religion

Defined by Christ Alone

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

Sometimes, while scrolling on social media, I’ll come across a quote that sounds something like this:

“Don’t judge me by my past, because I don’t live there anymore.”

We so often believe that we can overcome the mistakes of our past with the good decision-making of today. We think we can make up for our anger by giving to charity, or make up for our lust by giving financially to end human trafficking. We want our present and our future to define us. And we don’t want anyone bringing up that shameful past.

Problem: Even if everyone else forgets your past, there are two people who cannot simply “let it go.” One looks at you in the mirror every day, and the other brought the world into existence. No escaping either one of them.

We have not invented time machines yet, and I doubt we ever will. I cannot change the mistakes I made today, yesterday or 12 years ago. I cannot go back in time to the times in my life when I have made some ridiculously stupid, sinful decisions. I can’t make that disappear. I can’t “fix it.” And God is holy, and He can’t just forget about it.

So what’s our response? So often, we say things like, “I’ll do better, I promise!” “I won’t ever do (insert sin here) again!” And time and time again, we fail. We do not and cannot keep our promises to God. Our past will not disappear. It cannot simply be wiped away because we “don’t live there anymore.” And if we’re hoping that tomorrow or 5 years from now will look better, we’re fooling ourselves. We may be able to make some changes to our behavior, but in and of ourselves, we cannot please God. Our hearts remain wicked, and if we do change, it’s certainly not for God’s sake. Whether you want God to judge your past, present or future, it’s not going to end well for you. Our sin, no matter where or when it happened, remains as a record against us, leading us to a coming condemnation that we justly deserve and that in and of ourselves we cannot escape. If we stood on the scales of God’s justice in ourselves, we would all be found wanting.

Praise be to God we don’t have to stand before God in ourselves. Praise be to God that He sent Jesus to live the perfect life for us and pay for all our sins, past, present and future, so that we can be forgiven, not on the grounds of our present or future obedience, but on the solid rock of His obedience and His blood, shed for us. Because of Jesus, we can be judged on His record, not ours. That’s a lot better than, “try harder,” and, “I’ll do better.”

If you are a Christian, that is, if you have and do currently trust in Christ to make you right with God, and trust in Him as the Lord of your life, you are not defined by the sin of your past. You are not defined by the struggle of the present. You are not defined by the sin you will commit over the next 50 years. You are defined by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. You are defined by the blood He shed for you. You are defined by your Father, who adopts you through Christ. You are defined by the ongoing work of the Spirit to make you like Christ, and the glorious promise that one day, all who have trusted in and followed Christ will look just like Him. Not 90% like Him. Not 96% holy. 100%, perfectly holy, in a way we cannot even fathom right now.

You are defined by Christ. Fix your eyes on Him, rest in Him, and follow Him in gospel-believing joy. Live out your new identity. You are righteous. You are a child. You are a follower of Christ. And when, not if, you fail…go back to Christ. Trust Him. And move forward.

God bless,
Neal E.

How Will You Respond to Jesus?–Matt. 7:24-29

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

Tonight we finish the series on the Sermon on the Mount.  God has been gracious to speak to us through His Word, and I hope and pray that by His grace, we’ve learned more of what it looks like to be a follower of Christ through this series.

We finish up with a reminder that the words of Jesus are serious, and how we respond to Him impacts where we spend eternity. Join me in Matthew 7:24-29:

“‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.’  And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

Whether the people listening to Him realized it or not, the reason Jesus spoke with authority was because He is the authority!  According to Him, how we respond to Him shows not only whether or not we are wise, but whether or not we stand in the storm of God’s judgment.

In the story Jesus tells, the one who endures through “the storm” will be the one who builds their house on the rock, and the one who dies is the one who builds their house on the sand.  As is always the case with the words of Jesus, this is serious.  Jesus is talking about life and death.  He’s not talking first and foremost about the “storms of life.”  Although that’s a popular viewpoint, it’s wrong, and the context of the passage helps us see that.

Jesus has just finished talking about those who He will send to hell because he never knew them.  Before that, He discussed how those who fail to bear the fruit of true faith will be “cut down,” that is, they won’t be joining Him in heaven.  And, lastly, before that, Jesus discussed the way into eternal life with Him, through a narrow gate and hard way.  Based on the context, the “storm” Jesus is describing is the coming storm of God’s righteous judgment.

So what does it mean to “build our house on the rock?”  How can we make sure we have done this, and will stand secure at the judgment?  By listening to the words Jesus has said.  This is in reference to the previous words in the Sermon on the Mount. Make no mistake, the Sermon on the Mount is not a guide to earning salvation.  Jesus, in the beginning of His sermon, commends those who know they need mercy, and commends the broken-hearted, and calls them blessed.  All of the moral imperatives flow out of the gospel, out of a relationship with Jesus.  I had a seminary professor explain it this way: “The Sermon on the Mount is not a guide on how to get into the kingdom of God, but a description of what life looks like in the kingdom of God.”  Listening to Jesus’ words and obeying them is commanded, but it is only possible if we are a disciple of Christ.  So, the next obvious question…how do we become a disciple of Christ?

Before Jesus preached this sermon, He preached a much shorter sermon (at least from what’s recorded), in Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel!”  We build our lives on the rock when we trust in Jesus as our God and receive Him as our Savior.  We build our lives on the rock when we repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Repentance involves a confession of sin, an agreeing with God about our sin, and a turning from it, a desire to no longer go on in it, and a trusting in Christ as Lord to help us obey Him and kill our sin.  As we turn from sin and trust Christ to help us follow Him, we trust Him to save us, to give us His righteousness, to forgive us through His death on the cross.  We trust that what He’s done He’s done for us.  So following Christ, then, is not an exercise in earning righteousness, but in living it out.  We’ve come under the Lordship of Christ, and He has given us His righteousness.  He has changed our hearts.  He has forgiven us of our sin.  We now live to be who we are in Him, to bring Him glory and to tell others about Him, and toward this end, we listen to and cling to every word He says.  This is why Bible study is essential for the life of the Christian.  Simply put: You won’t follow Jesus well, if at all, without consistent time in His Word and in prayer.  Jesus Himself knew the Scriptures and prayed daily….how much more should we?

Knowing Jesus is what makes you wise.  Knowing Jesus and being united to Him is what allows you to live out what He’s said in the previous three chapters, and knowing Him in a saving way is what allows us to stand righteous before the Father on that great day of judgment.  Know Him.  Trust Him.  Follow Him.

Did you notice what happened to the other guy?  The guy who built his house on the sand?  In case you didn’t catch it, let’s read it again: “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 

Not listening to Jesus’ words, not submitting to Him as King, not admitting I need Him and trusting in Him as Savior, leads to eternal damnation.  We must not be so naive as to think that God is simply okay with us telling Him we’re not interested.  He’s God.  It doesn’t work that way.  Would it ever be acceptable for a child to look at His parents and say, “You know, I know you created me and everything, but you really don’t have a place in my life?”  Of course not!  Assuming the child has decent parents, there’s no excuse for such disrespect.  In the same way, while only those who know Jesus are children of God, we have all been created by God, and all have a responsibility to recognize Him as God, and when we don’t, God is rightly offended.  God alone is God, and it is terribly wicked for someone or something else to be recognized as “God” in a person’s life.  The punishment for our sin is hell.  Praise God He’s sent a Savior so we don’t have to fear judgment or hell, but can rejoice in Him forever.

If you learn nothing else from my posts, learn to trust in the finished work of Christ for your salvation and to commit your life to Him.  Learn to repent, to confess your sin and trust in Christ to help you follow Him.  Trust His grace.  Trust in Christ.  Learn Christ.  If you forget everything else, learn Christ.  If you forget everything else from the Sermon on the Mount (and I hope we won’t!), remember to build your life on the words of Christ, in this passage and in all of Scripture.  Make your life about Jesus.

Lord, may we never stop praising you for who you are.  May we continue to listen to your Word and follow you.  May you graciously lead us as our Lord and continue to stand for us as our Savior.  May you be glorified in all we think, say and do.

God bless,

Neal E.

I’m not sure when the next blog post will come.  School has started, work is picking up, and I’m involved in a new ministry this semester, so blogging unfortunately gets moved to the back-burner.  But if you subscribe, I promise you won’t miss anything!  Again, God bless!