Tag: Quotes

Wednesday Word: The Fault of Utopians

We must realize that the current trend in politics and culture is to bring about a Utopian world, often called the one-world government, or the great reset. A Utopia is essentially man’s desire to bring about heaven on earth without God. The Utopians want to believe that they are the gods of the world, and if everyone would just listen to them, fall into line, they would bring about peace and harmony in the world.

It’s been tried. Hitler tried it. Stalin tried it. The Chinese are trying their version of it. The Democrats, elites of our country, and the useful idiots in Christendom are also trying it now. But it will fail for two reasons. The first is that utopian dreams are fostered on us by sinful, fallen mankind.

Joseph Boot points this out in his monumental book, The Mission of God: A Manifesto of Hope for Society.

Men’s Utopias, the man-created and man-planned societies of the future, are always a dystopian nightmare because man is a fallen sinner in rebellion against God (Romans 5:10-21). Fallen man is in constant denial of this reality, and hates to accept that he is a creature, and a broken one at that… His demonic urge and evil desire is transparently the one seen in Genesis 3:5 ‘to be as God’ and his motive is to force the usurpation of the divine attributes, which being falsified in the hands of sinful man, produces not a paradise, but a hell on earth (p. 185).

Dystopian nightmares are the reality of Utopian dreams. Fallen sinful nature works against those who have “good intentions,” but fail to take into account that they are attempting to accomplish something well out of reach.

Even within the education system, which they are always attempting to control, they fail to produce the automatons that will make their society perfect, because of the sin nature that works in the students. The students may be in full agreement with their Utopian overlords. But they rebel against the Utopian authority, since this is really all they have been trained to do since birth. The society implodes upon itself because of sin nature.

For years, the culture has been trying to throw off God’s law, seeking to become autonomous (without law), or a law unto themselves. But under the Utopian scheme, there is a law, man’s law. The goal is to make all those in the Utopia the same, conforming to the image of the leaders of the Utopia. For Hitler that meant the quest for the perfect race of humans, white, blond hair, blue eyes, Aryan. Never mind that Hitler didn’t fit the description. First commandment of the Utopian laws is: laws for thee, not for ME.

The second reason that Utopian dreams fail is because there is a God in heaven who laughs at their rebellion.

Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

“Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision.

Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,

And distress them in His deep displeasure.

The Utopian fails to see that his own sinfulness gets in the way of the his Utopian dreams, and also fails to see that there is a God in heaven who stands in the way of the Utopian outcomes.

God stands in the way of the Utopians dreams because He has another plan and Kingdom that will come about. That centers on Christ. He is the risen Savior, and ascended King. In the account of His ascension to the throne in Acts 1, He was placed on the throne over all creation to rule (see Daniel 9>>>). And He will continue to rule until all His enemies have been made His footstool. We see this is Psalm 110:

The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
2 The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

This shows that Christ’s enemies will be defeated and that He will not return until they are defeated, as confirmed in 1 Corinthians 15:25.

But Psalm 110 also shows what the King who rules will do to His enemies.

The Lord is at Your right hand;
He shall [a]execute kings in the day of His wrath.
6 He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall [b]execute the heads of many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.

 

There is no place in our understanding for Christ to be a meek, mild, feeble King. He is reigning over the leaders of the latest Utopian plans with a rod of judgment as they try to throw off His rule, which they do in so many way. How?

Through the destruction of the building blocks of society, such as the family, what it means to be male and female, what our education should be like, what our government should be like, and trying to exercise dominion over every aspect of our lives. This is actually domination, not exercising dominion. To take dominion over the earth, which is commanded by the LORD and to be carried out under the guidance of His word, is commanded for mankind. Domination is trying to carry out the command apart from God and over our fellow man.

I share this to show that the Utopians are truly the enemies of God. They have thrown off His commandments, His peace, His unity, His love, His wisdom, and all the other benefits we have in turning to our LORD to learn how we should live. Therefore God give them over to their depraved minds, which brings about more depravity to the point that the Utopians will turn against themselves and destroy one another.

OUR RESPONSE

How then should the Christian respond to those trying to bring forth Utopian disorders?

By being faithful where we have been place. We are to continue with the dominion mandate by seeking to bring order to all the spheres of control we have been given. We are also to continue with the Great Commission, seeking to make disciples for Christ and letting His word work in their lives.

This is the most effective way to combat those who throw off God’s Law for our lives and the life and health of the country. We are to trust in Him to do what He has said He would do.

We are not to give up and believe as the Dispys* believe that the world is beyond saving. It is not. It is part of the New Heavens and the New Earth, and we are to be faithful to counter the Utopians, through preaching and standing for the truth, and fulfilling our marching orders. This is not an easy task. In fact, apart from God’s Spirit, it is impossible. But we are to be faithful.

They are His enemies and He will deal with them.

*As for my comment on the Dispys, or Dispensationalist, they are part of the problem of the advance of the Utopian order, for they see the world as too far gone to be saved. Joseph Boot refers to John Stott who points this out:

… Stott notes the popular spread of dispensationalism and pre-millennial eschatology schemes (over against the historic Puritan post-millennial view), through J.N. Darby and the Scofield Bible, which presented this world as beyond redemption, sinking into darkness until the coming of Christ and his literal millennial reign on earth. This led in many cases to an evangelical withdrawal from social and cultural engagement.

Dispys are also at the center of the autonomous movement. Just bring up the use of the Ten Commandments in the life of the believer, and they will scream “we are not under the law!” For justification purposes, yes. But not for sanctification purposes and for knowing then how we should live. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, not destroy it (Matthew 5:17-19).

We cannot withdraw. The Great Commission and Dominion Mandate have not been withdrawn. The Kingdom of Christ still expands and still grows. I know for now, it seems that the Utopians are winning the day. But Christ told us that the Father would prune the vine, casting the worthless branches into the fire, and causing the faithful branches to produce more fruit. He does so through the evils of those advancing Utopian dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

Longsuffering

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” — Exodus 34:6-7

Struggling with disappointment and depression is not rare among the people of God. We forget the God we worship. We forget the God who redeemed us. We forget His attributes, and confuse our lowly, sinful attributes with His.

This is why it is so important to remember His attributes. He is longsuffering to mankind in general. Justice is served upon the wicked, but it is slow in coming because God is merciful. Just think of the sinfulness in our own hearts. If He were swift and quick, our days would be short and we would never know the grace of old age. But He does’t give us what we deserve. We deserve that swift justice. Yet, He waits.

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? — Romans 2:4

Had He been quick in His justice, I would never have known His mercy. Yet, He is patient with me and all those who belong to Him. His mercy is new every morning, especially to those who know Him through His Son. We have been shown His special mercy in bringing us to our need of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. — 2 Peter 3:9

The problem arises when we forget His mercy and misery of this life crashes in upon us. We begin to doubt His goodness. We forget what He did in redeeming us. We forget His longsuffering with us, and get angry with Him when we have to actually suffer for but a little while. How is this possible? Are we so ungrateful toward our LORD, toward Christ, who ultimately suffered the greatest injustice on our behalf, that we fail to wait on the LORD to deliver us from our suffering?

Sadly, that is often the case, at least it is for me. We need the reminders that in the midst of suffering, God’s goodness has not changed. In our trials, His mercy is still abundant. When we face ailments of all sorts, He is still longsuffering with us.

Wilhelmus á Brakel reminds us of our need to be careful.

And believers, how you do injustice towards the LORD when you view Him as cruel, merciless, pitiless, and always angry, because He neither immediately delivers you from your threatening and pressing circumstances, nor grants you your desire, nor answers your prayers. You dishonor God with such thoughts. You imagine things about God that are unbecoming of Him. Humble yourself for entertaining such sinful and God-dishonoring conceptions. Refrain yourself from and be fearful of such thoughts. How detrimental it is to you when you dwell upon such thoughts…

Please conduct yourself no longer thus, but condition yourself to view God always in such a fashion as we have described Him to be on the basis of His word (The Christian’s Reasonable Service, Volume 1, The Essence of God, p. 126-127)

Remember His goodness. Remember that His Son suffered on our behalf, so that we could be redeemed from the ultimate price for sin and death. There is no crown of Christ, without the cross of Christ. In this life, we will suffer, but in Christ, we have the hope of glory.

 

Actually written August 13, 2019. I changed the date that it was published to protect the innocent.

LORD’s Day Meditation — November 8, 2020

Someone quoted Psalm 94 on Facebook this morning, and that led Heidi and me to read it. It is probably not a psalm that many people know, given that it is focused upon God’s judgment against the wicked of the world, and His comfort toward the righteous. But it is most appropriate right now with the level of evil we see displayed in the world.

For a bit of clarity, when the word of God speaks about those who are evil, and those who are righteous, it doesn’t do so from our perspective since we are fallen and sinful. It does so according to God’s Law. This is why the Ten Commandments are so important not only for our personal lives, but for culture as well. If we want to understand true righteousness, we must look at it in light of God’s Law.

Psalm 1 shows that the righteous are those who mediate on God’s Law and delight in it. To them, it is a joy, not a burden. It is a guide as to how we are to live. It shows us how it is that we are to love THE LORD our God, with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves. We delight that God has given us such a guide for living.

It is also a delight to the righteous because when we read His Law, and see our shortcomings in light of His Law, we are driven back to our need for Christ, and to the atoning sacrifice He made on our behalf to pay the debt of sin we owe. This, in turn, leads to more joy.

Go to Psalm 2 to see the evil world’s response to God’s Law. For the wicked, God’s Laws are shackles that keep them from living out their fleshly, evil desires. They seek to throw off all vestiges of God, and His Law, so they live in unrestrained debauchery. The Triune God laughs at them in derision. He will bring them to justice.

I point this out because so many in our world have no concept of true righteousness and true evil. They are confused, mislead, and misguided by our culture and our courts, which makes that which is evil good, and that which is good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

Back to our Psalm. It was reading through Psalm 94, which is comforting for those of us who cling to the LORD, that we were a bit perplexed by the first part of verse 15. See the photo:

But judgment will return to righteousness.

It wasn’t exactly clear what that meant. How was it that judgment would return to righteousness? How did it leave righteousness? Upon reflection, I think the writer of the psalm is writing from the perspective of those going through national turmoil. To them, it seems that judgment has left righteousness for a time and we are to take comfort in knowing that it will return. I’m not sure about that, but this seemed like a possibility.

We were also comforted in the reality that whatever it meant, those who were upright in heart, would follow it. They would delight in it and rejoice. In other words, those in Christ can take comfort in the world that is filled with evildoers and iniquity.

We did look to Charles H. Spurgeon for help, and his classic work, The Treasury of David. He reminds us that this verse is about the coming Lord who will judge.

“The great Judge will come, the reign of righteousness will begin, the course of affairs will be turned into the right channel, and then all the godly will rejoice.”

I believe that reign clearly started at Christ’s ascension, where He was seated at the righthand of God, to rule with all authority over all things, until His enemies are made a footstool. And while we live in dark days, this does not mean these things are not taking place.

And all the upright in heart will follow it.

Spurgeon continues:

A delightful hope is here expressed in beautiful poetic imagery. The world’s government has been in the hands of those who have used it for base and vicious ends, but the cry of prayer will bring righteousness back to the throne. Then every upright heart will have its portion and joy.

And that should be our prayer, that true righteousness should return to our country. That only comes about in one way: through the preaching and teaching of God’s word, both Law and Gospel. This means we need men who are willing to preach the hard truths of the gospel. Again, let’s look at what Spurgeon has from his comments on verse 16, which reads:

Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?

According to Spurgeon, the psalmist doesn’t see anyone coming to his aid.

“No champion of the right was forthcoming; the faithful people had failed. This is a bitter trial and a troublesome evil. Yet is has it purpose. It drives the heart completely to the LORD, compelling it to rest alone in Him. If we could find friends elsewhere, God might not be so precious to us… we are led to prize God and rest on Him with undivided trust.”

He adds that this verse is perfectly appropriate now that the church is being assaulted from all sides.

“Faithful ministers are few, and fewer still are bold enough to stand and defy the enemies of truth. Where are our Luthers and Calvins? A false charity weakened Israel’s valiant men (think ‘false love’ of our day). One John Knox would be worth a mint at this hour, but where is he? Our great consolation is that the God of Knox and Luther is still with us, and in due time He will call His chosen champion. “

The beauty for us is that we know the name of the chosen champion the psalmist was waiting for. He is Christ. He is bringing judgment, and will bring justice. The darkness we see all around us is judgment to those who cherish darkness. Yet, there is light as well. The Light of the World has not been extinguished. His light still shines forth through His word, to His people. He still comforts. He still protects.

Just as His judgment will be complete and thorough, so too, will His deliverance for His people.

UPDATE: After writing this post, came across the following sermon that makes the underlying point of the need for the Law in the believer’s life, and culture.

Travesty of Pastoral Visitation

From Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley:

However, it’s a travesty of pastoral visitation to engage in nothing more than casual conversation. After listening and learning about what is going on in the lives of the people whom you visit, open your Bible, read some pertinent verses, provide pastoral wisdom and counsel, and pray with them. Go with them to the throne of grace and pour out your heart in holy desires for their temporal and eternal good.

(From Pastoring and the Art of Balance).

I love that they used Jeremiah 3:15 as one of their proof texts.

And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The more I study Jeremiah, the more I find how applicable it is for today’s church. The very problems he faced in his day, we face in ours. When I preached from Jeremiah 23, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” earlier in the year, I realized how the problems of the church today, were the problems in Israel’s history. There are far too many false teachers/shepherds who spout “peace, peace” but only bring destruction. The false teachers are men who have raised themselves up, and declared themselves experts on God. God has not called them, therefore they speak falsely on behalf of God, claiming “love, love” all the while bringing destruction on those who hear them.

The true shepherd feeds the flock with God’s word, not entertainment, not platitudes, not trickery. This sounds boring to many. But to the sheep, it’s manna from heaven.