Street Meeting Thirtieth

As part of our public reading, I continued from the passage we had previously considered with the saints during our indoor gathering on the seventh week. As hath often been the case, I found myself at a loss on how to approach the text on the journey to the park. Yet though my hands were upon the wheel, my heart was upon its knees before the throne, pleading with the Lord that He would grant me the honor of lifting up Christ before the people. This He so graciously granted in exceeding measure.

Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Mark 13:5-6  

From the beginning of history, the enemy hath employed one weapon above all others to draw men away from God: deception. It hath assumed many forms throughout the ages, yet perhaps none is more subtle or more devastating than flattery.

Our first parents, though created upright and dwelling in a sinless world, were not enticed by threats, but by promises. “Ye shall not surely die. Your eyes shall be opened. Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5) The temptation was clothed in the appearance of gain. It flattered their desires, appealed to their aspirations, and concealed death beneath goodly promises. 

The woman did not set out with a deliberate resolve to rebel against God. She was enticed, and she was enticed because the enemy was exceedingly skilled at deception. He did not compel her to sin, but patiently persuaded her that to desire good was better than to obey God's command, and that His word could safely be improved. Sin first came clothed in deception, and only afterward revealed itself as treason against God. Having been deceived, she became, in turn, the first to speak on sin's behalf, offering the fruit unto her husband who was with her, and he also ate (Genesis 3:6).

Yet deception did not remove responsibility. They both knew the voice of God, yet chose to give greater weight to another voice than to the One who had spoken plainly. They believed the promise of the creature over the command of the Creator. Thus they were not innocent victims of deception, but accountable moral creatures who willingly acted against what God had expressly declared. Such is the dreadful power of deception. It persuadeth a man to justify reinterpreting God's commands, convincing him that if done through seemingly good means, he may safely ignore their consequences, and so he prefers his own reasoning above the plain word of God.

In our day deception often uses the language of scripture severely twisted, promising good while leading into error, exalting man while quietly diminishing God. There is but one means by which deception is exposed: knowing the truth. The surest defense against the enemy's lies is a deeper acquaintance with the Word of God.

I am the truth..

John 14:6

The enemy knoweth that he cannot erase the truth (Matthew 24:35), and so he seeks instead to bury it beneath a multitude of half-truths. By mingling falsehood with what is true, he confounds the mind until man can scarcely discern one from the other. Having obscured the truth, he then flatters the heart into becoming its own authority, persuading each man to fashion a truth agreeable to his own desires and to call it his own. Yet every truth invented by man suffers from one fatal deficiency: it cannot save. It only satisfies the intellect, but it possesses no power to reconcile a sinner unto God. And that which cannot save, damns.

The greater part of the world's religions and sects possess a christ of their own making. To some he is merely a prophet; to others, a created being, an enlightened teacher, a lesser god, a divine force, or simply a useful instrument. Nearly all are willing to speak well of Christ, provided they are permitted to redefine who He is. Yet such professions prove nothing. Even the devils believe, and tremble (James 2:19).

False religions are not against Christ. They are enemies of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18). The cross declareth that man is unable to save himself, that his own brand of righteousness is detestable in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6), and that salvation is found in Christ alone (Acts 4:12). Herein lieth the dividing line between what is almost true and what is altogether true. A false christ may satisfy the religious mind, but only the crucified and risen Christ hath power to save.

Truth is the very person of Jesus Christ.

All the religions of the world, in one form or another, measure salvation by the strength of the flesh. They teach that man must somehow justify himself before his deity by his own efforts, his own merit, or his own devotion. But the testimony of Holy Scripture is altogether different: salvation is of the Lord (Psalm 3:8). The infinite gulf between a holy God and sinful man is not bridged by man's attempts to ascend unto heaven, but by God's mercy stooping down to rescue the sinner.

For this reason it is a grave error to suppose that fallen man can, of himself, simply choose to come unto God. Left to himself, he neither seeketh God nor delighteth in Him. Salvation beginneth not with the will of man, but with the gracious initiative of God Himself bridging that impassable gulf and opening that way by which man may come unto Him (Mark 15:38).

It is erroneous to conclude that man hath no will. It is likewise erroneous to speak of man's will as though it were absolutely free. Only God possesses absolute sovereignty over His own will. We do indeed possess a will, but our will ever acts according to our nature. If we remain dead in trespasses and sins, our will inclines toward the desires of the flesh, for we freely choose what our fallen nature loveth. But when God, by His Spirit, makes us alive in Christ, He giveth us a new heart and a new nature. We remain willing creatures, yet our renewed will is now inclined toward the things of God.

Thus the regenerate man doth not obey Christ merely because he must, but because he delighteth to do so. What was once a burden becometh a joy. Religion, to the unregenerate, is an obligation imposed from without; but to the new creature in Christ, obedience is the glad expression of a heart transformed by grace. For where the Spirit of God giveth life, He also giveth holy affections, and the commandments of Christ becomes to him altogether lovely.

Now unto all I say: becoming a Christian lieth altogether beyond the power of man. No one can make himself a Christian. God alone can take a heart of stone and give it life. God alone can bring a sinner into union with His Son. God alone can make a Christian.

Perhaps the clearest earthly picture of this mystery is found in the covenant of marriage. To become a Christian is, in a manner of speaking, to be betrothed unto Christ, both in covenant and in affection. The person, as becometh part of the Bride, hath already been won by the love of her Bridegroom. She knoweth fully well that He hath redeemed her, and that for her sake He laid down His own life.

Being united unto Christ, her affections are no longer her own. She gladly separateth herself from that which is impure because her Bridegroom is holy. Have ye ever seen a bride willingly appear before her bridegroom clothed in a soiled wedding garment? Should the dress be stained, the wedding itself is brought to a halt until it is made clean. Even so, the bride of Christ desireth to be found pure, not because she seeketh to earn His love, but because she hath already been won by it. 

Therefore Christ Himself, by His Spirit, preserves His bride. He doth not keep her perfectly sinless in this present life, but He faithfully keeps her pure and spotless, continually washing and sanctifying her by His Word. 

He cometh not because she possesses something worthy of His love, but to bestow upon her what she never possessed. He findeth her clothed in filthy garments, yet He arrays her in His own righteousness. All that she hath is first received from His gracious hand. Her obedience is not the labor of a servant seeking wages, but the joyful devotion of a bride who loveth the One to whom she is promised.

For her Bridegroom hath gone to prepare a place for her, and she clings to His promise that He shall return to receive her unto Himself. She waits with longing, knowing that the day draweth near when the marriage shall be consummated, the two shall become one forever, and where He is, there she also shall be (John 14:2-3).

The story of Christ and His beloved bride is altogether beyond the language of men. It is so glorious, so lovely, and so filled with divine affection that I reckon no poet ever born could adequately speak of its beauty as it truly deserveth. It had to descend from heaven before it could ever be spoken on earth. This is what Christ came to declare unto us: that God loves His people with an everlasting, covenantal love, and hath displayed that love most perfectly in the person of His beloved Son.

If you have yet to see I will tell you plainly. True heaven-borne Christianity is not a moral system, but a love story.