What Shall I Do With You?

“What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that goes early away."  Hosea 6:4

 

          God the Father agonizes over the fleeting love of the children of Israel.  They love him for a moment but their love is soon gone with the wind.  Their devotion to the Lord appears in the morning but vanishes in the evening.  God expresses his perplexity with the brevity of their love with an outburst of emotion:  “What shall I do with you?”  Fathers who have longed for the return of their wayward children and husbands who have grieved over the betrayals of their faithless wives will empathize with the agony of God’s unrequited love. 

 

          Although God seems to be at his wit’s end, he is sure of his unending love for his people.  He later exclaims, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim?  How can I hand you over, O Israel?  How can I make you like Admah?  How can I treat you like Zeboiim?  My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender” (Hosea 11:8).  God has set his electing love on his people and shall never hand them over to utter ruin.  His warm and tender compassion are the result of his unconditional love for his children. 

          The contrast between God’s love for Israel and Israel’s love for God couldn’t be clearer.  Israel’s love is like a mist.  God’s love is like a great mountain that shall never be moved.  Israel’s love is fleeting.  God’s love is eternal.  The passions of Israel rise and fall and change from one moment to the next yet God’s compassions never fail as they are new every morning.  The Husband’s steadfast love is unconditional, immutable, and faithful in spite of the Bride’s faithless whoredom. 

 

          Unregenerate members of the visible church may have a love for God that is present in the morning but gone in the evening.  They may appear to have spiritual graces for a season.  Time proves them wrong.  Wait until the evening to see the authenticity of their fruit.  True love for God is enduring love. 

          Even true believers must confess that our love for God is often fleeting.  What should we do when we discover that our love for God is like the morning mist?  We must look to God’s unconditional and enduring love for us.  We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19).  Love for God grows as it basks in the sunlight of God’s love for us.  We must keep ourselves in the love of God where we hear his agonizing compassion for his rebellious children.  “What shall I do with you?  How can I give you up?”  Throughout Hosea’s prophecy we see the sparkling diamond of God’s faithfulness against the black velvet of Israel’s whoredom.  Sin abounds; grace abounds all the more. 

          Let this also be a lesson for us who have people in our lives (spouses, children, friends, fellow Christians) who have gone astray.  We must continue to love them and never give up on them.  Our Eternal God has not given up on us even when we have hurt him most.  And like the loving father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son we must always race to welcome home the wayward son who has come to his senses by the grace of God. 

The cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ reminds us again and again of the full extent of God’s love.  “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  When we are disappointed with ourselves on account of our fickle love for God, let us look to Calvary.  God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all (Romans 8:32).  God could not and would not give up on his electing love for his chosen people.  So he gave his Son to make atonement for our sins and reconcile us to the Father.  No deeper love can we find but the love of God revealed in his crucified Son.  And it is only the ever-blowing wind of the Spirit of Christ that causes the glowing embers of our hearts to burst into flames that will never die even though they may flicker.

He Seemed To Be Joking

“So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ‘Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.’ But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.”  Genesis 19:14

 

          When Lot warned his sons-in-law about the coming destruction of wicked Sodom, they laughed because they did not think he was serious.  Since Lot seemed to be jesting, they did not act upon his exhortation to flee the city of destruction. 

We might speculate about why they thought Lot’s warning was a joke.  The text, of course, doesn’t tell us, but several possibilities emerge with a moment’s consideration.

          Lot’s sons-in-law may not have been serious men.  Some men are incapable of having a discussion unless sarcasm and ridicule are invited.  No topics—election or reprobation, heaven or hell, the reality of eternity, the certainty of a coming judgment day—make humor inappropriate in their eyes.  “Let the conversation be light,” they say.  “I like his preaching,” says another, “because he has such a good sense of humor.”  “No hellfire and brimstone.  Keep the people laughing.”  Did Lot’s sons-in-law laugh when the city went up in flames?

          Another possibility is that Lot’s sons-in-law may have been incredulous about the place of such fanciful subjects in friendly conversation.  Levity is a likely response to (perceived) fantasy.  Lot can’t be serious.  How could anyone be so foolish to believe that there is a righteous God in heaven who is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11) and will bring sure and certain judgment in his own time?  They may have doubted that God would judge Sodom seeing as there were other cities that were guilty of immorality that did not meet the same fate and considering that Sodom had enjoyed its sin for so long making it seem improbable that it would come to such ruin. 

          We cannot but think that Lot himself may not have been convincing in the way that he addressed his sons-in-law.  Was Lot persuaded in his heart that the report of the angels was true?  When he does leave the city, he lingers, which may indicate his indecision in the matter (Genesis 19:16).  Perhaps there was something about Lot’s tone that betrayed his lack of assurance.  Lot himself may have been known for telling jokes.  His sons-in-law simply may have thought that he was up to his usual antics. 

          Although we may speculate to no avail concerning why Lot’s sons-in-laws thought he was jesting, we can say with certainty that the reason that they did not flee the wicked city but perished in it along with the other sinners is because they did not think the coming judgment was to be taken seriously.  If sinners do not think that we are serious in our warnings about the coming judgment, then they will not respond in repentance and faith. 

There is no doubt that some sinners are foolish people who seem incapable of talking about eternity for even a single moment.  But if we shall spend eternity in either heaven or hell, the subject deserves more than a moment’s reflection.

  Others are unwilling to take such solemn subjects as anything more than the punch line of a bad joke.  Everything is trivial to them.  Laughter is commonplace among the sons of men; trembling is a rare virtue even among the sons of God.

Many are the occasions when preachers do not warn with the earnestness becoming the man of God who is convinced that God will do as he has said.  Sodom is wicked, and its destruction is not asleep.  Yet the preacher does not seem to believe what he preaches.  David Hume was once asked why he listened to the preaching of George Whitefield even though Hume did not believe.  Hume responded, “He does.”   

When we believe in the reality of the coming judgment (for the destruction of Sodom is an example of what shall happen to all the ungodly, 2 Peter 2:6), sinners will know that our warnings are not jokes but passionate pleas for them to flee the city of destruction and come to Christ in whom there is deliverance and life.  But do we seem to them to be joking?   

 

         

A Prayer for our Covenant Children

Our great covenant-keeping God who shows steadfast love to thousands of generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments (Ex. 20:6) and whose righteousness is upon our children’s children who love Him and remember to keep His commandments (Ps. 103:17-18), we come before You to pray for the children whom You have graciously given Your servants (Gen. 33:5).  May You find the godly offspring You seek from our marriages (Mal. 2:15)!  We plead Your promise to circumcise our hearts and the hearts of our offspring that we might love You with whole hearts (Deut. 30:6).  Grant our children to remember their Creator in the days of their youth (Eccl. 12:1), trust in You at their mothers’ breasts, be cast on You from birth (Ps. 22:9), be children of promise, not merely of flesh (Rom. 9:8), as we faithfully teach them the Scriptures from their infancy in order to make them wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15).  According to Your covenant mercies, may Your Spirit and Your Word never depart from the mouth of our offspring or our children’s offspring (Is. 59:21).  Give us one heart and one way that we may fear You forever, for our good and for the good of our children after us (Jer. 32:39).  Grant us that we might train up our children in the way that they should go so that they might never depart from the right way (Prov. 22:6).  May we love our children enough to discipline them rather than hating them by sparing the rod (Prov. 13:24).  Strengthen our fathers to command their children and households after them to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice (Gen. 18:19).  Help our fathers to teach diligently Your commandments to their children and talk of them when they sit at home, walk by the way, and when they lie down and rise (Deut. 6:7).  May they not provoke their children to anger but raise them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).  Keep us from hiding Your truth from our children but grant us to tell to the coming generation of Your glorious deeds and the wonders You have done (Ps. 78:4) so that they should set their hope in You and not forget Your works but keep Your commandments (Ps. 78:7).  Turn the hearts of our fathers to our children and our children to our fathers (Mal. 4:6).  Grant our mothers to look well to the ways of their households and not eat the bread of idleness (Prov. 31:27); Grant that their children call them blessed and husbands praise them (Prov. 31:28).  Although they are federally holy (1 Cor. 7:14), may our covenant children not presume that though they walk in the stubbornness of their hearts that they will not perish (Deut. 29:19) and may they never say, “We have Abraham as our father” (Lu. 3:8) in the presumption of unbelief and sin.  Bestow upon them Your grace so that they might become the sons of Abraham through faith (Gal. 3:7), as You produce a spiritual seed from our physical seed (Gen. 17:7).  Make them members of the covenant of grace in inward reality as well as outward form (Rom. 2:28-29)!  We pray for these things believing that Your promise is to us and to our children forever (Acts 2:39).  Hear us as we pray in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, Amen.     

The Covenant Family as a Means of Blessing

“For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Genesis 18:19

          When God called Abraham into his covenant of grace, he promised to bless all the families of the earth through him (Genesis 12:1-3).  God planned to accomplish this universal blessing by making his covenant with Abraham and his offspring:  “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Genesis 17:7).  Keeping in mind that God’s promises come to fruition in the lives of God’s people through the use of divinely-appointed means, Genesis 18:19 tells us that the means for making Abraham’s family a blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 18:18) is his leading his family in the ways of righteousness as a faithful head of his house. 

To put the matter succinctly, God’s choice of Abraham was both for the sake of his family (“that he may command his children and household after him to keep the way of the LORD”—Genesis 18:19) and for the sake of all families (“all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him”—Genesis 18:18). 

Thus we learn that the God-ordained means of blessing both our families and other families is for elect heads of houses to command their families to keep the ways of the Lord.  God chose Abraham and his family to be set apart from cities like Sodom and Gomorrah which were known in those days for their wickedness (Genesis 18:20-21).  Abraham and his family were to be known for righteousness and justice.

God loves making his covenant of grace not merely with isolated individuals but with whole families in successive generations.  And it is worth pointing out that this continues in the New Testament.  One example is the godly heritage of Timothy.  Paul writes, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (2 Timothy 1:5).  In this case, Timothy’s faith was the result of successive generations of faithful mothers (Timothy’s father was a Greek, but his mother was a Jewish believer—Acts 16:1).  Timothy had been trained in the Scriptures even from his infancy (2 Timothy 3:15).  

It is without question that God has saved many individuals apart from any connection to a covenant family, but God’s ordinary way of working is through the covenant family where heads of houses deliver the faith from one generation to another.  Many Christian men bewail the sin in society today, especially among our rebellious youth.  But if Christian husbands and fathers abandon their role to lead their families in righteousness, then what right do they have to deplore the wickedness of the surrounding society?  God’s plan for reaching our youth for Christ is not a youth group but a holy father.    

Although God’s dealings with Abraham were unique in many ways, as the father of the faith, his leadership in the home is instructive for Christian husbands and fathers today.  God has chosen men to lead their families in the ways of righteousness and justice.  Christian husbands must love and lead their wives in order to sanctify them as Christ loves and leads the Church in order to sanctify her (Ephesians 5:25ff).  Christian fathers must assume responsibility for the covenant nurture of their children.  “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). 

God has told us plainly how he plans to bless our families and all the families of the earth.  He does it through faithful covenant families whose homes are ruled in the ways of God.   

God’s plan to bless all the families of the earth is ultimately realized in Jesus Christ who is the offspring of Abraham (Galatians 3:16).  Thankfully, even if God did not plant you in a covenant family from your earliest days, he is able to plant you in Jesus Christ who is the source of all the blessings of Abraham.  And if God places us into the family of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ (for you are all sons of Abraham through faith in Christ—Galatians 3:7), then let us continue to walk in the footsteps of our forefather and command our households to walk in the ways of righteousness, holiness, and love.  The world and the next generation of believers will be the better for it.

When the Sermon is 'Over Your Head'

“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

2 Timothy 2:7

Sometimes pastors are told not to preach sermons that are ‘over the heads’ of the people.  This advice is only partially true.  Certainly pastors should seek to preach plainly to their people (Colossians 4:4) and speak to them according to their varying spiritual conditions (1 Thessalonians 5:14).  And it is certainly the case that pastors should not make their sermons so academic and intellectual that the average Christian in the congregation cannot understand (1 Corinthians 2:1, 4).  And it is without question that pastors must give milk to those who are babes in Christ and give solid food to the mature (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).  The problem is that congregations are mixed assemblies.  Both believers and unbelievers are present, as well as both spiritual infants and adults.  So if pastors always address the lowest common denominator, they will spiritually starve those who are growing in their faith and moving on to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1).  In point of fact, if pastors seek to ensure that they never preach a sermon ‘over the head’ of anyone, then their sermons will become very shallow indeed!  Since unbelievers are present in the congregation, should we preach only evangelistic sermons?  Surely not!  We should also expose the problem that acting on this principle would pose for preaching expositionally through books of the Bible.  God has diversified his revelation so that we encounter both milk and meat in his Word.  What shall preachers do when they come to texts that contain subjects and themes that are ‘above the heads’ of the spiritual infants in the congregation?  Should they ignore those themes and not preach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27)?  Of course not!  So we can see how foolish this advice can be if it is taken to mean that preachers should never preach a sermon that might be over the heads of some of those present in the congregation.  What I am concerned about in this post, however, is how Christians should respond to sermons when they conclude that the sermon is ‘over their head.’  For I am convinced that many Christians will inevitably come to that conclusion in the context of a healthy preaching ministry, and I am equally convinced that Christians often respond to this reality in unhealthy ways.  So here are some pointers. 

First of all, if you are listening to a sermon and come to the conclusion that it is ‘over your head,’ please do not get discouraged.  The pastor must preach to all levels of spiritual maturity, and if you are a new Christian or have only been a Christian for a short period of time, then it only stands to reason that some of the subjects he addresses will be new to your understanding and may seem ‘over your head.’  This does not necessarily mean that you are sinning in some way.  Spiritual infancy is a natural stage of a Christian’s development.  A baby is doing nothing wrong when it does not understand a mother’s instructions.  Of course, encountering a sermon that is over your head could mean that you are sinning.  It would mean that you are sinning if you do not understand it because you have been forsaking the assembly or not reading your Bible on a regular basis.  It should come as no surprise to you that you do not understand the preaching of the Bible if you only read the Bible on Sundays.  The Bible is God’s Word and our food.  We need to read it prayerfully and carefully every day in order to profit from the preaching of it.  When it comes to the preaching God’s Word, the pastor has a responsibility to make it as clear as he possibly can, and God will hold him accountable for that.  But we must not forget that the listener has a responsibility.  The listener must be preparing for the message by reading the Word, praying for understanding, and keeping free from all distraction during the delivery of the sermon.  Understanding what we are to believe about God and what duty he requires of us does not happen automatically and effortlessly.  We must keep our minds and hearts engaged in order to benefit from the sermon. 

Secondly, if you conclude that the sermon is ‘over your head,’ do not give up.  Many Christians have never been rebuked for their intellectual laziness.  For some reason it is easy for us to recognize physical laziness, but we easily overlook intellectual and spiritual laziness.  Sometimes we simply need to confess that we lack the mental discipline to attend to the Word.  Again, I am not detracting from the fact that God made every person different and that he made some people smarter than others.  But God calls every Christian to use the mind that he has given him to understand his truth.  God blesses us when we think through what he has revealed.  “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7).  We may not understand everything all at once, but we ought not to get discouraged by that.  And in our feelings of defeat, we ought not to give up pursuing the truth to the best of our ability with the help of the Holy Spirit.  When Christians do not understand a sermon, they can get frustrated or anxious or apathetic.  But this is not the response that we should have as disciples of Christ.  We should write down our questions and confusions and seek clarity.  We might ask the pastor for other passages of Scripture that might help us or other Christian books that we might read or other sermons we might hear.  The key is not to give up.  Even in a sermon that is tremendously deep, most pastors will include something in the sermon for every level of listener.  So listen diligently for something that you do understand and cling to that.  Do not worry that you may not understand everything; give thanks that you understand something.  Over time your spiritual wisdom and understanding will grow.

Thirdly, if the sermon is over your head, do not assume that the pastor is doing something wrong.  He may in fact be doing something wrong.  He has a responsibility before God to preach plainly and clearly and according to the different levels of the people.  He may be trying to be too academic.  He may be speaking in terms that only seminarians would understand.  He may be making intellectual assumptions of the people that are not true.  All of this requires prayer and care on the part of the preacher.  After all, he wants to be understood.  At the same time, it only stands to reason that at least some of his sermons, or some parts of his sermons, will be ‘over the heads’ of unbelievers and even spiritually immature believers.        

Fourthly, when you come to the conclusion that the sermon is over your head, seek out mature believers to help you understand the things of God more accurately.  Preachers are more than willing to answer questions about what they have preached or taught.  Other more mature Christians may be able to explain what was confusing to you.  The value of living in community is that we can assist each other in deepening our understanding of God’s truth.  “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).    

Spiritual growth begins when we recognize our poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:3).  This means that we must begin by acknowledging how much we do not know about God and his will for our lives.  When we come to God’s Word humbly confessing that we are ignorant of his truth, he will bless us with a deeper understanding throughout time.  We should not delude ourselves that it will happen overnight.  Nor should we give up and consign ourselves to failure, falsely thinking that we shall never move from milk to meat.  We should be patient as we develop and allow the Holy Spirit to continue his work in us by and with his Word in our hearts.

More Resources on Revelation

     As we near the end of our study of the book of the Revelation at Grace PCA, I want to provide a few more helpful resources on the subject of the Millennium from Revelation 20.  Previously, I have provided Revelation resources here. 

     Here are some links to a series of excellent articles on Amillennialism by Dr. Cornelis P. Venema:    

The Millennium is Now

The Binding of Satan

The Believer's Reign with Christ

Show Us the Father

“Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.’”  John 14:8-11

          Philip’s request represents the desire of every true believer in God.  “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”  Yet, at the same time, when this request is addressed to God incarnate, it is a case in missing the point.  Jesus responds, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”  Philip should have known that the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily (Colossians 2:9) and that although no one has ever seen God, he is the only God, who is at the Father’s side, who has made him known (John 1:18).  Jesus continues: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?”  Theologians call this reality the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son.  The oneness of the Father and Son does not obscure the distinction of their persons but highlights the union of their essence.  The Father and Son are one God; so they mutually indwell one another with regard to the union of nature between them.  To see the Son is to see the Father in the sense that they share the same divine essence.  Jesus is the invisible God made visible.  He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), the Word made flesh (John 1:14). 

          Jesus teaches his disciples that both his words and his works testify to his oneness with God the Father.  Verse 10b is key:  “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”  God the Father speaks through God the Son and confirms his own words with his supernatural works.  His miraculous works authenticated the divine origin of his message.  Although it is best to take the words of Jesus at face value, Jesus says, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (v. 11).  The works should strengthen our faith that the words of Jesus are the words of God.  This is why the miracles of Jesus are called “signs” in the Gospel of John.  They signify that Jesus is God’s Son and the source of eternal life.  John 20:30-31 says, “Now Jesus did many signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  Jesus shows us the Father.  If we want to know God the Father, then we must only look at Jesus Christ who makes him known to us.  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, who he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  This message of salvation “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:3-4). 

          The only way to a deeper knowledge and communion with God the Father is through God the Son.  We sing, “O come to the Father through Jesus the Son!”  If our hearts say, “Show us the Father,” let us look to Jesus who is revealed to us in the Scriptures.  We have sure and certain knowledge of God the Father in him for the Father is in him and he is in the Father.  To see him is to see the Father.  There is no more of the Father to be found outside of the Lord Jesus.  May God open the eyes of our hearts to see the true revelation of God the Father in the Lord Jesus who remains a distinct person from the Father yet shares in his same single and undivided divine essence!