Your Sin: You Have No Idea!

  When God convicts us of our sin, he ordinarily only shows us the tip of the iceberg (so to speak).  This is an act of mercy, for if he showed us the exact depth and extent of our depravity, we would not be able to live with ourselves.  Thankfully, genuine conviction and repentance can take place even though we don’t know the full depth and extent of our depravity.  I appreciate how  Robert Murray M’Cheyne explains the depths of the sinful heart in a sermon he preached on Jeremiah 17.9-10 (The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?).

“…The most awakened sinner does not see the ten thousandth part of the wickedness of his own heart.  You are like a person looking down into a dark pit – you can only see a few yards down the sides of the pit; so you can only see a little way into your heart.  It is a pit of corruption which is bottomless: Who can know it?“

“…You are like a traveler looking down into the crater of a volcano; but the smoke will not suffer (allow) you to look far.  You see only a few yards into the smoking volcano of your heart….  There are chambers in your heart that you have never yet seen into – there are caves in that ocean you have never fathomed – there are fountains of bitterness you have never tasted.  When you have felt the wickedness of your heart to the uttermost, then lie down under this awful truth, that you have only seen a few yards into a pit that is bottomless – that you carry about with you a slumbering volcano – a heart whose wickedness you do not and cannot know.”

Thankfully M’Cheyne ended the sermon on the heights of grace.

“[Christ] was the only one that knew the wickedness of the beings for whom he died.  He that searches the hearts of sinners died for them.  He knew what was in men; yet he did not abhor (hate) them on that account – he died for them.  It was not for any goodness in man that he died for man.  He saw none.  It was not that he saw little sin in the heart of man.  He is the only being in the universe that saw all the sin that is in the unfathomable heart of man.  He saw to the bottom of the volcano – and yet he came and died for man.  Herein is love!”

“When publicans and sinners came to him on earth, he knew what was in their hearts.  His eye had rested on their bosoms all their life – he had seen all the lusts and poisons that ever rankled there; yet in no wise did he cast them out.  So with you.  His eye hath seen all your sins – the vilest, darkest, blackest hours you have lived, his pure eye was resting upon you; yet he died for such, and invites you to come to him; and will in no wise cast you out.”

Jesus knows exactly how sinful you are, but he loves you and went to the cross for you.  You only know the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your sin, but Jesus has seen it all in full.  And he didn’t run away from you.  Instead, he took your sin and its curse upon himself, removed it from you, and gave you his righteousness in exchange.   It is frightening to realize that we don’t know how sinful we actually are; but Jesus does know, he loved us, died for us while we were still sinners, and literally took our sin upon himself to deliver us from it.  You are forgiven!

R. M. M’Cheyne, Sermons, p.35-37.

rev shane lems

When Christians Hurt Christians

 Here’s a book that is unique in that it covers an important topic that isn’t often discussed: when Christians hurt other Christians.  Michael Milton wrote it, and it’s called Hit by Friendly Fire: What To Do When Fellow Believers Hurt You (Darlington: EP Books, 2011). 

The book is fairly short (91 pages) and it isn’t a detailed step-by-step “how to handle” or “ten tips” type of book.  Rather, it is short, sweet, and centered around the cross of Christ.  Using Genesis 50:15-20,  Zechariah 13:6, and Philippians 1:15-18, Milton applies the gospel to the hurt caused by fellow Christians.  When other Christians hurt us by words, gestures, or actions, we have to ask God to help us take up our cross, take off our crown, go to Gethsemane, and stick with Christ’s church (rather than run from her – which is also a sort of running away from him).

I think Milton’s last point is worth noting, since many Christians today mistakenly think they can follow Christ but stay away from his church.  At one point in this book Milton gives a personal example of when he was hurt by another Christian.  A turning point for him was when a pastor’s daughter gave him this advice, “Mike, don’t give up on the church.”

“’As a pastor’s daughter,’ she said, ‘I have seen this sort of thing growing up.  I have seen my father and mother hurt by people in the church.  Sadly, I have seen them hurt each other too.  And others have hurt me as well.  But the church is ‘on its way.’  We are not yet what we will be.  I have come to see that I can never know forgiveness, or how to express it, without being in this place which Christ called us into called, ‘the church.’  There is no life, no growth, outside of it.  It is a family of believers that we learn to live and always cling to the foot of the cross of Christ’” (p. 82).

I recommend this book for every Christian who has been hurt by another Christian – but it’s also for those Christians who have hurt a brother/sister in Christ.  Pastors who have been hurt by their parishioners should get it as well.  Again, it isn’t a long and detailed treatise on handling hurt, but it is a great starting point in letting the gospel speak to us when we’ve been broken by a brother.  In other words, this book teaches us what it means to live in peace and according to the principle of forgiveness.

Michael Milton, Hit By Friendly Fire.

shane lems

Prone to Wander, Preserved by Grace

The following quote from a 1763 letter shows why John Newton is one of my favorite Christian authors.  Notice how a violent struggle against indwelling sin does not weaken Newton’s assurance of faith.  He is deeply disturbed by his indwelling sin, but he does not despair over it because of God’s sovereign and preserving grace.  Take a few moments this weekend and read Newton’s edifying words:

“All my complaints may be summed up in this one—a proneness to wander from him. This is too frequently the case with me, I hardly know how or why. Through mercy, I am in a measure delivered from the love of this present evil world; the desire of my heart is towards God; I account his loving-kindness to be better than life, and esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right, and just, and good. I do not even wish for a dispensation to admit any rival into my heart; he richly deserves it all, and I am willing and desirous to be his alone, and to be wholly conformed to him. Yet still I find the effects of a depraved nature; and, not withstanding all my struggles against inward and outward evil, I am too often carried away from the point of simple faith and dependence.

The lively experience of a Christian is not hard to be described; neither is it hard to say much about it. But, to feel what we say, to sit down under the shadow of the tree of life, to abide in Christ, to feed on him in my heart by faith with thanksgiving, this I find a rare attainment, easily lost, and not so soon regained. I know enough of it to make me desirous of more, and yet so little, that I have frequent cause to cry out, ‘My leanness, my leanness!’ and to lie low in the dust before God. A remaining root of pride and self-righteousness often springs up and interrupts my peace. Indeed, as to the ground of my hopes and acceptance, I am mercifully kept from doubts and fears; I trust in him who has wrought out a perfect righteousness for my justification, and has stretched out an everlasting arm for my salvation. I see the honor of the divine attributes effectually secured, and that God is not only merciful and good, but faithful and just, in saving an unworthy believing sinner.

But what I want, is not only to expect a heaven hereafter, but to experience a heaven begun below, to live up to the privileges of the Gospel, to have enlarged desires after holiness, and those desires abundantly answered. I want more of the influences of the Holy Spirit under His various characters, as the Teacher, Quickener, Comforter, and Sealer of the people of God.

I want to know more clearly what the apostle desired for his friends, in those two comprehensive prayers, Ephesians 1:17-20, and Ephesians 3:16-19. How little do I understand of that height and depth, and breadth and length, he there speaks of! How faint are my ideas of the glorious hope of his calling, and the exceeding greatness of his mighty power! Well, blessed be God for the little I have; I trust it is a pledge of more; he has given me to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and he has said I shall be filled.

I remember the time when I was easy enough about these things; the language of my heart was, ‘Depart from me!’ Yes, I resisted his Spirit, despised his mercy, and counted the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing. But, oh, he ‘was found by me that sought him not!’ He passed by me, and bid me live; he saved me in spite of myself; he would not give me up; be appeared in the hour of my distress, snatched the prey from the hand of the mighty, and delivered the lawful captive.

And ever since, how good has he been to me! How gently has he led me! How often has he restored me when wandering, revived me when fainting, healed my breaches, supplied my needs, heard my prayers, and set up a seasonable standard against my enemies, when they have been coming in upon me like a flood! And even now he is with me, he is never weary of doing me good, and I believe he will be with me, even to the end, until at length he brings me home to his kingdom to be near him forever.

Hence, indeed, arises a great part of my grief, to think that I should be so cold, and barren, and unprofitable, under such amazing displays of undeserved love. O Lord, touch the rocky heart, and cause the waters to flow; soften and inflame my heart, that I may at length become your disciple indeed.”

We might sum this up with a few scriptural words, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!

John Newton, Works, VI.29-31.

shane lems

A Stable Peace, A Constant Strife

What happens when you capture the biblical teaching of “saint and sinner at the same time” (simil iustus et peccator) and the biblical truth of the perseverance of the saints in a poem?  This:

“Strange and mysterious is my life,
What opposites I feel within!
A stable peace, a constant strife!
The rule of grace, the power of sin:
Too often I am captive led,
Yet daily triumph in my head.”

“I prize the privilege of prayer,
But oh what backwardness [unwillingness] to pray!
Though on the Lord I cast my care,
I feel its burden every day;
I seek his will in all I do,
Yet find my own is working too.”

“I call the promises my own,
And prize them more than mines of gold;
Yet though their sweetness I have known,
They leave me unimpressed and cold:
One hour upon the truth I feed,
The next I know not what I read.”

“I love the holy day of rest,
When Jesus meets his gathered saints;
Sweet day, of all the week the best!
For its return my spirit pants:
Yet often through my unbelief,
It proves a day of guilt and grief.”

“While on my Savior I rely,
I know my foes shall lose their aim;
And therefore dare their power defy,
Assured of conquest through his name:
But soon my confidence is slain,
And all my fears return again.”

“Thus different powers within me strive,
And grace and sin by turns prevail;
I grieve, rejoice, decline, revive,
And victory hangs in doubtful scale;
But Jesus has his promise past [given],
That grace shall overcome at last.”

So wrote John Newton in a hymn on his life in light of Galatians 5:17.

The Works of John Newton, volume 3, page 450-1.

shane lems

All Boasting Excluded

As I mentioned earlier, as I read through John Newton’s works this winter, I plan to pass along some “gems” I find.  I hope to do this weekly (give or take).  This week’s quote is from a letter Newton wrote in April of 1772.  It is basically an explanation of the great phrase he spoke at the end of his life: “Two things I know – first, that I am a great sinner.  Second, that Christ is a great Savior.” 

“The unchangeableness of the Lord’s love, and the riches of his mercy, are likewise more illustrated by the multiplied pardons he bestows upon his people, than if they needed no forgiveness at all.”

“Hereby the Lord Jesus Christ is more endeared to the soul; all boasting is effectually excluded, and the glory of a full and free salvation is ascribed to him alone.”

“If a mariner is surprised by a storm, and after one night spent in jeopardy is presently brought safe into port; though he may rejoice in his deliverance, it will not affect him so sensibly, as if, after being tempest-tossed for a long season, and experiencing a great number and variety of hair-breadth escapes, he at last gains the desired haven.”

“The righteous are said to be scarcely saved, not with respect to the certainty of the event, for the purpose of God in their favor cannot be disappointed—but in respect of their own apprehensions, and the great difficulties they are brought through. But when, after a long experience of their own deceitful hearts, after repeated proofs of their weakness, willfulness, ingratitude, and insensibility, they find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ, Jesus becomes more and more precious to their souls.”

“They love much, because much has been forgiven them. They dare not, they will not ascribe anything to themselves—but are glad to acknowledge, that they must have perished (if possible) a thousand times over, if Jesus had not been their Savior, their shepherd, and their shield. When they were wandering—he brought them back; when fallen—he raised them; when wounded—he healed them; when fainting—he revived them. By him, out of weakness—they have been made strong:  he has taught their hands to war, and covered their heads in the day of battle.”

“In a word, some of the clearest proofs they have had of his excellence, have been occasioned by the humiliating proofs they have had of their own vileness. They would not have known so much of him—if they had not known so much of themselves.”

John Newton, Works, volume 1, page 450-1.

shane lems