Spiritual Appetites

Psalm 42:1-2 NASB - "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?”

            As mortal creatures God has given us certain appetites; desires and cravings that demand being fulfilled. The man who hasn’t had a meal for several days has all of his attention fixed upon finding food. In the wilderness temptation, Satan used the hunger of Jesus in his effort to derail His work as our Redeemer—”If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt.4:3).

            In Psalm 42 the picture is of a deer who has come to a familiar stream to drink only to find that it has dried up. As his thirst continues to increase he frantically searches for water. With his mouth dry and throat parched, the poor animal begins panting, longing to have his thirst satisfied.

            The nature of our earthly appetites is when they are deprived of being satisfied they continue to increase. When you are hungry your appetite continues to increase until you partake of a meal.

            As Christians, we have spiritual appetites; longings for the graces that draw us nearer to our Savior. We savor sweet times of prayer and hunger for the meat of God’s Word. Peter writes: “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:1). We find our soul satisfied when we partake of a soul-nourishing meal.

            Our spiritual appetites are quite opposite from our physical appetites, however. In the physical realm, when we are deprived of food we become more hungry. The longer we go without food the more our hunger increases. When we finally eat our appetite is assuaged. In the spiritual realm, when we deprive ourselves of the Word of God and prayer our desire for them will actually begin to decrease. We become spiritually dull and weakened in our spiritual life. We become easy prey to the attacks of the evil one. On the other hand, when we partake of a consistent diet of spiritual food and maintain a healthy devotional life our hunger for Christ increases.

            Do you find your spiritual appetites continually increasing? Do you savor the time you spend reading, studying, and meditating upon the Word of God? Or has your neglect only caused your appetite to decrease? The good news is our gracious Savior is always ready to draw us back to Him. He is the true Bread of Life through whom our souls are richly satisfied. “He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good” (Psalm 107:9).

The Danger of Antinomianism

I set before you in my previous post some characters from the book, The Marrow of Modern Divinity. Derek Thomas describes this book as "one of the most important theological texts of all time." The book, first printed in 1645, contains a dialogue between fictional characters discussing matters of eternal importance; matters that deal with a man’s eternal soul and his hopes of eternal life. Evangelista is the Gospel minister carefully applying Gospel truths to a legalist by the name of Nomista and an antinomian by the name of Antinomista. Previously, we looked at Nomista and the dangers and subtleties of legalism. We are always in danger of fixing our hope upon our own actions rather than upon Christ alone.

Equally insidious, however, is the one who vainly believes he has eternal life, while insisting he is exempt from the Law of God. He shouts loudly, “We are not under the Law but under grace!” Evangelista addresses Antinomista: “If either you, or any man else, shall under a pretense of being in Christ, exempt yourselves from being under the law of the ten commands, as they are the law of Christ, I tell you truly, it is a shrewd sign you are not yet in Christ; for if you were, then Christ were in you; and if Christ were in you, then would he govern you, and you would be subject to him.”  

As with legalism, antinomianism can be subtle. Satan has many tricks and tools to lead a man to perdition. A man can believe in justification by faith alone and yet deny the Christ upon whom we must believe. Antinomista argues, “Me thinks, when a man is perfectly justified by faith, it is a very needless thing for him to endeavor to keep the law, and do good works.” At this a fourth character speaks. It is Neophytus, a yet unconverted but sincere seeker of Christ. “I do much marvel that this my friend Antinomista should be so confident of his faith in Christ, and yet so little regard holiness of life, and keeping of Christ’s commandments, as it seems he does.” 

To this Evangelista replies: “If our friend Antinomista do content himself with a mere gospel knowledge, and yet is not fetched in by the power of Christ, let us pity him, and pray for him.” 

And so, we have the Law/Gospel balance. We are saved by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. But as Martin Luther said, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” Salvation is wrought through the work of Christ apart from the works of the Law. At the same time, with saving faith comes deliverance from the power of sin. The Christian loves the Law of God as His standard of righteousness. He obeys, not as a means of gaining any form of merit from Christ, but because Christ has so captivated his heart that he delights in reflecting the beauty of holiness. His grief over sin is not because he fears the consequence of sin but because he has dishonored the One he loves.

The Subtlety of Legalism

Acts 16:31 NASB - "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” 

There are two great enemies of the Gospel of Christ. Both are dangerous and potentially damning to the soul. One is antinomianism, which denies the proper place and use of the Law in the life of the believer. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). The other is legalism which places confidence in the works of the Law and human effort as the means of salvation. Both can be very subtle, which is what makes them so dangerous. 

In the book, “The Marrow of Modern Divinity” there is an interesting dialogue between an able minister of the Gospel by the name of Evangelista, and a legalist by the name of Nomista. Nomista is certain of his salvation and takes exception to Evangelista’s suggestion that he may be among the thousands who believe themselves to be Christians, but have actually denied the Gospel. Nomista’s defense of his conversion is revealing and describes just how subtle legalism can be. In fact, Evangelista warns that there is a touch of this legalism in us all. “Many poor ignorant souls amongst us, when we bid them to obey and do duties, they can think of nothing but working themselves to life; when they are troubled, they must lick themselves whole, when wounded, they must run to the salve of duties, and stream of performances and neglect Christ.” 

As Nomista describes his experience, he speaks of having been convinced of the futility of his religious condition, and was told by a minister that he must listen to godly preaching, keep the Sabbath, leave off swearing, beware of lying, and read good books.  He began spending the Lord’s Day in public and private exercises of worship and keeping God’s Commandments. Many Christians observed this change and offered the right hand of fellowship. He still felt empty, however, and realized that it was all external; that he wasn’t changed inwardly. So, he gave himself to performing duties not only outwardly, but also inwardly from the heart. He was careful to govern his thoughts and passions and suppress the risings of lust and gave himself to hearing and praying from the heart. But then he realized that God required not only active obedience, but also passive—that he had to be willing to suffer. He began to be troubled at his impatience under God’s correcting hand and his inward murmurings. He gave himself to quietly submitting to the will of God. He soon became troubled over his sleepiness, drowsiness, and heaviness in prayer and in other duties. Another minister told him not to worry, that even the best of Christians have their failings. God will accept the will for the deed; and wherein you come short, Christ will help you out. So now he felt confident that what he could not do Christ would do for him.

Do you see what was lacking in Nomista? He was trusting in his actions as the basis of his salvation. Is his experience like yours? Salvation is not doing our best and trusting Christ to do the rest. Salvation is faith in Christ’s righteousness ALONE and trusting in His atoning sacrifice ALONE. The Gospel demands faith in Christ ALONE. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

Trump Protests

God has blessed us with one of the greatest nations in the history of the world. We have freedoms that many in the past could only dream of. We have the right to the free exercise of religion, the freedom of speech, the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of the press, and the right to keep and bear arms. These are liberties many take for granted. We also enjoy a form of government in which we are able to elect those who represent us in government. In human history filled with totalitarian regimes and dictatorships this is a wonderful blessing.

This past Tuesday we went through the process of electing our next president. Regardless of what one might think of Donald Trump, he has been lawfully elected. He went through the primary process and prevailed over a field of sixteen candidates, winning the nomination of the Republican Party. On Tuesday, in a lawful electoral process, he was elected to be the next president of the United States.

Since the election there have been numerous protests across the nation, many which have turned into violent riots. While we have the right to lawful (peaceful) assembly, these protests are wrong. Because your candidate doesn't win an election doesn't justify mass protests (temper tantrums). God gives us two duties regarding our leaders: (1) Once our leaders are duly elected we must submit to their authority. Romans 13:1 - "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." (2) We must pray for those placed in leadership over us.  1 Timothy 2:1-2 - "I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."

I find the hypocrisy in all of this fascinating. In our generation we often hear the word "tolerance." But it is a one-sided tolerance. For those protesting, tolerance means all must accept their positions. Any other point of view must be rejected, even violently. What they are protesting is any infringement upon their autonomy. They want absolute liberty; the right to absolute self-determination. Such liberty does not exist with men. Only God has absolute autonomy. God has absolute authority; His dominion is absolute. What we are seeing in these protests is the continuing rebellion of human beings against God's rule. God declares the definition of marriage. God declares the proper expression of human sexuality. God declares the right to life, etc. What they are protesting is God's right to rule, but they will not prevail.

Psalm 2:1-4 - "Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?  The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,  "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!"  He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them."

God's charge to this lawlessness is clear:
Psalm 2:11-12 - "Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!"