Today is my 44th birthday. All flesh is as grass. “…the rich man (this has been me thus far in this life) is to glory in his humiliation, because like the flowering grass he will pass away.” My birthday is an opportunity to praise Christ my Savior and to lift Him up to those who so kindly spend their time and some even their money wishing me a happy birthday.
In this past year, God has so graciously taught me more about Himself than perhaps any other year I remember. Much has changed in my life and in the world in this last year. But there is one who has not changed, and His ways are perfect. I can’t wait to bow before my Savior soon and with all His chosen cry: “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” -Revelation 4:11
This year the Lord has graciously allowed me to encounter so many people who have not been given what I have been given. I can’t sufficiently describe the utter despair in which so many just in my own city live. I want them to know Christ and His gospel. I want them to know the Christ of the Bible – the one whose shadow was seen when God took away Adam and Eve’s self-made clothes which they had made to deny and hide their disobedience and death deserving rebellion and clothed them instead in the skin of an innocent lamb whose blood was spilled and whose white robe was given as new clothes.
I don’t want these despairing people to know the American Jesus and the American gospel, I want them to know Christ as He is.
Cain and Abel had been taught of the breaking of God’s covenant by their father Adam and that they themselves as sons of Adam were now under the curse and sentence of death. They had been taught of God’s promise to send a rescuer to crush Satan forever. They had been taught of God’s provision of a substitute by bloodshed that God Himself had provided so that they might be saved from the just punishment (death) of their holy Creator. Cain believed in this God just as many Americans do but added to the good news of grace of which his father had taught him just as many Americans do. Surely his sin did not require perfect obedience, perfect righteousness which he himself was incapable of. Surely what God required was the sacrifice of his very best efforts. Surely God helps those who help themselves. Surely if you give God your best, He’ll do the rest. It had to be that God required a sacrifice yes, but did He not also require our best? Cain would have made a good American gospel preacher. Yes, God had provided a sacrifice, but He must also require man’s faithfulness, right? Men surely can’t be saved by the sacrifice of God alone.
Now Abel, Cain’s brother, was also dead in trespasses and sins, and he walked according to the ways of the world, and according to the ruler of the power of the air (Satan), carrying out his fleshly desires and inclinations of his flesh and thoughts and was by nature a child of wrath as the son of Adam, was made alive by the power of God. He demonstrated his life and sonship by bringing a lamb and shedding its blood. There was no adding to the good news of God’s grace by Abel. His righteousness was not his own. His works could never meet God’s righteous demands. There must be a rescuing work done by God Himself. His sin required death and he could not save himself from this. But God had promised life and demonstrated the sacrifice that the rescuer promised would make – God himself would provide the necessary sacrifice. God Himself would come and save His people from their sins. His people would have nothing to offer. Just as his father Adam had by promise had been clothed in the perfect righteousness of God, so had Abel. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. – Hebrews 11:4 The book of Hebrews is all about the promise made in Genesis 3:15 being fulfilled in Christ – Christ Himself being the “better” sacrifice.
What does all of this have to do with my birthday? I am feebly trying to magnify Christ as better than all the works of man whether it be his “free will” choice of Christ, his conservatism, his faithfulness, his baptism, his truer church, his law keeping, his doctrine being more correct, his recognition of the hypocrisy and disobedience of others, or any other gospel which is not another gospel.
Do you know what kind of man you are telling happy birthday? He has not kept God’s law. Even after trusting in Christ as a young boy, he like the foolish Galatians began again to work at pleasing God and keeping His laws to prove his righteousness. His efforts failed over and over. Often, he committed shameful acts of sin while judging others for doing the same. Often, as a husband he failed to love his wife as Christ loved His bride. Often, as a father he confused his children by confusing God’s law and God’s gospel. And still yet, he is a sinner. Often, he does what he no longer desires to do, he does not do what desires to do. Yet, his Savior is faithful and sends corrections by His loving hand. He sends other men to help him remember and look to Christ alone. One of the men He sent is named John Newton. He is the author of Amazing Grace with which you are familiar. He is also the author of the song “I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow”. Here are the words:
VERSE 1
I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and every grace,
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.
VERSE 2
‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer,
But it has been in such a way
As almost drove me to despair.
VERSE 3
I hoped that in some favored hour
At once He’d answer my request
And, by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins and give me rest.
VERSE 4
Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.
VERSE 5
Yea, more with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe,
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Humbled my heart and laid me low.
VERSE 6
“Lord, why is this,” I trembling cried;
“Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?”
“’Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
“I answer prayer for grace and faith.”
VERSE 7
“These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou mayest find thy all in Me.”
God has been so faithful this year to help me continue to learn my complete dependance on Him for my righteousness and for my sanctification. For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no human may boast before God. But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, [and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” I Corinthians 1:26-31
Thank you for your kind birthday wishes and for the love you show to me. But soon, my tongue will “lie silent in the grave” and I will be forgotten but I will be with the saints singing of HIS POWER to save.
May I share with you some more of the scriptures which this year have highlighted to me the promise of God’s salvation by his Christ? I would like to order them, but for time’s sake they are just in random order. Below that if you will indulge me are some links to a couple of resources that have helped me look to Christ this year. I highly recommend them! To finish my thoughts, I will share here a link to a song by 20Schemes music (a church planting effort in the slums of Scotland which by the way is where the Lockhart name traces back). This particular song was written by Robert Murray M’Cheyne 1813-1843. Here is the link which sums up the work of God for His glory upon this wretched heart of mine: https://youtu.be/U1XY-3eFTR8
Read now God’s Word and see Christ in all of the Bible!
For thus says the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,
“I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.
“For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
And the breath of those whom I have made.
“Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was angry,
And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.
“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
Creating the praise of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”
— Isaiah 57:15-19
And they will call them, “The holy people,
The redeemed of the Lord”;
And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”
— Isaiah 62:12
For You are my hope;
O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth.
By You I have been sustained from my birth;
You are He who took me from my mother’s womb;
My praise is continually of You.
— Psalm 71:5-6
O God, You have taught me from my youth,
And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.
And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to all who are to come.
For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
— Psalm 71:17-19
I will rejoice greatly in the Lord,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
To spring up before all the nations.
— Isaiah 61:10-11
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
— Luke 19:9-10
And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”
— Luke 18:24-27
And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
— Luke 18:6-7
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
— Luke 16:14-15
Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
— Exodus 13:3
You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
— Exodus 13:8
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
— Hebrews 3:1-6
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
— Colossians 1:28
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
— Colossians 2:8-10
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
— Colossians 1:12-14
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
— Philippians 3:7-11
for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
— Philippians 2:13
having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
— Philippians 1:11
having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
— Philippians 1:11
For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
— Philippians 1:29
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
— Ephesians 1:3-7
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
— Ephesians 2:1-10
After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;
— Revelation 19:1
Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”
— Revelation 19:6-9
but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.
— Revelation 10:7
Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
— Revelation 7:13-17
And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
— Revelation 5:9-10
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
— Revelation 4:11
Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.
— Ecclesiastes 11:5
I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.
— Ecclesiastes 9:11
I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.
— Ecclesiastes 7:15
Consider the work of God,
For who is able to straighten what He has bent?
In the day of prosperity be happy,
But in the day of adversity consider—
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
— Ecclesiastes 7:13-14
A poor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive instruction. For he has come out of prison to become king, even though he was born poor in his kingdom.
— Ecclesiastes 4:13-14
But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed always.
— 1 Samuel 2:35
Lastly, here are the recommended resources I mentioned
1. More than any other I recommend this book by my friend (who does not know he’s my friend) Mike Abendroth. The book is called “Gospel Assurance” Gospel Assurance: A 31 Day Guide to Assurance: Abendroth, Mike (amazon.com). Also, he is doing a series on Gospel Assurance on AGTV (www.watchagtv.com).
2. I recommend Mike’s brother Pat Abendroth’s podcast called The Pactum (Home | The Pactum) and then Mike’s podcast called No Compromise Radio (No Compromise Radio – Always biblical, always provocative. Always in that order.)