Ben Zornes, Author at Ben Zornes

1 Minute Book Review (Episode 05) | A Church in the House by Matthew Henry

by Ben Zornes · May 18, 2023

A great little book from Puritan Matthew Henry.

Buy it here:

1 John 5:16-19 | The Sin Unto Death

by Ben Zornes · May 15, 2023

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not unto death. 18 We know that whosoever is born of God does not continue in sin; but He that is the Begotten of God guards him, and the wicked one touches him not. 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness.
1 John 5:16-19

Think of the sense of joy you experienced when all the documents are signed and the realtor hands you the keys to your first home. That’s a pale shadow to the joy which should come from the knowledge which John has been imparting: if you have Jesus, as proclaimed by John & the other Apostles, you have life. The warnings which follow aren’t intended to spoil the joy of the central message of this book. This passage about the “sin unto death” has become the source of great confusion in the souls of certain saints. Some tender souls convince themselves they’ve committed this sin, and wonder if all hope of salvation is lost for them. But to think that way is to miss the whole point of this letter. John just reiterated his purpose statement in verse 13: he wrote so that you would know you have life eternal.

Notice as well, that John has just exhorted believers to pray with a certainty that your “prayer is always heard, and never unanswered.”^⁠1 This passage is a continuation of that thought. He continues by using (one last time) his familiar “if/then” argument, which he’s repeatedly used throughout his letter. If you see a brother caught in sin, pray, and trust that God will answer that prayer for restoring the wayward brother. Until repentance is out of reach, do not fail to pray for restoration. This reality is brought out in greater clarity in verse 18, reminding us that those born of God leave off their habitual pattern of sin. Those born again will not persist in unrepentant sin, so pray boldly for their restoration.

The “sin unto death” shouldn’t be a cause of trepidation, as if you’ll accidentally commit it while pruning your rose bushes one spring morning. Rather, remember that John tells us to pray for the brother who has fallen into sin, trusting for God to restore him; if you can see that there is hope of restoration pray for him. If there is no hope of reformation, don’t pray for him. I take this to mean a few things. First, we ought not to pray for the departed who we suspect were not believers. No purgatory, sorry Rome.

Secondly, remember that the presenting problem which John is addressing is the rampant message of the Rival Christs; their formal renunciation of Jesus Christ should be received with the church’s “amen, so be it.” As Calvin remarks on this tricky verse, “we ought not contend with the just judgement of God, or seek to be more merciful than He is.”^⁠2 If someone begins to hold to a false Christ, and will not recant, this should be met with a sorrowful but certain “so be it” from the church. Cerinthus, Arius, the modern progressive views of Jesus, and other false teachers have made their Christological bed, and should be made to sleep in it. This isn’t describing the Coal Miner, who reads his bible at 4am each morning, prays for his wayward cousins, but misunderstands the finer points of the hypostatic union.

Just because you sinned, even grievously, does not mean that you’ve “sinned unto death.” This is the point of verse 17, all our unrighteousness is sin. This is why we must be born of God. The twice-born see their sin, grieve their sin, and confess it (Cf. 1 Jn. 1:9). This is the case because the “Begotten of God” guards you, and the wicked one can’t touch you. I take the phrase “begotten of God” here as a reference to Christ, and not to the believer. The Father keeps you, because He has answered Christ’s prayer that you would be kept (Jn. 17:11-12).

The “touching” here (v.18) has allusions of the Levitical duty to refrain from touching unclean things. But in this sense, while the saint must refrain from touching the unclean thing, the orientation has been reversed. The OT mindset was to keep at bay the death & uncleanness of the world. But in Christ, the world is made clean, and the devil scrambles to try to find some foothold, and just keeps losing ground. United to God and guarded by His Spirit, we despoil the wicked one, and his efforts to defile us are like a sailboat without a sail. If you are born of God, the Begotten Son of God keeps you, and preserves you––despite your sin––because you are of God.

And although the whole world lies in wickedness, the devil’s war machines are rendered useless (1 Jn. 3:8b). If you believe that Jesus is the Christ of God, you can proceed through the whole earth unafraid, for you are kept. Let the nations rage and rebel, the victory is not theirs but Christ’s and His people. Which was how John began this section of his letter (5:4-5). This whole letter is a letter of triumphal assurance which comes through the clear knowledge of Christ as proclaimed in the Gospel, not grave and mysterious doubt which arises from the mystical knowledge of Antichrists.

¹Smith, David. The Expositors Greek Testament. Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. Vol. Five. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979. Pg. 198.

²Calvin, Jean. Calvins Commentaries. Vol. XXII. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999. Pg. 270.

Titus 1 | God Can’t Lie

by Ben Zornes · May 15, 2023

Introduction

We’re in the time of year where you’re likely to have attended a graduation. As parents and grandparents look on their children, the emotions in the arena likely range wildly. Pride, fear, hope, disappointment, maybe a touch of doubt. “He chose to major in Klingon?” The older generations are prone to be skeptical of the generation who is about to take their place. But in the Christian Church, we aren’t to simply wish that the next generation “makes it.” Paul lays out a plan for creating a culture of faith & good works that will last for eternal ages, because God said we should and promised it would work.

The Text

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour; To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. […]
Titus 1:1-16

Summary of the Text

Paul’s opening establishes the basis for all authentic Christian ministry. Notice the clauses: according to faith, acknowledgement of the truth, in hope of eternal life, which is declared through preaching, and Paul is doing so by God’s commandment (vv1-3). This is a personal letter to Titus, a fellow-partaker of the triune blessing of grace, mercy, and peace authorizing him to act with Paul’s apostolic authority (v4); we learn that Paul has a particular assignment for Titus to “set in order” the church in Crete, and to do so by a counter-cultural project of raising up godly elders throughout the island (v5). These men must be identified not only by their own character, conduct, and doctrinal fidelity, but also by the condition of their marriage & children (vv6-9).

These exemplary men will stand in stark contrast to the disorderliness of the Jewish deceivers who were causing the subversion of entire households, and going along with the infamous unruliness of Cretan culture (vv10-12). Titus is tasked with going toe-to-toe with these unruly men, in order that they might be reformed or silenced, while not giving an inch to either Jewish fables or tedious, man-made morality (vv13-14). This massive undertaking can be done only by purity of life & conduct. These compromised leaders are worse than useless in this reformation project (vv15-16).

Generational Faithfulness

As the world swirls the drain, the temptation is to shake your head in disgust, shrug your shoulders, and assume there is nothing you can do about it. The temptation which many Christians of our day are succumbing to is to presume that the church’s best days are behind her. They don’t say, as Elisha said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” They assume that faithfulness from one generation to another isn’t possible. They have many biblical instances to point to. Eli’s scoundrel sons, Samuel’s wayward sons. Rehoboam failing to maintain the glory which David & Solomon had procured. Joshua’s warnings at the end of his life seem to be forgotten by Israel shortly after his death. Even back to Eden, Adam was God’s son, who had left his father’s house to be united to his wife; the test in Eden was how would this son do out on his own. The answer to that question was a disaster.

Paul, nearing the end of his life & ministry, writes to his two closest assistants (Timothy & Titus) and gives them a pointed commission to not fumble at the goal-line. As the Old world was passing away with all its shadows, Paul is like a New Testament Moses, commissioning NT Joshua’s to be faithful in life & doctrine. The church was fanning out in conquest of the world, and this conquest would be successful if faithful men faithfully preached & lived out the Gospel, and taught others to do so. Paul expected that even in the most unruly culture, this strategy would be effective. Believe the Gospel, live out the Gospel, and preach the Gospel

Titus was a Gentile convert who had been quite the utility player for Paul’s missionary efforts (2 Tim. 4:10). Paul points to him (Gal. 2:3) as an example of a faithful Gentile convert despite not having received the OT covenant sign of circumcision. The Cretan Jews who were bringing in a whole cornucopia of false doctrines/traditions of men, might make a claim to the promises of God, but they only have the husk and not the pith. Titus is the true inheritor of God’s eternal promise, by faithfulness to God’s promise. Titus was no stranger to dealing with difficult pastoral problems (2 Cor. 8:32); but this assignment of reforming Cretan culture was not a weekend project. It was multigenerational (Cf. 2:1-8, 2 Tim. 2:2 Ex. 18).

Authority in Action

Authority is not a whip to get people to do what you want, it is a tool which must be used to build something. Authority is so often misused because those in office see it as something with which to get what they desire. We see this in the description of the unruly leaders currently infecting the believers of Crete. Their greed, indulgence, and infatuation with fables was causing the demolition of entire households. By contrast, Christian homes, with the elder’s setting the pace, should demonstrate that godly authority builds up something which their subordinates are glad to contribute to & be around. The contrast here is between authority which exists to be indulged, and authority which exists to bring life (Tit. 1:2, 3:5).

Titus is to silence the false teachers. This is done by holding fast to the faithful Word. True authority submits to God’s authority. This refutation is not to be done passively: as if just mowing your lawn regularly is enough to spread “Gospel presence”. It is done as godly elders create a contrast between the fruitfulness of their own life & household with the fruitlessness of the unruly. It also means a godly elder will need to actually pick fights. He should, by sound doctrine, exhort & convince gainsayers, and shut up the unruly and vain-talkers. We’ll see another instance in the next chapter that this godly exercise of authority is to be passed on to the next generation. This counter-cultural project, however, isn’t anarchy, it is submission, holding fast to the Word of the God who can’t lie.

Before the World Began

There is a line in the opening that might sneak by us, but which needs to be central to our minds as we work through this epistle: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” The divine covenant of God’s redeeming purpose forms the basis for your certainty that you can walk in godliness. This is nothing other than Paul restating Christ’s prayer for us: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world (Jn. 17:24).”

Cretan culture came with a gravitational pull toward a specific set of sins. Paul affirms this pagan prophet’s insight, and the authority of it. But the underlying redemptive message reveals that the Cretan concrete isn’t fully set. The ship can be turned. Titus, along with faithful elders and the saints they shepherd can be a rudder of generational reformation. This is possible because of God’s eternal promise, but it will show up as the Gospel is preached (1:3).

God our Savior

Central to the success of this project is the good news. Cretans may have been an unruly bunch. Lies may have been their currency. Entire households may be enchanted by the fanciful tales of carnal leaders. But Paul, multiple times in this epistle, gives Titus the secret ingredient to setting all this in order: God is our Savior (Cf. 1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4,6). It’s worth pointing out that God our Savior & Christ our Savior are used interchangeably.

Have you made a mess of things? Are things in your home, or life, or culture unruly, disordered, and tangled? Has your sin become so notorious as to become proverbial? Are you like the person described in verse 16, professing knowledge of God, but contradicting it by your lifestyle? Paul’s message to Titus is to set in order the Cretan believers by bringing this sound doctrine to bear upon their lives. God is our Savior. Cretans are liars, but God does not lie. False teachers feign knowledge of God, but deny Him by their sinful works (Is. 29:13, Jer. 5:2); but God can’t lie. His promise, covenanted in eternity, was to be your Savior. This is the Gospel, God takes dead men, and makes them live. God takes unruly cultures and sets them in order. God takes things that are formless and void, and fills them with light and life, and this life is in His Son, Christ our Savior. And He cannot fail in this task.

Charge & Benediction

American culture is a mess. Maybe your life or family are in tatters too. Paul’s vision here for pulling this cultural reformation off requires one thing: you need to be alive. This life only comes individuals, families, and churches who say “Amen” to this reality, that Christ is our Savior.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

To You & Your Children

by Ben Zornes · May 9, 2023

As you raise your children in a congregation that communes baptized children from their early days, you ought to be aware of a few things. Your kids are growing up in a setting where this is normal. This position is, admittedly, a bit in the minority when it comes to broader scope of the Christian landscape.

This being the case, we ought to make sure we understand, from Scripture, why we believe our baptized children should come along to this table. Simultaneously, we ought not give our opponents ammo for discrediting our position by falling into the very pitfalls which they warn us of. It does no good to tout how important it is to view our children as members of the covenant and then have them grow into damnable fools, heretics, and scallawags.

Scripture tells us that Israel’s feasts were familial & didactic. At Passover, a child of the family was tasked with asking the question “What do you mean by this service (Ex. 12:26)?” The early church is described as breaking the bread together in households (Acts 2:46, 20:7). To exclude children would be to break with Scriptural precedent. Scripture doesn’t withhold the Supper from any except for the lazy man who won’t provide for his family or the excommunicated.

The simple theological argument is this. If you place the sign of covenant inclusion upon them, why withhold the sign of covenant partaking from them? All who belong to Christ, should receive Christ.

Now for the warning. This meal is a blessing. But blessings received in unbelief turn into curses. Bread received without evangelical faith becomes stone. Wine received without true trust in God’s promises becomes cyanide. The Almighty Christ offers Himself to you here. So young & old, parents & children, saints one & all: trust that all You need is all that Christ is.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

The Week is God’s Metronome

by Ben Zornes · May 8, 2023

As the saints gather for worship each Lord’s Day, we should think of it as the time signature of history. God set the the metronome “in the beginning” and from then on out, the week begins with God’s creative work.

Being, life, and light all come from Him. The heavens and earth were brought into existence at His Word, on that first day of the week. The week is unlike other measures of time, for its reference point is the creative action of God Almighty.

If we pay close attention to our Bibles, we’ll notice that Christ’s Resurrection took place on a Sunday, which was also the beginning of the festival of Firstfruits. God began His creative work, and then completed His redeeming work on this day.

The lesson that this all should bring home to us is this. Offer yourself up to God this day, this first day of the week, this day of creation and resurrection. God makes & remakes. By starting our week this way, we declare that history doesn’t revolve around the rise & fall of empires, or even the celestial movements of Sun or Moon. The pace of history was set by God Almighty. Your worship here is an act of faith, acknowledging the total Sovereignty of God, and His twofold claim upon mankind: he made us & by Christ redeemed us.

In our corporate worship, we’re gathered up in Christ together with each other and all the faithful saints who’ve gone before us. To resist this ordering of our lives is like trying to swim up Victoria Falls, or escape the Sun’s orbit, or move Mt. Everest to Kansas. This is the first day, and it foretells the endless day of Christ’s conquest. By this, we affirm that God is God of time & eternity, of earth & heaven, and ever shall be.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Father God,

Man seeks for other reference points to reckon the passage of time, but we are inescapably bound to the order You made in that first week. You constructed this world so that our good & Your glory might coincide. Yet every time we sin, we misuse the time You have given to us, and it is as if we think we have the escape velocity to flee from the gravitational pull of Your creative decree. Forgive us for the pride which is central to our sin. Forgive us for using the days You’ve given for working to gratify our fleshly desires. Teach us to number our days, and to do so by offering up this first day in true worship of You, receiving it as a true Sabbath rest which we receive through Christ.

You have called Your church to truth in the inward parts, so we now confess our individual sins to You. Selah.

We do this in Jesus’ mighty name, and Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

The world began with God’s creative Word, bringing forth being and light. God still is working, and each week begins with this declaration of God’s redeeming Word: Your sins are forgiven through Christ.

1 John 5:13-15 | Big Prayers

by Ben Zornes · May 5, 2023

13 These things I wrote to you, that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know you have life eternal and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in Him that, if we ask any thing according to His will, then He will hear us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we asked of Him.

1 John 5:13-15

We come to the beginning of the conclusion of this letter. Reminiscent of John’s Gospel, the Beloved Apostle gives a explanation for why he’s written. Whereas in His Gospel the reason for writing was so that they might believe (Jn. 20:31), here it is so that they might know. And, not to get too technical, but this knowing is in the perfect aorist, which tells us that it is complete. There isn’t anything further that is needful to be known. As one expositor points out John’s “Gospel exhibits the Son of God, the Epistle commends Him.”^⁠1 Christ has been proclaimed by John, and now Christ is known. This knowledge isn’t merely “pass the test” knowledge, it is the knowing of personal fellowship. He is yours, and you are His. The Gospel isn’t proclaimed, and then a plan is laid out for how you are to earn it. Rather, Christ is proclaimed as God’s free gift of life eternal to those who believe on the name of the Son of God.

In verse 14, we have the fourth & final appearance of the word boldness/confidence. This whole epistle is so that you, the child of God, might be bold. Uncertainty should have no home in your heart. God, by Christ the Incarnate Son, has brought you into His divine council. You might ask, and He will hear you, and answer. This is what Christ Himself taught: “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth (Jn. 9:13).” The striking thing is that God is more desirous to hear our prayers than we are to offer them up.

Conservative Christians often are put off by the “blab it and grab it” circus of so-called “prosperity Gospel.” But our reaction to this misuse of prayer is also sinful. Being made bold by our assurance of fellowship with God through Christ should show up in boldly asking for all we have need of, with the glad submission to however God in His providence will answer us. Indeed, we don’t have, because we’re cowards to ask.

Man, through Christ, has been restored to fellowship with the Almighty God. Just as Adam walked with God in the cool of the Garden, just as Moses met and counseled with God in the Tabernacle, or as many of the prophets were brought up into the secret place of the Most High, each saint is brought into God’s Holy, awesome presence. Your privilege is to petition the God who made heaven and earth to supply your daily bread, to break the jaws of evildoers, to thwart the designs of Satan, to subdue wicked nations, to bring about true justice in the earth. Our problem, by and large, is that the Gospel we preach is mismatched by the safe prayers we pray. The Great Gospel brings about great prayers.

¹Smith, David. The Expositors Greek Testament. Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll. Vol. Five. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979. Pg 197

1 John 5:9-12 | God on the Stand

by Ben Zornes · May 4, 2023

9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which he has testified of His Son. 10 He that believes on the Son of God has this witness in himself; he that believes not God has made Him a liar, because he believes not the witness which God has testified of His Son. 11 And this is the record, that God gave us life eternal, and this life is in His Son. 12 He that has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God has not life.
1 John 5:9-12

If you have spent a few decades on this planet, you’ll have noticed that every few years some fad rages throughout the culture. Say it is a dietary or exercise fad, everyone proclaims the virtues of what such and such regimen did for them. Pretty soon, all your friends have jumped on the bandwagon. Then, after a few months, or in some rare cases, years, they’ve moved on to the next greatest thing. We are prone to believe the witness of men, in many respects, without much persuasion. It explains how quickly social contagions (like wearing masks during a pandemic, the “transing” of minors, or slonking eggs) become a thing. If we easily believe the witness of men, on all variety of matters (what car to drive, which toothpaste 9 out of 10 dentists recommend, what diet to try), how much more should we believe God’s testimony regarding the most important event of history.

John continues to elaborate on this theme of earthly & heavenly witness. We should read this in light of the structuring of John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel is bracketed on the front end by the witness of the Spirit descending, & on the back end by the water & blood streaming from Christ’s wounded side. We have the witness of man (John 1:32), when John the Baptist testified to the divinity of Jesus; and we have the divine witness at Christ’s death, fulfilling all the righteous requirements of the law (John 19:34-35; Cf. Ex. 12:46). This is what the Apostle bore record of, earth & heaven have testified that Jesus was the Christ.

The witnesses have been summoned (vv7-8), and now this is the Divine testimony regarding the Son. The implications here are quite straightforward: either you believe God’s record, or else you say God’s a liar (v10). If you believe on the Son of God, you can be assured that this witness is in you. Once more this is a kind assurance from the Lord, this faith doesn’t have its origin in you, but in God.

John lays out in verse 11, in simple terms, what God’s testimony to the world is: He has given us life eternal. But it isn’t outside of Christ. This life is in His Incarnate Son, and no other. You can search the world over, but this eternal life is only found in the person & work of Jesus Christ. John effectively tells us that the witness of God is the Incarnation. If that isn’t enough for you, then nothing will be.

The Gospel is not a matter of hidden knowledge which must be sought out through desert vigils, or holy pilgrimages, or good deeds. The Gospel is plain as day, and should compel us all to follow as readily as we believe man’s witness on trifles. If you have Jesus, you have life, if you don’t have Jesus, then you don’t have life. But just because it is simple, doesn’t mean it is for simpletons. This is divine simplicity, this is glorious straightforwardness, this is unveiled plainness.

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