Rambo 4...Finally!!!

For those of you who've been waiting to see how disgruntled Vietnam vet John Rambo's been doing, Sylvester Stallone is bringing him back for a fourth installment. Yippie!!!

There are two very interesting things from this article that I must share with you.

First, listen to the description of the plot: "Rambo finds himself recruited by a group of Christian human rights missionaries to protect them against pirates, during a humanitarian aid delivery to the persecuted Karen people of Burma. After some of the missionaries are taken prisoner by sadistic Burmese soldiers, Rambo gets a second impossible job: to assemble a team of mercenaries to rescue the surviving relief workers." I really didn't need an excuse to do so before, but now I really want to see the movie just to watch Rambo maybe become a Christian.

Second, and this is the best part, is the headline of the article: "Stallone hires 30-year-old body double as he resurrects Rambo." All I have to say is, when I'm 60 I hope a 30 year-old could be my body double.

So that it fits the theme of this blog, is it a sin that I want to see this movie?

The Enemy Within: Chapter 13

This final chapter in The Enemy Within is about the role of faith, or trusting God, in the fight all Christians face against their sinful flesh.

Lundgaard summarizes the book by saying that everything he's talked about so far--meditating on the Cross, watching out for sin, filling our emotions with heaven, using every means of grace, renewing our first love for Christ and hungering for God's glory--will not kill the flesh at the moment of temptation unless these things "are combined with faith" because faith is "the only thing that destroys the flesh" (142).

We often forget in our fight against sin that along with being my responsibility kill my raging flesh it is God's work too, as seen in this important verse: "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil 2:12-13 ESV).

Sanctification (= becoming more holy, more like Christ) is a synergistic activity where I "work out my salvation" and God "works in" me. Also, notice that God works "both to will and to work for his good pleasure." So, the wanting to do God's will and the activity of actually doing God's will both come from God.

The parts of this chapter that help me most and gave me great comfort in my fight against sin came from two passages in Hebrews.

First, Christ is not powerless, but fully able to help me when I'm being tempted: because Jesus "suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb 2:18 ESV). I need to believe this in the midst of temptation, and my trusting this is seen when I look to Him.

Second, I can't fight sin on my own. In fact, I deserve to be overtaken by sin every time, but when I'm being tempted I can "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb 4:16 NASB).

The daily challenge I took away from this chapter is one C.J. Mahaney has modeled so well, that is, I need to "Look to Christ's death for power. ... Apply his blood to your filth. Do this every day" (147, italics in original). I know. I can take some of C.J.'s suggestions from the end of Living the Cross-Centered Life and incorporate them into my daily routine.

Also, we are not alone in our fight against sin. When your lust "grabs you by the throat" (147) remember that you have the empowering presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit who is the means by which we "put to death the misdeeds of the body" (Rom 8:13). I'm not powerless in the face of temptation, but have the omnipotent power of God in me to give victory.

In the end, it looks like each Person of the Trinity has devoted Himself to my holiness, giving me comfort and evoking praise in this on-going, life-long, never-ending battle to put sin to death in my heart and life because it's "God's pleasure not only to rescue you from hell, but to glorify you with Christ by making you like him" (149).

Therefore, the chapter and book both end with this final call: "In every victory lift your hands to heaven and give thanks--rejoice with a grateful heart in your Deliverer. He is faithful. Soli Deo gloria" (149). Amen.

Hell's Eternal Torments

With the passing of my beloved grandpa last month, death has forced me to look at it again. Contemplating eternal life in heaven has also made me ponder its contrast: eternal death in hell.

Since I know of no one better at describing heaven and hell, I turned to Jonathan Edwards for guidance and he did not disappoint. He gave a riveting exposition of the verse "These shall go away into everlasting punishment" (Matthew 25:46) in "The Eternity of Hell's Torments." Click here to read the whole thing. What follows is a brief summary of his sermon.

He argues that eternal punishment does not contradict either the justice or mercy of God saying "that sin is heinous enough to deserve such a[n eternal] punishment, and such a punishment is no more than proportionable to the evil or demerit of sin. If the evil of sin be infinite, as the punishment is, then it is manifest that the punishment is no more than proportionable to the sin punished, and is no more than sin deserves."

He says the reason so many cannot accept the biblical notion of eternal punishment is because it "is so contrary to the depraved inclinations of mankind, that they hate to believe it" and because we have a very low view of the gravity of sin, thinking eternal punishment is totally disproportionate for what we think sin is. Do I really think sin deserves eternal torment, that God would be unjust for limiting the torment in any way?

This punishment is clearly and always described as the intensest of misery, terror, anguish, despair and pain that never ever ends, ideas which completely rule out annihilation or a hell that ends. In fact, if eternal punishment is not eternal, than there's no textual basis for claiming eternal life is eternal since the same word is used for both states in Matthew 25:46.

In eternal punishment "God means to manifest his peculiar abhorrence of [human] wickedness," making it "a very mean contemptible testimony of God's wrath towards those who have rebelled against his crown and dignity."

Because we swim in sin, we don't think is so bad, but hell eternal reminds us that sin is deadly serious because it is an infinite offense against an infinite God, and an infinite offense deserves an infinite punishment. Since infinity can never be exhausted so hell's torments will never be exhausted.

Therefore, Edwards marvels at the madness of those who "prefer a small pleasure, or a little wealth, or a little earthly honor and greatness, which can last but for a moment, to an escape from this punishment." He wonders "How strange is it that men can enjoy themselves and be at rest, when they are thus hanging over eternal burnings: at the same time, having no lease of their lives and not knowing how soon the thread by which they hang will break."

Let these words of Edward's concluding appeal sink in:

"Do but consider what it is to suffer extreme torment forever and ever: to suffer it day and night from one year to another, from one age to another, and from one thousand ages to another...in pain, in wailing and lamenting, groaning and shrieking, and gnashing your teeth - with your souls full of dreadful grief and amazement, [and] with your bodies and every member full of racking torture; without any possibility of getting ease; without any possibility of moving God to pity by your cries; without any possibility of hiding yourselves from him; without any possibility of diverting your thoughts from your pain; without any possibility of obtaining any manner of mitigation, or help, or change for the better."

And this:

"After you shall have worn a thousand more such ages, you shall have no hope, but shall know that you are not one whit nearer to the end of your torments." ... "The damned in hell will have two infinites perpetually to amaze them, and swallow them up: one is an infinite God, whose wrath they will bear, and in whom they will behold their perfect and irreconcilable enemy. The other is the infinite duration of their torment."

Thankfully, after all that bad news, Edwards leaves his hearers with the gospel:

"flee and embrace him who came into the world for the very end of saving sinners from these torments...there is a Savior provided, who is able and who freely offers to save you from that punishment...[Christ] is accepted of the Father, and therefore all who believe are accepted and justified in him. Therefore believe in him, come to him, commit your souls to him to be saved by him. In him you shall be safe from the eternal torments of hell." ... "through him you shall inherit inconceivable blessedness and glory, which will be of equal duration with the torments of hell. For, as at the last day the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, so shall the righteous, or those who trust in Christ, go into life eternal."

The Enemy Within: Chapter 12

One of the assumptions of The Enemy Within is that if a Christian knows the schemes / methods of his "enemy" (i.e., his sinful flesh), he will have victory over it. In this chapter, Lundgaard exposes our flesh's scheme of peace, specifically that our flesh can trick us into thinking we have peace with God after we've sinned when we really don't.

This is the Christian, like me, who "when their consciences are pricked by their sin, they too quickly declare their own inner peace before God has done his work in them" (133).

When there are sins in my life that I put off dealing with, my flesh tricks me into thinking they're dealt with because "Jesus died for all your sins," or "You confessed this so move on," or "God loves me," when, deep down, my conscience is screaming "This has not been dealt with!" So, how do I respond? In the exact ways this chapter outlines.

First, I speak the gospel to myself, then think I have peace when I don't because I don't hate the sin I'm speaking the gospel to. It's a sin I really don't want to be rid of. True hatred for sin is seen when "your heart weeps with self-hatred" (136) for the offense it is against God, not for the consequences that sin brings.

Second, I gain a fake, temporary peace when I have to argue Scriptures against my feelings of guilt, and the guilt still doesn't go away. No matter what I know is true about my sin, the feeling that I'm still guilty doesn't leave because I also know I need to do more than confess and repent of my sin for the true peace to come.

In other words, I can speak the gospel to myself about the sin I've committed against a person, ask God to forgive me for the sin, commit to turning from it completely, but still not have peace. Why? Because I know true peace will only come when I confess to and ask forgiveness from that person. Only then the peace I get is peace from God.

Lundgaard writes that this kind of peace not only won't last, but it "doesn't give sweetness and contentment to the soul" and it ultimately "doesn't change your life" (138).

The peace given to the Christian after he sins is from God when it lasts. It is a peace that seasons the soul, making it sweetly rest in God. It is a peace that ignites lasting change concerning that sin.

This, and only this kind of peace has lasting effects because this is the only kind of peace that comes from God, not our own deceptive, scheming, con-man hearts.

Grandpa: One Month Later

It's been one month and a day since my Grandpa Hoover died. It hurts to even write that sentence, let alone live in the same house where he did for the past 14 years. My heart is still broken, and will be for some time.

Almost all day and when I try to sleep, all I can think about is that morning one month ago when I turned to corner of the assisted living place to see him lifeless on the hallway floor with the EMT's working on him. I walk around sad all day because I can't get that image out of my mind. His last words to me keep ringing in my hears. He woke up briefly while I was praying silently for him the night before and he patted my hands with one of his, smiled, and said "You're still here." I hurt so deeply that I wasn't there when he awoke again, and that he died without any family there.

I remember him saying "Life will go on without me," and I know it will, but its not the same. There is a huge hole in my life without him. I am so glad that God rescued from his sin on December 1, 2006 and that He brought him safely home when he died (2 Tim 4:18), but I miss him so badly it hurts, still.

I wanted to post what I wrote last month in my journal about what I learned through this experience. This is what I wrote.

#1. It’s not normal to live in pain. My grandpa, his brother, and two sisters died of stomach cancer so I have to get checked for that regularly because it’s in my family. His doctor treated him for 3 years for indigestion and an ulcer without any x-ray--I’m trying hard to view that doctor’s incompetence through the lens of God’s sovereignty, that him dying of cancer as a result of miss diagnosis for 4 years, was what God wanted, but it’s not helping much. I learned to ask two very important questions of any doctor from now on. First, What's the worst thing this could be? Second, Can you prove to me it's not that?

#2 You don't choose when you die. One of the most difficult things for me is knowing that last thing my grandpa wanted was to die. We talked just a couple days earlier about athletes training for some medal or trophy that really means little, but when he works hard he does it, and then he finished my sentence, "so I can live." One of the saddest moments in all of this was when he said [My brother and sisters] smoked and drank. I didn’t. I watched what I ate. I took vitamins. I thought I had them beat.” This has made God quite scary to me, a God who sovereignly keeps doctors from diagnosing cancer early so that He can take a man far earlier than any expected.

#3. Love your family deeply while you can and it will pay off in the end. So many people had no one visiting them at Hoag and Flagship and he had someone there from around 9am to 10pm everyday with very little time alone. Also, I hope I have a grandson who does the things for me that I did for him. I did those things because I loved him so much and I loved him so much because of the love he’d shown me for 29 years. Connie’s (his girlfriend) told me a couple times that he told her how much he loved me and how grateful he was for me, and I’m so glad he knew how much I loved him.

#4. Have medical and life insurance and take care of your funeral arrangements before you die like he had and did. It’s made life so much easier on my mom and uncles.

#5. Leave explanations for things you keep or people won’t know why they’re important. I saw this when going through old photos on Kauai after his brother died. The family lost a huge connection to the past when he died and consequently we were looking at old pictures of people no body knows.

#6. Let people know you’re sick. I let everyone know at the church plant and on my blog and I know others let people know. He was thoroughly prayed for, and it brought him great joy.

#7. In the end, all you’ve got are family and family friends, whether you like them or not, so keep them close no matter what you or they do. Aside from my grandpa’s love for grandma and me, I think the thing I admire most about him was that everyone loved him and that he had many, many friends. I want that to be true of me, but I’m so introverted that I don’t know if it ever will be.

#8. You really see what people are made of and what kind of friends they really are when death hits your family. We've seen such an outpouring of love from so many people that it's been overwhelming.

I hope that helps. Though I've been crying while posting this I know it was helpful for me to do.

The Enemy Within: Chapter 11 (Pt 2)

The result of studying God rightly is that He gets much larger is our vision of the world and life. Consequently, as God gets larger, we can't help but get much much smaller. In other words, we learn about ourselves by contrasting who we are with who God is.

Sadly, the seeker and emergent movements have become very adept at keeping God from their people. They exaggerate God's love to such a radical extent that the god they speak of barely resembles the God revealed in the Bible. The reason they do this, I think, is that the true God makes us feel deeply uncomfortable, which is one of the last emotions these kind of churches want people to feel.

In fact, this is the difficulty we face when we are seeking to kill our sin. Killing sin is done by seeing God. Seeing God makes us feel uncomfortable. Therefore, we don't kill our sin because we don't want to feel bad.

The decision is between killing sin in ourselves or feeling bad about ourselves. The humiliation that comes from seeing God clearly is "strong medicine" that withers and gives us hope against sin (128).

This is the reality behind 2 Corinthians 3:17 "we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another."

However, when we behold God's glory the Christian's response is to fear God. This, too, is an unwanted feeling in all human beings. However, when we avoid the fear of God we, again, keep ourselves from another means of fighting sin because "sin can't breathe in an atmosphere of fear and reverence before God. It suffocates. Can you imagine your lust cheery and prosperous when you are on your face before a holy God?" (131).

Free Videos of Piper & MacArthur

Videopodcasting of sermons from John MacArthur's Grace to You and John Piper's Desiring God are now free for watching and/or downloading here.

The process of signing up takes some time and is a bit cumbersome, but well worth it, and very beneficial for one's growth in grace.