Created from Nothing

Study from J.C. Ryle’s Holiness, chp. 14

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the Churches”   - Revelation 3:22


We have thus far discussed many topics that deal with personal efforts for holiness. However, while it is true that faith is individually pursued, it is also true that the completion of faith is only resulted through unity in the body as the church. Consequently, we have need to be perfectly clear about the church and its goals.

There is, I think, something to be said about the way that we Christians view church as opposed to Christ’s view of the church. Do we live up to Christ’s expectations?  As it is with our spiritual life, the church also cannot thrive if it is not judged and guided by the Word of God. It is precisely for this reason that we must pay attention to the repeated exhortations and encouragements of the Lord Jesus Christ to the seven churches in the second and third chapters of Revelation.

1. Jesus’ focus is the faith of the believers.

Sacraments and ordinances are besides Jesus’ scope of interest when the matter is about repentance. In other words, Jesus’ main focus is the faith of His brothers and sisters, and therefore, He addresses solemnly and directly the sins or praises to the seven churches so that they will be brought to repentance or commended for their faithfulness. This is the focus of Jesus Christ, and this should be our focus as well.

This is not a call to abolish the sacraments; they are a great blessing from God because the holy sacraments remind us of Christ and rekindle our passion for Him. Likewise, the church government is necessary and must be maintained with diligence so that no false doctrine or false prophets attempt to corrupt the church. It is the same with many facets of maintaining the church. Still, we must not allow the  upkeep of such liturgy, sacraments, church government, and all the secondary things hinder us from our primary task of being faithful to Jesus.

There is a need for self-evaluation by Biblical standards of faithfulness. Are we faithful to the Lord? This is the most important subject. Are we comprehensively faithful to God? Are we constantly reminding ourselves of our first love (Ephesus), refraining from being lukewarm (Laodicea), resisting false doctrines (Pergamum), repelling false teachers (Thyatira), revived unto the Lord (Sardis), and regarding Jesus unto death (Philadelphia and Smyrna)? True faith leads to sanctification; sanctification is not a matter of outward deeds. It is the revival of the soul. It is the grafting of Another’s holiness and righteousness unto us by the Holy Spirit. It is not, however, automatically summoned while you are in cruise control through the world in sin. It requires deliberation.

Matters of minor doctrines should not bring about the disunity of the church. Assigned duties regarding the maintenance of the church and positions assigned by the church should not hinder our faith in the Lord.  Jesus wants the church to be collectively faithful to Him.

Question: Must we minimize or reassign significance of the sacraments?

2.  Jesus knows our works.

The works of a Christian is not a means to enter heaven. God does not merit salvation by our works, and good works is not a means to summon God’s blessings. God is uniquely sovereign and cannot be swayed or influenced. What place, then, does the good works that God has prepared have in our lives?

In our passage, Jesus tells the churches that He knows their deeds. No greater significance can be assigned than Jesus’ recognition. This understanding of Jesus’ current scrutiny of our lives must be known by the people of Christ; this should cause us to flock to the Word of God, because God’s standard of measurement is found in its lines. Our work of Biblical pursuit of holiness is known by God and pleases Him.

This is great encouragement for us, I think, because the Lord will receive our works, regardless of how insignificant and miniscule that deed may seem to us. The fruit that He has caused to grow, He will enjoy. What happiness is there for the believers who do good works! Though the good that we do may seem contrived and unworthy to us, the good in us that is the fruit of the sanctification of the Holy Spirit will be recognized and rewarded by Christ!

However, in speaking of works, there is one thing that we must guard ourselves against - hypocrisy. When attempting to do good works, it is very easy to become an outward Christian. The Pharisees fell into this trap and were condemned by the Lord because of their lack of consistency in their appearance of obedience and the sinfulness of their heart. They were sinners who thought they were holy; so, too, we can be, if we stray from Biblical, heart-obedience to the Lord. Thomas Watson writes this: “What good will it do a man if others think he is in heaven when he is in hell? Oh, beware of this! Counterfeit piety is double iniquity!”

Question: Do you deliberately do good in the name of Christ? Does your love for Christ serve as your motivation to do good?

3. Jesus rewards the one that overcomes.

“Now this is the one grand distinguishing mark of true Christians. Other men, perhaps, like to be numbered in the ranks of Christ’s army. Other men mat have lazy wishes and languid desires after the crown of glory. But it is the true Christian alone who does the work of a soldier. He alone fairly meets the enemies of his soul, really fights with them and in that fight overcomes them.”

In every message to the churches, Jesus promises good to those that overcome, including the two churches that were not chastised by the Lord. This tells us that in every part of our Christian life, even when we feel that we are spiritually sound, there are always spiritual hurdles to overcome and push ourselves to be victorious.

In promising us victory, the Lord also promises us the battle. Christianity is not a sunlit day in the park; it is the discovery of the evils of the self and the world and a deathly struggle against that same evil in pursuit of the good found only in Christ. It is a difficult and strenuous path. However, it is an ultimately rewarding thing to engage in this strife; how sweet must that rest be for the soldier who has fought relentlessly against sin? Heaven will welcome him and he will enjoy heaven greater than any lukewarm followers of Christ who enters heaven ‘as if through a fire.’

“What though you lose a battle or two?  You shall not lose at all. What though you faint sometimes?  You shall not be quite cast down. What though you fall seven times? You shall not be destroyed. Watch against sin, and sin shall not have dominion over you. Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you. Come out boldly from the world, and the world shall be obliged to let you go. You shall find yourselves int he end more than conquerors; you shall overcome.”

Question: Are you engaged in battle right now? What are some of your struggles?

Conclusion: The church is uniquely loved and cared for by Christ. His focus is our faithfulness and His eyes are seeing our works. We can overcome the world, temptations, sins, and even the devil by our faith in such a loving Savior.

Matthew 26:8

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste?”


This story is commonly known; it is shared in all four of the Gospels. We know through the harmony of the Gospels that this woman was Mary Magdalene and that the perfume was worth a year’s wage. We know that some disciples were indignant in their hearts, while some, such as Judas Iscariot, were openly indignant, uttering these venomous words in a shameless fashion - “Why this waste?”

Now here is my question - was it a waste? Ponder with me, I invite you. This woman’s alabaster vial of perfume was worth a whole year’s wage - this is most likely her treasure, her life’s most valuable possession. How many of us have heirlooms that cost a whole year’s salary? In today’s terms, it would be a vial of perfume worth at least twenty thousand dollars, although probably more. She must have saved this as her earthly treasure; yet she laid it at the foot of the Savior and uses it to anoint Him. 

The undiscerning disciples, spearheaded by Judas, the thief of Jesus’ ministry, were quick to call it a waste. 

Sometimes, men inexplicably lay down their treasures before the feet of Jesus, much to the bewilderment of those around them. Some successful bankers lay down their jobs to attend seminary; some football prospects worth millions of dollars give up the promised riches of this world to be pastors; and some others lay down their lives for the sake of others in mission fields, when they have a guaranteed life of stability (in men’s eyes, anyway). Witnessing this, the saved and the unsaved alike may announce their disdain and say, “why this waste?”

“Why this waste,” they might say, “when you can just earn more money and use it to help the church? Why should God-given potential be wasted?” That was precisely the issue that the disciples raised. “We could have helped the poor after selling the perfume! Instead, you wasted it on Jesus!”

So which party was right? Jesus gives the verdict.

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. ”

It is not a matter of whether we can pilot our lives or possessions for the kingdom’s advance. It’s about the worship of Jesus Christ. This woman’s act was that of reckless abandon - a treasure among treasures lavished for Christ. This was no waste, no - it was worship, and a presentation of a gift far too small to be called deserving of being anointed on Jesus. Yes, she knew what she was doing - she was worshiping the king of kings who came to take away the sins of this world. She was worshiping God Almighty who came in flesh for the sake of men.

This woman holds up the mirror to our faces today; are we whole-heartedly invested in the cause of Christ? What are we holding onto that we have not given up to Him? Would we or can we go to Christ with such reckless abandon, putting our faith in Him?

Luke 23:56b

“And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”


After the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, there was work to be done. Jesus had to be buried, which meant that the corpse had to be spiced and wrapped in heavy linen cloth and transferred to a tomb wherein Jesus’ lifeless body would be laid. When all this was done, the day was over. Good Friday, the day of the death of the Lord, was finished. Jesus’ ministry, too, was now over.

And on the Sabbath, they obeyed the commandment and rested.

Jesus had not risen yet; the power of death had not been defeated yet; the curse of the law, the total inability of man to escape the destiny of death, and the dreadful anticipation of the eternal afterlife of torment still stood as the inescapable reality. What could man do, in the absence of Jesus Christ, but to obey the law? Yet the law still loomed over them like a fearsome blade to mankind bound in the guillotine of sin.

The Law, the laws that was passed down from Moses and ratified and built upon by the Pharisees, suddenly seemed like the only option open for a God-fearing life. Jesus, the Champion, was seemingly defeated. So they kept the Sabbath, according to the commandment.

That Sabbath must have been a day of sorrow and anguish for all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. It must have been a day of disappointment for the people who expected Jesus’ kingdom to be established that week. It must have been painful to bear the burden of loss of One so kind, so venerable, so innocent, and so loving. Yet under the yoke of the Sabbatical laws that Pharisees loved to preach on (as they often used these laws against Jesus during Jesus’ ministry), even the followers of Jesus could do no work; in their obedience to the Sabbath, it even appeared as though Jesus and His teachings were altogether defeated.

They who vehemently attacked Jesus for not keeping their Sabbatical laws were now appeased. The troublemaker, the breaker of the Sabbath, Jesus, was dead.

And on the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment.

Thank God for the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave on the first day of the week! Else man would be under the yoke of the law; else man would be utterly incapable of genuine repentance and forgiveness; else man would be blinded to his own need for salvation; else man would be unable to seek God. However, as Jesus rose from the grave, the curse of the law was defeated. The death that we had to fear lost its sting. The Way, the Truth, the Life was opened so that those who confess the Lordship of Christ and believe in the Resurrection of Christ would be saved, not by the merit of obedience to Law, but by the forgiveness that Jesus Christ provided through His death and resurrection.

We are no longer under the curse of the law. They kept the Sabbath that day after the Lord died, but we keep it no more. They were left helpless, but we are now in the hands of the most capable Helper, the Holy Spirit. They thought they lost the battle, but we have already won the war.

With anticipation, then, let us go to worship our God this Easter Sunday. Jesus, the God-man, rose from the dead and redeemed us from our slavery to sin. By His sacrificial death, He justified us before God and sent the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. He rose from death; we keep the Sabbath no more.

Death of a Worldly Icon

Whitney Houston’s death caused many in the world to mourn. They mourned the loss of the wondrous diva who produced many great hits; many were despondent at the loss of one of the nicest people in the showbiz; still many more were at a loss of words at the way she died, tragically alone.

I pondered about her career, and it brought me to one of her first great hits, “Saving All My Love For You”. It is a jazzy classical, and Whitney Houston’s strong, assertive yet very feminine voice lulls the listener to chime in, singing, “I’m saving all my love for you” until the very last chorus.

I’m sure many of you also know this song. Did you know that theme of this song is adultery?

It is a scandalous story about a woman who cannot forgo a sinful relationship with a married man because she strongly believes that the adulterous moments she shares with her man is love. It’s damnable, sinful song that no Christian should ever cherish.

Exposing Sin in Culture

This kind of sinful double entendre is everywhere in our culture today; however, it would be ridiculous to say that it was not so 30 or 40 years ago. Some of my friends say this: “I only listen to the classics because the music of today is extremely sinful.” I twitch a little bit when I hear this said - not because it’s not true but because it’s not entirely true. While is a definite truth that today’s music is lewd, violent, and extremely hedonistic, we cannot use our conscience to divide the line between what is acceptable and what is damnable. The only One who can make this distinction is the Holy Spirit, and He has already done it in the Word of God, the Holy Bible. Reads 1 John 2:15-17:

15 vDo not love the world or the things in the world. wIf anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—xthe desires of the flesh and ythe desires of the eyes and pride of life3—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And zthe world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 

Yes, this does seem extreme. Yes, this command seems hyperbolic in nature. But consider this, Christian: is the Holiness of God in anyway similar to man? If we, being the adopted children of God, are summoned to a life of holiness similar to Jesus, should we still cling onto the things of this world?

The culture of our day is perverse; there is no denying it. It produces superficial niceness and distanced relationships; it ignites lust and inflames passion. It permeates into our psyche the boredom of an over-indulged generation. It promotes the chasing of passing pleasures. It engulfs conscience and dims righteousness.

But it is pleasurable. It is entertaining. It is satisfying, if only for a moment.

The Strychnine

The problem is that Satan has hidden the elements of sin in nice little packages. Love ballads advertises false love that does not endure. Celebrities advertises impossible standards of beauty and lifestyle. Capitalism advertises unattainable riches as the only means of prolonged happiness. But all this is not exposed out in the open. They are wrapped in nice little packages.

If one leaves Strychnine, a lethal poison that causes muscle spasms and death, in its pure form on the table, no one would drink it to a toxic level. It is known to be bitter and uncomfortable from the first drop; anyone, even a child, would taste the bitterness and leave it there. 

However, if one was to, say, mix it in a batch of brownies, not a single person would consider thinking of it as anything other than brownies. 

This is where we find ourselves, brothers and sisters. Satan didn’t implement sin to be outwardly distinguishable - though it exists, undoubtedly, as crime, our susceptibility is found in our need to relate to the culture of this age. And the problem is this - culture is so laced with pleasure and sweets that it would indeed be difficult to find a way out of this consortium of sin in our culture. Therefore something radical is necessary. Note Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:7-9:

James 1:14-15

But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.


Here is a truth that many of us do not want to hear. We are responsible for our sins! Yes, it is not the outcome of a certain circumstance nor are you the victim of temptation; your sins are your own. This is an elementary fact for the believers, but many believers struggle to possess this humility; the more we learn to hate sin, the more difficult it becomes to own our guilt. Yet this very thing is what we must do, for only through the recognition of our guilt can we repent before God.

Perhaps we do not think of sin enough. We must know and study sin much so that we are able to defeat it. James teaches us the mechanics of sin in these verses so that we are able to overcome sin.

The temptation comes from our own lust. We give heed to lust, and as we begin to contemplate in such lust, we are trapped and cannot escape from its grasps. We are enticed (literal Greek hooked) by our own lust and this results, almost always, in sin. Once we give heed to our lust, it is a very difficult thing to undo and escape the grasp of it; as a fish is hooked, we are dragged along to sin. We must first, then, pray against lust if we are to defeat sin before its incubation.

Lust conceives when we continue in it, and it finally gives birth to sin. This is a horrendous and fearsome metaphor; when we refuse to let go of lust but continue in it, we are, in effect, fornicating with our lust so that lust conceives and gives birth to sin. Notice here that James feminized lust; the Christian is depicted as the male. That is, the Christian is responsible for the impregnating of the lust. See this: if you are unwilling to fight against lust and overcome it, you are not simply allowing an impulse to control you; you are fornicating with lust and at the same time committing adultery against Jesus, our heavenly bridegroom.

Sin leads to death; the more we sin, the farther we become from God. Sin’s accomplishment is taking us completely away from God. At a certain point of our unrepentant sinful lives, we let go of Him for the pleasures of this world, and in that, we suffer spiritual death, both in this life and the next. We are given physical death as a metaphorical foretaste of the second death, that is, the spiritual death that we will suffer in hell for eternity should we die in sin without submitting to the Lord Jesus.

Understanding all of this, we must fight lust when it first appears so that we do not sin against God who loves us with an abundant grace. He is holy; we, too, if we are saved, can be holy, for we are His children and He is our Father. At any point of sin you are able to walk away and repent to God for forgiveness, if you are the children of God. I implore you to give heed to this fact, and today begin to fight sin. It is a tiresome thing to battle sin every day, but it is gloriously fruitful to defeat sin.