.

In confessing sin, David desires the Holy Spirit to cleanse and renew his soul.

When David begs the LORD not to take the Holy Spirit from him, the implication is that the Holy Spirit was living inside him.

Now, we need to be careful here. This passage does not mean the Holy Spirit can be taken away from true believers. Once the Spirit regenerates us, making us alive in Christ, and comes to live inside us, He can never leave.

Then, what is David’s burden here, and what does it mean?

I believe David is speaking about God’s “felt presence” in his life, the awareness of God. Because he sinned grievously, his fellowship with God was broken. The Spirit would not leave David, but that sense of God’s presence and love can be lost. He desires a renewed sense of God’s presence in his life and attributes that to the Holy Spirit working within him.

He wants God’s continuous blessing in his life. He’s not saying he can somehow lose his salvation.

John Calvin gives a great comment on this verse: “It is natural that the saints, when they have fallen into sin, should feel anxiety upon this point; but it is their duty to hold fast the truth that grace is the incorruptible seed of God, which can never perish in any heart where it is deposited.”^[1]

David needs the Spirit’s power to resist temptation and walk in holiness—just as we do today.

Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

David asks the Holy Spirit to lead and teach him to do God’s will. Again, how can Old Testament believers obey God and respond positively to God in worship unless they are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit?

They needed the Spirit’s help and power within them to obey just as much as we do today.

Now, let me address an objection you may have. What about Pentecost?

Some people think that the Old Testament saints were not saved by grace alone but by keeping the law. They also believe they were not indwelt or regenerated by the Holy Spirit. They draw a sharp distinction between how God worked in the Old Testament and in the New.

They argue that these became realities ONLY AFTER Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out and Jesus had ascended to heaven. In other words, only those who came after Pentecost are regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, not before.

Based on our study, the day of Pentecost CANNOT mean that the Holy Spirit was inactive in the regeneration and indwelling of Old Testament believers or those before Christ’s ascension.

There are two things to be aware of:

First, the Holy Spirit PRIMARILY worked among the Israelites, except among Gentile converts who believed in the LORD.

Second, the Old Testament was a time of preparation and pointed forward to Christ.

The spiritual blessings that the Holy Spirit gave to the Israelites were a foretaste of the fullness of blessings that would impact not only Israel but also Gentiles all over the world.

The Holy Spirit worked in the Old Testament, but not in the fullness that included Gentiles. Only after Christ’s death would the Spirit be poured out on all flesh—not just Israelites.

We need to understand what happened at Pentecost.

Pentecost did not mark the beginning of the Spirit’s indwelling. Instead, it signified the official constitution and organization of baptized believers as the church.

Pentecost is not a radical shift in the Holy Spirit’s work in regeneration or indwelling that differs from the Old Testament. Instead, Pentecost marks a different economy of the Spirit concerning Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

The Holy Spirit indwelt Old Testament believers, but Pentecost shows this more clearly now that Jesus has come in the flesh, died on the cross, rose again, and instituted the New Covenant, the fulfillment of the Covenant of Grace.

After ascending to the right hand, He poured out His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, so that He, as the resurrected Head or Groom, could be joined to the Body or Bride—the church.

Why is this important? Without the Holy Spirit, we would never experience the full blessings of salvation.

You would not be a Christian unless the Holy Spirit regenerated you and caused you to be born again. You cannot be a Christian unless the Holy Spirit indwells you permanently.

Because the Holy Spirit has regenerated us and permanently indwells us, we have fellowship and union with Christ.

The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ.

The bottom line is this: The Holy Spirit is INDESPENSABLE!

You cannot live without Him. He is our source of salvation. He unites you to Christ. He lives within you. He empowers you. He cleanses you. He grows you in holiness. He gives you the strength to live the Christian life.

Most importantly, He glorifies Jesus by pointing you to the Savior.

Let us be thankful for the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, which brings us all the blessings of salvation and sweet communion with our risen Lord!

^[1]John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries: Psalms 36-92 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 300.

When studying the Old Testament, I am often asked the following question: How were the Old Testament saints or believers saved? The answer I always give is that they were saved the same way you were saved: by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This may sound confusing if you’ve grown up in a Dispensational theology. Older versions of Dispensationalism teach that Old Testament believers were saved by the law, not by grace in Christ.

Some forms of classical dispensationalism have so sharply divided law and grace that they have obscured the Bible’s presentation of a single way of salvation throughout redemptive history. Lewis Sperry Chafer, for example, described grace as God’s normal manner of dealing with sinners from Adam onward, “except for the intrusion of the law system which was in force in the time between Moses and Christ.” He further argued that at Sinai Israel “passed from a grace relationship to God into a law relationship.^[1]

As a confessionally Reformed Baptist who adheres to the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, we find tremendous help in its answer to this question about the salvation of Old Testament believers.

Chapter 8, “Christ the Mediator,” paragraph 6 states:

The price of redemption was not actually paid by Christ till after His incarnation. Yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefit of it was imparted to the elect in every age since the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices that revealed Him and pointed to Him as the seed that would bruise the serpent’s head and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This paragraph clearly argues that Christ’s death retroactively paid for the sins of Old Testament believers. They looked forward to a coming Messiah, and the sacrificial system served as types and shadows pointing to that ultimate event at Calvary.

In addition, Chapter 11 on “Justification,” paragraph 6 reads, “In all these ways, the justification of believers under the Old Testament was exactly the same as the justification of believers under the New Testament.”

The 1689 LBC and the Westminster Confession of Faith both affirm that Old Testament saints were saved and justified in exactly the same way we are today. This raises an important question: What does the Bible say about this? Do the Scriptures teach this truth?

I want to provide SIX Biblical arguments for why I believe Old Testament believers were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, the same way we are saved.

Argument One: The Covenant of Redemption

What is the Covenant of Redemption? In the Covenant of Redemption, which took place before the world’s foundation, the Father entrusted Jesus with a specific and definite number of people to save. Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof defines it as follows: “The covenant of redemption may be defined as the agreement between the Father, who gives the Son as Head and Redeemer of the elect, and the Son, who voluntarily takes the place of those whom the Father had given Him.” The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession defines the Covenant of Redemption as “that eternal covenant transaction that was between the Father and the Son regarding the redemption of the elect.”

John 17:1–2 states, “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.’”

This group that the Father gave to Jesus is called the elect, or those predestined. The Father did not give every person to Jesus, but only those He sovereignly chose. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for the sins of the elect alone and died exclusively in their place.

Theologically, we must include ALL believers who will be in heaven among God’s elect, including Old Testament saints. There has only been ONE people of God—His elect, those predestined—throughout all ages, beginning with Adam.

This first argument is primarily theological: Since there is a covenant of redemption and Jesus purchased His elect on the cross, the only way any person will ever be saved is through faith in Christ. The only way to get around this reality is to devise two methods of salvation—one for Old Testament saints and another for New Testament believers.

While the Old Testament did include the ceremonial and civil laws, the sacrificial system, and the priesthood, these were merely types and shadows pointing to Jesus. In other words, these types and shadows did not bring eternal salvation in the person and work of Christ, but merely pointed Old Testament believers toward that future reality culminating in Jesus. Hebrews 8:5 teaches that these Old Testament events, sacrifices, and priesthood served as “a copy and shadow” of eternal things.

Revelation 13:8 and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

We must assume that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah, and all the other Old Testament saints who will be in heaven are included among those names written before the foundation of the world.

Argument Two: The Promise of Genesis 3:15

The Covenant of Redemption took place before the world’s foundation. However, in time, God instituted the Covenant of Grace in His announcement of the protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15:

Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

This salvation will come from the seed of the woman. In other words, it would not be an animal or an angel that would bring salvation, but another man. But not just any ordinary man, but a Man who is fully man and fully God. A divine Man.

Jesus left the glories of heaven to become a Man to live on the earth as a servant to die for our sins.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And yet how did Jesus come to earth? He was born as the offspring of a woman.

Galatians 4:4–5 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

The birth of Jesus was announced in Genesis 3:15 and in the fullness of God’s timing, He was born of a woman in the flesh as the offspring.

The big question that confronts us as we move from Genesis 3:15 through the rest of the Old Testament is this: What is the fate of the offspring? How will this offspring of the woman survive? When will Jesus actually come?

In verse 15, it says that Satan would bruise the heel of Jesus. What does this mean? Why the heel?

This is a reference to Jesus’ death on the cross. This coming Savior, from the offspring of the woman, would experience a painful, excruciating death.

But not just an ordinary death, but a substitutionary one.

In Genesis 3:21, when God provides animal skins for Adam and Eve, the text does not explicitly state it, but we must infer that God Himself killed an animal. There was a substitute. Instead of Adam and Eve dying, an animal died in their place to cover their sin.

This is a picture of what Jesus came to do. He died in the place of sinners as our Substitute so that we would not have to die.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

So salvation would come by God’s sovereign grace, through the infinite God-Man, the Messiah born of a woman, and also by means of a cruel death on the cross as our Substitute.

But it would not be a lasting wound. His heel would be bruised, but that would not be the end of the Messiah.

Only the heel of Jesus is bruised, not His head. In other words, this Savior would rise again, conquer death, destroy the works of Satan, and crush his head.

Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Colossians 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Through his cross and resurrection, Christ disarmed Satan and triumphed over him. He crushed Satan’s head. He won the victory.

Now there will be a final day when Jesus deals with the devil once and for all.

Revelation 20:10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Genesis 3:15 is the overarching promise for all Old Testament believers, and it was announced in the third chapter of Genesis.

Salvation would come from a Man—a future Messiah—who would crush Satan through a sacrificial death and rise again.

While the OT believers did not have the specific facts that this Man would be Jesus of Nazareth, born of the virgin Mary, they did know that a Promised Messiah or Redeemer would eventually come and be their Savior.

Again, Old Testament saints placed their faith in the promised Messiah of Genesis 3:15 by looking forward to His coming.

Argument Three: The Example of Abraham

In Romans Chapter 4, Paul teaches the doctrine of justification by faith alone and surprisingly uses Abraham as an example. Why Abraham? Because he was originally a Gentile pagan living in darkness, and he lived hundreds of years before the Mosaic Law.

Romans 4:3–5 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

Paul anticipates the Jewish objectors who would argue that salvation cannot be by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and he does so by pointing to their great patriarch Abraham.

Wasn’t he circumcised to demonstrate his obedience to God, and didn’t he earn salvation by passing the test on Mt. Moriah when he was about to sacrifice his only son, Isaac?

Didn’t God look down on him with favor because he did something to earn a right standing with God?

The Jews of Paul’s day focused on Genesis 22, where Abraham passed the test of obedience by his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. God looked down with pleasure on Abraham, who earned God’s acceptance through his obedience.

In other words, they believed Abraham was saved by works—specifically, his willingness to sacrifice Isaac—and that he earned salvation by doing something that merited God’s favor.

In Romans Chapter 4, Paul blows that idea out of the water.

Romans 4:22–25 Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

How does Paul teach us that Abraham was saved? Through faith alone. He was justified by faith alone in the coming [promise of a Messiah], based on Genesis 3:15 and the power of God’s promises. Paul then argues that we are saved in the same manner as Abraham. When we believe in Christ alone for salvation, God justifies us. He declares us not guilty and imputes Christ’s righteousness to us, just as He did to Abraham.

The point Paul makes is that Abraham was NOT saved by works but by faith alone in Christ alone.

Paul reiterates this truth in Galatians Chapter 3:

Galatians 3:7–9 So, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

Notice carefully how Paul states that God declared THE GOSPEL beforehand to Abraham. This gospel would include Gentiles placing their faith in Jesus as Messiah, just as Abraham placed faith in the promises of Genesis 3:15.

Paul’s point is to demonstrate that there has always been ONE people of God—those who believe in the Messiah and are blessed, including Abraham as well as every sinner who trusts in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Argument Four: God’s Patience to Old Testament saints

Romans 3:25–26 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

What does it mean that God was patient and somehow “overlooked” sins committed beforehand?

These are the sins of God’s people committed in the Old Testament right up to the time of Christ’s death on the cross.

This does not mean that God failed to punish those sins, that He simply “overlooked” them, or that He didn’t truly forgive sins through the Old Testament sacrificial system and the Day of Atonement.

A better way to understand Paul’s meaning here is that God “postponed” the full penalty due for those sins committed in the Old Testament.

Think about David for a moment, who committed murder and adultery. Technically, under Old Testament law, he should have been stoned to death for breaking the Ten Commandments.

Nathan, the prophet, came to him and announced that God had forgiven his sins.

Yet we wonder how God could forgive David’s egregious sins when there was no sacrifice. Even the Day of Atonement could not cover murder and adultery.

In a sense, God really did forgive David but postponed the wrath due to David until Jesus took it for David when He died on the cross.

Hebrews 10:11–14 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Argument Five: The disbelief of the Exodus generation

Hebrews 4:1–3 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “As in my anger I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ” though his works were finished at the foundation of the world.

Time and space do not allow me to give a full treatment of Hebrews 4, but allow me to summarize the main point regarding the salvation of Old Testament believers.

We first need to understand what the writer means by the terms “rest” or “Sabbath rest,” since they are metaphors for heaven.

In Hebrews Chapter 3, he uses the Exodus generation as an example of those who did not enter the Promised Land but died in the wilderness because of their sinful rebellion.

In verse 2, he argues that the “Good news” came to them as far back as the Old Testament, but even though they heard the “gospel,” they did not unite it with faith.

Here’s the big issue: It is not the hearing of the gospel by itself that brings final salvation, but rather faith—faith that is truly saving and endures to the end.

The Israelites were “evangelized” by Moses—they heard the gospel. Joshua and Caleb proclaimed God’s power to save and deliver them, but they refused to believe it. They rebelled against God.

In verse 3, we learn that if we have come to believe in Christ, we enter that rest.

Here’s the point: Old Testament believers were saved by believing in the coming Messiah and the promises of Genesis 3:15. If they believed, they would enter the physical rest of the Promised Land. The spiritual application is that by believing in Jesus as Messiah, sinners can experience the hope of eternal Sabbath rest in heaven.

Argument Six: Peter’s Teaching

1 Peter 1:10–11 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory.

These Old Testament prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Daniel, wrote about the coming of Christ, but it was through a glass darkly. They knew there would be a day when the Messiah would come and bring grace to God’s people through the cross. They searched and inquired carefully about this. They were very familiar with Genesis 3:15 and the promise of a coming Redeemer.

Notice that the Old Testament prophets who wrote the Scriptures were indeed inspired by the Holy Spirit. Peter says that the Spirit of Christ was in them. The Holy Spirit was breathing out God’s word for them to write.

2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these ancient prophets knew that the Messiah would suffer, rise again, and be glorified. They just didn’t know when in time it would happen. They only knew it would be a day in the future.

Just go back to Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22 and read about the sufferings of the Messiah. In graphic detail, these passages describe the agonies of the cross.

So let’s summarize the five arguments for why I believe the Old Testament saints were saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone:

First, because of the covenant of redemption before time, God has predestined His elect—one group of people—to be saved through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. This includes ALL believers from all ages.

Second, Genesis 3:15 serves as the ultimate promise in the Old Testament, announcing the coming Messiah who would crush Satan. While the Old Testament sacrificial system was a type and shadow of the substance to come, the Old Testament saints were saved by looking forward to Jesus, even though they did not have all the details that would unfold later in redemptive history.

Third, Abraham serves as the primary Old Testament example of a sinner who placed faith in God’s promises and was justified by faith alone. The gospel was announced to him, and he was saved by looking forward to Christ, just as we are saved by looking backward at His death, burial, and resurrection.

Fourth, God postponed the penalty for sins committed by Old Testament saints until those sins were fully propitiated in Christ’s death on the cross. David was saved by faith in the coming Messiah, and his sins were “temporally” forgiven until all of them were paid for by Jesus as his future Substitute.

Fourth, the writer of Hebrews clearly teaches that if the Exodus generation that rebelled in the wilderness had placed their faith in God’s promises, they would enter not only the physical rest of the Promised Land but also the eternal Sabbath of heaven.

Finally, Peter explicitly teaches that the Old Testament prophets wrote specifically about Jesus and testified in advance of His death, burial, and resurrection. Again, they pointed forward to the reality of Genesis 3:15 and the future of all God’s elect in heaven as a result of the Covenant of Redemption.

There has been only ONE people of God.

There has been only ONE way of salvation.

There has been only ONE mediator between God and man.

There has been only ONE sacrificial substitute who died in the place of God’s people.

There has been only ONE way to be justified and declared not guilty.

That ONE way has ALWAYS been by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone!

^[1]Lewis Sperry Chafer, Major Bible Themes: 52 Vital Doctrines of the Scriptures Simplified and Explained (Chicago: Moody Press, 1926), chap. 27, “Law and Grace.”

Few issues have generated more discussion in the modern church than the role of women in ministry. Over the past century, many denominations have reconsidered the Bible’s teaching on eldership and pastoral ministry. As a result, churches have reached very different conclusions about whether women may serve as pastors or elders.

Because 1 Timothy 2:11–15 has become a central passage in this discussion, it is important to address some of the most common objections to the complementarian position.

Modern evangelical debates over women pastors did not arise in a vacuum. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, broader cultural movements about the roles of men and women increasingly shaped many churches. As denominations reexamined Scripture in light of these cultural changes, many began ordaining women to pastoral ministry. In later decades, several of those same denominations also revised their positions on marriage and human sexuality.

How do we respond to the cultural pressures that are making significant inroads into evangelical churches? We must embrace two truths: God is absolutely sovereign over all things, and His Word is the absolute authority over all things. God’s sovereignty and the inerrancy of Scripture are vital foundations for us as a church. Do we believe that God is absolutely sovereign over all things—including the church, the roles of men and women, and how we function as His people?

Psalm 33:8-11 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! ⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. ¹⁰ The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. ¹¹ The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

Do you believe the Bible is the absolute authority over your life and that you must submit to whatever it teaches? 2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Whenever the church gathers for worship, women are not permitted to teach men or to hold positions of spiritual authority. They cannot serve as elders or pastors. This timeless command binds us today, and we must submit to God’s good design for the roles he ordered for men and women in the church.

1 Timothy 2:11–15 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

I want to address FIVE of the main arguments or alternative viewpoints regarding the traditional, historical, conservative view of the role of men and women in the church.

Argument One: The New Testament was moving in the right direction on some issues but never quite reached its ideal moral standard as we have it in today’s modern, evolved culture.

This is called the “redemptive trajectory movement” understanding of Scripture, popularized by William Webb.^[1] The teachings of Scripture were merely points along a line toward a greater ethic. This view argues that these prohibitions were for that period in the ancient culture of the New Testament. But since we have evolved in our modern understanding of the role of women and the issue of homosexuality, these commands can change.

In other words, our contemporary culture has a better understanding and a stronger ethic than the ancient world. This is dangerous because no moral authority exists for the New Testament in any area. The teachings in the Bible were good for that time and place and represented ONE STAGE along the way to a better understanding. We are moving toward a great, evolving ethic we haven’t yet reached.

So how do we know which commands to obey? How can we trust God’s Word? This leads us to pick and choose which parts we want to obey or believe. How will we know if we ever reach this ideal ethic or understand the truth if it’s constantly changing and evolving? This view argues that modern Christians need to be open to how the Spirit is moving to give us a better understanding of these truths toward this ideal ethic, and that we should not be stuck holding to “concrete, frozen-in-time particulars.”^[2]

Does the Bible have a fixed meaning that transcends all time and cultures, or is its meaning elastic and ever-changing, shaped by our modern context? Does the Holy Spirit lead us to believe anything contrary to God’s written Word? Absolutely not!

Argument Two: When Paul spoke of the office of a pastor, he meant a “senior” or “lead” pastor. Therefore, women can serve as “associate” pastors and teach men, as long as they don’t serve as senior pastors.

This confuses the office of elder, which is synonymous with the office of pastor. In other words, an elder is the same as a pastor, and vice versa. A plurality of male elders leads a church—there are no qualifiers such as “senior,” “children’s,” “worship,” “executive pastor,” or “teaching pastor.” Those titles have been used only in the past 30 years and reflect the megachurch corporate model.

Acts 20:17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

In this passage, Paul uses three interchangeable terms to describe the office and function of a pastor. He initially addresses them as “elders” in Acts 20:17, who also serve as “overseers” charged to “shepherd or care for or pastor” the church. Paul’s interchange of all three terms provides strong evidence that the office of the pastor/elder is one office. An elder is a pastor. An elder is an overseer. The terms are interchangeable.

The church has only TWO offices: Elders/Pastors and Deacons. There are no senior, junior, assistant, or associate elders or pastors. All pastors serve as elders, and their primary role is to lead the church through preaching and teaching, as well as exercising spiritual oversight and compassionate authority.

So those who argue that Paul only prohibits women from being “senior” or “lead” pastors are making a huge stretch. The Bible does not have this category. The only category is that of a pastor/elder—not a senior or lead pastor.

Argument Three: There are rare occasions (anomalies) when a woman may preach to the entire congregation on the Lord’s Day, provided she has the elders’ approval, permission, or covering.

If the Bible clearly prohibits something, it should not matter whether the elders grant permission or authority for a person to commit that sin. Likewise, in any other area, we would never think it proper for a pastor to permit another person to commit a clear violation of Scripture.

A careful reading of 1 Timothy 2:12 does NOT say, “A woman may not teach unless she is under the authority of the elders or given permission by the pastor.” That caveat or condition is not in the text. We must take this instruction at face value and believe that women cannot teach men in any capacity whenever the church is gathered.

Notice that Paul uses functional language, the action word “to teach,” instead of office language, the noun “an elder or pastor.” The Bible prohibits women not only from holding the official office of pastor but also from the activity or function of teaching men.

We would not affirm a pastor’s right to give permission or delegate authority to a church member to quarrel, commit adultery, or be stingy with their money. We don’t find such caveats in the Bible regarding elders giving permission in other areas. This passage in Timothy appears to be the one place where some make a “carve out” for disobedience to Scripture, as long as the elders permit it.

No matter how sincere the elders may be in wanting to empower or recognize a woman’s giftings by allowing her to preach to the entire congregation, they would be complicit in leading her to sin. This would not be protecting her but would actually hurt her spiritually by condoning the clear violation of Scripture.

Some argue that we should allow women to preach on rare occasions, such as Mother’s Day, or that certain anomalies should occur from time to time. This violates the command that women not teach men and assumes that women will bring a different interpretation to the Biblical text. This is very popular in the progressive Christian movement, which holds that a Bible passage can have multiple interpretations depending on your background.

For example, they say that an African-American lesbian will reach a different conclusion about the text than a white, heterosexual male. There is a female interpretation, a gay interpretation, a lesbian interpretation, etc., and we need to be open to all these interpretations—especially those from historically marginalized people. This understanding argues that white, heterosexual men are the oppressor class. Therefore, our interpretation does not matter, and we should be silenced and allow other oppressed voices to give us the interpretation of the Bible. The fundamental problem with this approach is that it assumes the Bible has MULTIPLE interpretations rather than a single fixed meaning.

In addition, when anomalies, such as allowing women to preach on Mother’s Day or other rare occasions, are permitted, they confuse the church and often become the church’s normative practice. Once you open the door an inch for an anomaly, it can be flung open quickly, becoming embedded in the church’s culture.

Argument Four: God calls and gifts women to preach in the local church, and we have biblical examples of women preaching.

The argument is as follows: A woman has a genuine call from God to pastoral ministry or to preach, so we have no right to stand in the way of His work in her life, and we should allow her to follow that calling. This view assumes that God does indeed call women to pastoral ministry and to preach. God’s Word is clear that the office and function of a pastor/elder are reserved only for men. As a result, God does not call women to pastoral ministry, for that would violate the written Scripture.

There is a difference between spiritual gifts and the OFFICE and FUNCTION of an elder. What women may perceive as a call to pastoral ministry may be a genuine call to another ministry or service in the life of the church—but not to the office and function of a pastor. Women can serve in many areas, hold church leadership roles, and use their gifts and talents for God’s glory. The only prohibition is serving as an elder or teaching men.

They will cite such women as Deborah, Mary Magdalene, Priscilla, and the Great Commission as examples of gifted female preachers and teachers who held authority over other men.

I agree that Deborah was a prophetess and judge in Israel (Judges 4:4, 5:7). Judges is written in the genre of Hebrew narrative, which often reports events without prescribing how things ought to happen. Therefore, we cannot use Deborah’s ministry as instruction on the role of women in a New Testament church.

The Pastoral Epistles, not the book of Judges, provide clear guidance on how to order the polity and leadership of local churches. The book of Judges depicts Israel at one of its lowest points in history and should not serve as a template for constructing a theology of God’s plan for church leadership.

In addition, Deborah became a judge because of a vacuum in male leadership. She was an indictment of the weakness of Barak and the other men in Israel who should have stepped forward as courageous leaders. (Judges 4:9)

What about Mary Magdalene “preaching” to the apostles? John 20:18 says, “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.” Is this authoritative preaching in a worship service or church context? No, Mary goes back and announces to the disciples what she has seen.

Nowhere does Jesus appoint her as an official apostle or give her authority to pastor a church. She doesn’t share preaching responsibilities with Peter on the Day of Pentecost either. This is a beautiful example of how God used women in the early church to advance the gospel, but it is not a prescription for women pastors or for women to teach men in the public assembly of the gathered church.

What about the Great Commission? Proponents of women preaching argue that Jesus has given all believers—men and women—authority to make disciples. They then leap to the conclusion that “making disciples” here is equivalent to ordaining women as pastors. Should women make disciples? Absolutely! Women should share their faith with boldness and clarity, disciple other women, train their children, and be involved in the church’s outreach, evangelism, and mission ministries. But the Great Commission is not a text that permits women to teach men or to serve as pastors.

What about Priscilla, who took Apollos aside and corrected his theology in Acts 18:26?

Acts 18:26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Is this not an example of a woman teaching or exercising authority over a man? First, the text says “they” took him aside and explained. It was not Priscilla by herself but with her husband. Second, Priscilla was never recognized as an apostle or an elder in the early church. Third, Acts never records her preaching to the entire congregation.

It was right and proper for Priscilla to do this privately, but she did not publicly preach God’s Word to a mixed congregation. Therefore, this episode in Acts should not be used to establish a normative practice that authorizes women to preach to men or to hold the office of elder.

Argument Five: This traditional, conservative view inherently leads to patriarchal hierarchies and sexual abuse.

Therefore, women must be freed from misogyny in the church that stems from the traditional understanding of women’s roles. Let me say unequivocally that any abuse is sinful and egregious and should be handled with the utmost care and urgency. We should never tolerate any abuse in our homes or churches.

However, the reality of men in pastoral leadership acting sinfully does not mean there is an automatic cause-and-effect relationship stemming from taking the conservative, historic view.

Are there genuine abuses in churches where men act chauvinistically and patriarchally? Absolutely. Gross misogyny does exist in some churches. But we cannot then claim that the conservative, traditional understanding “automatically” leads to abuse. A misunderstanding and misapplication of 1 Timothy 2 MAY lead to abuse.

Nevertheless, God’s standard remains that men be servant leaders in their homes and in the church. We cannot lower the bar or nullify the Scripture’s clear teaching on the roles of men and women in the church as a reaction to abuse. Many today will say it’s toxic masculinity for men to be the only spiritual leaders.

A faithful biblical standard is to denounce abuse at every level, protect women and children from predators, and, at the same time, hold fast to a complementarian theology. Both of these commitments can be held simultaneously.

One of the best statements I have heard on the issue of women preaching and on verse 12 comes from Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

In many ways, the root trouble, even among good Evangelicals, is our failure to heed the plain teachings of Scripture. . . Paul does not say that it was only for the time being; he takes it right back to the Fall and shows that it is an abiding principle. It is something that is true, therefore, of the age in which we live. But thus, you see, we argue with Scripture. Instead of taking its plain teaching, we say that times have changed-when it suits our thesis we say it is no longer relevant’. . . .If you want to avoid terrible disillusionment at the day of judgment, face Scripture as it is. Do not argue with it, do not try to manipulate it, do not twist; face it, receive it and submit to it whatever the cost.^[3]

That is tremendous wisdom! We should not argue with Scripture, nor should we try to manipulate or twist it to fit what we may want it to say. As faithful Christians, we should receive the Bible at face value and submit to it, whatever the cost.

What is that cost? Do we fear the cost of being labeled legalistic fundamentalists? Do we fear the cost of being called bigots or misogynists? Do we fear the cost of giving in to social justice and feminist activists who want to radically change the church?

Or do we fear God? Do we realize there will be a Day of Judgment? Do we recognize the cost of NOT submitting to God’s Word? Jesus gave the religious leaders of His day a warning. John 12:43, “for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”

Do we seek God’s glory above all, or do we seek men’s praise? Do we desire to obey the entirety of Scripture, or will we compromise because it’s easier? Do we live in light of God’s absolute sovereignty, or will we make our own rules?

May we faithfully submit to Scripture, no matter the cost, for the glory of God!

^[1]William J. Webb, Slaves, Women, & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001).

^[2]William Webb, “A Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic” in Discovering Biblical Equality (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004), 393.

^[3]Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 532-33.

You may have heard of Charles Simeon, who faithfully pastored Trinity Church in Cambridge, England, for fifty-four years. While that longevity may sound idyllic, his early ministry was anything but easy. For the first twelve years, many in the congregation opposed him. Members locked their pews to keep others from attending his services, and when Simeon purchased chairs with his own money, his opponents threw them into the churchyard. University students disrupted his sermons by shouting outside, throwing rocks through the windows, and even attempting to assault him.

As if those hardships were not enough, Simeon lost his voice for thirteen years, making preaching exhausting. Yet he never left. Why? Because God gave him the grace to remain faithful where He had called him. Simeon’s perseverance reminds us that enduring ministry is sustained not by favorable circumstances but by God’s sufficient grace.

He said, “I have continually had such a sense of my sinfulness as would sink me into utter despair if I had not an assured view of the sufficiency and willingness of Christ to save me to the uttermost. . . There are but two objects that I have ever desired all these years; the one, is my own vileness; and the other is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”^[1]

His long tenure as a faithful pastor encourages me. Even if you’re not a pastor, how do you remain faithful to God during trials and endure to the end?

1 Timothy 6:20–21 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

I want you to notice the very last words of the letter. GRACE be with you. We cannot live the Christian life without God’s grace. Here is the main point of this passage of Scripture: Only God’s grace will empower you to faithful obedience.

God’s people must be GUARDIANS of God’s truth.

Let’s ask some questions about this: What deposit was entrusted to Timothy? How is he to guard it? We must assume that Paul delivered this charge or these instructions to Timothy. These were confirmed at Timothy’s ordination, when the elders laid hands on him. Based on the context of the entire letters of 1 and 2 Timothy, this can be summarized in three primary points:

First: Refute false teachers who were causing division in the church.

Second: Keep his life pure as a man of God.

Third: Preach and teach the truth faithfully.

2 Timothy 1:13–14 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

The verb “guard” is a strong command that must be obeyed urgently. There is no time to waste! This is not a passive task but must be embraced with fervor and diligence. The stakes are too high, with false teaching, disunity in the church, ungodly leaders, and a lack of sound teaching, for Timothy to coast in guarding this deposit. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

He must also avoid irreverent babble or godless chatter. 1 Timothy 4:7 “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness.” 2 Timothy 2:16 “But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.” Paul says that these empty words are actually false “knowledge.” What is this “false” knowledge?

During this time, a false teaching emerged, claiming that religious leaders held this “secret knowledge” about spirituality. They were in the “know” about the mysteries of religion and looked down on others who were not yet up to speed on this “knowledge.”

We see the same mindset today among many Word-Faith teachers and other self-appointed spiritual gurus. They claim to have discovered the “secret” to the Christian life, supposedly hidden from the church for centuries and now uniquely revealed to them. They present themselves as having special insight that ordinary pastors and faithful churches have somehow missed.

The message is subtle yet dangerous: If you really want to experience God’s power and blessing, you need to follow me. Buy my books. Subscribe to my teaching. Attend my conferences. Support my ministry. In the end, the focus shifts from Christ and His sufficient Word to the teacher’s personality and platform.

What is the result of this godless chatter, false teaching, and secret “knowledge?” It has caused people to “swerve” from the faith. This word means to “depart” or even “abandon” the faith, to make a shipwreck of one’s faith.

Paul ends this letter to this young pastor with a strong warning to guard the gospel at all costs and to recognize the dire reality that some who profess faith in Christ will swerve or depart from the faith. Since Paul brings up these false teachers who purport to teach a secret knowledge that is heretical, a good question arises: What then is true knowledge? True knowledge is seeing the glory of God in the person and work of Christ.

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

If whatever you’re listening to, watching, or reading does not point you to the glories of Christ and the gospel, it’s not true knowledge.

So, let’s ask a very important question: How do you guard the good deposit and not depart from the faith? Allow me to share FIVE practical ways to do this:

First, saturate yourself in the Scriptures.

Psalm 119:9–11 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

John 8:31–32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Second, sit under sound preaching.

One of God’s primary means of nourishing His people is the faithful exposition of His Word in the local church. I am grateful to those who gather week after week, hungry to hear the Scriptures faithfully preached. It is both the privilege and the responsibility of every pastor to proclaim “the whole counsel of God” with accuracy, clarity, and conviction.

At the same time, we live in an age when thousands of sermons, podcasts, videos, and Bible teachers are available with just a few clicks. Many of these resources can be a tremendous blessing, but they should never replace the regular preaching ministry of your local church. No online preacher knows your spiritual condition, prays for your soul, or shepherds you personally as your pastors do.

Therefore, make your local church’s preaching your primary source of biblical instruction. Enjoy other faithful teachers as a supplement, not as a substitute. Whenever you encounter a teacher or doctrine that raises questions, seek the counsel of the shepherds God has placed over you. Their responsibility is to watch over your soul and help you discern truth from error.

God has given the church pastors and teachers to equip you so that you won’t be children, tossed on the waves of the ocean, and fall prey to false doctrine. Instead, you will be anchored in the truth and mature and solid in your faith.

2 Timothy 4:1–4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Third, surround yourself with good resources.

Learning to discern truth from error requires more than avoiding false teaching; it also requires intentionally feeding your mind with sound doctrine. Make good use of trustworthy books, biblical magazines, faithful commentaries, and other Christ-centered resources that deepen your understanding of Scripture and strengthen your love for Christ.

Thankfully, many excellent resources are available today. Ask your pastors or other mature believers to recommend books, study guides, and Bible teachers who have shown faithfulness to God’s Word over many years. A carefully chosen library can become a lifelong aid to spiritual growth and discernment.

Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Fourth, study the ancient creeds and confessions.

At first, this suggestion may sound strange. Aren’t we supposed to study only the Bible? The answer is both yes and no. Scripture alone is our only inspired, inerrant, and sufficient authority for faith and practice. The Bible alone is God-breathed and stands above all human authority.

At the same time, God has not left us to interpret the Scriptures in isolation. Throughout church history, faithful believers have carefully summarized biblical truth in creeds and confessions. Although these documents are not inspired and possess no authority apart from Scripture, they offer valuable summaries of essential Christian doctrine and help guard the church against error.

If you want to become grounded in the faith, spend time reading the church’s great confessions and creeds. Begin with the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, which summarize the core truths of the Christian faith that believers have confessed for centuries. If you are a Reformed Baptist, become thoroughly familiar with the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, one of the finest summaries of biblical doctrine ever written.

Long before modern theological controversies, faithful Christians gathered to articulate and defend the essential truths of Scripture. Throughout church history, most heresies have arisen from denying or distorting doctrines clearly affirmed in these historic creeds and confessions.

Use them as faithful guides—not as replacements for Scripture—to help you become more firmly rooted in God’s truth.

Fifth, separate yourself from false doctrine and ungodly influences.

Jude 3–4 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

False doctrine can sneak in unnoticed. You may be unaware that what you’re exposed to is harmful. Hebrews 2:1 says, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” It can be easy to drift slowly away from the truth instead of guarding it.

Let us hold to the pure word of God, which alone can build us up in the faith. Let us hate all man-made philosophies and false doctrines that only corrupt and twist the truth.

What will empower you to remain faithful to Jesus? What will empower you to be generous with God’s gifts? What will empower you to guard God’s truth?

GRACE, grace, God’s grace. Grace that can pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin!

We need saving and sustaining grace. We enter the faith by grace alone, and God strengthens us daily by grace alone.

Interestingly, the final words are “Grace be to YOU,” which is in the plural. It is not directed solely to Timothy. By using the plural “you guys,” Paul intends this letter to be read to the entire church, not just Timothy. While the letter is specifically addressed to Timothy, it also addresses the church in Ephesus.

What do we desperately need more than anything else? God’s amazing grace! We need His grace every moment.

The world, the flesh, and the devil are powerful enemies seeking to destroy our souls. We are weak and struggle with sin.

That is why we need grace upon grace.

2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.“

Let us boast in Jesus and find our ultimate hope in Him alone. Let us, as God’s people, be generous with His gifts and guardians of His truth. And let us do so for the glory of God alone!

^[1]Charles Simeon as quoted in John Piper, “Charles Simeon: The Ballast of Humiliation and the Sails of Adoration” in 21 Servants of Joy (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 321.

My latest book is released today. It’s called Understanding Christianity: Biblical Answers to Life’s Most Important Questions.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HC7WTLQZ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I wrote this book in dedication to the faithful and theologically curious saints of Emmanuel Baptist Church, who encouraged me to compile my sermons, podcasts, Substack articles, and teachings into book form. Your diligent study of Scripture and eagerness to learn biblical truth warm my heart!

Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction:

Why I Wrote This Book

The desire to answer biblical questions has shaped much of my ministry for over three decades. The Lord has blessed me by calling me to serve in pastoral ministry for over thirty years in the local church. I have served as Lead Pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Sterling, CO, for over 21 years. Each week, I practice expository preaching, carefully explaining books of the Bible verse by verse.

Through this process, our congregation has been exposed to the full counsel of God’s Word, enabling me to address many controversial topics and doctrines in the Bible. Our church members have expressed gratitude for the way I answer many of their perplexing questions through expository preaching.

In addition, I have hosted the podcast “Understanding Christianity” for over 11 years, with hundreds of episodes covering a wide range of biblical topics. I also write Substack articles that seek to answer many difficult questions that arise from the Scriptures.

As a pastor, I spend a great deal of time teaching in small-group Bible studies, discipling others, and counseling people to follow Jesus in their daily lives. This ministry has also given me countless opportunities to answer the difficult questions people ask as they seek to apply God’s Word to everyday life. Over these many decades of answering believers’ questions, I realized that many Christians weren’t looking for academic debates or for how to win a Bible trivia contest. Instead, they wanted someone with the courage, clarity, and conviction to open the Bible and explain what God says.

How the Book is Organized:

This book comprises six Parts, beginning with the importance of God’s Word.

Part One is Understanding the Bible, and each chapter helps you understand the Bible’s reliability, authority, and sufficiency. You will also see the need to saturate yourself with the Scriptures for your personal growth and transformation.

Part Two focuses on understanding God. What are God’s attributes? Is God absolutely sovereign? How do we understand the Trinity? What does the Bible say about the Person and work of Christ, the Son? What role does the Holy Spirit play in our salvation?

Part Three will help you understand how God graciously saves sinners by the riches of His mercy. How does God save sinners through the gospel? What is authentic faith in Christ? How does God preserve those He saves? How can we discern whether we are in a time of revival and spiritual awakening?

Part Four addresses the Christian life and how to live out your faith daily. How do you practice biblical discernment? What does it mean to be Spirit-filled? How can you grow your prayer life? Why do you battle sin, and how can you follow Jesus?

Part Five addresses Understanding the Church. God never intended believers to follow Christ in isolation but to live together in the fellowship of the local church. What does it mean to worship biblically with others? What should you expect from your pastor, and how should you evaluate his preaching? How should you evangelize biblically?

Part Six addresses seven controversial topics I’ve been repeatedly asked about during my years in pastoral ministry such as: What does the Bible teach about speaking in tongues, the Nephilim, infant salvation, or those who have never heard the gospel?

As you read this book, I encourage you to keep an open Bible nearby so that, like the Bereans in Acts 17, you can diligently search the Scriptures. Please don’t readily accept what I say without testing everything against the inspired Word and coming to your own conclusions. The Holy Spirit is instrumental in illuminating the truth for you. Pray for His guidance and wisdom as you read. My prayer is that every chapter drives you back to the Scriptures themselves, where God has spoken clearly and sufficiently for His people.

John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress is one of my favorite books of all time. It is an allegory about the Christian life. It begins with the main character, Christian, who reads his Bible and grows very worried about the day of judgment. A man named Evangelist comes to him, shares the gospel, and tells him to go to the Wicket Gate—the word “Narrow” is an older English word meaning narrow.

Christian must enter only through the Narrow Gate to reach heaven, known as the Celestial City. Evangelist warns Christian that there is NO other way to enter—it MUST be through the Narrow Gate.

Christian sets out on his journey and faces immediate hurdles. He falls into the Swamp of Despond, a metaphor for the trials that come when you begin to recognize your need for salvation.

He meets a man named Mr. Legality, who tells him not to bother going through the Narrow Gate but to climb a tall hill called Mount Sinai, which will get him to heaven. This is a metaphor for how God’s Law, or the Ten Commandments, cannot save us; it only condemns us, shows that we fall far short of God’s standard, and cannot save us by works.

Christian is frustrated and defeated when he encounters the man named Evangelist again, who wonders why he strayed from the good path and reminds him that the only way is to go through the Narrow Gate.

He eventually reaches the Narrow Gate, where a man named Good Will is ready to receive him. The man Good Will is a symbol of salvation by grace alone.

Christian knocks on the door of the Narrow Gate and says, “May I now enter here? Will He inside open the door to this wretched sinner, to me even though I have been an underserving Rebel? Then shall I not fail to sing His lasting praise on high.”

Christian admits that he is a sinner and wants to be delivered from the day of judgment and to find salvation through the narrow door.

Goodwill opens the door, symbolizing God’s grace freely saving us.

As Christian begins to enter the Narrow Gate, demons from Satan’s castle shoot flaming arrows at him in a final attempt to keep him from entering salvation.

Christian safely enters the Gate, and Goodwill tells him that once he is inside, he will never be cast out. Once again, Goodwill reminds Christian that the Narrow Gate is the narrow way—the only way of salvation. Many have tried to reach heaven by other means, but the Bible teaches that the way is through the narrow gate.

The narrow way—the only way—the Narrow Gate—entering through the door of salvation.

Matthew 7:13–14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

As the absolute LORD, Jesus presents THREE stark contrasts in this passage of Scripture.

First, there are only two ways.

The first way is “wide and easy.” The ESV translates the word as “easy,” while most translations use “broad.” The Greek word means “spacious, agreeable,” and “roomy or comfortable.” This broad road is appealing.

This road is so appealing because it appeals to our sinful nature. This wide road indulges your flesh, leads you to wickedness, and celebrates depravity. It is the natural course of a person dead in sin.

This appealing, broad road allows travelers to follow their sinful hearts and do as they please. There are no restraints. There are few rules. There is no need for repentance. There is no need for transformation.

However, there is another road that is “Narrow and hard.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones compared this narrow gate to a turnstile. You don’t go through a turnstile as a crowd. You pass through one at a time, and you can’t drag a load of oversized baggage through with you.

Becoming a Christian means a few things, and it involves getting rid of the baggage of sin that you have deep in your heart.

You must trust in Jesus as the ONLY Way of salvation.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We live in a pluralistic age that rejects absolutes. According to popular opinion, all paths lead to God. If we claim that there is only one door—one way—one gate, and that it comes through Christ alone, then we are labeled as bigots, narrow-minded, or even hateful.

You must also understand that you cannot create your own way, but must repent of your sin.

What are some ways people try to make their own way or create their own door to God?

Some try through moralism.

They believe that by being a good person, being religious, or going to church, they can earn salvation through their morality. If they keep their noses relatively clean and don’t commit any major sins, God will allow them into heaven based on their moral record.

Others may try through spiritualism.

They may not be part of organized religion or attend church, but they strive to be sincere in their beliefs. They are spiritual. They try to tap into the divine within their hearts. They hope that if they achieve this higher state of spirituality, they will either earn heaven, nirvana, or whatever comes after death.

Others may try activism.

They give their lives wholeheartedly to a cause. This can be social justice, environmentalism, or a political party, either on the right or the left. They believe that if they engage in social activism, they will be good people and make this world a better place.

All of these self-created doors, paths, gates, or ways to God fail. They are wide paths. Jesus is the only way. He is the narrow door. The problem with all these false ways to get to God is that they ignore the central issue of sin. We are depraved rebels who do not deserve salvation, nor can we earn or work for it.

Romans 3:10–12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Even though the door is narrow, it is wide enough for the worst of sinners to enter if they confess Jesus as Lord and own up to their sin and the need for a Savior.

1 Timothy 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

You must also be prepared to embrace a life of suffering, persecution, and trials.

The word “hard” derives from the root word “Tribulation.” It means being pressed into narrow straits.

Acts 14:22 . . . through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

This is where we must do a good job of evangelism and sharing Christ on the front end. Oftentimes, you may hear watered-down gospel presentations that portray trusting in Jesus as merely trying Him out, or that you don’t need to repent of your sin; Jesus will give you a better life.

Jesus promises you happiness and joy, so give your life to Him so that things will get better. Trusting in Jesus brings joy, peace, and hope, but it also brings persecution, trials, and spiritual warfare as you become a target of the enemy.

Second, there are only two groups of people.

Jesus says “Many” enter the broad, easy way because they love their sin.

John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

Sinners are spiritually dead, in love with their sin, and in spiritual bondage. Unless the Holy Spirit sovereignly makes them come alive through His transforming grace, nobody will ever come to Jesus and be saved. Only the miracle of regeneration, or being born again by God, will open your eyes, liberate your will, and grant you the ability to trust in Jesus.

Why don’t people enter through the narrow door? Why do people not trust in Jesus with urgency? The fundamental answer is bondage to sin. But let’s consider why so many people choose the easy path rather than trusting in Jesus.

For some, it’s PRESUMPTION: I’m good with God and don’t need a Savior. They believe they are good enough to earn heaven. They don’t need forgiveness. They have lived a moral life.

For some, it’s PROCRASTINATION: I’ll wait until another time. I have other things to think about. I’ll put off trusting Christ. It’s not that urgent or that big of a deal. It can wait.

For some, it’s PRIDE: How will I look to others if I admit I’m a sinner in need of Jesus? Christianity is a crutch for the weak. I’m a moral person. I’m spiritual. I don’t need a Savior and surely won’t bow to Jesus as the LORD.

The second group of people is the “few” who trust in Jesus. I don’t think Jesus is teaching us here that there will be a tiny number of believers in heaven.

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Charles Spurgeon preached the following in his sermon titled “Heaven and Hell”: How often do I hear people say, “Ah! straight is the gate and narrow is the way, and few there be that find it. There will be very few in heaven; there will be most lost.” My friend, I differ from you. Do you think that Christ will let the devil beat him? That he will let the devil have more in hell than there will be in heaven? No; it is impossible. For then Satan would laugh at Christ. There will be more in heaven than there are among the lost. God says, that “there will be a number that no man can number who will be saved;” but he never says, that there will be a number that no man can number that will be lost. There will be a host beyond all count who will get into heaven. What glad tidings for you and for me!^[1]

Third, there are only two eternal destinies.

The first destiny is Eternal punishment in hell or the alternative, eternal life in heaven.

Jesus says that the wide road leads to destruction. The word for “destruction” in the original language means suffering God’s wrath in hell.

Revelation 14:9–11 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

Allow me to return to The Pilgrim’s Progress.

On his journey, he meets a man named Ignorance. Christian asks him whether he entered through the Narrow Gate to get to heaven, and Ignorance says he did not. He says it doesn’t really matter how you get in and that you don’t HAVE to go through the Narrow Gate.

Christian warns him to go back and enter through the Narrow Gate so he can truly be saved by grace.

The very last scene of The Pilgrim’s Progress is pretty disturbing. Christian dies and is allowed entrance into heaven—the Celestial City—and enjoys the fellowship with Jesus in eternal life.

Ignorance arrives at the gates of heaven and asks to be let in. The men at the gate ask him where he came from, and here is Ignorance’s answer: “I have eaten and drunk in the presence of the King, and he has taught in our Streets.”

They ask him for the Certificate to prove that he has entered through the Narrow Gate and received salvation by grace. He fumbles in his pockets but doesn’t have a certificate.

He is bound hand and foot and cast into hell.

Listen to the final sentence of The Pilgrim’s Progress: “Then I saw that there was a way to Hell even from the gates of Heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction. So I awoke, and behold, it was a Dream.”

Ignorance lived up to his name. He did not enter through the narrow way, yet he thought he was saved. He did not enter heaven but ended up in hell.

There is no neutrality. There is urgency in committing today. The verb “enter” in the original conveys a decisive, urgent choice.

Jesus does NOT command us to sit and look at the gate. Admire the gate. Talk about the gate. And make excuses for the gate. He commands us to enter the gate with a decisive urgency that demands we choose Jesus.

To enter means you come under conviction of your sin, which causes anxiety and a burden as you are confronted with your rebellion. You realize you are a wretch standing guilty before God.

This knowledge of being a sinner before a holy God leads you to hurry and repent. You don’t delay. You don’t put off trusting in Jesus. You must repent and believe in Jesus with urgency, as if you may not have another moment, breath, or opportunity.

Mark 1:14–15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

The kingdom is at hand. It’s urgent. The time is NOW to repent and believe. Today is the day of salvation.

Hebrews 3:15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Make sure you trust in Jesus alone. Nail it down today. Don’t play games. Get serious about placing your faith in Jesus alone.

Jesus is the only way of salvation.

Here’s the most important question of your life: Have you entered through the narrow gate?

Will you be among the many who will be shut out because it’s too late?

The problem is not God. The problem is not the door. The problem is the sinner who refuses to enter.

As the master of heaven, God has every right to make His own door, yet how merciful is our great God, who opens the door to all sinners who would confess their need for Jesus and enter by grace.

The door is not narrow to keep us out, but so that you may enter by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

^[1]https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/heaven-and-hell/#flipbook/

Have you ever heard of the term Rumspringa? It comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish people. When Amish teenagers turn 16, they can go on Rumspringa, a rite of passage. The word means “to run around or frolic around.” It is a time when Amish youth can engage in typical teenage activities and decide whether to leave their families and live in the real world. Usually, they can talk on cellphones, watch TV, go to the mall, and wear blue jeans.

There have been stories of large parties in fields where teenagers go wild with sex, drugs, and alcohol. The rationale is that when these Amish teenagers get their freedom to rebel and act crazy, they will get it out of their system and then want to return to Amish life and settle down.

This raises a question: Is it wise to allow the younger generation free rein to do whatever they want and to experiment with sin without any restrictions? Is this a deterrent to sin, or does it enable or even celebrate it?

What happens when the older generation fails to disciple, lead, and teach the younger generation to walk in the ways of the LORD?

Disaster strikes, leaving a wake of devastation. Judges 2:6-23 offers a snapshot or preview of the entire book of Judges. It distills for us Israel’s major problems in obeying God.

A lot is going on in this chapter, but allow me to summarize the main point this way: There is a huge difference between knowing “about” God and knowing God!

J. I. Packer, in his famous book Knowing God, puts it this way:

“There’s a difference between knowing God and knowing about God. When you truly know God, you have great energy for God, you have great thoughts of God, you show great boldness for God, and you have great contentment in God.”^[1]

Those four things did NOT define Israel. They lacked the energy to serve God and instead bowed down to idols. They lacked great thoughts of God and instead allowed their imagination to be captured by idols. They lacked the boldness to share their faith with the pagan nations around them and adopted idolatrous ways. Sadly, they lacked great contentment in God alone, which led them to spiral downward into cheap substitutes and idolatry. Israel knew about God, but they did not truly know God, with disastrous consequences.

I want us to explore the dangers of not knowing God in THREE scenes or sections.

First, we see the faithfulness of Joshua’s generation (vs. 6-9)

Judges 2:6–9 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

Under Joshua’s leadership, the people served the LORD faithfully. They had experienced God firsthand. Remember, these people were likely children or teenagers when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and manna fell from heaven. They had known Moses and were under Joshua’s strong leadership. However, if the current generation is not diligent in passing the faith to the next, disastrous consequences will follow.

D. A. Carson has given this insight in describing what happens to particular churches and groups that drift over time from the gospel: “The first generation believed and proclaimed the gospel, the next generation assumed the gospel, and the third generation denied the gospel.”^[2]

This is precisely what happened to Israel. The first generation believed the gospel and followed the Lord. However, a new generation arose that not only forgot the gospel but also denied it, thereby committing spiritual treason against the God of Israel.

Second, we see the treachery of the next generation (vs. 10-13)

Judges 2:10–13 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.

In verse 10, we see that another generation arose that did not KNOW the LORD. Now, that’s a curious way to put it. They did not “know” the LORD? Of course, they knew who the God of Israel was. They didn’t forget who He was. This wasn’t ignorance of who God was; it was apathy. They did not know God intimately or personally. In fact, they did NOT WANT to know God.

And what happened as a result? I want you to notice the verbs used to describe this new generation: In verse 11, they did “evil.” This is moral and spiritual evil. The word means filthy rebellion against God. They “served and bowed down” to the idols of Baal. This means lying prostrate on the ground in humility before a false god. This bowing should be reserved only for the LORD God!

In verse 12, they “abandoned,” deserted, and rejected the LORD. Here’s where the Hebrew grammar is essential: These verbs describing Israel’s sins are all in the imperfect tense, which indicates ongoing actions in the past. This was a habitual, ongoing lifestyle of rebellion. These words can be translated as: they continually did evil, bowed down to idols, and kept abandoning the LORD.

This raises a question about these false gods. Who were Baal and Ashtaroth? Baal was the Canaanite fertility god, the storm or rain god. You counted on Baal to bring rain so you would have good crops. His female counterpart, or wife, was Ashtaroth, the goddess of sex and fertility. You counted on pleasing her so you would have many children.

These pagans hoped for good crops and livestock, and they went to temple prostitutes as an act of worship. This is gross sexual idolatry. The thought process was that if they, as humans, had sex in the temple to these false gods, it would spur Baal and Ashtaroth to have sex so there would be good crops in the coming year and they would be blessed with children.

Think about how tempting this would be for the Israelites. You can imagine a conversation between a Canaanite and an Israelite going something like this: You, Israelites, are a religious people. Your God is impressive. He defeated Pharaoh, brought you through the Red Sea, provided manna in the wilderness, and brought you into this land. But your God is distant and only does BIG things from time to time. You want good crops, don’t you? You want to be blessed with children, don’t you?

Does your God deal with these day-to-day matters? Why don’t you and your buddies come to the temple so we can show you a really good time? It will be worth it, and you don’t have to tell your wives what you’re doing. In the end, your wife will thank you when Baal brings rain for your crops and she gets pregnant with many children. You can still worship your God of Israel. I’m not asking you to abandon Him, but it would be convenient to worship Baal and Ashtaroth in the short term. You don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb and be the only ones with bad crops and small families, do you?

Let’s step back and ask a question you may be wondering about: How did this happen? How did this new generation completely abandon God and spiral into rebellion? What happened? Two primary groups were responsible for leading, teaching, and shepherding the younger generation in Israel.

The first were the priests God ordained to serve as the official teachers, or “pastors,” if you will. They were supposed to go house to house and teach the people God’s Word.

Leviticus 10:11 says, “You are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

However, the priests failed to train the next generation. The priests are AWOL. They are mentioned very little in Joshua and Judges. They have not fulfilled their ministry role of teaching Israel the Word of God.

The fathers were the second group responsible for raising the next generation in God’s truth and His ways.

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

The fathers failed to train the next generation. The priests and fathers failed to fully invest in their children and the younger generation. The blame cannot be laid at the door of the pagan nations. Yes, they played a role in tempting and influencing Israel, but the priests and fathers are primarily responsible for spiritual leadership.

Here’s the application for us: When fathers and pastors fail in their spiritual leadership, the next generation suffers greatly. It’s not a matter of “if” your children are being discipled, but WHO! Who is training, investing in, and impacting your children? As a parent, are you their primary source of spiritual truth, direction, guidance, and teaching, or is it secular culture, social media, music and movies, or video games? Dads, are you stepping up to the plate and being the spiritual leaders of your household?

Third, we see the LORD’s response to their evil (vs. 14-23)

How does the LORD respond to their flagrant idolatry and evil? Does He turn a blind eye? Does He ignore it and let bygones be bygones? No, as a holy and righteous God who demands ultimate worship, the LORD responds in anger. We must recognize that this anger is expressed as fatherly discipline, not destruction.

God could have destroyed them, but instead He exercises fatherly discipline. He did not wipe Israel off the map but gave them over to oppression by these pagan nations. These nations would plunder the Israelites and become a thorn in their side and a snare to them. They would attack the Israelites so severely that the Israelites would cry out in anguish for deliverance.

At the end of verse 15, Israel was in “terrible distress.” The word “distress” means being tightly squeezed, like a potter molding clay on the wheel. Israel is hard-pressed on all sides, crushed in agony. The LORD is angry, yet He shows unexplainable mercy even in His anger. God shows tremendous patience and compassion toward these people.

Exodus 34:6–7 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

God is merciful and patient, but He will also discipline those He loves who are guilty. How does this treacherous new generation respond to God’s grace?

Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Did God’s kindness lead them to repentance? Did they show godly sorrow that led to a transformed life and proper worship? No, they couldn’t care less. They did not listen to these judges.

Instead, they “whored” after other gods. That’s a strong word. They were the bride of the Lord. God was their husband, and they cheated on God with Baal. They committed spiritual adultery.

In light of Israel’s major sin, God still shows compassion by raising up judges to save them. In verse 18, the Israelites “groaned.” This “groaning” echoes the groaning of slavery before the Exodus.

I want us to focus on one key phrase in the entire book of Judges, found in verse 18: The LORD was “moved to pity.” The Hebrew word means that God’s compassion for Israel moves Him to relent from destroying them and instead to show them covenant faithfulness, even when they don’t deserve it. He has great sorrow over their situation and, like a loving Father, intervenes to help them.

Lamentations 3:22–23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

God’s compassion is undeserved. He hears their cries of anguish and responds with amazing grace—even when they don’t deserve it. We should not be so quick to cast stones at Israel’s unfaithfulness. How often have we sinned, dishonored the Lord, and turned our backs on Him? He has shown us tremendous patience and mercy in Christ Jesus, and we should never think we have earned or deserved His grace.

Verse 19 explains the frustrating cycle in Judges. When God raised up a judge to deliver Israel, the people would behave and do right. The judge would act as a restraining force against their evil, keeping them in check. But when that judge died, they would return to their sinful ways. Think of a dam that blocks a raging river. The logs are there to stop the flow.

The judge was like God’s appointed dam, blocking Israel from rushing into sin. But when the judge died, or the dam was removed, the water gushed faster and more furiously than before. In the same way, Israel spiraled deeper into sin with greater fury than before the dam was put in place. Before the dam or the judge, their sin was like a gently flowing stream, but when the judge was removed, their sin burst forth in raging rebellion like never before.

In verse 22, we see that God will test them. He will put them on probation. Will they walk in the ways of their parents, or will they continue to spiral into deeper rebellion? There is no hint of repentance. There is crying out because of trials, oppression, and the consequences of their sin, but there is no godly repentance, only worldly remorse.

The amazing thing about this passage and the Old Testament is that God does not wipe Israel off the map in His justice. What we see here is fatherly discipline rather than judicial destruction. God’s love is never an excuse to continue sinning, but we must be amazed at how patient God is.

What’s the central problem that sets the stage for the rest of Judges? The people are enslaved to sin. Sin holds them in a powerful grip, and they can’t break out of the downward spiral of rebellion and idolatry. The entire book of Judges addresses Israel’s slavery to sin.

Dale Ralph Davis says, “They are held in sin’s grip; they have Baal in their blood.”^[3]

Simply put, they knew about God, but they did not truly know God. You will sink deeper and deeper into the bondage of sin if you don’t cultivate an intimate relationship with God rather than merely knowing about God.

Matthew Henry described Israel’s sin: “Idolatry is spiritual adultery, so vile, base, and treacherous a thing, and so it is no wonder many never return who are addicted to it.”^[4]

They were addicted to sin and had Baal in their veins. They did not repent because they were so entrenched in idolatry and enslaved to sin.

The more you know Jesus, the more you will obey Him. There is a vast difference between knowing about God and truly knowing God.

Do you truly know God through His only Son, Jesus Christ?

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

^[1]J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 27-31.

^[2]D. A. Carson. Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996), 22-28.

^[3]Dale Ralph Davis, Judges: Such a Great Salvation (Fearne, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2015), 41.

^[4]Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), 331.

Have you heard the phrase “Pay It Forward”? The idea is simple: if someone does something kind for you, pass that kindness on to someone else. It’s a movement built on random acts of generosity to make the world a better place.

Several years ago, a Facebook movement called “The Karma Experiment”^[1] attracted more than a million people worldwide. Its goal was to inspire kindness and create a more peaceful society. That sounds admirable. After all, who doesn’t want people to be kinder? But there’s a catch. The movement is built on karma—the belief that if you do enough good deeds, good things will eventually come back to you. You do good because you hope good will return to you.

This experiment is not as selfless as it appears. It’s very self-centered. The only reason people perform acts of kindness is so that they will be blessed in the future with good karma. I would say that millions of people around the world operate on this worldview.

Why do I bring up karma and doing good to others?

Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Because the Golden Rule is so famous and so many people try to follow it, we may have become overly familiar with what it means and what it doesn’t mean.

I want us to ask FOUR questions of the Golden Rule.

First, how does Jesus clearly define the Golden Rule?.

I want you to notice carefully how Jesus phrases the Golden Rule. Whatever you “wish” others would do to you. The word “wish” means “desire to experience” or “want to have happen to you.”

This wording is radically different from other versions of the Golden Rule that came before Jesus. Jesus focuses on what we want to happen to us; we should not only “wish” upon others, but actually do it with concrete, tangible actions.

There were previous versions of the Golden Rule before Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount.

However, they were all in the negative:

Confucius, the Chinese philosopher who was born more than 500 years before Christ, taught: “What you want done to yourself, do NOT do to others.”

Notice the focus is on NOT doing things you don’t want done to you.

An ancient Greek King named Nicocles, who lived 300 years before Christ, wrote, “Do not do to others things which make you angry when you experience them at the hands of other people.”

The Jewish rabbis took their teaching from the non-inspired Apocryphal books like the Book of Tobit: “What you hate, DO NOT do to anyone.”

Jesus was the first to make it positive.

Notice that Jesus does not say what others have done to you, do back in return. Instead, Jesus says, “Whatever you really want done to you or how you want to be treated yourself, then do that positively for others.”

At the end of the verse, Jesus teaches that this is a fulfillment of the Law and Prophets, which means the totality of the Old Testament.

What are the two Greatest commandments?

Matthew 22:36–40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

The greatest commandment is to love God wholeheartedly with every fiber of your being.

The first four commandments of the Ten Commandments, which we call the first table of the Law, address loving and worshipping God.

What does Jesus say is the second greatest commandment? To love your neighbor as yourself.

This is the second table of the Law or Commandments 5-10 of the Ten Commandments that address obedience to parents, marriage and adultery, murder, stealing, lying, and coveting.

When you faithfully obey the Golden Rule, you are in essence obeying the totality of the Ten Commandments.

Now, you may say: The Ten Commandments were only for the Old Testament, and we as New Testament Christians are no longer obligated to obey them.

What does Paul teach us in the New Testament? We are not obligated to obey the Ten Commandments as a way to EARN our salvation or MERIT God’s grace.

However, the Ten Commandments are God’s rule for living that we still must obey as Christians to demonstrate our obedience to Jesus.

Romans 13:8–10 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Paul clearly tells us that loving others and obeying the second table of the Law is still binding on us as believers.

In essence, Paul reiterates the Golden Rule here and ties it to the Ten Commandments and loving our neighbor.

In verse 12, when Jesus tells us to “do also” to them, in the original language, this is a command to be obeyed with urgency and consistently. In other words, we have no choice whether we want to obey the Golden Rule or not. Jesus as Lord has commanded us to obey.

We do not obey IN ORDER to be saved. Remember, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is addressing His followers—those who have ALREADY entered the Kingdom of God by faith alone.

Second, why do so many people admire and talk about the Golden Rule, but do not obey it?

The gut-wrenching answer is that we have corrupted and selfish hearts. We are often motivated by fear and self-preservation We have made an idol of Self.

Romans 3:10–12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

Now, these are descriptions of our life before salvation. The life of a non-Christian is that of overt hostility to obeying God’s law and being dead in sin and having rebellious, depraved hearts.

Before Christ saved us, we were totally in love with OURSELVES. We made self an idol and were driven by selfish desires.

In Greek mythology, Narcissus was so enamored with his beauty that he spent all his days staring at himself in a reflective pool. Narcissism occurs when you are self-absorbed, highly competitive, vain, and fundamentally in love with yourself. Your gaze is continuously upon yourself rather than fixed on Christ alone.

Listen to how Paul describes our life before God saves us by His amazing grace:

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

Do those descriptions truly hit you the way they should? That before your salvation, you were a slave to your passions and pleasures. You were envious of others. You were hateful in your heart.

Why do so many people admire and talk about the Golden Rule, but never really get around to obeying it?

Because at our core, we have sinful, envious, corrupted hearts that are fully and totally in love with ourselves.

John Calvin commented on our depravity: “God must wipe away the sinful self-love that is etched so deeply into our hearts.”^[2]

This presents a problem, because the Golden Rule is so widely held and talked about. Other world religions have some version of the Golden Rule.

It’s almost innate in humans, as if God has written on our consciences the need to treat others the way we want to be treated.

Third, how do non-Christian versions of the Golden Rule fall short of Jesus’ standard?

First, other versions assume humans can obey it in our own strength. It’s an ethic we should do.

We can obey this moral law innately.

I’m sure if you were to ask a Buddhist or Hindu or Muslim or even a secular person who has no religion the question: Do you believe that you should treat other people the way you want to be treated, almost everyone would answer with a resounding “YES!”

Even those who have no moral compass or say that you can’t legislate morality or who are atheists would agree with the Golden Rule.

So for most of the world, it’s a rule or an ethic that you really should obey, and you can have the power and ability within yourself to do it.

Second, other versions focus on loving our fellow man but do not realize that loyalty to God comes first.

Many liberal people who have no regard for God talk a lot about loving our fellow man and being compassionate and tolerant and empathetic. They really like the idea of the Golden Rule, but they sever the second commandment to love our neighbors from the first commandment to love God.

To many, the Golden Rule has nothing to do with worshipping the one true and living God, but merely a good way to treat others.

Third, other versions focus on self-preservation and how it pays to obey the Golden Rule.

If you do this, it will ultimately benefit you. It’s pragmatic and utilitarian, not self-giving and generous.

The bottom line is selfish: If you do good to others, then good will come to you, and ultimately it’s all about you. It’s like the karma experiment. If I do good things for others or send off good vibes, then those good things and good vibes will come back to me.

So my only motivation for loving or serving others is not focused on their genuine needs, but really deep down inside, you don’t want to be treated badly because you’re motivated by love of self.

Fourth, HOW can you possibly obey the Golden Rule?

Only through the Power of the Holy Spirit working within you.

You can only obey the Golden Rule first and foremost if you have been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. You have been born again and given a new heart. God has miraculously raised you from spiritual death to spiritual life.

As a believer, you now have the Holy Spirit living in you as the Helper to empower you to obey.

John 14:16–17 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

In addition, God promises to work IN You both the desire to obey and the power actually to live it out.

Philippians 2:12–13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Our ability and desire to love others, do good to others, and serve others comes first because of God’s love for us.

Galatians 5:22–23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The Golden Rule is really the outflow of the fruit of the Spirit in your life. When the Holy Spirit produces His fruit in you, doing good to others is the result.

Do you want other people to be patient with you? Then the only way to be patient back toward others is through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you.

Do you want others to be kind to you? Then the only way to be kind back toward others is through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you.

Do you want others to do good to you? Then the only way to do good back toward others is through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you.

Do you want others to be gentle toward you? Then the only way to be gentle back toward others is through the power of the Holy Spirit working in you.

We must never fool ourselves into thinking that obedience to God’s law comes from something natural within us. We are too selfish and sinful and self-infatuated. Our hearts are always prone to focus on ourselves.

That is why we desperately need the power of the Holy Spirit within us to give us the grace and power minute by minute to treat others the way we want to be treated.

Ultimately, we do good to others because Jesus has been so good to us.

When you think about His death on the cross, shedding His blood, taking our punishment, and bearing the full weight of our sins, we should be crushed with humility and gratitude.

When we think about Jesus’ amazing love for us as unworthy, corrupt sinners, we should bow in thankfulness for that goodness shown to us.

As we focus more and more on Jesus’ love for us on the cross, His goodness overflows out of our hearts to others.

Even when we think other people don’t deserve our love, our time, or our energy, we need to stop and think about how Jesus treated us.

What if that were Christ’s attitude toward us as sinners? None of us would ever be saved.

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and His amazing love.

Keep focused on Jesus and His tremendous goodness.

Think deeply about Jesus and His incredible mercy and patience.

And allow that goodness you’ve been shown to overflow to others.

And remember the only way you can do this is through the constant power of the Holy Spirit within you.

Pray for the fruit of the Spirit to be produced in you this week.

Seek ways you can serve others this week.

Above all, express your deep gratitude to Jesus this week for His amazing goodness to you when you did not deserve it!

^[1]http://www.karmaexperiment.com/about

^[2]John Calvin translated by William Pringle, Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XVI: Harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 356

Perhaps more than at any other time in history, we are surrounded by a constant stream of information. Social media, smartphones, and the internet provide instant access to news, YouTube videos, podcasts, memes, opinions, and endless commentary on virtually every imaginable topic.

I remember growing up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, before cable television. We had only four channels—ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS—and I had to walk across the shag carpet to change the channel!

Today, everyone has a platform and an opinion. Social media instantly exposes us to people’s views on politics, sports, entertainment, morality, and, most importantly, on God.

With so many competing voices, it can be hard to tell what is true and what really matters.

Paul faced a similar challenge in Athens. Surrounded by a culture of competing philosophies and religious ideas, he proclaimed the only message that could save—the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What can Paul’s visit to Athens teach us about sharing the gospel with people who consider themselves spiritual yet have no desire for the true Christ?

Acts 17:16–21 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul travels to the ancient Greek city of Athens, known for its great architecture, temples, and philosophers. Where does Paul go to engage the people of Athens? He goes to the “agora”—the marketplace. This was the center of life.

There was no internet, social media, television, or movie theaters. The marketplace was where people gathered—not only to buy and sell goods but also to exchange ideas. Philosophers and teachers drew crowds eager to hear the latest opinions.

Like our culture today, ancient Greece embraced religious pluralism. The claim that Jesus is the only way to God was seen as narrow and offensive. Christians were often viewed as intolerant for proclaiming an exclusive Savior.

Does that sound familiar? We live in a culture that often labels biblical Christianity as intolerant or even hateful for insisting that salvation is found in Christ alone.

Let me explain the belief systems of these Athenians.

The Epicureans held a philosophy in which their chief goal in life was to attain the maximum amount of pleasure and the minimum amount of pain. This life is all there is, and you only go around once, so you might as well go out with a bang! If it feels good, do it. If it doesn’t feel good, avoid it. Avoid hurt, pain, and suffering at all costs.

Does this sound familiar? We live in an Epicurean culture that seeks pleasure at all costs and rejects anything painful or uncomfortable.

The Stoics, on the other hand, believed in a cruel fate. The gods were out to punish you, so you’d better just go through life’s struggles and tough it out. The gods were cruel, and you just had to deal with the cards you’d been dealt. Whatever comes, comes. I must try my hardest to deal with trials and struggles on my own.

What was the central point of Paul’s message?

In verse 18, we see that Paul was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection. The word here is “evangelizing,” meaning telling the good news.

These people thought Paul was crazy and was inventing a new teaching. Since they were curious, they invited Paul to Mars Hill to tell them more about this Jesus and the resurrection.

Acts 17:22–23 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

What’s Paul’s opening line? How does Paul engage them? I see that you guys are very “religious.”

In our culture, we would say something like this, “I see that you’re very spiritual.”

And then he brings to their attention an idol he saw dedicated to the “unknown god.” Remember, this is ancient Greece—the world of Zeus, Diana, Hermes, and Apollo.

If you wanted to go on a sea voyage, you prayed to Poseidon for safe travel. If you were giving a speech, you would pray to Hermes. You would never give your allegiance to just one god. That was foolish in their eyes because you might make one of the gods mad. If you give too much attention to one god, another god might get jealous and punish you.

Because they lived in fear of these gods who could punish you on a whim, they had to make sure all their bases were covered. They had the blanket “unknown god” just in case there was a god out there that they might offend.

Paul subtly and gently confronts their ignorance. He tells them that he is going to make known to them the one true God. What we have here is an actual sermon by Paul.

What is Paul’s main point here? What is he doing? He aims to bring them to the knowledge of the one true and living God so that they would worship Him alone. He does this by preaching about Jesus and the resurrection. That is the ultimate purpose in life: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. To know God and to worship God. To know that you have eternal life through a right relationship with God. And the only way we can know and worship God is through Jesus Christ, the Son. Jesus is the only way to God, the Savior who rose from the grave.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

What is Paul’s message or sermon?

There are FOUR truths we need to know that will give us the hope of eternal life.

First, the one true God is the Creator of the universe. (vs. 24-25)

Acts 17:24–25 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Paul begins with creation. He confronts their ignorance about worshipping an unknown god and gives them knowledge of the one true and living God, the Creator of the universe. (Genesis 1:27; Isaiah 42:5)

The idea of a sovereign, personal Creator was foreign to the Athenians. Many believed the universe arose by chance, while others embraced pantheism, viewing everything as part of the divine rather than created by a distinct God—something akin to the worldview portrayed in Avatar.

That mindset is not much different today. Many people still reject the biblical truth that a personal God created and rules over the universe.

Why is it important to know that God is your Creator? It means you are accountable to Him alone. You are not a product of random chance but were intentionally created to worship God and live for His glory.

Paul argues that there is only one God, who is the Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign over all creation. He is the Lord of heaven and earth and cannot be contained in a temple.

In verse 25, we see that God is not served by human hands as if He needed anything. God is the SUSTAINER OF ALL THINGS—in other words, He has no needs. God doesn’t need us, but we often think He does.

We often treat Him like a genie in a bottle or a cosmic vending machine that gives us whatever our hearts desire. Instead of serving God, we want God to serve us. We live for ourselves and want God to come at our beck and call.

The first thing we must all recognize is that God is the CREATOR of all things. He gives us life and breath—continually. We would cease to exist if God did not sustain us. We are entirely dependent on Him. We are accountable to Him. He owns us and rules us, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Second, the one true God is Sovereign over all things (vs 26-28)

Acts 17:26–28 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Not only is God the Creator of the universe, but He ordains all things that happen in history. He has determined the formation of nations, races, and the boundaries of where people live. He determined when and where you would be born. He determines the changing of the seasons and orchestrates all of history to His desired end.

Psalm 74:17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.

God has worked in history and has revealed Himself in nature and creation so that people will seek Him. The word translated as “seek” really means to fumble around in the dark as a blind person.

And that is exactly how the Scripture describes people without Christ. They live in darkness. They are blinded by Satan. They search for meaning and purpose in life, yet they are alienated and separated from God because they sinned against this Creator.

Here’s what happens when people blindly try to seek God without a true knowledge of who He is. They make up their own religion or spirituality and their own set of morals, and ultimately become idolaters. They become the ones who think they are in charge. We were created to seek God, worship God, and give thanks to God, but because of our sin, we suppress that truth and go after idols instead.

Then Paul quotes from their own poets and philosophers. He quotes Epimenides, the Cretan poet, and then gives a line from Aratus, who wrote a poem about Zeus.

Now we must be careful here. Paul is not saying that these pagan poets understood God or that their beliefs inform Paul’s theology. What Paul is doing is finding points of connection with his culture to give them more truth.

There’s a difference between being culturally aware and being culturally seduced. As Christians, we need to know what’s going on in the world—the world of politics, art, entertainment, music, and technology. But we don’t need to be experts. We do need to be aware so we can engage people and use these as starting points for gospel conversations.

Do you understand that the living God is absolutely and meticulously sovereign over all things and that He is working all things out according to His plan? Everything happens because He is in control. The living and true God is not only the Creator of the universe but also absolutely sovereign over all things.

Now, these two truths should lead you to an obvious conclusion or response.

Third, the living and true God must be worshipped. (vs 29)

Verse 29 is the key to Paul’s sermon. He now begins to address their real issue—idolatry.

Acts 17:29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Paul says that we are indeed this One True God’s offspring. But not in the pantheistic sense that we are divine, that we have a part of God within us, or that we are little gods.

Instead, we were created in the image of God. In the fall of Adam and Eve, we ruptured this fellowship, marred this image, and created a major breach in that relationship.

The greatest sin you can commit is failing to worship your Creator. God is not a product of our imagination. We can’t just make up who we want God to be.

Often, we hear people say things like, “To me, God is. . .” and then make up something about God that is not biblical. Or they say, “My God would never. . .” and then claim God would never do something that the Bible clearly teaches He would do.

That is idolatry. That is creating God in your image. That is imagining a God to fit your agenda.

We are created in the image of God to worship Him alone.

Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

Isaiah 43:7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Let me ask you some questions to help you find out if you have an idol in your heart.

What drives you? What motivates you? What do you live for?

That could be a spouse, a child, a career, a job, a hobby, or a relationship. Then what happens when that is taken away from you or when you are disappointed? Do you get angry and frustrated?

You have been enslaved to an idol without even knowing it. You have elevated something or someone to a place they were never meant to be, and all it brings is bondage in the end because you are serving something that will always let you down.

There is a God in heaven who created you. You are not an accident. You were put on this earth to worship this God alone, but you have not. You have created an idol in your heart. You have become enslaved to idols and are accountable to the God who made you.

John Stott offers a helpful description of the heart of idolatry. He argues that we often try to do four things with God:^[1]

First, we localize God—we limit Him and try to make Him fit our agenda.

Second, we domesticate God—we treat Him as though He exists to serve us and would never make demands on our lives.

Third, we alienate God—we blame Him for our problems, resent His ways, and push Him away.

Fourth, we dethrone God—we place ourselves at the center and attempt to replace Him as Lord.

Idolatry, then, is far more than bowing before a carved image. It is any attempt to reshape God into our own image rather than submitting to Him as He truly is.

Those are some great definitions of idolatry. It doesn’t have to be a little statue in your house. It is any attempt that you impose upon God to localize Him, domesticate Him, alienate Him, and ultimately dethrone Him.

Fourth, the living God will one day bring final Judgment. (vs 30-31)

Acts 17:30–31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

After Paul confronts their sin of idolatry, he commands them to repent because there is a day of judgment.

This idea of final judgment was entirely foreign to them. In Greek thought, there was no concept of an end-times judgment. That didn’t compute. The idea that after death all people would stand before the judgment seat of Christ was an alien concept.

Like people today who do not believe in heaven or hell or bristle at the thought of judgment.

I want you to notice THREE important facets of the Judgment:

First, God’s judgment will be UNIVERSAL—the entire world will be judged. No one will escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:2–4 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

Second, God’s judgment will be JUST. As a holy God, He will have every right to bring judgment against those who have rejected Jesus and remain in their sins.

Romans 2:5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

No one can blame God for injustice or unfairness. He must punish sin and rebellion. His judgment will be just and right.

Third, God’s judgment will be DEFINITE—there is a fixed day. It is coming. You cannot stop it or escape it. God has set that Day, and it will come.

What is the greatest demonstration that God is the Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign, and Judge who is worthy of worship?

How can this God truly be found? How can you truly know and worship and seek your Creator?

Who alone has the authority to judge the entire world with justice? Who alone can accomplish this extraordinary task?

Only Jesus! The man God has appointed to bring this final judgment. The only Man who rose from the grave.

The Resurrection of Christ stands as the center of human history. The empty tomb is the most important event of all time.

If Jesus had not been raised from the dead, we would be the most hopeless people alive. We would be hopeless, helpless, and hell-bound.

1 Corinthians 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

What have we seen so far from Paul’s message?

God is the Creator of the universe and the Sovereign over all things. Only God is to be worshipped. This God will bring a Day of Judgment. Jesus is the only One qualified to bring that judgment because He rose from the dead.

How do you respond to all of this? Do you take it or leave it? Do you have an ambivalence toward it?

God commands you to repent. Notice that it is a command, not optional. The only appropriate response to Jesus as the risen Christ and to the future day of Judgment is to repent.

To turn from your sin. To own up to your rebellion. To admit that you need forgiveness and that you stand condemned before this holy God.

Only those who have repented, turned from idols, and trusted in Jesus will be saved from the wrath to come on that final Day.

The resurrection of Christ is the greatest evidence, proof, and assurance you need that you can be in a right relationship with your Creator who is sovereign over all things and will bring that final day of Judgment.

Please notice the three responses of the people who heard Paul’s message.

First of all, in verse 32 we see CONTEMPT. They mocked him. They “laughed out loud!”

Second, we see CURIOSITY. Some wanted to hear more. They weren’t fully convinced and sought more information. They didn’t reject the gospel but were curious.

Third, in verse 34, we see CONVERSION. A small number believed and were saved.

Some in that crowd repented of their sins, believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, understood the coming judgment, and wholeheartedly accepted the truth of the resurrection.

What is your response today to the empty tomb? What is your response today to Jesus, whom God has appointed to judge the living and the dead?

What is your response today to Jesus who has conquered death by rising again?

Will you respond with contempt, curiosity, or conversion?

Will you repent and believe in Jesus alone to be forgiven of your sins and to receive eternal life?

He stands ready, willing, and able to save you! Today is the day of salvation! Repent and believe in the risen Savior!

^[1]John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 287.

What is the difference between being legalistic and practicing biblical discernment?

Many of you have seen these three helpful categories, but I wanted to either remind you of them or introduce you to them for the first time.

Dogma: Dogmas are those close-hand issues that we are not going to budge on. We will die on these hills, and we will sacrifice unity to preserve these essentials.

These would be things like the sinlessness of Christ, the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement, the Trinity, the authority of Scripture, Jesus as the only way of salvation by grace alone, the literal second coming, and heaven and hell.

Doctrines: These are important truths in the Bible that we can agree to disagree upon. That’s why there are denominations. These issues may include the mode of baptism, spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, end-times views, women in leadership, and church government. These are issues that are great to debate, but we can agree to disagree.

Preferences: You cannot find a Bible verse for these; they are personal preferences. I like only hymns. I like only praise songs. I like the blue carpet. I like green carpet. I like Sunday School. I like home groups. I prefer pews. I like chairs. I like the pastor to preach for 20 minutes. I like the pastor to preach for an hour.

Notice the focus is on “I LIKE!” Sadly, many churches split and are disunified over preferences. I’ll just be honest with you. If I’m going down in a fight, it’s going to be over the dogma issues. I don’t want to see any church crumble because of disunity through preferences.

Now, what often happens is that when you hold to a dogma or even a doctrine with courage, clarity, and conviction, other believers may accuse you of being legalistic. They may think you’re a Pharisee.

Allow me to give you a definition of legalism: Legalism involves elevating non-essentials or preferences to the level of dogma and making them a test of orthodoxy and conditions of fellowship.

What is legalism? At its core, legalism involves HUMAN precepts and man-made teachings, NOT the clear commands or explicit teachings in the Scripture.

We need to be very clear on this because whenever you hold to the clear teachings of Scripture with confidence, courage, or conviction, others may think you’re arrogant, too sure of yourself, or intolerant.

Whenever you hold to the Bible with courage, clarity, and conviction, you are in fact practicing biblical discernment. You’re NOT being judgmental. You’re not being legalistic. You’re not being Pharisaical.

What is biblical discernment?

The book of Hebrews contains some of the clearest teachings on discernment.

Hebrews 5:11–14 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

We see THREE truths from this passage.

First, you can adopt a lazy attitude toward hearing God’s Word.

Notice in verse 11 that those in the church had become dull of hearing, literally lazy. They got lax in wanting to learn or devote themselves to Scripture.

They adopted a “who cares” attitude toward the solid preaching and teaching of God’s Word. They did not want the pastor to go in-depth in the sermon, but to give them milk.

Second, all believers should move from milk to solid food.

There comes a point when you should desire to grow in your knowledge and maturity, to grow deeper in your understanding of Scripture.

The basic principles of the oracle of God are like the ABC’s. They had to go back and start at the very elementary level of the Bible all over again.

Why? They had gotten lazy, which left them UNSKILLED in God’s Word. You don’t ever want to be unskilled, but skilled.

One of the greatest golfers of all time is Jack Nicklaus. He has won 8 major championships, the all-time record, and has the most Masters Tournaments, six!

However, at the start of every season--or whenever his game began to drift-- famous golfer Jack Nicklaus would go back to his longtime teacher, Jack Grout, and say, “Jack, teach me how to play golf.”

It wasn’t because he had forgotten the game. It was because he knew excellence requires returning to the fundamentals. Together, they would rebuild every aspect of his swing-from his grip and stance to his posture, head position, and footwork-stripping away bad habits and reinforcing the basics that had made him a champion.

You need to get to the point where you want to learn as much of the Bible as you can every day, and you never get complacent, lazy, or dull of hearing.

Being unskilled or lazy leads to being deceived by false doctrine.

Ephesians 4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Many years ago, Dawn and I spent a week in Cancun for relaxation and fun. I grew up going to the beach in Texas, and I love the water. I can’t get enough of the ocean. Dawn loves the ocean, but she likes lying on the beach better.

One day, as we were swimming in the ocean, the waves got very choppy, and Dawn almost got swept out to sea. She was tossed to and fro, and she held on to me for dear life. She was pretty shaken up.

I also got way off course while swimming in the ocean. I looked up at where Dawn was sitting on her towel and used our hotel as a landmark, and then, after about 15 minutes, I had drifted about a mile down the beach without even knowing it.

Third, our ability to discern truth from error must be TRAINED by constant practice.

The word “constant practice” means repeatedly, over and over again. In fact, the Latin version of this word is where we get the term “habits.”

You must constantly practice discernment, just like you go to the gym.

That’s the word used for “trained”-gymnazo. You need to work out the muscles of spiritual discernment continually.

What happens when you get serious about working out?

You have a training regime that pushes you to overload. You want to beat your personal rep max each time. You also start watching what you eat and tracking your calories. In essence, your entire life begins to change because your appetite has changed. You have an appetite for working out and eating right.

In the same way, when you make it a constant habit to work out studying the word to grow in your discernment, you develop a spiritual appetite that can sniff out false teaching.

But what happens if you stop working out and you begin to overeat? You lose lean muscle mass, gain weight, and all that work goes out the window.

In the same way, when you get lazy, unskilled, or dull of hearing and don’t constantly read and study the Word, you can lose your appetite and ability to discern.

The word “discern” here means to evaluate carefully, to make good judgments, or to distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit.

Acts 17:11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

How does being discerning work itself out practically in your daily life? What should be the takeaway from today for you as you move forward in holding fast to the truth of God’s Word without compromise?

First, submit yourself to the authority of Scripture alone above all else.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Commit NOW to hold fast to the Scriptures alone with courage, clarity, and conviction. Those three words are crucial:

Courage: Taking strong stances on Biblical truth will require courage. It will not be easy or popular.

Clarity: We must not water down the message, make excuses, or pick and choose which parts of Scripture we want to believe or obey. We must be absolutely clear on what the Bible teaches.

Conviction: This means we must really believe what we believe. We can’t just pay lip service to the truth; we must hold fast to it no matter the cost.

Many churches have a doctrinal statement, or they put on paper what they believe, but they never preach on those truths for fear of offending people or trying to grow their church at all costs.

Second, expect labels and mischaracterizations, but still contend for the faith.

People will misunderstand you. They will call you names behind your back. They will think you’re too extreme.

Expect those to come at you in full force. But you must also not back down from the truth. You must still have courage, clarity, and conviction.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

You may need to correct someone with gentleness. You must be patient when those misunderstand you or label you as intolerant.

Jude 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

Third, speak the truth in love to those who disagree or label you judgmental.

Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.

Fourth, learn to distinguish between dogma, doctrine, and preferences.

You need to be an expert in dogma. This is where a Confession of Faith is especially helpful, since the first chapters address the essentials of the faith.

You need to become proficient in doctrines.

You need to understand why your church holds certain doctrines while your friends at other churches may not. You will need to explain to them why, because they may think you’re being legalistic or Pharisaical.

Instead, you’re just wanting to adhere to what the Bible teaches.

In addition, you need to be flexible with your preferences. We need to allow for flexibility and a lot of tolerance regarding preference, because if not, that WILL lead to legalism.

Fifth, don’t be easily swayed, especially by those closest to you.

Deuteronomy 13:6-8 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him.

If someone close to you-a family member or a close friend tries to sway you, confuse you, or get you tangled up, you must not listen to them.

Also, you must not pity them, which means you don’t allow them to sway you with toxic empathy that pulls on your heartstrings.

Sometimes we can be swayed by emotional appeals rather than by absolute truth.

Part of being discerning is knowing when someone is trying to tug at your heartstrings to sway you into believing something you know is wrong. This can be very enticing because we don’t want to disappoint that person since we are so close to them.

We don’t want to be accused of being unloving or intolerant, so we must be on guard against emotional appeals from those closest to us.

Sixth, biblical discernment is a mark of Christian maturity and not optional.

Look again at Hebrews 5:12.

You should continually grow so that you can teach others. Not in an official capacity in the church, but your knowledge of the Bible should be growing so that you can be a person of maturity and wisdom.

Here’s the bottom line: Do you want to be a lazy, dull of hearing, unskilled Christian or an alert, skilled, mature Christian who practices biblical discernment?

During the bloody Thirty Years’ War in Europe (1618-1648), German theologian Rupertus Meldenius wrote these famous words in a tract that was circulated in 1627:

In essentials unity; In non-essentials liberty; In all things, charity.

We can expand it this way:

In dogma, we must always be unified and in complete agreement.

We can have strong convictions and agree to disagree on doctrines, but for the sake of the unity of a church family, we should be substantially in agreement on doctrines or secondary issues.

In non-essentials that are grey areas of Christian freedom and personal conviction/conscience, we have freedom so long as we don’t violate our conscience or put a stumbling block in someone else’s life.

Above all, we should always LOVE and respect one another, even if we disagree. What is your attitude toward the Bible?

Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Revelation 22:18-19 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Gregg Allison, church history professor at Southern Seminary, urges, “The church must proclaim-clearly, urgently, persuasively-the Word of God without confusion, without change, without compromise-as its first order of business.”¹

That is our mission as a church, and that should be your desire as a Christian. To live under the authority of the Bible as the Word of God so that there is no confusion, no change, and no compromise.

Will you submit yourselves under the authority of the Bible and not only believe what it says, but also do what it says with active obedience?

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Will you commit wholeheartedly to TRAIN yourself in discernment? To make it a habit to study God’s Word. To so know His truth that you can easily spot counterfeits and false teaching.

Will you be a Christian of courage, clarity, and conviction, yet speak the truth in love without wavering?

¹Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church (Wheaton, IL: Crossway)

Charles Dickens opens A Tale of Two Cities with the famous line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Let me tell you the tale of two churches.

Church A was unhealthy and toxic. A controlling woman dominated the congregation, intimidated pastors, and silenced anyone who opposed her. Gossip, grudges, and manipulation flourished. Real needs went unmet as criticism replaced compassion. Prayer meetings became little more than gossip sessions masquerading as spirituality. Worship lacked joy, bitterness lingered over decades-old conflicts, and pastors rarely lasted more than two years before discouragement or opposition drove them away.

Church B had once looked much the same. But a faithful pastor led the church back to Scripture. He cultivated a culture of prayer, appointed godly elders, lovingly confronted sin, and encouraged biblical unity. Over time, bitterness gave way to forgiveness, worship became joyful, prayer meetings grew vibrant, thanksgiving replaced complaining, and the church became a healthy, loving family.

What made the difference? Church A ignored the biblical principles for healthy church life, while Church B embraced them. That’s exactly what Paul teaches in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18. These verses show us what it takes for a church to move from dysfunction to health.

1 Thessalonians 5:14–18 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

You are Christ-like when you PATIENTLY encourage one another in areas of sin and weakness.

If we truly live together as brothers and sisters in a church family, there are going to be issues. There are going to be problems. There will be times when we get on each other’s nerves and truly need to demonstrate patience.

Paul gives FOUR ways to do this:

ONE: Confront a disruptive person.

Paul says here to admonish the idle. The word “idle” doesn’t carry the real meaning of this word—it really means “disorderly, or disruptive” or “undisciplined.”

In the immediate context of the church here in Thessalonica, there could be people embracing a false doctrine and causing confusion, or busybodies and gossips spreading dissension. We really don’t know.

2 Thessalonians 3:11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.

One of the biggest weaknesses I see in church life is that most people are afraid to confront others about sin. You either think someone else will do it, that it is the elders’ responsibility, or that you really don’t want to deal with it.

TWO: Comfort the discouraged.

In a church family, there will also be those who are discouraged, or, as verse 14 says, “fainthearted.” Literally, this means “small of soul”—on the brink of giving up.

In the life of the church, there will be those who are depressed, discouraged, and despondent and who need uplifting and encouragement. The word Paul uses here is to “console” or “comfort.” They aren’t causing division and chaos like the unruly person—they’re just hurting and need encouragement.

THREE: Provide for the needs of those with health issues.

In addition, Paul says to help the “weak”—this could mean those who are physically weak and frail due to illness or health issues. That is another reality in the life of the church. There will always be people with health issues, and we need to help one another.

Whether it’s an immature Christian who is unruly and causing division, a disheartened, hurting person, or someone who is weak and sick with health problems, the issue is that we are PATIENT with them all.

A church family practices patience. We love one another through these times. We confront when we need to. We console when we need to. We help when we need to.

And here’s the reality—these things are ALWAYS going to be around in a church family. We can’t get away from them, so we need to be patient with each other and show love and concern.

FOUR: Warn a person bent on revenge or getting even.

If someone is fuming and bent on revenge, getting even, or causing problems, you, as a brother or sister in Christ, need to confront them, cool them off, and encourage them to seek forgiveness.

Romans 12:19–21 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

You live in peace when you continually display Christ-like ATTITUDES.

Verses 16-18 are short, little, powerful bullet points that hit you right between the eyes.

Rejoice always! This means to have a continual attitude of joy in the Lord.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Nehemiah 8:10 …And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Joy is what sets Christianity apart from every other world religion or spiritual system.

The world seeks happiness, which is not true joy. Happiness is a fleeting feeling that depends on circumstances.

John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

So, what truly is joy?

Joy is a deep-seated sense of peace, contentment, and satisfaction in Christ alone that does not depend on circumstances but rests in the unchanging grace of God.

Now linked to this, Paul also tells us: Pray without ceasing!

Now, does this mean that you have 24/7 quiet time and never live your life? Or does it mean that you live your life in such a way that you’re constantly talking to God, aware of His presence, and keeping your mind focused on Him?

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

This means we are to persevere in prayer. Sometimes this means offering brief prayers to God throughout the day in times of need. It also means carving out daily time alone with God to wrestle in prayer and earnestly seek His face.

It is both an ATTITUDE and an ACTION. It is a constant attitude of being in prayer, talking to God, and seeking His counsel through the Bible, but it also means diligence in setting aside time to pray.

Mark 1:35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

In relation to rejoicing always and praying always, Paul rounds out this with: Give thanks in all circumstances!

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Notice how these are all continuous attitudes of the heart. There is an attitude of joy, an attitude of prayer, and an attitude of thanksgiving.

These spring up from inside you as the Holy Spirit produces His fruit in your life.

I want you to pay careful attention to the end of verse 18: This is God’s will for you. In the original language, the structure indicates that it describes all three things, not just giving thanks.

Do you want to know God’s will for your life?

Have a continual attitude of joyful, prayerful thanksgiving in all circumstances!

That’s easier said than done. That’s why we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Think about the opposites of these for a moment. If the opposites of these mark a church, the result will be chaos and disunity, not peace.

What’s the opposite of joy? Bitterness, unforgiveness, and impatience.

When you lack joy, you cause problems in the life of the church and in your relationships. You’re bitter, impatient, and touchy. You’re not trusting in Christ and in God’s sovereignty. You’re anxious, fretful, and worried about things.

What’s the opposite of praying without ceasing? A lack of praying for one another, which leads to a coldness in our relationship with Christ.

When you don’t pray, you become self-sufficient and deluded into thinking you can live the Christian life on your own, in your own power. When you don’t pray, you become cold, dry, and proud. You think you don’t need God.

What’s the opposite of thanksgiving? Complaining, grumbling, and playing the blame game. Ingratitude. Trying to take credit for God’s work in your life. Living in your own power again.

Are you a disruptive person? If so, repent and accept correction.

Are you aware of people around you in your church who are discouraged and faint-hearted? Then seek ways to encourage them.

Are you aware of those in your church who are weak or sick? If so, find practical ways to help them.

Are you struggling with a lack of forgiveness, and in your bitterness, do you want revenge or to repay evil for evil? Then ask the Holy Spirit for the strength to forgive.

Are you not a joyful person resting in God’s grace? If not, ask Jesus to put this joy deep in your heart.

Are you struggling to pray? Are you not spending a daily time alone with God? Then make a commitment to start tomorrow!

Are you an ungrateful complainer? Then ask God to grant you the ability to give thanks.

Be specific today about how you need to change, and ask Jesus to help you! He will help, He will provide, and by His Holy Spirit, He will produce this in your life today!

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

The Historic Reformed Interpretation of the NEPHILIM in Genesis 6

Genesis Chapter Six has sparked some of the most contested and controversial interpretations concerning the identity of the Nephilim. Were these “mighty men” in fact giants? Were they the offspring of fallen angels who procreated with human women? How do we understand this very difficult passage of Scripture?

Genesis 6:1–4 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

There are two predominant views on this, and history has split right down the middle on which side to take.

The first is the historic Reformed view, held by Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Matthew Henry, Bavinck, Berkhof, and R. C. Sproul.

The first view holds that the sons of God are those in the lineage of Seth, the godly line that intermarried with the ungodly line of Cain. Intermarriage between the Israelites and pagans was strictly prohibited by God throughout the Old Testament. So this view holds that Seth’s line—the godly line—did the unthinkable, and instead of marrying within the godly line of Seth, they went outside it and found the daughters of Cain attractive and took them as their wives.

In other words, the primary sin here is intermarriage with pagans.

Let me lay my cards on the table: I hold to the historic Reformed view.

I believe the identity of the Nephilim are the human children produced by the daughters of Cain and the sons of Seth. These were mighty, violent warriors causing much bloodshed and tyranny on the earth prior to the flood.

The second view was held by the early church fathers, who were influenced by the Book of Enoch and Second Temple Judaism. In addition, many within Dispensationalism hold this view.

The Book of Enoch (particularly 1 Enoch 6–16) interprets the “sons of God” as angels (the Watchers) who married women and fathered giant offspring (200 BC-100 AD).

The patristics followed the Second Temple Judaism (Enoch) understanding as well, including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian.

I call the second view the Patristic Supernatural Fallen Angels view.

According to this understanding of Genesis 6, the sons of God are fallen angels who come to earth, have sexual relationships with human women, and produce an ungodly, demonic offspring called the Nephilim .

Over the past few months, I have had many people ask me about the Book of Enoch, the “Watchers”, and the Nephilim.

I spent some time reading the original source material in 1 Enoch, chapters 6-15.

Allow me to provide a brief summary that helps this discussion about the supernatural hybrid interpretation. The following comes from Robert H. Charles’ translation of 1 Enoch Chapters 6-15 (Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), pages191-198.

1 Enoch 6–15 identifies the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 as the Watchers, a group of 200 angels led by Semjaza (also spelled Shemihazah) and Azazel, who descended to earth and took human women as wives. These unlawful unions produced a race of giant offspring known as the Nephilim.

According to Enoch, the Nephilim became exceedingly violent and corrupt, filling the earth with bloodshed and wickedness. According to 1 Enoch 8, the Watchers corrupted humanity by teaching forbidden knowledge, including warfare and weapon-making (Azazel), enchantments (Armaros), astrology (Baraqijal, Kokabiel, Shamsiel, and others), and other occult arts associated with rebellion against God.

God judged both the Watchers and their offspring: the Watchers were bound and imprisoned until the final judgment, while the Nephilim were destroyed. Enoch further teaches that after the Nephilim died, their disembodied spirits became evil spirits, or demons, that now roam the earth, afflicting humanity.

Enoch presents an unbiblical view of the origin of demons.

Those conservative evangelicals who hold to the early church father view do NOT necessarily get their theological conclusion from the Book of Enoch, but directly from the Bible.

While I reject this view, in fairness, allow me to present the biblical arguments of those who adhere to this hybrid-angelic supernatural view.

First of all, the only other mentions of the term “sons of God” in the Old Testament refer to angels.

Job 1:6–7 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. ⁷ The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

We see this phrase repeated in Job 2:1 and Job 38:7.

The Genesis 6 text does not say “sons of Seth” but “sons of God,” so this view takes “sons of God” to refer to angelic beings.

Here’s their second reason. We do find some New Testament support for the idea that angels leave their positions of authority and are judged for their sin.

2 Peter 2:4–5 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Peter refers to fallen angels in the same passage as Noah. Peter seems to link the flood’s judgment not only to punishment of the ungodly but also to a response to the sin of fallen angels.

Jude 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.

Both Jude and Peter mention angels who fell and left their proper dwelling and are kept in chains until the day of judgment.

Based on the book of Enoch and these two New Testament passages, those who hold to this view do not believe it’s far-fetched that Satan could have induced these angels to indulge their desires, be curious about the female form, and go down and have sex with women and produce ungodly offspring.

This sounds very strange, almost like science fiction, but are there other strange things happening in the Bible, such as the parting of the Red Sea, the floating head, the feeding of the 5000, the raising of Lazarus, and turning water into wine?

The Bible is full of miraculous events that defy scientific explanation.

So, according to the early church fathers and the Book of Enoch, the offspring of this union between fallen angels and human women were the Nephilim.

The word Nephilim can be translated as “fallen ones.” These were those who lost their position as angels in heaven, fell to earth, and became the demonic offspring. The word can also mean “giants,” as the Septuagint has translated the Hebrew word for the mighty men of old—the Gibborim.

However, the best translation of Nephilim can mean “fierce warrior” or “mighty hero” and does not necessarily mean giants as we think of today, someone who is extremely tall.

So what is Satan’s master plan here? He wants to corrupt the entire human race through intermarriage between demons and humans so that the seed of the woman—the Messiah—Jesus—would not be born. How could Jesus be born of a demon-possessed mother? His plan is to thwart God’s sovereign agenda to fulfill Genesis 3:15.

This early church interpretation concludes that there was a race of half-demon, half-human demigods, mighty giants and heroes, who lived on the earth just before the flood. Their wickedness contaminated the human race with violence.

Now, some people say that the Nephilim lived on and were the giants in Canaan when the twelve spies under Joshua and Caleb went on that reconnaissance mission in Numbers 13. But we need to be careful here.

Who was destroyed in the flood? Everyone except 8 people—Noah’s family. Noah was of the godly lineage and was not corrupted by the Nephilim, so they were all destroyed in the flood.

Regardless of your view, we need to be careful here: the pre-flood Nephilim did not survive the flood and were most likely not the same people, tribe, or ethnic group as the giants in Canaan.

Augustine was the first church father to reject this view and to argue for what has become the consensus interpretation in the Reformed tradition.

Nearly all the major Reformers rejected the angel-human hybrid view.

John Calvin was perhaps the strongest critic of the angelic interpretation within the Reformation.

He writes, “That ancient figment concerning the intercourse of angels with women is abundantly refuted by its own absurdity; and it is surprising that learned men should formerly have been fascinated by ravings so gross and prodigious. . . .Moses simply means that the posterity of Seth, who had been trained in the worship of God, were captivated by the allurements of the daughters of Cain.”[1]

Calling the early church view an absurd figment, he concludes that the “sons of God” were descendants of Seth who intermarried with the ungodly.

Martin Luther’s Lectures on Genesis interpret the “sons of God” as the godly descendants of Seth rather than angels.

Luther writes, “The sons of God were those who had the true worship of God.”[2]

The Puritan expositor Matthew Henry follows Augustine and Calvin: “The sons of God were the professors of religion, who married with the daughters of men, that is, of those who were profane.”[3]

He sees Genesis 6 as a warning against believers marrying unbelievers.

Reformed Baptist John Gill rejects the angelic view because angels are spiritual beings. He argues, “By the sons of God are meant the posterity of Seth.”

He also dismisses the angelic interpretation as depending largely on Jewish tradition rather than Scripture.

Princeton theologian Charles Hodge rejects the angelic interpretation because it contradicts the biblical doctrine of angels. He argues that Genesis 6 concerns the corruption of the covenant line rather than supernatural reproduction (Systematic Theology, vol. 1).

Dutch Reformed scholar Herman Bavinck notes that the Sethite interpretation best fits the flow of Genesis and avoids speculative mythology (Reformed Dogmatics, discussion of angels and Genesis 6).

Systematic theologian Louis Berkhof summarizes the historic Reformed consensus: the “sons of God” are the descendants of Seth rather than angels (Systematic Theology, section on angels).

In the modern era, R. C. Sproul wrote in a Ligonier article, “Who are the Sons of God?” He said, “The simple answer is that the Scriptures sometimes refer to angels as sons of God, and it is assumed that the reference in Genesis 6 means the same. This is certainly a possible inference that could be drawn, but is it a necessary inference? I would answer no; I do not believe this text necessarily teaches the idea of sexual relations between angels and human beings.“[4]

In the past few decades, there has been a resurgence of the early church view of the Nephilim, as the hybrid offspring of fallen angels.

While many factors have contributed to this resurgence, allow me to identify two primary reasons:

Dispensationalism and study Bibles.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1909, revised in 1917 and 1967) and later the Ryrie Study Bible placed interpretive notes directly on the page next to Genesis 6:1–4, favoring the view that “sons of God” refers to angelic beings rather than to the Sethite line intermarrying with Cainites.

Because these study Bibles served as de facto commentaries for generations of lay readers and pastors trained at dispensational institutions (Dallas Theological Seminary being the flagship), the angelic-hybrid reading became mainstream in a way it hadn’t been since the patristic era. Stalwart leaders like John Walvoord and Charles Ryrie promoted this view.

This matters because the “Sethite view” (the godly line of Seth vs. the wicked line of Cain) had been the dominant reading in Western Christianity roughly since Augustine. The older, pre-Augustinian angelic reading (held by most Second Temple Jewish sources, and by early figures like Justin Martyr and Tertullian) has been recovered and popularized.

John MacArthur is one of the best-known modern conservative theologians who holds the supernatural (angelic) interpretation of Genesis 6.

His note on Genesis 6 summarizes his position: “The best interpretation is that the ‘sons of God’ were fallen angels (demons) who cohabited with women...”

What sets MacArthur apart from other modern scholars is that he does not build his view on the Book of Enoch or Second Temple Judaism sources but relies on the biblical text alone.

The second factor in the resurgence of the early church view is Second Temple literature.

The rediscovery and growing accessibility of 1 Enoch — especially after Ethiopic manuscripts became better known in the 19th century, and then decisively after Enoch fragments were found at Qumran in the Dead Sea Scrolls (published progressively from the 1950s onward) — gave the angelic view some weight.

1 Enoch’s Book of the Watchers essentially provides an extended Jewish rabbinic commentary on Genesis 6. It’s a detailed mythology that introduces the Watchers, who teach forbidden arts and the Nephilim as demonic offspring, trying to fill in the blanks that the Genesis 6 account supposedly left out.

Once Enoch became more accessible (and scholars began noting that Jude 1:14–15 directly quotes it), evangelicals had both a canonical warrant (Jude treating Enoch’s tradition as authoritative) and a rich extrabiblical source to draw on.

In recent years, especially Michael Heiser and Chuck Missler, have helped this view gain major traction and popularity—even within Reformed circles where it had not been widely accepted.

At the center of this debate lies a significant hermeneutical difference. In this newer approach, which draws on Second Temple Jewish sources, proponents view the Book of Enoch and other extra-biblical texts as indispensable for interpreting difficult passages.

My main concern with this approach is that some may elevate non-biblical sources to an almost canonical status, giving them equal weight to the Scriptures alone.

As a Reformed Baptist, I hold to the analogy of faith and believe that Scripture interprets Scripture. The 66 inerrant books of the Old and New Testaments are my controlling authority. Whenever the Book of Enoch conflicts with Scripture, I must choose the Bible over Second Temple Jewish sources.

I follow John Calvin, who frequently appealed to Jewish customs and ancient history, but Calvin refused to let them determine doctrine.

Allow me to offer SIX REASONS why I believe the historic Reformed view is the best option on Genesis 6 instead of adopting the supernatural hybrid-angelic interpretation.

First, the question is ultimately hermeneutical.

Historic Protestant interpretation has insisted upon the analogy of faith—that Scripture interprets Scripture. Although Jude cites the Book of Enoch, citation does not confer canonical authority. Second Temple Jewish literature provides valuable historical background, but it must never function as the controlling lens through which the canonical Scriptures are interpreted. The authority belongs to Scripture alone.

In fairness, I do not believe those who hold the other view elevate Enoch or other sources to the level of the Bible. I give them the benefit of the doubt that they adhere to Sola Scriptura. However, I have found some who overemphasize Second Temple Jewish sources rather than staying within the bounds of Scripture alone.

Second, Jesus explicitly teaches that angels neither marry nor are given in marriage (Matt. 22:30).

Although some argue that this refers only to the holy angels in heaven (not fallen angels or demons), Jesus presents angels in general as non-married, non-sexual beings. Nowhere in Scripture are fallen angels described as possessing reproductive capacities or entering into sexual unions with human beings.

Third, the Bible consistently portrays angels as spiritual beings who occasionally assume human appearance to carry out God’s purposes.

Nowhere does Scripture explicitly attribute biological sexuality, marriage, reproduction, or offspring to angels, both holy or fallen. Such ideas must be imported into Genesis 6 rather than derived from the Bible’s broader teaching on angels. The burden of proof rests with those who hold the supernatural view to identify an EXPLICIT biblical text that teaches that angels or the sons of God can reproduce offspring with humans.

Fourth, in Genesis 6, Moses explicitly identifies human wickedness—not the existence of hybrid demonic offspring—as the reason for the Flood.

The narrative repeatedly emphasizes that man’s wickedness had become great upon the earth (Gen. 6:5), that every intention of his heart was continually evil, and that humanity had corrupted its way before God. The judgment of the Flood is directed against human rebellion, not against a race of supernatural demonic hybrids.

We find no explicit statement that God’s judgment in the Flood was directed at the Nephilim. If we allow the text of Genesis 6:1-5 to speak on its own, humans are the direct cause of the rampant wickedness on earth that deserves God’s righteous anger.

Fifth, Genesis itself has already established two distinct lines of humanity.

Cain’s descendants represent those who rebel against God (Gen. 4), whereas Seth’s descendants are identified with those who “called upon the name of the LORD” (Gen. 4:26), and their genealogy culminates in the godly line leading to Noah (Gen. 5).

Against that backdrop, Genesis 6 depicts the tragic collapse of this distinction as the sons of God—the covenant line of Seth—intermarry with the daughters of men, the ungodly line of Cain.

This theme anticipates the Old Testament’s repeated prohibition against God’s people intermarrying with the pagan nations, as such unions inevitably lead to spiritual compromise and idolatry (e.g., Deut. 7:3–4; 1 Kings 11:1–8).

Genesis 6 does not introduce a new subject of demonic offspring but rather brings together the two lines Moses has been tracing since Genesis 4—the ungodly lineage of Cain and the godly seed of Seth.

The central concern is not the demonic corruption of human genetics but the spiritual corruption of the covenant community through compromise with the ungodly—a theme that becomes one of the dominant warnings throughout the rest of the Old Testament.

Sixth, extraordinary interpretations require thorough and repeated textual support within the entire canon of Scripture.

If Genesis 6 truly teaches that fallen angels produced a race of human-demonic hybrids—a doctrine found nowhere else in Scripture—we would expect the Bible to explain this remarkable event clearly and repeatedly. Instead, the passage is brief and offers minimal explanation. The majority of Genesis 6-9 focuses on the flood and God’s preservation of Noah’s family.

In fairness, those who hold the supernatural view argue that 1 Peter 3 and Jude mention fallen angels during Noah’s time. However, these texts do not explicitly teach that fallen angels had sexual relations with human women and produced hybrid-demonic offspring.

In conclusion, I hold to the historic Reformed interpretation that began with Augustine and has been consistently argued exegetically throughout church history.

In humility, I do not want to be overly dogmatic about the identity of the Nephilim because Genesis 6 is somewhat mysterious and hotly contested.

It is not a hill to die on, as it is a minor secondary doctrine, not a chief article of the faith.

However, let’s not lose the forest for the trees!

Regardless of which view one holds, the important thing to remember is that sinful rebellion against a holy God deserves His righteous wrath.

The LORD punished wickedness with the Flood, and only one family survived by sovereign grace.

God is under no obligation to grant Noah grace. In fact, God is under no obligation to save anyone.

If we are honest with ourselves when we look into the depths of our hearts, we find wickedness, rebellion, sin, corruption, and all manner of evil. If God were to be just with us, He would have every right to blot us off the map of human history as He did in the Flood.

But instead, He chose to show mercy and grace. God dealt with our pervasive sin by executing His justice on Jesus in our place. Jesus became our Substitute and sin-bearer, absorbing God’s wrath in our place so that you and I could have our sins blotted out.

Jesus endured the flood of God’s judgment on Himself so that we would not have to.

Do you believe you are wicked and deserving of God’s wrath?

Do you believe you are more loved, accepted, and forgiven in Christ than you could ever hope for?

Then you understand the gospel of sovereign grace!

Would you turn your eyes upon Jesus, who has overcome all your sin, showered you with grace upon grace, forgiven you, and set you free from the overwhelming FLOOD of God’s righteous wrath.

[1]John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, on Genesis 6:1–4.

[2]Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 1–5 (AE 1).

[3]Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Genesis 6.

[4]https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/who-are-sons-god-genesis-6?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Happy 250^th Birthday, America!

I am not ashamed to say that I am proud to be an American. This pride in our nation does not mean we should be smug, arrogant, or condescending in our attitude. Neither does it mean we elevate our citizenship over the gospel of Jesus Christ. To put it more simply, I am thankful that God has ordained that I grow up in the United States with the freedoms we experience like no other country.

America is by no means a perfect nation. We have many flaws, and at times, I wonder why God does not judge us more harshly for our wickedness. However, with our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, America is unique. We have founding documents and liberties that have stood the test of time for 250 years.

As we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of our nation, may we praise God for His many blessings. May we never take for granted the freedoms we have the privilege of exercising in America. Let us enjoy the Fourth of July with friends and family and exuberantly show our patriotism for living in America. Let us not apologize for being patriotic and for loving our country.

In celebrating our nation’s 250^th year, let us understand what true freedom is. If there is one passage of Scripture we as Americans need to hear, it is the words of 1 Peter 2:16:

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

True freedom comes from the assurance that our sins have been forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that we are no longer objects of God’s justice because of our rebellion against Him. Anyone who does not submit to Christ alone as Savior and Lord is in spiritual bondage and will die without the hope of eternal life with Him in heaven.

Jesus said in John 8:34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

True freedom comes when Christ liberates you from your slavery to sin and grants you His amazing grace and life with Him.

At one point in our lives before Christ, we were in Satan’s kingdom of darkness, but through salvation, we experience a new birth.

Colossians 1:13–14 says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. “

Again, true freedom is deliverance from bondage to redemption through Christ.

Therefore, as those who have experienced this freedom, how should we live?

Should we just bank on God’s forgiveness and keep sinning our hearts out because, after all, “I love sinning and God loves forgiving, so this is a wonderful arrangement”? Do we use our freedom as Christians, who have forgiveness, as an excuse to engage in evil? Absolutely not!

Romans 6:1–2 answers this question with these words: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

As those liberated from spiritual bondage, we have died to sin and are no longer its slaves. Through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can now be empowered to say “no” to ungodliness and not abuse the freedom we have in Christ as a “cover-up for evil.”

Titus 2:11-12 says, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It (God’s grace) teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”

So true freedom is living a life of holiness and godliness, in which we passionately obey Jesus as our Sovereign Lord. We submit to His leadership in our lives, and we know that we are His unique possession.

We don’t use our freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as a way to gladly respond to God with joyful obedience.

As we reflect on freedom this Fourth of July, let us thank God that we still live in a free country and that we enjoy many tremendous blessings as Americans.

Let us also thank God for giving us true freedom through Christ, for forgiving our sins, for granting us a new identity, for the joy of the Lord, and a home in heaven.

May we get more excited about these truths than we are about fireworks, hot dogs, and even, dare I say, our nation’s 250^th birthday!

Celebrate our nation as a proud American!

But celebrate our Savior even more, who gives you eternal freedom that no one can ever take away!

In February 1997, the store I worked for went out of business, and around the same time, Dawn became pregnant with our first son. That was a stressful time in our lives because we worried about health insurance and if we could make ends meet.

I had a severance package, but it only lasted 6 weeks. About a month before he was born, God blessed me with a pretty good-paying job. Nevertheless, those were some trying times of anxiety where I spent many a sleepless night. I wrestled with the anxiety of wondering if I would be a good husband to provide for my pregnant wife.

We live in an age of anxiety.

According to the American Psychiatric Association’s 2026 Mental Health Poll, nearly half (48%) of respondents said they are more anxious than they were last year, an increase from 43% in 2025.[1]

Here are the top issues that make Americans in this poll anxious:

62% said paying my bills

60% said keeping myself or family safe

56% said identity theft

55% said my health.

How does Jesus address anxiety?

Matthew 6:25–34 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

In this passage, our Savior gets right at the heart of anxiety, which is a natural response when we struggle with finances or when we struggle to make ends meet.

In fact, the word “anxious” appears SIX times in this passage.

Here is the main point or big idea of this text: The greatest cure for anxiety is to seek God’s reign and righteousness above all else.

Let’s explore four truths from this passage.

First, anxiety reveals a lack of trust.

Let me say upfront that anxiety is actually a sin. It’s sinful to be anxious. There’s a fine line between being genuinely concerned about an issue and being anxious.

When Jesus tells us, “do not be anxious,” this is a command in the present tense, which can be translated—do NOT be anxious continually or perpetually.

We get our English word “worry” from an old German word meaning “to strangle” or “to choke.” Worry is like a noose around your neck, putting you in a mental stranglehold.

In reality, anxiety reveals a lack of trust, and Jesus addresses this sin in verse 30 when he says, “O you of little faith.

What is worry or anxiety? It is fretting when you’re in a panic, seeking answers, or trying to find solutions to your problems. It’s stressing out all over the place. It’s putting time and energy into worrying about things.

That’s what the Gentiles or the non-Christians do. Those who don’t have God as their Father seek, stress out, go into a frenzy, and fret over how their needs will be met. They put so much time and energy into worrying.

The word Jesus uses in verse 32 for the Gentiles, “seeking,” is to hunt it down actively. To be preoccupied with intensity. The word “seek” can also mean to have a strong desire. The non-Christian way to live is to fret, be overly anxious, and run around desiring things with no trust that God will provide.

Fundamentally, anxiety is a sin that reveals a lack of trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God.

Second, God faithfully provides for His children.

Since that was an agricultural society that spent much of its time outdoors in the fields, Jesus gives two examples from nature to illustrate WHY we should not worry but instead trust in God.

First: An example from the birds of the air

Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater to encourage us. How much more will God provide for your needs? You’re way more valuable than a bird. You are a child of God created in His image and have been adopted into His family by grace alone.

Why should we worry since God will provide for our daily bread?

In verse 27, Jesus addresses an issue we all deal with. We often want more time in the day or more money for this or that, and we worry about things we can’t control.

Can you add another hour to your busy life by worrying?

Worry is one of the greatest thieves!

Worry steals your time. You spent all your time worrying about things that you can’t control.

Worry steals your sleep. You have sleepless nights lying awake in bed with a knot in your stomach.

Worry steals your health. Sometimes worry can lead to ulcers and other physical complications.

Worry steals your hope. If you are consumed by worry, it can eventually lead to despair.

Second, an example from flowers in the field

Again, we are more valuable than flowers, and God will clothe us.

What is the clearest sign you’re lacking faith in Christ? You begin to worry, fret, and fear.

When you start to feel anxious, what should you do? You need to stop thinking about your problems and instead focus your heart and mind on God’s character. You need to begin thinking about God’s goodness. The faithfulness of God. The promises of God.

Psalm 77:12–14 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.

When you are overcome with anxiety, stop, take a deep breath, and begin to think about all the wonderful things about your Savior. Think about how He has been faithful to you in the past. Think about all the times He has answered your prayers. Think about how He has never left you nor forsaken you.

Up to this point, Jesus has been addressing physical needs—food, clothing, shelter, the things that most occupy our minds and cause us worry because they are tangible and right in front of us.

But what is more important than worry? What is more important than the physical?

Third, seek God’s REIGN above earthly concerns.

Verse 33 is one of the most important verses in the Lord’s Prayer on HOW we should live as Christians.

Notice the contrast in the word “seek.” The Gentiles, or non-Christians, actively hunt, seek, become preoccupied, and earnestly desire the things of this world.

In contrast, what should characterize us as believers?

We should seek first the kingdom of God.

Our priority, preoccupation, and desire should be God’s rule and reign.

What does it mean to diligently seek God’s REIGN above earthly concerns? It really comes down to the LORDSHIP of Christ.

Do you submit to His Lordship in ALL areas of your life?

Is Jesus Lord over your heart? Your thoughts? Your finances? Your viewing habits?Your time and energy spent on social media? Your words? Your choices? Your priorities? Your friends?

The word seek is significant. Remember, it means actively hunting it down. To be preoccupied with intensity. to have a strong desire

Does that truly describe you? Do you hunt down Jesus’ absolute right to be LORD over every aspect of your life? Do you seek FIRST the kingdom of God? Do you earnestly desire His rule and reign over every area of your life?

Fourth, seek God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS through holy living.

What does this pursuit of holiness look like? What does it mean to seek out this righteousness? Here are a few verses that teach we should kill sin, present our bodies as living sacrifices, and be renewed in our minds to seek righteousness.

Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Ephesians 4:23–24 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

The cure for anxiety is to seek God’s REIGN and RIGHTOUSNESS above everything else.

What is the overall result or blessing when we seek God’s reign and righteousness? When we trust in our good heavenly Father. God will GRACIOUSLY provide all our needs as we stop being anxious and seek His reign and righteousness above all else.

God will ADD ALL these things to you. He will provide for your needs. He will take care of you. And beyond what you can imagine at times.

What is the opposite of anxiety and worry? PEACE!!

Philippians 4:6–7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This peace passes understanding. An amazing peace He puts deep in your heart.

Isaiah 26:3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

Regardless of our circumstances, God promises to grant us this unusual peace, which will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:6–7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

The opposite of being anxious is not only peace, but CONTENTMENT.

Philippians 4:11–12 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

Do you have a peace that passes understanding? Have you learned the secret of contentment?

Or. . .

Are you anxious today? Are you consumed with worry? Are you committing the sin of not trusting in the goodness and faithfulness of God?

Is Jesus saying to you: O, you of little faith! Do not be anxious. Fear not!

It’s our Father’s good pleasure to give you grace in Jesus. To forgive your sins. To adopt you into His family. To provide for your needs! To take care of you! You’re more valuable than the birds of the air and the lilies of the field! You are a dearly loved, adopted child of the Father! You are saved by grace! God will never let you go!

When we are worried, what we need most is the GOSPEL truth of WHO God is! What is God like? What is His character?

Who is your God? Who is your Heavenly Father?

Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

When you commit or trust the Lord, He will act. He will provide for you. He will take away your anxiety. You can count on Him to act on your behalf.

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

When you’re anxious—cast that burden on the Lord. Throw all your problems on God because He will sustain you. He will give you the endurance through the struggle.

Psalm 94:19 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Yet, God will strengthen you. Help you! Uphold you!

This is your heavenly Father!! This is the Father who loves you!

The greatest cure for anxiety is seeking His reign and righteousness above all else.

Would you have a heart of trust in God’s grace and care for you today?

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Worry makes you tired.

Worry makes you weary.

Worry is like a mental stranglehold choking you to death.

When we grow tired and weary through worrying and fretting, we need to cast ourselves on the LORD, who never gets tired or weary. He is the everlasting God.

Isaiah 40:28–31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

[1]https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/2026-annual-mental-health-poll?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Our world often feels like it’s unraveling.

We live in a culture sliding deeper into rebellion against God. Wickedness seems to be increasing, and many in positions of leadership only accelerate the decline. Alongside these internal struggles are constant external threats—war, terrorism, violence, and uncertainty.

Nothing is new under the sun.

That was exactly the world Nahum addressed.

Nahum prophesied during the reign of King Manasseh, Judah’s most wicked king. Internally, God’s people were drowning in idolatry and rebellion. Externally, Assyria oppressed them, the most powerful and brutal empire on earth. Nineveh, Assyria’s capital, seemed invincible.

The question was obvious:

Will God do something about evil?

Nahum answers with a resounding yes.

The overarching message of this short prophecy is simple: Rejoice in hope because the Lord will bring an end to all evil.

Nahum 1:1–15 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. A jealous and avenging God is the Lord, the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and rages against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither, and the bloom of Lebanon fades. The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who live in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and by him the rocks are broken in pieces. The Lord is good, a stronghold in a day of trouble; he protects those who take refuge in him, even in a rushing flood. He will make a full end of his adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. Why do you plot against the Lord? He will make an end; no adversary will rise up twice. Like thorns they are entangled, like drunkards they are drunk; they are consumed like dry straw. From you one has gone out who plots evil against the Lord, one who counsels wickedness. Thus says the Lord, “Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut off and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break off his yoke from you and snap the bonds that bind you.” The Lord has commanded concerning you: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the cast image. I will make your grave, for you are worthless.” Look! On the mountains the feet of one who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, fulfill your vows, for never again shall the wicked invade you; they are utterly cut off.

This text gives us FOUR reasons to rejoice in hope.

Number One: God will powerfully avenge His enemies (vv. 1-6)

Verse 2 is shocking. We see the word “vengeance” appear three times. We see the word “wrath” appear twice, and to round it off, we see that God is a jealous God.

Can this truly describe the God we worship? This sounds extreme?

What does it mean that God is a jealous God? Isn’t jealousy something we were taught as very young children NOT to be?

God is jealous, or think of the word “zealous,” to maintain His own honor by demanding that His creation worship Him alone.

Think of it this way. If a man broke into my house and tried to attack and rob my family and me, and I just sat back and told him to go ahead, would I be a good husband and a good father? NO! To protect my family and honor my wife, I would need to be jealous of her honor and do everything in my power to defend and protect her.

Why would we expect any less from the God of the universe who created us?

Exodus 34:14 ¹⁴ (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Think about the implications of this. God is jealous because He cares so deeply for us. He has saved us by grace through Jesus Christ. Because idolatry, wickedness, and rebellion insult His honor, God will destroy the wicked and, at the same time, save us as His people.

We must understand this one thing about God: He has every right to both destroy His enemies and save His people.

God is a jealous God. That is His character. But this character also transfers into action. How does God ACT out of His jealousy for His glory? With vengeance and wrath on His enemies.

We need to be careful here. This is not God acting out of control, capriciously, or flying off the handle. This is God’s settled and righteous anger against sin, which must be punished.

Psalm 94:1 O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!

God never gives in to passions or is merely reactive to sin. He is always in control when He judges sin. He is master over His wrath.

Yet in verse 3, we get a glimpse of God’s patience in meting out justice on His enemies. He is slow to anger. Yet HE is great in power.

But most importantly, God will by no means clear the guilty. The word “clear” is a legal term used in the courtroom, where a judge may let an accused person go free rather than be put in jail.

That is probably one of the scariest statements in the entire Bible. If you’re guilty, you will not get off scot-free. You will be punished for your guilt. There are no loopholes with God.

God will by no means clear, forgive, or save a guilty person… UNLESS.

And this is the hope of the gospel. Unless your guilt is transferred to a substitute who bears it in your place. That is what Jesus has done. When He died on the cross, He took the guilt of all of God’s people and died in their place, bearing God’s justice so that we would not have to endure it.

In verse 6, Nahum poses a penetrating question: Who can stand before this great God? Who can endure God’s wrath? Who can endure God’s fire?

What’s the answer: NO ONE can stand before the living God who has every right to judge sinful people.

Who can withstand God’s whirlwind of judgment? Who can withstand God’s flood of anger? Who can withstand God’s fire of punishment?

Nobody. Nobody can endure or stand before this great God… unless, here’s the beauty of the gospel again. Unless someone endures or stands in your place to take that wrath. Unless there is a Substitute who takes the heat in your place. That is what Jesus did on the cross.

But the good news is that Jesus did. On the cross, Jesus bore God’s anger against sin and endured the fires of God’s justice.

And when you trust in Jesus as the only One who can take away your guilt, you are forgiven. Only then can God clear the guilty.

Number Two: God will powerfully protect His people (vv. 7-11)

In verse 7, we see how God does this. He is good. He is a stronghold. He is a refuge to His people.

God is a good God.

Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

The Lord is good, but ONLY to those who seek shelter in Him. Yes, the Lord is good, but only to those who are His, those who have entrusted their entire lives to Jesus by repenting of their sin and placing their trust in Him as Savior and Lord.

But for Assyria, who are not God’s people and have rebelled against Him in sin as His enemy, there is no refuge. There is no stronghold in the day of trouble.

For Assyria, they will be overthrown by a flood and completely wiped out.

However, you can be assured that no matter what you face, God will be your refuge. He will be your stronghold in the day of trouble. He will know you intimately and care for you as you take refuge in Him.

He may not take you OUT of difficult situations, but He promises to take you THROUGH them by His power.

Number Three: God will powerfully destroy idolatry (vv. 12-14)

In verse 12, we see that Assyria, as a nation, is at full strength. They are at the height of their power. No other world power dominates like Assyria. Yet at the height of their power, God alone stands above all earthly powers and will destroy them.

But for Israel specifically at this time in history, God would break off the yoke of oppression from their backs and cut off the pagan gods of Assyria because they had made the people vile in God’s sight.

But here’s the hope in this passage. God will destroy the pagan idols of Assyria. The Assyrians worshipped many gods—Ishtar, the goddess of war, among them.

Their idolatry had made them “vile”—the word really means “lightness or of no account, of little consequence.”

Whatever idol you’re holding onto, God has the power to destroy it. Don’t let your idol reduce you to nothingness or make you vile. Rejoice in the hope that God can powerfully destroy that idol and give you Himself as your greatest joy.

Number Four: God will powerfully save sinners with the gospel (v. 15)

In verse 15, we have an Old Testament announcement of the gospel.

The announcement of good news and the publishing of peace.

The Hebrew word “peace,” or “shalom,” is an important term meaning wholeness, completeness, and total well-being. Ultimately, it means being in a right relationship with God through having your sins forgiven.

God will eventually end all evil.

But how does this relate to us?

Have not the enemies of sin and the devil been destroyed by Jesus on the cross? Do we not have peace with God through Jesus? Do we not need to hear the good news of salvation?

Romans 10:14–15 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Here’s the point of the good news of the gospel: It is news of what Jesus has accomplished for us, not of what we must accomplish in our own power to bring salvation.

The gospel is news to be believed, not something we can accomplish as sinners.

The gospel message in Nahum is twofold: We can be forgiven as guilty sinners before God because of the cross of Christ, but at the same time, God will by no means clear the guilty and will eventually put an end to all sin.

The good news has been announced to you. You can be cleared of all guilt and find peace with God. You can trust in Christ as your solid rock and refuge. God is good toward those who repent and believe in Jesus, yet God will punish forever those who continue to live in rebellion.

There’s something I intentionally skipped over to show you its impact. In the first three verses, the word “LORD” appears five times. This is the word “Yahweh,” the covenant name of God as sovereign over His people.

It all comes down to the Lordship of Christ, the sovereign right of Jesus to rule your life by His power and grace.

May we rejoice in hope that the Lord—our sovereign King—has put an end to all evil through Jesus.

He has punished Jesus in our place and has cleared the guilty by His blood.

We have the good news of peace with God.

We can hide in the strength of Christ, our refuge.

I once heard a story about a church running a capital campaign to fund its new building. It sent its leaders to visit a wealthy (but not notably generous) member, hoping he’d make a large contribution. When they arrived, he turned the tables on them: “Think you know me? Did you know my widowed mother depends entirely on me? That my sister’s alcoholic husband just left her and her five kids broke? That my brother’s drowning in medical bills his insurance won’t cover? That my son just went bankrupt and wants a bailout?”

The leaders were stunned — and a little too embarrassed to make their ask.

Then came the punchline: “I haven’t given any of them a dime — so why would I give anything to the church?”

What does the Bible say about greed and generosity?

Luke 12:13–21 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Here is the big idea or main point of this passage: Greed will enslave you, but generosity will free you.

Obviously, this brings up a lot of questions: How exactly does greed enslave me? How does generosity free me? Free me to do what?

I want us to explore this passage of Scripture in three parts:

First, we see the serious warning (verse 13-15)

Jesus gives a very serious and sober warning in response to this man’s selfish request.

“Take care,” which means to be ever-attentive. Be on the constant lookout. Have your eyes constantly focused!

Pay close attention to what? Be on constant guard against what?

All covetousness! A strong desire to get more and more stuff. It is an unquenchable thirst for more and more stuff. An uncontrollable lust for more.

To covet is to crave, yearn for, or have a sinful desire for something or someone that does not belong to you. It’s not simply wanting something you don’t or can’t have; it’s wanting something or someone that someone else has—sometimes to the degree that you desire harm or misfortune for them.

How does the Tenth Commandment define coveting?

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Your neighbor’s house: This goes to the heart of greed.

They have a bigger house than I do. They have a huge HD plasma TV with a state-of-the-art home entertainment system. They have a new boat!

I live in a dump, and look what they have! If only I could have what they have!

Your neighbor’s wife: This goes to the heart of Lust.

His wife is way hotter than mine. My wife is a nag, and look at his wife. She’s wonderful.

Or my husband’s a couch potato, and look how built her man is. He’s got washboard abs.

Why am I stuck with this loser when I could have an awesome wife or husband like my neighbor!

Your neighbor’s possessions: This goes to the heart of materialism.

He’s got more toys than I do. She’s got a way better job than I do. Look at the vacations they take every year! Their kids always make the honor roll and are always the starters on the sports teams!

ANYTHING that belongs to your neighbor: This closes the loophole to include anything.

Coveting is when you are not thankful for what God has given you, become discontent, angry, and obsessed with what others have, even wishing them harm or compromising your integrity and biblical truth to get what they have at all costs.

Psalm 10:3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

The Bible is very clear that all covetousness is blatant sin against God.

Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

There are a few Greek words for “life.” One is bios, from which we get biology, meaning “physical life.” That is not the word Jesus uses here.

Instead, He uses the Greek word zoe, which means “true” or “eternal” life.

As believers, we have been given new life in Christ. As a result, we don’t merely exist to please ourselves or live for the pleasures of this world or accumulate more and more stuff to give our lives meaning. (1 John 2:16–17)

Second, we see the story of a rich fool (verses 16-20)

What does this parable reveal about this man?

First, he was oblivious to God’s blessing.

Notice in verse 16, “the land” produced plentifully. It was completely God’s blessing upon this man’s crops. The problem is not that the man was wealthy or had a bumper crop. The text does not say he was dishonest.

God simply blessed the man with an abundant crop.

Farmers know this very well. They must totally rely upon God’s sovereign grace with their crops if there’s too much moisture or not enough moisture. If it freezes too early or there is a hailstorm.

Ultimately, if they’re going to have a bumper crop, it is entirely based on God’s blessing and grace.

God graced this man with a bountiful blessing, and the man doesn’t thank God. He doesn’t acknowledge God. (Ecclesiastes 5:19, John 3:27)

Matthew 5:45 . . . For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

This man is prideful and oblivious, focused only on what he got from the crops, with no credit given to a gracious God.

Second, he was anxious to protect his stuff.

In verse 17, he doesn’t know what to do with all this abundance. He panics about having no place to store the extra crops.

He is anxious to hoard what he was blessed with. He wants to control his stuff. He didn’t want to lose what God graciously gave him. Now remember, he never acknowledges God in this at all.

Third, he was excessively self-indulgent.

Notice his wording in verse 18 with “I” and “my”! Me, mine! There are 8 “I’s” and 4 “my’s.”

He will just tear down his smaller barns and build bigger ones. He doesn’t care about anything else but making sure he doesn’t lose what he has.

And in verse 19, he has a false sense of security. He can relax and take it easy. He can enjoy the pleasures of this life without any care in the world. Again, he never gives God credit for his abundance.

He never once thought to share his wealth with others or to see if his neighbor was in need.

Fourth, sadly, he was an atheist at heart.

He is oblivious to God’s blessing. He never thanks God. He never credits God. He never prays to God for wisdom in how to use these blessings. He doesn’t seek the wisdom of God. He totally leaves God out of the equation.

The sad reality is that he is an atheist at heart.

His focus was on worldly, temporary things. He was covetous. He was greedy. He was rich toward himself.

How does God respond to this man? In verse 20, God calls him a “FOOL!” That’s strong language.

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

Living as an atheist and not thanking God for His blessings and abundance in your life is the epitome of foolishness.

That night, God will take his life, and everything will be gone. He thought he had control of his future and health. He never thought he would die that night, but that he would live a long and prosperous life with no worries in the world.

The word “required” was used of a banker who called in the loan for payment in full. God is the eternal banker who is calling in this man’s life and requiring payment.

And yet, this man has no one to leave his abundance of riches to. He dies a lonely miser who hoarded his stuff and never gave credit to God for His blessing.

One of the things you need to know about parables is that what comes at the end or what is usually said last is the punchline or the most important statement.

Third, we hear the stark reality (verse 21)

This man laid up treasures for himself. He lived for himself. He was greedy. He was consumed with getting more and more stuff. He was a hoarder and a miser.

He was not rich toward God.

1 Timothy 6:17–19 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Notice that Jesus does not say that he was not rich toward others. Ultimately, the financial blessings God gives us are to be returned to Him as the Giver of these gifts.

Are you rich toward yourself or are you rich toward God?

Matthew 6:19–21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The issue here is not the AMOUNT of what God has blessed you with. Everything you have is a gift from God. The real issue is the generosity of your heart.

Greed is focused on the temporary, while generosity is focused on the eternal.

Greed is selfish, while generosity is selfless.

Greed is enslaving and leads to fear, anxiety, and suspicion.

Generosity is freeing and leads to blessing others and being obedient to the Lord.

Jesus is very clear here that we should be rich toward God with our finances.

Proverbs 3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;

1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.

In other words, this text tells us that we should give a sum of money in accordance with our income. In other words, the more you have, the more your giving will be by nature of the amount.

Acts 11:29-30 So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. ³⁰ And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

They gave according to their ability. Some may have given more and some less, but they gave.

2 Corinthians 9:5–8 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. 6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

God has the power to take care of our needs so that we can have CONTENTMENT in all the circumstances of our lives.

Many times, we have a warped view of what we think we need versus what we think we want. We are greedy to the core as humans and want to amass things for ourselves. God promises to meet our needs—not satisfy our insatiable, self-centered wants.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

The grace of Jesus on the cross is what frees you to be generous.

Because Jesus was so generous in giving His life for you, we are freed to be generous toward God.

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Jesus was generous to you. Jesus gave His entire life for you. Jesus freed you from your sin and guilt. Jesus rose again so that you could have eternal life.

In response to His generosity, would we all be generous? Would we all be rich toward God?

Greed will enslave you, but generosity will free you!

Free you to be rich toward God.

Free you to be obedient in your finances.

Free to honor the Lord with your wealth.

Free to worship Jesus with EVERYTHING!

What are the characteristics of a true Christian? Or another way to put it is: How do you know that you are saved?

Many people think they’re a Christian by birth, by church affiliation, by their parents, or they have a belief in a generic God.

But what does the Bible say about what it means to truly be saved?

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians stresses his thanksgiving for the power of the gospel in the lives of this church. He gives thanks to God for the evidence he sees in these Christians of how the gospel has truly taken root in their lives.

1 Thessalonians 1:1–5 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

In this introduction to the letter, Paul gives the main verb—We “give thanks.”

He follows it with descriptors or modifiers that explain why he is giving thanks.

So, let’s explore FOUR characteristics of true salvation. And as we explore these, take some time to do a self-evaluation. Ask yourself if these things are true of you. Have these happened to you? Do these describe you?

So how does this thankfulness grow?

Number One: Thankfulness in prayer (v. 2)

This thankfulness from Paul grows out of the time he, Silas, and Timothy spent together in prayer for the Thessalonian church. They are “constantly” mentioning them in their prayers.

Paul writes from Corinth on his second missionary journey while separated from the Thessalonian believers, expressing deep pastoral affection and concern for a young church facing persecution.

And from a distance, the only thing he could do was pray.

Sometimes we think that activity or getting busy “doing something” will make the most difference, when in actuality prayer makes the most difference.

Do you have this burden for your family? Do you have this burden for our church? Do you feel this weight of wanting to see yourself and others grow in Christ?

.Question: When was the last time you spent time praying with others, praising God for His salvation, and being positive in your prayer, thanking Him for His work of grace in others? It wasn’t really giving prayer requests but spending time in praise for our salvation.

Number Two: Consistency in Lifestyle (v. 3)

Not only do these times of prayer produce this thankfulness in Paul, but he also thanks God for their consistent Christian lifestyle. Their true demonstrable fruit. There is true Christian character.

He mentions three key areas of authentic Christian living—faith, love, and hope.

Their faith had produced work. Notice the wording here; it’s not the other way around. Their work did not result in faith. In other words, the Bible teaches salvation by grace alone through faith alone, but it leads to good works—not to earn our salvation, but because of our salvation.

Ephesians 2:8–10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Paul doesn’t give any specifics about these works of faith. But if we read the rest of the Bible, we can get a pretty good idea of what is considered good works. Acts of charity to the poor, visiting the sick, hospitality to strangers, comfort for the downtrodden, and being a servant to the poor and afflicted.

Evidently, this church was living a consistent lifestyle of doing good for the surrounding community and for one another. It wasn’t a dead faith. It wasn’t where they gave lip service to “asking Jesus into their hearts” with no real transformation or change.

The power of the gospel had taken root in their hearts, and their faith proved itself in true action.

They also had this deep-seated love for Christ and each other that showed itself in real action.

This love for each other is described as “labor.” In the original language, this means “strenuous or grueling work”

True love is self-sacrificing. It is selfless and giving.

But in addition to faith and love, they had hope—a steadfast hope.

Their hope in Christ gave them the power to endure and remain steadfast amid extreme difficulties, hardships, and persecution.

Their hope was deeply rooted in the solid expectation of the Second Coming of Christ. It wasn’t wishful thinking or blind hope, but rooted in the truth that Christ is real, that He is reigning in heaven, that He is sustaining them, and that He will come back to take us home to be with Him forever.

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Faith, love, and hope.

Question: Do you evidence a consistent lifestyle of these qualities? Are you marked by a solid faith that proves itself in good works? Are you marked by a deep and rigorous love for others? Are you holding up under extreme pressure by hoping in the power of Christ?

Number Three: Assurance of election (v. 4)

How does Paul describe them? They are loved by God—in the original language, this is a very strong way of emphasizing God’s love. It is a permanent, lasting love.

And Paul is confident of this. He’s sure of this. He knows this. He knows that God loves them because God has chosen them.

When did God in His sovereignty choose you for salvation?

Ephesians 1:4–5 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Paul wants us to be thankful that God chose us and that He has forever adopted us into His family. We can be assured of our salvation that if God chose us before time, HE will never unchoose us.

John 10:28–29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Some people have come up to me over the years and asked a very important question: How do I know I’ve been chosen? What if I’m not one of the elect? How do I know? Does God just zap me?

Paul answers the question for us. He tells us how we know we’ve been chosen.

Notice how verse 5 begins with “because”—in the original language, this is a little expression that shows the result of our election. Paul stresses here the reason why he is confident that the Thessalonians were chosen. In other words, what happens because of God’s choosing you in eternity past. How do you know if you’re elect?

Number Four: Genuine conversion (v. 5)

This is the first time the word “gospel” appears in the letter—it appears 6 times.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ² and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

Now the gospel must be communicated through words. That is why Paul preached to them. That is why you share the gospel with words.

You aren’t faithful in presenting the gospel unless you use clear, intelligible words where people can understand what you’re saying.

St. Francis of Assisi’s statement has done us no good: Preach the gospel always; if necessary, use words.” That’s like saying, play basketball; always, if necessary, use a ball. Hunt elk with a rifle and, if necessary, use bullets. Go race in the Indy 500 and, if necessary, use a car.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Here in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, Paul says that the gospel came to them in three distinct ways—power, the Holy Spirit, and full conviction.

When the gospel is preached, something unique and supernatural happens that no preacher can manufacture or control. Genuine conversion.

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Ephesians 2:4–5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

The Holy Spirit brings conviction and the power of the new birth to lost sinners when the gospel is preached, and then places this deep, full conviction in their hearts and minds to solidify that the message is true and that Jesus is real.

This is a deep inward persuasion that the gospel is true, Jesus is Lord, I’m a sinner, I deserve hell, Jesus is the only way, I need to repent of that sin, and turn and trust in Christ alone as the only way of salvation.

So how do you know you’re chosen? You have been born again! You have been under the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. You’ve seen your utter hopelessness and helplessness as a sinner who is guilty before God, and your only hope is to repent of that sin and believe in Jesus. You have trusted in Christ.

So let’s ask the question again: What are the characteristics of a true Christian? How do you know you’ve been saved?

First of all, in eternity past, God the Father chose you for salvation because of His great love for you.

Second, when you heard the gospel preached or shared, the Holy Spirit worked a miracle in your heart to open your eyes, and you owned up to your sin, understood who Jesus is and what He has done, and believed with full conviction.

Third, this produced fruit. You began acting like a Christian—doing good deeds out of love for others, growing in your faith, being patient during hard times, waiting for the Second Coming, and having hope in Christ.

Fourth, you are a person of thankfulness. You are a person of prayer. You spend time praying and thanking God for this work of grace in your lives.