Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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The Non-contradiction of the Incarnation

The Non-contradiction of the Incarnation

The eternal Word was united to a human body. Though this was an act of humility, it was not an act of shame. He spurned not to be called a man. Joyfully He took on flesh, and dwelt among us. 

You could have heard His infant cries, coming from real human lungs, on that night of His birth. That same body traversed Israel, healing the sick & blind, feeding the hungry, teaching of the Kingdom, driving out money changers. His body was broken on Golgotha. Then His body was buried in the tomb. But when He rose, it wasn’t as a disembodied apparition. He didn’t leave His body behind, opting for some floating orb of spiritual light instead.

No. He had come to defeat death. And so, like a trophy of His conquest, He rose from the dead withthat same body to everlasting glory. He ascended to the Father’s right hand, reigning there forevermore. 

His body is now there. But it’s also here in the bread & wine. He’s here in His gathered saints. It’s no contradiction to say that His resurrected body is both ascended to the throne of glory, and here in this meal. No more than it would have been when He first was laid in a manger. Christ never laid aside His divinity in taking on humanity. As regarding His divinity, He has always been everywhere at all times.

His glorified human body now sits enthroned in heaven. But because He is the man Who is also the second person of the Godhead, He still fills heaven & earth. Here indeed is His body, broken for You. We can say both these things, because He’s the fullness of Him that fills all in all (Eph. 1:23), and also because He’s the child born in Bethlehem. Truly God, and truly man.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Looking Through the Window

Looking Through the Window

There are two ways to look at this meal. You can either see this meal as a tapestry or you can look through it as a window. Some look upon this meal as simply a quaint tradition which provides solace and comfort to the emotional and psychological needs of those who take it. They merely see a tapestry of curious anthropology.

But when you look at this meal by faith, you not only look at the elements, but you look through the elements. You see bread and wine, but faith sees and understands that it is really Christ which is beheld. 

But let me push this illustration to very corners. A window is useless if there are not beams of light gleaming through it to dance upon the pupil of an opened eye. A blind man, straining his eyes, during a midnight hurricane will never see through that window, no matter how hard he tries. No, the eyes must be opened. The light must beam through. So not only do we look through the window, but the only way we can even see out the window is because the light first blazed through to us. 

We see Christ here in this meal, because Christ first shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We see because He first showed. We behold because He first revealed. We delight in Him as our bridegroom because He first rejoiced over us as His precious bride. We are dead to sin, because He lived in righteousness. We are alive, because He died for us.

Those who merely look at this meal will never truly taste or see the glory of this meal. Only those who look through this window of bread and wine will taste Joy Himself, Life Himself, Glory Himself, Brilliant, Majestic, Boundless, Shoreless Love Himself.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

A Heaven Without Christ?

A Heaven Without Christ?

God once told Moses that the Israelites could go into the promised land, with an angel accompanying them, but with one qualification––God Himself wasn’t coming along. Moses responded, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence (Ex. 33:15).”

When Jesus taught that anyone who eats his flesh, and drinks his blood, has eternal life (Jn. 6:54), and many disciples left because of this teaching. When Jesus asked the twelve if they would leave also, Peter the spokesman declared: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life (Jn. 6:68).”

A Puritan writer once posed this question to his readers: “If Christ should say to [you], ‘Take thy fill sinful delights; eat, drink, and be merry; solace thyself in the midst of all thy abundance; thou shalt not perish, only thou shalt not be with Me!’ ‘Not with Thee, Lord Jesus? Where then? Then farewell, delights; farewell, pomp and plenty; farewell, all! I follow Thee withersoever Thou goest, for it will certainly be hell where Thou art not.’”

What about you? If you can imagine a heaven without Christ, and find yourself happy and contented with the thought, you have missed the very pith of the the Gospel. The Gospel teaches us that Christ is precious to those He has redeemed. All other saviors are powerless to save, all other joys are empty of true & lasting enjoyment, all other ways which claim to bring us to God are crooked paths leading to our eternal damnation.

Here before us is a feast that reminds us that Christ came in the flesh, in order to unite us in fellowship with joy Himself, love Himself, glory Himself. Forsake the empty tables of sin, and come and welcome to Jesus Christ.

Assurance of Victory

Assurance of Victory

Introduction

You are called to overcome sin. Unless you are perfectly holy you will not see God. This leaves us all––as the kids might say—hosed. Adam’s sin––and mankind’s daily sin––indicates our covenant union with the devil. The only hope for us is a new covenant.

The Text

1 John 3:1-6 ff.— Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. . . .

Summary of the Text

God’s great love to us is manifest in our new birth as His sons and this new identity sets us at odds with the world (v1). Though we aren’t entirely sure of all the glories the resurrection will unveil, we know that it is likeness to Christ, the Son of God, which will be the distinguishing feature (v2). Hoping in Christ secures our purification, because He is pure (v3). Man is a lawbreaker, and by definition is a sinner (v4); but Christ came to take away our sin (v5). By abiding in Christ we are no longer reckoned as sinners, because sinners don’t know Jesus (v6). Union with Christ not only forgives (cf. 1 Jn. 1:9), but justifies and sanctifies us. Because He is righteous, we are righteous and can now do righteously (v7). Sinners trace their lineage to the first sinner, Satan; but God came in the flesh to destroy the devil’s works (v8), and thus deliver us from positional and indwelling sin through the new birth (v9).

This difference of spiritual lineage is evidenced in love for one another (vs.10-12). Wordly Cain hated righteous Abel, just like the world hates the church (v13). The fruit (not the root) of the new birth is love for the brethren (v14), and murderous hatred is proof that the eternal life—which was with the Father in Christ (cf. 1 Jn. 1:2)—does not abide in you (v15).

God’s love is perceived through Christ’s sacrifice, and we are to model that (v16). Jesus’ sacrifice is not simply an example, but the reason we open the coffers of generosity to our brothers in need (v17). We don’t just pay lip service to sacrificial charity and love, we put it into practice (v 18).

Assurance of salvation is real (v19) but it isn’t found in our condemning heart (v20). Our hearts see our sin and condemns us, but God is greater than our condemnation and, in Christ, declares there is therefore now no condemnation (cf. Rom. 8:1); if He doesn’t condemn us, we shouldn’t condemn us (v21). Because we are now His children, we can ask for whatsoever of our Father knowing He will not only hear but also grant our requests, because of our covenantal obedience (v22). The terms of the covenant are: love God by believing on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, then love your neighbor, while all the while the Spirit grants assurance that “it is well with my soul” (v23-24).

A Defeated Foe

John spends a lot of airtime on the relationship between Christ’s incarnation and our sinful state and sinful actions. The devil doesn’t feature in this discussion of sin until we learn that sinners are covenantally descended from the devil. However, this is immediately followed by informing us that his works have been destroyed by the Son of God being manifested in the flesh. It was for this very purpose that Jesus came: to destroy all of Satan’s war-engines. Our covenant with Satan has been broken, and his siege upon mankind is overthrown. Now we are covenantally united with God through His Son––eternally with the Father (cf. Jn. 1:1)––because He became a man and dwelt among us that He might represent us. Christ’s incarnation sounded the death knell for Satan’s kingdom.

Remember, in your battle with sin, you are fighting a defeated foe. This is taught in WC: “In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome; and so, the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Salvation By Commandment Keeping?

God hearing and answering our prayers because we keep His commandments might seem like works righteousness (1 Jn. 2:3 & 3:22). But notice that this whole letter hinges on our new covenantal status: born of God by His indwelling seed. 

John shows that union with Christ has cultural implications (both for Jews and Greeks); redemptive implications; ethical implications; covenantal implications; theological implications; relational implications; eschatological implications. It matters everywhere and permeates everything.

The root of your salvation is you in Christ, but the fruit of your salvation is Christ in you. Assurance of salvation isn’t: you love your brother and therefore God is pleased with you. Rather, through Christ you have fellowship with God and this new birth undergirds, motivates and enables you to love your brother. The root of your salvation is you in Christ, but the fruit of your salvation is Christ in you. Prior to the new birth your so-called love for others is tainted by self-serving motives; on the whole, we love others for what we can get out of it. The new birth totally rearranges our motives. We no longer love to get. We love others because that is what our new nature, in Christ, does: it makes much of Christ.

Abiding in Christ: our Assurance of Victory

We shouldn’t mistake abiding in Christ for some abstract state of euphoric, spiritual nirvana that we must try to get into. Rather, it is an objective state of being which we are baptized into (1 Jn. 2:20), and this anointing produces a way of doing: believing obedience. God in the Flesh––Christ incarnate––is the only way to deal with your sin; both in the sense of justifying and progressively sanctifying.

This is why John spotlights assurance. Christ is the only way for your fallen nature to be reborn, and Christ is the only way to sanctify all your future good works. Does your sin weigh you down? Turn to God…He knows how filthy you are. You’re so sinful you won’t admit the half of it! When you turn to God, you’ll find He is greater than your dead heart. He specializes in removing hearts of stone, and replacing them with hearts of flesh. God can do so because Jesus discharged the debt of your sins and imputes His righteousness as yours. God no longer looks in wrath upon those in Christ, but in lavish love.

The simplicity here is striking: God commands you to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another. Your assurance is rooted in the fact that Christ triumphed over Satan. All of our enemy’s schemes for our hurt have been undermined by Christ coming in the flesh. Our covenantal union with sin, the devil and the world and the death that came with that union, has been supplanted by our new covenant head—the incarnate Christ. He grants assurance of salvation and eternal life. You can have confidence toward God because you believe in His Son who defeated the devil.

The Ultimate Authority

The Ultimate Authority

Sermon: The Ultimate Authority from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

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Introduction

The question for every nation, generation, and individual is “who is in charge: you or God”? We are never left in neutral territory. The world is divided, down the middle, of those who are obedient to Christ and his commands, or those who obey the moral code of the mob. As Christians, we must never leave off obedience to Christ for the sake of the traditions, fads, or fashions of men, no matter how noble they may seem.

The Text

Matthew 21:23-32

And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

Summary of the Text

This exchange between Christ and the chief priests comes right after some quite notable moments: the triumphal entry (vs. 1-11) and the clearing of the temple (vs. 12-13); Jesus then heals in the temple (vs. 14-16). The next day on his way back into Jerusalem he commands an unfruitful fig tree to whither, which it does, and then Jesus teaches his disciples on the power of believing prayer (vs. 17-22).

It is in the light of these episodes that Matthew presents us with the chief priests questioning Christ’s authority to teach (v. 23); Jesus responds to their question with his own question regarding John the Baptist’s origin (vs. 24-25); the priests huddle-up and come up with the ficklest of replies, “dunno” (v. 27). So, Jesus pointedly gives His answer by refusing to give the answer (v. 27) and by telling the parable of the two sons (vs. 28-31).

The father in the parable commands one son to go work in his vineyard (v. 28), the son refuses, then repents, and then obeys (v. 29); so the father commands the second son, who then gives lip-service to obedience, but in fact, simply does not obey (v. 30). Jesus then asks them which of the sons did the will of the father, and they acknowledge that it was the one which actually obeyed the father and went to work in the vineyard (v. 31); Jesus then summarizes the point: repentant sinners, not unbelieving Israelites, would enter the awaited kingdom of God (vs. 31-32).

Obedience & Authority

This parable is often used to moralize about how children should obey their parents the first time; but although that is an important lesson for children to learn, that is not what we are to take away from this parable. This is a parable about which authority we will obey, not whether we will obey at all.

The chief priests query Jesus as to who gave him the authority to teach; Jesus points to the  ministry of John the Baptist to make the obvious truth (that Christ’s authority came from God the Father), even more painfully obvious. John’s ministry resulted in repentance, which David had proclaimed was what God most desired from his people in giving them the covenant signs: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Ps. 51:16-17).” But the chief priests were more akin to those who received Isaiah’s searing rebuke of the unbelieving and unrepentant Israelites of his day: “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men (Isa. 29:13).”

Despite the obvious heavenliness of John’s ministry, they had the more convincing signs of Christ’s ministry: the blind seeing, the lame leaping, the multitudes being fed, the dead being resurrected; but they quibbled over whether Jesus had the proper credentials, degrees, and qualifications to be teaching the people. Jesus simply points to the fact that both John’s ministry and His own were fruitful; whereas, the ministry of the priests and elders was marked by unbelief and unrepentant hearts.

Two Religions

From the beginning there has really only been two religions: the covenant people of God (marked by faith and repentance), and the unregenerate (marked by humanism & idol-worship). The first son in Jesus story, was outwardly rebellious, but later repents & obeys the father’s command. The second son, which we are to associate with unbelieving Israel, visibly and verbally seems to be quite the good little boy, whose cheeks the church ladies are wont to pinch; however, this son flat out disobeys and thus disregards his father’s authority. His disobedience shows a loveless heart, regardless of his flattering tongue.

We must either repent and believe, and be saved; or else pretend and be forever lost.We must either repent and believe, and be saved; or else pretend and be forever lost. At the end of the story, where do we find the two sons? The first son is precisely where the father desired him to be in the first place: the vineyard; the second son is, due to his disobedience, consequently found outside the vineyard. Notice where the father intends his sons to be: harvesting in a vineyard. The harvest of a vineyard brings the joy of the wine; but only the repentant and obedient son is found where the wine flows, and thus receives joy for his reward. Jesus shows us that the second son is left in the joyless misery of disobedience.

The question for us is, “Which son am I?” Jesus came to save sinners that repent of their disobedience, not sinners that feign obedience and never repent. The harlots and tax-collectors were the most dubious of sinners, but they repented when they heard the Gospel message. They knew they were disobedient to God’s law, authority, and standard; they were guilty as sin, but they repented, and submitted to the authority of God’s Word, and were found obedient to the Father. Jesus wants us to see the hypocrisy and false obedience of the chief priests in the second son; lip-service is not what He demands. Rather, loving obedience, faith & repentance are what He asks of us (Rom. 12:1, Mar. 12:33). As the Psalmist has it: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (Ps. 34:18).”

A Great Commission

Matthew, in his Gospel account, is leading up to something. If we’re not careful we might stop short by dwelling on the crucifixion alone, rather than going on to what Christ redeemed by His cross-work and resurrection; namely, a commission, backed by all authority, to go into the Father’s vineyard of this world and preach the Gospel, teaching all nations to obey Christ’s commands (Mt. 28:18-20)!

It is impossible for there to not be a standard; the issue in every generation is from which authority that standard will be derived from. We will obey either the God of creation and how He made the world; or we will obey the whims of our depraved nature.  Either God will be your God, or else Man will be your God.

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The Mind at Rest

The Mind at Rest

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:2

Paul commands us here to habituate ourselves to right affections, in the right order. Our old man (Col. 3:9), must be put off, because he is in the opposite habit of setting his affections on things below. The command to set our affections (or sometimes translated mind) on “things above” is not a command to think warm, fuzzy thoughts about sentimental notions of pearly gates. It is not a command to general affections, but precise affections.

We are to think upon, cherish, and value the exalted Christ, who is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1), with all authority given to him (Mat. 28:18-20), and, by faith, we are resurrected in Him and seated with Him (Eph. 2:5-6 & Col. 3:1). Your affections, therefore, are to be firmly lodged in the person of Jesus, the King of the earth. This leaves no room for the rebellious and sinful philosophies of men (Col. 2:8); and this necessarily leads to mortifying the behaviors that are the result of earth-bound affections (Col. 3:5).

Notice that affections that are set on Christ the King, who is seated at God’s right hand, are set in contrast with behaviors that are obviously the result of the affections being directed at earthly sources of pleasure. The issue isn’t the affections, it is where those affections are placed. The problem isn’t your body’s desires, the problem is that you are enslaved to your body’s whims and not the Lord’s commands. One leads to sin, the other leads to enjoyment of God’s earthly gifts.

Finally, to hopefully–and helpfully–illustrate how to put this into practice: my wife and I pray before we go to sleep, and we ask the Lord to grant to us (whether waking or sleeping) minds set upon things above. We know that the time when you are drifting off to sleep is a fertile ground for the temptations of anxiety, worry, lust, fear, jealousy, etc. We also know the promise of Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

A mind set upon Christ the King, is a mind that has perfect peace, because all things are being subjected unto His dominion and Lordship (2 Cor. 10:5). So, practically, fill your daily routine with checkpoints that force you to remember that your loyalty is to Heaven’s King, not earth’s lusts.

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A Brief Eschatological Foray

A Brief Eschatological Foray

While here in South Africa, my in-law’s house-keeper (a precious black woman, Sylvia), asked me to help her understand “everything the Bible has to say on Christ’s return!” No small task there!! So, I spent a bit of time summarizing (hopefully in a concise and simple manner) the basics of Biblical eschatology! I thought it good enough that I ought to share it with you all!

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One of the foundational truths of the Christian faith is the fact that Christ promised His church that He will15596124673_9801862a6e return in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11)”. As the ancient Apostle’s Creed affirms: “[Christ] ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Thus, as Christians we must live with a mindset of readiness for either our death or His return, and we must warn this careless world the danger of neglecting “so great salvation (Heb. 2:3)” offered to us through Christ’s saving work on the cross.

As with any topic, the Scripture alone must be our source for truth; many people have come up with fancy, and imaginative theories about Christ’s return, and many of these ideas (though certainly creative) have no basis in the Word of God. Since we are in the Kingdom of God, King Jesus’ Word must be the lone authority for us in matters of doctrine; and the doctrine of Christ’s return is no different. [Read more…] about A Brief Eschatological Foray

Ben Zornes