Unlocking Isaiah

I've heard the book of Isaiah described as the key to the Old Testament, and it is one of those beasty books that is pretty hefty and takes up a lot of Bible space! If you've been put off reading it before, then I really want to encourage you to try reading it from beginning to end, systematically, to really get the sense of the whole book. I think that the book of Isaiah really shows vividly the story of God's salvation, so hopefully this post will give you some helpful handles to grasp onto as you read the book.

1. Creation
The fact that God is the LORD and Creator of everything is emphasised repeatedly in this book, and for good reason! Israel were in a time of chaos and disobedience, and God's judgement was coming upon them; they were going into exile. But Isaiah's message to them as God's prophet in this time was a message of ultimate hope, because they were not simply flies to be squashed, but God's own chosen people whom He was planning to redeem. With big super-powers like Egypt and Babylon looming over them, the Israelites lost confidence in God. Isaiah reminds them that the reason these foreign nations have power over them is because of their sin, and that God is in control behind the human military events that were taking place. Instead of being afraid of other armies, they should be more afraid of God!

'who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die... And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth' (Isa 51:12-13)

2. Sin
Isaiah points out to the people the problem of their sin, from fake religion (trying to impress God with rituals yet not really, in their hearts, loving and trusting Him) to open corruption. The first 39 chapters are pretty hard-going, because there is a constant emphasis on Israel's sin and how God's judgement is coming. But these chapters are in our Bibles for a reason. They show us how seriously God takes sin. They show us that God sees our hearts and motives, and that's what matters more than any outward appearance:

'this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.' (Isa 29:13)

Note that Jesus Himself quotes this passage in Matthew 15 and Mark 7 when teaching and warning people about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The more you get familiar with Isaiah, the more you can see the connections with the ministry of Jesus.

3. Saviour
There are several key passages in Isaiah about a 'servant' of God, who will be instrumental in bringing salvation to His people. These are clear prophecies about Jesus Christ, and Jesus Himself was very aware of them, and how He fulfilled them in His own person and ministry. Read Isaiah 42 and 52-53 and I'm sure you won't need to look too far to see the clear parallels. If you've got a reference Bible as well, look at how the New Testament uses Isaiah's prophecies and teaches that they are about Jesus (eg. Mt 8:17). In fact, the account of Jesus praying in Gethsemane 'remove this cup from me' (Lk 22:42), doesn't make sense if you don't know the picture in Isaiah 51:17 of the 'cup of His fury' (that is, God's wrath against sin and His judgement upon it). Jesus knew that on the cross, He would drink that cup, fully bearing the punishment for our sin, so that we could be restored to God. The picture in Isaiah of a Saviour help us to love and worship Jesus with more richness and depth than ever before.

4. Restoration
There are so many wonderful passages in Isaiah about a forthcoming time of blessing and peace:

'For the LORD shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.' (Isa 51:3)

When Jesus returns and God's people are raised to life in the new creation, we will experience Eden restored, a closeness with God that we could never have on earth, and a joy of forgiveness knowing that Jesus drunk the cup for us, and has won for us an eternal salvation.

'My righteousness shall be for ever, and My salvation from generation to generation.' Isa 51:8)

Paul's Teaching on the Cross

When reading the gospel narratives of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, you could be forgiven for not really understanding what was going on. The gospel writers are focusing upon the historical events; they certainly want to show that Jesus' death was the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy and was inaugurating a new covenant and means of access to God, but they don't give a lengthy explanation of what, spiritually, was happening as Jesus hung there on the cross. Paul wonderfully complements the gospel narratives by giving us lengthy analysis and exposition about what God was accomplishing in Christ's death on the cross throughout his letters. Like the other apostles, he shows that the cross is absolutely fundamental to what Christianity is all about.

Perhaps the most complex yet vital teaching which Paul emphasises repeatedly is that through the cross, our sin can be atoned for. In the letter Romans, Paul explains that

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. Rom 3:25

The Old Testament system of offering sacrifices, culminating with the annual Day of Atonement, was just a shadow of this greater reality, that God was going to deal with sin once for all. Christians have the incredible assurance that their sins are completely dealt with, because when He died on the cross, Jesus took all of God's wrath upon Himself and was a substitute for us.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus- Rom 8:1

The cross was necessary because of God's holiness. He cannot just overlook our sin, and sweep it under the carpet. But in punishing Christ in our place on the cross, God demonstrated His righteousness (that sin must be punished) as well as His mercy, because through this, sinners could be forgiven. (See Rom 3:25)

Perhaps proof that the gospel is 100% true is the fact that no one could have made it up! It is just mind-blowing that the God of the universe would find a way to deal with sin justly, yet make a way for sinners to be redeeemed. The cross is a totally unexpected way of dealing with the problem of sin- and on the outside, it looks totally powerless, a sign of utter humiliation. Paul states to the Corinthians:

'we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles' -1 Cor 1:23

And yet, the cross was there in God's plan for salvation from the very beginning. Paul emphasises that 'Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.' (1 Cor 15:3) He shows that in the cross, the trinitarian God was working to bring about the salvation of His people, chosen before the foundation of the world. (Eph 1:4). The cross enabled God to fulfil His covenant promises to Adam and Eve (Gen 3:15)and Abraham (Gen 12), and the covenant He made with Moses and Israel at Sinai was always intended to be temporary until Christ came.

Paul takes great pains to demonstrate that the law could never justify sinners. It highlights sin in our lives, but offers no power to keep us from sinning. The sacrificial system was imperfect and repetitive, without really achieving full access for all to God. In Galatians 3:13 Paul asserts that:

'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” ' [Dt 21:23]

In the act of hanging on the cross, Jesus was under the full curse of sinners who cannot keep God's law. He was perfectly obedient, but took on Himself the weight of the disobedience of men. This means that the charge against us of sin, which condemned us, has been totally cancelled and removed:

'he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.' Col 2:14

As Paul expands in Romans:

'For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.' (Rom 8:3-4)

These verses clearly teach the law's limitations, and the way that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement so that those who believe in Him can have His perfect righteousness credited to their account. Those who believe in Christ are filled with the Spirit and thus empowered to live in holiness, because they are slaves to sin no longer.

An important aspect of Paul's teaching on the cross is that believers share in the cross in identification and union with Christ and thus share in all its benefits. In some mysterious way, those who trust in Christ were 'in' Him in His death, and are 'in' Him now. Listen to Paul's statement:

'I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.' Gal 2:20

Similarly, in Colossians he asserts that 'you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.' (Col 3:3) Believers can say that their sin was dealt with in Christ's body when He died on the cross, and through His resurrection they too have the certain hope of being raised up at the last day.

Paul is keen to stress the total assurance that Christians have that their sins are forgiven. The redemptive power of the cross is such that even the worst of sinners can receive full atonement there. 'In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins' states Paul in Eph 1:7, and there are no qualifications or restrictions to those who can receive this full redemption. Those who trust in the cross for their forgiveness can stand before God 'without blemish and free from accusation' (Col 1:22).

Even more wonderful than this, is Paul's teaching that Christians are adopted into God's family through the reconciliation the cross achieved. He writes that those who are redeemed receive 'adoption to sonship' (Gal 4:5), a position of great privilege, and therefore the creation closeness between God and man can be restored, even bettered. But the cross reconciled more than just individuals to God; it reconciled the whole of creation to God. Paul writes that it was God's full intention that, through Christ's death, He could 'reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.' (Col 1:20) Paul also specifically addresses the fact that both Jews and Gentiles have been reconciled to God through the cross, and the cross destroys any hostility between them (Eph 2:16).

But moving beyond the impact of the cross on us, one of the main emphases Paul continually stresses is the way that the cross leads to Christ's exaltation:

'And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' Phil 2:8-11

Christ's willingness to become a man and suffer such a humiliating death proved His divinity and led to God exalting Him as Lord over creation. Although it did not seem glorious at the time, the cross brought and still brings glory to God. It shows His wonderful victory over all the powers of evil: 'And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.' Col 2:15

The cross should lead us to love and worship God more and more, the more we understand it. We can never lose the wonder that God has made it possible for us to have eternal salvation through the shedding of Jesus' blood. And aside from inspiring our love and worship, the cross also gives us three things:

1. A hatred of sin

'Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.' Gal 5:24

If we've really understood the cross, and seen how serious sin is that God had to punish His only beloved Son in order to decisively deal with it, then we can't be happy to continue living a life that is sinful and against God. Our sins sent Jesus to the cross; we should now live with an absolute hatred of our own rebellion and strive, through the Spirit's power, to live differently as 'new selves' in Christ.

2. A pattern of suffering

'In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus' Phil 2:5

If Jesus had to suffer, then it shouldn't be a surprise to us when we go through difficult times on this ungodly earth. The cross shows us a pattern of suffering for righteousness, then being exalted. We may suffer now, but ultimately we will one day be raised up and share in glory for ever.

3. Hope

'For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.' 1 Thess 4:14

The historic events of Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection give us a certain hope that God is going to fulfil every one of His promises towards us. He will not let us eternally die, but He will raise us to eternal life and bring us to an eternity of glory that He has prepared and planned since the beginning of creation.

Why is church important? #2

'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.' Ephesians 5:25-32

Jesus and the church

• He loves us
• He gave himself up for us, by dying on the cross
• He cleanses us so that in God's sight we are holy
• He cares for us
• We become united with Him

It really is amazing when you think about this passage, not in the usual wedding-service way, but in the universal application is has for all Christians. We are all married to Jesus! And although we are saved as individual souls, precious in God's sight, when we are saved we become part of the corporate Body of Christ, the church.

So the church as a concept is made up of all Christians... but then there's also church in a local context, a specific body of members and a real and tangible community. This is where we see the concept lived out and made reality for us to understand and participate in.

Joshua Harris writes:
'[Jesus] calls and expects us to be part of [the church]... because we are part of it!
If Jesus loves the church, you and I should, too. We can't use the excuse that the church has messed up too many times or that we're disillusioned. Jesus is the only person who has the right to disown and give up on the church. But He never has. And He never will.' Stop Dating the Church, p40

Being a Christian who doesn't go to church is like being a brick lying on the ground (an analogy from Spurgeon which Harris quotes). It's useless and even trips people up! It's not what we're made for. We are made to be the people of God, living under His rule: that's what heaven is all about. Heaven is not going to be full of isolated individuals. No way! It's going to be people from every tribe, tongue and nation worshipping God together (Revelation 7:9).

The Christian life is hard. We find many struggles: against the world of people who have rejected God, against the devil who loves to trip us up, and against our own sinful nature which battles for supremacy within our hearts against God's Spirit. We need other Christians to keep us on the right track, to challenge us when we have compromised, to encourage us when we're down and ready to give up. To 'go solo' in the Christian life is to go against everything Jesus taught us about being humble and serving one another. It also buys into the lie that the less we give of ourselves and our time and money, the happier we will be. That's just not true! There is far more blessing in giving all of ourselves to the church, because it is an eternal investment.

Is Christianity about being good? Part 2

Having established that we are saved by God's grace through Jesus, not by anything we do ourselves, it is important to look at the place of 'being good' in the life of a Christian.

After taking that step of faith to trust in Jesus, and giving your life over to Him, the way you live as a Christian is vitally important for yourself, for others and for God's glory.

When you become a Christian, you essentially undergo a complete transformation of identity. Before, you were a sinner, trapped in darkness. After, you are perfect in God's sight through Jesus, in the light. Before, you had no power to stop sinning. After, you now have the ability to say no to temptation, with the empowering of the Holy Spirit within you.

To become a Christian involves a realisation of how awful sin is. Believing the gospel message means believing that your sin is terrible and deserves God's judgement. Therefore it makes no sense for a Christian to go back to living life the way they want it, regardless of God. As Paul writes,

'Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?' (Romans 6:1-2)

Peter argues that we should 'make every effort to add to your faith goodness... knowledge... self-control... perseverance... godliness' (2 Peter 1:5-6). These qualities prevent us from being 'ineffective and unproductive' in our knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 1:8). This is a crucial point: if we as Christians carry on sinning without any repentance, we are not allowing God to change us, and we are being a very poor example to others of what being a Christian really means. How can you tell people that they need God's forgiveness if you're flouting His gift of grace by deliberately rebelling against His Word? The gospel message becomes 'ineffective' in us if we refuse to let it change every aspect of our lives. We can't just give God Sundays and then use the rest of the week however we want to.

The Christian life should revolve around giving God glory. He is not glorified when we live against Him. He is glorified when we praise Him for His grace in Jesus, and when we seek to live as Jesus did.

'This is how we know we are in Him: whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.' (1 John 2:5-6)

Notice the first part of that verse. John's basically saying that anyone can say they're a Christian. The real proof is in how they actually live life. Christians will still mess up and struggle with sin and their 'old self' (Rom 6:6, Eph 4:22), but the key word there is 'struggle'. Someone who isn't a Christian will not 'struggle' with sin. They'll just do it, without caring what God thinks.

In the light of Jesus' imminent return, we should live 'holy and godly lives' (2 Pet 3:11) to be found 'spotless, blameless and at peace with Him' (2 Pet 3:14). Imagine the embarrassment of Jesus returning and finding you doing something you shouldn't be doing!

And the key to fighting sin is really in replacing it with godly pursuits. Jesus says we should 'abide' in Him and bear fruit (John 15), so we should be seeking to use our lives to get to know Him better by reading His Word, share the good news of the gospel with others, and serve Him in everything we do by doing it whole-heartedly and for His glory, not our own.

Is Christianity about being good? Part 1

This question brings us to the heart of the gospel message. How can people be set right with God? How can people get into heaven? Is it through the things they do? Is a Christian simply a synonym for a 'good' person? Is that what Christianity is all about: loving your neighbour as you love yourself?

Well, to start with, Christianity is really all about how none of us are intrinsically 'good' as people. In fact, we're all naturally born into darkness, a spiritual ignorance and defiance of God. We want to make the rules ourselves (this is what Adam and Eve did when they took the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3). And this dislocates us from God, and puts us under His righteous judgement. You can't commit a crime and get away with it in God's universe. And the ultimate crime in God's universe is this: rejecting God as the King of that universe.

As humans our standards of goodness are very different to God's. We may define a 'good' person as someone who gives to charity, who loves their family and friends, who seeks to care for those around them. They may even devote their entire life to philanthropic work in developing countries. But, as the Bible reveals, the litmus test of true goodness is how a person responds to God. Loving the people around you but still ignoring God is like trying to live in a household where you love your siblings but ignore your parents. It's ludicrous! God wants us to love Him with our whole heart, soul and mind (Deut 6:5), and if we're honest, none of us have done that perfectly for every moment of our lives. If we're really honest, the only person we have ever loved that perfectly is ourselves.

I don't want to seem scathing of charity work and helping others -far from it!- but what I want to convey is how paltry these things are compared with God's absolute purity and holiness. Can you imagine if someone asked Obama 'Why should you be president of the US?', and he replied, 'Well, I can count to 10 and I know my ABC.' How ridiculous would that be? But that's what our 'good works' are like to God- utter childish simplicity compared with Him.

The truth is that the whole world is chained up and locked into a vicious cycle of sin and rebellion against God. Jesus said 'everyone who sins is a slave to sin' (Jn 8:34) and if you don't believe this, try going for one whole day without sinning at all. It's impossible! Even if you never rob a bank or kill someone, you probably still lie, and think corrupt thoughts, and in your heart want to rule your own life instead of worshipping God and letting Him call the shots.

The good news is that God did not just sit in heaven passively watching human history unfold. He had an action plan to bring about restoration and reconciliation between Himself and mankind. That's what the Bible is all about: Genesis shows God creating a perfect world, man rejecting God and falling into sin, and then the rest of Scripture shows what God did to 'undo' the cycle of degeneration.

God sent Jesus into the world, as His own Son, to be God-in-flesh (John 1:14). Perfectly human, perfectly divine, Jesus lived life as we never could: free from sin. He died as a pure sacrifice, taking on Himself the punishment that should have been ours, so that if we believe and trust in Him, we can be forgiven (John 3:16).

Therefore, Christianity is not primarily about being good; it's about accepting that you're NOT good in God's eyes, and that you need Jesus.

The right choice

Isaiah 1

When Israel was established with the law of Moses, God challenged the people to:
- Choose life and obey My commands
- Disobey and perish
(See Deuteronomy 30:19)

From then until the days of Isaiah, the people of Israel have been in an endless cycle of idolatry and sin, then sorrowful repentance.

Isaiah speaks to Judah in a divided nation, at a time when God has allowed cities to burn with fire and be stripped by foreigners (7) as an act of judgement upon the people. They have 'rebelled' (2); they are 'loaded with guilt' (4); they have 'turned their backs' (4) on God.

But these acts of judgement are meant to work as signposts to point the people back to God. He tells them through the prophet that He has 'no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats' (11), and they must stop 'bringing meaningless offerings' (13). God doesn't want people going through religious motions, but for real change in their hearts and conduct.

'Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed' (16-17).

'Come now, let us reason together... Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow... If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.' (18-20)

God is willing and able to forgive the sins of His people. He again reminds them of His covenant promises:
-Obey and be blessed
-Rebel and perish.

Given such a choice, the right path seems obvious, but we need to constantly fight our pride and sinful nature in order to follow God whole-heartedly.

Psalm 15: The need for holiness

Lessons from David: Psalm 15
This psalm reminds us that God is holy and requires holiness from us. Only one whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous can dwell with Him. He wants us to speak the truth from the heart, be careful not to speak ill of others, and seek the good of others too.

God wants us to honour those who fear Him and keep our promises 'even when it hurts'. If we do these things we will 'never be shaken', and the Bible gives us so many examples of people who were shaken by sin (such as David in his encounter with Bathsheba).

Even though Jesus has saved us by His righteousness, our holiness is important to God. Our conduct should reflect the kind of God He is and what He has done for us- purified us from all sin.

Psalm 29: Do you have a right view of God?

Lessons from David- Psalm 29

'ascribe to the Lord glory and strength... the glory due to His Name, worship the Lord in the splendour of His holiness.' (1-2)

Do you have a right view of God? This is a life-changing question. And as we look at this psalm, life-changing truths emerge.

We are to give God the attributes of glory and strength. We are to recognise His transcendence, His blazing light, His mighty power that can do anything we could imagine, and much more. Our purpose in life and future glory is to give God the glory due to His Name. Life is not about raising yourself to a higher salary and better living standards, but raising awareness of God and seeing more people praise Him.

Do we have any idea what the splendour of holiness looks like? Probably not, because we are so sinful. But God's blinding purity is the most beautiful sight for sinful men. It is the sight we can be granted only in heaven when we ourselves have been purified.

In v3-9, many great verbs and adjectives are used to describe God's glory: thunders, powerful, majestic strikes, breaks, shakes, twists, strips. He is 'enthroned as King for ever' (10). But even more fantastically, He 'gives strength to His peole' and blesses them with peace (11). We are shown grace from this God of glory, and that is our greatest motivation for worship.

Psalm 51: What to do when you mess up

Lessons from David: Psalm 51
David wrote this psalm after a series of disastrous events in which he demonstrated a spectacular lack of godly leadership and went from one sin (adultery) to another (murder). He had dishonoured God. And his attitude in this psalm is one we can copy when we too dishonour our Lord:
-Ask for mercy (1)- not because you deserve it, but because God is loving and compassionate.
-Acknowledge your sins (3)- particularly that they are against God (4)- and God's right to judge you.
-Ask for cleansing (7)- only God can make you 'whiter than snow'.
-Ask for joy and gladness (8)- which stems from an assurance of salvation (12).
-Ask for God to give you a pure heart (10)- only through His enabling can you be pure, along with His Holy Spirit's help (11).
-Share God's desire for purity with others and encourage them too to receie forgiveness (13).
-Praise God (14-15).
-Understand that instead of rituals or outward gesutres ('I'll go to churh more' etc), God wants a 'broken and contrite heart' (v17).
-Praise God that through the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, we can come to Him for cleansing with confidence.

Psalms 13-14: Dealing with depression

Lessons from David- Psalms 13-14

The Psalms cover every aspect of human experience, and Ps 13 focusses on times of depression and despair. It would be unrealistic of us as Christians to be surprised when we encounter these emotions. The Bible never promises that life will be easy. We could be going through tough times- we could even be medically diagnosed with depression as an illness. It is very hard to stay joyful when the chemicals in your brain aren't allowing you to get out of the trough of despair.

But God is faithful through good times and bad. As a Christian, the important thing is to follow David's example and keep trusting in God's 'unfailing love' and rejoicing in His salvation. This doesn't necessarily mean being happy, but it means that you can be assured that God has done everything to solve your biggest problem: separation from Him because of sin.

Ps 14 particularly cuts to the heart of the human condition. 'All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no-one who does good, not even one.'

But God has planned for salvation and made provision for it in the cross of Jesus Christ- that is the thing we can always reflect on to make us glad.

Avoiding the spiritual barometer (Review of Terry Virgo's 'God's Lavish Grace')

Ever had a week like this:
Sunday- go to church, sing joyful songs of praise, hear an encouraging and challenging sermon about fighting sin, leave with renewed resolution to obey God and beat temptation.
Monday- make time to read the Bible and pray, fight with sin going well, feel close to God.
Tuesday- managed to scan over a Bible passage before running for the bus, feel flustered but still trying to live whole-heartedly for God.
Wednesday- busy day, no time to pray, feeling weak.
Thursday- give in to temptation, feel like a rubbish Christian.

And so it goes on.

In this commentary, the person constantly measures their spiritual success by their own achievements or failures. If they made time to pray, they feel good about where they stand with God. If they mess up, they feel ashamed. To them, the way God sees them fluctuates like a spiritual barometer. When they're doing well, He's smiling. When they're not, He's angry.

Terry Virgo's book 'God's Lavish Grace' is a fantastic smash-down to this way of thinking, which ensnares so many Christians today.

Virgo's main point is that Jesus has obtained a place for us to stand in grace, a place of total acceptance and security. He goes through the book of Romans to demonstrate that
'they which receive abundance of grace... shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.' Rom 5:17

Therefore your daily walk with God is not about your spirituality or performance, but about your position in Christ.

Christ's unchanging righteousness is yours every day and is not in the least dependent on your feelings or your performance!

God has not called us to a life of slavery but one of overcoming. We need to KNOW that the blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse us from every sin (past, present and future); the cross is ENOUGH for us to be forgiven. We can't earn God's approval by our 'good deeds'. On the cross, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' (John 19:30) He dealt with our sin completely. All that is left for us to do is to rejoice in the fact that we are totally accepted by God through Jesus, and then live a life liberated to serve Him, with the empowering help of the Spirit to fight sin.

Virgo's conversational style is engaging and uplifting as he opens up the life-changing truth of God's Word in this book. He shows us how susceptible we are to rely on our own amazingness rather than God's amazingness. He calls us to stop making excuses about human nature and start beating sin out of our lives, because Jesus has given us the freedom NOT to sin. As Christians, we have to believe in that freedom. We can't be fatalistic. We need to sort out sin so that we can properly live up to our status as God's children, and get out there to spread the message of God's lavish grace to a world that desperately needs to hear it.

How salty are you? (Matt 5)

'You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.' Matt 5:13

Every day we make decisions to either share God's light or not. Every missed opportunity is like the salt without its taste; in choosing to sin instead of to do good, we take the goodness out of the salt. We will never have the opportunity to re-live that decision. Once salt has lost its flavour, it doesn't regain it.

Moreover, sin makes us vulnerable to be trampled on. Salt preserves, just as the Spirit within us keeps the Word strong in our hearts. When we sin, we reject the Spirit and the barriers have broken down so Satan can get at us. We may lose our passion for God.

But the good news is that the Holy Spirit is constantly renewing us. Every time we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, God gives us another chance and we are a new creation, full of life and flavour. We just need to work on staying salty for as long as possible.

'God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.' Rom 5:5

How to fix your greatest problem (Eph 2)

What is your big problem in your life right now? Perhaps it's money, given the recent financial climate of the credit crunch. Perhaps it's your job, or your relationship, or a long-term illness.

We live in a world where there are lots of problems. People everywhere are suffering, whether it's being a civilian in Georgia attacked by Russian troops, or a patient on the cancer ward. Many may look at the title of my blog 'Treasuring Christ' and think how irrelevant it is to their lives. But all the problems that we experience here on earth are symptoms of an even bigger problem...


The bad news
Every single person on earth has a debilitating condition. It makes you a slave, and it makes you unable to live a life of complete satisfaction and joy. It's called 'sin'.

Ephesians 2 opens with the verse 'As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins'. What does it mean?

Well, a 'sin' or a 'transgression' is something that offends God. Such as... Ignoring Him. Rejecting Him. Deciding to live life your own way, without Him. Thinking He's nice, but not worth getting to know too well. Not worth giving up any time for, and not worth giving up certain aspects of your lifestyle for either.
You see, when we think of sin, we often think of murder, theft... And yes those things are sins. But they are outworkings of inner distortion and corruption. Sin is not just outward actions, but it is evil thoughts too. That's why no one can honestly stand up and say they have never sinned.

So what is the effect of sin? Death. Physically, all humans must die. Our mortality is the result of original sin in Eden (see Gen 3). Spiritually, sin cuts us off from God. He is holy and pure, and therefore a huge chasm lies between us and Him. We are spiritually dead before God, and there's nothing we can do about it.

You see, what the world calls freedom- choosing YOUR way to live- is in fact slavery to our own desires, and bondage (imprisonment) to sin and the Devil. What the world defines as a good life, the Bible tells us straight as it really is: being an object of God's wrath (3).

That is our greatest problem, whoever we are, whatever we've done. We're all sinners, and we're all separated from God for ever. Unless...

The good news
Unless it is possible to made alive again...
Unless the chasm can be crossed...
Unless there is a way for us to access God...
And there is.

'But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved.' (4-5)

'you were separate from Christ... without hope and without God in the world. [But now Christ] has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility... through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.' (12, 14, 18)

We were dead- unable to move, unable to do anything to help ourselves. But God in pure grace, gave us life and forgiveness in Jesus. We did not deserve it; God did not have to do it, but He did- because of His great love for us. He sent Jesus to die on the cross, and in His body He took the punishment that should have been ours. He was a substitute, taking our place, so that if we choose to trust in Him, we don't need to be burdened with our sin anymore. We can nail our sin to His cross, and be freed from its power over us. We can receive God's forgiveness, and know Him personally, because Christ has made it possible for us to access Him. We have been rescued from slavery, saved from destruction, and shown mercy instead of righteous judgement- if we believe and trust in Jesus.

If someone rescued you from drowning, you'd probably respond very well to them! You'd be grateful and possibly even love them. Now imagine the rescuer was someone you knew you'd wronged. That's like us and God. That's why Paul emphasises the 'incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus' (7). This grace is completely unique! We have been 'raised' up with Christ and seated in the heavenly realms with Him (6)- there's no way we could ever earn or deserve that honour.

That's why this blog is called 'Treasuring Christ'. Jesus has achieved for us what we could never achieve for ourselves. He has given us amazing privileges, above and beyond what we deserve. Are you treasuring Him? Or are you tempted to think that He is irrelevant to your busy daily life?

Perhaps in our thinking we need to widen our perspective, to try to comprehend how BIG God is and how small, puny and weak we are. If His grace is incomparably huge, so is our sinfulness and our capacity to completely reject God and live life our own way. We shall love Jesus more if we appreciate what it means for Him to be 'our peace', destroying the barrier of our sinfulness, our inability to follow God's law. That is why Paul describes Jesus as 'abolishing in His flesh the law' (15)- He fulfilled the law's requirements so that we don't have to. And 'through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit' (18). In our sinful state, we can't access God. But through Jesus' purity, we can. God has made us part of His household (19) and given us His Holy Spirit (22)- blessings which are only possible through Jesus. We need to open our eyes to 'the incomparable riches of his grace' (7), instead of focusing on our problems.

Jesus the Hero -1 Peter 2

Who is your hero? And why?

It's an interesting question. Ask a child, and they'll probably think of at least three examples (okay so some of their examples will probably be comic book characters). Ask an adult, and you're more likely to run into problems. You see, as we grow up, people let us down. We learn not to idolise others, because we realise (the hard way) that they are human and make mistakes. Sure, there are some fantastic inspirational people out there, but in the grind of daily life at the office, there are slim pickings for heroic models.

That's why it's so awesome reading the Bible and getting to know Jesus better. The more you read about Him, the more you have to respect, love... and worship Him. Not even His enemies could accuse Him of sin (see John 8). And the Bible is pretty blunt about people who sin, telling us all about David's mistakes with Bathsheba for just one example.

Jesus stood out as being different, and this chapter in 1 Peter really highlights these differences, and show us why Jesus is a true hero.

He is infinitely worthy, and yet suffered rejection.

Have you seen Batman: The Dark Knight? Batman takes the blame for some crimes he did not commit, in order to preserve the people's hope in their hero (who is not Batman). He is turned into an enemy of the people, when really he is donning his suit, jumping off buildings and facing angry rotweilers to save those people of Gotham.

Now Jesus is INFINITELY GREATER than Batman. He's divine, and He never makes mistakes. But I'm drawing a parallel to emphasise the situation. We've all heard the story before: Jesus comes and is crucified. The impact gets lost. This passage reminds us that Jesus is PRECIOUS! He is 'chosen by God and precious to Him' (4); He is the 'chosen and precious cornerstone' (6). And this precious One suffered for US to be saved:
'He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might de to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.' (24)

Jesus is the most precious thing to cling to in this life. He is the means by which we are God's people, because He is the means by which we receive mercy (10). By Christ, we can leave darkness and enter light (9).

If we're ever going to value Jesus for His true, heroic worth, we need to focus on Him: His life, death, resurrection and all they achieve for us. Jesus is to be our great example to whom we can turn and imitate in all situations (21).

One final comment on the Batman analogy: the real tragedy of the film is that there are no heroes. The one the people honour (I'm trying not to spoil the story) turns into an anti-hero, Batman struggles with his human limitations, and the closest thing that comes to hope is the fact that the population make some surprisingly noble decisions. But look at verse 6: 'the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame'. Isn't it awesome, that Jesus will never let you down? He will never break a promise, and He has promised to give eternal life to all who come to Him. He is our true hero.

Why we should love Jesus -1 Peter 1

We, as God's people, have been 'chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father... for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood' (2). We have been chosen to be forgiven, by Jesus Christ's perfect offering and precious blood. The key for loving Jesus more has to be found in understanding more our sinful depravity, His holiness, and the enormity of what happened on the cross for our redemption. We have been redeemed 'with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect' (19). A lamb willingly slaughtered for our salvation.

The second key to loving Jesus more in this chapter is found in the resurrection. God has 'given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade' (3-4). The risen Jesus gives us hope, certain hope, of eternal life and an amazing future in heaven. When Jesus returns those who trust in Him will have praise, glory and honour for their love for Him (7). And that puts us now into a state of 'inexpressible and glorious joy' (8), for we are receiving salvation (9) and eagerly anticipate the 'grace to be given... when Jesus Christ is revealed' (13). The triumph of the resurrection helps us to love Jesus more as we focus on our eternal home and the final victory over Satan, the day when all trials will end.

Who is Jesus? -Hebrews 1

Like John in his gospel, the writer of Hebrews opens his work with the awesome, earth-shattering truth that Jesus is God's revelation of Himself to us: 'In the past God spoke... through the prophets... but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son' (1-2). Sending Jesus to us was not like lazily scrawling on a piece of paper and sticking into a bottle, then casting it out to sea. Jesus came at exactly the right time, to exactly the right place, and He was a divine delegate! The writer describes Him as 'heir of all things' and says God made the universe through Him (2). He is 'the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word' (3). He is God and what He says, goes in the universe. So that God sent Him to us is a very big deal!

But that's not all. Let's think about why God sent Him. The writer mentions Him providing purification for sins (3). He died for us on the cross as a perfect sacrifice, so we could be purified in God's sight through faith in Him. Jesus did what we could never do. He 'loved righteousness and hated wickedness' (9). he never did anything wrong. And in pure grace, He died- taking the punishment that's rightfully ours.

But Jesus didn't stay on the cross. He rose again, ascended into heaven and 'sat down at the right hand' of God (3). Angels worship Him and are His servants (6-7); He is eternal and His 'years will never end' (12). We can love Jesus more as we look forward to seeing Him in all the glory of heaven, and worship Him as our risen Saviour today.