“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matt. 7:13-14)

This passage is often quoted in reference to the different roads traveled by unbelievers as opposed to believers.  Unbelievers are said to be on a broad road with many fellow travelers, all on the way to their destruction.  Believers on the other hand are a small segment of humanity and are on a narrow road to salvation.  This difference is further defined by some as pertaining to our behavior.  The unbeliever’s gate is wide and his road is broad, supposedly indicating that there’s room for all kinds of sinful behavior, while for the believer it’s a small gate and a narrow road suggesting that there’s very little latitude for misbehaving.  A careless step or two and you may find yourself being rerouted onto the broad road.

If you look at these 2 verses alone it’s easy to understand why so many see them this way.  But in the context of the chapter a different picture emerges.

In Matthew 7 the people in focus all claim to be believers, and the emphasis is on their fruit.  The Lord began by admonishing us against judging others,

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2)

Verses 3-5 have to do with judgment within the community of believers.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

We’re all sinners and hypocrites who have a tendency to pounce all over even the “minor” sins of others while ignoring our own massive list of transgressions.  Why is it that those who test the Lord’s patience to the max are often the most acrimonious in their accusations of others?

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? (Romans 2:1-3)

Intolerant, judgmental believers are convinced they’re defending the faith and that they’ll receive the commendation due them from the Lord. But these verses indicate quite the opposite.

As much as we ignore the warnings in verses 3-5,  our disregard for verse 6 is even more glaring.  It has to do with our attitude toward unbelievers.

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.”

Expecting the unbelieving world to conform to our moral standards is ridiculous. And yet to the world the church is known primarily for its holier-than-thou hypocrisy in doing just that.  Like the Pharisees of old we demand that others live up to behavioral standards we ourselves don’t keep.  For example studies show that our divorce and abortion rates are no different from theirs.  And it’s a known fact that we indulge in more than our share of adultery, theft, gluttony, avarice, greed, and so on, as well.

It’s like we have forgotten all about the Lord’s advice that the best way to convert the world is for the Church to become what it was meant to be, an agent of His love (John 13:34-35).  Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? (Romans 2:4) It’s God’s kindness and mercy that bring people to Him, not threats of condemnation.

Some think it’s persecution when unbelievers pass laws that contradict our beliefs and restrict our freedoms while promoting the freedom of others.  But maybe it’s just them turning on us for the way we’ve pushed our beliefs on them, like the Lord said they would.

In Matt. 7:7-12 the way to salvation is explained to us. It’s summarized in verse 8.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done.  If you ask for it, you’ll receive it. It’s this message of hope that’s needed for our time, not judgment and condemnation.

I don’t think it’s an accident that in verse 10 the Lord asked, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?” The comparison of bread with a stone takes us back to the Wilderness Temptation when Satan challenged Him to turn stones into bread.  He replied, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4) God’s Word is life, and Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35).  Stones are dead. If we ask for life will the Lord give us death instead?

But the comparison of a fish to a serpent symbolizes the central thought of the entire chapter.   The fish  stands for Jesus and became the symbol of His followers.  The serpent stands for Satan.  Jesus called the leaders of His day’s organized religion children of the devil (John 8:44),  who with their insistence on a mindless obedience to their laws (Isaiah 29:13) rather than faith in a coming Redeemer, made their converts twice the sons of hell as they were (Matt. 23:15). They had turned God’s love into a tool of the devil, and sadly there are many in the church still doing the same thing today.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.(Matt 7:12)  The phrase Law and Prophets was a Jewish idiom for their Scriptures, the Old Testament. While we think of the Golden Rule as a New Testament idea, Jesus said it summarized the Old Testament as well.  If you don’t want to be judged, don’t judge.  If you don’t want to be condemned, don’t condemn. If you want mercy, be merciful. If you want to be forgiven, forgive.  If you want to receive, give. (Luke 6:36-38)

There’s a reason why verses 13-14 are in the middle of the chapter and not the beginning or the end.  Up till now we’ve been looking at misdirected believers who think they’re defending the faith but instead will find themselves defending fruitless lives at judgment time.  Now we’ll see examples of those who claim to be in the Church, but will actually be left behind when the Rapture comes.

Matt. 7:15-23 warns us against following false prophets, saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matt. 7:22-23)

Appearing to perform miracles in the Lord’s name does not make someone His follower, so we shouldn’t blindly accept them as such, but should inspect their doctrine.  Remember Satan will appear to perform miracles and will deceive many.  (2 Thes. 2:9-10)  Only those who do His father’s will can claim the Son, regardless of what else they say or do.  And what is the father’s will? Here’s the Lord’s answer.   “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40)

Nowhere is the Father’s will as it regards our salvation stated more clearly.   Anyone who adds any requirement or qualification to this declaration (or takes anything from it) is a false prophet even if they perform miracles in the Lord’s name.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matt. 7:24-27)

Here is the Lord’s summary statement complete with one final comparison, this one aimed at the liberals.  In Matt. 16: 16-18 Jesus called Peter’s confession that He was the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the Living God, the rock on which He would build the Church.  Paul wrote that the rock Moses struck to provide water for the Israelites represented Christ. For they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Cor. 10:4)   From ancient times, the priest would call God’s people to worship saying, “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” (Psalm 95:1)  And today we sing, “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

A doctrine of salvation that’s built upon anything other than the personal relationship with Jesus that comes from being born again rests precariously on sinking sand. (John 3:3)  He alone is the foundation of our faith, and unless our salvation is built exclusively upon this Rock, it will be of no avail to us when we stand before Him on that Day.

From the context of the chapter, we can see that the Lord’s topic was salvation.  We don’t deserve ours so we shouldn’t judge others when it looks to us like they don’t deserve theirs.  We have no right to think of ourselves as being better than unbelievers, so we shouldn’t try to impose our values on them.    We received our salvation simply because we asked for it in faith.  There was no merit or worthiness involved, nothing to commend us.  But we should be very wary of those who would propose alternatives to salvation by grace through faith alone, whether by adding to or subtracting from it, even if they perform miracles.

Now let’s go back to verses 13-14.   Each of the two roads is thought by its travelers to be the way to salvation.  But the name engraved above the wide gate is Works and multitudes who call themselves Christians are striving to get there. They run the gamut from extreme legalism to extreme liberalism, but have in common a belief that it’s their behavior that saves them.

The legalist proudly proclaims, “Jesus may have begun my salvation, but I finished it.  I have kept the commandments and no longer sin. I have earned the right to call others to account for their behavior.  How else will they learn?”

The false prophet says, “I’m a miracle worker, just like the Lord was. Who can doubt that I’m His.”

The artificially modest liberal says “I’m a good person and I’ve tried to live a good life. There are many roads to salvation and as long as we’re sincere in what we believe, the Lord will understand and accept us.”

None of them realizes the road he’s on leads to destruction.

But at the end of the narrow road stands a small gate on which the word Faith is inscribed.  As we come alongside the few travelers on this road we can hear them softly singing,

“Just as I am, without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidst me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

This is the road to Life.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)  Selah.  07-18-09

Judging from the feedback I’ve received lately, some of us don’t know what sin is. The word comes from an old English archery term meaning “to miss the mark.” Jesus gave us the mark in Matt. 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Anything short of that is missing the mark, and whether by thought, word, or deed, is sin. The main purpose of His three chapter Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) was to change our perception of sin. The Pharisees thought that if they obeyed the commandments they weren’t sinning and therefore didn’t need a Savior. To achieve their position of authority, they had to have lived such an exemplary life as to appear nearly perfect. This focus on perfection in their behavior made them arrogant, unsympathetic toward their weaker brethren. It had made them worse than useless in advancing the Kingdom. They were actually driving people away.

He began by saying that in judging our behavior, God would not overlook even the smallest detail of the Law. He said that even our thoughts would be held against us. Anger is as bad as murder, He said, lust is as bad as adultery, and so on. He said that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees we will certainly not enter the Kingdom. (Matt. 5:20) Later on He said that they were like whitewashed tombs which are beautiful on the outside but full of dead men’s bones. He said in the same way they appeared to people as righteous but were full of hypocrisy. (Matt. 23:27-28) The Pharisees were compulsive about their behavior, applying the Law to the most minute things in their lives, even giving a tithe of the herbs and spices that grew in their gardens. (Matt. 23:23) And our righteousness needs to exceed theirs? In all of their behavior they had achieved perfection.

Where Did That Come From?

Then where does sin originate if not in our behavior? In Mark 7:20-23 Jesus said: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’ “

Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) This is what he meant. Satan brings evil thoughts to the threshold of our minds. If we immediately take these thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ, there’s no harm done. We’ve fended off an attack. (2 Cor. 10:3-5) But the moment we give them any consideration at all, we’ve sinned. Anger, jealousy, envy, lust, resentment, frustration, self-pity are some of the more obvious ones, but then there’s admiration, pride, self-satisfaction, self-righteousness and a long list of others that give glory to someone or something other than God. Our hearts being incurably wicked we do two things that make us sinners. First, we harbor these thoughts, and second we think that because we don’t act on them we haven’t sinned. But whether acted upon or not, these and many more are all sins punishable by death. No one sees them, and they’re so natural to us that often we ourselves are barely aware of them. To all outward appearances we appear to be fine, upstanding examples of Christian goodness, but inside we’re rotten to the core.

Pastor Chuck Smith, the founder of Calvary Chapel, once said, “We aren’t sinners because we sin, we sin because we’re sinners.” It’s our nature. Those who claim to have stopped sinning simply don’t understand this. The best we can say about ourselves is that because of our conversion we’re perhaps a little more aware of our sins, but the research has shown that by and large most of us live lives that aren’t any freer of sin than our unbelieving neighbors. Like them, we’re after bigger and better stuff for ourselves while ignoring the needs of people around us. Like them we’re jealous of the success of others while crediting ourselves with our own success. Like them we get angry about little things. Like them, we wish our lives were different. Like them, we have a secular world view.

But what has been most instructive to me lately is the way so many people actually think they’re no longer sinners, just because they’re saved. I guess the old saying is true. We all want grace for ourselves while demanding justice for everyone else. We want to be judged by our intentions but we want others judged by their actions.

As the Bible clearly shows, there is no hierarchy of sin. All sin brings death. We don’t think there’s anything wrong with being angry or envying the possessions of our neighbors or entertaining a lustful thought now and then, but we demand others stop their sinning or else be condemned. Please don’t misunderstand me. There’s nothing wrong with being uncomfortable around sinful behavior. There’s nothing wrong with deciding to withdraw from it. And there’s nothing wrong with demanding that the leaders of our churches adhere to Biblical principles about sin. But when we start saying that certain forms of sin disqualify a person for salvation, then we’ve put ourselves in God’s place and risk having the same measure we use in judging others, be used with us.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2)

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37)

According to Biblical standards we all willingly, consciously and deliberately sin. The fact that some sins are more obvious to us than others is irrelevant. It’s what’s in our hearts that counts, and God sees them all. We forget that Jesus said every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 12:31) Every sin. And not just once. Enough to last a lifetime.

Repent And Be Saved

Having talked about sin, we should also take a look at repentance. The Greek word translated repent is metanoeo. Meta means after and noeo means to understand. To repent literally means to understand afterward. As it’s used in the New Testament it means to change one’s mind. The phrase “Repent and be saved” means change your mind about your behavior and realize that you’re a sinner in need of a savior. It was first used with Jews who thought that keeping the Law would save them. When John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2), Jesus (Matt. 4:17), and Peter (Acts 2:38) told the people to repent, they were telling them to change their minds about believing that their own works could save them. Only people who know their behavior is sinful will realize their need for a Savior. Once it becomes clear to us that we’re sinners and can’t save ourselves, we’re ready to ask for salvation. We’ve repented.

But nowhere in the Bible is anyone required to change their behavior before they can ask for salvation. The old hymn “Just as I Am” makes that clear. To say that the word repent implies that behavioral change is a condition of salvation is an incorrect understanding of the word. The notion that Christians stop sinning once we’re saved is similarly incorrect. The fact that God chooses to see us as a new creation is a function of His ability to look ahead to what we’ll be in the resurrection. It’s not due to our suddenly exemplary behavior.

There was a time in ancient history when people looked forward to cloudy days, because they thought the Lord wouldn’t be able to look down and catch them sinning. It was like a free day. Today we understand how absurd that was. When a person is caught in adultery, or theft, or homosexuality it’s obvious to everyone that he or she has been sinning. But the person who secretly envies his neighbor’s possessions, is jealous, harbors resentment, or is self righteous, is every bit as much a sinner. The only difference is that nobody knows. Nobody on Earth, that is.

And then there’s the sin we’re not even aware of. This is what caused David to write, “Who can discern His errors? Lord, forgive my hidden faults.” (Psalm 19:12) We can’t even figure out our own motives and yet are often quick to judge the motives of others. We say they could stop their sinning whenever they want to, and are only doing it by choice, while we remain in our secret sins having convinced ourselves that we’re not sinning, and seeing no need to stop.

Do we think that condemning others and questioning their salvation, as so many in the Church do, is helping them? With the woman caught in adultery, Jesus saved her life by exposing the secret sins of her accusers. Once they understood that He knew the hidden flaws in their behavior, they no longer had the stomach for condemning her. This was a demonstration of his admonition in Matt. 7:1-2 to avoid judging others unless we want to be judged in like manner. He said He would use the same measure on us that we use on others. When He said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7) , He was saying in effect, “If you want to start killing people for their sins, are you willing to face the same judgment for yours?” He can expose our hypocrisy just as easily, you know. If we want other believers kicked out of the rapture for their sins, are we willing to be kicked out for ours? We’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It’s true, Jesus said. “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven.” But He can do that. He’s Jesus. We’re not.

After they fled, Jesus asked “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:10-11) My guess is that she stopped committing adultery. Of course she also would have stopped if her accusers had killed her, but would she have been delivered from her sin?

The Pharisees were upset with Jesus because they considered Him “soft” on sin. After all, He palled around with “sinners”, had dinner in their homes, and said He came to save them, not to condemn them. I’ve noticed that the closer people came to Jesus, the more they became aware of their sins. They were often on their knees, weeping, pleading for mercy. The Pharisees stood in the back, scowling, arms folded across their chests, silently condemning. I think Paul was writing about such people when he said they show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance. (Romans 2:4)

Jesus said that prostitutes and tax collectors would enter the Kingdom before the Pharisees did. Why? Because they knew they were sinners in need of a savior. They had repented, whereas the Pharisees had not. (Matt. 21:32)

I think you get the point of this, which is to remind us that we’re all sinners who deserve only judgment. There’s not a single one of us who has earned the right to go in the Rapture. We should be so thrilled to know He’s going to take us anyway that we search high and low trying to find a way to say thanks, instead of looking around for people we want to have excluded. And those of you who think that you only sin occasionally, if at all, and that others are just weak, it’s time you repent. Admit you’re a sinner and ask the Lord to forgive you. He will immediately agree, and perhaps for the first time you’ll experience the full measure of God’s Grace, because he who has been forgiven much, loves much. Selah 12-13-08

There was such peace and harmony in The Garden. Every need was met, every desire of the heart fulfilled. Scholars speculate on the length of time Adam and Eve enjoyed Life in the Garden, but no one really knows. I believe it was long enough to give them a very clear perspective on the differences they experienced after the fall. Life in the Garden is so deeply imprinted in the memory of man that it’s been the stuff of mythology and the subject of books ever since. Sir Thomas More’s book “Utopia” is just one example, although perhaps the most famous.

Whose Decision Was It?

What took Adam and Eve out of the Garden? Nothing more than the substitution of their own will for God’s. He had given them everything, including the freedom from worry. He had accepted full responsibility for their well being, providing for and sustaining them, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

When they began making decisions for themselves He let them, but He also let them share some of the responsibility for their decisions. This shared responsibility brought them feelings unknown in the creation until then. The Hebrew word describing these feelings is translated sorrow in the KJV and pain or painful toil in the NIV. It’s used only three times. Two of those are in Genesis 3:16-17, verses that outline the consequences of their decisions.

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

The only other time it’s used is in Genesis 5:29 where it describes how the Lord would bring relief from these feelings.

He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

Lamech named his son Noah, which means comfort. But how did Noah bring the world comfort from the curse? Well, one way was that he preserved the purity of the Messianic line, avoiding the attack on humanity that produced the Nephilim and contaminated the human gene pool. This made the coming of the One who really would give us comfort possible.

But I believe Lamech also knew that Noah was to be the last of the 10 Patriarchs from the time before the Great Flood, and because he named his son Noah, their 10 names could be formed into a single sentence that summarizes the complete Gospel story. “Man (Adam) is appointed (Seth) mortal (Enosh) sorrow (Kenan), but the blessed God (Mahalalel) shall come down (Jared) teaching (Enoch) that his death shall bring (Methusaleh) the despairing (Lamech) comfort (Noah).” It’s a prophecy of the Messiah that took 10 generations to write, but it has brought much comfort to the world, because it had to have come from God. What kind of coincidence could have produced it otherwise?

But the most important point to remember is this. Adam and Eve learned that sorrow and painful toil came into their lives as the result of seeking independence from God.

Shared Responsibility

When I say the Lord let them share some of the responsibility, here’s what I mean. Even though they had just made the second biggest mistake in the history of Man (the biggest was Israel’s murder of their Messiah) and even though God could have made them disappear and started again with another handful of red dirt (Gen. 2:7), He still watched over them and cared for them as His children.

His first act of kindness after the fall was to provide food for them, even though they had to work for it. His second was to clothe them. His third was to send Cherubim to guard the way to the tree of Life, preserving their way back to the Garden once the consequences of their actions had been reversed at the cross (Romans 8:20-21).

In no way could Adam and Eve negate the outcome of their decision, but because of His great mercy they could learn from it and voluntarily yield their will back to the Lord who was still their Provider (El Shaddai). When they did, He blessed them with long life and many children, signs of His favor. And though their circumstances were forever changed, they again walked and talked with God and were at peace with Him in spite of those circumstances. In other words, even though they could no longer physically live in the Garden, they could achieve a Garden state of mind.

Lessons from History

The German philosopher Hegel once said, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” But in Romans 15:4 Paul wrote that “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.”

In other words, lessons that began in the Garden still apply today. We’re to learn both from Adam and Eve’s mistakes and the Lord’s response.

Like Adam and Eve we’re God’s people. As long as we submit ourselves to His will our every need will be met and He will assume full responsibility for our well being (Psalm 37:4 & Matt. 6:31-33). But when we start exercising our own prerogatives He begins sharing that responsibility with us. The more independently we act, the more responsibility He shares. Along with shared responsibility come sorrow and painful toil.

When we surrender again He takes the responsibility back. Since He hasn’t given us full use of the dimension of time, we can’t go back and negate the consequences of our independent decisions, but like Adam and Eve we can learn from them and voluntarily yield our will again to the Lord who is still our Provider. All He requires is confession and a willingness to start over. His mercies are new every morning, so we too can achieve a Garden state of mind in spite of our circumstances, just like our first parents.

It’s All in Your Mind

One day soon, the Lord will lead us all back to the real Garden, the one in heaven. But until then, there’s the Garden state of mind. These are perilous times and every indication is that they’ll become more so. If you’re all stressed out about them, maybe you’re assuming too much responsibility, trying to impose your own will on things you can’t control instead of trusting God and living according to His will. If so, you’re living outside the Garden, where it’s full of sorrow and painful toil.

Jesus said, “Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28).” Give your life to Him again, and relieve yourself of the responsibility. You may not be able to reverse the effects of your past decisions, but if you draw near to Him, He’ll draw near to you and lead you safely through them. Just like Adam and Eve did, you’ll find that life’s better in the Garden, even when it’s only a state of mind. Selah 07-19-08

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matt 4:18-20)

According to John’s gospel Jesus and Peter first met after John the Baptist introduced Jesus to two of his disciples as “The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:35) Andrew, one of those disciples, immediately rushed to inform his brother that he had seen the Messiah. Peter and Andrew were fishermen from Bethsaida, a fishing village (Bethsaida means “House of Fishing”) on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus of course was known as a carpenter’s son who grew up in Nazareth, a town about a day’s walk up into the steep hills that separated the Galilee from the plains of Megiddo to the west.

Take Me To Your Leader

Andrew brought Peter to meet Jesus and within a day or two Jesus had asked them to follow Him. James and John, another pair of brothers who were also fishermen, were the next two disciples chosen and these four became the closest ones to Jesus, forming an inner circle of sorts. And of the 12, Peter became the group’s informal leader.

Peter’s small town naiveté and unabashed machismo teamed up to make him a take charge kind of guy, and Jesus seemed to take a special delight in him. Peter’s periodic bouts of “foot in mouth” disease must have given the Lord countless hours of laughter.

But it was his courage that most distinguished him. When Jesus approached the disciples’ boat, walking on the water, it was Peter who got out of the boat and walked across the water toward him. It was Peter who made the first public declaration of the Lords’ true identity as Messiah of Israel. When they were surrounded by a large contingent of armed temple guards on the night of the Lord’s arrest, it was Peter who drew a sword and cut off Malchus’ ear. He was ready to take on the whole bunch.

That’s why it was such a shock to everyone when a powerless servant girl scared Peter into denying the Lord three times later that night. It was so out of character for him. Jesus had anticipated this, predicting that Peter would do just that after hearing him boast that even if everyone else deserted the Lord, he would not, promising to die first.

Reverting to Peter’s original name, the Lord had said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

What an amazing thing to say! First of all, note that Satan had to ask permission before he could touch the disciples (the Greek word for “you” in the first sentence is plural) and then that Jesus was already interceding for Peter. Not that he would be spared his ordeal, but that his faith would be strong enough to sustain him through it. Finally Jesus told Peter to strengthen his brothers after his ordeal was over, showing that the Lord’s prayers on Peter’s behalf had been answered.

None of what Peter was going to do would catch Jesus by surprise, none of it would happen outside the limits of His permissive will, and from His perspective, none of it would cause the slightest change in their relationship. But Peter’s failure would humble him, give him more compassion and make him a better leader. And the other disciples would be comforted in that the failure of their courageous leader would somehow make their own easier to bear.

Paul would later write, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Someone has paraphrased these verses saying, “Our life is a ministry. Our sorrows are our credentials.” Peter’s sorrows would make him a more effective minister to his flock. And the Holy Spirit would use Peter’s new-found compassion to demonstrate just how dramatic a change can be wrought in the life of a willing believer. His sermons in Acts 2 and 3 must have astounded and amazed those listeners who had known him for any length of time.

Do You Still Love Me?

Perhaps the best way to understand the extent of the Lord’s faithfulness to Peter is to listen in on his so-called re-instatement. We’ll need to insert the Greek words for love to get the full impact.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” The word for love used here is “agapeo”, which means to be totally given over to the object of one’s love.

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “You know that I love you.” But Peter used the word “phileo” which denotes a brotherly love or affection, a much less intense form of love.

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” (agapeo)

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” (phileo)

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” (phileo)

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” (phileo)

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17)

By backing down to Peter’s all too human level of love, Jesus completed the re-instatement, in effect saying, “I know you’re giving me all the love you can and it’s enough.”

And so it is with you. None of what you’ll ever do can catch Jesus by surprise, none of it can happen outside the limits of His permissive will, and from His perspective, none of it can cause the slightest change in your relationship with Him. He knew every one of your sins before He went to the cross, and gave His life so that you could be cleansed of all of them. You can’t surprise Him, you can’t disappoint Him, and you can’t let Him down. If He chooses to deliver you from a situation, He can. If not, He’s at the right hand of the Father interceding for you, praying you through it just like He was with Peter. (Romans 8:34) And like he did with Peter, He’ll use the situation to make you a better model of what His love can accomplish in the life of a willing believer. It’s called Grace. Selah 06-11-05

Note: June 13 marks the celebration of Shavuot, or Pentecost. For our article on this Jewish Holy Day read .

This is the verse the Lord impressed upon my heart as I was asking for a topic for this article. It’s familiar to anyone who has ever experienced any Christian counseling, and like many Bible verses bears closer examination. The complete verse reads, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26 NIV).”

Translations differ slightly in interpreting this passage and the Greek contains some interesting insights, but Paul was quoting from Psalm 4 where the context of the passage was established. Let’s begin there.

Contained in the Old, Explained in the New

David was distressed by the Israelites’ continuing unfaithfulness to God (Ps. 4:1). They were turning His glory to shame and seeking after false gods (vs. 2). It is the same frustration we feel today in viewing the state of the world, and David was apparently praying on behalf of all who share his feelings. The Lord’s response in vs. 4 was a warning to all of us not to let that frustration turn to sin, but to search our own hearts and be still. I believe the Lord had David explain that we’re to stop worrying so much about other people’s sins and focus on our own, because the next bit of advice is to “offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord (vs. 5).” In other words make our own peace with God and trust Him to deal with those who’ve aroused our anger. Vs. 7 implies that in obeying, David was given greater joy than those others experience even after a bountiful harvest, and he was then able to sleep in peace, his anger gone.

So back to Ephesians 4:26. In quoting Psalm 4 Paul used two different Greek words translated anger by both the NIV and NASB. The first one, at the beginning of vs. 26, means to be provoked to anger. It’s a passive word, indicating the anger is the effect of an outside action. The other, at the end of the verse, means rage or wrath and is used only here in scripture. The KJV translates the first as anger and the second as wrath. In the preceding verses we’re told to “put on the new self.” This warning about letting anger become sin is an example of behavior unsuitable to our new selves.

It Feels So Natural

It’s natural to feel anger over the flagrant violation of God’s laws in the world, both inside and outside the church. It’s bad enough when this hurts others, and when it’s directed at us personally, it’s even worse. But when that anger turns to resentment (anger stored for future use), or causes us to respond in kind toward each other it becomes sin for two reasons. One, it puts us in God’s role of judgement, and two it causes us to presume that we’re better than the object of our resentment. That’s called pride.

Using the context from Psalm 4 then, the lesson becomes clear. Feeling anger is natural, but harboring it or acting upon it is sin, even if we convince ourselves we’re justified because the Lord’s on our side. Before we go to sleep at night we’re to realize that we’re quite capable of the very behavior that has angered us, perhaps having considered or even manifested it. Remember the Sermon on the Mount; anger is as bad as murder, lust as bad as adultery, and so on. It’s the thought that counts, not just the deed. Let our hearts be convicted so we can confess and be forgiven our own sins (1 John 1:9). This is the sacrifice of righteousness counseled in Psalm 4:5. Trust the Lord, who judges the intent of every heart, to handle the rest and we’ll lose the anger and sleep peacefully. By the way, the New Testament promise equivalent to Psalm 4:7 is found in Philippians 4:6-7. Pray about everything be anxious for nothing and thankful for anything, and receive the peace of God that transcends all understanding (my paraphrase).

Against You and You Only Have I Sinned, O Lord

If the object of our wrath is a friend or neighbor, or even someone lying in the bed next to us, it’s also good to patch things up with them, but remember the sin is against God. By judging motives and meting out punishment we’ve tried to make ourselves like Him. It’s the sin that caused Satan’s fall (Isaiah 14:12-14) and it’s also the one that gives the devil a foothold (location or space) in our life.

Table of contents for Forgiveness

1. Forgiveness Part 1
2. Forgiveness Part 2
3. Forgiveness Part 3

The Most Popular Verse in the Bible.

For as long as we can remember, the Bible’s most popular verse has been John 3:16, but lately another has come to the top of the list; quoted most often by unbelievers. I guess that’s an improvement because in the past the unbelievers’ most popular verse wasn’t even in the Bible. It was “the Lord helps those who help themselves.”

Today’s most often quoted verse is Luke 6:37 “Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” Even though it’s used primarily by unbelievers, and in a way that’s judgmental toward believers (making its use self-contradictory) it’s a good one to use in concluding our series on forgiveness.

Union and Fellowship

Remember that there are 2 levels of forgiveness; one that is not behavior driven and one that is. The first is the forgiveness that the Lord purchased with His life. You received it simply by believing that He died for you. At that moment you were forgiven once and for all, and your salvation was assured. You were also given irrevocable union with the Father (Ephe 1:13) and became as righteous as He is (2Cor 5:21). This union is forever and carries eternal blessings for every believer. So why did John in his letter to believers counsel us to confess and be restored every time we sin (1 John 1:9)? It’s because of the other level, fellowship. Fellowship is temporal, carries earthly benefits, and is subject to interruption. Our Lord can’t relate to us while our hearts are full of the destructive human emotions that often imprison us, because these emotions are sins that have to be confessed and forgiven before He can restore the relationship.

In Luke 6:37 the clear implication is that judging or condemning another’s behavior constitutes sin, as does the failure to forgive. The parable of the unmerciful servant in Matt 18:23-35 showed that what comes around goes around (see ). Luke 6:37 concurs, with positive admonitions. To escape judgment and condemnation avoid judging and condemning. To receive the forgiveness that preserves fellowship, extend it.

Who’s Punishing Whom?

Complicated by human standards, it’s exquisitely simple by God’s. When wronged by a brother, you suffer. By staying angry and refusing to forgive, you wrong your brother and suffer again. When you forgive him he is convicted and he suffers. In Rom 12:17-21, Paul says it’s like heaping burning coals on his head. Meanwhile, the Lord takes the anger from your heart, restores you to fellowship with Him, and gives you peace. When you punish someone by failing to forgive, do you realize you’re the one who suffers most?

Expel the Immoral Brother

Much is made of admonitions in the Bible to avoid believers who are sexually immoral, or who regularly eat or drink to excess, practice idolatry or greed, are swindlers, foul mouthed, gossipers, or verbally abusive (1 Cor 5:11, Ephe 4:29). In this way we help them see that such behavior is sin. But once they admit it (repent) we are to forgive them, even if it happens 7 times in the same day. We are to forgive them as much as 70 X 7 times. Why, because we all do these things too, and if we expect forgiveness we are to forgive.

In 1 Cor 5:1-5 Paul takes the Corinthians to task for permitting an unnatural relationship between a man in the fellowship and his father’s wife. “Hand this man over to Satan,” Paul said, “so the sin nature can be destroyed and the spirit saved.” Apparently neither the man nor the congregation saw his behavior as sin. Both needed to repent (reconsider their opinion) so Paul required them to expel the man. In this way both the congregation and the man could recognize their sin, confess and be forgiven.

In 2 Cor.2:5-11 Paul spoke of the incident again. The plan had worked. The congregation was obedient and the man humbled. “Now forgive him and comfort him so he won’t be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Reaffirm your love for him so that Satan doesn’t outwit us again.” The congregation’s first sin was in not seeing the sin, but the failure to forgive was also a sin, and could allow Satan to win after all.

Who Loves You?

There’s also the issue of love. It’s best explained in a parable from Luke 7:41. Two men owed money to a certain money lender. One owed 2 years pay and the other owed 2 months. Neither could pay so the money lender cancelled both debts. Completing the story, the Lord asked, “which one will love the money lender most?” Simon the Pharisee answered, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.” Good answer. He who has been forgiven much, loves much. Have we been forgiven much? “As I have loved you,” the Lord said, “You must love one another” (John 13:34, 15:12 and 9 other places).

Table of contents for Forgiveness

1. Forgiveness Part 1
2. Forgiveness Part 2
3. Forgiveness Part 3

Repent and Be Saved.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4).

The Greek word translated rebuke in this passage means to admonish or censure. We should advise fellow believers when we think the way they’ve treated us is contrary to God’s word (see also Matt 18:15-17). Repent means to change one’s mind or reconsider, and has to do with the way we perceive things. In each of the 34 times the word repent is used in the New Testament, people are being admonished to change their perception in light of what they’ve been taught and admit they’re sinners. Forgive means to lay aside or leave alone.

A Tragic Misunderstanding

Somehow we’ve come to believe that repent means to stop doing something, and if we don’t stop doing it, then we haven’t repented and therefore don’t qualify for forgiveness. If that’s true and the required salvation sequence is to repent and be saved, then none of us is saved, because none of us has stopped sinning. All of us are living in deliberate and open sin because in each human life there is observable behavior that violates God’s word, and is knowingly and willfully repeated. It’s not that we discover one sin in our behavior and root it out only to be made aware of another. We deliberately repeat the same sinful behavior over and over. If we could progressively root out and eliminate the sins in our lives we could eventually stop sinning and wouldn’t need a savior.

When John the Baptist warned the people of Israel to “repent for the Kingdom is near (Matt 3:2)”, he wasn’t telling them to be on their best behavior because the King was coming. He was telling them to reconsider their need for a savior while they could. When Peter admonished the Jews at Pentecost to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins so they could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) he wasn’t saying, “Clean up your act.” He was telling them that as soon as they changed their perception about who Jesus was and what He had done they would be forgiven. When the evangelist tells his audience to “repent and be saved… he’s not telling them to become good enough to someday be accepted by the Lord. He’s admonishing them to realize they can’t be good enough and ask the Lord to take them right now just as they are.

So What Does That Mean?

The word repent means to change your mind, not your behavior. That’s why the Lord said, “If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” It’s also why in Matt 18:22 He corrected Peter “not 7 times, but 70 times 7.” Both passages cover repetitive commission of the same sins as well as sequential commission of different ones.

We’re not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we’re sinners. It’s our nature. When we say the sinner’s prayer, we’re admitting that we can never meet God’s requirements and need someone to intercede for us. We ask the Lord Jesus to intercede and be our Savior. He agrees to do this, not because we promise never to sin again, but because we admit we can’t stop sinning.

When Will We Ever Learn?

In the Old Testament the emphasis was on obedience. The principle was behave or you won’t be rewarded. And even with the threat of eternal punishment people couldn’t be good enough for God. In the New Testament the emphasis is on faith. Now the principle is behave because you will be rewarded and people still can’t be good enough. In the Millennium the emphasis will be on experience. The principle then will be behave because you are being rewarded. Satan is bound, Jesus lives among us and rules the world, the curse is removed, and a Utopian life is at hand. All of man’s excuses for sinning are gone. And at the end of that age, the people that God hasn’t supernaturally perfected will rebel against Him. The underlying message of the whole Bible is that there is no circumstance in which mankind can achieve the standard God requires. Living in sin is a state of being, not just a state of rebellion. That’s why we need a Savior.

Please Forgive Me

Just as repent doesn’t mean, “I’ll never do it again,” forgive doesn’t mean, “It’s OK to do it again.” Remember forgive means to lay aside or leave alone. Neither word is behavior driven. Both are perception driven. Jesus doesn’t condone sin, but if we’ve accepted His remedy and confess (1 John 1:9) He chooses to leave it alone. He’s done that for us because we asked Him, and now He asks us to do likewise for each other.

Table of contents for Forgiveness

1. Forgiveness Part 1
2. Forgiveness Part 2
3. Forgiveness Part 3

Like confession it’s good for the soul… and it’s required.

What a day! About 2/3 of the way through, I concluded that Satan must really have me in his sights. First I got out of sorts with my daughter over some little thing and the whole day was down hill from there. “Good day to write about forgiveness,” was the Lord’s advice.

Some one once said that if we ever realized just how much the Lord has forgiven is us, we’d not hesitate a moment in forgiving others. I wonder. I think He pretty much nailed us in His parable of the unmerciful servant. It’s in Matt 18:21-35. Peter began the dialogue by asking how many times we’re required to forgive a brother who sins against us, “seven times?” “Not seven times but 70 times 7,” replied the Lord, and then He gave them and us the parable.

The Unmerciful Servant

A servant owed his master a debt he could never hope to repay. Asking only for more time to pay, he is completely forgiven, the debt cancelled. Upon leaving his master’s office he chances upon a fellow servant who owes him a small sum. He demands payment but the fellow servant also asks for more time. The request is refused and the newly forgiven servant has his debtor thrown into prison until he can pay in full. Upon learning this, the master is enraged. “I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?” He then has the servant turned over to the jailer to be tortured until he can repay all he owes. The Lord concluded with this admonition. “This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Each subject and object in the parable is symbolic. The master represents the Lord, the servant is you and I, the debt is our sin, the prison is whatever emotion locks up our reason, and the jailer who tortures us is Satan.

Please understand that failure to forgive doesn’t suspend your salvation. Salvation is not behavior driven like this parable is. What’s being suspended until the debt is repaid is the relationship. The servant doesn’t stop being a servant. He no longer has access to the master, and the jailer now has access to him, but the implication is that once the debt is repaid he’ll be restored to good graces.

Union and Fellowship

It helps when you see that there are 2 levels of forgiveness; one that is not behavior driven and one that is. The first is the forgiveness that the Lord purchased with His life. You received it simply by believing that He died for you. At that moment you were forgiven once and for all, and your salvation was assured. Like the servant, your debt was cancelled but unlike him you were also given irrevocable union with the Father (Ephe 1:13) and became as righteous as He is (2Cor 5:21). This union is forever and carries eternal blessings for every believer. So why did John in his letter to believers counsel us to confess and be restored every time we sin (1 John 1:9)? It’s because of the other level, fellowship. Fellowship is temporal, carries earthly benefits, and is subject to interruption. He can’t relate to us while our hearts are full of anger, lust, envy, greed, or any other of the destructive human emotions that imprison us, because during those times we’re like the unmerciful servant, needing discipline. In the context of the parable, He’s still our Master and we’re still His servants, but we can’t enjoy the full benefits of the relationship. Something’s come between us that has to be resolved before we can go on.

It’s Our Choice

Depending on the intensity of our emotions, and the determination with which we justify and cling to them, we may lose out on blessings, and experience other deprivations like the limited loss of protection from our enemy. Justified or not, these emotions are called sin in the Bible. They make us impure, and give the enemy access to us. The Lord permits this (Job 1:12). Being unable to tolerate the presence of sin, and unwilling to interfere with our choices, He can’t do otherwise. But as soon as we ask, we’re forgiven and the sin forgotten, the price having been paid at the cross, and we’re back in fellowship. Then the Lord turns that which Satan had intended as torment into a blessing, showing that all is forgiven (Job 42:10-17).

It’s Not a Suggestion

The Lord often commanded forgiveness in His teaching. In Matt 5:23 He said to be reconciled to our brother before offering a gift to Him. In Matt 6:9-15 where He taught the Lord’s Prayer, He warned we would not be forgiven unless we forgive. And in Mark 11:22-25 we learn that forgiveness adds power to our prayers. Something this important to Him better be important to us. Forget justification. He would have been justified in condemning us all to Hell forever, and besides your brother’s sin is between him and the Lord.. Since He’s forgiven us everything, can’t we forgive each other these little things?

In our series on forgiveness, I have emphasized the idea that forgiveness is not something we extend because the other person has earned or deserves it, but because the Lord has commanded it. He commanded it for three reasons. First because the failure to forgive is a sin that interrupts our relationship with Him, second because it’s an opportunity for us to show our gratitude for having been forgiven, and third because by doing so we keep His commandments.

Jesus didn’t die so that bad people could become good. He died so that dead people could live. In the parable of the prodigal son, the elder son criticized his father for restoring the younger rebellious son. The father, a type of our Father, didn’t justify his actions by saying, “your brother who was bad has become good” but “your brother who was dead is alive (Luke 15:32).”

Obeying the Law or Keeping the Commandments?

The Lord’s major problem with the religious leaders of the day wasn’t that they were failing in their effort to live by the law. It was that they considered themselves successful when in fact they were leaving out the most important part.

When they asked Him the first and greatest commandment He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And then He said, “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as your self (Matt 22:36-39).” Their pride in keeping the law had produced in them a love for themselves greater than either their love for Him or their neighbors and put them in violation of both of these commandments. For this they received no credit for their obedience to the law, but rather condemnation for failure to keep the commandments (Matt 23). The same point is made in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:10-14)

If you think you’re a better Christian than someone else because you haven’t sinned like they have, you’re in danger of becoming one of the modern Pharisees. If you’ve failed to forgive a brother because you think he hasn’t earned it or doesn’t deserve it, you’re almost there. Keep going and you’ll earn the Lord’s condemnation just like they did (Luke 6:37). Confess and you’ll be forgiven, just as they were (Acts 2:41)

Romans 2:24 proclaims, “It’s God’s kindness that leads you to repentance.” Lamentations 3:22-23 agrees. “His mercies are new every morning.” No one comes to Jesus out of a desire to obey the law, but out of a realization that we can’t. It’s His mercy we seek, not His justice. Perhaps this is why the Lord gave us a “new” commandment in John 13:34. “Love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another.” His kindness to us is to be expressed in our kindness to one another. Out of His love He forgave us when He didn’t need to and we didn’t deserve it, and out of that same love we are to forgive each other.

The Greatest Gift

Of all the gifts we received from Him, the greatest is love (1 Cor 13:13). It’s the distinguishing factor by which the world will know we are His (John 13:35). Concerning this love, we are to be a channel, not a reservoir, allowing it to flow through us into each other. “As I have loved you, you must love one another.”

“If you love me, obey what I command,” the Lord told us (John 14:15). In so doing He reminded us of the greatest commandments. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as your self ” as well as His “new” commandment, “As I have loved you, you must love one another.”

When believers sin against us they are breaking all these commandments, failing to act out of love for the Lord and a neighbor, and failing to express the Lord’s love for us. When they admit they’ve sinned (repent) and confess the Lord forgives them. When we fail to forgive them we are breaking His commandments as well, failing to act out of love for the Lord and our neighbors, and failing to express the Lord’s love for them. When we admit we’ve sinned (repent) and confess the Lord forgives us.

For I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice

In this quote from Hosea 6:6, the Lord was telling the Pharisees that God views the way we treat others as evidence of how we feel about Him. Obedience is acceptable only if attempted in response to God’s love for us. Since no one succeeds but requires God’s mercy (evidence of His love) our mercy toward one another is evidence of our love for God. It’s time the church learned the same lesson.