The Church Upon The Rock

And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit,

which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:17 (NASB)

Here we have the sixth and last piece in the Christian’s armor brought to our hand– the sword of the Spirit. Throughout the ages the sword has been a most necessary part of the soldiers equipment and has been used more than any other weapon. A pilot without his chart, a student without his book, a soldier without his sword– all are ridiculous. But above these, it is absurd to think of being a Christian without knowledge of God’s Word and some skill to use this weapon.

The usual name in Scripture for war is “the sword.” “I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth” (Jeremiah 25:29); that is, “I will send war.” Now such a weapon is the Word of God in the Christian’s hand. By the edge of this sword his enemies fall and all his great exploits are done: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11). But before we enter into a detailed discussion of the sword of the Spirit, let us notice the kind of arms here presented for the Christian’s use and the place and order in which it stands.

This weapon is both defensive and offensive. The rest of the apostles’ armor are defensive arms– girdle, breastplate, shield, and helmet. But the sword both defends the Christian and wounds his enemy.

No matter how glorious the Christian’s other pieces of armor, he would easily be disarmed without a sword in his hand. And surely the believer would be stripped of all his graces if he did not have this sword to defend them and himself too against Satan’s fury. “Unless thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in mine affliction” (Psalm 119:92).

This is like God’s flaming sword which kept Adam out of paradise. The saint is often compared to Christ’s garden and orchard; and with the sword of the Word he keeps his orchard from being robbed of God’s sweet comforts and graces by Satan’s constant invasions.

William Gurnall

And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit,

which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:17 (NASB)

“And take the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17). These words of Scripture present us with another piece in the Christian’s armor– the helmet of salvation to cover his head in the day of battle. This helmet, together with most of the other pieces of armor, are defensive arms, to protect the Christian from sin but not to keep him from suffering.

Only one piece in the whole armor is for offense– the sword. Scripture hints that the Christian’s war lies chiefly on the defense and therefore requires defiensive arms to fight it. God has deposited a rich treasure of grace in every saint’s heart, which the devil spitefully tries to rob the Christian of by waging a bloody war against him. And so the believer overcomes his enemy when he himself is not overcome. He wins the day when he does not lose his grace, his work being to keep what is his rather than to get what is the enemy’s. Because the saint’s war lies chiefly on the defense, we must instruct the Christian how to manage combat with both Satan and his weapons of war.

As a Christian soldier you must always stand in a defensive posture with your armor on, ready to defend the treasure God has given you to keep, and to repel Satan’s assaults. But do not step outside the line of your calling which God has drawn about you. Let Satan be the assailant and come if he will to tempt you; but do not go out and tempt him to do it.

Even when the devil’s instruments of war reproach the Christian, the Gospel does not allow him to use the devil’s weapons to return them stroke for stroke. “Be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing” (1 Peter 3:8-9). You have a girdle and breastplate to defend you from their bullets– the comfort of your own sincerity and holy walk. With these you can repel the sordid arsenal thrown at you– but there is no weapon for self revenge.

William Gurnall

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16 (NASB)

True hope is a precious gem which no one can wear but Christ’s bride, for Christless and hopeless are joined together (Ephesians 2:12). Because hope and faith are inevitably kin, let us now look at their relationship. In regard to time, one does not come before the other; but in order of nature and operation, faith takes the precedence.

First, faith cleaves to the promise as a true and faithful word, and then hope lifts up the soul to wait for the performance of it. Who runs out to meet someone that he believes will not come? The promise is God’s love letter to His bride in which He opens His very heart and tells everything He will do for her. Faith reads and embraces it with joy, while hope looks out of the window with a longing expectation to see her husband’s chariot coming toward her.

We run away from an evil thing; but if it is good we wait for it. Both hope and faith draw their lines from the same center of the promise, but there is one important difference between them. Faith believes evil as well as good; hope will not talk about anything but good. Hope without a promise is like an anchor without ground to hold by; it carries the promise on its name. David shows where he moors his ship and casts his anchor– “I hope in thy word” (Psalm 119:81). And God’s design fits the highest hope a Christian can have: “No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

Just as God has encircled all good in the promise, so He promises nothing but good. The object of hope is everything that the promise holds. God Himself is the highest good and His fullness is promised as the believer’s highest joy. Therefore true hope aims at God and lifts the soul nearer Him, “the hope of Israel” and “the fountain of living water” (Jeremiah 17:13)

William Gurnall

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16 (NASB)

If faith should fail, then every grace will be put to flight. Job’s patience was wounded when his hand too tired to hold up his shield as a covering.

Similarly, no grace is safe if it is out from under the wing of faith. At a time when Peter’s zeal surpassed his faith, Christ kept him from falling from all grace by saying, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:32). Peter’s faith was the reserve that the Savior took care should be kept in order to recover his other graces when the enemy foiled him, and to deliver him, bruised and broken, from that encounter.

Christ could not do many miracles for His own countrymen “because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). And neither can Satan harm the Christian seriously when faith is in its place. It is true that the devil skillfully aims to fight faith above all, because it is the grace which keeps him from conquering the rest of the graces. Although a saint may be humble, patient, and devout, Satan can easily tear a hole in these graces and break in if faith does not completely cover each piece of armor. But God’s design is still our best defense; He causes faith to be the grace which makes Satan turn and run.

Faith alone gains acceptance with God for all the other graces and their works. Even the obedient Christian who works hard all day does not expect to take his accomplishment home at night and find God’s acceptance for the sake of his human effort. It is only by faith that he can present it through Christ to God. We “offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5) – that is, by faith in Christ. Faith can so prevail with God that He will take even the smallest broken pieces of human effort from its hand. But He takes nothing unless the hand of faith brings it to Him.

William Gurnall

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16 (NASB)

Apart from Christ, Satan has successfully deceived every man who ever lived. It was Christ’s prerogative to be tempted but not to be led into temptation. And Job, a chief in God’s army of saints, whom the Father calls “perfect and upright” (Job 1:1) , is himself seriously injured by Satan’s arrows. Yet in His time God is faithful to pluck him out of the devil’s grip and bring healing and restoration to His servant.

Satan’s warlike provision includes not just arrows but “fiery darts.” Some scholars believe the term “fiery” denotes a particular type of temptation, such as blasphemy or despair; but since faith is a shield for all temptations, we see that every one of Satan’s arrows is fiery. But why does Scripture call these darts “fiery”?

First, Satan shoots them in fiery wrath. This dragon spits fire full of indignation against God and every one of His saints. Saul breathes out “threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1). As one who is inwardly inflamed, his breath is hot– a fiery stream of persecuting rage comes out of him like a burning furnace. Such temptation is the breath of the devil’s fury.

Further, these darts are called fiery because they lead to hell-fire if they are not quenched. There is a spark of hell in every temptation; and all the sparks fly to their own element. So then all temptations are bound for hell and damnation, according to Satan’s intent and purpose.

Finally and most important, the devil’s darts are said to be fiery because of the malignant effect they have on men’s spirits, kindling a fire in their hearts and consciences. The apostle alludes to the custom of cruel enemies who used to dip the heads of their arrows in poison, making them even more deadly. They not only wounded the part where they penetrated the victim, but infected the whole body, a condition which made healing almost impossible.

William Gurnall

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16 (NASB)

In old times the shield was prized by a soldier above all other pieces of armor. He counted it a greater shame to lose his shield than to lose the battle; and therefore he would not part with it even when he was under the very foot of the enemy, but esteemed it an honor to die with his shield in his hand. It was the charge which one mother laid upon her son going into war: “Either bring your shield home with you or be brought home upon your shield.” She would rather have seen her son dead with his shield than alive without it.

The apostle further attached another noble effect to faith. We are commanded to take the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and so on, but it is not specified what each one of them could do. Yet when the apostle spoke of faith he ascribed the whole victory to it. This quenches “all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16). And why is this true? Are the other graces useless, and does faith do everything? If so, why must the Christian arm himself with more than this one piece?

I answer that every piece has its vital use in the Christian’s warfare. No one part can be spared in the day of battle. But the reason that no single effect is attributed to each of these, but that all is ascribed to faith, is to let us know that these graces– their power and our benefit from them– must operate in conjunction with faith.

Plainly it is the design of God’s Spirit to give faith the precedence among all those graces entrusted to our keeping. But be careful not to become indifferent or careless in your dealings with the other graces just because you are more excited about getting and keeping this one. Could we warn a soldier to beware of a wound at his heart but forget to guard his head? Truly, we would deserve cracked crowns to cure us of such foolishness.

William Gurnall

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16 (NASB)

The apostle compares faith to a shield because of a double resemblance between this grace and that particular piece of armor.

The first likeness is that shield is not for the defense for any one part of the body, as most other pieces are. The helmet is fitted for the head and plate designed for the breast, but the shield is intended for the defense of the whole body. Therefore it was to be made very large and was called a “gate” or “door” because it was so long and large that it covered the whole body. And if the shield was not large enough to cover every part at once, this skillful soldier could turn it this way or that way, to stop the swords or the arrows, no matter where they were directed. This resemblance reminds us of the importance of faith in the life of a Christian. It defends the whole man– every part of the Christian is preserved by it.

Sometimes the temptation is leveled at the head– at the saint’s reasoning. Satan will dispute truth and, if he can, will make a Christian question the validity of faith merely because his understanding cannot comprehend it. And sometimes he prevails, blotting out a person’s beliefs in the deity of Christ and in other great and profound truths of the Gospel. But faith intervenes between the believer and this arrow, coming to the relief of the Christian’s weak understanding.

Abraham, “being not weak in faith…considered not his own body now dead” (Romans 4:19). If reason had had the upper hand in that business, if that holy man had put the promise to a test of sense and reason, he would have been in danger of questioning the truth of it, although God Himself was the messenger. But faith brought him through the test. “I will trust the Word of God,” says the believer, “not my own blind reason.”

William Gurnall

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16 (NASB)

The fourth piece in the Christian’s armor presents itself in this verse– the shield of faith. It is a grace of graces, and is here fitly placed in the midst of its companions. It stands as the heart in the midst of the body; or as David when Samuel “anointed him in the midst of his brethren” (1 Samuel 16:13). The apostle, when he speaks of this grace, anoints it above all its fellows– “Above all, take the shield of faith.”

We discover the kind of faith the apostle commended if we consider the use and end for which it is prescribed to the Christian– to enable him to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked”– that is, of the wicked one, the devil. Now, consider the several kinds of faith. Among them must be the faith which empowers the Christian to quench all of Satan’s fiery darts.

Historical faith cannot do this. This kind is so far from quenching Satan’s fiery darts that the devil himself, who shoots them, has this faith. “The devils also believe” (James 2:19).

Temporary faith cannot do it. This is so far from quenching Satan’s fiery darts that it is quenched by them. It displays a goodly blaze of profession and endures “for a while” (Matthew 13:21) but soon disappears.

Miraculous faith falls short as the others. Judas’s miraculous faith, which he used alongside the other apostles, enabled him to cast out devils from others but left him possessed by the devils of covetousness, hypocrisy, and treason. A whole legion of lusts hurled him down the hill of despair into the bottomless pit of perdition.

There is only one kind of faith which remains, and that is justifying faith. This indeed is a grace which makes him who has it a match for the devil. Satan has not so much advantage of the Christian by the superiority of his natural abilities, as the Christian has of Satan by this faith, his weapon. The apostle is so confident that he gives the victory of the Christian before the fight is fully over: “Ye have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:13).

William Gurnall

and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE

GOSPEL OF PEACE;
Ephesians 6:15 (NASB)

Here is the third piece of armor in the Christian’s protection– a spiritual shoe, fitted to his foot and designed to be worn as long as he battles sin and Satan. “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” (Ephesians 6:15). Let us now study three distinct terms from Scripture concerning this shoe: first what is meant by the Gospel; second, what is meant by peace; and third, what the word feet means here, as well as the grace intended by the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Gospel, according to the meaning of the original word, signifies good news or joyful message. Usually in Scripture the word is reserved for the doctrine of Christ and His salvation. “I bring you good tidings of great joy,” said the angel to the shepherds (Luke 2:10). And then he added, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (v.11). Thus Gospel in the New Testament generally carries the connotation of joy and good news, and we shall use that same meaning here.

The revelation of Christ and the grace of God through Him is, without compare, the best news a sinner can hear. It is such a unique message that no good news can come before it nor bad news can follow. God’s mercy precedes His blessing to sinners: “God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us” (Psalm 67:1).

Until God mercifully pardons our sins through Christ He cannot look kindly on us sinners. All our benefits are but blessings in bullion until Gospel grace– pardoning mercy– stamps them with salvation and makes them current. God cannot show any good will until Christ makes peace for us; “On earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). And what joy would it be, even to the sinner who inherited a kingdom, if he could not claim it from the joy and favor of God’s heart?

William Gurnall

Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

Ephesians 6:14 (NASB)

David expressed keen sorrow for the unholiness in his life: “O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more” (Psalm 39:13). He did not want to die until holiness ruled his heart again. Ungodliness is a poison which drinks up all serenity of conscience and inward springs of joy. If you throw a stone into a clear brook it will soon become muddy. “He will speak peace unto his people, but let them not turn again to folly” (Psalm 85:8).

Carelessness in the walk of holiness dangerously exposes your faith, which is kept in good conscience as a jewel is protected in a cabinet. Faith is an eye, and sin casts a hazy mist before it. To faith, a holy life is like pure air to the eye; we can see farther on a clear day. Thus faith sees further into God’s promise when it looks through a holy well-ordered life.

Faith is a shield. Will a soldier drop his protection unless he has been seriously wounded? If faith fails, what will happen to hope, which cleaves to faith and draws strength from her as a nursing child takes nourishment from its mother? If faith cannot see pardon in the promise, then hope cannot look for salvation. If faith cannot claim sonship, hope will not wait for the inheritance. Faith informs the soul it has “peace with God” and then the soul rejoices “in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).

Are you trying to use the sword of the Spirit? How can you hold it when unholiness has seriously maimed the hand of faith that must carry it? This sword has two edges– one side heals but the other wounds. With one it saves and with the other it damns. The Bible does not speak a single kind word to the person who practices sin. Now– think and then think some more– is any sin worth all this confusion which will inevitably strangle and smother your soul?

William Gurnall

Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

Ephesians 6:14 (NASB)

To those of you whose diligent inquiry has shown sincerity from a pure heart, I counsel you to gird the belt of truth close and walk in the daily practice of uprightness. You are not ever dressed in the morning until this girdle has been put on, for the proverb is true which says, “Ungirded, unblessed.”

God’s promises, like a box of precious ointment, are collected to be broken over the head of the sincere man; “Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” (Micah 2:7). But surely it is a dangerous walk when there is no word from God to guide our way. It is a foolish man who dares go on when God’s Word lies across his path. Where the Word does not bless, it curses; where it does not promise, it threatens. But God’s approval keeps an upright soul safe.

The sincere Christian is like a traveler going about his business from sunrise to sunset; if harm tries to touch him God Himself will take care of it. The promise is on the saint’s side, and by pleading it he may recover his loss at God’s expense, for the Father stands bound to keep him protected. With this assurance in mind, let us look at several ways to walk in the exercise of sincerity.

What Luther said is most true: all the commandments are wrapped up in the first one. He pointed out that every sin is contempt of God; and so if we break any commandment we have broken the first. “We think amiss of God before we do amiss against God.” Thus the Father commended a sovereign word to Abraham to preserve his sincerity: “Walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1).

Uprightness before God kept Moses’ girdle close to his loins. He was neither bribed by the treasures of Egypt nor browbeaten out of his sincerity by the anger of such a powerful ruler, “for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). He could see One greater than Pharaoh and this vision showed him the right path.

William Gurnall

Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

Ephesians 6:14 (NASB)

Sincerity, or truth of heart, can be compared to a girdle in the light of the dual purpose of a soldier’s belt.

Here at the loins the pieces of armor which defend the lower parts of the body are connected to the upper ones. And because it is impossible for these to be perfectly knit together there will be some gaping open between the pieces. Thus a broad girdle is used to cover all the unattractiveness.

Sincerity does the same work for the Christian. The saint’s graces are not so uniform, nor his life so perfect, that there are no defects and weaknesses in his warfare. But sincerity covers them all so they cannot expose him to shame or leave him vulnerable to danger.

The more closely the belt is drawn to the body the more the loins are strengthened. Thus when God purposed to weaken a people He used this expression: “I will loose the loins of kings” (Isaiah 45:1).

Sincerity is the strength of every grace. The more hypocrisy in our graces, the weaker they are. It is sincere faith which is the strong faith, sincere love which is the mighty love. But hypocrisy is to grace as the worm is to the oak– or as rust is to iron– it weakens because it corrupts.

This kind of uprightness is like a wildflower which can grow in the waste places of nature. It may demonstrate a measure of truth in its actions, yet it does not have a single fiber of sanctifying, saving grace. For example, God Himself came in as a witness for Abimelech after he had taken Sarah: “I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart” (Genesis 20:6)– that is, he intended no wrong toward Abraham since he did not know Sarah was his wife.

While this moral honesty motivates a man to be kind in his relationships, the Lord’s counsel has not changed since He directed it to Samuel: “Look not on his countenance… for the Lord sees not as man sees” (1 Samuel 16:7).

William Gurnall

Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

Judges 6:13 (NASB)

Perhaps you are discouraged, not only by the strength of the enemy, but by your own apparent weakness and the constant contention with sin and self. Be encouraged! There is strong consolation for the Christian who struggles with the truth of God’s grace and his own inner conflicts with sin. Gideon cried out in despair, “If the Lord be with us, why is all this befallen us?” (Judges 6:13). We understand his perplexity because we identify with his sufferings. Our hearts, too, cry out, “Why do I find such struggling in me, provoking me to sin, pulling me back from that which is good?”

God has a ready answer if we will stop whining long enough to hear it. “Because,” He says, “you are a wrestler, not a conqueror.” It is as simple as that. Too often we mistake the state of a Christian in this life. He is not immediately called to triumph over his enemies, but is carried into battle to fight them. The state of grace is the commencement of your war against sin, not the culmination of it. God Himself will enter the battle in disguise and appear to be your enemy, rather than leave you no enemy to wrestle with. When Jacob was alone, He sent a man to wrestle with him until dawn.

Take comfort in the fact that you are a wrestler. This struggling within you, if upon the right ground and to the right end, only proves there are two nations within you, two contrary natures, the one from earth earthly, and the other from heaven heavenly. And for your further comfort, know that although your corrupt nature is the elder, yet it shall serve the younger (Genesis 25:23).

Wrap your weary soul in this promise: There is a place of rest reserved for the people of God. You do not beat the air, but wrestle to win heaven and a permanent crown. Here on earth we overcome to fight again. One temptation may be conquered, but the war remains. When death comes, however, God strikes the final blow.

William Gurnall

Look closely at the label to see whether the armor you wear is the workmanship of God or not. There are many imitations on the market nowadays. It is Satan’s game, if he cannot keep the sinner satisfied in his naked, lustful state, to coax him into some flimsy thing or other that by itself will neither do him good nor Satan harm. Perhaps it is church attendance, or good works, or some self-imposed penance by which he intends to impress both God and man. Do such impersonators believe in God? Oh, they hope they are not infidels. But what their armor is, or how they came by it, and whether it will hold up in an evil day, they never stop to question. Thus thousands perish who supposed they were armed against Satan, death, and judgment–when all along they were miserable and naked. These people are worse off than those who have not a rag of pretense to hide their shame from the world’s gaze.

To most of us, a careful copy of a masterpiece looks quite as good as the original. But when the master himself appears, he can tell in an instant which is real and which the imposter. It is the same with that self-righteous hypocrite who is a pretender to faith and hope in God. Here is a man in glittering array with his weapon in his hand. With the sharp sword of his tongue he keeps both the preacher and the Word of God at arm’s length: “Who can say I am not a saint? Name one commandment I do not keep, one duty I neglect!” he demands indignantly. Many are impressed by his seeming piety. It takes the Spirit’s discerning eye to expose him, and even then it is harder to convict him because Satan has so cleverly tampered with him already. He must first be disarmed and unclothed of his own filthy self-righteousness, because God’s armor can never be made to fit over the suit he has fashioned for himself.

William Gurnall

So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way.

Ephesians 6:11 (MSG)

If by negligence or choice you fail to put on God’s armor and rush naked into battle, you sign your own death certificate.

The story is told of a fanatic in Munster who valiantly tried to repulse an invading army by shouting, “In the name of the Lord of hosts, depart!” But his unregenerate soul had no such commission from the General for whom he pretended to fight, and he soon perished. His example should teach us the high price to be paid for such folly. What brave but foolish language you hear drop from the lips of the most profane and ignorant among us! They say they hope in God and trust in His mercy; the defy the devil and his works. But all the while they are poor, naked creatures without the least piece of God’s armor upon their souls. Such presumption has no place in the Lord’s camp.

Paul’s admonition to put on armor falls into two general parts. First, a direction telling us what to do: “Put on the whole armor of God…” And second, why we should do it: “… that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

So to begin, every recruit in Christ’s army should be properly fitted with armor. The first question that comes to mind is, What is this armor?

We are told, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14), where Christ is presented as armor. The apostle does not exhort the saints simply to put on temperance in place of drunkenness, or for adultery to put on chastity. Instead, he tells them to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” implying that until Christ is put on, the creature is unarmed. It is not the man decked out in morality or philosophical virtues who will repel a full charge of temptation sent from Satan’s cannon; it is the man suited up in armor–that is, Christ.

I speak now of the “girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness,” and so forth. We are instructed to “put on the new man” (Ephesians 4:24), who is made up of all the graces. The point is this: To be without Christ and His graces is to be without armor.

William Gurnall

Where the soldier is placed, there he stands and must neither stir nor sleep till he is discharged. When Christ comes, only that soul whom He finds so doing shall have His blessing.

Why is Christ so insistent that His soldiers remain on alert? Because Satan’s actions demand it. Satan’s advantage is great when he catches our graces napping. When the devil found Christ so ready to repel his temptation, he soon had enough. It is said, “He departed… for a season” (Luke 4:13). But in his shameful retreat it seems he comforted himself with the hopes of surprising Christ unawares at another time more advantageous to his design. And we do find him coming again at the most likely time to have had his way– but only if his enemy had been man and not God (Matthew 27:42).

Now if this bold tempter watched Christ so closely, does it not seem likely he will scout you, too, hoping sooner or later to find your graces slumbering? What he misses now by your watchfulness he may gain later by your negligence. In fact, he hopes you will push yourself to exhaustion with continual duty. What fiendish pleasure he would derive from turning the tables on your sincere efforts for Christ. “Surely,” says Satan when he sees a fervent Christian, “this will not last long.” When he finds him most sensitive to the Spirit and scrupulous in conduct, he says, “This is but for a while; he cannot keep it up for long. Soon he will unbend his bow and unbuckle his armor, and then I will have at him.” But this can never happen as long as we are continually applying to God for our strength.

Satan is not the only pitfall; the nature of our graces makes diligence essential. If not watched closely, they will play the truant. And a soul long absent from the school of obedience will not be eager to return and take up his old assignments.

William Gurnall

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 (NASB)

Whether you like it or not, you must go into the ring with Satan. He has not only a general malice against the army of saints, but a particular spite against every single child of God. As our Lord delights to have private communion with His saint, so the devil delights to challenge the Christian when he gets him alone. The whole issue of your spiritual destiny is personal and particular. You give Satan a dangerous advantage if you see his wrath and fury bent in general against the saints, and not against you specifically: Satan hates me; Satan accuses me; Satan tempts me. Conversely, you lose much comfort when you fail to see the promises and providences of God as available for your own specific needs: God loves me; God takes care of me. The water supply for the town will do you no personal good unless you have a pipe that carries it to your own house. Let it serve as both a caution and a comfort to know your spiritual combat is singular.

Second, wrestling is a close combat. Armies fight at some distance; wrestlers grapple hand-to-hand. You may be able to dodge an arrow shot from a distance, but when the enemy actually has hold of you, you must either resist manfully or fall shamefully at his feet. When Satan comes after you, he moves in close, takes hold of your very flesh and corrupt nature, and by this shakes you.

“We wrestle” encompasses everyone. You may have noticed that the apostle changes the pronoun “you” in the former verse, into “our” in this, that he may include himself. He wants you to know the quarrel is with every saint. Satan neither fears to assault the minister nor disdains to wrestle with the lowliest saint in the congregation. Great and small, minister and people, all must wrestle – not one part of Christ’s army in the heat of battle and the other at ease in their quarters.

William Gurnall

And He said* to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Matthew 17:20 (NASB)

God cautions us to be tender to His lambs, but no one can ever be as gentle as the Father Himself. Scripture lists three ranks of saints– “fathers,” “young men,” and “little children” (1 John 2:12-14). The Spirit of God shows His concern by mentioning the young ones first and delivering the sweet promise of mercy to them: “I write to you, little children, for your sins are forgiven you for my name’s sake” (v. 12). In plain terms He says their sins are forgiven. And at the same time He stops the mouth of guilt from discouraging them and opposing the Gospel– forgiven for His name’s sake, a name far mightier than the name of a person’s worst sin.

Sincerity, then, keeps up the soul’s credit at the throne of grace so that no sin or weakness can hinder its welcome with God. Regarding iniquity in the heart, not just having it, keeps God from hearing our prayer (Psalm 66:18). This is a temptation which Christians often wrestle with when they let their personal shortcomings turn them away from prevailing prayer– they cower like some poor people who stay away from church because their clothing is not as fine as they would like.

To take care of this problem God has provided the promises– which, in any case, are our only ground for prayer– and has made them to fit the tiniest degree of grace. And as a well-done portrait faces everyone who enters the room, so the promises of the Gospel covenant smile upon everyone who sincerely looks to God in Christ. Scripture does not say, “If ye have faith like a cedar,” but “if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed” (Matthew 17:20). Justifying faith is not beneath miracle-working faith in its own sphere. The least sincere faith in Christ removes the mountainous guilt of sin from the soul. Thus every saint is said to have “like precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1). In Genesis we can barely see Sarah’s faith, but in Hebrews 11 God gives it honorable mention, alongside Abraham’s stronger faith.

William Gurnall

Spiritual warfare is noble because it is just. It is all too true that most people join in political and military battles without ever knowing why. But there is no doubt about the cause of holy war– it is against the only enemy God has who claims the right to rule His world. For this reason God calls all mankind– some by the voice of natural conscience and others by the loud shout of His Word– to join with Him “against the mighty” (Judges 5:23). He does this not because He needs our help but because He prefers to reward obedience rather than to punish rebellion.

This noble warfare is not only just, but it is also hard. Our stubborn enemy is strong and will do everything he can to try our skill to the limit. Cowards can never hope to overcome him. When sin loses ground it is only an inch at a time, and what it holds it will not easily let go.

Spiritual warfare against lust is enlistment for a lifetime career. If you have a daring, adventurous spirit, here is what you have been looking for. Fighting with men is child’s play compared to repelling demons and lusts: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

It is sad that many of world’s finest swordsmen who courageously risked their lives for freedom have died slaves to sin. Hannibal, for example, enjoyed victory in foreign expeditions but was defeated in his own country. So too many of the bravest heroes, who have had great victories abroad, have been miserably beaten and trampled upon by their own personal corruptions.

But do not be afraid because your enemies are mighty and many; your victory will be so much greater. And do not worry, either, when you see Caesars stripped of their insignias and forced to die in chains of lust. Remember, it is only the unbelieving world– without spiritual arms and abandoned by God– that is left to become the prey of Satan.

William Gurnall

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Ephesians 6:13 (NASB)

We trust each of you have been challenged by the devotions on unbelief. My suggestion is to always keep those handy because the conflict is ongoing.  Before examining the two other enemies of the triad (Satan and the world), let’s examine the necessity and work the meaning the Christian’s armor from Ephesians 6.

For this warfare the believer must learn experientially how to take and use the armor for the battle, described by the apostle. The objective in Ephesians 6 is clearly not victory over sin – this is assumed – but VICTORY OVER SATAN. The call is not to the world, but to the Church. A call to stand in armor; to resist in the evil day; having done everything in the life and death contest (Msg.); is a call to be able to stand firm. The armor in detail is provided that the child of God should be “ABLE to stand” against the schemes of the devil (6:11); clearly showing that a believer can be victorious in this spiritual combat, if the Christian fulfils the necessary conditions, and uses the armor provided for him.

It must be a REAL ARMOUR if it is provided for meeting a REAL FOE, and it must demand a REAL KNOWLEDGE of it on the part of the believer; to whom the FACT of the provision, the FACT of the foe, and the FACT of the fight, must be as REAL FACTS as any other facts declared in the Scriptures. (Jesse Penn Lewis)

Check out the contrast between the Christian bearing the Lord’s armor versus the believer who is negligent or lazy:

The believer who takes up the whole armor of God as a covering and protection, must walk in victory over the enemy. He must have (1) their spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit, so that he is strengthened with the might of God to stand unshaken; and be given continuously a “supply of the Spirit of Jesus” to keep the spirit sweet and pure; (2) the mind renewed (Rom. 12:2) so that the understanding is filled with the light of truth (Eph. 1:18); the mind clarified so that he intelligently understands what the will of the Lord is; (3) the body subservient to the Spirit (1 Cor. 9:25), and obedient to the will of God in life and service.

Pastor Bill

5. Jeremiah 13:15-16

Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness.

“Be not proud, give glory to the Lord your God.” The opposite of pride is giving glory to God.

But what does that mean? You can’t give God glory in the sense of making him glorious. You can give him glory doing things that show his glory. Like what? Well, listen to Romans 4:20, “Abraham grew strong in his faith, giving glory to God.” Faith gives glory to God, because faith shows that God is gloriously trustworthy.

Faith loves to show off the glory of God’s grace and the glory of God’s strength and the glory of his wisdom. Faith looks for ways to act that maximize the joy of seeing God show off his glory. Which simply means that faith loves for God to be God.

And that is the very opposite of pride. Pride loves being made much of for its own glory. Jesus said in John 5:44, “How can you believe who receive glory from one another?” In other words, you can’t. You can’t come to Jesus for satisfaction if you mean to go on getting your satisfaction from the praise of men.

6. Jeremiah 9:23-24

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.”

What a battle we have on our hands. The enemy of pride comes at us on every front.

* We love to be made much of because of how we use our minds—what good grades, smart solutions, clever one-liners, victory in a game of Scrabble.

*We love to be made much of because of our bodies—that we can work long and hard, or that we are muscular or shapely, or that we can run fast or lift a heavy weight or run far.

*We love to be made much of because of our possessions—that we live in a certain neighborhood, or drive a certain car, or have a certain stereo, or hold a certain portfolio.

But Jeremiah says, Defeat the enemy of pride by making much of God. Glory in this, that you know God. Do you want to boast in intellect? Boast in God’s. Do you want to glory in strength and beauty? Glory in God’s. Do you want to brag on an estate? Brag on God’s.

John Piper

3. James 4:13-16

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain”; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

The way boasting shows itself in this text is through unbelief in the sovereignty of God over the ordinary things of life. A man simply says, “I’m driving up to Duluth for Christmas.” And James says, “Don’t be so sure.” Instead say (v. 15), “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall go to Duluth for Christmas.”

Do you believe that God is sovereign over whether you get home from church today? Do you believe he is sovereign over your business and your travels and your health? “If the Lord wills, we shall LIVE . . . ” (v. 15).

James says that not believing in the sovereign rights of God to run your life and take your life results in a life of arrogance. The way to battle this pride is to yield to the sovereignty of God in all the details of your life, and rest in his awesome ability to work for those who wait for him.

4. 1 Peter 5:5-7

Likewise you who are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.

Here Peter says that all of us should be clothed with humility. And then he says that one of the things we will do in that humility is cast our anxieties on the Lord.

Why is this casting of our anxieties on the Lord the opposite of pride? Because pride does not like to admit that it has any anxieties, and it especially does not like to admit that it needs help from someone else to cope with them.

So here we are right at the nub of what faith really is. Faith admits the need for help. Pride won’t. Faith banks on God to give that help. Pride won’t. Faith casts anxieties on God. Pride won’t.

Therefore one way to battle the unbelief of pride is to admit freely that you have anxieties, and to cherish the privilege of being invited to cast them on God.

One very practical way to cultivate the atmosphere of humility and faith in the family and the church is to express personal need for God when you pray.

You may say that you pray that way in secret. I thank God if you do. But I appeal to you for the sake of love and for the sake of truth that in your prayers with others you not conceal the very heart of faith. If we don’t hear each other pray brokenhearted prayers of personal need and desperation, our fellowship will be superficial, the humility of faith will be stifled, pride will lurk at the door, and we will become a self-deceived, sick church.

John Piper

For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

1 Corinthians 4:7 (NASB)

So what I want to do is to begin at 1 Corinthians 4:7 and then look at several other passages about pride. All these passages contrast pride with something. They show something that is the opposite of pride. And I want you to see that in each case what is the opposite of pride is of the essence of faith. In other words I want you to see from the Bible that pride is a form of unbelief, that its opposite is faith, and that the way to battle pride is to believe in all that God is for you through Jesus Christ.

And my prayer at every point is that your appetite for God be made insatiably strong.

1. 1 Corinthians 4:7

Who sees anything different in you? [Better: who makes you different from others? Or: who gives you your distinctives?] What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

What is the opposite of boasting in this text? The opposite is recognizing the truth that our distinctive abilities are gifts of God. The Corinthians were caught up in playing one person’s strengths off against another (1:12). Paul says, that kind of boasting in man would be impossible if you really savored the truth that abilities are the gift of God and no ground of boasting in man.

So the first way to battle the unbelief of pride is to get very clear this biblical truth and to rest in it and enjoy it: that God gives us our powers; so let him who boasts boast in the LORD not man.

2. James 4:6-8

[God] gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

The opposite of pride here is submitting to God and drawing near to God. Pride wants to be independent, self-governing, autonomous. Therefore it inevitably comes into conflict with God. This is why people who do not love to submit to God’s teachings stay as far from God as they can.

If they come to church and hear God confront their lifestyle, they will go away and not come back, because they enjoy calling the shots themselves and pulling their own strings. But James says that such people should stop running and draw near. They should stop rebelling & submit. Because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (v. 6).

So the way to battle the unbelief of pride here is to stop delighting in self-determination and distance from God and start delighting in God’s right to tell you what is best for you and in the close fellowship he offers those who will draw near in faith (Hebrews 10:22; 11:6).

John Piper

For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

1 Corinthians 4:7 (NASB)

Let me begin by defining belief and unbelief. Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”

I take it, then, that unbelief in Jesus (NOT believing in Jesus) is a turning away from Jesus in order to seek satisfaction in other things. And BELIEF in Jesus is coming to Jesus for the satisfaction of our needs and our longings.

Belief is not mainly an agreement with facts in the head; it is mainly an appetite in the heart which fastens on Jesus for satisfaction. “He who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst!”

Therefore eternal life is not given to people who merely think that Jesus is the Son of God. It is given to people who drink from Jesus as the Son of God. “The water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). He is the bread of life for those who feed on him—who get their nourishment and satisfaction from him. That is what it means to believe on the only begotten Son of God and be saved.

One more form of unbelief that we need to talk about is the unbelief of a haughty spirit, or pride. There is a very close relationship between unbelief and pride. Here is how I would describe that relationship. Unbelief is a turning away from Jesus (or God) in order to seek satisfaction in other things. PRIDE is a turning away from God specifically to take satisfaction in self.

Covetousness is a turning away from God to find satisfaction in things. Impatience is turning away from God to find satisfaction in your own swift plan of action. Lust is turning away from God to find satisfaction in sex. Bitterness is turning away from God to find satisfaction in retaliation.

But deeper than all these forms of unbelief is the unbelief of pride, because self-determination and self-exaltation lie behind all these other sinful dispositions. So it is fitting that the last sin we take up in our series is the deepest one, namely, pride or an arrogant spirit. And it is especially fitting during advent, because the coming of the Son of God in the form of man was an extraordinary act of humility and self-denial.

When I call pride a form of unbelief, the practical implication is this: the battle against pride is the battle against unbelief; or to put it positively, the fight for humility is the fight of faith.

John Piper

For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing,

Isaiah 30:15 (NASB)

What should Israel have done? What should we do when we feel boxed in by obstacles and frustrations? The answer is given in verse 15 and verse 18.

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Here are two great promises this morning that should give you strong incentive to overcome the unbelief of impatience.

Verse 15: “In quietness and trust shall be your strength.” In other words, if you rest in God, if you look to him instead of dashing down to Egypt, if you trust him, then he will give you all the strength you need to be patient and to handle the stresses where you are.

Then verse 18: “Blessed are all those who wait for him.” God promises that if you wait patiently for his guidance and help, instead of plunging ahead “without asking for his counsel,” he will give you a great blessing.

This is the way you battle the unbelief of impatience. You preach to your soul with warnings and promises. You say, Look what happened to Israel when they acted impatiently and went to Egypt for help instead of waiting for God. They were shamed and humiliated. And then you say to your soul: but look what God promises to us if we will rest in him and be quiet and trusting. He will make us strong and save us. He says he will bless us if we wait patiently for him.

Then you might use the promise in Isaiah 49:23:

Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

And then Isaiah 64:4:

No eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.

And finally 40:31:

Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

So you battle the unbelief of impatience by using the promises of God to persuade your heart that God’s timing and God’s guidance and God’s sovereignty are going to take this frustrated, boxed in, unproductive situation and make something eternally valuable out of it. There will come a blessing, a strength, a vindication, a mounting up with wings like eagles.

John Piper

Scripture: Isaiah 30:1-5

Now let’s look at an illustration of Israel when she did not do this.

During Isaiah’s day Israel was threatened by enemies like Assyria. During those times God sent the prophet with his word to tell Israel how he wanted them to respond to the threat. But one time Israel became impatient with God’s timing. The danger was too close. The odds for success were too small. Isaiah 30:1-2 describes what Israel did in her impatience.

Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who carry out a plan, but not mine; and who make a league, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my counsel, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

This is the opposite of waiting on the Lord. Israel became impatient. God had not delivered them from their enemy in the time or in the way that they had hoped, and patience ran out. They sent to Egypt for help. They made a plan and treaty, but they weren’t God’s. The key words are in verse 2: “They set out to go down to Egypt, WITHOUT ASKING FOR MY COUNSEL.”

This is a perfect illustration of the impetuous side of impatience. This is where many of us sin almost daily: charging ahead in our own plans without stopping to consult the Lord.

So the Lord gives a warning in verse 3: “Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh [the king of Egypt!] turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.” In other words, your impatience is going to backfire on you. Egypt will not deliver you; it will be your shame. Your impatience will turn out to be your humiliation.

This is meant as a warning for all of us. When our way is blocked and the Lord says wait, we better trust him and wait, because if we run ahead without consulting him, our plans will probably not be his plans and they will bring shame on us rather than glory. (See Isaiah 50:10-11 and the case of Abraham and Hagar for the same point.)

John Piper

Scripture: Isaiah 30:1-5; Psalms 130:5

Before we look at Isaiah 30, I want you to see this relationship between the promises of God and the patience of the believer in Psalm 130:5. How does the psalmist battle against impatience in his heart?

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in his word I hope.

“Waiting for the Lord” is an Old Testament way of describing the opposite of impatience. Waiting for the Lord is the opposite of running ahead of the Lord and it’s the opposite of bailing out on the Lord. It’s staying at your appointed place while he says stay, or it’s going at his appointed pace while he says go. It’s not impetuous and it’s not despairing.

Now how does the psalmist sustain his patience as he waits for the Lord to show him the next move? Verse 5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and IN HIS WORD I HOPE.” The strength that sustains you in patience is hope, and the source of hope is the Word of God. “In his word I hope!” And hope is just faith in the future tense. Hebrews says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.”

So what we have in Psalm 130:5 is a clear illustration that the way to battle impatience is to buttress your hope (or faith) in God, and the way to buttress your hope in God is to listen to his Word, especially his promises.

If you are tempted not to wait peacefully for God, to let him give you your next move—if you are tempted to give up on him or go ahead without him—please realize that this is a moment for great spiritual warfare. Take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), and wield some wonderful promise against the enemy of impatience.

John Piper

Scripture: Isaiah 30:1-5

Impatience is a form of unbelief. It’s what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God’s timing or the goodness of his guidance. It springs up in our hearts when the road to success gets muddy or strewn with boulders or blocked by some fallen tree. The battle with impatience can be a little skirmish over a long wait in a checkout lane. Or it can be a major combat over a handicap or disease or circumstance that knocks out half your dreams.

The opposite of impatience is not a glib, superficial denial of frustration. The opposite of impatience is a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness either to wait for God where you are in the place of obedience, or to persevere at the pace he allows on the road of obedience—to wait in his place, or to go at his pace.

When the way you planned to run your day, or the way you planned to live your life is cut off or slowed down, the unbelief of impatience tempts you in two directions, depending partly on your personality partly on circumstances:

1) On the one side, it tempts you to give up, bail out. If there’s going to be frustration and opposition and difficulty, then I’ll just forget it. I won’t keep this job, or take this challenge, rear this child, or stay in this marriage, or live this life. That’s one way the unbelief of impatience tempts you. Give up.

2) On the other side, impatience tempts you to make rash counter moves against the obstacles in your way. It tempts you to be impetuous or hasty or impulsive or reckless. If you don’t turn your car around and go home, you rush into some ill-advised detour to try to beat the system.

Whichever way you have to battle impatience, the main point today is that it’s a battle against unbelief and therefore it’s not merely a personality issue. It’s the issue of whether you live by faith and whether you inherit the promises of eternal life. Listen to these verses to sense how vital this battle is:

• Luke 21:19—”By your endurance [patience] you will gain your lives.”
• Romans 2:7—”To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor
• and immortality, God will give eternal life.”
• Hebrews 6:12—”Do not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and
• patience inherit the promises.”

Patience in doing the will of God is not an optional virtue in the Christian life. And the reason it’s not is because faith is not an optional virtue. Patience in well-doing is the fruit of faith. And impatience is the fruit of unbelief. And so the battle against impatience is a battle against unbelief. And so the chief weapon is the Word of God, especially his promises.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 73:21-26

So here’s the lesson. When Satan drops a bombshell on the peace of your life the initial shock waves of emotional response are not necessarily sin. What is sin is not to do what Jesus did when the bomb fell in the Garden of Gethsemane. Sin is yielding to depression. Sin is not taking the armor of God. Sin is not waging spiritual warfare.

But Jesus shows us another way. It’s not painless, but it’s not passive either. And I want us to follow him in it.

Let me just sum it up as we close:

1) Find your trusted friends. Who are they? Who are your inner ring.

2) Open your soul to them.

3) Ask them to fight with you, to wage war with you, to support you, to watch with

you and pray with you.

4) Pour out your soul to the Father.

5) And rest in the sovereignty of his wisdom, come what may. “But God is the

strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

So I close with this image. Leave it in your mind. The lesson of Jesus’ life and the lesson of the Psalms is this: every cave that you’re in—wandering along, feeling the rocks, stumbling, stepping, bumping your head—every cave that you are in is a tunnel that opens into glory. It opens into a day like today in Heaven, with the sun shining, and the grass green, and the waters flowing—as long as you don’t sit down in the cave and blow out the candle of faith.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 73:21-26

As I mention these five steps in Matthew 26:37 and following I want you to fix in your mind what it is that threatens your tranquility most, what it is that causes despondency or disheartened feelings to rise most often in your own life. What’s the shell that Satan drops most frequently into your life? And then as I mention these five steps that the Lord Jesus took when the bomb dropped in his life, I want you to translate them immediately into your experience, because they’re all relevant. Alright? There five of them.

1) Jesus chose some close friends to be with him. Verse 37: “And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.” So he didn’t withdraw. He took the inner ring, his most precious and trusted friends, and he pulled aside with them.

2) He opened his soul to them. Verse 38: “Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.’” I can imagine their mouths dropping open, their King confessing his weakness. He opened his soul to them.

3) He asked for their help in spiritual warfare. Verse 38, second half: “Remain here and watch with me.” Another text says “pray,” and another, “Don’t let yourself come into temptation; stay here and fight with me. Fight with me.”

4) He poured out his heart to the Father in prayer. Verse 39: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” It’s just fine to pray that the bombshell that has dropped into your life be taken away. That’s just right. Whatever it is that Satan fires at you, it’s just fine to say, “Take it away Father. You’re stronger than he is.”

5) But finally, he rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. Second half of verse 39: “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 73:21-26

Now the amazing thing about this is that the word used here that he was troubled is also used of the disciples. However Jesus says to the disciples, “Don’t be troubled.” John 14:1, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

Or John 14:27, “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives to you. “Let not your hearts be troubled.” When I read that yesterday I said to myself, “Now wait a minute. I got to figure this out here. I’m saying the sinless Son of God can be troubled—same word—and yet he tells the disciples don’t be troubled.” It’s as though Satan drops this bomb, the same bomb, right in the experience of Jesus and the disciples.

They were about to be despondent because Jesus was going away and it looked to them like it was back to fishing. There’s no Kingdom here. This is a pointless thing. Nothing good has happened and now our best friend and, we thought, Lord is gone. And Jesus says, “No, don’t be troubled,” and yet he was troubled.

Is this a contradiction? Is it okay for Jesus to be troubled and not okay for the disciples to be troubled? I don’t think there’s a contradiction. Here’s how I would put the two together.

On the part of the disciples Jesus is saying, “When the bomb drops in your life and Satan colors the shock wave of this experience with black hopelessness, don’t yield. Believe.” In other words, he’s telling them, “Counter attack, let not your hearts be troubled, attack, believe in God, believe also in me.” He’s not saying that this first shock wave that can knock you over or pull the plug out of your life won’t be there. He’s saying, “Counter attack, believe, take my peace, listen to what I’ve said, look at the word of God. I will show you the path of life.”

Now with regard to Jesus, no one knew better than the Son of God that if he didn’t immediately counter attack the shock wave of Satan’s satanic temptation he’d be done for. And so in closing I want us to look very carefully at how Jesus responded to his troubled soul and the satanic attack on his peace with God.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 73:21-26

Look at verse 36:

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go yonder and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.”

Now what’s going on here, why is Jesus so distressed and troubled and sorrowful?

John 12:27 says “Now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, but for this purpose, I have come to this hour.” Now I think that text tells us what the nature of the temptation was. Satan was firing volley after volley into the mind of Jesus Christ. And thoughts came into his mind from Satan, thoughts like, “This is a dead end street. Calvary is just a black hole. It’s going to hurt like nothing has ever hurt any human being ever before, and these rascals aren’t worth it, etc.” These were coming out of Satan’s wicked heart into the mind of the Son of God.

Satan wants to produce in Jesus a spirit of despondency that sinks unopposed in resignation and says “It won’t work, there’s no point in pressing on anymore.” Now I want us to think about this warfare for a minute and compare it to the disciples.

Jesus is a sinless man. According to Hebrews 4:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:20 he never sinned at all, neither in thought, emotion, or deed. He was sinless. This means that the emotional turmoil that he was experiencing at this moment was a fitting response to the kind of extraordinary temptation he was enduring. The demonic thought that Calvary is a black hole of meaninglessness and emptiness and purposelessness is so horrendous that it ought to cause a jarring, a shock, in the soul of the Son of God as well as yours and mine.

It’s like a bomb. Satan drops bombs on the peaceful sea of our lives. And if it’s an atomic bomb there is, as soon as it explodes, a massive shock wave that hits before the deadly rays begin to make there way over people’s lives. That’s what I would say in Jesus’ life is not sin. The shock wave of a satanic temptation that the death of the Son of God would be pointless is so powerful that it rolls him, it knocks him.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 73:21-26

The Psalm 73:26 contains this truth, “My flesh and my heart may fail.” Now literally it’s just “fail,” not “may fail.” There’s no “may” implied in this Hebrew verb. Its just, “My flesh and my heart are failing, I am discouraged, I am despondent, I am at my wit’s end.” And then comes the spiritual counter attack in the next phrase: “but God.”

So here’s this man. The cork is pulled out at the bottom of his life. His heart and his flesh are just about depleted, and he says—perhaps with his last breath—”but God is the rock (or strength) of my weak, failing life and my portion forever.”

So my point is wherever this despondency may come from it’s unbelief that doesn’t say “but God.” It’s unbelief that puts up no resistance. It’s unbelief that doesn’t take the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit and fight. That much I think we can say with clarity from Scripture. “My body is shot, my heart is almost dead, and for whatever reason I will not yield. I will trust to God though my strength is gone.”

Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” The word of God is given to revive souls. The saints’ souls need to be restored and revived. That means despondency comes and the Word of God is given to restore it.

Satan vs. the Son of God

Let’s go to Jesus. Turn with me to Matthew 26:36 and following. I want us to be with Jesus for a few minutes in Gethsemane. We’ve just celebrated the Lord’s Supper. A few hours later Jesus is in Gethsemane and what’s happening there is probably the greatest spiritual warfare in a human soul that’s ever happened or ever will happen.

Satan no doubt has drawn near. You remember when it said after Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, “He withdrew from him until an opportune time.” When do you think that was? Right now, I think. And not only did he draw near. I’ll bet he gathered all of the most powerful members of his wicked army. You can be assured that the flaming darts that Paul mentions in Ephesians 6 were flying with volleys against the soul of the Son of God as he knelt there wrestling for his faithfulness.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 73:21-26

I want you to focus on verse 26 for just a few minutes – “My flesh and my heart may fail” – because that’s the definition of despondency that I want us to work with. Do you see the three parts to that little phrase “my flesh and my heart may fail”?

“My flesh” – that means there’s a physical component to despondency. Isn’t there? The body weakens, there’s fatigue, there’s a sense of listlessness and sluggishness.

Secondly, “and my heart” – that means there’s this emotional spiritual dimension to despondency. Our hearts are discouraged, dejected, gloomy, burned out.

Third, “fail.” The word means come to an end, run out, be exhausted of resources. It’s like your life is a tank and in it is water that you need for refreshment. And somebody pulls the plug at the bottom and it just all runs out. And this word in Hebrew (Kalla) means come to an end, be exhausted, be depleted of resources to handle problems and life.

Now the question is, Is unbelief the root of that experience of despondency? And with ten minutes to preach here I’m passing over a lot. The answer is yes and no.

In other words, it’s not simple. But I’m going to pick a simple sentence, one that comes from Scripture, because we need clear and simple things to live by. Here’s the sentence that I think is simple and true: Unbelief is the root of yielding to despondency.

I’ll pass over the issue of where despondency comes from, because it’s very complex. Wherever it comes from, unbelief is at the root of making peace with it, yielding to it, giving no spiritual warfare to fight it, being negligent in putting on the armour of God and so on. Now I want illustrate this briefly by looking at the Psalm and then looking at Jesus.

John Piper

Scripture: Romans 12:17-21

3. Trust That God’s Justice Will Prevail

The third way to battle the unbelief of bitterness is to trust that God’s justice will prevail.

One cause of bitterness is the feeling that you have been wronged by someone. They have lied about you, or stolen from you, or been unfaithful to you, or let you down, or rejected you. And you get this feeling not only that you should not have been hurt, but that they should be punished. And you may be right.

And in feeling right you dwell on the injustice of it. You go over it again and again in your mind, and it chews at your insides. You think of things you might say to put them in their place. You think of things you could do to show others their true colors.

Now God is not pleased by this bitterness. And the reason he’s not is because it comes from unbelief in the certainty that God’s justice will prevail. Romans 12:19 says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

What this text says is that God has made a promise that he himself will repay all wrongs in perfect measure. His justice will prevail. No wrong has escaped his notice. He sees its evil far better than you do. He hates it far more than you do. And he claims the right to take vengeance.

Do you believe this promise? Do you trust God to settle accounts for you far more justly than you could ever settle them? If you do, this text says, you will stop savoring revenge. You will leave it to God, and you will be free to return good for evil and bless those who persecute you (Romans 12:14, 20).

The battle against bitterness and vengeance is a battle against unbelief in the promise of God to vindicate us in due time and to make justice prevail (Psalm 37:6). The way to battle bitterness is to believe that vengeance belongs to the Lord and he will repay. If you keep a grudge, you doubt the Judge.

4. Trust God’s Purpose to Turn It for Your Good

The final way to battle the unbelief of bitterness is to trust God’s purpose to turn the cause of your anger for your good.

1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “For a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

In other words, God allows trials in our lives that could make us very angry. If they couldn’t, they wouldn’t be trials. But the reason he does is to refine our faith the way gold is refined by fire.

This means that the battle against bitterness in the midst of trial is nothing other than the battle against unbelief. Will we look to the sovereign goodness of God, and believe that he means us good in the refining fire? Or will we surrender to unbelief, and let bitterness grow?

John Piper

Scripture: Romans 12:17-21

2. Cherish Being Forgiven by God

The second way to battle the unbelief of bitterness is to really cherish being forgiven by God. Underline the word cherish.

Paul said in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” In other words, being forgiven by God should have a powerful effect on our being forgiving people and not hold grudges, and not being bitter.

How does being forgiven make you a forgiving person? We answer: by faith in our being forgiven. By believing that we are forgiven.

But that woman 18 years ago who would not forgive her mother believed that she was forgiven. She would not let the sin of her grudge shake her security.

What’s wrong here? What’s wrong is that she didn’t know what true saving faith is. Saving faith is not merely believing that you are forgiven. Saving faith means believing that God’s forgiveness is an awesome thing! Saving faith looks at the horror of sin and then looks at the holiness of God and believes that God’s forgiveness is a staggering beauty and unspeakably glorious. Faith in God’s forgiveness does not merely mean confidence that I am off the hook. It means confidence that this is the most precious thing in the world. That’s why I use the word cherish. Saving faith cherishes being forgiven by God.

And there’s the link with the battle against bitterness. You can go on holding a grudge if your faith simply means you are off the hook. But if faith means standing in awe of being forgiven by God, then you can’t go on holding a grudge. You have fallen in love with mercy. It’s your life. So you battle bitterness by fighting for the faith that stands in awe of God’s forgiveness of your sins.

John Piper

Scripture: Romans 12:17-21

What I want to do then this morning is lay out four ways to battle bitterness by battling unbelief. If God empowers his Word now, there will be great results: your heart will be freed from the burden of bitterness; at least from your side relationships can be healed; one more obstacle can be removed from an authentic witness to Christ, and God will be greatly honored by your trust.

1. Don’t Ignore the Good Advice of the Doctor

The first way to battle the unbelief of bitterness is very basic: namely, consider what the Doctor says good advice. If the Great Physician says, “Put away anger,” don’t ignore the counsel. Put it in your mind and resolve to keep it. That’s what you do if you trust your Doctor.

Listen to the story of Leroy Eims’ battle with anger. Here is a Christian leader who discovered that the secret was in listening to the Doctor’s orders.

Shortly after I became a Christian, I was . . . challenged to make personal applications as part of my weekly Bible study. One of the first books I studied was Paul’s letter to the Colossians. As I was studying chapter three, the Holy Spirit caught my attention with this: “But now you must rid your selves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language” (Col. 3:8).

I tried to slide past this verse, but the Spirit kept bringing me back to the words “put off anger” (KJV). At the time I had a violent temper, and whenever it flared up I would haul off and bash my fist into the nearest door. In spite of the fact that I often bloodied my knuckles and on the one occasion had completely smashed a beautiful diamond and onyx ring my wife had given me, I couldn’t seem to stop. And yet here was God’s Word: “Put off anger.” It was clear to me that this was not just some good advice given to the people at Colossae centuries ago. It was God speaking to me at that moment.

So that week I make a covenant with God. He had spoken to me about my sin of anger, and I promised the Lord I was going to work on it . . .

My first step was to memorize the verse and review it daily for a number of weeks. [The doctor's advice is not ignored. You get serious about getting it into your head and heart if you trust him.] I prayed and asked the Lord to bring this verse to mind whenever a situation arose where I might be tempted to lose my temper. And I asked my wife to pray for me and remind me of that passage if she saw me failing in my promise to the Lord. So Colossians 3:8 became a part of my life and gradually God removed that sin from me. (The Lost Art of Discipleship, pp. 78f.)

So the first way to battle bitterness by battling unbelief is to believe that the Doctor’s advice is good. If you trust his counsel, you will take pains to get it into your head and heart. You will not ignore it or reject it.

John Piper

Romans 12:17-21

Is this salvation by works? Does this teach that we earn our way to heaven? No. Salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). And the opposite of salvation, judgment, is not by grace through faith, but by works (the opposite of grace) through unbelief (the opposite of faith). So that’s what Jesus means.

Therefore when Jesus teaches that an unforgiving spirit or bitterness leads to judgment and not to salvation, he means that bitterness is a kind of unbelief. And the way to fight against it is to fight the fight of faith. The battle against bitterness in our hearts is not an effort to work our way to heaven. It’s a battle to believe the Word of God, and bank on the promises of his grace.

Back during my seminary days Noël and I were in a kind of 20:20 group with some other couples. One night we were discussing forgiveness and anger, and one of the women said that she could not and would not forgive her mother for something she had done to her as a young girl. We talked about some of the biblical commands to forgive, and we talked about being forgiven by God, but she was adamant.

So I said, “You know, don’t you, that you are in mortal danger of being cast into hell? If you’re not willing to forgive your mother her sins against you, God will not be willing to forgive your sins against him. No unforgiving people will be in heaven.” But she wasn’t the kind of person who submitted easily to Scripture. She was driven by emotion and the strength of her indignation simply justified itself.

The reason she was in danger of losing her soul is not because she didn’t work hard enough for God, but because she didn’t trust in his willingness to work hard enough for her.

The battle against bitterness is a battle against unbelief. And the peace and rest and joy that come in place of anger and bitterness are the peace and joy that Romans 15:13 says explicitly come by believing in the God of hope.

John Piper

Scripture: Romans 12:17-21

Everybody has to deal with anger one way or the other—it is a universal experience, and most of it is not good. I base that on James 1:19-20 which says, “Be slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.” We should learn how to be slow to anger because what comes quickly is usually tainted by unrighteousness. It’s simply human rather than being godly.

But we know that not all anger is bad. Jesus was a man without sin, yet it says in Mark 3:5, “He looked around at them with anger grieved at their hardness of heart.” And Psalm 7:11 says, “God is angry every day.” And Paul says in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry and sin not.” Not all anger is bad. Some is good and right and necessary.

But mainly the Bible warns us against the dangers of anger. “Be slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20). “Put away all anger and wrath and malice” (Colossians 3:8). “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor . . . be put away from you with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31). “Now the works of the flesh are plain: . . . strife, jealousy, anger . . . ” (Galatians 5:20). “Every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:22).

You can see from that last warning that anger is very dangerous. If it takes root in your heart and becomes a grudge or an unforgiving spirit, it can destroy you. That’s the point of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18 about the unforgiving servant: after having his massive debt cancelled by the king, he refuses to cancel the tiny debt of his friend. And so the king throws him into jail for his heartlessness. Jesus closes the parable with this warning in verse 35: “So also will my heavenly Father do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Anger is very dangerous. It can take over your heart, turn into a lasting grudge, or an unforgiving spirit, and the result will be judgment. Jesus said very plainly in Matthew 6:15, “If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” To feel the weight of that warning let’s put it in three parts:

1. No one goes to heaven unforgiven by God. Heaven is a place given only to forgiven

sinners.

2. No one is forgiven who is unwilling to be forgiving.

3. No one goes to heaven who is unforgiving.

Jesus treats anger the way he treats lust. If you don’t fight lust, you don’t go to heaven (Matthew 5:29). If you don’t forgive others, you won’t get to glory (Matthew 6:15).

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 37:1-7

6) Verse 11: “The meek will possess the land and delight themselves in abundant shalom.” This word is translated “prosperity” here, which probably has a ring that is not so helpful in our day. In the Hebrew it refers to the whole well-being that comes to those who trust.

So here’s a little example of how you fight the fight of faith in the morning, if envy starts to rise up in your heart. You get a text like this where it says, “don’t be envious,” and then you say, “Lord, if I’m going to get over this envy I’m going to need some powerful arguments for why I should be resting in you. Would you give me some?” And then you just read step by step. And as you get to one you stop, and you pray, “Lord open my eyes to see the wonder of this promise. And grant me by your Spirit the capacity to savor it, rest in it, believe it, walk by it, live in it and act on it today, please.” And you go to the next verse and work on it again until you find God meeting you and just lifting this ugly thing of envy off of you.

Well let’s take a few more texts that you could use in your warfare against envy.

Proverbs 23:17: “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all day.” And here comes this great promise: “Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” So here’s a person who looks at a sinner and sees that they’re prospering. Then that person starts to feel like their hope isn’t really going to prosper. They try to live for Christ but things don’t seem to go as well for them as they do for the sinner. The Bible is so aware of that problem. Psalm 37 was written to address it, and so was Psalm 73.

Consider how the Lord dealt with Peter at the Sea of Tiberias in relation to his question about John. “And Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? (Jn. 21:22).Follow me.’” What’s he saying there? I think he’s saying that it is real dangerous to compare circumstances. It is real dangerous to compare gifts. Jesus is saying here, “Look, don’t get all involved in comparing yourself with this other disciple. What I have for him, I have for him. Here is what I have for you: me. Is that enough?”

And that is the solution to envy. Just like it was the solution to lust, which we spoke about this morning. It’s Jesus. “Follow me. If you’re behind me, if you’ve got me, what do you need to worry about him for?” And so that’s the answer: we just need more of Jesus.

We need to realize what an incredible privilege it is to just know Jesus. Jesus said in another place, “Don’t rejoice over this, that the demons are subject to you. Rejoice that your names are just written in Heaven.” It is such a staggering privilege to be a disciple of Jesus Christ that what becomes of other disciples is neither here nor there. And so envy flies away.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 37:1-7

3) Verse 4: “Delight yourself in the Lord” (that is, “trust in the Lord,”), “and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Now that’s an amazing promise, because envy usually arises from not having the desire of your heart. You will see somebody that has something that you wish you had, and you’ll see that this desire is missing in this life. So the best way to fight is to go to this promise and say, “Now Lord, you have made a covenant with me in verse 4. You say that, if I will put my delight in you, you will give me the desires of my heart. So I am now going to delight in you.”

Now that’s a key step: trusting in God sufficiently so that you come to rest in who he is for you. It may also have a profound effect on the kind of desires you must have met in order to be content. But all the desires that you have will eventually be satisfied. That’s the essence of those amazing promises in Romans 8:32 (“If he did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, will he not with him freely give you all things?”) or in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (“All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or life or death or things present or things to come—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s”). The Bible makes staggering promises for people whose delight is in God rather than things.

4) Verses 5 and 6. “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your vindication as the light and your right as the noon day.” Here’s a promise for you today: Isaiah 64:4: ‘Who has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him?’” “God works for those who wait for him.” That’s the word. And that word “work” (in the Hebrew) is there in verse 5: “He will work for you. He will vindicate you.” And that word “vindication” is precious too, because one of the things that lies behind envy oftentimes is the feeling that things aren’t going as well as they ought to go. We’re getting a raw deal while, for somebody else who doesn’t even deserve it, things are going much better. What we want is vindication, and that’s exactly what is promised here. The vindication will come.

5) Verses 9 and 11: “For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land,” and, “the meek shall possess the land.” Now if you say, “Well wait a minute. I’m not a Jew, and I don’t expect to inherit Palestine,” be careful. All of the promises of the Old Testament made to Jews will either be fulfilled to you the way they are fulfilled to Jews or better.

Where in the New Testament is there a better promise with almost the exact same words of verse 11? The Beatitudes, namely, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” Alright, so I don’t get Palestine, just the earth. In fact, in Romans 4:13 it is those who are believers like Abraham who are called heirs of the world. 1 Corinthians 6 says that you will judge angels. To the disciples he said that they would sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. We, the non-disciples or non-apostles, will judge angels. The Bible is so full of the most stupendous promises that it can remove the resentful feeling that simmers beneath envy.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 37:1-7

Alright. We’ve seen what it is; we’ve seen that the Bible condemns it; and we’ve seen that there are negative consequences if you give way to it indefinitely. Now let’s just talk about how to fight it. That’s the big issue, and Psalm 37 is the place where we’ll start.

This is a great Psalm for talking about how to fight envy because it starts off with the main point of “Don’t be envious.” Then I count six solid reasons for why not to be envious in the first 11 verses. What I’m trying to do tonight is give you an example of how to fight the fight of faith in your devotions.

When you wake up in the morning and notice a feeling of envy inside you towards somebody at work, a family member, or somebody, and you say, “This shouldn’t be there. What can I do about it?,” here’s what you do you. You get out the Bible, kneel down in prayer, and start reading. You look for the biblical promises that explode envy. But to do that you have to realize, first of all, that envy is a form of unbelief.

So I hope it is clear that when we are beginning to envy—when we’re starting to look at somebody and resent that they have something and we don’t—and we’re beginning to lose our peace and contentment in God because of it, the issue is faith. Okay? That’s the point so far.

Now the  reason this Psalm is so great is because it gives so many reasons why we shouldn’t be unbelieving. It tells us why we should be totally restful and confident that God is for us. It tells us that he’s working in a way that, even if it looks like something’s going better for them, things are going to go great for us. Now let’s look at those. I wrote down six reasons that I see in this chapter for not being a in the grip of the unbelief of envy.

1) Verse 2: “They will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” So if you are starting to get envious about a wrongdoer, like the scoundrel who just won a million dollars, God says, “Wait a minute. You don’t want to be in his shoes. He is going to fade like the grass, and those who do the will of God abide forever” (1 John 2:15). So that’s argument number one.

It’s repeated in verse 9: “For the wicked shall be cut off but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land.” And in verse 10: “A little while and the wicked will be no more.” So the first reason you shouldn’t let envy get the upper hand when you’re feeling it towards an unbeliever or somebody who is unrighteous is the thought, “Wait a minute. God has said in his word that this person is going to fade like a flower—very quickly. They’ll be gone and then whose will their prosperity be?”

2) Verse 3: “So you shall dwell in the land and enjoy security,” or, “and feed (pasture) on faithfulness.” In other words, that’s the reward that comes from trusting God. Trust the Lord and do good and you will pasture in a land that is green. Your desires will be met, which leads to the next one.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 37:1-7

There are so many opportunities for envy. It’s a universal threat to our joy and to our concern for other people. So what I want to do is observe a text where it is prohibited in Scripture, look at some consequences of giving in to it, and then talk about how to fight it. And considering our time, I’m just going to assume almost these first two.

Namely, I assume that you agree with me that the bible says, Don’t be envious. Can we just start with that one? I have four texts here. Psalm 37:1, Proverbs 23:17, Galatians 5:26, I Peter 2:1. All of them say, Don’t be envious. So it’s not biblical to be envious. It is against the will of God for you to give into envy.

And then we could talk about warnings. Let’s look at one passage here. Galatians 5:21 is in the passage about the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit, and one of the works of the flesh is envy.

Galatians 5:19 – “Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy”—which, by the way, I believe is a subspecies of envy.

I tried to think, Should I preach a sermon on jealousy? I was thinking this last August. And as I thought and thought I concluded that jealousy is a species of envy. What I mean is that jealousy is a kind of envy that is directed toward another person when they are getting affection that you wish you had. You’re jealous of another person when they get affection from somebody that you think should be coming to you.

Now that can be a very healthy thing. God is jealous over love that should be coming to him. And a husband or a wife should rightly be jealous over a bad relationship that they see developing between their spouse and another person. But there is also an unhealthy jealousy. The reason I don’t focus on it is because I think that everything I will say about envy applies to jealousy as well, because it’s a sub-category under envy.

“Anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy“—there it is at the beginning of verse 21—”drunkenness, carousing and the like. I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

So there’s the warning. This is real serious business. Everything I’m preaching on in these fall sermons is serious business. In other words, if you give reign to this unbelieving state of envy it could so take over your life as to cause you to make shipwreck of faith and do you in the end.

John Piper

Scripture: Psalms 37:1-7

One of the barriers to being concerned for other people is that we envy them. We’re going to talk tonight about battling the unbelief of envy. Let’s define it.

As I analyzed envy myself this afternoon—and when I checked my thoughts with Webster’s dictionary—two things stood out about it.

1) Envy has an element of desire in it. Somebody has experienced an advantage or benefit in life, and you want that to happen to you. That doesn’t necessarily make you envious, however, because that kind of desire is okay when you’re drawn to imitate saintly people.

2) The other element—and the one that makes envy bad—is that the desire is tinged with resentment that it’s going well for the other person and not for you. That’s what makes it envy.

So, in a sentence, envy is a mingling of a desire for something with the resentment that another is enjoying it and you are not. Things aren’t going so well for you, but things are going well for them; and it just gnaws away at you sometimes. Why does it go so well for that person when it doesn’t go so well for me?

The next thing I did this afternoon was to try and flesh it out. I tried to find some examples of envy from my own life, from my imagination, and from other people’s lives.

What are some illustrations of envy? See if you can find yourself in these scenarios:

Or what if your friend gets married and you don’t get married. You’ve known this friend a long time perhaps, and now that person is getting married and you’re not. You could start to feel a little resentful that it happened to him or her and yet it hasn’t happened to you.

Or say you have a child who is chronically sick while the other families around you always seem to be healthy. You could think, My child is always sick. My child gets sick week in and week out and has these extraordinary problems; but these other families, who are no better than ours, are always well.

Or what if you’re on the second string of your high school sports team. All you do is warm the bench, while the guy on first string, even though he’s such a smart alec, gets to play all the time.

Or suppose you have a friend who a plays the lottery. They’re a real scoundrel but they make a million dollars. You might think you deserve that money more than your friend.

Or you’re a pastor and you see other churches growing while yours fluctuates between no growth at all and just minimal growth. You might think this ought not to be.

Or perhaps you think that others are much better looking or much more fashionable than you. God gave you your looks, but how easy it is to walk through life, see others who seem so much more handsome, and feel envious of them.

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. This is God’s demand and this is God’s gift. It is all of grace. That’s why the only fight we fight is the fight of faith—the fight to rest so fully in the grace of God—to be so satisfied with the glory of God—that temptation to sin loses its power over us.

The battle against lust is the battle against unbelief. The crucial verses here are verses 5 and 8. We only have time to look at verse 5. In verse 5 Paul says, ” . . . not in the passion of lust like heathen [i.e., the Gentiles] who do not know God.” Do you see what that implies about the root of lust? Not knowing God is the root cause of lust. Take a wife (or: control your body) not in the passion of lust because that is what people do who don’t know God.

Paul doesn’t mean that mere head knowledge about God overcomes lust. In Mark 1:24 Jesus is about to cast a demon out of a man when the unclean spirit cries out, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God!” In other words, Satan and his hosts have some very accurate knowledge of God and Jesus, but that is not the kind of knowledge Paul has in mind here.

The knowledge he has in mind here is knowledge of God described in 2 Corinthians 4:6—”the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (see Galatians 4:8; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Peter 1:3-4). It’s the knowledge of God’s greatness and worth and glory and grace and power. It’s knowledge that stuns you, and humbles you. It’s knowledge that wins you and holds you.

It comes like it did for Lydia when the Lord opened the eyes of her heart. At one moment you think you will burst with its fullness, and suddenly there is a chasm of longing for more. It’s the knowledge we call faith—the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.

It’s a knowledge that is so real, so precious, so satisfying to your soul, that any thought, any attitude, any emotion, any addiction which threatens to hinder this knowledge will be attacked with all the spiritual zeal of a threatened life. This is the fight of faith that rages in the godly soul when lust lures the mind away from God.

The way to fight lust is to feed faith with the knowledge of an irresistibly glorious God.

Do you know God this morning? Are you growing week by week in the knowledge of God’s greatness? Do you meditate on his Word day and night? Do you ponder the pictures of his Son in the gospels? Do you read solid books about his character and his ways? Do you look at everything in your day as his creation? Do you pray for a sensitive heart that can be ravished by the revelation of his glory?

I call you to make those commitments now for the sake of your own soul and for the glory of God.

John Piper

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

This is exactly the same response I got a few years ago when I confronted a man about the adultery he was presently living in. I tried to understand his situation and I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, “You know Jesus says that if you don’t fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever.”

He looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, “You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?”

So I have learned again and again from first hand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the warnings of the Bible and puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical threats. And this doctrine is comforting thousands on the way to hell.

Jesus said, if you don’t fight lust, you won’t go to heaven.

The stakes are much higher than whether the world is blown up by a thousand bombs. If you don’t fight lust, you won’t go to heaven (1 Peter 2:11; Colossians 3:6; Galatians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 6:10; Hebrews 12:14).

Are we not, then, saved by faith—by believing in Jesus Christ? We are indeed! Those who persevere in faith shall be saved (Matthew 24:13; 10:22; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Colossians 1:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). How do you lay hold on eternal life? Paul gives the answer in 1 Timothy 6:12—”Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life.”

That leads us to our main concern this morning—to show that the fight against lust is a battle against unbelief. And the fight for sexual purity is the fight of faith.

The great error that I am trying to explode in these messages is the error that says, faith in God is one thing and the fight for holiness is another thing. Faith gets you to heaven and holiness gets you rewards. You get your justification by faith, and you get your sanctification by works. You start the Christian life in the power of the Spirit, you press on in the efforts of the flesh. This is the great evangelical error of our day. The battle for obedience is optional, they say, because only faith is necessary for salvation.

Our response: the battle for obedience is absolutely necessary for salvation because it IS the fight of faith. The battle against lust is absolutely necessary for salvation because it is the battle against unbelief. Faith alone delivers from hell and the faith that delivers from hell delivers from lust.

John Piper

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

That’s the definition. Now the next issue is SO WHAT? Why is this a big deal? Isn’t sexual sin, especially when it’s just a desire and not an act, sin with a little “s”? Shouldn’t we get on with the big issues like nuclear arms and social justice? You’ve known people like that, I suppose. They say, Sexual attitudes and sexual behavior are a matter of relatively insignificant personal piety. What counts is whether you boycott companies in South Africa and oppose Star Wars defense systems. Sleeping around is simply no big deal if you are on the picket line at Honeywell; and flipping through Playboy is utterly insignificant if you are on your way to peace talks in Geneva.

That is the way the religious human mind reasons when a supreme regard for God has been forsaken. But that is not what God has said. What is God’s estimate of how important your sexual life is? Is it a big deal?

Verse 6 says, “that no man transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we solemnly forewarned you.”

This means that the consequences of lust are going to be worse than the consequences of nuclear war. All that nuclear war can do is kill the body. And Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him who after he has killed has power to cast into hell” (Luke 12:4-5). In other words God’s vengeance is much more fearful than earthly annihilation. And according to 1 Thessalonians 4:6 God’s vengeance is coming upon those who disregard the warning against lust.

This past September I spoke to the student body of Wheaton Christian High School. I took as my topic, “Ten Lessons for Fighting Lust.” Lesson number 6 was, “Ponder the eternal danger of lust.”

My text on that point was Matthew 5:28-29 where Jesus says, “Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” I pointed out that Jesus said heaven and hell are at stake in what you do with your eyes and with the thoughts of your imagination.

After the message one of the students came up to me and asked, “Are you saying, then, that a person can lose his salvation?”

John Piper

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

Let’s begin with a biblical definition of lust. Lust is a sexual desire that dishonors its object and disregards God. Let me show you where I get that definition from today’s text.

Verse 4 in the RSV addresses the men at Thessalonica and says, that each one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God.

Notice that verses 4 and 5 say to do something one way but not another way. Take a wife (or control your body/vessel) “in holiness and honor, NOT in the passion of lust.” Do you see the contrast: “in holiness and honor NOT in the passion of lust.” So the passion of lust is the opposite of holiness and honor. That’s where I get the definition of lust.

Sexual desire in itself is good. God made it in the beginning. It has its proper place. But it was made to be governed or regulated or guided by two concerns: honor toward the other person and holiness toward God. Lust is what that sexual desire becomes when that honor and that holiness are missing from it.

Take honor, for instance. God established a relationship called marriage. In it a man and a woman make a life-long covenant to honor each other with faithfulness and love.

Sexual desire becomes the servant and the spice of that covenant bond of mutual honor.

Therefore, to say to another person, I want you to satisfy my sexual desire, but I do not want you as a covenant partner in marriage basically means: I want to use your body for my pleasure, but as a whole person I don’t want you. And that is dishonoring and therefore lustful. Lust is sexual desire minus a commitment to honor the other person.

But that’s not all. The text says, take a wife (or control your body/vessel) “in holiness . . . not in the passion of lust.” Holiness has to do with God—being set apart for God. So verse 5 goes on like this: “Not in the passion of lust like heathen who do not know God.”

Knowing God and acting like it keeps sexual desire from becoming lust. Look at verse 8: “Therefore whoever disregards this [the call for holiness], disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” The root issue in lust is regard for God. Holiness is living in supreme regard for a holy God.

Lust is the opposite. Lust is sexual desire which is not regulated or governed or guided by a supreme regard for God.

God created sexuality. He created it good and beautiful. He created it for the good of his creatures. He alone has the wisdom and the right to show us how to use it for his glory and our good. Lust is what that sexual desire becomes when we give it rein in disregard for God.

In summary then, lust is a sexual desire that dishonors its object and disregards God. It’s the corruption of a good thing by the absence of honorable commitment and by the absence of a supreme regard for God. If your sexual desire is not guided by respect for the honor of others and regard for the holiness of God, it is lust.

John Piper

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

5. In the End Covetousness Destroys the Soul

1 Timothy 6:9 says, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.”

In the end covetousness destroys the soul in hell. The reason I am sure that this destruction is not some temporary financial fiasco but final destruction in hell is that Paul says in verse 12 that covetousness is to be resisted with the fight of faith; and then he adds, “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession.” What’s at stake in fleeing covetousness and fighting the fight of faith is eternal life. (See 6:19.)

So verse 9 isn’t saying that greed can mess up your marriage or your business (which it certainly can!), but it’s saying covetousness can mess up your eternity with ruin and destruction. Or as verse 10 says at the end, “it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs.” (Literally: “impaled themselves with many pains.”)

God has gone the extra mile in the Bible to warn us mercifully that the idolatry of covetousness is a no win situation. It’s a dead end street in the worst sense of the word. It’s a trick and a trap. So my word to you is the word of 1 Timothy 6:11: Flee from it. When you see it coming (in a TV ad, or a Christmas catalog, or a neighbor’s purchase), run from it the way you would run from a roaring lion escaped from the zoo and starving.

But Where Do You Run? You run to the arsenal of faith, and quickly take the mantle of prayer from Psalm 119:36 and throw it around yourself: “O Lord, incline my heart to your testimonies and not to worldly gain.” And then quickly you take down two cutlasses, a short one and a long one, specially made by the Holy Spirit to slay covetousness. And you stand your ground at the door. When he shows his deadly face you show him the shorter cutlass:

1 Timothy 6:6 “There is great gain in godliness with contentment.” GREAT GAIN! GREAT GAIN! Stay where you are, Lion of Covetousness. I have great gain in God. This is my faith!

Then, before he has time to attack, you take the longer cutlass (Hebrews 13:5-6), “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for [God] has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you.’ Hence we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?’” And drive it home. Do exactly what Paul says to do in Colossians 3:5, “Put covetousness to death.”

Brothers and sisters, all covetousness is unbelief. Learn with me, O learn with me, how to use the sword of the Spirit to fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life!

John Piper

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

1. Covetousness Never Brings Satisfaction

Ecclesiastes 5:11, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity.”

This is God’s word on money: it does not satisfy those who love it. If we believe him, we will turn away from the love of money. It’s a dead end street.

Jesus put it like this in Luke 12:15, “Beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” If the Word of the Lord needed confirming, there are enough miserable rich people in the world to prove that satisfied life does not come from having things.

2. Covetousness Chokes Off Spiritual Life

Jesus told the parable of the soils (Mark 4:1-20) and said that some seed fell on among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it.

Then he interpreted the parable and said that the seed is the Word of God. The seed sown among thorns is interpreted like this: “the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

A real battle rages when the Word of God is preached. The desire for other things can be so strong that the beginnings of spiritual life can be choked out altogether. This is such a frightful warning that we should all be on our guard every time we hear the Word to receive it with faith and not choke it with covetousness.

3. Covetousness Gives Rise to Many Other Sins

1 Timothy 6:10 says, “The love of money is the root of all evils.” And James 4:2 says, “You covet and cannot obtain so you fight and wage war.”

Covetousness is a breeding ground for a thousand other sins. And that heightens the warning to flee from it and fight it with all our might.

4. Covetousness Lets You Down When You Need Help Most

It lets you down in the hour of death. 1 Timothy 6:7 says, “We brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.” At the greatest crisis of your life, when you need contentment and hope and security more than any other time, your money and all your possessions take wings and fly away. They let you down. They are fair weather friends at best. And you enter eternity with nothing but the measure of contentment that you had in God.

If you dropped dead right now, would you take with you a payload of pleasure in God or would you stand before him with a spiritual cavity where covetousness used to be? Covetousness lets you down just when you need help most.

John Piper

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

Now what Paul is doing in 1 Timothy 6:6-12 is trying to persuade people not to be covetous. But let’s be real sure that we see how Paul understands this battle against covetousness. He gives his reasons for not being covetous in verses 6-10 (which we will come back to), and then in verse 11 he tells Timothy to shun or to flee all that—to flee the love of money and the desire to be rich, namely, covetousness.

And he says in verse 11b, instead of giving in to covetousness, “aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.” Then out of that list he picks “faith” for special attention, and says (in verse 12), “Fight the good fight of the faith.” In essence, then, he says, “Flee covetousness . . . fight the good fight of faith.”

In other words the fight against covetousness is nothing other than the fight of faith. This is one of the clearest proofs that the way to obey the Ten Commandments (one of which is, “Thou shalt not covet!”) is by faith. It’s also proof that covetousness is a state of unbelief.

When you think about it, that’s just what the definition of covetousness implies. We said that covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God. Or: it’s losing your contentment in God so that you start to seek contentment elsewhere. But now this contentment in God is just what faith is.

Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” In other words what it means to believe in Jesus is to experience him as the satisfaction of my soul’s thirst and my heart’s hunger. Faith is the experience of contentment in Jesus. The fight of faith is the fight to keep your heart contented in Christ—to really believe, and keep on believing, that he will meet every need and satisfy every longing.

Well covetousness, then, is exactly the opposite of faith. It’s the loss of contentment in Christ so that we start to crave other things to satisfy the longings of our heart. There’s no mistaking, then, that the battle against covetousness is a battle against unbelief and a battle for faith. Whenever we sense the slightest rise of covetousness in our hearts, we must turn on it and fight it with all our might with the weapons of faith.

The main weapon of faith is the Word of God. So when covetousness begins to raise its greedy head, what we must do is begin to preach the Word of God to ourselves. We need to hear what God says. We need to hear his warnings about what becomes of the covetous and how serious it is to covet. And we need to hear his promises that can give great contentment to the soul and overcome all covetous cravings.

John Piper

Scripture: I Tim. 6:6-12

Today we focus on battling the unbelief of covetousness.

I think our text in 1 Timothy makes clear what covetousness is and that the battle against it is a battle against unbelief or a fight for faith in the promises of God.

The word “covetousness” isn’t used here but the reality is what this text is all about. When verse 5b says that some are treating godliness as a means of gain, Paul responds in verse 6 that “There is great gain in godliness with contentment.” This gives us the key to the definition of covetousness. Covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God. “There is great gain in godliness with contentment.”

The opposite of covetousness is contentment in God. When contentment in God decreases, covetousness for gain increases. That’s why Paul says in Colossians 3:5 that covetousness is idolatry. “Put to death what is earthly in you: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry.” It’s idolatry because the contentment that the heart should be getting from God it starts to get from something else.

So covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God. Or: losing your contentment in God so that you start to seek it elsewhere.

Have you ever considered that the Ten Commandments begin and end with virtually the same commandment? “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) and “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17) are almost equivalent commands. Coveting is desiring anything other than God in a way that betrays a loss of contentment and satisfaction in him. Covetousness is a heart divided between two gods. So Paul calls it idolatry.

John Piper

“When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.”

Psalm 61:2

Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart; emptied as when a man wipes a dish and turns it upside down; submerged and thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by the storm. Discoveries of inward corruption will do this, if the Lord permits the great deep of our depravity to become troubled and cast up mire and dirt. Disappointments and heart-breaks will do this when billow after billow rolls over us, and we are like a broken shell hurled to and fro by the surf. Blessed be God, at such seasons we are not without an all-sufficient solace, our God is the harbor of weather-beaten sails, the hospice of forlorn pilgrims. Higher than we are is He, His mercy higher than our sins, His love higher than our thoughts. It is pitiful to see men putting their trust in something lower than themselves; but our confidence is fixed upon an exceeding high and glorious Lord. A Rock He is since He changes not, and a high Rock, because the tempests which overwhelm us roll far beneath at His feet; He is not disturbed by them, but rules them at His will. If we get under the shelter of this lofty Rock we may defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee of that towering cliff. Alas! such is the confusion in which the troubled mind is often cast, that we need piloting to this divine shelter. Hence the prayer of the text. O Lord, our God, by Thy Holy Spirit, teach us the way of faith, lead us into Thy rest. The wind blows us out to sea, the helm answers not to our puny hand; Thou, Thou alone canst steer us over the bar between yon sunken rocks, safe into the fair haven. How dependent we are upon Thee–we need Thee to bring us to Thee. To be wisely directed and steered into safety and peace is Thy gift, and Thine alone. This night be pleased to deal well with Thy servants.

Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 149:2 “Let Israel rejoice in him.”

Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that your gladness has its spring in the Lord. Thou hast much cause for gladness in thy God, for thou canst sing with David, “God, my exceeding joy.” Be glad that the Lord reigns, that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that He sits upon the throne, and rules all things! Every attribute of God should become a fresh ray in the sunlight of our gladness. That He is wise should make us glad, knowing as we do our own foolishness. That He is mighty, should cause us to rejoice who tremble at our weakness. That he is everlasting, should always be a theme of joy when we know that we wither as the grass. That He is unchanging, should perpetually yield us a song, since we change every hour. That He is full of grace, that He is overflowing with it, and that this grace in covenant He has given to us; that it is ours to cleanse us, ours to keep us, ours to sanctify us, ours to perfect us, ours to bring us to glory–all this should tend to make us glad in Him. This gladness in God is as a deep river; we have only as yet touched its brink, we know a little of its clear sweet, heavenly streams, but onward the depth is greater, and the current more impetuous in its joy. The Christian feels that he may delight himself not only in what God is, but also in all that God has done in the past. The Psalms show us that God’s people in olden times were wont to think much of God’s actions, and to have a song concerning each of them. So let God’s people now rehearse the deeds of the Lord! Let them tell of His mighty acts, and “sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously.” Nor let them ever cease to sing, for as new mercies flow to them day by day, so should their gladness in the Lord’s loving acts in providence and in grace show itself in continued thanksgiving. Be glad ye children of Zion and rejoice in the Lord your God.

Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 26:9
^” Do not take my soul away along with sinners”

Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, “Perhaps, after all, you may be gathered with the wicked.” That fear, although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin. Even the pardoned man will enquire, “What if at the end my sins should be remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the saved?” He recollects his present unfruitfulness–so little grace, so little love, so little holiness, and looking forward to the future, he considers his weakness and the many temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray, in fear and trembling, “Gather not my soul with sinners.” Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is taken, you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two virtues which David had–the outward walking in integrity, and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ’s sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope? If so, rest assured, with the wicked you never shall be gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The gathering at the judgment is like to like. “Gather together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” If, then, thou art like God’s people, you shall be with God’s people. You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly bought. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are His for ever, and where He is, there must His people be. You are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven claims thee! Trust in your Security and fear not!

Charles Spurgeon

Jeremiah 32:41 “I will rejoice over them to do them good.

How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God has in His saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us; we cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness; and we fear that God’s people cannot take much delight in us, for they must perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they may rather lament our infirmities than admire our graces. But we love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious mystery: that as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so does the Lord rejoice over us. We do not read anywhere that God delights in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling stars, but we do read that He delights in the habitable parts of the earth, and that His delights are with the sons of men. We do not find it written that even angels give His soul delight; nor doth He say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, “You shall be called Hephzibah, for the Lord delights in you”; but He does say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves, debased and depraved by sin, but saved, exalted, and glorified by His grace. In what strong language He expresses His delight in His people! Who could have conceived of the eternal One as bursting forth into a song? Yet it is written, “He will rejoice over you with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing.” As He looked upon the world He had made, He said, “It is very good”; but when He beheld those who are the purchase of Jesus’ blood, His own chosen ones, it seemed as if the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no longer, but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy. Should not we utter our grateful response to such a marvelous declaration of His love, and sing, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation?”

Charles Spurgeon

Romans 6:12 (NASB) ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,

We persist this month with the spiritual warfare series identifying the triad of enemies: Satan, the flesh and the world. The battle against the flesh we have linked to unbelief. Why is this continuation so necessary at such a deep concentration?

If a believer in the slightest degree is tempted to treat sin lightly, or attribute it to evil spirits when it is from himself, he is equally on false ground, and lays himself open to the old fallen nature regaining mastery over him with redoubled force. This warfare must be accompanied with a vigorous, unflinching warfare against sin. Any known sin must not be tolerated for a moment. It must be cast off or put away; on the basis of Rom. 6:6 &12.

Two misconceptions which give great advantage to the watching triad are the beliefs in many believers’ minds, that if a Christian commits sin he will at once (1) know it himself, or (2) that God will tell him. They, therefore, expect God to tell them when they are right or wrong, instead of seeking light and knowledge according to John 3:21.

Believers seeking victory must take an active part in dealing with sin. For a life of perpetual victory, it is very important that the believer should understand, and detect any inconsistency between the attitude of the will and the actions in his life. He should read himself from his actions as well as from his will and motives.

On the Godward side of our walk, the cleansing power of the Blood of Christ is needed (1 John 1:7) continuously for those who seek to walk in the light, cleansing themselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 7: 1).

Please drink in the first four devotions this month from the pen of Charles Spurgeon. They are incredibly encouraging and uplifting to one engaged in spiritual warfare. It seemed beneficial as a prelude to the continuation of the subject of warfare against unbelief.

Pastor Bill

Psalm 78:8-9 (NASB)
⁸ And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
⁹ The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

The question I expect from a true Christian reader now is not how to escape these troubles, but how to get this shoe on so you can wade through them in true peace with cheerfulness. It is right for the Christian soldier to ask for armor so he can fight the good fight; but the coward throws down his protection and asks which way he can run. Now I will give you the best counsel I can in the wearing of the spiritual shoe.

Examine the sincerity of your obedience. The same sound motives which take a Christian into Christ’s service will guide him through suffering whenever God calls for that to happen. When the children of Ephraim took the field they were fully armed but “turned back in the day of battle” (Psalm 78:9). This seems strange until you read the preceding verse– they were “a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God” (v. 8).

Soldiers can wear a complete suit of armor and live in a castle whose foundation is rock and whose walls are brass, yet if their hearts are not right with the prince, the slightest storm will throw open the gate and drive them from their place of duty. Sincerity is the only bolt that holds the gate secure.

We have all seen how honest hearts with very little support from without have held the town, while no walls have been thick enough to defend against treachery and the betraying of trust. Ask yourself why you practice Christianity as you do. If faith’s working hand is sincere then its fighting hand will be valiant. The power of faith which enabled saints in days of old to “work righteousness”– that is, to live holy lives– is evidenced by the sufferings they endured. “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword” (Hebrews 11:33-34).

William Gurnall



1) The Necessity of Perseverance for Salvation

First, (according to Hebrews 12:14) there is a holiness without which we will not see the Lord. There are professing Christians who live such disobedient lives that they will hear Jesus say (according to Matthew 7:23), “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.” There are church-attending people who believe that they are saved because they prayed to receive Jesus once, not realizing that the proof of the genuineness of that prayer is perseverance. As Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, “He who endures to the end will be saved.” Paul says to professing believers, “If you live according to the flesh you will die (Romans 8:13). I do not want you to come to Bethlehem for 10 or 20 or 30 years and then spend eternity in hell because you never learned to fight the fight of faith and persevere in holiness. That is the first reason I am preaching this series.

2) The Wrong Way to Pursue Holiness

The second reason is that there is a way to pursue holiness that backfires and leads to death. What a tragedy, if I could persuade you from Scripture that there is a holiness without which we will not see the Lord, only to have you start fighting for it in a way that is denounced in Scripture and doomed to failure! Romans 9:31 says, “Israel, even though she pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain that law. Why? Because she did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.” Which it isn’t!! Practical, daily righteousness is attained when the law is pursued by faith not by works. “Works” is the warfare of righteousness unempowered by faith in the satisfying, liberating promises of God. So the second reason I am preaching this series is that I am so concerned that we learn to fight for holiness by faith and not by works.

3) God’s Glory in Our Perseverance

The third reason for the series is that I want God to be glorified in our pursuit of holiness and righteousness and love. But God is not glorified in our pursuit unless we are empowered by faith in his promises. And so unless we learn how to fight the fight of faith, we may achieve remarkable religious and moral heights, but not for God’s glory. He is glorified when he is trusted (Romans 4:20). He is glorified when the power to be holy comes from our delight in his promises. Since this is Reformation Sunday, it’s fitting that we let Martin Luther speak on this great truth:

Faith honors him whom it trusts with the most reverent and highest regard since it considers him truthful and trustworthy. There is no other honor equal to the estimate of truthfulness and righteousness with which we honor him whom we trust . . . When the soul firmly trusts God’s promises, it regards him as truthful and righteous, and whatever else should be ascribed to God. The very highest worship of God is this, that we ascribe to him truthfulness, righteousness, and whatever else should be ascribed to one who is trusted. (Freedom of a Christian, in Dillenberger collection, p. 52)

And so our great desire in this series is that we learn how to live for God’s honor, and that means living by faith in God’s promises, and that means battling unbelief in all the different ways it rears its head in our hearts, including covetousness.

John Piper

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:6–12

3. Feeling Shame for Something We Didn’t Do

Finally, the last instance of battling shame is the instance where others try to load us with shame for evil circumstances when in fact we had no part in dishonoring God.

It happened to Jesus. They called him a winebibber and a glutton. They called him a temple destroyer. They called him a hypocrite: He healed others, but he can’t heal himself. In all this the goal was to load Jesus with a shame that was not his to bear.

The same with Paul. They called him mad when he defended himself in court. They called him an enemy of the Jewish customs and a breaker of the Mosaic law. They said he taught that you should sin that grace may abound. All this to load him with a shame that it was not his to bear.

And it has happened to you. And will happen again. How do you battle this misplaced shame? By believing the promises of God that in the end all the efforts to put us to shame will fail. We may struggle now to know what is our shame to bear and what is not. But God has a promise for us in either case:

Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. (Isaiah 45:17; 49:23)

No one who believes in the Lord will be put to shame. (Romans 10:11; 9:33)

In other words, for all the evil and deceit judgment and criticism that others may use to heap on us a shame that is not ours to bear, and for all the distress and spiritual warfare it brings, the promise stands sure that they will not succeed in the end. All the children of God will be vindicated. The truth will be known. And no one who banks his hope on the promises of God will be put to shame.

John Piper

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:6–12

And that is the way every one of us must battle the effects of a well-placed shame that threatens to linger too long and cripple us. We must battle unbelief by taking hold of promises like,

There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. (Psalm 130:4)

Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6)

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)

Every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. (Acts 10:43; 13:39)

2. Feeling Shame for Something That Glorifies God

The second instance of battling shame is the instance of feeling shame for something that is not even bad but in fact glorifies God—like Jesus or the gospel.

Our text shows how Paul battled against this misplaced shame. In verse 12 he says, “Therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”

Paul makes very clear here that the battle against misplaced shame is a battle against unbelief. “I am not ashamed FOR I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED AND I AM SURE OF HIS KEEPING POWER.” We fight against feelings of shame in Christ and the gospel and the Christian ethic by battling unbelief in the promises of God. Do we believe that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation? Do we believe that Christ’s power is made perfect in our weakness? The battle against misplaced shame is the battle against unbelief in the promises of God.

John Piper

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:6–12

Ezekiel 43:10 (NASB) “As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. ”

God says Israel ought to feel shame for its iniquities. Sin is always a proper cause for shame because sin is behavior that dishonors God.

(See also Romans 6:21; 2 Thessalonians 3:14 for more instances of well-placed shame.)

We can conclude from all these texts that the biblical criterion for misplaced shame and for well-placed shame is radically God-centered.

The biblical criterion for misplaced shame says, don’t feel shame for something that honors God, no matter how weak or foolish or wrong it makes you look in the eyes of men. And don’t feel shame for bad circumstances where you don’t share in dishonoring God.

The biblical criterion for well-placed shame says, DO feel shame for having a hand in anything that dishonors God, no matter how strong or wise or right it makes you look in the eyes of men.

Now how do you battle this painful emotion called shame? The answer is that we battle it by battling the unbelief that feeds its life. And we fight for faith in the promises of God that overcome shame and relieve us from its pain.

Three Instances of Battling Misplaced Shame

Let me illustrate with three instances.

1. When Well-Placed Shame Lingers Too Long

In the case of well-placed shame for sin the pain ought to be there but it ought not to stay there. If it does, it’s owing to unbelief in the promises of God.

For example, a woman comes to Jesus in a Pharisee’s house weeping and washing his feet. No doubt she felt shame as the eyes of Simon communicated to everyone present that this woman was a sinner and that Jesus had no business letting her touch him.

Indeed she was a sinner. There was a place for true shame. But not for too long. Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48). And when the guests murmured about this, he helped her faith again by saying, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (v. 50).

How did Jesus help her battle the crippling effects of shame? He gave her a promise: “Your sins are forgiven! Your faith has saved you. Your future will be one of peace.” So the issue for her was belief. Would she believe the glowering condemnation of the guests? Or would she believe the reassuring words of Jesus that her shame was enough? She’s forgiven. She’s saved. She may go in peace.

John Piper

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:6–12

Well-Placed Shame

The same God-centeredness will be seen if we look at some texts that illustrate well-placed shame.

1 Corinthians 15:34 (NASB) “Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”

Here Paul says that these people ought to feel shame. “I say this to your shame.” Their shame would be well-placed if they saw their deplorable ignorance of God and how it was leading to false doctrine (no resurrection) and sin in the church. In other words well-placed shame is shame for what dishonors God—ignorance of God, sin against God, false beliefs about God.

1 Corinthians 6:5 (NASB) “I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren,”

The Christians were going to secular courts to settle disputes among themselves. Paul rebukes them.

I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no man among you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood?

Again he says they should feel shame: “I say this to your shame.” Their shame would be well-placed because their behavior is bringing such disrepute upon their God as they fight one another and seek help from the godless to settle their disputes. A well-placed shame is the shame you feel because you are involved in dishonoring God.

And let’s not miss this implication: these people were trying their best to appear strong and right. They wanted to be vindicated by men. They wanted to be winners in court. They didn’t want anyone to run over them as though they had no rights. That would look weak and shameful. So in the very act of wanting to avoid shame as the world sees it, they fell into the very behavior that God counts shameful.

The point is: when you are dishonoring God, you ought to feel shame, no matter how strong or wise or right you are in the eyes of men.

John Piper

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:6–12

Romans 1:16 (NASB) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

The reason shame in the gospel would be a misplaced shame is that the gospel is the very power of God unto salvation. The gospel magnifies God and humbles man. And so to the world the gospel doesn’t look like power at all. It looks like weakness (asking people to be like children and depend on Jesus, instead of standing on their own two feet). But for those who believe it is the power of almighty God to save sinners.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NASB) Jesus said (to Paul), And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ”

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly exult in my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Now ordinarily weaknesses and insults are occasions for shame. But for Paul they are occasions for exultation. Paul thinks that shame in his weaknesses and shame at insults and persecutions would be misplaced shame. Why? Because the power of Christ is perfected in Paul’s weakness.

I conclude from all these texts that the biblical criterion for misplaced shame is radically God-centered. The biblical criterion says, don’t feel shame for something that honors God no matter how weak or foolish it makes you look in the eyes of unbelievers.

John Piper

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:6–12

Misplaced Shame

2 Timothy 1:8 (NASB) “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

What this text says is that if you feel shame for testifying about Jesus, you have a misplaced shame. We ought not to feel shame for this. Christ is honored when we speak well of him. And he is dishonored by fearful silence. So it is not a shameful thing to testify, but a shameful thing not to.

Secondly the text says that if you feel shame that a friend of yours is in trouble (in this case: prison) for Jesus’ sake, then your shame is misplaced. The world may see this as a sign of weakness and defeat. But Christians know better. God is honored by the courage of his servants to go to prison for his name. We ought not to feel shame that we are associated with something that honors God in this way, no matter how much scorn the world heaps on.

Mark 8:38 (NASB) “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Shame is misplaced when we feel it because of the person or the words of Jesus. If Jesus says, “Love your enemies,” and others laugh and call it unrealistic, we should not feel ashamed. If Jesus says, “Fornication is evil,” and liberated yuppies label it out of date, we should not feel shame to stand with Jesus. That would be misplaced shame because the words of Jesus are true and God-honoring, no matter how foolish the world may try to make them look.

1 Peter 4:16 (NASB) “but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”

Suffering and being reproached and made fun of as a Christian is not an occasion for shame, because it is an occasion for glorifying God. In other words in the Bible the criterion for what is well-placed shame and what is misplaced shame is not how foolish or how bad you look to men, but whether you in fact bring honor to God.

This is so important to grasp! Because much of what makes us feel shame is not that we have brought dishonor on God by our actions, but that we have failed to give the appearance that other people admire. Much of our shame is not God-centered but self-centered. Until we get a good handle on this, we will not be able to battle the problem of shame at its root.

John Piper

Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:6–12

Let’s start with a dictionary definition of shame. Shame is the painful emotion caused by a consciousness of guilt or shortcoming or impropriety. Let me illustrate those causes:

1)  First, the cause of guilt. Suppose you act against your conscience and withhold information on your tax returns. For a couple years you feel nothing because it has been put out of your mind, and you weren’t caught. Then you are called to account by the IRS and it becomes public knowledge that you lied and you stole. Your guilt is known. Now in the light of public censure you feel the pain of shame.

2)  Or take the cause of shortcoming. In the Olympics suppose you come from a little country where you are quite good in the 3,000-meter race. Then you compete before thousands of people in Seoul, and the competition is so tough that by the time the last lap comes up, you are a whole lap behind everyone else, and you must keep running all by yourself while everyone watches. There’s no guilt here. But the humiliation and shame could be intense.

3)  Or take the cause of impropriety. You are invited to a party and you find out when you get there that you dressed all wrong. Again, no evil or guilt. Just a social blunder, an impropriety that makes you feel foolish and embarrassed.

One of the things that jumps right out at you from this definition of shame is that there is some shame that is justified and some that isn’t. There are some situations where shame is exactly what we should feel. And there are some situations where we shouldn’t. Most people would say that the liar ought to be ashamed. And most people would probably say that the long distance runner who gave it his best shot ought not to feel ashamed. Disappointment would be healthy, but not shame.

Let me illustrate from Scripture these two kinds of shame. The Bible makes very clear that there is a shame we ought to have and a shame we ought not to have. I’m going to call the one kind, “misplaced shame” and the other kind “well-placed shame.”

Misplaced shame (the kind we ought not to have) is the shame you feel when there is no good reason to feel it. Biblically that means the thing you feel ashamed of is not dishonoring to God; or that it IS dishonoring to God, but you didn’t have a hand in it. In other words, misplaced shame is shame for something that’s good—something that doesn’t dishonor God. Or it’s shame for something bad but which you didn’t have any sinful hand in. That’s the kind of shame we ought not have.

Well-placed shame (the kind you ought to have) is the shame you feel when there is good reason to feel it. Biblically that means we feel ashamed of something because our involvement in it was dishonoring to God. We ought to feel shame when we have a hand in bringing dishonor upon God by our attitudes or actions.

It is important to see God is in this distinction concerning shame. Whether we have a hand in honoring God or dishonoring God makes all the difference. If we want to battle shame at the root, we have to know how it relates to God. And we DO need to battle shame at the root—all shame. Because both misplaced shame and well-placed shame can cripple us if we don’t know how to deal with them at the root.

Matthew 6:25–34

Let me close by using some illustrations how battling unbelief overcomes anxiety.

Here in our text we have the illustration of anxiety over food and clothing. Even in our country with its extensive welfare system, anxiety over finances and housing can be very intense. But Jesus says in verse 30 that this is owing to unbelief: “O you of little faith.” And so this paragraph has at least half a dozen promises in it to battle that unbelief.

For example at the end of verse 32 he says, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” That is a spectacular promise. In everything you do at home and at work, put God’s purposes first, and he will provide all you need to live for his glory. Believe that promise, and financial anxiety will evaporate in the warmth of God’s care.

Paul applied the promise to anxiety in Philippians like this. In 4:6 he says just like Jesus, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God.” And then in 4:19 he gives the promise like Jesus, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” And so we follow today the pattern of Jesus and Paul. We battle the unbelief of anxiety with the promises of God:

• When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).
• When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, “If God is for us who can be against us!” (Romans 8:31).
• When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise that “tribulation works patience, and patience approvedness, and approvedness hope, and hope does not make us ashamed” (Romans 5:3-5).
• When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).
• When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself; if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living” (Romans 14:9-11).
• When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promise, “He who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:6). “He who calls you is faithful. He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). “He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

So I urge you in your warfare, take up the book of God, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and battle on.

Matthew 6:25–34

My answer to this concern goes like this: Suppose you are in a car race and your enemy who doesn’t want you to finish the race throws mud on your windshield. The fact that you temporarily lose sight of your goal and start to swerve does not mean that you are going to quit the race. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you are on the wrong racetrack. Otherwise the enemy wouldn’t bother you at all. What it means is that you should turn on your windshield wipers and use your windshield washer.

What I mean is this: when anxiety strikes and blurs our vision of God’s glory and the greatness of the future that he plans for us, this does not mean that we are faithless, or that we will not make it to heaven. It means our faith is being attacked. At first blow our belief in God’s promises may sputter and swerve. But whether we stay on track and make it to the finish line depends on whether we set in motion a process of resistance. Whether we fight back against anxiety, will we turn on the windshield wipers and will we use our windshield washer?

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee.” Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.

For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” It does NOT say, you will never feel any anxieties to cast onto God. It says, when the mud splatters your windshield and you lose temporary sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.

So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. The issue is how you deal with them.

And the answer to that is: you deal with anxieties by battling unbelief. And you battle unbelief by meditating on God’s Word and asking for the help of his Spirit. The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief. And the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit.

Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit the wipers of the Word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief. Both are necessary—the Spirit and the Word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our belief grows strong and the swerving of anxiety smoothes out.

John Piper

Matthew 6:25–34

Now I can think of two kinds of disturbed responses to this truth. Let me tell you what they are and then give a biblical response before we go on to the battle against the unbelief of anxiety.

1. “This Is Not Good News!”

One response would go like this: This is not good news! In fact it is very discouraging to learn that what I thought was a mere struggle with an anxious disposition is in fact a far deeper struggle with whether I believe God or not.

Now my response to this is to agree but then to disagree. Suppose you had been having pain in your stomach and had been struggling with medicines and diets of all kinds to no avail. And then suppose that your doctor tells you after a routine visit that you have cancer in your small intestine. Would that be good news? You say, emphatically not! And I agree.

But let me ask the question another way: Are you glad that the doctor discovered the cancer while it is still treatable, and that indeed it can be very successfully treated? You say, yes, I am very glad that the doctor found the real problem. Again I agree.

So the news that you have cancer is not good news because having cancer is good. It is good news because knowing what is really wrong is good news, especially when it can be treated successfully.

That’s what it’s like to learn that the real problem behind anxiety is unbelief in the promises of God. It’s not good news because the cancer of unbelief is good. It’s good because KNOWING WHAT IS REALLY WRONG is good, especially because unbelief can be treated so successfully by our great physician.

So I want to stress that finding out the connection between our anxiety and our unbelief is in fact very good news, because it is the only way to begin the battle with the real cause of our sin and get the victory that God can give us by the therapy of his Word and his Spirit.

2. “How Can I Have Any Assurance at All?”

There is another possible response to the truth that our anxiety is rooted in our unbelief in God’s promises. It goes like this: I have to deal with feelings of anxiety almost every day; and so I feel like my belief in God must be totally inadequate. So I wonder if I can have any assurance of being saved at all.

John Piper

Matthew 6:25–34

Now today’s text illustrates this with a specific evil condition of heart, namely, anxiety.

Stop for a moment and think how many different sinful actions and attitudes come from anxiety. Anxiety about finances can give rise to coveting and greed and hoarding and stealing. Anxiety about succeeding at some task can make you irritable and abrupt and surly. Anxiety about relationships can make you withdrawn and indifferent and uncaring about other people. Anxiety about how someone will respond to you can make you cover over the truth and lie about things. So if anxiety could be conquered, a lot of sins would be overcome.

But what is the root of anxiety? And how can it be severed? To answer that we go to our text in Matthew 6. Four times in this text Jesus says that we should not be anxious.

1. Verse 25: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.”

2. Verse 27: “And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his

span of life?”

3. Verse 31: “Therefore do not be anxious.”

4. Verse 34: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow.”

The verse that makes the root of anxiety explicit is verse 30: “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothes you, O men of little faith?” In other words Jesus says that the root of anxiety is lack of faith in our heavenly Father. As unbelief gets the upper hand in our hearts, one of the results is anxiety.

So when Hebrews says, “Take heed lest there be in you an evil heart of unbelief,” it includes this meaning: “Take heed lest there be in you an ANXIOUS heart of unbelief.” Anxiety is one of the evil conditions of the heart that comes from unbelief. Much anxiety, Jesus says, comes from little faith.

This is the kind of connection we are going to see again and again in the weeks to come. The root of a sinful condition of the heart is unbelief in the living God.

John Piper

Matthew 6:25–34

Let me hang a bridge between yesterday’s text and our concern today with the unbelief of anxiety. In Hebrews 3:12 it says, “Take care, brethren, lest their be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, leading you to fall away from the living God.” And verse 14 says, “For we have shared in Christ, if we hold our first confidence firm to the end.”

In other words the evidence that you have come to share in Christ—that you are united to him in saving faith—is that you hold that confidence firm to the end. Perseverance in faith is necessary for salvation. When a person is truly converted, the heart is changed so that now life is lived by faith (Galatians 2:20).

The new birth introduces a person into a life of warfare. That warfare is called the “fight of faith” in 2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Timothy 6:12. And here in Hebrews 3:12 it is called the battle against unbelief. “Take care [that's the vigilance of battle], brethren, lest there be in you and evil heart of unbelief [there's the enemy in the warfare], leading you to fall away from the living God [there's the warning against not taking the warfare seriously].”

In other words the most basic battle of our life is the battle to believe in the living God, and not to allow our heart to become an evil heart of unbelief. Because if unbelief in the living God gets the upper hand in our life, then the result can be a hardening that makes us unwilling to repent and thus cuts us off from the grace of God.

Now this will not happen to those who are truly in Christ. Those who are truly born of God take the battle seriously, and draw on the power of God to fight it, and win it with persevering faith. That is what God promises. “He who calls you is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

The bridge, then, that I want to hang between last week’s text and this week’s text is the truth that beneath our battle against evil in our heart is the battle against unbelief. Unbelief is the root of evil and the essence of evil. All our sinning grows out of unbelief in the living God and what he has said to us in Scripture.

John Piper

Hebrews 10:19-25

4. Empowering to Love

Make your meeting together with believers a meeting specifically for the empowering to love. Empowering to love.

Don’t be unintentional when you get together. Don’t just say, Christian fellowship is good, so we are going to get together and talk. It is good. And talking is wonderful. But the stakes are too high these days to be that casual and lackadaisical about your gathering.

Verse 24 says, “Consider one another in order to stir each other up to love and good works” (literal translation). There is a clear goal. We are meeting so that when we leave, we will have more power to love, more resources to love, more motivation to love, more wisdom to love and do good works, so that people will see our good works, as Jesus said, and give glory to our Father in heaven. The visible glory of God is at stake.

And not only is there a clear goal, there is a kind of urgent intentionality. The word “Consider” suggests that we come on the look out for how we can specifically help other people get power to love. So the fourth point is: Be intentional in your coming together. Aim at empowering each other to love and good works.

5. Strengthening Faith in the Promises of God

The last point is in answer to the question: How do you empower another person to love and good works? What is the root of love? What is the root of all righteousness and truly good deeds? The answer is belief in the promises of God. So the fifth point is: Make the main basic goal of every small group to strengthen faith in the promises of God.

This is implied in verse 23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love . . . ” So these two things are very closely related: stirring each other up to love, and helping each other hold on to hope in the promises of God.

How do you empower someone to love and good deeds in spite of all the obstacles they will run into at home and work? Answer: build their hope in the promises of God. Love grows on the taproot of BELIEF in the promises of God.

Notice carefully: the target of our exhorting one another is twofold. First, in Heb. 3:12 it is the evil heart of unbelief. We should do all we can to help each other battle unbelief in our heart. It is evil and it can lead us to fall away from the living God. Second, in verse 13 the target of our exhorting is the deceitfulness of sin: ” . . . that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

A heart of unbelief gives rise to sin. And sin is the opposite of love. We must help each other BATTLE UNBELIEF. We must help each other fight the fight of faith. None of us is above this need.

John Piper

Hebrews 10:19-25 – Pt. 2

2. Avoiding the Habit of Not Meeting

The second point is, don’t get into the habit of not meeting.

This is almost the same as point #1, but verse 25 seems to give it a special stress. So I want to too. It says, “Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” The warning here is that not meeting with other Christians in this way can become habitual. Ask yourself right now: Are you in the habit of only coming to more or less anonymous, bigger meetings of the church where there doesn’t have to be much personal interaction or accountability? Does that pattern of life feel comfortable now?

Many of you would have to answer, Yes. Why? Because it is now a habit. It’s what you are comfortable with. In fact it is so much your normal way of looking at the Christian life that what I am saying right now is threatening to you. You do not want to be told that the Bible insists that you are outside the Lord’s will when you do not meet in some kind of smaller group intentionally designed to stir you up to love and good works.

So my second point is: Don’t get into this habit of not meeting in this way. And if you are in that habit now, resolve to break it this year.

3. Increasing Frequency and Seriousness

The third point is that the frequency and seriousness of your meetings should increase as the Day of Judgment draws near.

At the end of verse 25 it says, ” . . . and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” That’s the Day of Christ’s coming and the end of the age. The stresses and troubles and dangers are going to increase as history comes to a close. There will be greater satanic activity, greater evil, greater threats to your faith and love.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:11-12, “Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold.” That’s why we better take this word of Hebrews 10:25 very seriously in our day. If your love is going to survive the onslaught of Satan and evil, you must meet with those who can stir you up to love and good works. Woe to the person who thinks they can be a lone wolf Christian as the last Day draws near.

Let’s make our meeting for prayer and exhortation be more frequent and more serious and urgent as we see the gathering storm of tribulation and evil.

John Piper

Hebrews 10:19-25

That’s the second thing to say about belief: it produces fruit in our lives. Belief in the promises of God is not a dead and fruitless thing. What you bank on for happiness controls your life.

The last thing to say is just a sentence for now. In order to keep on believing in the promises of God and bearing the fruit of faith, we have to battle unbelief every day. Becoming a Christian is the beginning of the battle not the end. Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold on eternal life to which you were called.”

In order to persevere to eternal life, we must fight the good fight of faith (1 Corinthians 15:2; Colossians 1:23; Hebrews 3:14). That’s the battle we are going to study for the next 14 weeks.

And I believe that God has appointed this study for us because he loves us and because he aims to bring some great victories to our lives and to our church. The reason I believe this is because of the promise of 1 John 5:4, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.”

Now let’s look at our text in Hebrews 10:24-25. I want to make five brief points from these two verses.

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

1. Meeting Together

We are commanded to meet together.

The kind of meeting in view seems to be one that allows for some kind of mutual encouragement and stirring up of one another. It is not talking about merely sneaking into a big church service and sneaking out again. It’s talking about the kind of meeting where you say something to someone that will help them be more loving and where someone can say something to you that will help you be more loving, and help you have strength to more good deeds.

Coming to worship on Sunday morning—as important as that is—is not enough. God means for us to face each other so that we can exhort and encourage each other to press on. That is why meeting in smaller groups is essential

The first point, then, is MEET together more than Sunday AM.

John Piper

You can see this in our text. Right after extolling Abraham for believing the promises of God in verses 19-21, Paul says, “That is why his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness.” So how did Abraham get justified in God’s sight? Why did God look at this imperfect man and count him as righteous in his sight? Answer: because he believed the promises of God. It was future oriented faith that justified.

Now read on in the application to us. Verses 23-24, But the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord.

Notice! It does not say, “It will be reckoned to us who believe the past historical fact that God raised Jesus from the dead.” As utterly crucial as that is! It says, we will be reckoned righteous if we believe in God! Like Abraham believed in God! And this God is the kind of God who raised Jesus from the dead so that you can trust him! So that you will know that his Son ever lives to make intercession for you! So that you will know that he reigns in victory over all your enemies. So that you will know, as verse 17 says, that he gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. He can do anything! Nothing is impossible for God. Therefore he is absolutely trustworthy.

You don’t get justified by believing that Jesus died for sinners and rose again. You get justified by banking your hope on the promises that God secured and guaranteed for you through the death and resurrection of his Son. The faith by which God justifies us, forgives all our sins, reckons us righteous, is the experience of being satisfied that God will come through for you according to all his promises.

That’s the first thing I wanted to say about belief: it is future oriented; it means banking our hope for happiness on the promises of God secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The second thing I want to say about belief in the promises of God is that it produces what Paul calls the “work of faith.” Two times, once in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 and once in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 Paul refers to the “work of faith.” What he means is that there is a dynamic to this kind of faith that always changes the heart (Acts 15:9) and produces the works of love.

The clearest statement of this is Galatians 5:6, In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.

Faith is a power. It never leaves the life unchanged. It can’t, because what you bank your hope on always governs your life. If you bank your hope on money, if your bank your hope on prestige, if you bank your hope on leisure and comfort, if you bank your hope on power or success, it governs the choices you make and the attitudes you develop. And so does banking your hope on the promises of God day by day. Belief in the promises of God is the taproot of all righteousness and love.

When you bank your hope on the promises of God and on the presence of Jesus, you live differently. You bear the fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11).

John Piper

Abraham got the promise of God that he would have a son when he was 100 years old and Sarah was old and barren. His response, Paul says, glorified God.

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust [or: unbelief] made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

I hope you agree that one thing this text teaches is that we glorify God by believing his promises. Listen to Martin Luther, who got a hold on this truth so firmly.

Faith . . . honors him whom it trusts with the most reverent and highest regard since it considers him truthful and trustworthy. There is no other honor equal to the estimate of truthfulness and righteousness with which we honor him whom we trust . . . On the other hand, there is no way in which we can show greater contempt for a man than to regard him as false and wicked and to be suspicious of him, as we do when we do not trust him. (Selections, p. 59)

Trusting God’s promises is the most fundamental way that you can consciously glorify God. When you believe a promise of God, you honor God’s ability to do what he promised and his willingness to do what he promised and his wisdom to know how to do it.

Therefore if the goal of our church is to glorify God in all that we do, we must make it our aim in all that we do to battle unbelief. Because nothing dishonors God more than not to believe what he says. Or to put it positively, if our goal is to glorify God in all that we do, then we must make it our aim in all that we do to believe the promises of God. Because it was when Abraham believed the promise of God that God was glorified.

The first thing I want to say about this belief is this: Belief that honors God means banking our hope for happiness on the promises of God.

In other words belief is future oriented. It trusts God for something in the future, whether in eight hours or in 8,000 years. The function of past events (for example, the death and resurrection of Christ for our sins) is to support faith in the promises, which have to do with our future. Believing that Christ died for our sins once for all in the past and that he rose again is utterly crucial for salvation. But the reason it’s crucial is because the death and resurrection of Christ are the guarantee of God’s promises. People who say, “I believe that Christ died for my sins, and that he rose again from the dead,” but then don’t bank their hope on his promises day by day—those people don’t have faith that honors the God who justifies sinners.

John Piper

Note: Now we turn to the ministry of John Piper to specify the what we are battling against in the warfare against unbelief. Let’s learn to take up the armor of God!!!

²⁰ yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

Romans 4:20-21 (NASB)

The conviction behind this series is that all sins come from unbelief in the promises of God. All the sinful states of our hearts are owing to unbelief in God’s super-abounding willingness and ability to work for us in every situation of life so that everything turns out for our good. Anxiety, misplaced shame, indifference, regret, covetousness, envy, lust, bitterness, impatience, despondency, pride—these are all sprouts from the root of unbelief in the promises of God. Let me illustrate from a familiar text that tends to puzzle us.

When Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:10, “The love of money is the root of all evils,” what did he mean? He didn’t mean that there’s a connection between every sinful attitude and money—that money is always in your mind when you sin. I think he meant that all the evils in the world come from a certain kind of heart, namely, the kind of heart that loves money.

Now what does it mean to love money? It doesn’t mean to admire the green paper or the brown coins. To know what it means to love money you have to ask, What is money? I would answer that question like this: Money is simply a symbol that stands for human resources. Money stands for what you can get from man (not from God! “Ho everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. He who has NO MONEY come buy and eat!” Isaiah 55:1). Money is the currency of human resources.

So the heart that loves money is a heart that pins its hopes, and pursues its pleasures, and puts its trust in what human resources can offer. So the love of money is virtually the same as faith in money—belief (trust, confidence, assurance) that money will meet your needs and make you happy.

Therefore the love of money, or belief in money, is the flip side of UNBELIEF in the promises of God. Just like Jesus said in Matthew 6:24—you cannot serve God and money. You can’t trust or believe in God and money. Belief in one is unbelief in the other. A heart that loves money—banks on money for happiness, believes in money—is at the same time not banking on the promises of God for happiness.

So when Paul says that the love of money is the root of all evils, he implies that unbelief in the promises of God is the taproot of every sinful attitude in our heart.

John Piper

Satan begins with his more pleasant sins so that he may later entangle the victim more hopelessly. But the devil is too clever to lay his net of despair in the bird’s sight. Other sins are only the top cover, and once he flatters his prey into it, he has trapped him for eternity.

Despair, more than other sins, puts a man into a kind of possession of hell itself. As faith gives substance to the word of promise, so the cruelty of despair gives existence to the torments of hell in the conscience. This drains the spirit and makes the creature become his own executioner.

Despair puts a soul beyond all relief; the offer of pardon comes too late. Faith and hope can open a window to let out the smoke that offends the Christian in any circumstances. But the soul will be choked when it is fastened up within despairing thoughts of its own sins, and no crevice of hope is left for an outlet to the dread which smothers him.

Faith quenches the fiery dart of despair. The chief of Satan’s strengths is the greatness and multitude of a person’s sins, which he can use to bring a soul into such despair that he sees no way of escape from God’s verdict against them. When the conscience is breached and waves of guilt pour in upon the soul they soon drown all the creature’s efforts, as the great flood covered the tallest trees and highest mountains. And as nothing was visible then but sea and heaven, the despairing soul sees nothing except sin and hell. His sins stare him in the face as with the eyes of many devils, ready to drag him into the bottomless pit.

A mere fly dares to crawl over the sleeping lion, an animal whose awesome voice makes all beasts tremble when he is awake. Fools freely mock sin as soon as the eye of conscience is shut. But when God arms sin with guilt and lets this serpent sting the conscience, then the proudest sinner flees before it. Only faith handles sin in its fullest strength by giving the soul a glimpse of the great God.

William Gurnall

Romans 4:5 (NASB)

But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

Faith tells you that the whole virtue and power of Christ’s blood, by which the world was redeemed, is offered to you. And He personally brings it to you. Christ does not ration out His blood, some to one and some to another; but He gives His whole self to the faith of every believer. You belong to the Redeemer. And He is yours. Faith opposes despair.

The greatest command in the whole Bible is to believe. When the Jews asked our Lord Jesus, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” notice His reply: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:28-29). It is as if He ha said, “Receive me into your hearts by faith; do this, and you do it all.” This is the all in all. Everything you do is futile until this work is done; but when you have believed, God appreciates it as much as if you had kept the whole law. In fact, it is accepted in lieu of it: “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5).

This man’s faith in Christ is accepted for righteousness; that is, at the judgement he will escape the sentence as is he had never strayed a step from the path of the law. If faith is the work of God above all other, then unbelief is the work of the devil. He works harder to make men unbelievers than drunkards or murderers. And despair is unbelief at its worst. Unbelief among sins is as the plague among diseases, the most dangerous; but when it settles into despair, then it is like the plague which brings certain death with it. Unbelief is despair in the bud, but despair is unbelief at its full growth.

Every sin wounds the law and the name of God. But this wound is healed when the penitent sinner by faith comes to Christ and unites with Him. And through Christ God receives the sinner in the fullness of righteousness and vindicates His own name.

William Gurnall

Unbelief deserves as high a place among sins as faith has among graces. Unbelief is the Beelzebub, or prince of sins, which makes others sin. God branded Jeroboam as one “who did sin, and who made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 14:16). Unbelief is a sin-making sin.

The first poisonous breath which Eve took in from the tempter was sent in these words: “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1). It is as if he had said, “think about this now. Do you really believe God would keep back the best fruit in the whole garden from you?” This was the traitor’s gate whereby all other sins rushed into Eve’s heart; and even now Satan continues to hold this same gate wide open.

The devil sets up a blind of unbelief between the sinner and God so that he will not fear the Father’s warning and chastening aimed at his heart. Then once there is a barricade between him and these merciful bullets, the sinner can be bold with his lust. Unbelief not only diverts the bullets of wrath which are sent out of the law’s fiery mouth, but it also retards the actions of grace coming from the Gospel. All the offers of love which God makes to an unbelieving heart fall like sparks into a river; they are put out as soon as they fall into it.

“The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Hebrews 4:2). The secret of sin’s strong hold upon a person is unbelief. There is no mastering a sinner while unbelief overpowers him. This sin will break down all reasoning as easily as Samson did the doors and posts, bar and all, from the city of Gaza (Judges 16:3) . It is a sin which holds out last on the battle field, the one which the sinner is least aware of, and which the saint ordinarily conquers last. It is one of the chief fortresses to which the devil retreats when other sins are routed.

William Gurnall

Let’s  examine four devotions from Gurnall on the topic of unbelief.

The devil is a sworn enemy against true faith. He persecutes it in the cradle, as Herod did Christ in the manger; he pours a flood of wrath on it as soon as it announces its own birth by crying after the Lord. If your faith is legitimate, “Naphtali” may be its name, and you may say, “I have wrestled with Satan and with my own heart, and at last I have prevailed.” You know the answer Rebekah received when she asked God about the scuffle and striving of the children in her womb. “Two nations,” God told her, “are in thy womb” (Genesis 25:23). If you find strife in your soul, comfort yourself because of it, Christian. This dispute is from two contrary principles, faith and unbelief, which lust against each other; when your unbelief, which is the elder– no matter how hard it fights for mastery– shall serve faith, the younger.

Presumptuous faith lacks balance. It has one lame hand. It has a hand to receive pardon from God but no hand to give itself up to Him. But true faith has the use of both hands. “My beloved is mine”– there the soul takes Christ– “and I am His”– there she surrenders herself to His purposes (Song of Solomon 2:16). Have you ever freely given yourself to Him? Everybody professes this, but the presumptuous soul like Ananias, lies to the Holy Ghost by keeping back the most important part of what he promised to lay at Christ’s feet. The enjoyment of lust is entwined about his heart and he cannot persuade himself to deliver it up to God’s justice. His life is bound up in it, and if God will have it from him He must take it by force; there is no hope of gaining his consent. Is this the picture of your faith? If it is, you have blessed yourself in an idol; you have mistaken a bold face for a believing heart.

On the other hand, if you count it a privilege that Christ should have a throne in your heart, as you have a room in His mercy, you prove yourself a sound believer.

William Gurnall

Hebrews 3:19 (NASB) So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

A generation of people crossed the Red Sea and just a twelve day journey (Kadesh-Barnea) separated them from their destiny. Yet forty years later these cohorts died in the wilderness, frustrating the purpose for their lives. Why? The author of Hebrews clues us in – unbelief!! What is this phenomenon and its dangers?

Spiritual warfare against the flesh and the devil will always involve facets of unbelief. It is helpful here to define our terms. The Biblical use of the term ‘flesh’ in an ethical sense refers to the whole unregenerate man, spirit, soul and body, considered morally as centered upon self, prone to sin and opposed to God.

(Gen. 6:3, 13; Isa. 40:6; 49:26; 66:23-24; Rom. 8:1-7; Gal. 5:13-24; Eph. 2:3)

Now the secret of sin’s stronghold over individuals is unbelief. It is in the words of the great Puritan, William Gurnall, “the sin-making sin”. It is the “hiding place” for the devil.  The word (KJV) represents two Greek words, Pðåßèåéá, apeŒñtheia, “disobedience” (only in Romans 11:30, 32; Hebrews 4:6, 11), and Pðéóôßá, apistŒña, “distrust,” the antithesis to “faith”. The two words run into one another by where spiritual relations are concerned, as between man and God. For when God has spoken, in precept and yet more in promise, distrust involves, at least potentially, an element of disobedience. His supreme claim is to be trusted to command only what is right, and to promise only what is true.

Therefore, unbelief is the distrust of God that leads us to disobedience. Born in us at the Fall, it is manifested in a fierce independence from God combined with an intense determination to make life work. Perhaps this will cause us to see seriousness of unbelief – by unbelief we bear false witness against God. Warfare against flesh – a necessity to holiness – is a battle with unbelief. Please see the Topical Reference at the end of the devotions for a study of unbelief.

Pastor Bill

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 (MSG)
This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

Whether it is our preference or not, every believer must go into the ring with these enemies. They not only move in a general malice against the saints, but a very definitive spite against every son/daughter of the King. Consider this parallel: As the Lord delights in private communion with each His children, where mutual enjoyment occurs; the triad of enemies delights to challenge the Christian when alone. Let our church come to grips with this spiritual certainty – the whole issue of your spiritual destiny is personal and particular. Look – Satan hates you; Satan accuses you; Satan tempts you. On the other hand, we lose much comfort when we fail to appropriate God’s promises and providences as for our specific needs: God loves me, God pardons me, God takes care of me. The water supply for a city will do you absolutely no good unless you have plumbing to carry it to your house.

But why is this called wrestling you might ask? Because it is single combat: one-on-one; one opponent singles out another and exerts his whole strength & force against the other.  Each contestant must be shaken and tried until one or the other is proclaimed victorious.

How to wrestle might be the next question?

1) Invite God’s manifest Presence to stand behind you.

2) Ancient wrestlers used to anoint their body before a match to prevent a

handhold on some part of their body. Therefore, stay in training.

3) Use what advantages (more on this later) you have with wisdom;

And remember this: we are not called to immediately triumph over our enemies, but our calling is to carry the battle to the enemy. The state of grace is the commencement of this battle, not the culmination of it. Therefore, receive this word: “You are the wrestler – Christ is the Conqueror”. This is a place of rest for God’s people – we do not just beat the air. On earth we overcome to fight again. This is the way our life is. But when death comes – GOD STRIKES THE FINAL BLOW.

Pastor Bill

Hebrews 4:15-16 (NASB)

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Ÿ  This Triad Assails You Through Legalism

I am not selling cheap grace, but don’t sell me any cheap legalism either, because it abounds everywhere. Our tendency is to not only to be accused by the devil, but in our own arguments, he wears us out against ourselves. The Lord calls us to come back to Him. Check this out: God does not receive Satan into His court with arguments or accusations; Satan has no case to make here. The only place he can make his case is in the privacy of your own soul, and when the facts of what he presents are true—you are indeed caught in the web of serious bondage in habit or practice in your life—you need to come to the Cross, not only as a place of repentance, but with it, into the immediate entry of the love of God.

I weary over the judgments of well-meaning people has done to the mindset of the living Church. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever—and so are the Pharisees. That one coming in Pharisee garb to accuse you is a part of the “triad of enemies”.

The summons is ‘Bring it to the Lord’. Not only to the Cross in repentance, but to the Lord for an embrace. Abraham returned to place he had earlier called upon the Lord and began to rebuild the altar. Come to the Cross for freedom from what has worn you through in the struggle, and from what now the adversary can successfully accuse you of. If God would not cast you away when you came as a hell-bent sinner, He won’t cast you away though you are a stumbling, failing servant. Come to Him and receive of His love and embrace; don’t let these enemies successfully war against your mind with accusation.

Pastor Bill

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

Revelation 12:10 (NASB)

Ÿ  This Triad Will Point The Finger At Your Record In

God’s Sight

Though none of the triad have any actual realm of dominion, their success is in constantly sustaining a lie. Sometimes we can find ourselves buying into the case these enemies makes against you.  A sequence of altar-like experiences occurs in Abraham’s life (Genesis 12-22). These were landmark events. They are places of both surrender and warfare—places where Abraham is surrendering to God, and that surrender is being tested in conflict with the devil, flesh and the world. There is an unfolding revelation happening in a man who is coming to know God at greater and deeper dimensions.

A delicate balance exists between the difficult times we face pressing on through the struggles, and the triumph happening by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the last part of Genesis 12, Abraham has an encounter with circumstances that cause him to opt to go to Egypt for a season. He doesn’t ask God for direction; instead of trusting God who said This is the land, he just decides to solve the problem of a temporary famine by going somewhere else where there is food. It’s while he’s in Egypt that there is such a compromise of everything that would characterize faith.

Have you ever had the Lord tell you what to do, and then thought, Okay, but right now I have another problem to deal with, and I’ll come back later and do it. We go our own way doing something that’s not necessarily evil, but it is undirected by God. Have you ever tried to take care of your own problem and got yourself into another one? Abraham does some dumb stuff when he gets to Egypt. The beauty of it is that the Lord delivers Abraham out of it, bringing him back better than he was before. Scripture says Abraham returned to the place of the altar.

When your record in God’s sight has been hampered by an excursion into the flesh, the summons of the Lord is to return to the One who loves you, who cares about you; to return in the confidence of His grace to you.

Pastor Bill

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Ÿ  This Triad of Enemies Argue Against Your Value In

God’s Design

The effort of the devil, unbelief and the world to break the back of God’s purpose in your own resolve will begin at this point.

The word speculations in this text has its root in the ancient Greek schools of philosophy where, after a person would pose their proposition, others would try to argue against it by breaking it down point by point. It’s related to the idea of something being erased, to wear down a proposition until it no longer exists. This constant friction would be like erasing pencil marks on paper over and over again until you finally tore through the paper.

This concept of dismantling the essence of an argument is at the root of this idea of spiritual warfare when it says destroying speculations. There is a steadfast enterprise of the “triad of enemies) that begins at the mental level, arguing against the case of God’s purpose in you. Arguing against the value that God places on your ministry, and against the substance of the commitment you made and against the likelihood of the vision or dream that was placed in your heart ever being fulfilled.

These disputes come in quiet moments, following a situation where it seems there would be something to argue, and starts rubbing on that point. The rubbing, the wear and tear on a person’s mind can bring tragic results. People become broken under constant assault that argues against their worth and value, not only to their perspective as an individual, but in the worth and value of what God sees in them.

Every priest has a sense of call. The specifics of it vary, but the call that God gives to each one of us is up for grabs in hell’s agenda, the strategies of the flesh and deceit of the world, every day. They will work in tandem to do anything to wear you down just a little more to suggest that this was a pipe dream or invention of your making. Have you ever found yourself wondering, Is this my idea or God’s? Why are things happening this way? Is it me? That’s it—there must be something wrong with me.

We are not talking about a casual pursuit of holiness; we’re talking about the bottom line issue. I listen to believers who say the reason they’re not seeing breakthrough is because, somehow, they haven’t done enough or they haven’t prayed enough. I do not argue against the disciplines and their ability to make our heart available, but there is a constant badgering from this triad that seeks to wear us down with such arguments.

Start the New Year to put yourself in contest with the greatest argument of all against them—the argument of Calvary. In the words of the classic song, I need no other argument, I need no other plea; it is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me. The Cross is the ultimate argument for the enormity of your personal value not only of your eternal soul, but of the ministry to which God called you.

Pastor Bill

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Ephesians 6:10 (NASB)

The three enemies in spiritual warfare are clearly defined by a devil, who is to be resisted; fleshly lusts (inspired by unbelief) that we must run from and a world that we must be crucified to. These are stances we are called to constantly maintain in this life. Such persistence requires the drawing out of Eph. 6:10 in our walk.

The admonition of Eph. 6:10, “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might”, leads us to the Lord as the source of our strength. Pragmatically, what is meant by this exhortation? Examine some of the resource possibilities:

Ÿ  One of the Lord’s names is “El” meaning The Strong One, The God who

removes obstacles – He is our strength in this battle.

Ÿ  We have a reservoir of grace, it lies like water at the bottom of a

well and must be primed by His Awakening Grace to ascend.

Ÿ  Renewing strength from heaven is available heaven daily for us as the

Spirit stretches Himself on our soul and kindles our affections.

Ÿ  The Spirit of Revelation will bring from the throne enlightenment for the

eyes of our heart.

Ÿ  The shield of faith extinguishes the flaming missiles intended to disable

us.

In a word – God, angels, and the saints already with the Lord are spectators rooting for us (Heb. 12:1) and rejoice joyfully from the sidelines of the cosmic Coliseum every time we defeat a temptation, overcome problems and regain lost ground from our enemies. All the while Savior stands with reserves waiting for action to relieve you at a moment’s notice. His heart leaps within Him as He sees and will not forget your faithfulness so when you come off the field, He will receive you joyously. Receive this and be uplifted, oh weary one! Let us welcome the showers of His strength for 2010.

Pastor Bill

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18

Let’s glance at the bold type phrases from Eph. 6:10-18:

Ÿ  be strong in the Lord…

Ÿ  Put on the full armor of God…

Ÿ  For our struggle…

Ÿ  take up the full armor of God…

Ÿ  all the flaming arrows of the evil one…

Ÿ  be on the alert…

Perhaps the analogy of warfare explains why so many profess Christ and yet so few are Christians; many who go out to battle with Satan in a cosmic Coliseum, but the landscape becomes littered with the ruin of their conscience and defeat of their personal life. The challenge to a courageous spirit, to faithfully obey God, here exceeds the bravery of the very best.

I encourage our congregation to begin 2010 petitioning God for a holy determination and bravery to follow Jesus Christ. Cowards will never win heaven. Let’s not make claim to His Royal Blood unless we can prove our lineage to this heroic spirit: to be holy in spite of flesh, the world and devils. Please receive strength and great encouragement in the awareness that your calling is heavenly – it is Divine – it is from the throne.

Three important parameters involving this topic which may take three months.  First, spiritual warfare does not take place in the recitation of neat little phrases or theological statements. It engages prayer with passion, praise declaring the reality that the Lord has given you the victory through Calvary, and you’re going to make a fresh assertion of it until the opposition are under your feet and the triumph of Jesus is established in your moment.

Secondly, spiritual warfare is a real issue. It was that struggle with passion at Calvary that provides the foundation for us to a) draw on its power and, b) apply it to the isolated private personal circumstances of our lives. When this is neglected or ignored, the triumph of Calvary hasn’t been brought to bear upon that situation. Please be aware, there will never be an advance of the Kingdom of our Lord, in our personal lives or as a church, without engaging in battle against flesh, the world and the devil.

Finally, holiness requires continual spiritual warfare if it is to be maintained (Owen). The flesh, the devil and the world will strive to drive us away from true Gospel holiness to something very less.

Therefore, we are to resist the devil (1 Pet. 5:8-9) by taking up the whole armor of God.

We are to ‘flee’ (abstain-NASB) from fleshly lusts making war on the soul (1 Peter 2:11).

And we are to overcome the world by a faith that believes Jesus is the Son of God (1 Jn. 5:4-5). Let’s not settle for lazy, slothful performances of duty and abstinence of some sins for 2010. Instead, may we move in the three Scriptures in this paragraph with great focus.

Pastor Bill