Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Assurance on the Table

Assurance on the Table

The importance of the Lord’s Supper is that it is an objective truth. It is an immovable pillar in the midst of the shaking sands of our turbulent emotions, cultural upheaval, global uncertainty. Here is solid ground upon which your faith might stand, and stand firm.

A mistake that many make is to acknowledge a doctrine of salvation that is Scripturally sound: “I am saved by Christ alone;” they nod along vigorously and would gladly affirm this as true. And of course, this is marvelously and eternally true. However, when confronted with the question of their own assurance of this salvation, they go looking in all the dusty nooks and all the cobwebbed crannies of their own feelings.

The ground of your salvation and the assurance of your salvation are not in you. Just as your righteousness, filthy as it is, stained by sin as it is, is not the ground of your justification, neither are your inner feelings the ground of your assurance. Your salvation is here. Your assurance is here.

Christ saves sinners. Porn junkies, sodomites, religious hypocrites, women and doctors who abort babies, the politicians who advocate for it, liars, murderers, cheats, and idolaters. Christ came to forgive such sinners who turn in faith to him. He came not only to save sinners great and small, but that they all might rest assured in the objective salvation He won for them.

When so great a Savior is set before you, don’t draw back. Come to Him. Your salvation is a gift. Your assurance is a gift. Receive it now, with the simple faith of a grateful heart. Don’t try to gauge whether you feel assured, rather ask, “Do I believe what God says?” He says, “All who come to me, I will in no wise cast out.”

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

To the Word

To the Word

One of the hallmarks of the Protestant Reformation was the motto ad fontes, meaning: “to the sources.” This led them to read the Bible for themselves in the original languages. What they found there they could neither keep to themselves, nor keep quiet about it.

The Apostles’ Gospel of free grace, which the Reformers rediscovered, was found by reading Scripture’s witness. The Word of God was the engine for the whole project. As Tyndale discovered the glories of Scripture, he remarked, “Christ desires his mysteries to be published abroad as widely as possible. I would that [the Scriptures] were translated into all languages, of all Christian people, & that they might be read & known.”

Calvin frequently exhorted his people to read Scripture: “Thus must we also read the Scriptures. We must greedily, and with a prompt mind, receive those things which are plain, and wherein God openeth his mind. As for those things which are hid from us, we must pass them over until we see greater light. And if we be not wearied with reading, it shall at length come to pass that the Scripture shall be made more familiar by continual use.”

A later Reformer insightfully said, “a home without a Bible is a ship without a rudder and a Christian without a Bible is a soldier without a weapon.”

We’ve been undertaking to renew a fervor amongst God’s people for the regular reading of Scripture. Our BRC campaign flows from the reality that your spiritual life cannot be sustained by infrequent reading and hearing of God’s Word. The condition of our Nation is directly the result of our neglect of reading, believing, and obeying the Bible. So Augustine was once told, “Take up, and read.” The Reformation we desire won’t come apart from the conquering sword of the Word.

In an age where our phones have every imaginable translation of Scripture and even the tools to read Scripture in its original languages, we have opted for the distractions of newsfeeds, quizzes about what our spirit animal is, and all manner of other frivolities. It’s no wonder we are a skittish generation, for we have no foundation and no anchor. Our nation is a crumbling ruin, for we have sought to build on another cornerstone than God’s Word. Our nation is a ship adrift in a hurricane––without sails, oars, or a compass––for we have cast overboard the eternal Gospel declared in Scripture. The church has, all too often, treated the Word flippantly, and this shows in the fact that frequent reading of Scripture is a duty which few have fulfilled. May God forgive us for neglecting His Word, and may He renew in us a hunger for the Bible as never before.

OT as Telescope

OT as Telescope

The OT sacrificial law is a telescope which we must look through, not at. As we look through it, we can behold bright gleams of redeeming grace and how we should render worship to the Lord. This is displayed even in smaller details, like the requirement that the worshipper had to bring an animal which they’d either raised themselves, or which they’d purchased for a sum. The plain requirement was that the offering wasn’t something that could cost nothing. 

This explains, in part, why such animals as rabbits or deer weren’t appropriate for sacrifice. These creatures were plentiful & relatively easy to capture. However, there was no personal cost to the worshipper. At almost turn, the Israelite worshipper was led by the sacrificial code to see themselves covenantally joined to the sacrificial creature. They’d raised it, or toiled for the money to buy it, and now they laid it before the Lord.

The shed blood ought to have been their blood. The ascending smoke was their ascent to God. If they looked at the sacrifice in true faith, they saw themselves in the creature as it was slain then burned.

The Lord Jesus was called “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” He walked among us. He took on our flesh. He humbled Himself by taking to Himself a human nature. So, when we look at this bread & this wine, we too should be led to see our death, our burial, our resurrection, & our ascension. For by our union with Christ, His righteous life is counted as ours, His sacrificial death is ours, His resurrection is ours. He is the Lamb that was raised alongside of us, who laid down His life for us, & now has brought us along into the Father’s bright presence.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

The Shepherd Gathers in His Sheep

The Shepherd Gathers in His Sheep

The Lord Jesus tells us in John 10 that He is the Good Shepherd. He not only came to gather in the lost sheep of Israel, but also to call out to the sheep not of Israel’s fold. Though most of us here aren’t Israelites, we’ve heard His voice, and now have joined with true Israel whom Christ has gathered together to form one fold with one Shepherd. 

When we baptize a child of believing parents, we’re trusting that through these waters, Christ, the Good Shepherd, makes His Gospel call heard & known to this child. From this day on, may he learn to hear the Shepherd’s voice at every turn, and may he come to be gathered up with all the sheep of the Lord’s flock. The Shepherd’s call rings out not only to this child, but to us all through this covenant sign. His call is this: “Repent, & believe.”

The Bitter Husband Problem

The Bitter Husband Problem

The NT has a particular warning for husbands. That warning is expressed by Paul in Col. 3:19, when he admonishes, “Husbands, love your wives, & be not bitter against them.” Modern translations render this phrase as “do not be harsh with them,” which is true enough. But translating it that way changes our perception of where the sin lies.

In our modern age, a husband telling his wife she may not do “thus and such” could be viewed as harsh, while a husband not objecting to his wife getting an abortion is considered being an understanding husband. But the Apostle is far less concerned in this verse with the actions of the husband than he is with the condition of the husband’s heart.

A husband can grow bitter toward his wife, and if he allows that bitterness to fester it can eventually become evident through harsh actions, demeaning words, or violent behavior. He may begin to have a wandering eye, or he might withdraw into a cold shell of indifference, or he might explode with violent anger. Those actions are the poisoned fruits which arise from the bitter root. 

The bitterness might arise because the husband tried to lead and the wife didn’t follow, or it could arise because he’s an insecure puppy and his wife didn’t like his Facebook post, or it could arise because she gossiped about him to all her friends. Nevertheless, whatever precipitated the bitterness, it’s a husband’s duty to root up that weed as soon as he sees it appear. From that root arises adultery, murder, divorce, and abandoned children.

Bitter husbands invert the atmosphere of their home. What should be the warmth of Gospel forgiveness & joy, becomes the harsh winter of stewing frustrations, unrepented sins, and a tangled web of slights, wounds, and broken trust.

In an age where we face a profound vacuum of godly masculinity, men in the church have continued to harbor a diseased and deformed perversion of masculinity. Either through pride or insecurity, men withdraw into passivity, refusing to lead their wives and homes because of a bitter heart. Or else they explode with unrighteous wrath for the littlest of grievances. If Christian men would shew forth the glory of the cross and of the Father’s love, our Christian homes must reflect it at all levels, and this begins with husbands and fathers leading their homes in repentance and true faith in Christ.

Bit by Bit

Bit by Bit

The Lord’s Supper changes you. In one sense, you won’t leave here the same person who walked in. This is true for both the elect who faithfully partake, and the reprobate who partake of this meal in high-handed hypocrisy. For the latter, as they partake once more in unbelief, the shell grows harder, the stony heart increases in numbness, they become more like who they are becoming. They crucify afresh the Lord of glory, and have added to their offenses another instance of their rebellious hatred for Christ’s gift of grace.

However, for those who partake by true, evangelical faith, you too depart changed. You too, become more like who you are becoming. For the redeemed, by partaking of Christ, you are also assured that you are becoming more like Christ. 

We know  we should we look at this bread and wine and see Christ in these rustic elements. However, we must also see by faith what Christ is accomplishing in us individually and corporately. Your battle with sin, your fears of the future, your trials which beset you all are overcome by Christ. So, since you are in Christ, and Christ is in you, you have abundant grace for it all. 

This change isn’t all at once. We don’t do an altar call, turn down the lights, rev up the music in the hopes of sending a tingle down your spine so that you have the emotional perception that you’ve changed. Rather, we partake of ordinary elements of bread & wine, with Christ’s blessing upon them, and so in faith we know that we are changed from glory to glory by looking on the face of Christ. By the Spirit’s power, the effectual blessing of Christ is in this meal. That blessing cannot help but make you, bit by bit, more like Christ.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

A Gift in Two Parts

A Gift in Two Parts

Christ speaks to us in the Sacraments. Baptism and the Supper aren’t intended to make Gospel truth more obscure, or remote. This water speaks––loud and clear––words of salvation, cleansing, and deliverance in Jesus name. 

It isn’t a rite which only a select few can attain to if they have enough grit and will-power to climb a sacred mountain or run a grueling gauntlet. Rather, this water assures those who pass through it that they’re sealed with the promise of Christ’s redeeming blood. 

To keep things as simple as possible, this promise offers you a gift in two parts: death & life. Christ died for your sin, and He rose again to everlasting life. Instead of being obscured by this Sacrament, this Sacrament shines revealing truth that those washed by Christ, receive these two great gifts: they’ve died with Christ and so, are also risen with Christ.

Make Your Singleness Count

Make Your Singleness Count

I’d like to aim this exhortation towards the single adults in our congregation. I’m fond of telling singles, “Your days of singleness are numbered. Either you’ll get married, or you’ll die unmarried.” Now, before you singles sigh & say, “Thanks a LOT,” let me explain. 

Regardless of how your singleness comes to an end, God instructs you to learn to number your days. Time is a form of wealth; as the old adage goes: “time is money.” So, turn a profit on having a less encumbered schedule than a married couple with 5 kids. You may not have many mouths to feed, but become the sort of person who can (and does) feed lots of mouths. For men this means choosing work over sloth, for women it means choosing hospitality over being a busy-body. 

Single men, get the dilly out of your dally. You aren’t designed to sit around, waiting for the world to come to you. As God once took dust & created man, men should take the dust & create crops, inventions, websites, architecture, and so on. Don’t wait around hoping for something to happen, that’s how you become a slave (Pro. 12:24). Apply yourself to wisdom, and thus learn diligence in whatever trade you set your hand to.

Single women, waiting for the Lord to interrupt your plans by bringing a man to pursue you doesn’t equate to idleness. A wise woman builds her house (Pro. 14:1), while a foolish one is a hurricane of idle clamor (Pro. 9:13-14). Sharpen your skills of hospitality and industry. Drink deeply of the pure milk of the Word, while avoiding the fumes of feminism which has successfully poisoned generations of women to despise their feminine glory.

Our sons & daughters have been raised to extend indefinitely the folly of their adolescence. Instead of growing into hardy men, and glorious women, we see a generation of timid boys and insecure girls who don’t know the difference between their respective glories. Masculinity has been labelled a toxin, while femininity has been shamed by the lust of porn and transgender madness. We are reaping what we’ve sown, and so we must turn from the cultural folly, and this begins with singles turning to God’s Word and obeying what it says about the strength of young men and the glory of young women.

More could be said on all this, but let me simply repeat: your days of singleness are numbered, so make them count.

Your Days (of Singleness) Are Numbered

Ben Zornes