True Encounter

 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

I. Confession

The moment Isaiah encountered the holiness of God (v1 to 4), his first response was confession: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips”.

Realizing and confessing how unholy we are is the proper response when we have a glimpse of the holiness of God. Just like when Peter beheld the holiness of Jesus through the miracle of having a large number of fishes after an unfruitful night of fishing and responded to Him: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)

The greater our awareness of God’s holiness, the lower our assessment of ourselves. That is why we should meditate on God’s holiness every day to remind us how sinful we are. As we are reminded, let us humbly confess our sins to God and give thanks for His finished sacrifice on the cross.

II. Condescension

There are times when we think that Isaiah is different from us because he was set apart to be a prophet of God. But take note of what he said: “I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” His life-altering encounter with God resulted to confession and condescension. The holiness of God crushed any self-righteousness that Isaiah had. He considered himself as sinful as anybody else.

Truly, a true encounter with God crushes our self-righteousness because of the humbling realization of how sinful we are in comparison to the purity of God.

Let us lay aside every ounce of self-righteousness. Let us not look down on others because we think we are more spiritual than others. Let us not be like the Pharisee who looked down on the tax collector and took pride in his righteousness. (Luke 18:9-14) Self-righteousness is the greatest hindrance towards salvation because it promotes trusting in oneself rather than trusting the merits of Christ.

III. Cause

The cause for Isaiah’s confession and condescension is that He encountered the holiness of God. He exclaimed, “for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” He encountered the Lord of hosts in verses 1 to 4. He saw the King on his throne with the train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphims even worshipped Him and ascribed glory due to Him: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isa. 6:3)

Indeed, a true encounter with God alters the course of our lives in the right direction. It humbles us down and makes us aware of who we truly are: depraved people. This life-altering event happened when Saul also encountered the risen Christ on his way to the road of Damascus to persecute Christians. (Acts 9)

Let us meditate on the greatness of God in the fullness of His attributes. Let us marvel at His majesty. And as we gaze upon the beauty of our God, may we forget ourselves and be consumed by the weightiness of the King of hosts. And let us put the psalm of David in our hearts and say, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

Our Hearts are Yours

Our hearts are naturally prone to wander and run after broken cisterns that could hold no water than rest our soul’s thirst in the Fountain of Living Water. Apart from the saving grace of God, our hearts are captives of sin. Sin rules and governs our lives. But through His regenerating power, our hearts are transformed and made new. We now have the divine enablement to allow the Holy Spirit to rule and govern our lives because it has now been his dwelling place.

Our sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit are in a constant battle of tug-of-war. Praise God that we are given the opportunity to participate in our sanctification. We could either give our hearts to sin or the Holy Spirit; give our wills to the rule of sin or the rule of the Holy Spirit; give our bodies to unrighteousness or holiness.

At times of wandering, let us remember Christ who bought us with a cost; He set us free with His precious blood. Let us remember the One who is alone worthy of hearts because He showed His love towards us by dying for our sins on the cross. And as we remember the love of Christ and what He did to have His bride, let us altogether say, “Our hearts are yours.”

When Satan Accuses You

“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” (Romans 8:33)

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. (Rev. 12:10-12) Satan uses our failures, sins, flaws, and weaknesses to tempt us to wallow in self-pity, shame, embarrassment, guilt, despair, hopelessness, and uselessness to disable and immobilize us from the work of the ministry. People who are part of the kingdom of darkness could also be used by the king of darkness in his evil schemes. We receive insults from others. We get hurt by the words and actions of others.

But you know what? The world around us and satan might accuse us but it will never change the standing that we have before God. That is why the apostle Paul asked the rhetorical question in Rom. 8:33, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” No one. Not even satan. He is already a defeated foe. All the accusations, insults, and schemes to tempt us to despair are useless. All the charges that could be brought against us are useless even though the charges are true. Why? Because God has already cancelled the record of debt that stood against us when Christ nailed our debt to the cross. (Col. 2:14) The charges that make us guilty before God were owned by Christ on our behalf. He paid our fine to set us free from sin’s penalty.

God is fully aware of all the charges that could be raised against us. However, the good news is, that the righteous Judge who alone has the right to condemn us as guilty has justified us. What an amazing reality that is! That we are declared righteous in the sight of God because we are covered by the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ. Christ’s righteousness is a gift from God that becomes ours through faith alone in Him. He suffered and paid for the consequences of our charges so that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1) There is no room for wrath because Christ satisfied the wrath of God on the cross. All there is for us is love.

Brethren, when satan accuses you, let us be reminded of the words of the hymn writer:

excerpt from Before the Throne of God Above

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within.
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the Just is satisfied,
To look on Him and pardon me.
To look on Him and pardon me.

Brethren, when satan tempts us to despair with all the charges because of our guilt, remember that Christ died for that charge to free us from it. No more guilt. No more shame. Because Christ took it all. The shame and the guilt ended on the cross of Calvary. Let us not look down in despair because there is a wonderful reason to look up and see that our Loving Savior is there.

Debtors of Grace Forever

We are debtors of grace forever even at times that we are unconscious that the grace of God is operating in our lives; enabling us, transforming us, sustaining us, forgiving us, and strengthening us.

It is the common grace of God that makes the sun shines, rain falls, and oxygen flows to the believer and the nonbeliever alike. (Matt. 5:45-47) Apart from the sustaining grace of God, every thing in the world will fall apart. The planets, moons, stars, and the sun will move out of their proper places and then collide with each other resulting to chaos, disaster, and calamity.

Apart from the grace of God, we can never move one inch of our bodies. We could never exercise our mental faculties and physical capabilities because “in him we live and move and have our being”. (Acts 17:28)

By His grace, there’s life.

By His grace, there’s motion.

By His grace, there’s existence.

Salvation is all by the grace of God. (Eph. 2:8-9) Grace has worked all the way from the time of repentance from our sins and trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior to our moment-by-moment effort to pursue sanctification to the second-by-second preservation until the moment we die. It is all by grace.

It is by grace that God chose us before the foundation of the world. (Eph. 1:4) It is by grace that we are loved beforehand by God. It is by grace that we are predestined to be Christlike. It is by grace that we are effectually called unto salvation and justified through faith in Christ until our glorification. (Rom. 8:29-30)

Everything is undeserved. Everything is unmerited.

We can do the things that we do for God because of the strength that God supplies so that in everything we do, God alone would be glorified. (1 Pet. 4:11) The effort that we expend to be transformed in the image of Christ is empowered by the gracious God who is “at work in us, both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13) We willed and worked because He graciously willed and worked through us. Apart from the grace of God that wills and works in us, we can never accomplish anything.

We will be debtors of grace forever. From childbirth to death, grace has worked in us in wonderful and amazing ways. Our debt towards grace increases every second of our lives until eternity. We will forever be indebted to God. That is why we will be forever grateful for the grace that sustains us, saves us, sanctifies us, empowers us, preserves us, and that will glorify us. Grace should crush our pride, humble us, and cause us to praise the glory of His grace. Indeed, “for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

All praises belong to our gracious God that we are debtors of grace forever.

The Greatest to the Least

Romans 8:32 (ESV)

1. He who did not spare

2. his own Son

3. but gave him up for us all,

4. how will he not also

5. with him

6. graciously give us all things?

1. God did not withhold His most precious Son to us. He did not keep His beloved Son with whom He is well pleased. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are perfectly happy and perfectly in love from all eternity but Triune God agreed among themselves to send Jesus Christ into the world to save His people from their sins.

2. God the Father did not spare His Son: Jesus Christ. The greatest Gift mankind could ever receive. The best Person in the universe who alone could save and satisfy our souls and grant us everlasting life when we repent from our sins and trust in Him as Lord and Savior.

3. God the Father willingly gave His precious Son up for us. God was not hesitant in a split second to save His people from their sins. Jesus Christ, our Husband, willingly sacrificed Himself for the salvation of His wife; for the bride of Christ to be with Him for all eternity.

4. Since God the Father gave up His most important Possession for His people, it is just logical that everything that is infinitely less than the worth of Christ could also be given to us. The Father gave the greatest. How much more the least? He is the God that gives the Greatest to ensure the least. He is the God who won’t withhold anything that is necessary for our sustenance and sanctification because He did not withhold His Son whom He ought to withhold from us.

5. We are united with Christ when we turn away from our sins and trust in Christ. All promises are now available for us because we are in Christ and Christ bought with His blood all promises in the Bible.

6. God, in His overflowing grace, could do far more than we ever ask or think, because He has given us the Best. How much more the lesser things? I don’t mean to say that health and wealth are assured. But all things include all promises and graces that are necessary for our sanctification as we are here in this world. What a comfort that the promises in the word are bought with the precious blood of Christ. One of my favorite promises in the bible that I repeat to myself everyday is Isaiah 41:10 which says: “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” God’s presence is assured because we are in Christ and because of that we shall not fear and be dismayed. God’s righteous right hand will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us because we are in Christ. What great hope that we have in Christ! “ For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

Praise God that we can claim all the promises in the bible because everything has been secured by the precious blood of Christ. Let us continue to soak our hearts with the promises of God so that our faith in Him will increase more and more each day because we experience that He is faithful to fulfill the daily promises that He has spoken. Let us delight in the word of God and meditate on it day and night grab a hold of His wonderful promises and look forward in hopeful anticipation that He who promised is faithful!

The Multifaceted Grace of God

The grace of our God is just awe-strikingly amazing. As each second pass us by, as we progress daily with our walk in the Lord, we experience more of the breathtaking profundity of the multifaceted grace of God in our lives. The grace of God comes to us in all shapes and forms.

The multifaceted grace of God is more shiningly brilliant than all the radiance of all the luminaries combined – the sun, the moon, the stars, and other form of beautiful luminaries. Nothing can outshine the multifaceted grace of God in our lives.

The multifaceted grace of God is more strikingly graphic than all various shades of all the beautiful colors combined. Grace is more vivid than the fullest display of all the shades and nuances of available creative colors. Nothing can out color the multifaceted grace of God in our lives.

The multifaceted grace of God is more soothingly harmonious than all the magnificent tones, tempos, and notes of all the musical instruments combined and used by all the most brilliant musicians of our time. Grace is perfectly tuned to every areas of our lives. Nothing can out sing the multifaceted grace of God in our lives.

The grace of God comes in all its shining brilliance, in all its creative colors, and in all its magnificent melodies in our lives. The multifaceted grace of God is tailored-fit to address all the circumstances we could be in – foolishness, weakness, sinfulness, damnation, self-absorption, hunger, thirst, depression, instability, insufficiency, anxiety, neediness, and so many more.

Let us praise our awesome God for His multifaceted grace!

Praise God for His saving grace that saves us from eternal damnation and ushers us into eternal satisfaction the moment we genuinely repent and trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (John 3:16)

Praise God for His sanctifying grace that sanctifies us every second of our lives until we see Christ in all His glory. This is only possible through the Holy Spirit our Almighty Sanctifier that partners with us as we do our best in working out our sanctification because it is God who is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12-13)

Praise God for His securing grace that assures us that He who began a good work in us is faithful to finish what He started. (Phil. 1:6) Praise God that we are forever secured because nothing and no one can take us away from the all-powerful grip of the loving hand of our heavenly Father. (John 10:29) Therefore, we are deeply convinced with absolutely certainty that nothing and no one can separate us from the securing loving grace of God because we are in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38-39)

Praise God for His strengthening grace that steadily strengthens us through Christ who gives us strength. (Phil. 4:13) Praise God that even though we are left alone, Jesus Christ will stand with us and strengthen us. (2 Tim. 4:17) He will make sure that we won’t fall away because Jesus Christ is also reigning with the Father and He is praying for us moment by moment. Praise God that the Holy Spirit within us, despite of our weakness, supplies us strength, even at tough times, when we are at loss for words. (Rom. 8:26)

Praise God for His solidifying grace that causes us to be deeply rooted in the written Word and the incarnate Word as each second of our lives passes by. We are confident that when His word is our delight, and as the Holy Spirit makes us treasure His word more and more in our lives, we become very sturdy trees that bear fruit. Strong winds could never drive us away from Christ our solid Ground because we are deeply rooted in the word of Christ. (Ps. 1:3-4)

Praise God for His shepherding grace that leads us into green pastures, still waters, and paths of righteousness for His namesake. (Psalm 23:1-3) Bears, lions, wolves, other fearsome predators, and all forms of evil that risk the life of the sheep will never be feared because Christ our gracious Shepherd is with us to protect us even at the cost of His precious life. (Psalm 23:4) Praise God that our Lord Jesus Christ is also our good Shepherd who willingly laid down His life in behalf of His sheep. (John 10:15)

Praise God for His sovereign grace that assures us that all kinds of things will be used for His eternal glory (Rom. 11:36) and our eternal good (Rom. 8:28) The pain, the accidents, the sickness, the sorrows, the mourning, the losses, and all kinds of bad things are under the wise control of our loving Father. God, in His providence, works in all events of history, all choices of humanity, all natural occurrences, and every littlest details of our lives to bring about His sovereign gracious purposes for the ultimate glory of His name, and, by that, our utmost joy and deepest satisfaction.

Praise God for His satisfying grace that gives unending satisfaction to our souls. Our souls are made to be satisfied in Jesus. Nothing and no one else will bring true and lasting satisfaction. He is the Bread of life that rids us of our eternal hunger and He is the living Water that quenches our eternal thirst. (John 6:35) Christ alone can satisfy our insatiable souls. And it’s amazing that all the blessings we experience in our lives lead us to deeper satisfaction of the Blesser.

Praise God for His sufficient grace that gives us all we need. (2 Cor. 12:9) He gives us strength when we admit our weakness before Him. He gives us wisdom when we admit that we are fools apart from Him. God addresses our anxiety by proving that He is faithful to provide us the food and clothing we need because we are more precious than the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. (Matt. 6:25-33) He gives us forgiveness of sins and righteousness when we admit that we would be crushed under the wrath of God because we are so sinful that we could never save ourselves and that He alone could save us through His death, life, and resurrection. Praise God that He has already prepared for us, from all eternity, everything that we need in all types of circumstances because God is our Sufficiency. (2 Cor. 3:5)

Praise God for His substantial grace that overflows in all aspects of our lives because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in Christ. (Eph. 1:3) He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph. 3:20-21)

The multifaceted grace of God goes on and on and on. Never ending. Never exhausted. Overflowing. Unstoppable. Words are insufficient to fully contain and fully express the inexhaustible grace of God that is why we have eternity to experience it in all its fullness. If we have truly experienced the multifaceted grace of God in our lives, it would really take our breath away and put us on bended knees with heartfelt gratitude and praise-filled adoration all the days of our lives. Let us continually bask in the profound depth of the multifaceted grace of God in our lives until we see Grace face to face.

Praise God for His glorious multifaceted grace, the end goal of all things, which He has blessed us in Christ! (Eph. 1:6)

Count Your Blessings

This was one of the hymns that was sung for our last worship service at church before the pastor asked us to share our testimonies on how God has demonstrated His steadfast love and His faithfulness towards us for the year 2023. There was a time limit of two minutes per person so that more people would be able to testify to the amazing grace of God in our lives for the whole year round.

The chorus of the hymn goes as follows:

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your blessings;

See what God hath done.

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your many blessings;

See what God hath done.

The hymn was timely and appropriate as a precursor to set the tone of our testimonies. We should indeed count all of our blessings to see what God has done for us in the year 2023. And, as we count each of our blessings, we should express our heartfelt gratitude and awe-inspired adoration to God from whom all blessings flow and to whom all glory belongs.

Two minutes will never be enough to count the innumerable blessings that God has bestowed upon us for the past year and to praise Him for it all.

An hour will never be enough to praise the Blesser for the blessings.

A day will never be enough to adore the Giver for the gifts.

A lifetime will never be enough to exalt the Benefactor for all the benefits.

A thousand lifetimes will never be enough to thank the Helper for all the help.

Time is so limited to express our heartfelt gratitude and overflowing praise to our heavenly Father, Christ our Savior King, and the Holy Spirit our Helper. That is why eternal life is promised to all those who would turn away from their sins and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior because eternity is the only period that transcends the limited restraints of time that could logically make proper sense of the fulfillment and satisfaction of the eternal weight of our heartfelt gratitude towards God. The ache in our hearts regarding the limitation of our time to praise Him for all the things He has done for us points to something deeper and greater – the reality that we are made to praise God for all eternity.

Praise God that eternity is promised for those who believe! Praise God that it is not just eternity that we are yearning for but the God who holds eternity in the palm of His hands in whose presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand is pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:11) The majestic Beauty makes eternity unfadingly beautiful. The greatest Treasure makes eternity highly valuable. The supreme Satisfaction makes eternity very pleasurable. The ultimate Joy makes eternity deeply delightful.

And with one heart, we continue to exalt God with king David and say, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps. 73:25-26)

As the year 2023 came to a close, we were just awestruck of God’s multifaceted grace that comes to us in all shapes and forms.

Praise God for His saving grace which assures us of eternal life with Christ, sanctifying grace which assures us of progressive holiness through the help of the Holy Spirit, sustaining grace which assures us that He who began a good work in us will faithfully finish what He started, strengthening grace which assures us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength, solidifying grace which assures us that we would be more deeply rooted in God as years pass by, satisfying grace which assures us of unending refreshing of our souls by our sole Satisfier, and sufficient grace which assures us that we have everything we need from God.

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)

2023 Book Readings and Reflections

I would just like to share the books that have ministered to my soul in the year 2023. The purpose of this blog post is not to make it a means to draw us away from our Bible reading and meditation but rather to ignite a deeper desire in our hearts for the word of God through the books that I will be mentioning. I am not encouraging reading books for the sacrifice of the greater reality of intimate fellowship that we have with God through His word and prayer. I don’t mean to say that solid Christian books should not be read because the reality is innumerable books have been used by God to greatly benefit the universal church. Solid Christian books are God’s blessings to us for us to love God and His word more.

Kindly allow me to share with you the books that I have read for the year 2023 and my accompanying reflections for the books. It is my prayer that as you read the reflections of the books in the list below that you would be encouraged and edified to go back to the Bible as the fount of God’s perfect wisdom and perfect revelation concerning His way of salvation to save sinners through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Good books are always meant to point us to the inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of God. God’s word is our final authority of faith and practice so all fallible books should be measured through the yardstick of Scripture. May you find these books a blessing and be encouraged to read the same but even more importantly to go back to the source: God’s word.

Here are my 2023 Book Readings and Reflections:

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper: I loved reading, studying, and praying over the truths in this book. The analogy that John Piper mentioned which my mind could not forget is the seashell illustration. This hit me hard because there are really Christians who are wasting their lives by trivially collecting “seashells” that just burn in the light of eternity. This is a tragedy. I have been deeply convicted by this book because I have also wasted my life in fruitless endeavors that are not profitable for my soul. God used this book to instill into my soul the sobering reality that I should never waste even a second of my life because I have only one life which I owe for the service and glory of God. Let us make every second of our lives count for eternity by doing all things for Christ’s name, kingdom, and glory.

To the Glory of God, a 40-Day Devotional on the Book of Romans, by James Montgomery Boice: I really love the Book of Romans. If I were to pick my favorite book (epistle in this case) in the Bible then this would be Romans would be it. That is why I also loved communing with God through this devotion. One of the things that struck me in the book is that being in sin leads to deeper and deeper depravity and wickedness to the point of callousness. Praise be to God that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power that could change hearts of stone to hearts of flesh that love God above all. The wonderful reflection by the author of the multifaceted gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ reached its crescendo in Romans 11:36 which caused Paul to give back all the glory to God because it is all owing to Him from beginning to the end and everything that is in between.

The Legacy of Sovereign Joy by John Piper: This book is about the imperfect yet edifying lives of Luther, Augustine, and Calvin. I loved reading this book because it caused me to be acquainted with these men of God. They have flaws and weaknesses but still God used them mightily for His glory. This book has encouraged me to strive and toil more for the Lord because these men did the same and accomplished impossible feats in their lifetimes. This amazing reality in their imperfect lives points to the saving, strengthening, satisfying, solidifying, and sufficient grace of God that is also available to us. More than that their hearts were arrested by sovereign joy that the Holy Spirit have worked in our hearts as well.

The Dangerous Duty of Delight by John Piper: Even though this is just a short book it is also full of meat. It has refreshed me with the affection-stirring truth about Christian hedonism that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Obeying God is more than a duty because it first and foremost a delight. After all, Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Obedience flows from a heart that loves and delights in God because He is the loveliest and most delightful Person in the whole universe. God alone can satisfy our insatiable souls.

Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur: I enjoyed studying, meditating, and praying over this book because they showed the different strengths and weaknesses of the disciples of Jesus and how Jesus through God the Holy Spirit’s transforming grace changed these men. Judas as part of the twelve ordinary men Jesus chose betrayed Him and committed suicide. Nevertheless, he was still included as a warning for us. I have deeply marveled at the grace of God that could transform these men to who God wants them to be. There is hope for us too as works in progress. God will surely finish the good work that He started and He is faithful to do so. (Phil. 1:6)

The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung: This book has rebuked and reminded me that I should be serious in my pursuit of godliness and holiness. This book also addressed easy-believism. It is impossible to want to be in heaven and not progress in holiness. Jesus Christ is not just our Savior but also the Lord and Ruler of our lives. Justification should always result to sanctification. Both glorious realities are inseparable. We are declared righteous in God’s eyes by the righteousness of Christ through faith in Him alone. The beauty of salvation is that it doesn’t end there. The Holy Spirit indwells in us and partners with us to make this righteous declaration a progressive reality through sanctification and a perfect reality in our glorification. What a beautiful salvation by our beautiful Savior Jesus Christ!

Is God in Control? Trusting God in a World of Hurt by Jerry Bridges: I have been deeply comforted by this book. All the details of our lives, the good and the bad, are under the loving and controlling fatherly hand of God. This quote from Jerry Bridges has been etched in my heart: “God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about.” As the doctrine of providence daily seeps into and saturates my heart, it causes me to grow in trusting my heavenly Father more and falling in love with Him more because of how He orchestrates all things for His eternal glory and the eternal good of His children.

Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp: God has used this book to expose the many sins that are in my heart which led me to confession in the feet of my Savior Jesus Christ knowing He is faithful and just to forgive us from all our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) God has used this book to rebuke me, remind me, correct me, redirect me, encourage me, and minister to me in so many ways. I have revisited, re-meditated, and prayed over some glorious truths found in the book. This is one of the quotes from Tripp that struck me the most: “I do not have to be haunted by what may be exposed about me, because everything that could ever be exposed has already been covered by the blood of Jesus.” What a comfort! It has redirected my focus on cultivating a heart that is captured by God and God alone.

Essential Readings on Preaching featuring R. Albert Mohler Jr. and other preachers: This is a short but very helpful book for aspiring preachers. One of the sentences that struck me the most is “A noble calling requires a noble character.” It has reminded me to focus more on godliness rather than giftedness. It has also reminded of the amazing word of God that has really the power to transform lives because it has been ultimately authored by the Holy Spirit.

Seeing and Savoring Christ by John Piper: I loved reading, studying, meditating, and praying over this book. I also loved the prayers of John Piper at the end of each chapter. It is full of seriousness for holiness knowing that it leads to deeper happiness in our blessed Savior. This is also a short book but very read-worthy because it is so saturated with the word of God and glories of the person and work of Christ. Indeed, we should see, savor, and show Christ all the days of our lives until eternity. I love this book so much because God used it for me to have a deeper and sweeter intimacy with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is so beautiful in all His multifaceted glories. Through this book, the cry of King David has become a deeper and ever-increasing reality in my heart, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4) I read this book twice and I plan to read it again in the year 2024. God has used it for me to fall in love with Jesus more. This is one of the quotes that struck me the most, “The sun of God’s glory was made to shine at the center of the solar system of our soul. And when it does, all the planets of our life are held in their proper orbit.”

It is my prayer that you would be encouraged to read books that would point us to a deeper love for His written word and the incarnate Word who is the Centerpiece of the the Bible and the whole universe. Everything points to the glory of Christ, therefore, we should see and savor the glory of the One for whom our hearts are made for. May our readings not just be kept and stored within us but by the grace of God may we shine as lights in this dark world pointing people with our lips and our lives to the one true Light who alone could guide us and lead us to everlasting joy.

I would like to close this article with a quote from Thomas Brooks in his book – Precious Remedies against Satan’s devices: “It is not hasty reading–but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching of the flower, which gathers honey–but her abiding for a time upon the flower, which draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most–but he who meditates most, who will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.”

Have a blessed new year and God bless our 2024 so that it would never be put to waste.

Sovereignty and Surrender

God is sovereign. He governs the universe. He is not just sitting in the heavens and watching us at a distance. Everything that is happening is in accordance to the plan of God. He predetermined all that will happen before it happens. (Isaiah 46:10) He already wrote the days and stories of our lives in His book before it happened. (Psalm 139:16) He carries out His plan and makes sure it is accomplished. All that are happening is just an unfolding of the plan of God from eternity past. He does all that He pleases. (Psalm 115:3) He works all things according to the counsel of His will. (Eph. 1:11) Nothing is outside of God’s control. Everything that is happening is a result of God’s working. He maybe directly or indirectly involved but He is still involved.

Even the hearts of men are in the hand of the Lord and they unknowingly do what He purposed to do. (Proverbs 21:1)

Even the most random things are under the sovereign control of God. He ultimately decides the result. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:33)

Even the most unimportant creatures created by God do not die apart from God’s permission. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” (Matt. 10:29)

God could choose to intervene, when He does not, God is in a sense allowing things to happen. He could choose not to but if He permits things to happen then that’s His will. God is sovereign over everything including the human will but He does not violate it. He accomplishes His purposes through it. We have our intentions in our actions but God also has His intentions for allowing our actions. Ultimately, His intentions and purposes stand. Gen. 50:20 says,  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

This is an essential and comforting truth for people who failed to get what they want, for people whose plans get interrupted, for people whose expectations did not materialize, for people whose anxiety burdens them, for people whose decisions led them to despair, and countless other things that make people burdened. I do not mean to say that we are not responsible for our choices and the consequences of our wrong decisions. What I am trying to mean is, in spite of all of that, if one is a Christian, God will ultimately use all things for our good. (Rom. 8:28) This is why the sovereignty of God is so comforting because God will use everything even worst experiences, bad decisions, and unexpected circumstances for our own good. The good that is referred to in the bible is conformity to Christ. (Rom. 8:29) We maybe just aware of 10 things that are happening to us but God is using 10,000 things to make us more like Him.

That’s why in spite of the heartache, pain, suffering, trial, and failures, it’s best to surrender everything to God because He is sovereign. Surrendering everything under the control of God knowing that He knows what’s best for us is comforting to the soul of the Christian. He does not withhold good things from us because He is also our loving Father who wants what’s best for us. That’s the beauty of surrender, we acknowledge that God is in complete control of our lives and He knows what He is doing. We rest to the fact that His plans are way better than ours because His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways. We rest to the fact that things not under our control are under His.

We can surrender every worry, burden, and concerns to God because He is a loving Father who cares for us. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

He is our good Shepherd (Psalm 23:1, John 10:11) who guides us in the path of life and joy. (Psalm 16:11)

And He is our Life and our Joy.

Justification

I just want to share my reflection on Romans 3:21 to 26. I chose these verses for my reflection today because it highlights what Christ has done to us for us to be in the right with God. I think this is really important because our standing before God determines whether we will spend eternity with Him or not. So, I think one of the biggest questions in life is: “Am I just before God?”

As I’ve said being just before God is to be with Him eternally. To be otherwise, is to be not with Him eternally. If an unjust person will be with God then that person will just pollute and destroy the beauty and majesty of heaven.

That’s why I think the more interesting question is: “How can I be just before God” or “How can I be made in the right before God?” To begin with, we cannot answer whether or not we are just before God if we don’t know how God will declare us as just or righteous.

This is the main reason why I chose Romans 3:21 to 26 because of its relevance in answering the how question. Kindly refer to the passage below.

^“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.“

Foremost, I think it’s best to know our condition apart from the saving grace of God. That is, left to ourselves, what is our standing before God? That’s why Paul starts this verse with the word “but” because the verses that precede Rom. 3:21 indicate the bad news that is brought about by our sin problem.

It’s stated in the preceding verse that we’re all under sin (Rom. 3:10). That is, in and of ourselves, we’re sinners. Our hearts are “more deceitful than all else and desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9) and “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
(Gen. 6:5).

We’re sinners at the core of our being. We need a heart change. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” (Matt. 15:19) It’s really bad news. Is it not? And there’s nothing we can do with it because our actions are directed by our sin nature. We’re held in the bondage of sin.

Left to ourselves, we’re sinners at the core. Our heart is wicked so everything that comes or flows out of it  – thoughts, emotions, and will – is also naturally evil. We have this sin nature that determines our desires and our desires determine our actions.

We do what we want to do. Sadly, the things that we want to do run contrary to the things that God wants us to do. That is, the desires of our sin nature do not correspond to the things of God. That’s why we don’t do what is pleasing to God because the things that we are pleased to do are not pleasing to God.

Left to ourselves, we’re sinners before God. Our verdict is that we’re all guilty. We deserve to be punished. So, if we’re thinking that the answer to the how question of being just is our good works then all of us are hopeless in attaining a righteous standing before God.

And not only that, the standard upon which God will measure us to declare us as righteous or just is His commandments. If we are to assess ourselves base on the 10 commandments then we’re all guilty of breaking it.

In and of ourselves, we’re sinners. If God is to judge all of our thoughts, words, and deeds then we’d be all guilty. We’re hopeless.

That’s why the only means that could save us from the impending wrath of God because we violated His commandments is Someone outside of us. The good news is that God has provided a way. God is gracious to give us something that is undeserved and is never required of Him. Yet, He gave it anyway, out of His love for His people.

Romans 3:21 says that there’s this righteousness that comes from God apart from the law. It’s apart from the law because the purpose of the law is not for us to be made right before God but for us to know that we have violated the commandments of God (Rom. 3:20). The purpose of the law is to condemn us as guilty before God (Rom. 3:19).

The law points us to our need of a righteousness that is not our own. And this righteousness are “witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (Rom. 3:20). The “Law and the Prophets” is a euphemism for the Old Testament. So, the Old Testament also points us to this righteousness.

In verse 22 of Romans 3, it is stated that this righteousness of God is transferred to our account through faith in Jesus Christ. The reason why it is by faith is because it doesn’t make any sense if it is by works “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) Faith means trust. Faith is also God’s work within us. That’s why it’s stated in Eph. 2:8 that faith is the “gift of God”. It means that we trust in what Christ did on the cross for us.

In verse 24 of Romans 3, it is stated that we are justified as a gift by his grace. The word justify has two meanings. It could mean: to made in the right or to show that you’re in the right. In a legal perspective, it could mean that one is declared righteous or one is shown to be righteous. The former is a verdict while the latter is a confirmation of what already is. In this verse, former meaning is used. Thus, we are declared to be righteous by the Judge – God. This declaration is a gift – unearned or undeserved. It is not paid for. Grace simply means that we receive or have something that we do not deserve. It means that we did not contribute something to God in order to attain this justification. In this case, that something that we don’t deserve is the declaration of God that we’re righteous in His sight. The verse further states that this declaration is achieved by the redemptive work of Christ.  Redemption means to set free or to deliver someone or something from bondage or captivity. Since, we’re all under sin. We’re good as slaves of sin for we do the things that our sin nature wants to do. We do what our master (sin) wants us to do. The consequence of being held under the bondage of sin is death. That is to be eternally separated from God. That’s why it’s stated in Romans 6:23 that the “wages of sin is death.” Punishment in hell is something that we deserve from God but in His grace, God justifies the ungodly through faith in Christ.

In verse 25 of Romans 3, it is stated that God displayed Christ publicly as a propitiation or propitiatory sacrifice in His blood. God poured out His wrath upon Christ before all the universe but Christ’s blood satisfied the wrath of God. Also, God put forward Christ as an atoning sacrifice for our sins to demonstrate that He is righteous. He passed over sins previously committed prior to the cross of Christ. God’s forbearance might cause people to think: “Is God really a just God? Why is He not punishing sin?” Thus, He demonstrated that He still is just, righteous, and holy at the proper time wherein He poured out the full weight of His wrath against sin on His Son Jesus Christ.

In verse 26 of Romans 3, it states that God passed over their sins to demonstrate His righteousness. The purpose of God why He allowed sin to be left unpunished by the full extent of His wrath is for His Son to be the object of His wrath because it’s only Jesus who completely absorb God’s wrath. So, we  can say that the reason why God overlooked sins previously committed before the cross of Christ is because it’s the plan of God to prove His righteousness by pouring His wrath on Jesus Christ on behalf of us.

God treated Christ as though He treated us.

God punished Christ as though He punished us.

And He’s just in doing so for Christ took the sins of His people.

God sent His Son – Jesus so that He’d still be just. That is He didn’t leave sin unpunished but He poured His wrath on His Son when Christ bear the sins of His people in His body. He’s not only just but He is also the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. How can God justify the ungodly? God declared as righteous the sinner who has faith in Christ because through faith in Christ the righteousness of God was transferred to the account of the ungodly who trusts in Christ.

At the cross, there’s a double transfer that happened. The sins of God’s people are transferred or laid upon Christ. Thereby, causing God to be pleased in crushing Christ by the full extent of God’s wrath. Christ propitiated God’s wrath. Christ took away from us the anger of God by His blood. He satisfied God’s anger by His atoning sacrifice. This is the first part of the transfer.

If there’s just only one part of the transfer then Jesus would’ve gone out to the cross and died in behalf of us for our sins to save us from the wrath of God. Why did He not do it? That’s because it’s the life of Christ that causes us to be righteous before God. Jesus did not only die in behalf of us for our sins to save us from the wrath of God. He also lived a life of perfect obedience to God. He kept the law perfectly and did not break anyone of it. He never had an impure thought, never said any false accusation and slandered anyone, and never did anything wrong in the eyes of God. He met the perfect standard of God. He’s the only One who measured up to the standard of God. This makes Him a sufficient substitute for us. Not only that – Jesus earned what we could never earn – perfect righteousness. And this is the righteousness that God transfers in the account of the ungodly through faith. That is, faith is the instrument upon which we receive the righteousness of Christ. That’s why God justifies the ungodly. God sees that the ungodly are clothed in the robe of perfect righteousness of Jesus. That’s why God declares them righteous. That’s why God justifies them.

If you’ve never come to Christ by faith. Come to Him. He’ll never cast you away. He’ll give you rest – eternal rest.

Soli Deo Gloria.