I’m on a train from Whittier to Denali today, so I can’t write much. I think what I’ll do is send you six of my favorite photographs (thus far) from our vacation, as I use the the name of this beautiful state to share six personal expressions of gratitude to our gracious God …

Awesome are the works of the Lord! He has painted His Creation with undeniable evidence of His majesty and glory. He reigns over heaven and earth.

Little do we comprehend of His power. His wisdom and greatness are unsearchable. He orchestrates every wind and every wave, and He sends every season … and all Creation obeys His unmistakable command.

Anointed with whispers of His nature and character are the vast works of our God. He is patient toward all His creatures. He is full of extravagant love.

Signs of His goodness abound. Just as Jesus came as “Immanuel,” God is ever-present with us, even here and now. He knows every creature intimately, and the entirety of the created order shouts His name.

Kindness and faithfulness mark His works, and His ways. Though His thoughts aren’t always our thoughts, He never leaves us without knowledge of His presence and power. He is near to all who call on Him by faith.

All the beauty in the world can’t capture the beauty of our Lord and Savior. His long-suffering toward His people, even toward wayward rebels like us, is immeasurable. His grace in Christ knows no limitations.

Lord willing, Green Hills Family, I will join you Sunday morning to worship our great God.

Pastor Charles

Eileen, Josh, and I are in Vancouver, where we’re preparing to board a cruise ship bound for Alaska. (This is Josh’s college graduation gift much delayed, and we’re traveling with his best friend from high school, as well as his parents. All dear friends.) We’ll be heading north and west along the “Inside Passage,” and I can only imagine the magnificence of God’s Creation that we’re about to behold with our own eyes. I hope to savor every moment, and to take lots of photographs, starting right here in Canada. Even this large coastal city is breathtakingly beautiful.

But there’s another “inside passage” on my heart as I send this communication today. It’s found in one of my favorite chapters in the Word of God. The text to which I’m referring is John 7:37-39, and it is this portion of the Bible that convinces me that God’s greatest concern for me is the “inside” work of grace that only He can accomplish. Christ is the ultimate restorer and refresher of my soul, friends, and I have no other. Deep within me, He is always at work.

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

I love the fact that Jesus issues a wide invitation here. No one is excluded or unwelcome. Christ is our relentless pursuer, in fact, and we respond by simply coming to Him. We come on His terms, and that includes recognizing our own spiritual impoverishment. Have you and I taken notice of our spiritual thirst? Have we come to understand our deep and pressing need for a Savior? Have we looked to Christ to fill us with Himself, as only He can do?

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'”

Here, I think that Jesus is referencing verses like Isaiah 44:3 and 55:1, where the Old Testament Scriptures promised spiritual sustenance and satisfaction for all who would put their ultimate trust in the Lord. Christ is reminding us that He Himself is the perfect fulfillment of all such promises. Christ is our living water! And, more than that, we discover here that even our faith did not originate with us, but it’s a gift that we have freely received from God (see also Ephesians 2:8-9).

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.

Our gracious God and Savior is substantially and eternally invested in us. The Cross and the empty tomb speak volumes. And our Lord has not left us alone, but He has given us His own Spirit. The Holy Spirit! Christ offers us, and gives us, Himself. When you and I become spiritually dry, He is always there to refresh our parched and weary souls.

In Christ, you and I are blessed indeed. Everywhere we look, we see His majesty and glory. The evidence is overwhelming, and I plan to overindulge on the evidence over the next several days. The heavens are already declaring … and the hills are already beckoning … and the seas are already roaring His great name … and I am most grateful for this opportunity to remember and to celebrate.

Perhaps you’ll join me in this prayer: Sovereign Lord Jesus, please revive me from the inside out!

Pastor Charles

After last week’s blog posting, my friend Jon Gallagher sent me some excellent and convicting food for thought: “I agree that it seems like society is moving away from Jesus, but … Jesus had a way of meeting people where they were, even those considered the outsiders or the lowest in society … These were the people who might have felt rejected or hurt by the dominating culture of the time, including the religious establishment. They were often the ones rebelling or feeling marginalized … [Jesus] saw them as individuals, not as labels or stereotypes … How can we show them the love of Christ, just as Jesus did?”

I want to take Jon’s question exceedingly seriously, because it’s an absolutely excellent question. After all, the command to love our neighbor is found at least eight times in the Scriptures! But let’s get real for a minute: you and I would try to get away from some of our neighbors if we possibly could. We’re often looking for loopholes that somehow permit us to wiggle out of our responsibility to love the people whom we’re having a hard time even liking.

And yet, there it is, straight from the lips of Jesus (Mark 12:31): “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Really? Must I? That neighbor? You see, friends, there’s a “lawyer” buried in each one of us who wants to rise up and ask, “Who is my neighbor?” As if we didn’t already know the answer to that question.

I’m thinking about people who challenge our politics … or treat us rudely … or cut us off in traffic … or climb over us to get that promotion at work that should have been ours. And I’m thinking about people who demonstrate overt hostility toward our God and our faith. These people can, via the pervasive tension that ensues between us, nearly drive us to despair.

Isolation from the world is one option, I suppose, but not a good one. Rosaria Butterfield reminds us that we don’t want to “thank God for the moat and draw up the bridge. Doing so practices war on this world, but not the kind of spiritual warfare that drives out darkness and brings in the kindness of the gospel.” And that’s really the problem with trying to get away from the people who challenge us, isn’t it? It shuts off the current of gospel grace that should be flowing through us at all times.

For starters (for the sake of time, we won’t get much beyond a starting point today), I am convinced that WE MUST COMMIT OURSELVES TO BEING “FOR” EVERYONE. For. Everyone. Let me explain. We don’t have to condone sinful or hurtful behavior to love another person well. We don’t have to agree with them on every point. We don’t have to deny that they make us angry. We don’t have to become inseparable BFFs. What we do have to do is to want the very best for them. We must sincerely desire that they become the person God created them to be. It’s the same thing that we would want for ourselves, or for anyone we truly love.

So my first step (try this on and see if it fits you too) involves humbling myself … sincere prayer, for my heart and for theirs, to be transformed by the Spirit … and a willingness before God to walk with the other person (if provided by God the opportunity to do so) along the journey toward becoming the person they were created to be. Sometimes you and I have to wilfully lay aside our tendency to be critics long enough to become encouragers. This is far from easy, and I freely admit that. It starts in our prayer closet, not while we’re watching the news or scrolling on our phones. We need the prayer closet to prepare us for the news.

So how do we regard large swaths of people with whom we vehemently disagree? I’m including here, of course, lots of people we will never meet. Here’s my answer to that question: As much as it depends on us, we make every endeavor to see them through the eyes of Jesus. And how did Jesus see them? We don’t even have to guess, because Matthew 9:36 gives us the answer … When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

That’s the secret. That’s the starting place. That’s the hope. That’s the cure. That kind of heart is not naturally in you any more than it is naturally in me. We are in need of a supranatural grace. And our need is desperate for such a time as this. I believe that, if you and I will pray for the love that we need, God will send us the people to love with that very love. Some of them will come from the very categories of people with whom we’re presently struggling (internally, externally, or both). Our Lord is waiting on us to ask.

In the process of loving as we’ve been loved (1 John 4:19), you and I will be stretched, and then stretched some more. It will be a holy stretching, and that is never a bad thing. In fact, we will discover that the current of grace is flowing freely once again.

Pastor Charles

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, more often referred to simply as “Tiberius Caesar,” was the emperor of Rome. Nobody questions that. Wikipedia will tell you all about him, should you so desire. Tiberius Caesar was a highly successful Roman general and diplomat.

Furthermore, Rome was the largest city in the world. The Roman Empire had expanded throughout most of Europe, Northern Africa, and Asia Minor. Historians date the life of Tiberius from 42 B.C. to 37 A.D., and his reign from A.D. 14 until his death. As they say, the rest is history.

But, for a moment, let’s talk about today and tomorrow. In the future, when people look back on our culture, what will they observe?

Within just the last 48 hours, I’ve had several opportunities to rub up against the prevailing philosophies of our day. I had two doctor’s appointments, for example, in a university setting that has done nearly everything in its power to extricate itself from its evangelical heritage. (You’d be surprised what you can erase in 120 years.) My point is that, for most people here and now, life happens without Jesus. In large measure, they deem it no big deal whether or not Christ’s claims are seriously considered. In fact, they would prefer that His name not even be mentioned.

I also made two necessary trips to a government agency. For the most part, the workers were pleasant in the performance of their tasks, but the vibe was clearly: “We celebrate transgenderism.” There was no placard on the wall to that effect, but the permitted employee attire spoke volumes. I will go as far as saying that the mood was unsettling, in the sense that it forced every person seeking the agency’s services to ask themselves: “Can I navigate this conversation without accidentally agitating the pronoun police?” The entire office environment looked and felt looked nothing like movie images of the Bible Belt.

I won’t bore you with more of my personal illustrations, except to mention that I also stopped by the pharmacy. I will keep this blog posting at a PG rating, but let me just say that the aforementioned academic and government influences converged for me in a singular and multicolored “anything goes behind the drug counter” moment. What surprised me was not the rejection of traditional standards in what’s supposed to be a professional environment, but the obvious deliberate choice to platform the new moral order in such an in-your-face kind of way.

In short order, after a quick series of these similar “spiritual” interactions, here’s what I was left thinking: As a society, as fast as we possibly can, we’re trying to run away from Jesus.

But can we really escape the grip of the Son of God? Can we regard His words and teachings as nothing but ancient mythology? Can we avoid forever, or nullify entirely, His gospel? Can we, as a civilization, move on to a successful future, while pretending that Jesus never lived … and died … and rose again?

Here’s what I’ve been thinking: We’re playing the fool. Psalm 14:1-7. Psalm 53:1-6. Romans 1:18-32. That’s us.

Friends, we have lots of reliable sources that validate the life of Tiberius Caesar of Rome. But we have four times as many reliable sources that validate the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! That would be like four times as many people in 1865 acknowledging a poor farmer from Leiper’s Fork than the number who acknowledged Abraham Lincoln.

Think about it. Maybe that’s the problem here. We’re not thinking.

Fools do foolish things. Fools make a mess of everything. Fools can rise to the level of running everything, until they run it right into the ground.

Nothing to see here? Hardly. We can’t erase the King of Kings. We can’t escape the Lord of Lords! It doesn’t end well for fools.

Awake my soul and sing
Of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King
Through all eternity!

Pastor Charles

You may remember the news reports from Texas in June 2019 when River Smith, the 3-year-old son of Granger and Amber Smith, drowned in their backyard swimming pool. Granger is a platinum-selling singer and songwriter, who lived here in Nashville for a time before returning to the Lone Star State to finish his degree at Texas A&M. He’s released eleven studio albums, sung at the White House, and performed for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait. “Backroad Song” was Granger’s number-one single back in 2016. Shortly prior to the tragic drowning, Granger had opened for Garth Brooks before an audience of 86,000 fans. One could say that Granger was “living the dream,” and I think that Granger would readily acknowledge that.

When Granger found River facedown in the pool, emergency personnel and a team of physicians did everything possible in an attempt to save the little boy. That much-prayed-for miracle was not to be. As you might imagine, the family was overwhelmed by shock and grief. How do you say goodbye to your 3-year-old child? Granger describes the next season of his professional life as “a blur,” and he remembers bottoming out emotionally by the end of 2019. In the back of his tour bus, after a series of vivid mental images of River’s drowning struck him, Granger felt like he was drowning himself. In sheer desperation, he cried out: “My God, my Jesus! Save me! Save me, Jesus!”

Much like what Jesus tells us plainly in John 6:44 (“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”), Granger now testifies that the call of God upon his life was absolutely irresistible. In ways that he had never before experienced, Granger began to hunger and thirst for the Word of God. He began to study the Bible passionately, as the Scriptures began to transform him from the inside out. The more Granger studied, the more he wanted to study. The call was unmistakable and overwhelming.

Slowly but surely, Granger began to recognize that he was deeply loved by God. Despite the waves of pain and suffering that he and his family had endured, and were continuing to endure, Granger began to understand what was coming: “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). And the Holy Spirit began pouring into the spirit of Granger a flood of otherwise unexplainable peace and joy. He knew that he had been adopted as a child of God! I’ll quote Granger directly: “I fell head over heels … I don’t even fully remember what I said, but right there in that truck on a small country road in Texas, the old me died … It was all His grace.”

Granger and Amber’s surviving children, London and Lincoln, now have a new little brother. Granger recounts: “When my wife Amber became pregnant with our son Maverick, we were excited, but the news didn’t negate or replace the heaviness we still felt for our loss of River. We continued to have our ups and downs, natural waves of grief … Through it all, we were discovering new depths in our emotional capacity. What we learned was that grief and joy can beautifully coexist. We were still hurting, but we were also joyful even in our circumstances … God was doing something new. He was restoring us, not by removing the fire but by walking us right through the middle of it.”

If you Google “Granger (Kelly) Smith,” you will discover that his primary identity is now “American Baptist minister.” In fact, he’s enrolled at Southern Seminary and working towards a master’s degree. Granger summarizes his vocational transition like this: “As much as I love it, I’ve decided to end my touring career and follow the unrelenting call from God upon my life … There are too many hurting people, too many lost people, and too many people without a Savior in Jesus. John 3:36 says, ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.’ The reality of that burden is too great and the stakes are too high for me to continue at a distance from the frontlines of history’s great spiritual battle.”

Friends, you may be right in that fire that Granger described, even as you read this blog posting. I want to encourage you today. The Lord who made heaven and earth has His eye on you. You are not too far away from His magnanimous heart. In fact, God always uses our trials and our tears for higher purposes. So here’s what I’m urging you to do: surrender. Just surrender. Surrender now. Tell Jesus that you want to learn whatever He wants you to learn. Tell Jesus that you want to grow in whatever ways in which He wants you to grow. Tell Jesus that you’re willing to change in whatever ways He wants you to change. Tell Jesus that you’ll go wherever He wants to send you. Admit to Jesus that His plans for you are a whole lot better than your plans for you. Deep down, we all know that’s true.

Suffering is a normal part of life for those of us who reside on this side of heaven. None of us goes looking for it, but suffering comes. But we, like Granger and Amber Smith, can choose to fix our eyes on realities that we can’t fully see. When we think we’re overwhelmed, the unshakable truths of God will overwhelm us even more. He is faithful and true. He is fully of mercy. His steadfast love superabounds toward us. Christ’s gospel is our hope in every storm. Like Granger testified, it’s “all His grace.”

Join me at the frontlines of the battle. Our God will see us through.

The tomb is still empty.

Pastor Charles

Long before it opened in theaters, Eileen and I were invited to preview the film, Sound of Freedom. We found the story riveting and inspiring, though the subject matter is overwhelmingly difficult to process emotionally. We have, for several years now, been sponsors of the “End It” movement, focused on bringing awareness to the global reality which is human trafficking. Abolition is, of course, the goal.

We’ve also had a number of positive experiences with the International Justice Mission (ijm.org) over the years. They share the mission. On a much more personal note, we’ll introduce you to our friends in Italy, Jon and Erika Tello (see tellosblog.com for their story). Through a ministry connected to the arts, Erika combats trafficking through Alleanza Tesori Raggianti (tesoriraggianti.com), a national alliance of evangelical ministries combating commercial sexual exploitation in Italy.

Released on July 4 and starring Jim Caviezel, Sound of Freedom traces the real-life story of Tim Ballard, who heroically abandoned the safety of his Homeland Security job and his government pension to rescue trafficked kids. It began with Tim’s successful rescue of a little boy in Colombia, after which Tim was haunted by the thought that the boy’s sister was still being trafficked. Tim and his wife, Katherine, were parenting six of their own children at the time, but they considered Tim’s unique opportunity to try to rescue kids to be a calling from God. I couldn’t agree more. I won’t share more about the movie in case you haven’t yet seen it, which I urge you to do.

Just to keep us abreast of the statistics, the most recent estimates are that upwards of two million children are being trafficked even as I write this blog post. Notice that I’m only including children in that horrifying number, and the stats get far worse from there. Globally, the darkness that is human trafficking rakes in at least $150 billion on an annual basis, which helps explain the powerful motivations behind this evil industry. As you might suspect, there are multiple direct links to the porn industry.

To quote USA Today from yesterday: “While Barbie and Oppenheimer opened with record numbers this weekend, another sleeper hit has been quietly dominating the box office.” Though the movie has been wildly successful across the fruited plain, Sound of Freedom has generated a shocking amount of pushback from both Hollywood elites and the mainstream media. I find this trend deeply disturbing. It appears that, when no studio would agree to release the film, Disney attempted to bury the movie so that it would never be released. I simply cannot understand this, or perhaps I just don’t want to.

Other critics have suggested that the statistics on human trafficking are overblown. As I hear these kinds of criticisms and insinuations, I think to myself: “Wouldn’t we be alarmed if only ten children were trapped in this nightmare?” Others seem outraged that the manner in which the movie depicts child trafficking does not represent the way in which child trafficking normally occurs. Again, I must say that I don’t understand these criticisms. The creators of the movie could not possibly have communicated all possible scenarios, but they chose a storyline which would raise awareness in a compelling way. After all, isn’t that the point? My best guess is that people don’t like the popularity of the movie among QAnon supporters. And I suppose this gets back to what I’d call “the politics of everything” these days. But I can tell you this: the movie is not about conspiracy theories of any kind.

As followers of Christ, you and I ought to be keenly aware of what’s happening in the world, that we might make the impact we can for the glory of our Lord and Savior. Jesus has left us here as His salt and light, and that’s a high calling.

Make your calling count!

Pastor Charles

Is there a way to stand strong in such a frightening world?

For starters today, I’d like to quote the great theologian, Christopher Robin. You won’t find this in The House at Pooh Corner, but it’s from a 1997 Disney video titled Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin. I appreciate these words of encouragement, which were spoken much like a blessing to Christopher’s favorite bear … “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

Braver than you believe. Stronger than you seem. Smarter than you think.

Did Mr. Robin get it right? From the perspective of one trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, I think that he did. And what I’d like to do is pull some truths from First John 4 and explain to you what I mean. That’s the chapter where we find the marvelous promise (4:4): He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Please take the time to read the entire chapter. You’ll be glad you did.

The first thing I notice in this great chapter is that you and I, and I am referring exclusively to our status in Christ, have the capacity to recognize the forces of spiritual darkness. In fact, we’re instructed (4:1) to test the spirits to see whether they are from God. We live in a day of mega information but little truth. Just because a truth claim is attributed to God does not mean that it comes from God. Exhibit A might be the Koran. Exhibit B might be the Book of Mormon. Exhibit C might be a bestseller promoting the health-and-wealth gospel of prosperity. Exhibit D might be a widely accepted mantra like “God helps those who help themselves.” There are many people out there who (and this is a loose Alistair Begg paraphrase) employ basically correct phraseology, but with false definitions underlying those words. So, in this great chapter, John is attempting to correct our careless naiveté when it comes to claims of eternal importance.

You and I are called to discern wisely, and to distinguish true claims from false claims. Just this morning, I had to know the difference between a small orange pill and a small white pill. Both were in our medicine cabinet, and both were available to me. Had I been under the false assumption that it really didn’t matter which pill I chose, I would have proven that it really did matter. Similarly, the Bible is reminding us to test what we read, hear, see, and think. It matters. It always matters.

We’re not just given an instruction here, but we’re given the promise of an abiding presence (4:9): the love of God was made manifest among us. Sooner or later, every human teacher will let us down. But not Christ! By His Spirit, He is empowering us to overcome the deceptive influences of this world. Spiritual warfare is as real as the air we breathe, but you and I are not alone. We are never alone in the fight. We’ve been issued our spiritual armor for a reason: we need it. If you’ve read the New Testament, you may have noticed that the first ones to recognize the incarnate Christ were not religious Jews. Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34 record accounts of demons crying out in terror that the Holy One of God had come to rain on their parade. Jesus explained that He was casting out demons by the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:28-29) – and that meant that the kingdom of God was on the move. Jesus was attacking the power of the devil – “binding the strong man” – who had for millennia been keeping the human race in the dark and painful prison of unbelief, sin, and judgment. Until you and I are with the Lord, our commission here on Planet Earth involves helping people escape unbelief, sin, and judgment. And, if we presume that we can do that without fierce opposition, we are terribly misguided. How we need the Holy Spirit! And the good news is that He is ours, and that we are His.

This chapter includes a beautiful description of precisely how, in Christ, we are learning to love. To love others as we’ve been loved by God (4:7): Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. We’re called to do something here which we just can’t do, but Christ can. How can He do that? Because Christ is (4:10) the propitiation for our sins. That word refers to a sacrifice of atonement, and it makes all the difference. The English “propitiation” is from Latin, meaning “favorable, gracious, and kind,” and the first attested use of the term is in a Latin translation of the Bible. The Latin form propitiatorium was employed to translate a Greek word which is found 22 times in the Old Testament. That word, hilasterion, was used in the Septuagint (the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew) to translate the Hebrew term “covering” or “mercy seat” – which was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant where the sacrificial blood was placed for the atonement of the sins of the people.

Let me say it another way: Christ is the only Way out of the mess which we have made! And you and I can’t love unselfishly and sacrificially without Jesus. But, because my sins have been passed over by God – this was pictured gloriously in the Exodus – I can now make it my job to pass over the sins of others. The same goes for you, friend. In Christ, we’re learning to love as we’ve been loved.

And it gets even better (4:18): There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. When we think of the “heroes” of the Bible, all of them had to learn to rise above their fears. All of them. Their call was to walk by faith anyway. To walk by faith in spite of their fears. At times, to simply do it afraid.

If you have to, just do it afraid.

In a nutshell, I think that we’re being called to get over ourselves. Appropriate Christian bravery includes recognizing the toxicity of our own pride, and acknowledging that the root of all pride is – ultimately – fear. That pervasive fear looks something like this: “If they really knew me, they would reject me.” What you and I most need, perhaps, is an invasion of love! That starts by our understanding how much we’ve been loved, in Jesus, and that starts by believing the gospel. The gospel is the only picture on earth of perfect love, and perfect love casts out fear.

Beloved in Christ, don’t ever forget that you’re braver than you believe.

Pastor Charles

Fireworks come in all shapes and sizes. You may be aware of the preliminary injunction issued in Louisiana by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty on Independence Day of this year, just as our nation was celebrating our shared freedoms. The federal court handed down a ruling that government agencies may not work together with social media to censor free speech. If you have an interest in the First Amendment, this development will be of interest to you. Referring specifically to the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, the judge prohibited discussions with social media companies aimed at “encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

I won’t get into a lot of the details here, but what caught my attention was the judge’s reference to George Orwell’s 1984. Many of us read the novel in high school and will never forget the power of “doublethink” – the strange ability to hold two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and to accept both of them. I’ll quote directly from Judge Doughty: “Evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.'” I will note that the action taken by the judge on July 4 was a temporary injunction, and not a permanent ruling.

I think it’s right for us to remember that the Church can flourish in parts of the world where there is no “freedom of speech” as we know it here in America. That being acknowledged, however, I think it’s critical for us to establish that speech itself is what distinguishes us from the rest of Creation. It’s an important dimension of our personhood, and of our bearing the image of our Creator. Speech is sacred in that sense, and in others. I’ll cite just a few examples. God created the world by speech. Adam named the animals, and thus entered into his proper role of dominion, by speech. The Lord revealed His law by speech. The prophets revealed the will of God for His people by speech. Jesus revealed His glorious gospel by speech. And Christ ordained that you and I would share that saving gospel, with the whole world, by speech … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). I think you’ll agree with me that speech is inherently sacred on multiple levels.

So freedom of speech is a great good. It is an outworking of God’s common grace. It is a blessing that you and I ought not take for granted. As followers of Christ, we are under a covenant obligation to speak the truth in love. It’s a sacred trust among the people of God. And we ought to desire freedom of speech for everyone, and to work for such a cherished liberty on behalf of every other image-bearer – even those with whom we might vehemently disagree. After all, we’ll never know we’re wrong about anything if there are no opposing voices for us to consider. If you’re interested in this subject from history (from Great Britain, specifically), check out John Stuart Mill’s essay from 1859, On Liberty.

As I mentioned in my sermon on July 2, I’m encouraged by a landmark decision handed down (the week prior to the Louisiana injunction) by the U.S. Supreme Court in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, and I’ll quote from the majority opinion: “A commitment to speech for only some messages and some persons is no commitment at all … If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance … But, as this Court has long held, the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong. Of course, abiding the Constitution’s commitment to the freedom of speech means all of us will encounter ideas we consider unattractive, misguided, or even hurtful. But tolerance, not coercion, is our Nation’s answer. The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands.”

These things matter, friends, because the world in which we live – including, sadly, our own American civilization – has married moral relativism and cultural dominance. It’s like we’ve kept the political zeal of the colonists but jettisoned their moral restraints. That leaves us in a very precarious position, humanly speaking.

We do need a ministry of Truth. And we do need a Big Brother. Just not a government one. Come, Lord Jesus!

Pastor Charles

Even in the Bible Belt, we live among a smorgasbord of religious options. Everybody has their take on the road from here to eternity, and the only opinion that seems unwelcome in the public square comes from the person who claims to have found the truth. Any such exclusive claims gets labeled hateful and intolerant. And the unwritten rule seems to be: All beliefs are created equal. (Except the one that rests upon a universal standard of objective truth. That one should be silenced, if not canceled entirely.)

But here’s the strange reality: If I buy into the religious smorgasbord, I must resign myself to a state of spiritual schizophrenia. That’s because, for example …

Buddhists believe that Jesus was a uniquely enlightened teacher, but nothing more.

Hindus believe that Jesus was one god among a plethora of viable gods.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus was the first creation among Jehovah’s multiple creations.

Jews believe that Jesus was a rabbi gone rogue who deserved his death sentence.

Mormons believe that Jesus, in the spirit world, became a god. And that we too can become gods and populate planets.

Muslims believe that Jesus was an honored prophet, and that he never died.

Unitaritans and other theological liberals believe that Jesus was a role model, though limited in scope, for ethical behavior.

I’ve barely scratched the surface here, but you get the point. All these belief systems can’t possibly be right, as they directly contradict each other. Their core truth claims compete with each other. Even when they use parts of the Bible to “prove” their diverse and heretical doctrines, they reach wildly different conclusions. And they reach no agreement about the Lord Jesus.

When it’s all said and done, there really are only two options for us when it comes to our understanding of spiritual truth (who we are by nature, and how we can be in right relationship with God) …

Option A is this: You and I are sinners through and through, but Christ has come to rescue us by His life, death, and resurrection. God’s salvation is a free gift, received by faith alone. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was sufficient, so we can rest in Him.

Option B is this: You and I can work our way to God, earning divine approval by our valiant effort, good deeds, and moral striving. Though we can never be quite certain that we’ve done enough, we can keep trying, and hope for the best.

I think you can see that every group I mentioned is committed to some version of Option B. That’s the basic nature of every “religion” that does not define itself by the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, friends, the gospel is good news only when we realize that Option B is the epitome of hopelessness and despair. When the religious parade gets finished with their various versions of Jesus, they’ve refashioned him into something far less than fully God and fully man. (On that they do agree.)

It’s always been this way: Jesus is the cosmic deal-breaker! We want a broad way by which “all roads lead to Rome.” But He insists upon a narrow way that leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14). More than that, Christ is the way, thetruth, and the life (John 14:6). Jesus majored on exclusivity, in fact, and such an exclusive claim came from His own mouth. His testimony was unequivocally exclusive.

But I’m happy to report that the Exclusive has come to us. And He has come to us with His arms open wide. It must be love: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Yes, it must be love.

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Pastor Charles

It’s been recorded that the wife of Czar Alexander III, Maria Fedorovna, once used a comma to save a prisoner from the horrors of Siberian exile. The warrant from Alexander had read: “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.” Moved by compassion instead, the Empress of Russia relocated the comma as follows: “Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.” The prisoner was released, or so say some historians. As a language nerd, I like stories like that! Or perhaps you’ve heard of the wealthy woman who in 1900 was traveling overseas when she came across an irresistible bracelet in a jewelry store. She sent a cable to her husband: “Have found wonderful bracelet. Price $75,000. May I buy it?” Her husband replied quickly: “No, price too high.” But the cable operator omitted the comma: “No price too high.” The rest is history. I’ve also read another funny account that makes a similar point … There was a sign posted on the gate of a swimming pool: “PRIVATE NO SWIMMING ALLOWED.” With just a few strokes of paint, some eager kids changed the message entirely: “PRIVATE? NO! SWIMMING ALLOWED.”

Sometimes the small details make all the difference. And, when it comes to the veracity and integrity of the Word of God, you and I are building our entire worldview upon the conviction that the Bible is entirely true and trustworthy. That’s what we mean when we say that the Bible is inerrant. Just to be perfectly clear, when we refer to the “inerrancy” of Scripture, we mean simply this: Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

We expect unbelievers to question the truthfulness of Scripture. But the Enlightenment, as well as the more recent ramifications of textual “hyper-criticism” and postmodernism, have caused many professing believers to reject (practically if not formally) the historic understanding of inerrancy. Some hold to what is often referred to as “limited inerrancy,” which negates the truthfulness of the Bible in certain key places (or regarding certain key topics). Others deny the trustworthiness of Scripture in wholesale fashion. They may have fond feelings towards the Bible, but they do not live under the conviction that the Bible is perfect, infallible, and sufficient. I don’t have to tell you that such a dangerous position (whether practical or formal) is a slippery slope which we should avoid. Just because you and I can’t understand everything about the Bible does not give us a license to regard it as anything less than God’s authoritative Word.

So, regarding the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy proper, I’ll draw upon the wisdom of Dr. Wayne Grudem, who offers three important points of clarification which I find particularly helpful (and which I’ve attempted to summarize here) …

1. The Bible can be inerrant and still speak in the ordinary language of everyday speech. It was written by real people within the confines of human language, including their peculiar and particular figures of speech. Inerrancy allows for anthropomorphic language, for example, like when the Bible speaks of the sun “rising” and “setting” – though we know from science that it’s actually the earth’s movement that causes those gorgeous “sunrises” and “sunsets” which we enjoy. (Said another way, we all know what those terms mean, and we don’t regard them as deceptive in any way.) Inerrancy also allows for latitude when it comes to the Bible’s inclusion of numbers, measurements, and the like – where exact precision is neither expected nor implied. Inerrancy is all about truthfulness.

2. The Bible can be inerrant and still include loose or free quotations. For example, written Greek at the time of the New Testament did not make use of quotation marks or equivalent punctuation, and the goal of a quote was a correct representation of its content. Finding an inconsistency in this regard does not take away from the Bible’s veracity. By the way, friends, if Christ is the Creator of human language – and He is – then He can certainly utilize human language to communicate perfectly what He desires to communicate. Summarized my way, if you’ll allow me: the word is no problem for the Word!

3. It is consistent with inerrancy to find unusual or uncommon grammatical constructions in the Bible. The Word of God describes all kinds of scenarios and situations, and some of the descriptions are rather rough-hewn linguistically – and may not have passed the inspection of some of our high school English teachers. There are times, for example, when a verse includes a plural verb where the precise rules of grammar would dictate otherwise. This is simply because the Bible (as was pointed out in #1) records real speech by real people. But this makes it no less true. Scripture is pure (Psalm 12:6), perfect (Psalm 119:96; btw stay tuned for our next exciting sermon series!), and utterly true (Proverbs 30:5) – and we’re foolish not to take it at face value (Luke 24:25). I’ll include a direct quote from Grudem: “The Bible itself does not make any restriction on the kinds of subjects to which it speaks truthfully.” Dr. Grudem urges us not to give up the term “inerrancy” simply because some people charge that it denotes an absolute scientific precision that the Bible never claims for itself. He reasons that such challenges to inerrancy result from a lack of understanding the term as it’s been used for well over a century.

Please allow me to share just two more technical terms which will serve us well as we sharpen each other when it comes to the authority of Scripture: we affirm both the “plenary” and “verbal” inspiration of Scripture. Second Timothy 3:16 guides us in this regard. Not just some of the Bible is true – but all of it. (That’s the plenary part.) And the words of the Bible are not just words about God, but they are “God-breathed.” (That’s the verbal part.) As such, every part of the Bible is ipso facto inspired from start to finish. So, when we stand on the Bible, we stand on solid ground.

As a pastor, let me say this to you: I think it’s perfectly O.K. when you and I come to places (or even seasons) in our Bible study that leave us scratching our heads. That’s as it should be when you think about what we’re doing: we’re plumbing the depths of the wisdom of Almighty God! Some of our confusion will be resolved in due time. Some of our confusion may remain unresolved until heaven. It is O.K. to hold certain truths in tension. It is O.K. when there is some unexplainable mystery in the ways of our great and good God. Our job is to remember that the problem is not the Word itself. It’s still perfect.

William Bridge, a seventeenth-century Puritan, wrote extensively on how the serious student of the Bible approaches what appear to be inconsistencies in the text of Holy Scripture. I think his observations are rather timeless: “For a godly person, it should be as it was with Moses. When a godly man sees the Bible and secular data apparently at odds, he does as Moses did when he saw an Egyptian fighting an Israelite: he kills the Egyptian. He discounts the secular testimony, knowing God’s Word to be true. But when he sees an apparent inconsistency between two passages of Scripture, he does as Moses did when he found two Israelites quarreling: he tries to reconcile them. He says, ‘Aha, these are brethren. I must make peace between them.’ And that’s what the godly person does.”

Plumbing with you,

Pastor Charles