Jesus, not Faith, is the Christian's Righteousness

Theodore Beza, a disciple of John Calvin, points out that the faith alone that saves, is not simply, faith as a vague energy, but faith in Jesus alone: 

"Here is the explanation of our justification by faith alone: faith is the instrument which receives Jesus Christ and, consequently, which receives His righteousness, that is to say, all perfection...we do not say that faith is a virtue which makes us righteous, in ourselves, before God.  For this would be to put faith in the place of Jesus Christ who is, alone, our perfect and entire righteousness...

It is established that to be assured of one's salvation, through faith, is not only neither presumption nor arrogance, but, on the contrary, is the sole means of stripping oneself of all pride, to give all glory to God...Because faith alone teaches us to go out of ourselves, and compels us, to earnestly acknowledge that in ourselves there is nothing but cause for complete damnation.  Thus it sends us away to Jesus Christ, and it teaches us and assures us that we shall find salvation before God through His righteousness alone.  Truly, all that is in Jesus Christ, that is to say, all the righteousness and perfection (in Him there was no sin and moreover He has fulfilled all the righteousness of the Law), is placed to our account and gifted to us as if it were our own, provided that we embrace Him by faith."  (Source).

The Shameful Indulgences of the Roman Catholic Church

Another great Protestant Reformer was John Calvin, and his Institutes of Christian Religion is known as one of the greatest written works in Christian history.  One key major disagreement that Calvin and the other Reformers had against the Roman Catholic church was indulgences, and lest you think the Roman Catholic church has changed its tune in regards to indulgences, take a look at their Catechism straight off the Vatican's web-page:

"1471 What is an indulgence? 'An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.'"  Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part II, Section II, Article IV, X.

Calvin displayed the great error of this doctrine, free from the shackles of our modern politically correct tone, in his Institutes of Christian Religion:

"From the dogma of satisfaction that of indulgences takes its rise.  For the pretence is, that what is wanting to our own ability is hereby supplied; and they go to the insane length of defining them to be a dispensation of the merrits of Christ, and the martyrs which the Pope makes by his bulls...They give the name of treasury of the Church to the merits of Christ, the holy Apostles and Martyrs.  They pretend, as I have said, that the radical custody of the granary has been delivered to the Roman bishop, to whom the dispensation of these great blessings belongs in such a sense, that he can both exercise it by himself, and delegate the power of exercising it to others...These, to describe them truly, are a profanation of the blood of Christ, and a delusion of Satan, by which the Christian people are led away from the grace of God and the life which is in Christ, and turned aside from the true way of salvation.  For how could the blood of Christ be more shamefully profaned than by denying its sufficiency for the remission of sins, for reconciliation and satisfaction, unless its defects, as if it were dried up and exhausted, are supplemented from some other quarter?...What is this but merley to leave the name of Christ, and at the same time make him a vulgar saintling, who can scarcely be distinguished in the crows?  He alone ought to be preached, alone held forth, alone named, alone looked to, whenever the subject considered is the obtaining of the forgiveness of sins, expiation, and sanctification." Book III, chapter 5, 572-574

Self-Righteousness Needs a Big Axe

In honor of the ever-hastening Reformation Day I will be doing some posts from leaders of the Protestant Reformation.

Here is Martin Luther on the evil of self-righteousness, the axe, and the remedy:

"When the Law was instituted on Mount Sinai it was accompanied by lightning, by storms, by the sound of trumpets, to tear to pieces that monster called self-righteousness.  As long as a person thinks he right he is going to be incomprehensibly proud and presumptuous.  He is going to hate God, despise His grace and mercy, and ignore the promises in Christ.  The Gospel of the free forgiveness of sins through Christ will never appeal to the self-righteous.

This monster of self-righteousness, this stiff necked beast, needs a big axe.  And that is what the Law is, a big axe...

The business of the Gospel, on the other hand, is to quicken, to comfort, to raise the fallen.  The Gospel carries the news that God for Christ's sake is merciful to the most unworthy sinners, if they will only believe that Christ by His death delivered them from sin and everlasting death unto grace, forgiveness, and everlasting life."

Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, Chapter III, 127

Jefferson on the Government's Financial Books

"We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the Union should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them."

President Thomas Jefferson to Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, 1802

Return from Florida

Trip was good.

I was in Broward County, and after talking to one person who will be at the polls it sounds like voting issues will be "terrible" in Florida again. Please no...

I got to listen to some of Tim Keller and Edmund Clowney's RTS class and recommend it. It is composed of lectures to pastor's on preaching Jesus in all of Scripture. I have much to learn here. However, I don't think it is just for pastors. It also would help the Christian believer to read the Bible in such a way that Jesus is applied to each and every verse and story.

Speaking of Tim Keller, his new book The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith should be a gold-mine full of the Gospel.

I did not expect the Phillies to beat the Rays. It is one-game away from happening. To the dismay of this man.

I am glad to see gas in Humbodt County has hit 2.99. It is hard to imagine getting excited about paying 3 dollars for gas, but in this County we are!

God is speaking to John Piper.

Links in Florida

In Florida.

Being here makes me want to where an Obama T-shirt one day and a McCain T-shirt the next just for the sake of reaction. Or maybe an Obama on the front and a McCain on the back.

No I'm not at at the World Series, but I am watching it.

I'm looking forward to getting to see some of the state this week.

Read a great line from NT Wright's Suprised by Hope, via Tullian Tchividjian, Christians "are saved not as souls but as wholes."

Abraham Piper mentions one of my favorite practical verses.

Sam Storms has a wonderful sermon on spiritual gifts that he recently preached at the church he now pastors. Do you earnestly desire spiritual gifts? I stand convicted.

The ESV Study Bible has an online edition free to all purchasers of the Study Bible. Cheers to Crossway for that great feature. It's working great for travel, as you don't have to lug around your 25 pound Bible. Abraham Piper is giving one away, see his site for details.

The Purpose of Unrelenting and Offensive Ezekiel

I've been enjoying my new ESV Study Bible, and ran across this excellent paragraph last night regarding the mesage of the book of Ezekiel in the introduction:

"Ezekiel's message was unrelenting...Ezekiel's uncompromising message is matched by language that often seems hard and sometimes offensive. If there is no softening his language, at least it appears that the grandeur of Ezekiel's vision of God rendered much of the earthly reality he observed as sordid, and worse. The appropriate response, in Ezekiel's terms, is not simply revulsion but repentance and a longing for the restoration of God's glory." ESV Study Bible, 1496.

Language that is offensive and hard must be eventually accompanied by language that is restorative. Hard word's for the sake of harshness and shock value should never be the attitude of the Christian, rather it should be for the sake of repentance and restoration. Having a purely positive and upbeat message is dishonoring to God because resurrection comes through a cross and repentance comes through understanding that sin is sickening to God.

Thank God for Ezekiel, it keeps us from the extreme of evangelical perpetual positivity and prosperity and the extreme of having a potty-mouth and cussing for the sake of being cool and "cultural" connectivity.

Intimacy requires Knowledge

"I encourage you to read really good books about God. You do realize that ignorance is absolutely antithetical to intimacy. You cannot be intimate with someone you don’t know.” Sam Storms, Quoted in a sermon 10/5/08

Casting Silver into the Streets

In reading and studying Ezekiel I came across this timely verse:

"They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity." Ez. 7:19

Here we see that in the judgment of God upon Israel one of the many demonstrations of His judgment in this prophecy is that wealth, gold and silver lose their value. Rather then accumulating wealth the people of Israel cast it into the streets. This is unusual, for as commentator John Calvin puts it years ago:

"For we know that men are more anxious about those possessions than about life itself....men are so attached to their gold and silver that it grieves them to be torn from what they so much love: no less than if you tore away their entrails." Ezekiel, 262.

I do not doubt Calvin's point that for many one would rather part with their innards then part with their money. For that person wealth has become more important then life because wealth is their life. However, when God's wrath came upon Israel men and women were under such judgment that even their wealth lost all value. There was no security. They flung their wealth into the streets, because wealth had lost its very definition.

It is judgment indeed when God takes away from a people the very value of money, and what panic would strike a people when this occurs. As this passage says gold and silver was treated as if it were "unclean." Gold and silver rather then being precious metals has become leporsy. As the New American Standard Bible puts it, gold and silver have become "abhorrent."

To abhor wealth is foreign to any nation, yet in this case, when God judged Israel wealth, rather then being adored and accumulated, became abhorrent and cast away into the street to be trampled upon.

Value vanished.

May love of wealth vanish from the heart of God's people, the church, and may love of God and hunger for Him become our Satisfaction and Security.

Nations are in the hands of God

"All nations are in the hands of YHWH, the living God. Their victories too are not to be attributed to their own gods but rather the sovereignty of YHWH. And sometimes God may use a nation, any nation, as the agent of historical justice in the arena of international affairs. That in itself does not make the nation so used any more righteous than another (as Israel were categorically told). All it means is that God remains sovereign." Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, 460

Some Debate Suggestions & Comments

1. Lengthen the debate time to three hours with a ten minute intermission and commercial break. This would actually enable the candidates to demonstrate whether they really know what they are talking about, and it will not enable them to throw out such questionable facts and continual buzz words.

2. Have a total of six debates in pairs. For instance, there would be the debate that took place this evening and then the second would follow it tomorrow so factual errors could be questioned and statements and responses fresh in the memory of each candidate. Separate each debate by three weeks.

3. Have one moderated by a registered Democrat, one moderated by a registered Republican, and then one moderated by a registered non-partisan. I do not mean a Democratic and Republican strategist, but simply one who is registered with that party. This means Keith Olbermann and Sean Hannity can't be moderators.

4. The first two suggestions would make the following all seem more problematic and require extensive tweaking: Obama's soaring rhetoric, McCain's continual visible frustration, Palin's constant cutsie-ness, and Biden's well-known gaffes.

5. Obama appears controlled and thoughtful something that is important in a Presedential candidate, McCain at times seems erratic and annoyed. McCain has extensive experience and is a proven bipartisan, Obama has limited experience and has noted far-left liberal viewpoints. Palin is prettier then Biden. Joe Biden has very, big white smile, which would make the poster-boy of Crest White-Strips want a filling. Joe Biden is no Joe-Six-Pack and smells of political tomfoolery. Governor Palin, lets just say, she doesn't always unleash Presidential confidence in this American's heart.

The Temple of God

Christopher Wright like Greg Beale affirm that:

"...the temple of God will encompass not only [God's] whole people redeemed from every tribe, nation, people and language but the whole cosmos, whithin which we will serve hims as kings and priests. That is to say, humanity redeemed through Christ and modeled on Christ's perfect humanity will be restored to our proper and intended relationship with creation." The Mission of God, 340.

Temple will no longer be a place to go worship, but every place, indeed, will be a place of worship and permeated with the presence of God. In the new heavens and the new earth, all of creation will be curseless and humankind will be sinless and the presence of God will be a constant uninhibited reality.

Live-Blogging the VP Debate

5:35 On my 200th post here at blogger, I'll be live blogging the VP debate this eve.  

5:49 Getting the sense from CNN that the race here is really heading strong toward Obama.  They say momentum is clearly his, and Palin, though, with a strong performance, can put the momentum on pause, but it would take a huge gaffe of Biden or an major news event to reverse the trend. Campbell Brown did just make the point that they haven't talked about Biden much at all, but this debate is about Palin.

5:53  Howard Fineman of Newsweek and MSNBC thinks that as long as Biden gets off the stage without any major mistakes and the media not talking about him it would be in Biden's favor.  

5:56 80 million people is the record for a debate night, notes a FoxNews commentator.

5:59 Chris Matthews of MSNBC makes a good point that most of the cute buzz words the media talked about was all prepped and scripted anyway.  He did not speak positively of it, and hopes for some true spontaneity and memorable moments.

6:03 The questions have not been shared or cleared by either campaign.  The questions start...

6:07  Biden blaming most of the economic policies on the Bush administration in response to the deep economic issues of late.  Fundamental disagreement, Biden notes, is he and Obama want to help the regular guy and not the "wealthy."

Palin says that McCain sounded the alarm on Fannie and Freddie and such early on, and says many at soccer games would be fearful.  In other words, economic crisis is not just a Wall Street issue, but a Main Street one.

6:10 Palin says McCain meant the "American workforce" when he said the fundamentals of the American economy were strong.  This was in response to Biden's disdain for McCain's remark.

6:12 Palin calls for the American people to not get ourselves in debt and "don't live outside of our means."  Biden says that Obama warned 2 years ago about the sub-prime crisis and notes that McCain said, in the past, that he was "suprised" by it.  

6:15 Palin says that over ninety times Obama either voted against tax cuts or did not vote for them.  Obama did not vote to raise taxes says Biden.  Biden says Palin is not answering the questions.

6:18  Again the classic line Democrats, echoed by Biden, say divide between Republican's is: Repub's are for the wealthy.

6:25  Promises made that won't be kept, asks the moderator: 

Biden- we will slow down committment to double foreign assistance.

Palin- not answering the question.  Instead launches into an attack on Obama's energy policy and the positive things she's done in Alaska.  After being prompted by the moderator, Palin says she hasn't made any promises, being that she's only been at this for 5 weeks, that won't be kept, except to "put the government back on the side of the people."

6:30  Again Biden points out Obama warned 2 years ago about sub-prime crisis and McCain was surprised by it.

6:30 Palin launching, unasked, into energy policy again and the reliance upon foreign oil.  "Energy independence is the key to American's future."  She also believes its a key economic issue and national security issue.

6:34 Palin doesn't want to argue about the causes of of climate change, but to make policies that deal with it.  Biden thinks climate change is all man-made.  Palin doesn't.  She thinks it is also cyclical.  

6:38 Biden supports same-sex benefits, as they do, according to the moderator, in Alaska.  Obama and Biden do not support gay marriage.  Palin doesen't either.  

6:44 Palin pointing out that the Surge in Iraq has worked and Obama voted against it.  Biden says Obama has a plan that is the same as Bush and and the prime minister of the Iraq are now, post-Obama's plan, working on.  "You're plan is a white-flag of surrender," comes back Palin.  

6:47 John McCain has been "dead wrong" on the fundamental issues realting to the Iraq War--"that's the facts."  Biden and Obama have been focused on Pakistan who have nuclear weapons now.  Biden says an attack on the homeland now will come not from Iraq but from the hills of Afghanistan and Pakistan.  

6:52 A "two-state solution is the solution" for Israel and Palestine, says Palin.  Biden: "No one in the United States Senate has been a better friend to Israel then Joe Biden."

6:56 Palin: "There have been huge blunders in the war...and throughout this administration."  She goes on to say that there is "too much finger-pointing backwards" to the Bush Administration by the Obama campaign that supposedly is about "change" in the future.  Biden doesn't believe there is any proof that a McCain administration would be different.

7:00 According to Palin, the surge principles, though not the same strategy, should occur in Afghanistan.  Biden states that today the commanding General in Afghanistan clearly said that "the surge principles of Iraq will not work in Afghanistan." 

7:05 Moderator notes that Biden is for putting troops on the ground in Darfur.  This I did not know, and this concern of Biden's I applaud in this difficult region, though I do not know precisely what strategy would be wise.  Biden can't stomach genocide, and thinks we should rally the world to act and demonstrate it by our own action in Darfur.  It is the strongest statement on Darfur I have heard yet out of Washington.  Good work, Senator Biden.

7:07 Palin comments on Darfur as well and says she is waiting for some legislation in her own state to pass to help Darfur, and supports a no fly zone and doing whatever we can to help that region.  

7:11 In response to the moderator's question, Biden would carry out Obama's policies if Obama was ever to die.  "This is the most important election since 1932," says Biden.  Why always these superlatives?  Palin would have some different energy policies then McCain.

7:13 Biden again connecting the Bush Administration to the McCain.  Palin prodding him, in her characteristic smile, to look ahead to the future and quit looking at the past.  No Child Left Behind is not doing the job, says Palin, as she draws a difference between McCain ticket and Bush Administration.  

7:17 Joe Biden: "Vice President Cheney probably the most dangerous Vice President in America history."  That indeed is a strong statement/accusation.  

7:22 Biden getting emotional, and right there just connected with the public, on saying that he has had the experience of not knowing if a kid is "going to make it."  He also makes the case that a woman isn't the only one that is concerned about one's kids.  A strong father-moment for Biden.

7:25 Biden: McCain has not been a maverick on many of the things that matter to the American people.

7:29 How do we change the tone in partisanship?  Biden says that he will not question the motive another member of the Senate in disagreement but will question their judgment.  Palin says that you appoint people, as she has done in Alaska, regardless of party.  

7:32 Palin makes another hit on the mainstream media in her closing statement.  She says that we must fight for our freedom, both economic and national security.  A vote for John McCain is the only vote for one who has a proven record of fighting for the people.  Biden says its time for America to get up together, and they are ready to lead the country.  End.

7:38 Hume of FoxNews note it wasn't as heated as the Presidential debate, but clear attacks from both parties.  Hume says Palin seemed comfortable and got better as the debate went on.  I agree with that.  Chris Matthews, of MSNBC, amazed that Palin is asking for more power as VP. "Joe Biden gave the best performance of his life," notes a CNN commentator.  

7:40 Chris Matthew thinks watching Palin was like watching a "spelling bee" and reciting.

7:41 A FoxNews comentator makes a similar "spelling bee" comment in regards to Palin.

7:51 Foxnews independents, on a TV set, resonated with the Palin comments on everyone taking responsiblity.  CNN independents, on a TV set, supposedly made a decision on who to vote for tonight far more then last weeks Presidential debate.  

7:55 Senator Fred Thompson (R) says, in regards to Palin, positively that he has "never seen a performance like that."

8:00  I thought controversial Gwen Iffil did a good job moderating this debate.  I did not sense any sort of partisanship to either candidate.  If you are not aware, there were worries she is biased toward Obama.  I saw none of that.

8:07  CNN reporter notes, from the debate hall, that it was a warmer atmosphere then the Presidential debate.  Not that there wasn't disagreement--there was--but it was a "friendlier" atmosphere.  MSNBC's Keith Olbermann opinionist (he is not a reporter), as usual, tearing into Palin on matters like her constantly going back to energy and not answering questions.

8:09 Olbermann says Palin "did not crash and did not burn, but she also didn't answer the questions."  I think, there is a strong point to that.  Fineman of Newsweek and MSNBC says virtually the same thing.

8:12 National poll from CNN of people who watched the debate...Biden did best job with 51% of vote...64% said Biden did better then expected...84% thought Palin did better then expected.

Adios.

God's Motivations for the Salvation of Humankind

Human Need:

"Human need includes the facts that we are lost and need to be found; we are enslaved and need to be freed; we are condemned and need to be pardoned; we are alienated and need to be reconciled; we are in darkness and need light; we are oppressed and need justice; we are sick and need healing..." Christopher Wright, The Message of Ezekiel, 24.

Divine Emotion:

"Divine emotion includes the wonderful biblical affirmations that God loves us, pities us, has compassion and mercy on us, grieves over aour wilful waywardness, longs for our return, rejoices in our restoration, celebrates our homecoming." ibid, 24.

Himself:

"But for [Yahweh] almost the sole issue, and certainly the overwhelming motivation, was what the salvation of Israel would mean for Yahweh himself...But what ultimately mattered was that Yahweh's name and reputation should be vindicated and that Yahweh should be universally acknowedged as God...Needs and emotions are not excluded; but what matters most is the glory of God and the honour of his name." ibid, 25.

Warn the Wicked and the Righteous

Ezekiel, the odd prophet, was called by God to warn the wicked and the righteous to turn away from sin. His task was twofold: warn the wicked man to turn from wickedness (Ez. 3:19) and warn the righteous man that he should not sin (Ez. 3:21).

I think this applies to the church as well: the preacher is not only to call unbelievers to repentance, but beleivers to a lifestyle of repentance and turning from sin.

The church is not a place for insulating the saints from warnings and simply railing against the wicked world. Men of God, preachers, like Ezekiel, are to continually seek to save sinners and call them to repentance and all men, wicked and righteous alike, are sinners. Saving the saints and saving the wicked is the prevailing task.

The prophetic call is always: "Turn from sin and wickedness and turn to God revealed in His Son Jesus." That Gospel sentence is the same for Christian and unbeliever alike.

The task of the prophet then and any prophet now is the same as Ezekiels. It is an unpopularly odd task, yet a necessary one.

May God give the world and the church more Ezekiels.