Christ's Person - Alvin Davis - Session 5 - 7. What Our Sins Evoke

As you look at your notes, this class is on Christ's person, this tract, and, the theme of this year is Christ and your weakness. And the theme verse there is 2 Corinthians 12:9. I know a dear verse to all of us. Jesus' answer to Paul's prayer to remove that thorn in his flesh.

Three times he prayed that. And Jesus' reply was, my grace is sufficient for you, for power, or in some translations it says, my power is perfected in weakness, weakness. And then Paul is, is able to go on and say, because of his experience of Christ's presence, most gladly, therefore, I will boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. And I don't know about you, but that passage and passages in James chapter one.

Where James tells us to consider it all joy when we encounter various trials. I'm, I'm still getting used to that, still getting used to that, still learning to embrace that, weakness is, is in the center of God's will for us. It's not an accident. It's not something that catches him by surprise and in Christ we have so so much, so many resources of grace.

And we have the presence of Christ with us in our weakness. So if you're in weakness this morning, if you're suffering this morning, I hope that that passage brings comfort to you. That's what this class is really about is looking at the heart of Christ, as Pastor Mike has mentioned and was was mentioned last week. It's like we're taking the heart of Christ and if you could imagine it as a diamond.

moving it in different directions so that the light catches it. We're looking at different aspects of the light of the heart of Christ and, and as you see there in the review, Pastor Mike led us through the very heart of Christ in the first chapter where, we looked at the gentleness and the lowliness of Christ as he said to his disciples, and then we saw his heart in action and we begin to see the compassion of Christ. Through his ministry and then we saw the happiness of Christ for the joy that was set before him from from Hebrews 12 and the joy that came from his heart to lay down himself and being willing to go to the cross as Hebrews tells us and also Philippians and then last week, we talked about, I'm sorry, 2 weeks ago we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses and we just unpacked how.

Christ is a high priest in a class by himself, altogether different, that every high priest, every priest that came before him was either a shadow of him or was designed to point us towards him.

And then because of that, he's able to sympathize with us. He experienced everything that we experienced, every temptation that we experienced, yet without sin. And that part is what sets him apart. And then we also looked at the fact that he can deal gently with us because of his position as a high priest, his uniqueness, uniqueness as a high priest, and he chooses to do so, to, to deal gently with us who are his.

And that just brings up that point that it's so far run through a thread running through Ortland's writing is just making that distinction between those who have come to Christ and those who are outside of Christ and as we made the appeal last week, the, the, the doors are open, the call of Christ is open to all. But we're we're talking about family business here as it were when we talk about the the heart of Christ being shown towards his people in this unique manner. But my appeal this morning as it was last week would be if you're outside of Christ, come to Christ so that you can experience all of this.

Don't, don't tune out if you're watching on the live stream or if you're even here this morning.

Don't tune out because it doesn't seem like I'm talking or teaching to you or Dane Orland is as well. We actually want you to tune in. We actually want you to come to Christ to surrender to Him. And just to unpack that a little bit more, I was just thinking this week, gosh, what what what does that mean as someone who's outside of Christ and maybe is seeking this morning, Christ, what does that mean?

And one of the things that came to my mind is the word, that, that we have in scripture, repent. Right? And that, and it means to turn. and it means a change.

And I think to think about that a little bit more deeply, to turn from the direction that we're going. Which if we're outside of Christ, we're we're, we're headed in the direction of sin. And our destiny, as we're going to get to in this lesson, is the wrath of, of God, the wrath of Christ, as we unpack in in Revelation 19, Pastor Milton did. But, but to repent means to turn.

And it, and, and it means to turn away from something and to turn towards some something. And when I think about turning away in, in, in our modern times, just all of the, the thoughts and the belief systems and the worldviews that are out there. it means to turn away from them. And come towards Christ.

And we're going to talk a little bit more, as I said in the lesson, and try to unpack that a little bit more, but. The, the, the invitation is open. Come to Christ. And hopefully we can make the case to do that.

And then moving down in chapter 6 last week, we also looked at the fact that Jesus has given us the promise, those that are in Christ, those who have come to Him, that he will never cast them out. And we just talked about the comfort that that brings to us as believers, especially when we're suffering. I just gave that little, story last week about, being in pain and it's how that messes with your mind. how circumstances can mess with your mind and just, man.

Am I cast away? Am I cast out? I got mad at me right now. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit more as well today.

So as we get into this lesson today in chapter 7, we're gonna talk about what sins evoke, what our sins evoke, the, the elephant in the room if you will. I don't know, that might be an overstatement, but it is, it is a good question, right? What, what do our sins evoke, in the heart of Christ, and we're gonna get to Hosea 11 a little bit later in the lesson, but you can see there that's the theme verse from Dame Dane Ortland in chapter 7, as he, points out this part of, Hosea 11:8, my heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender.

Those just seem to be opposed, don't they?

Don't they seem just on the surface to be opposing ideas, for us as human beings. When, when my, my, when my heart recoils within me, compassion is not necessarily the next thing that comes out. I, I wish that I could say that I, that was true, but it's not. Oftentimes the flesh is what comes out when my heart recoils within me, and we'll unpack that a little bit more.

I don't know that that's exactly what God is communicating to us through Hosea. So I just wanted to begin diving into our lesson today by reading that last paragraph from chapter 6. It says for those united to Him, the heart of Jesus is not a rental. It is your new permanent residence you're not a tenant, you are a child.

His heart is not a ticking time bomb. His heart is the green pastures and still waters of endless reassurances of his presence and comfort. Whatever our present spiritual accomplishments, it is who he is and we just close with talking about just a part of our justification, our sanctification is just getting used to the idea. Of who God is and who, how he has revealed Himself.

And so it leads us into our discussion this morning, our reading this week. What does it do, what does our sin evoke? And I, I won't ask for a show of hands or anything like that, but after we come to Christ, we're not sinless. We can all agree with that.

so, so how does our, our sin impact God or, or what, how does he react? What does it do in the deepest being of who God is whenever we sin? And so I'm looking at this as as part one of, of Ortland's chapter 7 is measuring divine tenderness with divine wrath. And I really like how he brought us into the chapter with this discussion of divine wrath.

With his thesis being that we need to understand divine wrath in order to really understand divine tenderness. And so just looking at our notes there, how does man typically think about divine retribution? How does he think about divine wrath? and, 11 thought might be, there is no God.

Therefore, there is no wrath, and so there's nothing to worry about. And this reminds you of Romans 1:18, right? Even though in creation we have all of this evidence for God, when we look specifically at Jesus Christ, the resurrection and His ascension, we have the proof, right? It's a, it's a shut case.

there is God, but yet, so many people choose to be ignorant. Just stick their heads in the sand, and I just don't want to think about it or reject God altogether. But there is a God And, he will, at one point in time, judge. And where do you wanna be on that day, really is what the question is.

And then another response might be and this one I, I, I connect with a little bit more. God knows I'm pretty good. maybe even above average. And just to linger over that thought a little bit, maybe some of you can relate, I, I'm, I don't know how many generations Christian.

And I'm not, I don't mean that as a theological statement. the culture and the family and the background that I grew up with, me and I don't believe that God has any stepchildren or grandchildren. We all come to Christ as children, first generation, but I was raised in the faith. And, growing up in the faith, I just had this idea that, what, I'm a pretty good person., looking at my peers, looking horizontally, I'm a pretty good guy, I, I get compliments fairly often.

He's a nice guy. I, I've heard that in a lot of places, different continents on the world. when I played baseball in Japan, that was my nickname. They called me the gentleman.

and, that can go to your head. And it can be very dangerous, because you think, well, yeah, God chose me. I'm the right person. And you've spent a lot of time thinking about that and receiving those compliments and taking them to heart, and it can blind you to the truth of your sin.

And that your sin will put you under God's judgment. And so if you're here this morning or if you're viewing during live stream, and you're thinking, what, I'm a pretty good person. I think the good things that I've done in my life outweigh the bad things, and when judgment day comes, because I think there's going to be a judgment day, I think I'm going to stand. I think that's how God grades.

The scales of justice. But the Bible tells us is, if you've, if you've transgressed one law, if you've broken one law, one time, You're guilty of it all. James 2:10, right? And so it's very important for us to have a biblical view of ourselves as as good people, as moral upstanding citizens, as gentlemen, as other people consider it.

Looking at that quote there from Martin Low Jones in Ortland's book, you will never make yourself feel that you are a sinner. Because there is a mechanism in you as a result of sin that will always be defending you against every accusation. We are all on very good terms with ourselves, and we can always put up a great, a good case for ourselves. So true, isn't it?

If you've ever been in conflict and there have been two wrongs committed. No, you don't need a defense lawyer, do you? that defense lawyer just exists inside of you and sometimes you can even come in to try to, to reconcile and you can have it made up in your mind that I'm gonna be open, I'm gonna listen. I'm just gonna take in because I wanna understand where I've gone wrong in this situation.

And it doesn't take very long if you're like me for a word or a phrase or the tone of voice or the recounting of a story or an incident or something and all of a sudden like, whoa, wait a minute, that's not what, now I'm, I'm the defense lawyer start making mental notes of how I'm going to defend myself. And if you're like me, you've been there, conversations go sideways. We don't have within us, apart from God, the ability to see sin the way God sees sin. It is the spirit of God.

And the word of God alone that can help us see the severity and the gravity of our sin. Again, if you're tuning in with us this morning and you're seeking, understand that about yourself. It's, it's because of sin that you can't see sin the way God sees sin. Well, God knows every dark part of me and is just waiting for the right time to send his, his wrath.

Martin Martin Luther's pre-Christ condition, right?, Dan included for us here from RC Sproul's The Holiness of God, Luther's agony. Some of us might fall into this category. I greatly long to understand Paul's epistles to the Romans, Luther wrote, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, the justice of God. Because I took it to mean that justice, that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust.

My situation was that although an impeccable monk, I love that, an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner. In conscience and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore, I did not love a just and angry God but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant.

Are you? Especially in your sin and your suffering, you're waiting for the, the hammer to fall, so to speak, for the weight to drop, the other shoe to drop. You've ever had those thoughts? Yeah, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Well, that's not how God responds to our sin in Christ Jesus. So let's press in. Let's press in as Ortland mentions. just as we can hardly fathom the divine ferocity awaiting those outside of Christ, it is equally true that we can hardly fathom the divine tenderness already resting now on those in Christ.

That's a quote there near the bottom of the page. It's on page 68 from Ortland's book. This is a statement that just captured in my mind was the key statement in this whole chapter. I don't know about you, but, Even when Pastor Milton was preaching through Revelations 19, a few weeks ago, I, I, I cringed.

I cringed at the, the, the thought and the visual in my mind of this two-edged sword coming out from the mouth of Christ and just It's over. And the souls of the, of the people that are just gone. I, I don't know about you, but even in our present day, like, with what's going on right now, like, where are all these people going? And, you, I'm not saying that this is wrath and judgment that we're experiencing right now, but it, it is a result of the fall, and these are real people that are being sick, that are sick or that are dying, not just from COVID, but from cancer.

Gosh, just think about how much cancer there is going around right now. And,. It, it's good, I think, as, as Ortland says, to think about divine ferocity. Because it helps us to understand.

The grace of God in Jesus Christ. The tenderness of God for us who are in Him. And his response to our sin. His, his, his activity in our suffering.

Is he active or is he just aloof? It's good for us to think about that. And probably the main thing for us to, to realize, Lord willing, next week I'll be teaching a class on gospel centrality in one of our other tracks. And it's good for us to realize and be reminded of the fact that that the wrath that we deserved.

was poured out on Christ. If there are times that we're feeling a little distant in our walk from the Lord and It's good to be reminded of the wrath that we have been spared of. The wrath that we deserve again, that has been poured out on Christ. It's good to be reminded that when he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

As Ortland says, we can barely fathom the depth of Jesus' cry. But as we sing, I'm forgiven because he was forsaken. I'm accepted. He was condemned.

I'm alive and well. His spirit lives within me because he died and rose again. So being a part of being gospel centered is spending some time meditating on the wrath of God and as Ortland describes it, the ferocity of the of the wrath of God, right? Revelation 19, we get a picture of a ferocious Christ executing judgment with that two-edged sword, and by God's grace, we will never experience that wrath.

So continuing on there near the top of the next page of your notes, God knows every dark part of me and is mercifully pursuing me, and I love that's, that's from my brother Dan. And, and we get a chance to just linger and hover over, Romans 5:20 a little bit here. I just wanted to read, Romans 5:20 and 21. It's not in your notes, but just listen as I read the law came in so that the transgression would increase.

But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, and that's the point that Ortland builds out. So that as sin as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And I wanted to include that the both of those passages because. It, it helps us to also be reminded of what is the purpose of the law.

How does the law work? The the law is a grace, right? Because as Paul writes in Romans, we wouldn't know if we were transgressors were it not for the law. Or we would, and don't we have this nowadays, we would make up a law of our own, and we're experiencing that right now, aren't we?

Your truth is your truth. My truth is, is, is my truth. Your law is your law. My law is my law.

And under that heading, so much of what is being decided and promoted in our culture and in the world is so anti-biblical. So the law is our friend. It is a grace from God. And as the law continues to be active in those of us who are in Christ, the law is our friend.

But as, as we, as Ortland unpacked here for us, just the, the emphasis being on the fact that as the, as sin increased, Grace around it all the more. And that Greek word there is super abounded. That's what it means. It means to super abound.

I found this quote from David Guzick on his commentary on Romans 5:20. He wrote, We might have expected that where sin abounded. God's wrath and or judgment would have a bounded much more. But God's love is so amazing.

The grace abounded much more where we might have expected wrath. Just the way it works for us, right? You break the law, you break the rules, the consequences are wrath. But God is not so.

God's grace is a person, Jesus Christ, Ortland draws us to. Titus 2:14, a passage that I had the opportunity to unpack a couple of years ago. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Instructing us to to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession. We're moving on here, we're drilling a little bit deeper into Jesus Christ as Ortland has on page 69. What are we given when we are giving Christ more acutely? If we can speak of grace as always being drawn out in our sin, but as coming to us only in Christ himself.

Then we are confronted with a vital aspect of who Christ is. When we sin, the very heart of Christ is drawn out to us. And again, I just want to make that point. This applies to those of us who are in Christ.

If you're not in Christ today, this is good news. But come to Christ so that it can be applied to you in your life and you'll have the assurance from the word of God that this is Christ's heart for you. You are not destined for wrath. You're destined for the compassion, the gentle and lowly Christ.

So again, as we made the point, Christ has taken on the punishment for sin. And as, as, Romans 5:20 has shown us, where our sin abounds, God's grace in Jesus Christ abounds to us all the more. The heart of Christ abounds to us all the more, and I like how Ortland makes the point that Christ is with us against our sin. Not against us because of our sin.

And just taking some time to get used to that. Because as I mentioned last week, when I sin, it's just my human reaction, right? Let me back away Let me give Christ some time to cool off. Man, that It's the next day, right?

Just This is the time that I normally spend with Christ, just orienting my mind. Does he really want me in his presence right now, after what I did yesterday? And the answer is yes, yes, that is the heart of Christ. He doesn't want us to stay away.

He wants us to come to him and experience the grace that he has for us. He wants us to experience the super abounding grace that he has for us. He's with us against our sin. And as Ortland makes the point, the sin doesn't just magically disappear.

It's real. But Christ has made provision for it. Looking at the top of the next page, Ortland writes, if you are a part of Christ's own body, your sins evoke his deepest heart, his compassion and pity. He sides with you against your sin, not against you because of your sin.

He hates sin, but he loves you. And the only thing that I would want to emphasize there is Really that the, the point of emphasis is that it's his love. His love is the subject. His heart is the subject.

Us and our sin is the object. And I know sometimes when I read that I was like, whoa, that's seems like that's a little, or the emphasis is on the on the wrong syllable, right? And like it seems like the emphasis should be more or there should be more said that, it's not about our sin. Our, our sin is not attractive to Christ, but Ortland's point in this whole book is to look at the heart of Christ.

That's the whole subject and the whole topic of the whole book. Our sin's real. It exists, but Christ's heart abounds even more to our sin. So then we have the discussion there in the chapter as we keep moving forward, what about discipline?

Surely there's an end to his compassion. I love those questions. Those are questions from Dan. Surely there's an end of his compassion, right?

Just from a human being standpoint. I will go with you this far. But no further. You can do this this many times, but this next time, I'm done with you.

But surely there is no end to his compassion. And as, Orland writes on page 71, even his discipline is meant for healing. And building of the person and the relationship, not merely punishment. And as he said last week, as we all know, our, our choices, our actions have consequences.

And some of us are living in the context of the consequences of choices that we've made and sins that we've made in the past. But God is with us. They are not punishment, as he writes in Hebrews 12. They're actually a sign of his love for us.

those of us who are parents and grandparents, we, we discipline our children because we love them. Not because we're merely trying to punish them or out of our wrath. And we talked about that in the parenting class. If you're young parents, that's one of the things that we make sure that we emphasize.

If you're angry as you're disciplining your children. Have some distance. Have some distance between your anger and your discipline of your children because so easily crosses the line into punishment when we discipline our children in anger. But because of Christ setting his love upon us, we can be assured that there is no wrath, there is no punishment in the discipline that he allows in our life.

He does it because he loves us. Well, let's press on here into Josea, our theme verse for the chapter and just read through that the passage is there. I'm just gonna go ahead because of time and, and skip down there towards the end, just, just some of the observations that, that Ortland makes for us, in, in chapter 9., just looking through that, that whole passage, I, I guess I can't just skip to the end there because the chapter, verse 7 just sets the whole idea up, right? So, we know the book of Hosea, if not, just, I commend that to you to, to read a, One of the, the brief descriptions of, of the whole book and the, the purpose of the book in the scriptures.

But, but we get to this part and, and it begins, so my people are bent on turning from me and, and every time we sin. That could be said of our of our sin, of that choice or of that action. We are turning from God, we're turning from his law, from his, his person, his character, his nature. though they call to the one on high, none, none at all exalts him.

And then God begins to unpack through Hosea just what, what is going on in his heart. How can I give you up? Ephraim, how can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Adma and Zebohim?

those are two of the cities that were destroyed when God executed his wrath upon Sodom. My heart is turned over within me. This is the new American standard, and my heart recoils within me. And I don't know about you, but when my heart recoils, what comes next out of the heart of God is not what, what, what happens most naturally, apart from Christ, apart from the spirit.

All my compassions are kindled. We'd, we'd expect God to say, all my wrath, all my anger is kindled, but his compassion is kindled. And then he makes this pronouncement, I will not execute my fierce anger. I will not destroy Ephraim again.

For I am God and not man. The Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. Now we know from our study of the Old Testament that there is, there is going to be a judgment. That eventually in multiple stages, God's people are gonna be deported or taken out of the land and scattered, as Hosea also prophesized to Israel.

But God is not done with them. And in Christ, God is never done with us. So, regardless of our sin, regardless of our suffering or our circumstances, those are not indications that God has done with us. He has revealed his heart for us.

In Christ, we are his. I love how Ortland says on page 72, Here we have all the elements raised so far in this chapter. God's own people. Amid their sinfulness.

With reference to God's heart. And explicit affirmation of God's holiness and what does the text conclude? The key observation is this it is in consideration of his people's sins that God's heart goes out to them in compassion. He goes on to say, regardless of their stubborn bent to sin, they are his.

We must tread carefully here. God is God and is not at the mercy of passing emotions in the way that we embodied creatures are, much less we sinful embodied creatures. But what does the text say? We are given a rare glimpse into the very center of who God is, and we see and feel the deeply affectionate convulsing within the very being of God.

His heart is inflamed with pity and compassion for his people. He simply cannot give them up. Nothing could cause him to abandon him, them, they are his. And in Christ we are his as well.

So as we wrap things up here, just looking at the time and wanting to set up next week, as you turn the page, there are just some concluding thoughts, more reading, so please bear with me. But as Dan has written, God will be compassionate on those that belong to Him. Yes, it is contrary to our thinking, but we adjust to the idea that his ways are not our ways and I love Dan's word choice there. I love your word choice, brother.

We adjust to God's way of thinking. We adjust to the idea that his ways are not our ways. And of course implied in that is God's desire for us to apply and be transformed and begin to respond in compassion towards others instead of our natural bent to respond in wrath. Another quote there from the life of Martin Luther through a brother RC Sproul.

If you have a true faith that Christ is your savior, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God's heart and will, that you should see pure grace and overflowing love. This it is to behold God in faith, that you should look upon His fatherly, friendly heart in which there is no anger nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see Him rightly but looks only on a curtain as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face. I wish I'd read that again, but I want to continue on here.

Our hearts gasp to catch up with this. This is near the end of the chapter. It is not how the world around us works. It is not how our own hearts work.

But we bow in humble submission. Letting God set the terms by which he will love us. And as we talked last week, I, I just love that because if you're like me, I have a tendency still to make a god in my own image. And it's so comforting to just read that.

Let's let God set the terms by which he will love us. So there's some questions for meditation there., what, what does God's wrath evoke in you? how does his or what compassion, what does his compassion evoke in you? And how can his compassion flow through you towards others?

And there's some verses there that you could look at. I'm looking at next week, we'll be in chapters 8 and 9, and, there's some suggested study questions there to, prepare, as you read through, Ortland's book in preparations for next week's class. And again. Let us, let us, by God's spirit, allow these truths to penetrate deep into our hearts.

This, this look at this diamond of God's heart. And letting the light shine on his compassion on us, even when we have sinned, when we are in sin, and let us come to Christ. Not that we want to stay in sin, right? And I, I toyed with the idea of, talking about licentiousness, but, because Paul attacks that right immediately after he gives us this super abounding grace.

So it's not a license to sin. it's not an open invitation to send more so God's grace can super abound to us more. But it's also, it is an invitation to draw near. And understand and know the heart of Christ.

Regardless of our sin, regardless of our circumstances, let us come to Him because He is gentle and lowly. Let's pray together. Father, just thank you for your word. And again, we thank you for brothers like Thomas Goodwin and Dane Ortland who, Just give us, these resources to look at your heart from a different vantage point.

And it's also comforting to know Lord, in the case of Thomas Goodwin and the Puritan writers that this is not something new, this is not something that has come up in our generation, but these are thoughts that have comforted and instructed the souls of believers for hundreds of years. And Father, to whatever degree, wherever we are on our journey this morning. Help us to just be a little bit further. Into the understanding and the application of these truths about you.

Lord, we, we know as we look in scripture that it has always been your desire to have a people who are close to you. We saw it in the garden. We saw it at the cross. We see it in the empty tube.

Father, even in our sin, even in our suffering, even in our circumstances, help us to be a people who draw near to you. And receive from you the compassion and the super abounding grace that you so richly and deeply want to give to us. Thank you for this time and we ask that you would continue to bless it as we transition into our worship service. I pray that you would be with Pastor Milton as he opens a word.

Be with us as a congregation as we move through this time of corporate worship. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.