Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

The Sovereign has spoken! Hear Him!

Consider the command of that voice. The thundering command. This is the God of Scripture.

When God speaks, it is authoritative and powerful. He is not merely a sovereign, but the Sovereign God. The Creator and Sustainer of all things.

The god speaking to so many today is so weak, effeminate, and needy. He is not Lord. He is not Master. He is not King. He is not Sovereign. The god who speaks so commonly in churches today and in the hearts of professing believers is not the God of Scripture.

Hear Him speak. Hear who He reveals Himself to be. No man then may hear the whisperings of his own heart or the claims of so many unqualified men in the pulpit, their claims of what God spoke to them, and continue to think that is God once he has truly heard God in Scripture. That’s not God. It’s their own hearts, at best.

The man who sets his heart to the text of Scripture and truly hears God will not be swayed by his own thoughts of Him.

Be careful of your low view of such a high and holy God that you would be so foolish as to hear your own heart and ascribe those words to Him. Understand your own sinful heart and its desire to reign. Submit it to God. For many foolish men teach that God is leading you through whispers and impressions. This is to the delight of your sinful heart. It is not submitted to God, showing rebellion against His revealed Word and authority by seeking its own rule, following the voice that reveals what is in agreement with its own heart, and obeying the voice of another. Rebellion is not merely casting aside the name of God, but taking up His name and following the voice of one’s own rebellious heart and doing so in His name.

Be careful is not a gentle suggestion. It is a warning of very real threat to your own soul, and that threat is your own heart’s desire to reign and be its own god. Such men heap up teachers who promise they can hear God speak to them personally and be led by that voice because it says what they love.

When the beauty of God is revealed, it is not some superficial, soft, sentimental, or ornamental beauty. It is perfection. It is holiness. It is perfect power. It is all His glory on display. It is the commands of the Sovereign sent forth to His subjects. It is the rule and power and authority of God on perfect display. And as many are His foes, thinking themselves autonomous and reigning over their own lives, rebelling against Him or seeking to overthrow Him, He laughs. He has ordained all things. He is sovereign over all things. They are no threat to His reign, His power, His majesty, or His kingdom. His beauty is more than our eyes can behold as creatures. For even men fall in awe before His created heavenly host. What shall we think but that men who claim such unique intimacy with God have made trips to heaven, or have had the King of glory sit on their beds and chat with them, or lie down with them in the afternoon and whisper to them, or give them new revelation just for them or for their church each week? Is that the Sovereign God reigning and ruling over all things, who has established all things and worked all things from beginning to end? Has He failed to give us a completed Canon that rules every man, everywhere, perfectly and in order, according to His sovereign will, and by which we are all led by the same power, the same authority, the same commands, and led by the same Spirit to obey and enabled to do so?

Rogue and rebellious are many pulpits. Dissatisfied with the Sovereign’s, the King’s, the Master’s commands. For to seek something new, something fresh, is to throw off the perfect and complete Word of God and claim the Spirit of God is leading a rebellion with new words, new revelations.

The Sovereign has spoken. The King has issued His orders. The Master has given His commands. And every precious saint, near and far, past and present and future, are alike ruled and commanded and are alike empowered by the Spirit to obey His commands, finding comfort and strength in that perfect, immutable, authoritative, complete Word of God.

He has spoken. Yet many will not be satisfied with what He has spoken. They love not His commands and love not His voice. Another voice they follow, for He has said that they will do so. They will heap up men who tell them what they want to hear. Many are such men. And many are they who love their new words, new revelations, the freedom and power promised to them that sets them apart from church history and from those Christians with their Bibles, doctrine, theology, and discernment today. They claim that they ought to be hearing God speak to their own hearts and to obey what they hear in their heart as the command of God. They follow their Master. Their heart is their Master. They obey. And they call it by the Name of God.

Blasphemous are the prayers and praises of many men who know not the voice of the Shepherd, the Master, for their hearts follow another and they believe they follow Him. They love the voice of their master and they follow him, for he speaks their own desires. They corrupt the Master’s Word to their own benefit, twisting it and distorting its beauty to have it say what they want it to say and to claim the Master is speaking something new through His Word just for them. They show their contempt for the holy and Sovereign God and the Master of the house, the King, by throwing off His commands and giving new meaning to His Word just for them. They don’t love Him. They don’t obey Him. They obey the voice of their own heart.

The one who has come to set his heart and mind under the Master’s Word finds there His Word authoritative, sufficient, powerful, immutable. His heart rejoices in that perfect Word. He is enabled by the Spirit to follow the voice of His Master and obey His commands. The Master’s voice he does not despise. And the more he looks into His Word, the more he is changed and being changed more to the image of the Son by the powerful and effective work of God in him. He is cared for and secure in the truth and in the commands and instruction of the Sovereign and his Redeemer. He seeks not a new word but finds the Master’s Word sufficient and powerful. There is assurance and peace in the finality of the Word and that the same Word spoken to the early church is authoritative and sufficient for the bride today.

Many today know Him not. They follow another master. They are ruled by their own hearts that have been baptized in spiritual language, and having powerful experiences, have validated their delusions. They increasingly set their hearts and minds against the Master and hate even the language of such. They know Him not. They are led by another.

There is one Lord! One Master. He has spoken. In His Word. Will we obey Him or the voice of our own hearts that unqualified men and rebellious women lead many to follow and claim it is God? The same men lead by claiming He speaks to them, giving them new words. That itself should send men fleeing. For the Master has spoken! Who will we follow?

Written by: April J. Buchanan

One man finds heresy everywhere, having come to see so much false teaching in the church that once he did not see. Another man, thinking himself more loving and better than those discerning Christians, would never call a man a heretic, false teacher, false prophet, wolf, blasphemer, or any other such offensive name. He’s far too charitable for that. It is not acceptable to him that any man should say such things, but more than that, he thinks all the better of himself that he is not like those men. He gives. He serves. He is not like those who have been humbled by the truth and care deeply for the souls being deceived.

Some such men, having been brought out of falsehood, have not yet learned the difference between error and heresy, for to them it all seems alike. Yet he has been humbled by the truth and is eager to learn and share it with others. Perhaps it would be best and wisest that he were quiet for a time as he learned, before he became so quick and zealous to expose error in his understanding and call everything heresy.

The other man has no concern for truth. Thinking himself so loving, he affirms those who believe falsehood and goes off puffed up in how loving he is and how unlike those discerning Christians he is. He is quick to contrast himself with them even publicly, and this to the praise of many of his deceived friends whom he cares not to warn of their danger.

Yet it is true that not everything is heresy, and it is also true that we should not refrain from using the word when it is necessary and appropriate to do so.

When men who once believed falsehood begin to see how much falsehood there really is, and how many are deceived and being deceived, they may feel the need to expose it all and label everything heresy.

But just like many other words that lose their meaning when we wrongly use them, we must recognize the importance and power of using this word correctly. We render it powerless and ineffective when we label everything heresy. And we also render it powerless when we fail to call what is heresy by its name.

There are errors, aberrant teachings, blasphemous doctrines, heresies, and otherwise. A brother may have error, but a heretic is not a brother.

A professing believer who, for example, makes the grievous error of using the four-leaf clover to explain the Trinity, while affirming the Trinity, is not necessarily a heretic. If, when shown his error, he repents of it and never uses such an analogy again, he has demonstrated that this error was not a settled rejection of the truth of the Trinity. But a man who has heard the truth, rejects the Trinity, and embraces an explanation that leads him into Modalism has embraced heretical doctrine. If, having been shown the truth, he continues to reject it and affirm the heretical teaching, he gives evidence of a settled departure from the truth. This we would call heresy.

A man who believes paedobaptism and another who believes credobaptism are not, by these beliefs, to be called heretics. One is clearly in error. But neither of these beliefs makes a man a heretic.

Dear saint, search the Scriptures and let them search us. Many have and will come out of false teaching. It is painful, the loss that comes with that. It’s hard realizing that those you once trusted didn’t teach sound doctrine and, when confronted with serious errors and perhaps even heresy, found fault in those bringing these concerns. It’s harder still to realize how you sinned against God in your false beliefs, false practices, perhaps even false teachings, false prophecies, or blasphemies. Some of these things may have been grievous errors committed while you were yet a brother, from which God has since brought you to repentance. But perhaps there were also things you once believed and taught that amounted to heresy, revealing that you were then unregenerate and that God, in His mercy, has saved you.

Many will leave and never return, showing themselves not to have been truly regenerate. Others will leave these false churches, false teachers, and false doctrines in pursuit of the truth. The more they see in God’s Word and learn to study their Bible correctly, the more it may stir them to expose falsehood.

Many sitting under false teaching do not trust their own ability to reason from Scripture and put a lot of trust in whatever they are told they should believe and experience. They are often very open to what they can feel and experience as evidence of their beliefs. They are often fearful of being exposed for their inability to reason from the text. They don’t know how to defend their beliefs biblically and when they are shown their beliefs as false they cannot go to Scripture and defend them. Whether they are right or wrong they cannot defend from the text. They may have their proof texts but when they are shown that those verses do not say what they claim they are fearful and rely on experience and authority of those who’ve taught them.

God has not left His children in such a pitiable state. He has given us His Word and He is faithful to give us the understanding. Yet many resist it. They will not hear it. They are fearful of that which shows their errors and fearful because they can’t reason from the text. So they run from that which may well be leading them into the truth and away from error and fly to that which feels safe though it may well be of great harm to their own soul. They know not. And this not the fault of God. They will not hear.

But one must be careful. It is not a matter only of learning what is true but of that truth transforming the heart and mind. Prove not only what is true, that our beliefs may be reformed, but that our hearts and minds may be transformed by the truth.

It is hard, when coming out of false teaching, to realize how many are teaching lies in God’s name. But we must be careful that, while obeying Scripture in exposing falsehood, we use language, to the best of our ability, in such a way that we do not so desensitize men to the offense of the language that it is rendered powerless.

While many who teach falsehood fear correction and exposure and take every effort to protect themselves from it, their own impotent preaching is often evident to any man who has learned how to rightly study his Bible and has come out from among them and sat among the faithful. Yet to many, the false teacher’s words speak right to their deceived hearts. He scratches their itch. And they love it.

Not everything he says is heretical. Not everything he teaches is error. Many teach nothing more than motivational messages with Scripture sprinkled in. It is hard to nail down their falsehood by showing their abuse of the text because they teach so little of it. Their native tongue is to speak truth mixed with just enough error and language that sounds biblical to make it difficult to expose them as dangerous. It is sometimes hard to say, “That man is a wolf,” and then produce the hard evidence. But when a man hears sound doctrine he needs no more evidence. The truly regenerate man cannot remain. He will leave even as he is called all kinds of names and all manner of fear tactics are used to try to keep him from leaving or keep him from exposing their falsehood. Yet, he must go where God’s Word is righty taught.

Many wolves are so obvious that it is a wonder the world can see them for what they are while their loyal followers cannot. They are greatly deceived.

Those who’ve departed from serious errors and found the beauty of the truth rightly taught may feel compelled to set out upon a crusade to expose every wolf, every false teacher, every heretic, and may become hardened in the pursuit. Yet many who expose error and false teachers are on no such crusade. They simply love the truth and care for those who are deceived. Their main focus is not some deluded expectation of tearing it all down.

Only a fool sets out on such a crusade. Scripture makes very clear that false prophets and false teachers, as well as those who follow them, will increase and be many. Yet the truth may be opposed, but it shall not be hindered, and Christ’s church may be assailed, but she shall not be overcome by them. They may increase unto their final destruction, but the bride, though she may not be as many, will persevere by the grace of God. She shall make it to her Groom.

Dear saint, go on in truth, both in its positive proclamation and its negative exposure. Proclaim what is true and expose what is false. Do so for the glory of God alone. We need no other reason but that He has commanded us as such.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

If, upon reading Scripture, you are not well acquainted with this imagery, it may be because the language has been obscured in its beauty, perhaps in part because wicked men abused their fellow men. The Master-slave imagery found throughout Scripture has often been rendered as Master-servant, but there is a distinction worth considering. A servant could have rights and did not necessarily belong to the Master in the same way a slave did. The original languages matter in distinguishing the places where these words are used. Where Scripture uses the language of “slave,” translating it merely as “servant” can obscure the beauty and meaning intended by the text.

The Master-slave distinction also rightly applies to the Gospel. The servant relationship obscures the glory of God in saving a people for His own possession. It obscures the glory of God in redemption. It obscures the beauty and glory of the Gospel in that we are not our own. We have been bought with a price. We belong to Him. We are given His name. We belong to Him.

Yet other imagery also reveals that we are His children, that we are heirs and co-heirs with Christ. But we must not throw off this beautiful imagery because of the cruelty of men who have distorted its beauty. This is not an offensive thing to be cast aside. It is a promise to every precious saint who belongs to Christ. We have been bought with a price. We belong to Him. We are His.

The language of slavery communicates something that the softer word “servant” can obscure: ownership. A servant could come and go and find another to serve. A slave was owned by his Master. A servant could choose whom he would serve. A slave was bound to his Master. You cannot have two Masters. A servant may be so foolish as to cast off what is for his good and go where it pleases him. A slave has no such rights.

There are many “servants” in the church today and few “slaves of God.”

There is a profound beauty in belonging wholly to God. The slave belongs to his Master. He has been bought. He is His. His Master owns him, cares for him, provides for him, commands him, protects him, and gives him his work. His entire life is now ordered under the good authority of the One to whom he belongs.

It is therefore better to understand ourselves as slaves of the Lord than merely as servants of the Lord. The language is not intended to diminish the believer but to magnify the grace of the Master. What greater comfort could there be than to belong entirely to a good and faithful Master?

If you desire a more faithful rendering of these passages, consider adding the Legacy Standard Bible to your Bibles. It preserves the language of “slave” in many places where other translations use “servant,” allowing the reader to see more clearly the imagery Scripture itself gives us.

Is not trusting the Master who bought you and entrusting your care to Him better than the pursuit of earthly riches and earthly comforts, earthly pleasures and earthly acquisitions? The slave to the good and faithful Master finds in Him all his needs met. He is well cared for, and so he may serve Him well. He may put his hands faithfully to work for his Master while entrusting all his cares to Him.

He is not so foolish as to occupy his hands with frivolous things, or even with otherwise good things, while failing to care for his own household. For the Master has instructed him to do so. He is worse than an infidel who cares not for his own household. And yet, while he is to provide for his own household, he fears not, for his Master cares for him. He is busy about his Master’s work, and yet he does not foolishly displease the Master by claiming that he cannot provide for his own because he must be about the Master’s business.

How many foolish men have abandoned their own families in pursuit of prominence in what they perceive to be the Master’s house, and yet they have shown themselves not to be of the Master’s house, but thieves and robbers in the Master’s house. They have pursued earthly recognition under the guise of heavenly service, while neglecting the very duties their Master has commanded them to fulfill. The faithful slave does not need to choose between serving his Master and caring for his household, for the Master who commands him to do both is also the Master who cares for him.

Many men want to be identified with the Master and want to be held in high regard in His house. They go by His name. They claim to belong to Him. And yet many will stand before Him and hear those dreadful words: “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23). They are not His. They do not belong to Him. They wanted prestige, power, prominence, and position. They found His name powerful and a means of attaining all they desired. They were never invited into His house. They never bore His name. They never belonged to Him. They were never entrusted with what belonged to Him. They were liars and deceivers. They came in His name as man-stealers, to rob His house and use His name for their own wealth, power, and authority.

But God has spoken concerning them. He has warned His own. They will not follow them, and they cannot take what is His. They will incur greater condemnation, and they will not escape His wrath. For their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3)

But what pleasure there is in every good work when the slave is known, loved, and cared for by his good and faithful Master! Everywhere he goes he is identified with his Master. It is known to whom he belongs. Every work is done to the pleasure of his Master. Every work is a delight to his soul. He is not as those held in bondage to their sins. He has been bought and set free from his former slavery to sin, and brought into the house of God, to the good and faithful Master. He has been bought with a price. He is redeemed. He is given a new name. He is clothed in the righteous robes of his Master. He is loved and cared for. He is made to sit at his Master’s table. He is sent out to work in the world and to proclaim his Master’s message so that all may hear. In all his works, he now labors joyfully and as unto the Master who bought him.

Once dead in sin and an enemy, he has now been redeemed, bought, and brought into the house of the Lord. He is clothed in His righteousness. His penalty has been paid, and he has been reconciled to his Master. Being sent out, he proclaims his Master’s message. He does not labor to earn a place in the Master’s house; he labors because he has been graciously brought into it. He does not work for the Master’s favor as though he were trying to purchase it; he works from the delight of having already found favor with Him. His Master is good. His Master is faithful. His Master has bought him, redeemed him, and made him His own. And therefore even the labor of the slave becomes a joy.

Dear saint, fellow slave, fellow pilgrim, your identity is in Christ. Of all the language that describes who we are in Christ, Scripture never shies away from this imagery of slave and Master, but describes our relationship with Him through this language again and again. The Apostles readily described themselves as slaves of God and of Christ. We belong to Him. Bought. Redeemed. His!

The Master of the house knows His own, and none shall snatch them from His hand. They belong to Him. They are secure in His hand. He knows them. They are His.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

When does the soul grow quiet, calm, content? Its wrestlings and wonderings, sorrows, discontent, and troubles are many. Its storms rage and find no rest of their own. Searching deeper within, it finds more of its own troubles. Awakening them would only cause that despondent soul more pain and grief. What all lies there, waiting to be stirred, that may cause this man greater sorrow than he may ever find the end of? Is there no end to his troubles? His heart longs that there be, and yet the more he searches the depths of his own heart, the more trouble he finds.

He sets out to go in search of something that will give him peace. Some comfort. Something that may quiet his mind and settle his soul. Something that may silence the disquiet. The more he searches, the more his heart longs for that thing beyond itself that may promise peace.

In all his searching, he finds beauty and things that delight his senses. He finds things that promise peace, but should he rest his soul upon them, he finds that they do not last.

Peace. Peace. Why is that soul so restless? So disquieted? What is the problem? If only he would know to search out that answer and find its promise, he may well find that which is far better than what his foolish heart longingly searches out. He has searched his heart, and it cannot offer what he needs. He now follows his heart in search of what it feels it needs. He knows not that it is a foolish guide.

Many a man goes to the grave in search for peace, and some so desperate as to rush there swiftly, and yet they find none. Peace is not in the grave either.

Oh man, where may it be? Where it has always been. Christ!

It is not merely a superficial peace to quiet one’s restless heart. No! The disquieted heart is merely one symptom of man’s condition before a holy God. He is a sinner. His nature is to sin, and he loves it. Yet loving it, he finds no peace. For in fulfilling it, he finds himself storing up greater wrath and condemnation.

Peace is not some abstract thing that may fulfill one’s inner longing. A man’s own lack of peace is itself like a nerve ending that is still sensitive and feels that which is dangerous, responding as a warning to the man that something is wrong.

Yet as this man may respond to the symptoms of his own condition by seeking superficial treatment, he is not a victim of his condition. He loves it. He seeks not that which will call him to a right diagnosis, but that which will treat his symptoms and allow him to enjoy what he loves in peace.

Many go in search of peace and never find it. They are treating symptoms and ignoring the problem.

Many are the symptoms of our sinful condition, and men search for whatever promises to treat the symptoms, but they seek not the truth that reveals the problem and would cut it out and offer them what promises life and peace with God.

Many pulpits treat symptoms and fail to say what God says about who God is, who man is, and the beauty and glory of who Christ is and what He has done. He doesn’t treat symptoms. He calls men to come and die and in Him alone to receive new life. He calls men to repentance and faith. He saves them.

No man ever finds peace in searching for peace. Only ever has a man received true peace where, by the grace of God, such a one has heard the true and saving gospel and God has saved such a one. This man finds Christ most wonderful, most beautiful, most holy, most gracious and merciful. He sought Him not, and yet God, in His grace, sought him and rescued him from something worse than he was willing or able to admit.

No man ever lived or died in peace apart from Christ. A man may live happily and with many pleasures. He may mask the symptoms, but he may never go so far as to surgically remove what his greatest trouble is. Only God may do that. He takes out the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh. He gives new life. He alone saves. His promises are exceedingly better. His peace is incomparable to that which foolish men seek.

The man-centered—therapeutic, self-help, experience-driven, purpose-driven, mystical, moralistic—pulpit that promises what men desire and treats symptoms is the pulpit of men’s gospel, not that of Christ.

Yet faithful are the pulpits and the evangelists and the common saint who proclaims Christ to every man and prays for such men, that God may be gracious and merciful and make them to find what they searched not for and receive what they knew not their need.

May they hear and, by God’s grace, hear and find Him, the great Surgeon of their soul, their Redeemer, their Hope, their Salvation. May they abide daily in His truth and find Him what they needed and knew it not. And when they wrestle with remaining sin and the symptoms of that old man, may they look unto Him and find Him, His Word ever sufficient.

Where that man once tortured in his soul cried out, “Peace, peace,” may he now find that which, even when he cannot feel it, is powerful, sufficient, and better: Christ.

Oh my soul, remember Christ. Who He is and what He has done. Faithful. Faithful is He!

Written by: April J. Buchanan

When an atheist seeks to be consistent in his arguments and refuses to wrestle against his conscience and the law of God written upon his heart, he will eventually expose the inability of his worldview to account for the morality he knows to be true.

The atheist seeks to argue for a morality that is entirely independent from God. He makes the creature the ultimate standard by which right and wrong are determined, often appealing to what individuals or societies have come to regard as good or evil. Yet what one society declares acceptable, another may declare evil. One society may approve of cannibalism while another condemns it. One may approve of rape while another condemns it. If morality is ultimately determined by the creature, upon what objective foundation can one society declare another truly wrong?

The atheist has no objective standard within atheism by which he may ultimately stand. His moral judgments are ever changing as societies and individuals change. Laws may be just or unjust, but if God is excluded from the equation, what objective standard remains by which justice and injustice may finally be determined? The atheist may know that a law is unjust, but he must still account for the standard by which he calls it unjust.

The consistent atheist cannot borrow from the biblical worldview to answer that question. He cannot appeal to the law of God written upon the hearts of men, nor can he appeal to the fact that men will one day be judged by God. No. If he is going to reason consistently within his atheistic worldview, he cannot bring God into the equation. He must account for his belief in right and wrong without appealing to God as the ultimate foundation for objective moral obligation.

But the problem remains. He knows that some things are truly evil. He knows that some things ought never to be done, regardless of what a society may approve. He knows this because the law of God is written upon the heart of man. He may deny the God who gave the law, but he cannot escape the moral knowledge God has given him.

This is part of the great folly of atheism. Man, in his refusal to acknowledge God, declares himself wise while suppressing the very truth he cannot escape. He reasons as though he can stand independently of God, while the very faculty by which he reasons is a gift from God. The heart that refuses to consider God in its reasoning is not neutral toward Him. It is in rebellion against Him.

Yet we must never forget that the atheist is not beyond the reach of God’s grace. Can an atheist be saved? Yes. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The atheist is no different from any other sinner in his need. He does not need merely better arguments. He needs Christ. The same grace that saves the religious man saves the atheist. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

The inconsistent atheist struggles when confronted with questions that expose these contradictions. His atheistic logic may lead him in one direction, while the moral law written upon his heart tells him something entirely different. When pressed to follow his own reasoning to its logical conclusion, he finds himself wrestling against conclusions he knows are evil. He then attempts to reconcile two opposing foundations, his atheistic worldview and the moral reality that is consistent with a biblical worldview. He cannot. His struggle only reveals the inconsistency.

Many recognize the folly of the atheist but fail to see how many within the church have bought the lie. They may reject atheism while embracing ideas that are just as opposed to the truth of Scripture. They may speak of spiritual warfare while abandoning the very foundation upon which the battle must be fought.

The battle is for truth.

The Christian, however, stands upon a firm foundation, Scripture. We need not be shaken when men seek to expose supposed inconsistencies in our faith. There may be questions we cannot answer. There may be objections for which we do not immediately have a response. But our inability to answer every question does not make the foundation upon which we stand any less solid.

And this is precisely why, when challenged, the world will often seek to persuade the Christian to reason from somewhere other than Scripture. The Christian must not surrender his foundation in an attempt to satisfy the demands of sinful men. There is nothing deficient in the Word of God. The problem is that sinful men hate the truth, and the truth exposes what they would rather conceal.

The Christian who places one foot upon the firm foundation of Scripture and the other upon the shifting ground of worldly reasoning has already begun to lose his footing. The world will gladly draw him farther away from Scripture, lead him into arguments built upon its own assumptions, and then mock him for standing upon the very foundation he was persuaded to abandon.

Many who think themselves to be fighting the enemy through strange practices are not waging the battle Scripture commands us to fight. They have mistaken spectacle for spiritual warfare and counterfeit power for the power of God. They may believe they are defeating Satan and his minions, yet they have abandoned the very foundation upon which they are called to stand. They are no threat to the enemy when they have surrendered the truth.

There is a battle. It is a battle for truth. And many in the church have already conceded. They have abandoned their true foundation and no longer know how to stand in the truth or proclaim it. They busy themselves with supposed spiritual warfare while neglecting the very truth by which the enemy is exposed and the church is strengthened.

There is indeed real spiritual warfare, but much of what the world sees and mocks as spiritual warfare bears little resemblance to the biblical reality. Spiritual warfare is not found in the spectacle and strange practices so often associated with it. The enemy seeks to deceive, distort, and suppress the truth of God. The battle is real, and the Christian must stand in the truth.

Dear saint, do not do it. There is nothing wrong with using sound arguments. There is nothing wrong with answering objections carefully and thoughtfully. We may reason from evidence, history, morality, and the world around us, but we must never surrender Scripture as our ultimate foundation and authority. If an argument is true, it will ultimately agree with the truth of Scripture. If an argument requires you to step away from Scripture in order to make Christianity acceptable to the world, it is not an argument worth standing upon.

Stand upon the Word. The world may mock you for it. Let them. You are not the fool for trusting the foundation God has given you. And if you must be considered a fool in the eyes of the world, then be a fool for Christ.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Dead means dead.

Men are spiritually dead in sin. It is an impossible thing for the carnal mind to grasp and take hold of the reality of all the faculties of man dead in sin, enslaved to sin, corrupted by sin. The heart arises in immediate protest against such a charge. The weight of that reality means there is no hope within himself of changing himself. It means that his good does not outweigh his bad. It means his works can’t save him. It means he is not as good as he thinks he is. It means the words of other men who lift his spirits on the bad days and tell him he’s a good man and everyone makes mistakes can’t help him. But it’s not this truth alone that crushes him under the weight and reality of where he stands before God. (Ephesians 2:1–3; Romans 3:10–18; Romans 8:7)

We must understand the words good and sin. If there is no God, then there is no objective moral right or wrong, and there is no holy or perfect law by which we have broken and there is no sin. Every man may then do what is right in his own eyes. If there is no God, then there is no perfect law that reveals what sinners we are, and if there is no such law, then there is no need for the Gospel, for again, if there is no God, then there’s no Christ, and if no Christ, there’s no hope, no salvation. (Romans 3:19–20; Romans 7:7; 1 Corinthians 15:17)

This is what wicked men think to find refuge in. They want Christian morality over and against other religious morality as if they think it is better for a culture, but they want it so much as it may not impose on their sins or call them to repentance and faith in Christ. They want Christian morality so long as it continues to provide some semblance of normalcy and reflects some semblance of objective truth and so long as it allows for safety and comfort. They want safety in their sins and comfort in their sins. They want some semblance of normalcy and not the extreme perversions of the world forced on them whereby they must call evil good. (Romans 1:18–25; John 3:19–20)

The law is written on our hearts. Even their desire for some semblance of normalcy and their rejection of being forced to call what is false true is a reflection of the imago Dei. It is the law written on their hearts, testifying to what is true and not wanting to submit their minds to delusion. (Romans 2:14–15)

They have already deceived their own souls. But they have standards. They think themselves better than they are. Their standards are not so based and depraved as other men. They will not be forced to give up what is evidentially true and be forced to call falsehood true, for they recognize that doing so is not only to abandon morality but to give up their minds to falsehood, and how far might they be made to go? It is not holding on to truth for the glory of God and because they love truth. No! They hold on for fear of what it may cost them. Many such as these simply do not care if such men who love falsehood and love perversion live as such. They will not stand in their way. To each man his own morality and pleasure so long as he does not force it upon another. (Romans 1:21–25; James 1:22)

Men love their pleasures, their false perception of their own perceived inherent goodness, and their own understanding of a god that they can satisfy or, if it pleases them better, to put God out of their minds and suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. Men are content to live amid depravity and moral degradation so long as laws reflect their own perceived inherent goodness. Men are content to live alongside moral degradation so long as it does not interrupt their way of life or influence those they love into a morality they consider offensive to their own. (Romans 1:18, 28–32; 2 Timothy 3:1–4)

Every man has his own standard of goodness, and it is that which he perceives to reflect his own inherent goodness. When men fall according to their own standard, they simply change it or do good in order to seek to appease their own conscience that accuses them and to satisfy God if they are willing to think of Him at all. (Romans 2:14–16; Luke 18:9–14)

The problem with Scripture rightly proclaimed is that men must hear the truth that crushes all men’s lofty-minded thinking of their own perceived inherent goodness. No man escapes perfect holiness revealing that there are none good. Not one. There are none righteous. All have sinned, and all have fallen short of the glory of God. The truth reveals that every man is dead in sin. Every man has broken God’s laws. There is none who does good. Not one. And the penalty for sin is death. (Romans 3:10–23; Ephesians 2:1; Romans 6:23)

How can this be? Is God not love? How can He judge men perfectly when to do so would be to the destruction of every man? God is holy. He is perfect. He is just. He is righteous. He is good. If men hear, “God is not mad at you. He loves you. He wants good for you,” as the invitation to be made right with God, then they fail to hear the truth of who God is and the terror that is so. The beauty and glory of God revealed in Christ to all who repent and believe in Him is diminished. Men think less of God because He is presented as being so smitten with them. (Romans 2:4–8; Hebrews 10:31; 1 John 4:8–10)

It is a cruel lie to tell one dead in sin that God is not mad at him. Scripture says that God is angry with the wicked every day. It is to diminish the glory of God in all His perfections. Such men set the love of God against His justice, righteousness, goodness, and holiness. Such men deceive their own souls and the souls of many who cannot bear to hear the weight and reality of the holiness of God that reveals their own sinfulness, and they find not His grace and mercy exceedingly beautiful. (Romans 1:18; Hebrews 10:26–31)

The reality is that God is holy. He is just. He is righteous. He is perfect. He is good. The goodness of God is not what men want to diminish it to. Goodness is a terror to men who are not good. It reveals how sinful we are. Only God is good. We are not good. When we hear the truth of who God is, we no longer cling to our wicked standards or perceived inherent goodness. We are faced with the reality of our own sins before a holy God. (Mark 10:18; Romans 3:19–20)

Where can we go? There’s nowhere to hide from God. But God has made a way that all who would come to Him shall be saved. God is both just and the justifier of wicked men. How can He be just and justify wicked men? Christ! (John 6:37; Romans 3:23–26)

The beauty and glory of God in His grace and mercy toward wicked men has been demonstrated simultaneously with His justice and righteousness in Christ alone. Jesus, being truly God and truly man, born of a virgin, took on flesh and lived the righteous life we could not and died the death, paying the penalty for wicked men, bearing the full wrath of God for sinful men, then rose three days later and now is seated at the right hand of the Father. (John 1:1, 14; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Hebrews 10:12)

These are not mere words we learn intellectually and give feigned praise to a deity that took our place and now we can live as we so desire. As if God is satisfied and so we can be free to live as we so desire. No! God is holy! The work of salvation is the Triune work of God. The Father planned salvation, the Son secured redemption, and the Spirit applies that efficacious work of salvation. (Ephesians 1:3–14; Titus 3:4–7)

Spiritually dead men who clothe themselves in the language of religion and claim a relationship with God have no place with Him but in the lake of fire that does not go out. They have deceived their own souls. No man may enter but by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. (Matthew 7:21–23; Revelation 20:11–15; Ephesians 2:8–9)

The Gospel is for every man. Christ has come into the world to save sinners. He has borne the wrath of God and lived the righteous life we could not. His righteousness is sufficient for all who believe, and His substitutionary death actually secures the salvation of all for whom He died. The Gospel is proclaimed to every man, everywhere, with the command to repent and believe. He commands every man everywhere to repent, turn from your sins, agree with God concerning your sins before holiness, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of your souls. (1 Timothy 1:15; Acts 17:30–31; Acts 16:31; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

Salvation is not merely being freed from guilt, shame, and a conscience that ever accuses, but reconciliation to a holy God. It is a holy God reconciling sinful men to Himself, whereby in Christ we who were once dead in sin have been made alive in Christ and given new desires, new affections that glorify God. We are given power that enables us to live and walk in the truth according to His grace at work in us, according to the Spirit at work in us. It is Spirit-empowered living. We are given new desires for His Word and fellowship with the saints and a genuine love for the lost, desiring that they may hear the Gospel so that they may be saved. (2 Corinthians 5:17–21; Ephesians 2:4–10; Galatians 5:16, 22–25; Philippians 2:12–13)

We who have been reconciled to God in Christ are compelled to proclaim the Gospel of salvation so that all men may be reconciled to God. It is the power of God that men may hear and believe. For many hear and do not hear. Many think themselves good with God. Many know not the reality of their own depravity, their own deadness, and the beauty and glory of God revealed in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:18–20; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:13–17)

Oh man, come and hear while the day of salvation still rises upon you. Turn and believe, for mercy remains. But the day shall come when all that abides eternally upon sinful men is the holy wrath of God, and there is no mercy, no grace for such men. (2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 10:26–31)

Come and hear. Come and see. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God demonstrates His justice as Christ willingly bore the wrath of God for sinners, so that He is both just and justifies ungodly men. Today is the day of salvation. (Romans 3:25–26; Acts 16:31; 2 Corinthians 6:2)

Men once dead in sin may, in Christ, be made alive. (Ephesians 2:1–5; Colossians 2:13)

Written by: April J. Buchanan

They come because they are broken, seeking, searching for something that will help with the pain, the anguish, the panic, the overwhelming and consuming darkness. The last place they have ever wanted to be is in the church among all those perfect people. They are desperate. They have tried everything else. If this does not work, they do not know what else there is.

Many come to churches that promise experiences, claim to hear God speaking to them all the time, claim to have encounters with God, and claim to be able to do deliverance and set people free through encounters and power spoken and flowing from those with special anointing, authority, and power.

The music begins and it drops their guard because it is not much different than a concert, and they are encouraged to seek personal encounters and to come experience God. They feel something, but they are not sure if it is real for them because these people just do not know who they are and what they have done and been through. But they do feel something.

Then the pastor takes to the pulpit and he cracks jokes, lightens the mood, and tells many personal stories. His message is very motivational and inspiring. He claims God gave him that message and that someone there needs that word from God. Could it be? Could God have really spoken to that pastor and given him that message for them? The pastor gives a message that speaks right to the brokenness of that man. It feels personal. While it is somewhat vague, there are certainly parts that feel like they were just for him. He begins to allow himself to think that maybe God really does see him and maybe God really does care for him and maybe He will help him.

Then there is a call to worship and prayer and to seek God personally. He does. But he is still unsure.

Then the pastor pauses and says that God is wanting to do something special for someone today and gives some specific and vague words. He then invites anyone who feels like God has been dealing with their heart to come forward.

He hesitates. He wants to come forward, but he is not sure it is him.

The pastor says, “Do not wait. Do not doubt. If God is dealing with you, come forward now so you do not miss out on what you came for and what He is ready to do for you today.”

He wants so badly to come forward. Could it be? He leans forward, but he is scared to go because what if it is not for him? His heart is going forward but his feet are like lead.

The pastor offers one last call and encourages “prayer warriors” to pray and, if they see someone struggling, to take their hand and bring them forward.

People around him begin raising their hands and shaking and speaking gibberish, and he begins to really feel something. He cannot stand there a second longer. He feels like something is pushing him out of his seat and drawing him forward, though no one is touching him. He wonders if that is God. Maybe God is drawing him forward.

He goes. He is crying. He is concerned that maybe it is not for him, as much as he wants it to be and needs this so badly.

The pastor walks along the front of all who have come forward. Catchers gather behind them. The pastor calls prayer warriors to gather around them and invite the Holy Spirit and stir up the atmosphere so the Holy Spirit will move among them. The pastor says, “Do you feel that? That is God. He is here.”

The singers sing louder. The worshippers worship louder. There is shouting, weeping, shaking, people speaking some kind of gibberish, and the intensity rises. Something must be about to happen. This is it. This is what he needed. He wants whatever God is about to do. He needs whatever this is. He wants to believe that God loves him and will accept him and help him out of this dark place.

The pastor begins speaking over different people and they shake and fall back. As the pastor moves toward him, he feels an intensity and heat rise within him. He is crying now. He is shaking now. He wants whatever that is. The pastor comes to him and speaks a word over him that feels so personal, as though God has not cast him away and as though God truly does see him and cares for him. He is overwhelmed. He is sobbing now.

The pastor leans in to his ear and whispers to him a personal word. Then he leans back and says, “That is it. That is the power of God all over you. God has highlighted you. He sees your hurt, and He is going to use you mightily. Surrender. Surrender to Him now. Do not hold back.” The man begins to shake harder and cry harder.

The pastor asks if he has ever spoken in tongues. The man says no.

He says, “Well, today is your day.”

He leads him to begin to speak whatever comes to his tongue, even if it sounds foolish. After a few promptings, he does. The pastor says, “That is it. He has got it. He has just received the baptism in the Spirit. Come on, church. Celebrate.”

Singing and dancing and shouting ensue.

The pastor comes back to him and speaks another word over him, and he feels so special. God has highlighted him. God has come to him. The pastor says, “Today God has set you apart. He is all over you.” The man weeps all the more.

The pastor invites prayer warriors to pray harder and musicians to play certain keys and all to join in singing repetitive lyrics so as to invite the Spirit’s work and to witness what He is doing. He then raises his hand over the man’s head. The anticipation in him and all around building. The man remembers how others went down following this same movement, and he wants it. He wants to feel that kind of power from God and that kind of love from God. He feels a rush within him. He weeps. Then the pastor speaks with power. The next thing the man knows, he is gently lowered to the ground by catchers. He is weeping and smiling and praising God.

Later, when he feels like he should get up, he does and is love bombed by many eager to make him feel welcome. His experience has helped validate their own beliefs as their highs have become lows and they have been struggling. They needed his experience to reignite their own.

He had such a different understanding of church and Christians. He will be back for this. This is not what he expected at all. He does feel lighter. He feels like he is on a high, and he does not want to come down from it. He is all in. He needs to maintain that high. He wants everyone to “come experience what God is doing in that place.”

And this is why so many sincere, hurting people become convinced they have encountered God when, in reality, they have encountered something else. They are not necessarily insincere. They are hurting people who desperately long to know that God sees them, loves them, and has not abandoned them. They interpret what they have experienced as the work of God because that is exactly what they have been told they are experiencing. They are led into experiences and not to the true and saving Gospel.

Many broken people go looking and find what promises encounters, experiences, and deliverance, and they find many churches offering counterfeits. Everything was built around them having an experience.

The true work of the Spirit is ordinarily by means of the Gospel rightly proclaimed and the Word of God faithfully opened and exposited. He works through the means He Himself has appointed. Do men have true experiences by such means? Yes. But they are not the superficial and counterfeit experiences of so many today.

The Holy Spirit works in the hearts of men by the Word rightly proclaimed, and men who come broken may hear the true and saving Gospel and be made alive in Christ, whereby they experience true deliverance, true power, and true regeneration. They may or may not weep. They may or may not feel something in that moment. But where the Spirit works in regeneration, He brings life, hope, and peace. There will be evidence.

Such men may not be able to look on a calendar and point to an experience to mark the day they were saved. But they may, in time, be able to say, “Over these last months I have come to hear the Gospel, believe, repent, and I can see the evidence of God’s grace and mercy whereby He has saved me and He is working in me. He has delivered me, and He has saved me. What more could I ask? I want to know Him more, so I shall continue to study His Word and know Him as He has made Himself known to men. And when I am weak, I shall remember Christ, who He is and what He has done. He is enough. I will trust not in feelings, impressions, or experiences, but in Christ who is faithful and has promised in His Word. I will trust in Him and Him alone. For the truth remains when all else is so fleeting.”

Christ, my Lord, my God, my Savior. My hope and my salvation. To Him be the glory, the honor, and the praise. Evermore. Evermore.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

There are those who, upon hearing that a church is deeply committed to sound doctrine, immediately assume it must be legalistic or pharisaical. Others assume that if a church is centered on the Word of God and committed to sound doctrine, it must not believe in the work of the Holy Spirit and therefore must be spiritually dead. Both are false assumptions.

The Holy Spirit works through the Word He inspired. Where the Word is faithfully proclaimed, the Spirit is at work. Where there is sound doctrine, there is sound doxology and a right understanding of the Holy Spirit. A high view of Scripture necessarily produces a high view of the Spirit, for it refuses to attribute to Him what He has not revealed of Himself. The genuine work of the Spirit is never divorced from the truth He inspired.

Such thinking is often the result of reactionary extremes. One extreme reacts against another until both drift away from the beauty and glory of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. Yet doctrine and theology are not extremist language. When rightly understood and faithfully handled, they are beautiful because they reveal the character, purposes, and glory of God.

Extremist movements often arise among those who have heard the truth rightly proclaimed, not because the truth is lacking, but because they become dissatisfied with the simplicity and sufficiency of God’s Word and with trusting the genuine work of the Holy Spirit. They go beyond what is written, adding to or distorting what God has said. In turn, others react against those excesses by running to the opposite extreme. Though the errors differ, both are equally reactionary because both have departed from the steady foundation of Scripture.

The truth itself, however, has never changed. It remains steadfast, immutable, trustworthy, and reliable in every generation. We must be careful not to equate what is pure, holy, and faithful with the excesses of those who have misused it. In rejecting one error, we must not embrace another simply because it appears to be its opposite.

Our beliefs must continually be reformed according to the Word of God. We are called to test everything by Scripture, not by our experiences, our preferences, or the failures of others. God’s Word has proven itself faithful and trustworthy in every age.

We must also guard against reacting to the world or even to errors within the church by swinging to another extreme. It is possible to build entire systems of belief by isolating passages of Scripture in order to justify our own reactions rather than allowing the whole counsel of God to shape our understanding.

Instead, we must return again and again to the Scriptures, seeking to understand what God has said, what He means, and how His truth ought to be rightly applied. If we approach the Bible looking for verses to support our reactions to the errors around us, rather than submitting ourselves to what God has spoken, we are no better than those whose errors we oppose.

Scripture alone is the sure foundation of truth. It does not react to the changing winds of culture or controversy. It does not sway with the opinions of men. It stands firm because it is the very Word of God. Therefore, we can trust every word He has spoken.

Written by April J. Buchanan

All sexual immorality is sin. It is a violation of God’s holy law. It attacks the very design God has created and established for good and that reflects His holiness. When sinful men give themselves over to sinful desires, as those who are dead in sin do, they suppress the truth that reveals the beauty and glory of God in His creation and in His revealed law. This is evidenced in a culture that celebrates sexual immorality. Worse still is when the church compromises.

While there are extremes that burden the consciences of men and women with rules like the rabbis and Pharisees of the New Testament era, going beyond what was written in an attempt to keep men from falling, there is additionally another extreme in the church today. Little by little, truth is eroded as the church conforms to the patterns of the world. One extreme adds to God’s Word; the other diminishes it. Both fail to honor the authority and sufficiency of Scripture.

When we proclaim the gospel to the unregenerate, we do not always need to identify every individual sin, yet neither should we neglect doing so when it serves to awaken the conscience. Scripture bears witness that every person is a sinner before a holy God. No one stands justified before Him by his own righteousness.

We have all broken God’s law. Scripture teaches that whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles at one point is guilty of all. God’s holiness is so perfect that even one transgression leaves us condemned before Him. Therefore, we proclaim what God’s Word declares of every person: we are sinners and lawbreakers before our Creator.

The gospel begins with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the reality of the fall. We are born with a sinful nature and willingly commit sin. Therefore, there is no hope of salvation apart from the grace and mercy of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The good news is that God saves all who repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone for the salvation of their souls.

Sexual immorality has been pervasive throughout human history. It marked the ancient world, the culture of the New Testament era, and it remains prevalent today. Even among the Pharisees, God’s law was distorted. They taught that a man could divorce his wife for nearly any reason — she burnt his meal or if she spoke a negative word against his mother were examples of justifications they gave for him to divorce his wife —, but Christ exposed the corruption of their teaching. He revealed the true perfection of God’s law and uncovered the sinful condition of the human heart, showing that our outward actions flow from inward corruption. In doing so, He demonstrated that every one of us stands condemned apart from Him.

Fornication, adultery, lust, pornography, and every form of sexual immorality are violations of God’s perfect law. No particular sin is uniquely damning in the sense that it alone leaves a person guilty before God, for all sin is an offense against His holiness and brings guilt and condemnation. Scripture is nevertheless clear that there are varying degrees of guilt and punishment. Yet every sinner, regardless of the particular sins he has committed, stands in need of the same Savior.

Sexual immorality is sinful because God Himself has defined and established His good boundaries for sexuality, covenant, and union. He has called these things holy and good, and to violate what He has established and commanded is sin. Neither these sins nor any other can leave us righteous before Him through our own works. The world does not define what is good or holy. God does. We may feel that we have the right to our autonomy and to determine what is best for ourselves, but to do so in violation of what God has established and commanded, and to willfully do what He has condemned, is sin.

We cannot appeal to our own feelings of identity or happiness as justifiable reasons for breaking God’s law. Sexual immorality may produce temporary happiness and pleasure, but its consequences are beyond our control. It can bring destruction to homes and communities, contribute to the moral corruption of nations, and eventually influence laws and institutions to conform to the sinful desires of men. What begins with the rejection of God’s design does not remain confined to the individual. Sin spreads, and when a culture celebrates what God has forbidden, the consequences are far-reaching.

The man who appeals to his own goodness while remaining in rebellion against God’s design for sex and the covenant union of one man and one woman for life does not understand the reality of his own sinfulness before a holy God. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. God therefore commands all people everywhere to repent and believe in His Son. There is grace and mercy for all who truly repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls.

When the church, those who have been called out of darkness and clothed in the righteousness of Christ, begins to call good what God calls sin, or affirms and celebrates what He forbids, she misrepresents both Christ and His gospel. She obscures God’s holiness before those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. The law is good. It cannot save, but it faithfully reveals our guilt and our desperate need for a Savior.

The beauty of the gospel is seen most clearly when we rightly understand the law. Christ came and fulfilled the righteousness we could never attain. He lived the perfect life we failed to live and died the death we deserved. On the cross, He bore the wrath due to sinners, becoming our substitute. He rose again in victory over sin and death and now reigns as Lord and King. Through faith in Him alone, sinners are reconciled to God and clothed in His perfect righteousness.

The world will continue to call evil good and good evil because it is spiritually dead. This should not surprise us. What is grievous is when the church follows the world by altering God’s law. Once sin is redefined, the gospel itself is inevitably distorted. If sin is no longer recognized as sin, repentance loses its meaning, the cross loses its necessity, and grace loses its glory.

Yet when the church faithfully calls sin what God calls sin, she is not withholding hope. She is proclaiming it. Only then can she faithfully announce the good news that Christ came into the world to save sinners. The law exposes our disease. The gospel reveals the only cure.

If we truly love the lost, we will not change God’s law in an attempt to make sinners more comfortable. To do so offers false peace while leaving souls in danger. Genuine love speaks the truth. It calls sinners to repentance while extending the free offer of the gospel to all who will come to Christ in faith.

We must love every person because each bears the image of God. We must speak with humility because we ourselves were once dead in sin. Yet we must also proclaim without compromise that salvation is found in Christ alone. There is forgiveness for every repentant sinner, cleansing for every guilty conscience, and reconciliation with God through the perfect life, atoning death, and triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ. To Him alone belongs all the glory.

Loving the sinner does not mean celebrating or affirming what God calls sin. True love calls sinners to repentance and faith in Christ for the salvation of their souls. It does not require us to withdraw from the world or isolate ourselves from those who need the gospel, as some take to extremes. But it does require faithfulness to God’s Word.

Loving the lost does not mean disinviting them from our table or separating ourselves entirely from them. Rather, it means welcoming opportunities to show them kindness, speak the truth, and point them to Christ. We do not celebrate sin, but neither do we withhold love from sinners. We demonstrate genuine love through both kindness and truth.

The church must hold fast to the goodness of God’s law, faithfully proclaim the gospel, and love every person as one made in the image of God, while refusing to celebrate or affirm what God has forbidden. Christian love does not compromise truth, nor does faithfulness require isolation. We can love sinners without compromising the truth, welcome the lost without affirming their rebellion, and hold firmly to God’s Word while extending the mercy of Christ.

Our hope is not found in redefining sin, but in the Savior who forgives and redeems sinners. Christ alone is the hope of salvation for all who repent and trust in Him.

Written by: April J. Buchanan

The beauty and grace of God, known and felt, understood and embraced, are a comfort to the soul in every age and every stage of life. Yet such tenderness and compassion, such peace and comfort, are not known merely when we see that all is working well according to God’s kind providence. He rules and reigns no less over those seasons in which His providence feels like abandonment.

The soul cries, “O God, my God, where are You? Do You not see my troubles or hear my cries?” Yet, like the psalmist, it is called to remember the Lord and find comfort, not first in changing circumstances, but in who He is.

I can think of nothing sweeter, more wonderful, or more steadfast as a foundation and a comfort to the soul than the truth known and believed concerning the character of God. Nothing.

When all is well with our soul, and it seems God is working all things according to His wise and kind providence, while trials appear but distant memories, the heart rightly rejoices in His mercies and delights in His goodness. But when those sorrows become familiar once again, and a new day dawns with troubles of its own, known to God though unforeseen by His children, we often discover remaining weakness within ourselves. The soul sinks beneath the weight of fresh burdens. Yet it is then that truth proves itself an unshakable foundation.

The remembrance of the God who is ever faithful steadies the heart. No trial may touch our lives apart from His sovereign hand. If He has permitted it, then it is subject to Him. Though the soul may feel such heaviness that continuing seems more than it can bear, and though God may seem distant, only the foolish man makes his feelings the measure of reality. The saint has learned the folly of resting upon feelings, for his God is faithful.
Whatever God does is right and good. Whatever He permits, He governs. He hears the cries of His people. These truths remain true whether we feel them to be true or not.

O despairing soul, remember the Lord. Go to the psalms and hear the cries of the saints who poured out their hearts before God. Open the Holy Scriptures and behold His unwavering faithfulness throughout every generation. Remember the Lord.

And in your days of peace and blessing, do not take His mercies for granted. Do not imagine them to be your own earning. Tomorrow may dawn with troubles, yet your God remains sovereign still. He is worthy of your praise in the daylight as in the night, in the cold as in the warmth, in seasons of longing as in seasons of rejoicing, in days of want as in days of abundance.

Look to Him. He is your great reward. If you belong to Christ, He has redeemed your soul. He rules and reigns over all things. Call upon Him when you are confident He hears you, and call upon Him still when your soul is cast down and you cannot sense His nearness. Cast yourself upon His mercy even when you cannot feel His kindness, for He can do you no evil.

Look to Christ. When the new day finally dawns and the troubles have passed away, you will discover that He was faithful all along. Though you could not always perceive His hand, He was accomplishing in you something far greater than anything you endured.

Trust Him, dear one. He is faithful, and He is worthy.