Matthew Bible Study: Matthew 5:31, 32

This Wednesday, August 1, we will be having our bible study on Matthew 5:31, 32. This text is expressly concerned with the sanctity of marriage and the issue of divorce. As discussed last week, divorce is a volatile issue and needs to be handled carefully and thoughtfully. Too often emotions, feelings, and personal opinions hinder one from giving Scripture the authority it has in this issue. In light of that fact, we are going to limit our discussion of divorce explicitly to what Christ says in Matthew 5:31, 32, as opposed to a full blown discussion of everything the bible has to say in regards to divorce. When we get to Matthew 19 where Christ discusses more fully the issue of divorce, we will spend a great deal more of time on the issue. Therefore, as you study Matthew 5:31, 32 for tomorrow, keep in mind we are dealing only with Matthew 5:31, 32 and of course the text he quotes from, Deuteronomy 24:1-4.

Andrew

Matthew Bible Study: Matthew 5:27-30

This Wednesday, July 25, we will be discussing the rest of Matthew 5:27-30. Last week we wrapped up Matthew 5:21-26 where Christ likens murder without a just cause as murderous and began our discussion of Matthew 5:27-30 where Christ likens lustful thoughts as adulterous. Please see the following link for some questions/observations/thoughts concerning Matthew 5:27-30. I will see you Sunday!

Matthew Bible Study: Matthew 5:21-30

This Wednesday, July 11, we will be having our Matthew bible study. Last time we met we did not finish Christ's words on anger. This Wednesday then we will wrap up Matthew 5:21-26 and move on to Matthew 5:27-30. Here are some thoughts/comments/observations to help you prepare:

1. As noted last time, Matthew 5:23 begins with "therefore" marking a logical connection between what was just said (v. 21-22) and what follows (v.23-26). What is the logical connection? To state it simply, what are two responses we are to have in light of Christ's teaching concerning anger? Additionally, can you think of one word that sums up the basic idea of vv. 23-26?
2. Matthew 5:27 marks the beginning of Christ's second antithetical statement. Just as before in regard to murder, Jesus is not concerned with mere outward conformity to the law, he is concerned with the real direction toward which the OT Scriptures point. Jesus is concerned with the motive and purity of the heart. A heart filled with malicious anger and insults is a murderous heart. A heart filled with lustful intent and desire is an adulterous heart.
3. Are women or unmarried people made exempt from lust and adulterous acts in these verses?
4. Matthew 5:29, 30 certainly gain your attention quick! It is certainly a favorite saying of Christ also (c.f. Mt. 18:8, 9). Many having read these verses here and later in Matthew 18:8, 9 have quite literally cut-off body parts to hinder themselves from sinning(Origen being the most common example given)! While their desire to be pure and holy before God is admirable, do you think Christ here advocates self-mutilation? Let me ask this in another way. Can or cannot a blind and crippled person still lust in his heart? If tomorrow you were to lose eye-sight and/or by some tragic incident lose the use of your hands would you never lustfully desire at all?
5. If self-mutilation is not the answer, what is the point Christ is making in these verses? How can we effectively guard against the lust of the flesh?
6. Key Cross references - Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22-24; Job 31:1; Galatians 5:16; 2 Timothy 2:22.

See you Wednesday

Andrew

Pastor's Book Review - "The Universe Next Door"

Book Review:

James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic World View Catalog

(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976).

The 2nd edition of this work was published in 1988, the 3rd ed. in 1997, and the 4th ed. in 2004. University students in classes dealing with worldviews and philosophy sometimes are assigned this work as required reading. The fact that it has gone through four editions with over a quarter million copies in print in the first three may be an indication that its claim to be "the premier textbook on worldviews" (back cover, 4th ed.) is found to be plausible by some. The author is a former editor of InterVarsity Press, and campus lecturer for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The obvious popularity of the book, and the prominence of the author, makes the following critique that much more difficult, but also that much more necessary.

The following are problems I found with this work. These are all very serious errors, or at best, very poor theological writing. I have arranged them as they occur in the book, and not in order of importance.

1. Teaching the complexity of God - Denial of the simplicity of God (pg. 24; 4th ed. pg. 27) -"He is a unity, yes, but a unity of complexity."

He does not mention God's simplicity, and then refute the doctrine from Scripture. He simply ignores it, and teaches the opposite. Reference some of the better Reformed systematics like Herman Bavinck's The Doctrine of God (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), pp. 113-172 (cp. esp. pp. 168-172) for the expose of the error in Sire's statement.

Compare John M. Frame, The Doctrine of God: A Theology of Lordship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002), pp. 225-230, s.v. “Simplicity” - Is Frame saying the same thing as Sire regarding the essential complexity within unity of God, and the primacy of God’s attribute of goodness (pp. 229-230), or is he saying something quite different?


2. Elevation of God's goodness over His other attributes without Scriptural basis (pg. 26; 4th ed. pg. 28) -"This is the prime statement about God's character. From it flow all others."

I don't see any Scriptural basis for this prejudicial statement, any more than the one usually encountered regarding His holiness. He may need to do this to shore up his sublapsarianism, but he does it by way of opinion, and not sound Biblical doctrine. This error flows naturally from a denial, or ignoring of the doctrine of God's simplicity (for which see Bavinck, op. cit.).


3. Teaching non-determinism, sublapsarianism - Denial of the decree, predestination, and God's absolute sovereignty (pg. 28; 4th ed. pg. 31, cp. also pg. 30!) -"If the course of events were determined, our decisions would have no significance. So theism declares that the universe is orderly but not determined."

I don't know what "theism" he is referring to. It is not the "theism" of the Bible, or either Testament, or of the God who reveals Himself there. This is blatant anti-decreetalism, and extreme sublapsarianism.


4. Theologically confusing language regarding God's "environment" involving an implicit denial of God's omnipresence and immanence (pp. 29-30; 4th ed. pg. 32) -"God is totally unconstrained by his environment....nothing external to God can possibly constrain him."

God's "environment" and "externals"? Environment external to God? What in the "world" is he talking about. God's "environment"? What, pray tell, is that?!?! "External to God"??? What is "external to God"? If he is even considering this hypothetically, it bears with it an implicit denial of God's omnipresence and immanence.


5. Teaching man's transcendance of his environment (pg. 30; 4th ed. pg. 32) -"So man participates in part in a transcendence over his environment. Except at the very extremities of existence - in sickness or physical deprivation (utter starvation, cooped up in darkness for days on end, for example) - a person is not forced to any necessary reaction."
"In short, man has personality and is capable of transcending the cosmos in which he is placed in the sense that he can know something of that cosmos and can act significantly to change the course of both human and cosmic events."

My, he certainly has a very high view of man! That should not be surprising to find in such an extreme sublapsarian. However, I fail to see the relevance of this "partial transcendence" he refers to. We are still subject to the absolute necessities of eating, drinking, sleeping, and obeying gravity. How, pray tell, does man transcend his enviroment? If you consider the actual examples he cites between the two statements above, they just do not get him where he wants to go. They show that man is a responsible and personal being, but not transcendent. And what about man's environment called "God", in whom we live and move and have our being? I think Sire has not factored God into this pseudo-theological equation!

His issue seems to be that man is an "actor", and not just a "reactor" ("...like a bell ringing when a button is pushed.". What he insists on referring to as "self-transcendence" (pp. 29), renders the usage of that terminology useless regarding the Creator. This would seem to be the ultimate theological error of those whose objection to the sovereignty of God issues forth in protestations that they are not robots or puppets.

If he is correct that "partially self-transcendent" men are capable of changing "the course of both human and cosmic events", then man is sovereign, not God, and the wrong ruler is seated on the throne of the universe.


6. Teaching of partial or relative depravity - Denial of total depravity and utter inability (pp. 35-36; 4th ed. pg. 38-39) -"...man has lost his capacity to know himself accurately and to determine his own course of action freely..."
"...he became more a servant to nature than to God."
"Man's intelligence also became impaired....man became less able to discern good and evil."

The language Sire uses here falls short of the expressions one would expect if the author affirmed the total depravity and utter inability of fallen and unregenerate man. He qualifies man's fallenness with language like: "accurately...freely....more...than....impaired...less able...". Such relativizing of man's fallen condition does not square with what one finds in Scripture, especially in Romans, and specifically in the first three chapters of that book. It would appear to me that there is an inherent semi-Pelagianism driving such qualifiers.


7. Teaching the non-contingency of man - Denial of man's dependence or creatureliness (pg. 83; omitted in 4th ed.) -"...if man is contingent, he is inherently meaningless."

I would object that, if man is not contingent, i.e., non-contingent, then he is God! There is only one non-contingent being, and that is the Sovereign Creator and Ruler of the universe. Man, by virtue of his very creatureliness, is contingent. If Romans 9 teaches anything, it teaches this very fact! Here is Sire's semi-Pelagian sublapsarianism at its essence, and this theological error is inherently naturalistic. Here he loses his first objection to naturalism. He has cast off supernaturalism, and thus has nowhere to stand as a basis for objecting to naturalism.

He objects that "...naturalism does not supply a basis on which man can act significantly." Sire, on the other hand, does not supply a basis on which God can act significantly, because he presents us with a transcendent creature, and a God who is not the sovereign determiner of events in His creation. He may attempt to qualify this error with the word "partial" as he has before, but this cake cannot both be had and eaten. That dog don't hunt!

He has yielded the high ground, and it is open season for the naturalist. I would like the opportunity to take the naturalist's side in a debate against Sire! He needs to come prepared to chew his sublapsarianism thoroughly, and swallow his anti-decreetalism without the water of the Word to wash it down!

'Nuff said?

Sola Scriptura, Soli Deo Gloria,

John T. "Jack" Jeffery
Pastor, Wayside Gospel Chapel
Greentown, PA

July 4, 2007

Book Review:
James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic World View Catalog

(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1976)

by John T. Jeffery

Copyright 2007 by John T. Jeffery.

All rights reserved.

The use of excerpts or reproduction of this material is prohibited

without written permission from the author.

Contact the author at:

722 South Main Ave.

Scranton, PA 18504

Home phone:  (570) 342-5787

Email:  johntjeff@verizon.net

Matthew Bible Study: Matthew 5:21-26

This Wednesday, June 27, we will be discussing Matthew 5:21-26 for our Bible Study. Here are some thoughts/comments/questions/observations to think about in preparation for the bible study.

1. Take the time to read carefully Matthew 5:17-48 many times through in one sitting. Remember Matthew 5:17-20 introduces the main body of Jesus "sermon on the mount." Matthew 5:21-48 is the "fleshing out" of what was introduced in 5:17-20. Matthew 5:21-48 can be divided into six antithetical statements by Jesus (some say five, I am undecided though I lean closer to five). They begin with "you have heard" and end with "but I say to you." For further thought, what is the connection between Jesus "but I say to you" and his statements in Matthew 5:17-20?
2. Anger is the main emphasis of this passage of scripture. Take the time now to cross-reference Genesis 4:5,6; 37:4, 8; 1 Sam. 20:30-33. What is the connection made here between anger and murder?
3. Is Jesus here forbidding all manner of anger? In other words, is all anger the first fruits to murder?
4. How are we to understand "brother?" Does he mean your physical "brother," or is he speaking figuratively?
5. Verse 23 begins with "therefore." What logical connection are we to draw from vv. 21-22 and 23-25? What kind of responses are we to have should we have malice in any personal relationship?

Andrew

Pastor's Sermon Notes - June 24, 2007

Time to Return
Amos 4:6-11

[6] And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and want of bread in all your places:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[7] And also I have withholden the rain from you,
when there were yet three months to the harvest:
and I caused it to rain upon one city,

and caused it not to rain upon another city:
one piece was rained upon,

and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
[8] So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water;

but they were not satisfied:

yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[9] I have smitten you with blasting and mildew:
when your gardens and your vineyards
and your fig trees and your olive trees increased,

the palmerworm devoured them:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[10] I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt:
your young men have I slain with the sword,

and have taken away your horses;
and I have made the stink of your camps

to come up unto your nostrils:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
[11] I have overthrown some of you,

as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning:
yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

Introduction:

You’ve got to ask yourself, "Why now? Why slap them in the face with that sarcasm now? Isn’t it too late? By His oath hasn’t he shut the door on any hope of avoiding this judgment? What is this about? Who is this for?"

God doesn’t take sin lightly.
God doesn’t take judgment lightly, either.

When bad things happen to good people - Jobs
When bad things happen to God’s people - Jonahs
When bad things happen to bad people - Judas’s

It is "time to return"!

"Reprobate" and "contumacy" defined:

Reprobate = 1. Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected. Jer. vi. 2. Abandoned in sin; lost to virtue or grace. Tit. 1. 3. Abandoned to error, or in apostasy. 2 Tim. iii. [footnote 1]

Contumacy = stubbornness; unyielding obstinacy; inflexibility. 2. In law, a wilful contempt and disobedience to any lawful summons or order of court;... [footnote 2]

Outline:
I. The Reprobate Maintain Their Contumacy Despite Repeated Warnings - Yet
II. The Reprobate Exhibit Their Contumacy By Their Failure To Repent - Have Ye Not Returned
III. The Reprobate Finalize Their Contumacy In Their Enmity Against God - Unto Me, Saith The Lord


I. The Reprobate Maintain Their Contumacy Despite Repeated Warnings - Yet

Yet = "Nevertheless; notwithstanding; however." [footnote 3]

Leviticus 26:18-19 - [18] And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. [19] And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

2 Chron. 28:22 - And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.

Jeremiah 3:10 - And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.

Haggai 2:17 - I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.

1. They did not respond after Famine - 4:6

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and want of bread in all your places

Deut. 28:47-48 - [47] Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; [48] Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

Lament. 2:12 - They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.


2. They did not respond after Drought/Selective Drought - 4:7-8

[7] And also I have withholden the rain from you,
when there were yet three months to the harvest:
and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city:
one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
[8] So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water;
but they were not satisfied

Deut. 28:23-24 - [23] And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. [24] The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Deut. 11:17 - And then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

Jeremiah 3:1-3 - [1] They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord. [2] Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. [3] Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Jeremiah 5:23-25 - [23] But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. [24] Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. [25] Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

Haggai 1:6 - Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

Another kind of drought coming!
Amos 8:12 - And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.


3. They did not respond after Blasting/Mildew/Palmerworm
(crop failure) - 4:9

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew:
when your gardens and your vineyards
and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them

Deut. 28:22 - The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Deut. 28:38-42 - [38] Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. [39] Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. [40] Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. [41] Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. [42] All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.

Psalm 105:34-35 - [34] He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number, [35] And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.

Joel 1:4 - That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

Joel 1:7 - He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

Joel 1:12 - The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

Haggai 2:17 - I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.


4. They did not respond after Pestilence/Defeat in war (disease/slaughter) - 4:10

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt:
your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses;
and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils

Leviticus 26:25 - And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Deut. 28:21 - The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.

Deut. 28:27 - The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

Deut. 28:60-61 - Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. [61] Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Cp. Exodus 7-12


5. They did not respond after Burning - 4:11

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning

Genesis 19:24-25 - [24] Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; [25] And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

Jeremiah 23:14 - I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 49:18 - As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

Lament. 4:6 - For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.

Jeremiah 50:40 - As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

Cp. esp. Deut. 29:19-29

"The writer passed through the California earthquake of April 18, 1906, and was an eye-witness of its horrors. Not the least solemn thing noticed was the persistent efforts of the preachers of all denominations to quiet the fears of the populace by assuring them that God had no part in the calamitous events that had taken place. Natural causes explained everything! This the Christless were only too ready to believe; and thus were their partially awakened consciences lulled to rest and their ears closed against the voice of Him who through Amos said, "I have overthrown some of you!"
From vers. 11 and 12 of this chapter, it was my solemn opportunity to press the truth upon many at that time, and not altogether, I trust, without fruit; but "the day" will declare it." [footnote 4]

Jude 1:23 - And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

How do we know that God was behind these disasters, these tragic events?

Matthew 10:29-30 - [29] Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. [30] But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Luke 21:18 - But there shall not an hair of your head perish.

Dan. 4:34-35 - And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Eph. 1:11 - In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Rom. 11:36 - For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

What is God's purpose in chastening His people? Consider especially Hebrews 12:4-11.

What is the proper response to these disasters, natural and otherwise?


II. The Reprobate Exhibit Their Contumacy By Their Failure To Repent - Have Ye Not Returned

What is it that they should have done, and failed to do?
We will come back to this question again, but their overall failure ends up being a failure to repent of their sin.

Their indictment is identical to that found in Romans 2:
Rom. 2:3-5 - [3] And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? [4] Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? [5] But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God

The Definition of Repentance

What should a good definition of repentance include?

1. After-knowledge
2. Change of mind consequent on after-knowledge
3. Regret for the course pursued
4. Displeasure with oneself
5. Change of conduct for the future [footnote 5]

In Scriptural usage it came to mean "...a change of mind, taking a wiser view of the past..., a regret fo the ill done in that past, and out of all this a change of life for the better..." [footnote 6]

"...that mighty change in mind, heart, and life wrought by the Spirit of God (‘such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice,’ Kettlewell),..." [footnote 7]

Notice that repentance is not merely a bare "change of mind" as some imagine who fail grossly to consider context and usage in their study of this word group!

Consider especially the great repentance passage in 2 Cor. 7:8-11 -
[8] For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. [9] Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. [10] For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. [11] For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

It is important to notice from this passage:

1. There are two kinds of sorrow, godly and worldly, one that brings salvation and an end to sorrow, while the second brings death and eternal sorrow. (vv. 9-10)

2. True, evangelical repentance is produced only by godly sorrow. (vs. 10)

3. True, evangelical repentance involves the following seven ingredients (vs. 11):
1) carefulness
2) clearing of yourselves
3) indignation
4) fear
5) vehement desire
6) zeal
7) revenge

4. True, evangelical repentance results in a righting of wrongs that is here referred to as "approving yourselves to be clear in this matter". (vs. 11)

The Opposition to the Preaching of Repentance

There is a great deal of opposition to the preaching of repentance, along with a serious lack of teaching concerning repentance, in our day involving a theological position that has been characterized as "anti-Lordship". This is a very serious error that divorces faith from life, and belief from behavior. Such a severing of faith from repentance would have been unthinkable in the first century A.D. The basis of the contemporary opposition to this doctrine comes from what I can only characterize as simplistic etymological nonsense that flies directly in the face of the fine teaching from Scripture of others like Trench above. An unrepentant easy-believism has no warrant in God’s Word!

Consider the teaching of the New Testament on this subject:

Luke 15:7 - I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Mark 2:17 - When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Notice that the only ones who may claim "exemption" from God’s command to repent, are those who don’t see themselves as sinners! There is joy in heaven when there is repentance!

Acts 17:30 - And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Notice that in reality no one is exempt from God’s command to repent! He commands all men everywhere to repent! Any preachers who do not preach repentance as part of the Gospel, are failing to preach the Gospel according to the Word of God! This is no light matter! All men! Everywhere! No exceptions! Preach it!

The Christian Life as a Life of Repentance - Returning, Turning and Conversion

1 Th. 1:1-10 - [1] Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. [2] We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; [3] Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; [4] Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. [5] For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. [6] And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: [7] So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. [8] For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. [9] For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; [10] And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

We need to think of the Christian life as one that begins with a conversion, a turning, involving repentance, and as one that does not stop there, but may be characterized as a life of repentance, a continual turning and converting each and every time we sin!

The Opposite of Repentance

Now let us return to the original question, "What is it that they should have done, and failed to do?"

Consider the following five verses recording God’s accusations of contumacy, a stiff-necked, hard-hearted refusal to repent:

Jeremiah 3:10 - And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 5:3 - O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Jeremiah 15:7 - And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.

Haggai 2:17 - I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.

2 Chron. 28:22 - And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz.

We need to be heeding the teachings of the following New Testament passages!

2 Tim. 2:23-26 - [23] But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. [24] And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, [25] In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; [26] And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Hebrews 6:4-8 - [4] For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, [5] And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, [6] If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. [7] For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: [8] But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

Hebrews 12:17 - For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.


III. The Reprobate Finalize Their Contumacy In Their Enmity Against God - Unto Me, Saith The Lord

Isaiah 9:13 - For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.

Jeremiah 3:7 - And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

It is unto the Lord that we need to return.
It is His goodness which should lead us to repentance.
His providential blessings should humble us, and draw us to love and serve Him.

Consider the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism on the providence of God. How would you answer these catechism questions?

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10
Q27: What do you understand by the providence of God?
A27: The almighty, everywhere-present power of God,[1] whereby, as it were by His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth with all creatures,[2] and so governs them that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink,[3] health and sickness,[4] riches and poverty,[5] indeed, all things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.
1. Acts 17:25-26
2. Heb. 1:3
3. Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:17
4. John 9:3
5. Prov. 22:2; Psa. 103:19; Rom. 5:3-5a

Q28: What does it profit us to know that God created and by His providence upholds all things?
A28: That we may be patient in adversity,[1] thankful in prosperity,[2] and for what is future have good confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love,[3] since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.[4]
1. Rom. 5:3; James 1:3; Job 1:21
2. Deut. 8:10; I Thess. 5:18
3. Rom. 8:35, 38-39
4. Job 1:12; Acts 17:25-28; Prov. 21:1; Psa. 71:7; II Cor. 1:10


Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1
Q.1: What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A.1: That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death,[1] am not my own,[2] but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ,[3] who with His precious blood [4] has fully satisfied for all my sins,[5] and redeemed me from all the power of the devil;[6] and so preserves me [7] that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head;[8] indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation.[9] Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life,[10] and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him.[11]
1. Rom. 14:7-8
2. I Cor. 6:19
3. I Cor. 3:23
4. I Peter 1:18-19
5. I John 1:7; 2:2
6. I John 3:8
7. John 6:39
8. Matt. 10:29-30; Luke 21:18
9. Rom. 8:28
10. II Cor. 1:21-22; Eph. 1:13-14; Rom. 8:16
11. Rom. 8:1



Conclusion:

What is your only comfort in life and in death? Is this your confession?

Has the goodness of God led you to repent of your sins, and to live a life of repentance?

Will you right now, before you leave this place today, hear His call to repent, heed His command to repent, and turn from your sin to Him?


Footnotes:

1. Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 2 vols. (New Haven: S. Converse, 1828), reprinted in 1 vol. as Noah Webster’s First Edition Of An American Dictionary Of The English Language, 4th ed. (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967), s.v. "reprobate".

2. Ibid., s.v. "contumacy".

3. Ibid., s.v. "yet".

4. H. A. Ironside, Notes on the Minor Prophets (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., Bible Truth Depot, n.d., 1983 printing of 1909 1st ed.), pg. 159, footnote.

5. Richard Chenevix Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, 9th ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.; 1976 reproduction of 1880 London ed.), pp. 257-258.

6. Ibid, pg. 259.

7. Ibid., pg. 260. John Kettlewell was an English author who died in 1695.

Pastor's Sermon Notes - June 17, 2007

The Holy Sarcasm

of an Offended God
Amos 4:1-5

[1] Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria,
which oppress the poor, which crush the needy,
which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
[2] The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you,
that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
[3] And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her;
and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord.
[4] Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression;
and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
[5] And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
and proclaim and publish the free offerings:
for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God.

Introduction:

The Covenant Lawsuit continues, dripping with sarcasm, the holy sarcasm of an offended God!

Irony as a figure of speech employed in Scripture:

"The Expression of Thought in a form that naturally conveys its opposite."
"The figure is so called when the speaker intends to convey a sense contrary to the strict signification of the words employed: not with the intention of concealing his real meaning, but for the purpose of adding greater force to it." [footnote 1]

Sarcasm - What is it? A form of irony -

"a. A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
b. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule." [footnote 2]

"a. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
b. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark..." [footnote 3]

The place of sarcasm in the prophets - Observe the sarcasm in the following passages running the gamut from Moses to Paul:

Deut. 32:37 - And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they
trusted,
1 Kings 18:27 - And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
Ezekiel 20:39 - As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye,
serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
1 Cor. 4:8 - Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us:
and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.
1 Cor. 6:4 - If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
2 Cor. 10:12 - For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
2 Cor. 11:19 - For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.
2 Cor. 12:13 - For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.
2 Cor. 13:5 - Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

The Lord is here adding insult to injury!

If anyone else spoke to us this way we might be tempted to respond: "You can’t talk to me like that!" But, this is God talking!

The time will come when the Son of God will be slapped in the face by sinners -

Matthew 26:67-68 - [67] Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, [68] Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?
Mark 14:65 - And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
Luke 22:64 - And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?
John 18:22 - And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?

But, for now, it is God slapping Israel in the face with His sarcasm uttered through His prophet Amos.

Let us see how God slaps reprobate Israel in the face!


I. The Objects of God’s Holy Sarcasm Addressed (4:1)

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria,
which oppress the poor, which crush the needy,
which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

1. The Insulting Characterization of the Objects (4:1a-c)

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria

Bashan - area east of Jordan and the Sea of Galilee between Gilead and the river Yarmuk on the south, Mt. Hermon on the north, and Salecah on the east. It includes the cities of Ashtaroth, Golan and Edrei. This area is today called en-Nuqra. At the time of the conquest by the Israelites it was ruled by Og. It became the inheritance of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Psalm 22:12 - Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Ezekiel 39:18 - Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
Amos 6:1 - Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

2. The Carnal Behavior of the Objects (4:1d-g)

which oppress the poor, which crush the needy,
which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

Amos 2:6 - Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

1) Oppress the poor - Greedy
2) Crush the needy - Selfish
3) Say to their master, "Bring, and let us drink!" - Self-centered

By the way, who is in control here? This explains the address of the Lord's comments!

What "word" is it that God wants these "fat cows" to hear?

Here it comes in the verses that follow!


II. The Result of God’s Holy Sarcasm Prophesied (4:2-3)

[2] The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you,
that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
[3] And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her;
and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord.

1. The Solemn Nature of the Result (4:2a-b)

The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you,

"The same phrase occurs once elsewhere, in Ps. 89:35. No oath can be greater or more final (Heb. 6:13, 14)." [footnote 4]

Psalm 89:35 - Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

2. The Horrible Reality of the Result (4:2c-3)

that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her;
and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord.

The cruelty of the Assyrians - humans treated as cattle

"The Assyrians frequently led prisoners by ropes attached to rings or hooks in their noses and lips." [footnote 5]

Isaiah 37:29 - Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. [cp. 2 Kings 19:28]
Ezekiel 38:4 - And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

God does not take sin lightly - He is holy!

Those who deny eternal punishment need to have their faces rubbed in the awfulness of the temporal punishments God inflicted on His people!

All that being said, what would God have His people Israel do in the meantime?

The answer to that question is contained in the next verses!


III. The Invitation of God’s Holy Sarcasm Proclaimed (4:4-5)

[4] Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression;
and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
[5] And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
and proclaim and publish the free offerings:
for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God.

1. The Specific Details of the Invitation (4:4-5b)

Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression;
and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven,
and proclaim and publish the free offerings:

Worship as sin, Religion as multiplied sin

Hosea 9:15 - All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.
Hosea 12:11 - Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
Leviticus 7:13 - Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings.
Numbers 28:3-4 - And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the Lord; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt offering. [4] The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even;
Amos 5:21-22 - [21] I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. [22] Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
Matthew 23:32 - Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

We may not define worship as we please!

God only accepts worship that is pleasing to Him.

You cannot worship God with a divided heart.

First, foremost, and always, God wants our devotion -
a clean heart and a right spirit.

Consider, on this issue, an episode in the life of Dwight Lyman Moody:

"Sometimes an easy conversation between friends can have ramifications far beyond what either person expects. Such was the case in the summer of 1872 near Dublin , Ireland , when two prominent evangelists were discussing ministry. The two men were the British evangelist Henry Varley and the renowned American evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Their conversation contains one of the best-remembered quotes attributed to the life and times of Moody. The remark affected him for the rest of his life.
The morning after an all-night prayer meeting, as the two men strolled around the grounds of the mansion where the meeting had been held, Varley uttered a brief but thought-provoking statement to Moody. This is how Moody recorded it in one of his diaries:
"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him." . . . A man! Varley meant any man. Varley didn’t say he had to be educated, or brilliant, or anything else. Just a man. Well, by the Holy Spirit in me I’ll be that man [quoted in John Pollock, Moody: The Biography (Chicago: Moody, 1963, 1983), pg. 115, author’s italics]." [footnote 6]

I believe that there has been one great exception to this claim, the Person of the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That being said, Varley's challenge remains.

2. The Reasonable Explanation for the Invitation (4:5c-e)

for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God.

We do what we love - God knows our heart

Hosea 9:1 - Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.
Hosea 9:10 - I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
Jeremiah 7:9-10 - Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; [10] And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Psalm 81:11-12 - But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. [12] So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.


Conclusion:

Have you learned the lessons of the "fat cows of Bashan"?

What will be your response?

Consider Psalm 51:1-10 on the holiness of God, and the heart of man:

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. [1] Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. [2] Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. [3] For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. [4] Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. [5] Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. [6] Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. [7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. [8] Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. [9] Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. [10] Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.



Footnotes:

1. Bullinger, Ethelbert William. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode; New York: E. & J. B. Young & Co., 1898), pg. 807. See esp. pp. 807-814.

2. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Ed. (n.p.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004). http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sarcasm (accessed: July 16, 2007), s.v. "sarcasm".

3. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, Unabridged (v 1.1). (n.p.: Random House, Inc., n.d.).
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sarcasm (accessed: July 16, 2007), s.v. "sarcasm".

4. New Geneva Study Bible, eds. Luder Whitlock, R. C. Sproul, Bruce Waltke, Moises Silva, et al. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), pg. 1399, s.v. note on 4:2.

5. Ibid.

6. Grace to You, "What Does It Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit", by John MacArthur (2003), http://www.gty.org/resources.php?section=positions&aid=196; Adapted from The Silent Shepherd, by John MacArthur (n.p.: Victor Books, 1996).