Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

Satisfied in Jesus

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“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
(John 6:35 (ESV))

As I prepared for last Sunday’s sermon on Matthew 6:16-18 (Jesus’ instruction on Fasting) something occurred to me that I hadn’t ever considered before.  If the purpose of a Fast is that, rather than finding your strength from physical sources (bread, meat, caffeine), you turn to God, the true source of all life, health, and strength, then the one who is Fasting should demonstrate in their strength of character that they have indeed been fed by “every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4).  Jesus had Fasted 40 days, and was hungry (an understatement), but because of His intimate reliance upon and relationship with the Father, he was able to withstand the temptations of the evil one.  He was hungry because of the Fast, but satisfied in God.

I’ve Fasted before, sometimes skipping a meal for prayer, one time even Fasting for a week.  I have, on occasion, “given something up” for Lent, usually something that wasn’t good for me anyway, as an act of discipline.  The greatest revelation provided through the Fast has always been how self-sufficient I have become.  If I’m hungry, I can just run out and get something to eat.  If I’m bored, I can grab a snack.  If I’m down and depressed, maybe some “comfort food” will help cheer me up.  Who really needs God when there’s Bratwurst, Kraut, and a Cold Stout ready and waiting?  Fasting reveals just how dependent I have become on food, but more importantly, how little I think I depend upon God.

Don’t get me wrong, I think God gave us brats and kraut, beer and wine, steak and potatoes, fish and chips, spaghetti and marinara… a smorgasbord of succulent sustenance that we may eat and be blessed.  The problem arises when we begin to think that this sustenance will satisfy, because it doesn’t.  No matter how many times you eat yourself sick, and mumble as they roll you away from the table, “I couldn’t eat another bite…” – you will be back.  You will thirst again, you will be hungry again.  Until you can find that one thing that really satisfies, your stomach, your life, will always yearn for more.

Jesus said, right after feeding 5,000 people, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”  More than anything else, Jesus is the one thing that will satisfy our souls.  We scramble around in a maddening rush trying to find that one thing to make us happy, satisfied, content in life – all the while Jesus offers the bread of life, the living water.

Perhaps the reason why we are not satisfied in Christ is that we have never really gone to him to be satisfied.  We are content with an occasional nibble of bread and a thimble of wine, when He is ready to bless us so that our cup runneth over and our heart overflows with the river of life.  We don’t want to have to trust and depend upon the provision of another, thinking that our independence is some sign of spiritual superiority, when in reality we are starving ourselves of our one source of life.  “I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Perhaps we just haven’t been reminded enough of how Christ can satisfy our souls.  I direct my sermons so that every message leads us to trust and hope in Christ, but how often do I extol the vast treasure and the unsearchable joy that comes from knowing Him?  Not often enough.

I finished my sermon on Sunday with a quote from Robert Murray McChayne’s letter to a friend whose soul was troubled:

He is not far from any one of us. He is a powerful and precious Saviour, and happy are they who put their trust in Him. He is the Rose of Sharon, lovely to look upon, having all divine and human excellences meeting in himself; and yet He is the Lily of the Valleys,—meek and lowly in heart, willing to save the vilest. He answers the need of your soul. You are all guilt; He is a fountain to wash you. You are all naked; He has a wedding garment to cover you. You are dead; He is the life. You are all wounds and bruises; He is the Balm of Gilead. His righteousness is broader than your sin; and then He is so free.

Friends, know that in Christ you will find everything your heart desires.  Turn to Him.  Find in Him your strength.  Be satisfied.

Grace and peace,

SDG

A well deserved Hell…

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“For the wages of sin is death…”
(Romans 6:23 (ESV)

Rob Bell and Love Wins notwithstanding, there really is a place called Hell, there is a final judgment, and God is righteous in His anger and wrath against sin.  It’s not fun to talk about, but then neither would it be “fun” to ignore the subject altogether only to find yourself already there when it’s too late to do anything about it. 

Unfortunately, God’s judgment has gotten a bad rap by those who stand under it.  We hear God’s righteous decree to be holy, for He is holy (Lev. 19:2), but we know that’s impossible, so the call must be impractical.  We try to live a good life, we do our best anyway, and we look for whatever joy we can find – even if the Bible says it’s a sin.  We tell ourselves, “God really wouldn’t hold this against me, surely He will understand.”  When confronted with the truth of God’s Word, we kick against the goads.  We bristle under correction.  We despise discipline.  “Who died and made you god,” we complain.  In our arrogance, we think we are more compassionate, more just, more forgiving than God himself.  We’d prefer the toothless and tame god of our own creation who is kind and generous to all, giving everyone a hall pass through life.

Living under such a delusion will lead to our destruction.  We worship a holy God who cannot even look upon sin, how then can we presume to stand before Him in our sin?  Psalm 5:4–6, teaches us, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.  You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”  Habakkuk 1:13 says, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…” 

The fact of the matter is that we must deal with a Holy and Righteous God who has issued His decree on all of humanity.  We are called to live in holiness before Him, but “we have all sinned fallen short of His glory” (Rom 3:23), “none is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Rom 3:10-12).  Under this judgment of God we stand condemned, for the “wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).  God is just in declaring that sinners are bound for Hell.

The preaching of judgment is not intended to scare you into believing or acting a certain way, but to tell you that you do indeed need a savior.  Luther called it one side of the gospel coin.  Unfortunately for many of us, it is a lesson we need to hear again and again.  We tend to insulate ourselves from the need for help.  I can manage just fine on my own.  I’ve got Jesus is in my life as a “spiritual insurance” policy – just in case things get bad, but hopefully I’ll never have to call upon him.

Friends this is not gospel living, this is not the gospel faith.  The truth of the gospel is this: you are in desperate need of a savior.  Things are bad, they are beyond repair.  Your life is not acceptable to God, in fact, our lives apart from Christ are offensive to God.  We owe to God a perfect life we cannot live, a tremendous debt we cannot pay, an offering we cannot make.  Only when you see your life as forfeit before God do you truly begin to appreciate the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  God is gracious in calling the redeemed to His side in glory!

It is true that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” but the story does not end there.  Paul goes on to say we are “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).  It is true that “the wages of sin is death,” but it is equally true that “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).  To preach the judgment without the gospel would be cruel, but to preach the gospel without the judgment would be meaningless for us today.

We deserve Hell, but our loving God has seen to it that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we can be made fit to live in heaven.  We are covered by his righteousness, made alive by his spirit, redeemed by his blood, purchased with his life, given victory over death and hell by his empty tomb.  This is the free gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  There is nothing we could ever do to deserve this gift, to try would keep us from receiving as it was intended, as a gift.  We live by responding in joyful obedience; God equips us and sends us for the work He has prepared for us from before time (Eph 2:10), but these works are always in response.  God, from the beginning of time, has always been the one to act first in grace, we were created to respond and live in the joy and splendor of His grace and glory!

Richard Baxter, the 17th century Puritan preacher, wrote in his work The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, “So let ‘DESERVED’ be written on the door to Hell; but on the door to heaven and life, ‘THE FREE GIFT.’”

I’ll say “Amen” to that.