Psalm 79 - 2009.01.31

"O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. " —Psalm 79:8-9

Psalm 78 includes a lengthy indictment of Israel for her wayward indifference to god's grace. His charge was, "…they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their tongues…their heart was not right with Him… (Ps. 78:36, 37)." It seems no accident that this next Psalm is a penitential Psalm born out of the distresses their sins had brought upon them.

While it is true that not all suffering is brought about by our sins, when suffering and affliction come we ought first to inquire whether we have grieved the Holy Spirit. In this instance the writer recognizes their sins as the reason for Israel's suffering and acknowledges, "We are brought very low." This, in fact, is the divine objective in chastening His people. Until we are brought low, we too often go our way indifferent to God and our accountability to Him. It is His mercy that cuts us down to size and reveals to us our true condition.

From that terrible, but potentially profitable position, there is elicited a cry, "Help us, O God of our salvation." A wise preacher once said, "He who would flee from God must flee to Him." When sin has brought us low, there is nowhere else to go but to turn to the God of all grace in repentance and faith (cf. I John 1:9). Happily, the Psalmist recognizes the cause, "…our former iniquities," and he knows where to go for the cure— "O God of our salvation."

What is more important, though, is his recognition of the proper concern; it is "for the glory of Thy name." As believers, it is vital that we recognize the implications of our misconduct. Writing to the Romans, Paul charged the disobedient Jew, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you [Rom. 2:24]." And what was true of the wayward Jew then is true of the disobedient Christian now. When our claim to faith in Christ is known in the community, the honor and glory of God is either abetted or abused by our conduct. That sin may bring disgrace to our name is very sad, but when our sin brings disgrace to His name, it is tragic.

The convicted believer cries, "Deliver us!" Sin brings bondage from which God alone can free us. But thankfully, He can deliver us, and desires to do so. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…" Unconfessed sin is a constrictor ever tightening its coils around its victim; confession allows God to destroy its power and release us from its deadly grip.

But, there is more: "Purge away our sins…" Sin is like an infectious disease that will not be cured until its root cause has been addressed. And happily, God wills to "cleanse us from all unrighteousness." It is not enough to be forgiven. Real deliverance demands that the inner corruption be removed so that the glory of God may be revealed in us, and this also God is able and willing to do when the heart cries out for it. The truly convicted sinner seeks not merely pardon, but purification.

Granted, perfection must await the day when we see Christ and are finally and fully "like Him." However, there is available to us now a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that can bring about an enduring practical holiness when our hearts are broken before Him and our motives are right. That relationship is defined by the apostle John as 'walking in the Light.' "But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin [I John 1:7]." And the motive is not the recovery of our reputation or relief of our chastening but, as noted above and reiterated here, "…for Thy name's sake."

How gracious and apt are the words of the Psalmist in the familiar, but I fear too lightly regarded 23rd Psalm: "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake [Ps. 23:3]." So be it!

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Presidential Inauguration (John 14) - 2009.01.24

Presidential Inauguration

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." — John 14:6

This past week was a momentous time, the significance of which compels me to turn aside from our perusal of Nuggets from the Psalms to take note of a matter of monumental import. Certainly the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States of America was awe inspiring. The sight of the millions gathered in our nation's capitol, braving cold and fatigue to be a part of it was surpassed only by the visual evidence, thanks to modern technology, of millions more throughout the world, enthralled with wonder and imbued with hope, sharing the awesome moment in history.

What was most impressive, however, though it will be little noticed by the nation or the world at large, was the thunderous omission. Preachers prayed. Congressmen prayed for the welfare of a stricken comrade. And the president elect concluded his remarks with the traditional "God bless America." But nowhere did one hear any significant reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. To be sure, while the world watched and listened, one pseudo evangelical clergyman made a vague reference to "Jesus," but it was buried in a short string of synonyms in such a way as to be inoffensive and insignificant; he lacked either the courage or the conviction—or both—to recognize the absolute authority of the Son of God.

The objective of the whole, of course, was to be "inclusive" and as inoffensive as possible. Missing was any indication of understanding that theism, stripped of any reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, is no better than idolatry. Men think that by invoking the name of "god" they do service to the creator. Scripture would teach us just the contrary. Prayers and pious pronouncements that ignore the Son of God rise no higher than the arena in which they are uttered.

It is precisely because the Lord Jesus Christ is exclusive in His pronouncements and His teaching that He is hated in the world at large, and why He was crucified as a blasphemer in His day. Our text for today is representative of His claim to absolute authority. Other scriptures reinforce this doctrine. He said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men,him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven [Matt. 10:32-33]."

Again it is written, "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also [I John 2:23]." And He declared, "And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God [John 16:23-27]."

The Lord Jesus Christ is inclusive in His love, for He died for the sins of the whole world, and "Whosoever will may come" into God's favor through Him. But He is exclusive in His authority; to ignore Him is to miss God, the true and living God, completely.

"God bless America?" Not on these terms. But don't blame the president elect. Blame the spiritual anemia of contemporary Christianity that has become the religious norm of our decaying nation. We, with the rest of the world, want peace without the Prince of peace. We want the kingdom of God without the King. This side of heaven, the future is bleak. Washington is not the holy city, and the president of the United States, whoever he may be, is not the Messiah.

The avenue to God is through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through Him alone. Leave Him out of the script and there will be no "happily ever after." "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him [John 5:23-24]."

With His glory in view,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalms 78 - 2009.01.17

"For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments" — Psalm 78:5-7

Years ago I recall hearing the line, "God has no grandchildren." The implication is that no child is born into this world already a child of God. Every child, in order to have eternal life, must be born again. No one will enter heaven on someone else's "coattails," someone else's faith. That, of course, lays upon every Christian parent the responsibility to evangelize his/her own children.

Our text for today reinforces and expands upon that. While it is true we cannot save our children, it is no less true that we can, should, must introduce them to the word of God and instruct them in its principles. We have a responsibility given, in fact, to communicate God's truth to generations to come. It is to be noticed that this responsibility is not laid upon the church, nor upon the mothers, but upon the fathers. That is not to suggest, of course, that the church or mothers have no role to play, but to recognize that the matter of communicating the scriptures to our children is first laid upon fathers in the Divine order.

Godliness, in the scriptures, is never made the first priority of institutions or women, but always of men. The "man of God" is the emphasis of scripture. If God gets the man, the family will be in a position to be aligned with Him. If the men are godly, and about their Father's business, the church will be more of what it should be.

Notwithstanding the cultural shifts that have taken place in my lifetime, the scriptural emphasis has always conferred headship upon the male, and with it, responsibility for obedience to God and His word. Eve was made a "helpmeet" for Adam. "Adam was first formed, then Eve [I Tim. 2:13]."

The New Testament treats the subject at some length; e.g. :

"But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God… For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man [I Cor. 11:3-9]."

Feminizing the home (or the church) is to violate the divine order and to suffer inevitable consequences. This has nothing to do with the dignity of women, nor of their capability. It has to do with the divinely prescribed order of authority and responsibility in the nature of mankind, and is a reflection of the fact that their is a similar administrative order in the Godhead. "The head of Christ is God." Jesus Christ said, with reference to His Father, "I do always those things which please Him [John 8:29]." Nowhere do we find Him usurping the Father's role, which would introduce rebellion into the trinity. And the Holy Spirit, though equally God, is ever subject to the direction of the Father and the Son: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: [Jn. 15:26]." And, "… when he, the Spirit of truth, is come,… he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak… [Jn. 16:13]."

If the father is not a Christian, then of course the burden shifts. But where a man professes to be born again, and God gives him children, their indoctrination in the word of God is his god given responsibility. To bypass it is to disobey God.

"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4) "That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments."

For the generations to come,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalms 77 - 2009.01.10

"I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings." —Psalm 77:11-12

In order to appreciate the real significance of our "nugget" for today, we must obtain our perspective from the second verse of this psalm. There the writer confesses, "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord." It is especially from that circumstance that our text will lend its greatest value and provide us with a kind of formula for deliverance when our burdens threaten to become more than we can bear. Three keys confront us: "remember," "meditate," "talk."

In v.11 the psalmist declares, "I will remember Thy wonders of old." Memory is one of the most remarkable gifts God has built into our human composition, but its value depends upon what we recall. Here there is a deliberate decision to reflect upon God's wonders of old. The writer reflects on God's temporal demonstrations in Israel's tumultuous past, but I would like to suggest that among the things which the believing mind may recall are, first, the wonder of His revelation. Scripture is one of the greatest wonders God has given us. The world is full of libraries, and in our day the internet has made staggering amounts of information available at the touch of a button, some good and some bad. But with all that, nothing compares with Gods revelation. In the compass of one small book God has revealed everything we need in order to know Him, and to make the journey from here to eternity! Read the Bible and remember God's word. No other book can take you beyond the grave.

Then there is, encompassed within that revelation, the wonder of His creation, the colossal demonstration of His wisdom and power. And there is the wonder of His restraint. The prophet said, "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness [Lam. 3:22-23]."

And again, there is the wonder of His redemption. God's works in creation and history are, indeed, most wonderful, but none are as magnificent as His grace revealed in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. All our hope finds its focus there, and remembering what He has done for us on the cross is our greatest source of help and hope in times of trouble.

Remember. But that is not all. "I will meditate also of all Thy work." Memory may be fleeting; meditation requires time spent reflecting, appreciating, assimilating the significance and benefits of His wonderful works to the children of men. Meditation enables the soul to absorb the benefits of His great and glorious works. Scripture declares, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in Thee [Isa. 26:3 my italics]." Memory implies a knowledge of God; meditation springs from faith in God. There is a world of difference. The soul that remembers may enjoy a visit with God; the soul who meditates takes God with him.

Finally, "I will…talk of Thy doings." Memory feeds the mind; meditation nourishes it; talk translates the benefit into testimony and glorifies God. There is an element of the tragic in the fact that so many Christians in fellowship talk of so much that has to do with the world and so little of that which is essential to the undergirding of the soul. And if believers do not talk to one another of the wonderful works of God, how likely is it that we will talk of them to others?

In a different vein, but a similar principle, the Holy Spirit said through the apostle James,"…be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed [James 1:22-25]."

Let us remember—and "continue therein!" It can deliver us from the burdens that threaten to overwhelm us and generate complaint (see v. 3).

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalms 76 - 2008.01.03

"Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?" — Psalm 76:7

In the summer of 1741 Jonathan Edwards preached a severe sermon entitled "Sinners in the hands of an Angry God." That sermon was a powerful influence in a spiritual quickening, a revival if you please, which has come to be known as "The Great Awakening." The message and its concepts has been the subject of much controversy, but its principles were true to scripture. Men do not like to think of an "angry God," but one cannot dismiss that aspect of God's nature without undermining His holiness, the real nature of sin, and the integrity of scripture itself.

If we could have it our way, we would like a god who can be managed, and who is "meek and mild." The Bible does not give us that luxury. We can, for now, redefine God as we like, but that will not change Who and what He really is, nor how He will conduct Himself. God, as He has revealed Himself in His word, is a God to be feared.

Fear, of course, and especially as the concept is used in scripture, has two principle aspects. There is the idea of terror or apprehension; fear as we ordinarily think of it; from that perspective we should be "afraid" of God. The other aspect of fear is that of reverence or respect; to stand in awe of God, Who is holy and almighty. The heart that properly fears the Lord undoubtedly combines both of these aspects. We are, indeed, to stand in awe of Him, and to be afraid to anger Him, as our text suggests.

We read elsewhere, "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day [Psalm 7:11]." The apostle Paul indicts the unrighteous in Romans 3:10-17, and concludes by saying, "There is no fear of God before their eyes [Rom. 3:18]." It is perhaps more than a coincidence that in recent times it was not uncommon to see tee shirts carrying the banner, "no fear." But that kind of fearlessness displays ignorance and rebellion against God and is the ultimate folly. To arouse Him to anger is to bring spiritual and eternal destruction.

Summing up the wrath of an angry God at the end of the age,the apostle John declares, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire [Rev. 20:11-15]."

On the other hand, the exercise of a healthy fear of God has a positive and eternal result. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments [Ps. 111:10]." And again, "The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil [Prov. 19:23]." And, "By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life [Prov. 22:4]."

Fear and reverence will combine in the heart of the convicted sinner to lead Him to Christ and find that this awesome God is not only a God of anger and wrath, but a God of love Who is willing and able to forgive sins and to give us life; life eternal and "riches supernal," for all eternity.

Jonathan Edwards in concluding his sermon cried, "O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in…Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come." That counsel is as relevant today as it was more than 200 (or 2000!) years ago. Let us not make God angry, but make Him glad by repenting of our sins and finding refuge and renewal in and through His Son, Jesus Christ!

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier