Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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The Promiser of Baptism

The Promiser of Baptism

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Promises are only as good as the one who makes the promise. A politician’s promise is worth about as much as a Zimbabwean $1,000,000,000,000 bill (perhaps an insult to Zimbabwe’s currency). You should be rightly incredulous if you get an email promising they’ll wire you a share of a Thai prince’s inheritance, if you provide your bank account number.

The word of promise is reliable or suspect all depending on the nature of the Promiser. Baptism is a promise, but Who is promising in this sign of baptism? The One who is promising salvation by grace through faith to this child is the King of Israel. His nature is not fickle; His character doesn’t ebb & flow; His purpose doesn’t change with fads; His will isn’t determined by public opinion polls. As Solomon once prayed, “there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant (1 Kng. 8:56).”

He spoke light into being, and it was. He promised a Seed to Eve, and after many years, He was born in Bethlehem. He promised that He’d die & rise again, and He arose triumphant. Christ the Promiser now promises to these parents & their child, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (Jn. 6:37).”

So welcome covenant child to Jesus Christ…

A Vessel of Deliverance

A Vessel of Deliverance

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The NT links Christian Baptism to various OT events and images. In one place, baptism is likened to that vessel of deliverance, Noah’s Ark (1 Pt. 3:20). The wrath of God was poured out on a corrupt earth, vanquishing every living thing. Mankind’s only escape was that Ark. The vessel was of God’s appointing and built by Noah according to the Lord’s particular specifications. Of vital importance, it was only useful for those inside. God brought His people into the ark, He kept them in it, and brought them safely to rest on Mount Ararat.

The ark, the remaining in the ark, and the deliverance from judgement were all a gift. The Ark delivered Noah and His family from the watery wrath of God; while baptism into Christ delivers us by the watery sign of God’s tender-mercies.

Baptism, like the ark, is a vessel of deliverance. When we baptize, we’re marking this child as being in the covenantal vessel. That vessel is Christ. By this sign of baptism, we’re brought into Christ. By grace, we remain in Christ. And again by grace, Christ bears us up above the waves of wrath, and in the end, brings us safely to our heavenly rest.

Sand and Stars

Sand and Stars

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Go to the seashore. Pick up a fistful of sand. Start counting out the grains. 

Go outside tonight. Lift up your eyes. Start counting those sparkling dots of light.

This is what God once told a man without a child to do, and God promised him that one day he’d have as many children as the sand on the shore or the stars in the sky. Abraham believed God’s promise, and God counted him as righteous.

Abraham heard and believed God’s promise to bless the world through His Seed. All of Abraham’s faithful children clung to this promise as well. In the fullness of time, Christ proved Himself to be that promised Seed. Now, people from every nation are welcomed into and counted as Abraham’s children, because we too cling to Christ for ourselves and our children to a thousand generations of God’s lovingkindness.

When we baptize our children, we’re believing God’s promise to Abraham. That is to say, when we baptize our infants in faith, we’re seeing what Abraham saw, and believing what Abraham believed: that God was saving an innumerable host by His sheer grace. So, here is one more grain of sand on the shore of faith in God’s promise. One more star in the constellation of God’s electing grace.

So welcome, covenant child, to Jesus Christ.

Shelter in Christ

Shelter in Christ

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Man’s guilty conscience warns him of God’s just wrath. So, he constructs some hiding places. Some try to build a temple of good deeds to appear like a responsible citizen, and get some “attaboys”. Some construct a mental amusement park to indulge all their carnal appetites, hoping the gnawing of their guilt will be drowned in the din of distraction. But neither a tower of self-righteousness nor a den of indulgence provide the shelter man seeks. You’d be better off building an igloo in Phoenix in late July.

The promise of baptism is the promise of Shelter. By faith you’ve come to shelter in Christ. In these waters, God promises to look upon you as one who dwells in the strong fortress of Jesus Christ. To paraphrase the hymn-writer, you are a soul that has leaned on Jesus for repose, and God will not desert you to your foes. 

In baptism, Jesus invites us out of our flimsy towers of good deeds, out of our hovels of selfish indulgence, and into His death, into His life, into His fellowship with His Father and the Spirit. Every other shelter has failed you and left you bare and defenseless, so come and welcome, our brother, to the strong tower of Jesus Christ.

God Means It

God Means It

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A common misunderstanding about baptism is thinking it’s a big sign pointing towards the amount of faith in the one being baptized. But since we can’t read men’s hearts, we’ll never know what degree of faith is present when someone is baptized.

This apparent problem has led some to ask what we should do if someone is baptized but doesn’t mean it, or, from another angle, if a child is baptized in infancy can they really mean it? The reply of Scripture is that regardless of whether the one baptized means it or not, God does (Gal. 3:27, 2 Cor. 5:17, Rom. 6:3, 11). When we’re baptized, God reckons us as His own, He promises all the blessings of union with Christ, and He warns against unbelief.

Baptism isn’t an opportunity to showboat how great our faith is. It’s a sign of how great God’s promise is. A baptized person may not be old enough to grasp it yet, they may go through a season of doubting that promise, or old age may cause the mental recall of their baptism to fade. But God does not forget His promise. In short, when we baptize someone, we aren’t highlighting whether they mean it or not. We’re proclaiming that God means it. We’re simply commanded to trust Him when He says He means it (Mk. 16:16).

The Promise of Circumcised Hearts

The Promise of Circumcised Hearts

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God is the God of extraordinary blessing. He doesn’t promise the bare minimum, or give us only the obligatory free sample. He makes stunning promises that unfold blessing upon blessing. In Deuteronomy, we see an instance of this when God tells Israel that He will, “circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live (Deu. 30:6).”

God gives the covenant sign of circumcision to signify that they belonged to Him, a tremendous blessing in its own right. But then He unfolds to them a promise to produce within them the glory which is offered in the sign: namely, a heart that loves the Lord their God. 

And because God isn’t a Scrooge, He promises this same glory to their seed, so that our children too might love the Lord their God wholly. Paul links true circumcision to true baptism (Col. 2:11-12, Rom. 2:28-29, Phi. 3:3). And so in baptism God makes the same promise, this time with the sign of sprinkled water. The nub of the promise is that He will give circumcised hearts––which love Him wholly––to you and to your children. 

So parents, believe His glorious promise, and welcome covenant child to Christ.

Assurance of Victory

Assurance of Victory

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Introduction

You are called to overcome sin. Unless you are perfectly holy you will not see God. This leaves us all––as the kids might say—hosed. Adam’s sin––and mankind’s daily sin––indicates our covenant union with the devil. The only hope for us is a new covenant.

The Text

1 John 3:1-6 ff.— Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. . . .

Summary of the Text

God’s great love to us is manifest in our new birth as His sons and this new identity sets us at odds with the world (v1). Though we aren’t entirely sure of all the glories the resurrection will unveil, we know that it is likeness to Christ, the Son of God, which will be the distinguishing feature (v2). Hoping in Christ secures our purification, because He is pure (v3). Man is a lawbreaker, and by definition is a sinner (v4); but Christ came to take away our sin (v5). By abiding in Christ we are no longer reckoned as sinners, because sinners don’t know Jesus (v6). Union with Christ not only forgives (cf. 1 Jn. 1:9), but justifies and sanctifies us. Because He is righteous, we are righteous and can now do righteously (v7). Sinners trace their lineage to the first sinner, Satan; but God came in the flesh to destroy the devil’s works (v8), and thus deliver us from positional and indwelling sin through the new birth (v9).

This difference of spiritual lineage is evidenced in love for one another (vs.10-12). Wordly Cain hated righteous Abel, just like the world hates the church (v13). The fruit (not the root) of the new birth is love for the brethren (v14), and murderous hatred is proof that the eternal life—which was with the Father in Christ (cf. 1 Jn. 1:2)—does not abide in you (v15).

God’s love is perceived through Christ’s sacrifice, and we are to model that (v16). Jesus’ sacrifice is not simply an example, but the reason we open the coffers of generosity to our brothers in need (v17). We don’t just pay lip service to sacrificial charity and love, we put it into practice (v 18).

Assurance of salvation is real (v19) but it isn’t found in our condemning heart (v20). Our hearts see our sin and condemns us, but God is greater than our condemnation and, in Christ, declares there is therefore now no condemnation (cf. Rom. 8:1); if He doesn’t condemn us, we shouldn’t condemn us (v21). Because we are now His children, we can ask for whatsoever of our Father knowing He will not only hear but also grant our requests, because of our covenantal obedience (v22). The terms of the covenant are: love God by believing on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, then love your neighbor, while all the while the Spirit grants assurance that “it is well with my soul” (v23-24).

A Defeated Foe

John spends a lot of airtime on the relationship between Christ’s incarnation and our sinful state and sinful actions. The devil doesn’t feature in this discussion of sin until we learn that sinners are covenantally descended from the devil. However, this is immediately followed by informing us that his works have been destroyed by the Son of God being manifested in the flesh. It was for this very purpose that Jesus came: to destroy all of Satan’s war-engines. Our covenant with Satan has been broken, and his siege upon mankind is overthrown. Now we are covenantally united with God through His Son––eternally with the Father (cf. Jn. 1:1)––because He became a man and dwelt among us that He might represent us. Christ’s incarnation sounded the death knell for Satan’s kingdom.

Remember, in your battle with sin, you are fighting a defeated foe. This is taught in WC: “In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome; and so, the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Salvation By Commandment Keeping?

God hearing and answering our prayers because we keep His commandments might seem like works righteousness (1 Jn. 2:3 & 3:22). But notice that this whole letter hinges on our new covenantal status: born of God by His indwelling seed. 

John shows that union with Christ has cultural implications (both for Jews and Greeks); redemptive implications; ethical implications; covenantal implications; theological implications; relational implications; eschatological implications. It matters everywhere and permeates everything.

[epq-quote align=”align-right”]The root of your salvation is you in Christ, but the fruit of your salvation is Christ in you. [/epq-quote]Assurance of salvation isn’t: you love your brother and therefore God is pleased with you. Rather, through Christ you have fellowship with God and this new birth undergirds, motivates and enables you to love your brother. The root of your salvation is you in Christ, but the fruit of your salvation is Christ in you. Prior to the new birth your so-called love for others is tainted by self-serving motives; on the whole, we love others for what we can get out of it. The new birth totally rearranges our motives. We no longer love to get. We love others because that is what our new nature, in Christ, does: it makes much of Christ.

Abiding in Christ: our Assurance of Victory

We shouldn’t mistake abiding in Christ for some abstract state of euphoric, spiritual nirvana that we must try to get into. Rather, it is an objective state of being which we are baptized into (1 Jn. 2:20), and this anointing produces a way of doing: believing obedience. God in the Flesh––Christ incarnate––is the only way to deal with your sin; both in the sense of justifying and progressively sanctifying.

This is why John spotlights assurance. Christ is the only way for your fallen nature to be reborn, and Christ is the only way to sanctify all your future good works. Does your sin weigh you down? Turn to God…He knows how filthy you are. You’re so sinful you won’t admit the half of it! When you turn to God, you’ll find He is greater than your dead heart. He specializes in removing hearts of stone, and replacing them with hearts of flesh. God can do so because Jesus discharged the debt of your sins and imputes His righteousness as yours. God no longer looks in wrath upon those in Christ, but in lavish love.

The simplicity here is striking: God commands you to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another. Your assurance is rooted in the fact that Christ triumphed over Satan. All of our enemy’s schemes for our hurt have been undermined by Christ coming in the flesh. Our covenantal union with sin, the devil and the world and the death that came with that union, has been supplanted by our new covenant head—the incarnate Christ. He grants assurance of salvation and eternal life. You can have confidence toward God because you believe in His Son who defeated the devil.

Ben Zornes