Living with Tozer's God

Tozer BlogPost #10

 Right Thinking about a New Start

It's the beginning of a New Year, which always signals a 'New Start'. The holiday binges are over, so the airwaves are filled with the annual ads offering a surefire way to rid yourself of those unwanted extra pounds or a no-risk way to secure your financial future.

New Year's 'resolutions' are a favorite American pastime. Virtually all fail, usually within a fairly short amount of time. Are they a complete waste of time? Maybe not. It may be that the real value is that we seem to be more willing than at other times to take stock of what's wrong, what's missing in our lives and what will make it better. Are we brutally honest with ourselves? Probably not, after all, the motives are usually quite selfish and self-centered. Still, it opens the door of opportunity for real change.

The whole idea of a 'New' Year is obviously to give us a chance at a new start. It's a chance to evaluate what I'm doing, where I'm going, what's working, what is not and is it producing what I want it to produce. It's a chance to change, to re-order the priorities, to restructure and refocus. While the assessment 'process' can be a little depressing, all in all, it tends to reinvigorate us that there is the potential for a brighter future. For the Christian, the crucial question then becomes, "Is this all an effort of the flesh or of the Spirit?". How do you know which it is? How can you assure success in the quest.

'New Beginnings'

Joseph Carroll (an evangelist/Bible teacher who preached on the same platforms as Tozer and others during the 50's/60's) had a favorite saying which blessed many souls. He said, 'Christianity is a life of multiplied new beginnings'. Those who sat long under his ministry knew that he could be relentless when it came to waking the slumbering sinner to the peril of his coming judgment, yet he would be as tender as a lamb to the seeking soul. He labored to see 'new beginnings' in the lives of those to whom he ministered, knowing that no one was beyond the forgiveness of the Savior.

If you gauge the 'success' of a ministry by the number of lives truly changed (as opposed to 'decisions' on signed cards), his ministry was enormously fruitful. But, there was a reason for this. He never made it easy. He took seriously the admonition of scripture that 'the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.'. How does this fit with the popular notion that if you 'only believe' you will be 'saved'. It doesn't.

So, how do you know if your message is actually leading people to the narrow way or the broad way? Simple. You simply let the Savior tell you how it works.

The 'Gospel' Message is About Relationships

It's no accident that both the Old Testament and the New Testament sum up the Ten Commandments in two short summaries. You can fulfill all the requirements of the Law of God by simply obeying two commands, 'Love the Lord Your God with all your heart' and 'Love Your Neighbor as Yourself'. It's simple. Well, at least it's a simple summary.

The truth is when Adam rebelled against God's authority (i.e. he chose what he wanted rather than what God wanted), he ruined the relationship with God (for himself and for all of us). Without the guiding, restraining force of a living relationship with God, Adam (and we as well) are left to be consumed by our own selfish desires...and that usually ends up destroying most of our relationships with one another. This is no surprise. After all, there are only a few primal desires (wealth, power, prestige, sex), so it's pretty likely that there will be lots of conflicts as we pursue our desires and others are pursuing theirs.

Restoring Relationships

So, with a planet filled with broken relationships, both horizontal and vertical, how does it get fixed? Again, the answer is simple, the realization is not. The answer is found in forgiveness. It's very interesting that in our current day, the whole issue of forgiveness is getting lots of space in the evangelical press. There seems to be a problem with people forgiving one another, holding grudges, letting 'roots of bitterness' pollute their lives and, in general, making a mess of their relationships. How is this possible?

Let's stipulate upfront that there are always exceptions to the 'norm'. Having said that, are we to believe that men and women who are supposedly born again of the Spirit of God, partakers of the divine nature, whose eternally damning sins against Almighty God are forever forgiven....that they would have trouble forgiving someone else of some offense against them? Seriously? Is it just possible that maybe these folks aren't 'born again', that they don't have a 'new heart', a heart like His?

Where's the flaw in all this? I would like to submit that the flaw is in the modern 'gospel' message by which people think they can be 'saved' and have their sins 'forgiven'. Here's the question which reveals the problem. If I were to ask the average churchgoer how a person could have their sins forgiven, what would they likely say?? My guess is that most of them would be quoting back verses like 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved'. And, that's true. But, I didn't ask, 'how are you saved', I asked 'how do you receive the forgiveness of your sins'? Apparently, in the Bible, it's not the same.

Scripture is clear that the basis for the forgiveness of sins is the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 26.28). But, how does this 'forgiveness' become mine? The Lord Jesus Himself made it unmistakably clear in the last words He spoke to His disciples before He ascended into heaven.

"Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Luke 24:44-47 NASU

Forgiveness of sins begins with true repentance. What is repentance? It's a change of mind that leads to a change in action. It's a new understanding of my position as a rebel against God, that my relationship with God is adversarial. Like it or not, He views me as an enemy. And, when '(my) mind is opened to understand the Scriptures', I will totally agree with Him!

Is this Scripture at odds with others, especially those which focus on the 'faith' side? Not at all. 'All Scripture is God-breathed', so in order to rightly interpret, you have to include all of it. The New Testament is filled with verses which declare that the 'narrow path', the path which leads to 'life' is only found by those who 'repent and believe the gospel'.

So, why is repentance seemingly missing from so many pulpits in America today? In some (many?) places, it seems that the fear of making people uncomfortable is the driving force. To confront them with the 'sin issue' may turn them away from a loving God. To tell them to 'repent' makes it sound like there's something they have to, God forbid, DO!

This pseudo-'grace' message is really nothing more than the evangelical version of 'political correctness' which pollutes so much of our society. It's the kind of murky, mindless, ignorant Christianity which ends up seeing the confusion in books like Rob Bell's 'Love Wins' and Young's 'The Shack' passed off as 'spiritual insight'. We live in a theological fog and the supposed answer is 'just believe in Jesus'. It's not just sad, it's scary. The really scary part is that we're not scared!

How It Works

The path to reconciliation with God is quite simple. It begins with the recognition that I am a sinner. How does that happen? Somebody has to do the 'dirty work'. They have to explain to me that 'God is God' and He alone has the right to run things. He alone is the Creator and Sustainer of all life...including mine. I Belong To Him!

The problem is, I'm an outlaw. I have rebelled against His rightful authority and, as the Bible describes it, 'gone my own way'. God created me to love Him and serve Him; I have done neither.

Rather, I have made it my focus in life to love and serve myself. My great desire is to achieve 'success', however I may define it. I have believed this was my right. It was not.

In order to restore our relationship, God sent His Son to take the penalty for my sin and rebellion. He shed His blood and made it possible that I would not have to pay the price of my redemption. The operative word here is 'possible'. It's possible, but it's not a 'done deal'. What makes this salvation mine?

You immediately say 'Faith'. And, that's absolutely true. But, faith (that is, me putting my trust in Him to have provided all that was needed to deliver me from the penalty and power of sin in my life)...that kind of faith is simply not possible until you 'repent'.

Repentance and faith are so intimately bound up in the true conversion experience that over and over you see the refrain 'repent and believe'. Sometimes one is emphasized more than the other, but the shadow is always there. Whether it's John preparing 'the way' for the Lord with a baptism of repentance or Jesus beginning His own ministry in Mark 1 or Paul testifying to the Ephesian 'elders' and calling them as witnesses how he faithfully preached 'repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ', the message always begins with repentance...that change of mind which enables us to realize that we are on the wrong path and we have to turn back to 'follow Him'.

Peter summed it all up on the day of Pentecost.  In that sickening moment he made it clear to the multitudes that they had just executed the Messiah they had been waiting for...waiting for over a thousand years! They crucified Him. The enormity of what they had done overwhelmed them...you can hear the cry of despair in their words.

"Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter, 
"Brethren, what shall we do?" 38 Peter said to them, 
"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
 for the forgiveness of your sins;" Acts 2:38 NASU

What's important for us is that this message led to the salvation of over 3000 souls that day! And, Peter never said 'Believe'. Did they believe? Of course, but first they needed to repent and receive the forgiveness of their sins. This took away the blindness that kept them from seeing the Savior...now, they could 'follow Him'. Repentance leads to faith, life-changing faith...and with it, forgiveness.

This post is about 'new starts' in a New Year, but even more important is a 'new start' in a new life. The glorious truth is that for those that know God's saving grace, His mercies and forgiveness are 'new every morning'. The Christian life is a life of 'multiplied new beginnings'. We can begin each day newly cleansed and forgiven. And we can share that opportunity with others. In the last words before He ascended to the Father in Heaven, the Lord Himself told us 'that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem'.

For the Christian, the 'new start' begins with forgiveness...and forgiveness comes with repentance. To get it right, the message has to be right. It has to be His message. It's not just 'believe', it's 'repent and believe the gospel'.

Next time, we'll see how the Holy Spirit is the power that makes all this possible.