Gentle & Lowly III

Hosea 11:9 CSB

I will not vent the full fury of my anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One among you; I will not come in rage.

INTRO—

When is someone’s heart/love for us put to the test? Usually when we do something to offend, hurt, or in any way injure them.

For us & God…that “something we do; that something we are” is sin.

…So, as we begin our time together in God’s word today in the study guided by Dane Ortlund’s book Gentle and Lowly, we start with an excellent question (which will lead us to a couple of other really good questions, too):

What Do Our Sins Evoke? [Hosea 11.7-9]

[Evoke: to call forth; to bring up]

Key v. = Hosea 11.9 “I will not vent the full fury of my anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One among you; I will not come in rage.”

As we saw the heart of God in Hosea during our study of the Minor Profits, we are reminded again that…for God’s people, especially, his heart is continually drawn to them/us—even amid our sinful, rebellious disobedience (vv. 7-8)

To do less would be evidence of a cold, uncaring, indifferent heart to the miserable condition of his children.

The HOLINESS of God and His HEART… (keys = vv. 3 & 7)

Isaiah 6:1–8 CSB

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies; his glory fills the whole earth. 4 The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said: Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Armies. 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for. 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

This truth runs equally alongside the discipline of God for his children...

Hebrews 12.1-11 “Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up. In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

…AND this is also a great display of Christ’s loving heart for us.

**Our sin brings forth the loving heart of Christ toward us…How do we understand this truth in relation to our salvation? In other words:

What Hope of Salvation from Sin? [Hebrews 7.23-25]

Key v. = Hebrews 7.25 “Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.”

Jesus is able to save “completely,” “to the uttermost!” (lit., into the whole)

Salvation (BFM, Article IV, Intro): Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration (being made alive), justification (being made right [with God]), sanctification (being made holy/righteous), and glorification (being made complete). There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

Romans 8.33-34 “Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.”

As Dane Ortlund put it: “Justification is tied to what Christ did in the past. Intercession is what he is doing in the present.” (p. 78)

In an argument, I hate ‘whataboutism’—essentially, I know this but what about your friend…but what about you, etc. When we think about Jesus saving us to the uttermost and interceding for us always, we might be tempted to think like Dane points out on page 83 (“We all tend to have some small pocket...”).

[As Ortlund notes from Louis Berkhof, great systematic theologian: “It is a consoling thought…that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life.” (p. 84)]

**When we hear encouraging news like this, I don’t know about you, but I often can’t help but ask: “So, do you have any more good news?”—In this case we might ask:

Any More Help Dealing with Sin Now? [1 John 2.1-2]

Key v. = 1 John 2.1 “My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.”

“Advocate”: Counselor; Helper; Comforter…a representative for another (to stand in his place)…much more than ‘Daddy’s little helper’…or helping our neighbor…our advocate—either Son or Spirit (what do you mean Holy Spirit?)—is one who stands with/alongside/‘connected to!’ …

John 14.16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.”

John 14.26 “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.”

John 15.26 ““When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me.”

John 16.7 “Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.”

The relationship of ‘intercessor’ (the first good news) & ‘advocate’ (the further good news): “Intercession has the idea of mediating between two parties, bringing them together. Advocacy is similar but has the idea of aligning oneself with another. An intercessor stands between two parties; an advocate doesn’t simply stand in between the two parties, but steps over and joins the one party as he approaches the other.” (p. 87)

[[Important application distinction: Hebrews 7.25 (intercession) is something Jesus does for us always. 1 John 2.1 (advocacy) is something Jesus does for us as needed. AND…the deeper more entrenched our sin, the deeper Jesus’ advocacy!]]

The tension of self-advocacy or Jesus’ advocacy...

“What if we never needed to advocate for ourselves because another had undertaken to do so?...” (paragraph, p. 93)

CONCL—

John Bunyan: “Christ gave for us the price of his blood [1 John 2.2]; but that is not all; Christ as a Captain has conquered death and the grave for us, but that is not all; Christ as a Priest intercedes for us in heaven; but that is not all. Sin is still sin in us, and with us, and mixes itself with whatever we do, whether what we do be religious or civil; for not only our prayers and our sermons, our hearings and preaching; but our houses, our shops, our trades, and our beds, are all polluted with sin.

Nor does the devil, our night and day adversary, forebear to tell our bad deeds to our Father, urging that we might forever be disinherited for this.

But what should we now do, if we had not an Advocate; yes, if we had not one who would plead; yes, if we had not one that could prevail, and that would faithfully execute that office for us? Why, we must die.

But since we are rescued by him, let us, as to ourselves, lay our hand upon our mouth, and be silent. [Bunyan, The Work of Jesus as an Advocate, in Works of John Bunyan, 1:197; in Ortlund, pp. 93-94]

In the words of the great hymn writer, Horatio Spafford, when thinking about the depth of his sin and the depth of God’s love for him as a sinner and sufferer proclaimed...”It is well, It is well, with my soul!”

Question: Is it well with your soul?…

1 John 2:1 CSB

My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous one.