Hey Drew,

Those 10 commandments are quite something. When I read down them I think I’ve broken them all at some time or other. How strict is God about these? I’m thinking of the one about being angry or not honoring your parents. I’ve told “white” lies. The other day I told the most obnoxious girl in my history class that she had more friends than she thought when, in fact, she has none. And when she asked me if her bum looked big in her new jeans, although I was tempted to say “yes, you little porker”, I just smiled sweetly and said, “no way”. Was that a sin if I was trying to be nice and not hurt her feelings? Hey, Drew, you don’t think she’s coming on to me?

But, to be serious….You’ve said that God forgives sin if you ask him, but is there a crime or set of crimes that he just won’t forgive. Do you think Adolf Hitler or Gengis Khan who killed thousands if not millions of people would have made it into heaven if they had asked forgiveness?

Jack

Jack upon Tyne,

The 10 commandments are quite something indeed, and you’ve rightly pointed out one of their purposes: “the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). When we read down them and realize that we’ve broken them, they point out our sinfulness and our need for salvation, and finally to Christ. It’s like holding up a mirror to your face to realize you have a pimple. You feel the pimple, but you’re not quite sure how bad it is until you see it in the mirror for what it really is, a blocked pore building up pus like Mt. Vesuvius.

You ask how strict God is about the 10 commandments. I think it’s important to note here that the law God laid down in the Old Testament reflects his character and are not arbitrary rules to keep people under control lest someone somewhere might have fun. The law, it should be remembered, is part of the revelation of God that is the Scriptures, and because the law is part of God’s revelation to us, we should see what it is revealing. Two main characters it reveals information about are us and God. As you mentioned, we’ve seen that the law reveals how sinful we are and that we are in need of the Christ, the chosen one of God to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Secondly, as a cursory look at the Psalms will show, the law of God exhibits many of the same characteristics as God. It follows because God is pure and holy, his word will be equally as error-free and true. To return to the question at hand, I would argue that because the law is God’s word to us, it should be taken equally as serious as God himself.

There is a story from the Old Testament that shows how seriously God takes his law. It is from2 Samuel 6 and it concerns the transportation of the ark of the Covenant which was a box which God had the Israelites make to transport the ten commandments and some other goodies, and also be a place for the priest to meet with God. (You can read about its making inExodus 25. What happened in2 Samuel 6 was that King David was having the ark brought to Jerusalem, but they weren’t transporting it correctly according to how God had told them to in his law. They were having it pulled by oxen on a cart when the Levites (priests) were supposed to carry it on their shoulders using poles which went through rings of the box. One of the oxen stumbled, a guy named Uzzah stuck out his hand and touched the ark to steady it on the cart and “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God” (v.7). What effect did this have on the people? “David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah” (v.9) and he, for some odd reason, no longer felt like bringing this box into his city. I bet you from that day forward people took God and his law seriously. We should do the same.

Is there any sin which God will not forgive? Jesus said that “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31). Moses for example murdered an Egyptian guy. Paul, before he was a Christian, persecuted Christians and helped get them arrested. What Jesus is saying is that these sins will be forgiven but the person who blasphemes, or rejects, the Holy Spirit who testifies about Jesus will not be forgiven. This sin is an outright rejection of the person and work of God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is what you have to worry about being not forgiven because Jesus it won’t be. So the better question might be, Did Hitler ultimately reject the Holy Spirit working in his life? His actions seem to lean toward more of a yes than a no.

Psalm 95:7-8 says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” If God calls your cellphone, pick up. If the Spirit comes knocking on the door of your conscience via the 10 commandments, don’t shrug it off and continue in sin, but yield to God and live. Have you heard his voice?

Praying that your heart might not be hardened,

Sometimes I see things that parade as Christian and I say, “I don’t understand.” One of my first encounters were the Testamints sold in Lifeway bookstores. Yeh, Testamints–mints with Scripture verse on them. What?!

Today’s sighting takes the cake: a van with “Did you hug Jesus today?” on it. I spotted this while at work today and ran outside and snapped a picture on my cellphone. This statement perturbs me (to put it lightly) big time. I see a couple problems with this:

First, what does this question mean? Is this implying one can hug Jesus? Because Jesus is at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33).

Second, is Jesus a big cuddling teddy bear that one hugs? Because Revelation shows Jesus coming back with a robe dipped in blood and a tattoo (Revelation 19:13).

Third, Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords before whom every knee will bow and confess his lordship; not hug. Does one hug the King of Kings? Does one hug the Lord of Lords?

Fourth, what would hugging Jesus accomplish for anyone? Salvation is accomplished by Jesus’ death on the cross and man’s repenting of sin and believing on him; not hugging it out.

Fifth, does this imply that one should hug Jesus daily if one does indeed hug Jesus?

Sixth, what does the author (sporting it on their van) hope to accomplish with this statement? Is this supposed to draw people to Christ? If so, which “Jesus” is it drawing them to? I’m a Christian and I “scoff” at this. What must others think? What view of Jesus does this give people? It seems to give the same view of Jesus as many contemporary Christian songs (“positive & encouraging” as K-LOVE says): he’s your boyfriend, you can hug him. Sounds a lot like dating a hippie.

I’m not all “hell fire and brimstone” (cf. Fred Phelps), but neither am I “Dr. Phil Jesus.” Jesus of the Bible is Jesus. What a concept.

Reading tonight has prompted me to start a series on my blog that I’ve wanted to start for some time, and that is a series on reasons for reading. Why read? What do we get out of it and what is the fruit of our labor from spending so much time as we do on harvesting the ripe books, letters, works, etc. we set to read? These posts will, of course, be in no special order, but will be added as reasons come to mind.

#1
Confirm what you’ve already been thinking.

Reading can confirm what you been thinking. Now, of course, reading also challenges what you’ve been thinking, and rightfully so, but that is the reason of another, separate post. The confirming that I am talking about is best illustrated by the reading I was doing tonight that both prompted this series and the confirming of one of my thinks; namely, that in our minds, there are “little systems.”

The work I was reading tonight, Robert Reymond’s A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, forefronted this thought of mine that has been on the backburner for some time, that of systems. Quite unexpectedly did Reymond lead me to this confirming of my thought. I was very pleasantly reading along on the nature of biblical truth (univocal vs. analogical)–I love reading on subjects of which I’ve not read anything before–and BOOM! There it was: a short quotation and footnote with Alfred, Lord Tennyson as the referant.

Here’s where I was reading:

“Every time [one] rejects a proposition as false because it ‘contradicts’ the teaching of Scripture or because it is in some other way illogical, the proposition’s sponsor only needs to contend that it only appears to contradict Scripture or to be illogical, and that his proposition is simply one of the terms…of one more of those paradoxes which we have acknowledged have a legitimately place in our ‘little systems,’ to borrow a phrase from Alfred, Lord Tennyson.”

Footnote 30, placed after “Tennyson,” then reads:

Tennyson writes:

Our little systems have their day,
They have their day and cease to be.
They are but broken lights of Thee,
And Thou , O Lord, are more than they.

–In Memoriam.

A smile broke out on my face like a 14 year-old’s acne! “This is why I read!” Here, my friends and faithful readers, is the first reason that I would like to point to you why I read: to get confirmation. Right here is a double dose. Not only has Tennyson written my thinks 150+ years before me, but Dr. Robert Reymond has written them in his work as well. This little Tennyson poem (if you can call it that–I’m not good with poetic categorization) has instantly become one of my favorites. Why? Because it has confirmed what I was thinking. We read to get new ideas, yes, but what fun it is to have ideas confirmed when reading. Are you as excited as I am? Who cares!

Thank you, Tennyson. Thank you, Reymond.

My “little system” in my mind is having its day–this post is one example. But my little system will cease to be! It’s but a broken light trying to imitate the bright, glowing sun that is God!

“I am doubting. I feel I lack faith.”

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

“Shall I then be inundated with more words of God to have more faith?”

These things were written so that you might believe and in believing have life through his name. (John 20:31)

“Surely anything I read more of I will believe more and more by reading and inundation.”

These words are true and faithful. (Revelation 22:6,John 17:17)

What is wrong with believing the truth?

Why do you seek something else?

“Much is written against the reliability and error of the Bible.”

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. (1 John 2:26)

“But my heart also raises doubt concerning all this.”

For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart. (1 John 3:20)

“I feel my heart is the voice of reason trying to keep me from this folly of religion and Christianity.”

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

“You only say this to coerce me and keep me from reason.”

Take care lest your heart be deceived. (Deuteronomy 11:16)

“I want to believe.”

Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. (Acts 2:21)

“God, my God, clearly I will forget my struggles and have faith if I shelf my reason and flood my mind with your word.”

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind… (Luke 10:27)

Where else shall you go? (John 6:68)

“Is that a fallacious argument–’Where shall you go?’? Does that matter?”

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel. (Galatians 1:6-7)

“I believe! Help my unbelief!”

Hi Drew,

I understand when you say that we all deserve to go to hell. It put me in mind of a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (we studied it in High School): “..use every man after his deserts, then who should scape whipping?” Is that what you mean? So, if I understand you rightly, then the “grace” of God is like mercy. We are only “let off” our punishment because God chooses it. Is that so? It kinda makes sense if he is a loving God as we are told. I “Googled” Jonathan Edwards. He seems to have been quite the preacher. But he says God is an “angry” God and we can be liable to slide into hell at any time. Can I quote you from his “Sinner in the hands of an Angry God”. He says, referring to Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 35

“That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God’s appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.”

This worries me a bit. What if God suddenly says, “Jack, the appointed time for you has come”. Would I be left to fall? Drew, I can tell you now, I don’t really fancy that prospect. I hadn’t realised that things were so urgent. I suppose the appointed time could be anytime, like today even. Drew, what must I do? I have read all your letters and you have probably already spelled it out. I’m sorry if I’m making you repeat yourself but this is more important than I had realised. In a nutshell, what must I do so that God doesn’t let me slip into hell?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Jack

Sir Jack Whom I Email and Who Emails Back,

Jonathan Edwards was quite the preacher. The man prepared sermons on horseback and used and reused paper until there was no more room to write on it. Imagine what the cat could have done with a laptop and a blog!

It is a serious matter that Edwards writes of in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. First off, let me tell you (and not to divert the issue) that just as horrifically as Jonathan Edwards wrote of hell, he equally as vivid describes the wonders of heaven and being with God. He was a man that had a grasp on the seriousness and the majesty of God, and this perspective led him to understand more than most the gravitas with which God must be treated. We’re not talking about Santa Claus, or Gumby, or Mr. Rogers; this is the God of who created the heavens and the earth by his word through Jesus. This is the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God of Edwards.

I’m glad you brought up Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God because in it Jonathan Edwards describes us being on a slippery slope. This is sin as we have talked about it. Our love of sin is destroying us. Furthermore, our sin makes a law breaker. We have broken God’s law. This can be plainly seen if we compare ourselves to the famous Ten Commandments:

1. Has God been foremost in my desiring, or is everything about me? I’m a lawbreaker.
2. Have I worshiped fake gods (sex, money, success, materialism, myself), and not the Creator of the universe? I’m a lawbreaker.
3. Have I taken God’s name in vain? Have I blasphemed against Jesus? I’m a lawbreaker.
4. Have I set aside a day to rest and worship God? (This should be everyday.) I’m a lawbreaker.
5. Have I honored my father and mother, or have I been disobedient? I’m a lawbreaker.
6. Have I murdered someone? Jesus stepped this one up and said that even if I have been so angry that I have hated my brother, I am guilty. I’m a lawbreaker.
7. Have I had sex with someone that I’m not married to? Jesus also stepped this one up and said that if I have lusted after a woman in my heart, I am guilty. I am a lawbreaker.
8. Have I lied? Guilty.
9. Have I wanted something so much that wasn’t mine (coveted)? I’m a lawbreaker.

I’m a lawbreaker and thereby guilty. In the New Testament it says that the Law was given so that we might see how much of a sinner (lawbreaker) we are and how much we are in need of rescuing; because what is the just thing for a judge to do to a lawbreaker but condemn? We are guilty.

You’ve heardJohn 3:16–”God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life?” This is the gospel: namely, that while we are guilty because we are lawbreakers, Jesus Christ has died for us to forgive our sins that upon repenting and placing our faith in him we can have our sins washed away and be cleansed and be righteous before God.

This is the gospel: God rescuing us in Jesus. Jesus is God in human form. Jesus took the penalty of our sin upon him and thereby canceled out the debt against us. All we have to do is turn to him in faith and repentance and God has promised that he would save us. “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord [Jesus] shall be saved.” The Bible is full of God’s promises towards us. He has rescued us! He has accepted our penalty in Jesus. If we turn away from our sinful lifestyle and trust in Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, God promises, that he will rescue us now, giving us abundant life and joy, and will rescue us when “that due time, or appointed time comes.” We then have nothing to fear for God is in control. We can trust that when God says our appointed time is up, everything will be OK even if it seems scary or painful.

Our appointed times could be any day or any moment that’s why its important to seek after God while he may be found. “Today is the day of salvation.” Don’t delay.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). Buy that field, Jack.

–drew

PS. What must you do? In real, practical terms: call out to God. Tell God how you feel. Tell him that you fear death and know that you are a lawbreaker guilty of breaking his law. There is no formula. Just heartfelt remorse at your sins and placing your faith in Jesus. “Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and that I need you. I turn away from my sins and trust in you for forgiveness. Save me.”

Three upcoming conferences at Southeastern Seminary. Right now, I’m planning on attending the Convergent conference if for no other reason than to hear Mark Driscoll in person. Note: I think the prices listed are for SEBTS students. Check the respective site for more info. Also, the image is too wide for my blog. Click on it to view the full size. (I don’t know why they insist on sending image emails.)