faith – Page 8 – The Words Of David C. Frampton

Life Changer

Micah 1:1-3

We all know of many events that change people’s lives: learning to walk and to talk, going to school, graduating from high school and college, getting a job, losing that job, finding a new job, getting married, having children, and many more. Most of these happen to most people. Once we experience a life changer, our lives are forever altered. We might assume we’re the same person, but the life changer modifies us and our view of life in various ways. When people in our culture contemplate life changing events, it is usually from a very individualistic angle. They start from themselves and work outward, perhaps including other people of significance to them in their deliberations. It is rare to think of God at such times.

Perhaps, it is even rarer to think of God as the Life Changer, to see him in all the events of our lives, including the ones we think are common and the ones that disrupt our lives. What? Would God disrupt our lives? Would he disrupt them without asking our permission? Yes, my friends, he does step into the course of our lives to alter them. This is what happened to Micah one day. We do not know much about him. His message was more important than the man that delivered it. Why can I say that? Because the message he gave was the word of the Lord.

God used the message he communicated through Micah to change him and to be his instrument to change us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Micah tells us that the word of the Lord came to him over a number of years during the reigns of three kings of the kingdom of Judah. This would make him a contemporary of the prophets Hosea and Isaiah. This information tells us his place in the story of God’s glory in Jesus Christ. He proclaimed the Lord’s message around 750 years before the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Micah would be used to tell God’s people important information about the birth of Jesus the Messiah. But for now, think of his place in God’s story and that you and I who follow Jesus also have a place in the same story, since we are in Christ. Nearly two thousand years after the resurrection, God is using his word in and through us.

The message that came to Micah was in the form of a vision (cf. Hebrews 1:1). He saw God’s message displayed before him, so that he could tell it to all who read his words. He saw what God would do (1:3-7) and how he and others would respond to what the Lord would do (1:8-16). God’s word proclaims his actions. It tells people like us how he steps into our lives in judgment and salvation. It lets us know his explanation for his actions (for example, 1:5-7; 7:18). In his vision Micah saw what concerned Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of Israel and Judah. The Lord God takes notice of what happens in the leading cities of the world, like Washington and London. Cities are gatherings of people and what they do is under God’s eyes.

God expects all people to listen to his message (1:2). God’s word speaks to us with his final authority. The word communicates the person, message, and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Judge of all (John 5:21-30). Understand this clearly. God’s word is his living and active communication (Hebrews 4:12-13) that is final authority for what we believe and how we live (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In the Bible God gives a witness against people, which means that we have a problem! He tells us that he will act against anyone who does not listen to him, which means that you can complicate your problem dramatically. Yet the Lord tells us that there is a way of peace with him that is available for all who follow the Lord Jesus (5:4-5).

My friend, has the written word of God come to you with power, so that your way of life and your destiny is forever changed? Micah had his life altered by God’s word. How is the message concerning Jesus the Messiah changing you today?

Grace and peace, David

The Helmet of Salvation (Part One)

Ephesians 6:17

Helmets. I see them constantly on my walks around Valley Forge Park. They are worn by men and women, girls and boys. Why do I see so many sporting such unfashionable headgear? Why are bicycle riders required to wear helmets? That’s right—to protect their heads. In the same way the helmet is probably the most important part of the armor. A soldier might be able to survive and continue to fight with wounds to other parts of the body, but most wounds to the head are either fatal or crippling. “The Roman soldier’s helmet… was usually made of a tough metal like bronze or iron. ‘An inside lining of felt or sponge made the weight bearable. Nothing short of an axe or hammer could pierce a heavy helmet, and in some cases a hinged vizor added frontal protection.’ Helmets were decorative as well as protective, and some had magnificent plumes or crests” (Stott).

Here Paul compares salvation to a helmet. Why is salvation in general such an important part of the armor of God? How can this helmet offer such protection? It might help if we consider the three “tenses” of salvation. Every true follower of the Lord Jesus can say, “I was saved; I am being saved; and I will be saved.

Today, we will consider four past blessings of salvation. The first is election. For reasons known only to God, he decided to save a people from the wreck and ruin of human sin. God could have justly passed by all humanity, allowing all of us to perish, as he did the angels that rebelled against him. But to magnify the fame of his name, God chose to save some from the guilt and pollution of sin. This election was of people in relation to Christ from before the creation of the world without any regard for anything they might do (Ephesians 1:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 8:33; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; James 2:5). Everyone who follows Christ should gain confidence from the Bible’s teaching of election. God wanted us to be his people, and we need to hear this when the enemy or our doubts cause us to wonder about that. Before the first seraph ever cried out, “Holy, holy, holy!” God had chosen us to salvation in Christ.

The second blessing is redemption. Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed his blood as the ransom price, and so he redeemed us to carry out God’s eternal purpose. In every way the Lord Jesus Christ has the honor of saving us (Ephesians 1:7). His redemption set us free from the penalty and curse of sin, from our slavery to sin, and from bondage to the law. He has bought us and now we are his bondservants. See 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Redemption teaches us our liberty in Christ (Galatians 5:1). When the enemy attempts to fill you with false information that you are in slavery, assert your freedom in Christ!

The third blessing speaks of the application of redemption: regeneration (the new birth from above) and effectual calling. Securely bound in the darkness of sin and dead in sin, God made us alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5). When the Spirit of God made alive spiritually, we received the gifts of repentance (a change of mind) and faith, by which we turn from the pursuit of sin and trust in the Lord Jesus alone for salvation. A battlefield becomes filled with corpses, and the evil one may tempt you to think that you will share that fate. But do not give in to such thoughts. The great promise of salvation is that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

The fourth blessing is justification. Having believed, we are declared right with God (Romans 5:1). We have already talked about Christ as our righteousness in the article about the breastplate. Again the great goal is confidence for all followers of Jesus. We are on God’s side and fully accepted by him! He has saved us, and we have a new relationship with the living God. More on this relationship next time, God willing.

Grace and peace, David

The Shield of Faith (Part Two)

Ephesians 6:16

A challenge to faith comes from the flaming arrows of the evil one. Every Christian faces an evil opponent, who is totally given over to sin and attacks without any thought of mercy. He is called Satan or the devil. We need to understand that evil or sin or rebellion against God is not something that simply happens. It is committed by persons, whether angels or humans. The spiritual forces of evil, Satan and the demons, are evil personal beings that enjoy attacking and destroying humans. They especially hate God and his people. When by grace we join God’s side, the powers of evil go to war against us. Our problem is not merely our own sin and the sins of other people. Alongside what humans may do, there are the powers of darkness—personal intelligent beings of spiritual ability that seek ways to ruin us. “We must get rid of the notion of abstract evil: there is no such thing” (Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Soldier, p. 300).

Satan and the other evil ones attack us with “flaming arrows”. What are these flaming arrows? I think we can group them into five categories:

Horrible thoughts, such as ideas or imaginations about what is unholy, blasphemous, skeptical or malicious – The mark of a Christian is love (John 13:34-35). Yet have you ever become angry toward someone and then suddenly felt the urge, quite contrary toward your usual goodwill toward that person, to hurt him or her? You have been hit with a flaming arrow of malice. In Bunyan’s The Holy War, he pictures the evil one attacking Mansoul with a handpicked army of doubters, with each division led by a cruel commander.
Pride and selfish ambition – how contrary both are to doing everything for the glory of God! Pride is never far from any of us, since sin tries to overthrow God as rule of our lives in any way possible.
Discontent, lust and greed – all these seek to divert us from God (cf. Matthew 6:33). They whisper that there are other ways to satisfaction apart from what the Lord has graciously given us.
False guilt feelings – they come to disrupt our fellowship with God. We might not have actually committed any sin, but the spiritual forces of evil like us to think that we have. This is why we must know the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16).
Doubt and despair – the aim is to reduce us to inactivity and uselessness. Expect to be tempted to doubt election, calling, justification, adoption into God’s family, God’s love, grace, mercy and kindness, the events of the gospel, and even the existence of God himself.

We must be ready for these attacks, because they will come. They might be very severe. Let us remember the enemy’s objective is to keep us from declaring God’s praises and enjoying life with him.

Faith has victory over these attacks. We read a great promise: “with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one”. What Paul says here through an illustration is stated directly by John (1 John 5:4) and by Peter (1 Peter 5:8-9). The Lord is encouraging us to be confident in him. The Spirit does not minimize the problem, but he maximizes the all-sufficient resource that we have in Christ. Christian, you will be hit hard, even very hard. But do not despair or run. Stand firm. The shield of faith is impenetrable when used properly.

How does faith act as our shield that extinguishes the flaming arrows? “The answer is that faith never points to itself, it always points to its object” (Lloyd-Jones, p. 305). The object of true faith is the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14). Satan has already tried his most desperate schemes on him and has met with complete failure. The all-powerful Lord easily overmatches the adversary at every point. Here we must again stress strongly that true faith is never faith in one’s faith, which is only self-confidence by another name. Instead, it is active reliance on the Lord. How did Abraham overcome in the face of impossibilities? He had faith in God (Romans 4:18-21). He relied on the promise of God that God was his shield and his very great reward (Genesis 15:1). You and I will go forward in that same spirit of faith (Romans 8:31-39)! Lord, give us grace to take the shield of faith today and always.

Grace and peace, David

Spiritually Outfitted (Part Two)

Ephesians 6:11

Why should we put on the full armor of God? We should put it on because the Lord commands us to (cf. Luke 12:35). This alone ought to be sufficient reason. We are to recognize his authority to direct our lives. Who are we to disobey the Lord? But this is an age of incredible spiritual immaturity. I speak of us all. Someone has said that American Christianity is 3,000 miles wide and a half an inch deep. Therefore, let’s think of some other reasons.

Satan has a great advantage in battle when we fail to put on and then use the weapons of our warfare (cf. Luke 4:13; 16:21-23). Imagine going tent camping and then failing to zip up the doors to keep out the mosquitoes and other nasty bugs. That would be failing to use your advantage. Whatever opportunity the evil one now misses by our diligence, he hopes to find again by our negligence. He hopes that we will be tired out by continual duty. Satan is a skilled hunter (1 Peter 5:8). He watches the tracks of our feet for an indication of the direction of our hearts (Psalm 119:10). Beware of youthful over-activity, middle-aged laziness, or senior sleepiness. We need to be like Eleazar in battle (2 Samuel 23:9-10) or like Joshua (Joshua 10:12-14).

It is hard to reactivate a habit of grace when it has fallen into disuse (Song 5:3). Sometimes this happens because of the shame of guilt. Is there anyone reading that is too ashamed to serve because you have really messed up your Christian life? I know one way that you can be whiter than snow. The blood of Christ never loses its power! Remember that after David was forgiven he went out to fight again. Sometimes this happens from sheer difficulty. When a room has been messed up, it is harder to clean than when it is kept in constant order. One sin tolerated will eventually lead to greater problems. Learning to play a musical instrument and then neglecting to practice and then trying to play again is difficult. Sometimes our lack of spiritual responsiveness happens from being under false teaching. Human-centered or free will teaching marinates a soul in self-sufficiency. Legalism bakes the heart hard in self-reliance. Transforming experience errors of various types send a soul on an empty search for something besides Jesus Christ. Seek fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, not an experience!

In one sense it doesn’t matter how someone falls into a trap. What matters is how to get out of it. The only way is through a fresh faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What can I do to persuade you of our Lord’s surpassing worth and all-sufficiency?

We should put our armor on for the sake of our fellow soldiers. A soldier who does not know how to use his weapons is a danger to his own comrades (cf. Hebrews 5:11-14). Good doctrine with an evil lifestyle is like a loaded gun in the hands of a two-year-old. Incorrect doctrine with good intentions is like carrying out attacks without regard to where the enemy is—many are injured by “friendly fire”. The unwise conduct of one professing believer makes the situation worse for many others. Even when the person does not fall into a scandal, he or she cannot help other saints, as should be the case.

We can only put on spiritual armor by faith. This action is a daily necessity for every follower of Christ. You and I must be prepared for battle! However, you cannot put on spiritual armor unless you first know the Lord. Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Are you united to him by faith? Do you desire to fellowship with the Lord? True Christianity is a relationship with the risen Lord, and not an empty practice of duty. Make sure that you know the Lord before you try to follow him.

Grace and peace, David

The Christian’s Greatest Resource (Part Three)

Ephesians 6:10

Consider the power that God pledges to help us—“his almighty power”. Here is the vitality of our hope. When we seek to obey God, his omnipotence comes to our aid. The power he promises is awesome (Ephesians 1:19-20). By God’s power Christ was raised to life. By God’s power we were raised to life (Ephesians 2:5). You and I are living witnesses to the reality of the Almighty God. We live within the sphere of Christ’s resurrection.

However, we must guide our thoughts about this promise to conform to the Scriptures. We can err in various directions, but let us avoid them all. Do not imagine that resurrection power provides you from an escape from difficulties in this present age. A careful reading of Romans 8:18-39 should be enough to convince you that following Christ does not mean “your best life now” or other such silliness. Yet do not limit God’s power in your thoughts. “We are not… to limit and restrain it in our narrow and shallow thoughts, and to think in this, or in that, the power of God may help or secure us; but to believe that he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think” (Flavel, Works, Vol. 3, p. 345). Compare Ephesians 3:20. However, understand that God’s power will help you to live godly as a partner with Christ in his mission. And do not bog yourself down with incomplete evaluations. “All things seem to be working contrary to my hope in Christ!” Every believer will struggle with incomplete evaluations, as Abraham did (Romans 4:18-22).

So then, rest and rejoice in God’s power. Act this way in the struggle with remaining sin. We may feel like a whole marine division of the spiritual forces of evil is coming against us and is about to overrun our position. We may feel powerless against the attack. But do we believe in the power of God (Genesis 18:14)? “Though sin be too hard for thee, yet not for him… Set his power to work, by faith and prayer.” (Watson). Recall that God is greater in the face of strong temptation (1 John 4:4).

As we strive to serve God, determine to go forward in his strength (Acts 18:9-11). How many people does God have in the area in which you live? Do you want to give up or go find them? “Oh pastor, we can’t do it!” But God can. “We can’t solve this family problem!” But God can. “I can’t defeat this sin I’m struggling with!” But God can. Some writer in earlier times said, “Assure thyself when thou art at the greatest pinch [that] strength shall come.” Remember Elijah beside the dried up brook (1 Kings 17:7-24). When the water dried up, God made a way. But it didn’t look like it at first, for the widow had very little food. But God supplied. Whew, that was a close call! But then the widow’s son dies anyway. What is God doing? Never had anyone been raised from the dead. But God gave life from the dead. How much strength do you need? How much strength does your local gathering of Christ followers need? God’s almighty power is sufficient. Therefore, let us rely on the Lord!

Grace and peace, David

The Christian’s Greatest Resource (Part Two)

Ephesians 6:10

The Holy Spirit presents confident expectation (hope) to us. How much we need hope! We can be strong in the Lord. To help us realize the benefit God offers to us, let us think about three factors that demand strength from the Lord. A strong enemy opposes us (6:12), our adversary, the devil (1 Peter 4:8). We have a traitor within (1 Peter 2:11). Sinful desires wage war against us. The standard for successful obedience is high, which is likeness to Jesus Christ (John 13:34; Romans 13:14; Ephesians 4:13). We can become too easily discouraged, if we consider any of these apart from our greatest resource. The Lord Christ wants us to know that his mighty power is more than adequate for us in all these.

The Lord promises himself and his strength to encourage us. Knowing the difficulties will only magnify our appreciation for the help we receive in him. However, what we must understand is that his power comes through our union and fellowship with him, not in the endless processes that Christians seem to love to develop. Christians seem to like or even prefer some kind of stern spiritual regimen to a daily walk by grace through faith with the Lord. If the routine makes them feel or seem like they are making painful personal sacrifices to get close to the Lord, so much the better. “I get up at five… I have a long prayer list… I gave up such and such for Lent… I read ten chapters a day… I serve in a ministry in my local church, and no one says ‘thank you’… etc.” But this might be only playing around with a spiritual regimen instead of sharing one’s life with the Lord and actually depending on him. Please don’t misunderstand. I do read the Scriptures and pray and meditate and fellowship with other believers and so forth. I am saying don’t confuse doing them with the practical friendship with God that is worship. Know this: the Lord wants us to draw near to him personally and joyfully. “Be strong in the Lord.”

The Lord’s mighty power is sufficient to live on (Hebrews 11:13; cf. Exodus 6:3). The Lord’s strength is a remedy in the face of fear (Isaiah 8:11-9:7; 43:2). The Lord’s strength will refresh us (Romans 8:31-32). “He that was willing to expend his Son’s blood to gain them, will not deny his power to keep them. (Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armor).” Press this hope home upon your soul until your doubts and fears in this matter are settled. The Lord’s strength will be our joy (Nehemiah 8:10), because he wants us to rejoice (Philippians 4:4).

Grace and peace, David