Inspection or Surveillance?

Today we had a home inspection from the real estate agent who manages the property we are renting.  Our family took care to mow the lawn, organize the garage, and clean the house top to bottom.  Though the house is large, regular cleaning thankfully left it a small chore.  As I mopped the kitchen area, a thought went through my mind.  The promise of the inspection at 11:30am Monday morning gave us a deadline to meet.  How would things be different if our house was under constant surveillance?  Would we live differently?  Would I allow my grass to grow too long?  Would I allow the garage to become cluttered in the first place?

Inspections are good because they drive us to do a more thorough job than if we were under surveillance.  The best results would come from incorporating both!  The body of a Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  God is not as concerned about our physical hygiene as our spiritual purity found only through Jesus Christ.  Spiritually speaking, we understand that God sees the thoughts and intents of our hearts.  In this sense we are always under surveillance.  Because of our human condition we are forgetful of this reality.  The fact that God always sees us is sometimes not a strong enough deterrent to keep us from sin.  Because of this, it is wise that we take time every day to also inspect our hearts and freely confess and repent from any wickedness in our lives.

We should take every opportunity to do some "spring cleaning" in our hearts.  For us, it was not until our household moved from the United States to Australia that we dealt with the clutter we had accumulated.  For many people it is not until they are faced with their own mortality that they deal with the sin harbored in the recesses of their hearts.  I'm very happy with the condition of our house right now.  But that doesn't mean that labour is not required to maintain the level of cleanliness.  We still have to live here!  We should never be content with the initial cleansing God has done with our hearts and minds.  Regular maintenance and care will be required.  Though justified in an instant, sanctification remains a process.

How good it is to know the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Savior and LORD of All - Jesus Christ - has died to save sinners like me!  Instead of leaving me in my condition separated from God by my sin, He has reconciled me to God through His grace and sacrifice.  I am under His watchful eye empowered by the Holy Spirit.  But I need to permit God to conduct regular heart inspections too!  With the psalmist I say:  "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24)  It feels great to be clean!

Ours is a Faithful God

"I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. ² For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens." ³ "I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: ⁴ 'Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.' " Selah ⁵ And the heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints. ⁶ For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD? ⁷ God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him. ⁸ O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You."

Psalm 89:1-8

God is faithful!  Did you know that 33 percent of the references to God's "faithfulness" in the Bible (KJV) appear in Psalm 89?  I didn't until a couple of minutes ago!  The definition of "faithfulness" in the Strong's Concordance is:  "literal firmness; figurative security; moral fidelity, stability."  God's faithfulness is not dependent upon our faithfulness.  God's character is absolute and unchanging, and we receive of His goodness through grace.  Over time man changes in appearance, opinion, and principle, but God does not change.  God remains the same merciful, just, powerful, faithful God He has always been.

Yesterday our family received word from the department of immigration in Australia that our two-year visa has been approved!  This marks the end of a process started long ago with the gathering of legal documents, enduring physicals, obtaining FBI background checks, making financial disclosures, paying fees, submitting resumes, filing for certifications and authorisations.  Throughout the entire process, God has been faithful to our family and our church fellowship in Sydney.  It feels like a stamp of approval not only from the government, but a confirmation from God that we are in His will to minister here.

Who can be compared to our God?  Who is faithful like God, who forgives iniquity and grants enduring mercy?  God is secure and trustworthy.  Jesus Christ is the LORD of all, the Saviour who has all authority in heaven and earth.  As it is written in Revelation 1:18:  "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."  He who holds the keys the hell and death also is the path to life!  A statement found in Revelation 3:7 has been a great encouragement as we in faith pursued God's will to serve Him in Australia:  "These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens":  ⁸ I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."

Praise God for the strength He gives!  God has proved His faithfulness once again to open the door for us to minister at Calvary Chapel Sydney.  We can only enter by His grace.  God is established with all authority in both heaven and earth and thus has the power to establish His people wherever He wills.  Praise Him with us!

Good or god Doctrine?

No one will deny that man's understanding is limited.  We are limited by our experience, exposure, our prejudices, and the filters of perspective.  Solomon affirms our human limitations in Ecclesiastes 3:11:  "He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."  People remain ignorant without teaching.  Because God desires that men know Him through personal experience He has given us the Bible, His Word.  Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we learn of God's impeccable character.  We marvel at His wisdom, learn we are gross sinners through His laws, and remain awed by His love and grace toward us.  Just like we can never know God's works from beginning to end (not to mention His operation for eternity!), we will at best wade in the oceans of His wisdom revealed in His Word.  His knowledge and wisdom go to a depth no man can plumb, and has love so expansive it reaches galaxies beyond our sight.

As we mature and grow in faith, a danger exists that we would grow in knowledge unchecked by humility.  The second part of 1 Corinthians 8:1 teaches us, "...Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."   As people we struggle to keep everything in balance.  Think about in terms of eating and exercise; we likely eat too much and exercise too little.  The same can be true about our study of biblical doctrine.  It is possible we have a personal affinity for certain scriptural teachings.  Understanding doctrine is not the end:  doctrine exists that we might know God and experience Him in a personal, continual relationship.  Because none of our understanding is complete, there is a distinct danger that we would unconsciously confine God within our knowledge of a doctrine.  By doing so we limit our faith and no longer allow God to be God.

How terrible it would be if God was confined by our own ideas of Him!  Lately I have been studying promises and examples of divine healing in the Bible.  I have learned much concerning God's operation to heal men in body and soul, but I freely admit I do not know all.  God did not develop the doctrine of healing and is then forced to abide by His own rules.  On the contrary:  the revelation of divine healing through God's Word proves to us the character and will of God to heal.  But God can still do whatever He wants whenever He wants.  I either can make a god of my limited doctrine that God must bow to, or I allow God to be God.  Romans 9:20-21 exhorts, "But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" ²¹ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?"  Instead of taking God at His Word, we can allow a single apparent exception from our experience to derail the whole of God's promises and His clearly declared will.  What we classify as exceptions according to our limited view God consecrates otherwise.

May we never make a god out of our limited understanding to which the Almighty must yield!  When we run into difficulties, let us retreat back to the truth which God has clearly revealed.  Good doctrine always is a reflection of truth, not boundaries we set to which God must conform.  Thank God nothing He does is arbitrary, but according to His good purposes!

Quote from "A Pastor's Sketches"

I recently obtained a copy of Ichabod Spencer's book, A Pastor's Sketches.  After reading a few pages I am convinced I have found a gem.  It's funny how relevant a book can be written over 150 years ago because men then are in the same condition they are now:  lost!  Human nature has not changed a bit, and neither has the saving power of Jesus Christ and man's great need for atonement and reconciliation.  A pastor, Ichabod was called to minister to a young dying Irishman who had all sorts of intellectual hindrances to believe in God's existence.  I cannot do justice to the logic and mastery which Spencer employed to convince the Irishman of his false impressions, assumptions, and prejudices.  Shortly before his death, they shared a remarkable conversation which led to the Irishman's eventual conversion found on pages 48-49:

     "Tell me what to do to be ready to die."
     Said I, "You believe in God, the Infinite, Eternal Spirit?"
     "I do," said he.
     "Then pray to him," said I.
     "I have, and I will," said he.
     "You believe you are a sinner?" said I.
     "I know I am," said he.
     "Then repent, and trust in Christ for pardon."
     "Will repentance save me?"
     "No," said I; "Christ Jesus saves sinners.  You must not trust to your repentance and faith to save you.  That would be self righteousness.  Trust only in the crucified Son of God, your proposed Surety."  After a pause - 
     "What must be done first, before I trust in him?"
     "Nothing - just nothing."
     "How?  Is there no preparation to make?"
     "No; none at all."
     "But, holiness - " said he.
     "Results from faith in Christ," said I.
     "And the Holy Spirit - " said he.
     "Is your only hope," said I.  "Without his aid you will neither repent nor believe.  It is his office to take of the things of Christ, and show them unto us."
     "Will you pray with me?" said he.
     We fell on our knees.  I offered a short prayer, and left him.  I never saw him afterwards...the young man died in peace, with praises for the atonement of Jesus Christ on his lips."


Such a sure departure into eternal glory and rest is freely offered to all men who will repent and trust in Christ as LORD!