Author: Richard Bargas

The Damage Caused by Ungodly Preachers

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bear attack

“If one bid you run for your lives, because a bear, or an enemy is at your backs, and yet does not mend his own pace, you will be tempted to think that he is but in jest, and that there is really no such danger as he alleges. When preachers tell people of the necessity of holiness, and that without it no man shall see the Lord, and yet remain unholy themselves, the people will think that they do but talk to pass away the hour, and because they must say somewhat for their money, and that all these are but words of course.”

–Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

Beware of the Subtle Fisherman

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Hooked

“As wise and learned as you are, take heed to yourselves, lest he outwit you. The devil is a greater scholar than you, and a nimbler disputant: he can transform himself into an angel of light to deceive: he will get within you, and trip up your heels before you are aware: he will play the juggler with you undiscerned, and cheat you of your faith or innocency, and you shall not know that you have lost it; nay, he will make you believe it is multiplied or increased, when it is lost. You shall see neither hook nor line, much less the subtle angler himself, while he is offering you his bait. And his bait shall be so fitted to your temper and disposition, that he will be sure to find advantages within you, and make your own principles and inclinations betray you; and whenever he ruineth you, he will make you the instruments of ruin to others.”

-Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

The Slow Destruction of Sin

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Here is the story of a college student who ignored the need to daily cleanse her contact lenses. After six months of ignoring this fact, she found that amoebas had eaten her eyeballs and left her blind.
How could she let this happen? Didn’t she notice anything changing? Didn’t it hurt or at the very least, didn’t she notice the change in her vision?

After thinking about this I can see the parallels to sin. When we don’t deal with the sin in our heart by taking it to Christ, it begins to gnaw, slowly consuming us. After a while we are no longer bothered by our conscience and we have so grieved the Holy Spirit that we no longer sense the danger we are in.

Deal with your sin daily. Ignoring it can lead to spiritual blindness and further consequences.

How to Live a Life of Gladness and Joy–Psalm 90

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Studd quote

In my office I have an old grandfather clock that was given to me by my grandparents. On the face of the clock it says, Tempus Fugit, Latin for “time flies.” It’s so true, isn’t it? So, how can we make sure that we don’t waste our lives, but instead live for the Lord with joy and gladness? Moses instructs us in this psalm.

1Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You return man to dust

and say, “Return, O children of man!”

4 For a thousand years in your sight

are but as yesterday when it is past,

or as a watch in the night.

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,

like grass that is renewed in the morning:

6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;

by your wrath we are dismayed.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;

we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

10 The years of our life are seventy,

or even by reason of strength eighty;

yet their span is but toil and trouble;

they are soon gone, and we fly away.

11 Who considers the power of your anger,

and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12 So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

16 Let your work be shown to your servants,

and your glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands![1]]

Before we get to the “practical” portion of living life with gladness and joy, we need to see that the basis of this type of living comes from a correct understanding of (1) The Timelessness of God (in verses 1-2); (2) The Temporariness of Man  (in verses 3-6); (3) A Short Life Shortened by Sin (in verses 7-11);  and finally, (4) How to Live Life with Gladness and Joy (verses 12-17).

1. The Timeliness of God (vv. 1-2)

The has proven to his children over and over that he is stable and faithful to men throughout all generations. He has shown this truth in special ways to Israel and Christ’s Church. Even before man, or even the earth and her majestic mountains were created, when there was no one to testify to his faithfulness, the Lord was the same. As Revelation 22:13 reminds us, he has no ending and beginning—he IS the alpha and omega. Psalm 102:25-27 says:

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you will remain;

they will all wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

but you are the same, and your years have no end.[2]

Our God is never-changing and unbound by time.

2. The Temporariness of Men (vv. 3-6)

Do you realize that man is just animated dust (v. 3)? We were made of the dust of the ground and we shall return to that dust when our life is removed from this body we inhabit. And if that isn’t bad enough, verses 4-6 reminds us that our time before God is only momentary and fleeting away. We are like the vapor of steam that rises in the morning when the sun hits the dew on the grass.

Do you see the comparison that is made in these first two sections of this psalm? God is eternal and timeless, and man is temporal and bound in time. It is like comparing a diamond to a styrofoam cup. One is eternally valuable and the other is only momentarily useful, but common, abundant and short-lived. This can be jarring and unsettling in our narcissistic world, but if we are to see things biblically, we need to set these matters in order correctly.

3. A Short Life Shortened by Sin (vv. 7-11)

Verses 7-8 are clear, this eternal god who has created everything sees all of our sins.No man escapes from his sovereign examination. And verses 9-11 teach us that God does not just watch with an indifferent eye, but he sees in order to judge our sins.

For Moses, the author of this psalm, he would have seen this truth firsthand in the life of Pharaoh. Having repeatedly ignored the command of God to let the Hebrew nation go in clear defiance to the judgments he and his nation experienced (Ex 10:28), Pharaoh personally faced the temporal wrath of the Lord in the angel of death visiting his own home and killing his own son. Some people, like Pharaoh, will face the horrible reality of the judgment of God in this life. They will reap what they have sown. And if they will not bow the knee in repentance to God, they will face him again in eternal judgment.

Some people have scoffed at the idea of God judging sin because they think that those who are not judged in this life must get away without facing the consequences for their sins against God. That is the way that the psalmist felt in Psalm 73. As he looked around, he became envious of the way the wicked not only seem to get away for their sin, but they seem to die happier than the righteous. Apparently, crime does pay! But then he came to his conclusion, “For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.[3]” It may take some time, but the Lord always gets his man and no one escapes the final judgment of God.

Life is short enough. But our sin drags us down and shortens the length of many lives. Seeking joy and gladness in sin is temporary solution that will never compensate for the misery that it brings.

4. How to Live Life with Gladness and Joy (vv. 12-17)

In this last section, we see some of the more practical aspects of this psalm. Below I have listed five applications of what Moses wrote in his psalm that can point our hearts to live life in a God-honoring way:

1. Remember that God is eternal and your life is short, so make it count! (v. 12)

Everyone has a finite number of days on this planet. If you think that you have forever to get busy for the Lord, you might be tempted to squander your short life. But if you focus and get busy in the work the Lord has for you, you will find the purpose the Lord has made you for.

2. Live with Heaven in mind (v. 13)

Do you really believe that Jesus is coming again? We can often see what we believe in the way that we live our daily lives. In Revelation 22:20, we not only see the Lord’s promise of his return, but we also get a glimpse of the Apostle John’s longing heart to see Jesus. That should make us more aware that when he comes, the Lord is going to hold us accountable for the few short years we lived for him (Matt 25:14-30). Somebody said that Christians are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. But I think that we can be so earthly minded that we do no heavenly good.And when we are busy at our work in the fields of the Lord, we will find our joy, especially as we look forward to our great reward.

3. Find joy in your relationship with the Lord. (v. 14)

Have you ever eaten a fruit salad where a sweet piece of fruit makes another sweet piece of fruit seem like it’s not sweet at all? The world can be like that. We chase after cheap, temporary thrills and when the One true joy—Christ, is presented to us, we find that he isn’t so sweet to our souls. But we sometimes have been overly satisfied with the trinkets and baubles of the world instead of the treasure that is Christ. That is why some Christians can find no joy or gladness in the Lord. Entertainment has overshadowed the substance of Christ. But if we will pull back and focus on the Scriptures as they point us to the Lord, we will find that he is the sweetest joy of all (Jer 2:11-13).

4. Look at the blessings and not just the hardships of life (vv. 15-16)

Life is hard sometimes. An honest biblical view of the world would never deny that. But we are not called to Christ so that we can complain and grow bitter over this fact. Moses asked the Lord to help him and the people to see the blessings as well as the hardships, to literally “make them glad” (v. 15) and for the Lord’s goodness to be shown to his people. We need to pray that way as well when we feel that we are growing cold and unthankful.

5. Stay busy with God’s work (v. 17).

Finally, the psalmist ends asking for the Lord to establish the work of the people’s hands with divine favor. God has given us work to do, and we not only want the Lord to bless our work, but we also want the Lord to establish it as well. Can you imagine truing to rake leaves in a wind storm? Who wants to do that? We want our life and work to count for the glory of God so that when this short life ends, we will be satisfied and glad that God used our feeble work to further his great and glorious plan just a little bit. And that is a life that will end with joy!

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ps 90:1–17.

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ps 102:25–27.

[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ps 73:27.

Three Reasons to Preach Christ Crucified

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saving-drowning-man

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1Corinthians 1:18)

1. Because It is Not Popular (v. 18)

Not only is it not popular, it is moronic (moria in Greek). Consider the fact that the gospel of Jesus Christ demands that we say to sinners that a poor and humble Jewish man was God, and that he was nailed to a cross to die a criminals death despite his perfect innocence. We proclaim that this Man was not only a man, but that he is God in the flesh. That he is perfect and sinless and that he was born of a virgin. Furthermore, we proclaim that all of humanity is lost and that each individual man, woman and child is a wretched sinner. We proclaim that Christ is the only hope for humanity and that all other claims are lies from the pit of hell and all who seek salvation in any other name are doomed to eternal damnation. We proclaim that Jesus Christ has done all that is necessary for our salvation, and that he rejects all attempts to earn salvation on our own. He, being the King demands our allegiance and one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord.

Brothers, when we proclaim this, the world will overwhelmingly reject us as fools of the worst kind. We will be called bigots, intolerant, and uneducated religious zealots. And that is why so many bow to the pressures and soften their message. Paul was keenly aware of the propensity of men to soften the blow of the gospel by using soothing words that made the hearer feel at ease. He said in 1Cor 2:1-5 that he purposely made it his aim to proclaim the unvarnished gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. Today, preachers everywhere are trying to make Jesus look cool. They are trying to make Christianity attractive. They are doing just what Paul avoided.

The cross was not cool. It was brutal and bloody.

The call of Christ is not popular. True Christianity will never court the world. But pastors will continue to attempt to make our precious faith more palatable in order to gain the popularity of the world. This is nothing but pride. Nobody should enter the ministry or the pulpit in order to make his own name great. Isaac Watts wrote, “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died; My riches gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.” PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE IT IS NOT POPULAR!

2. Because They Are Perishing (v. 18)

When we preach the message of the cross, the world sees it as folly because they do not see the danger to their souls. Sometimes they fail to see the danger because they do not see it in our eyes and do not hear it in our voices as we proclaim cold truth from our pulpits. Brothers, do you feel the truth of Hell? Do you remember the days when you were among the brood of vipers?  Do you recall that you were once a vessel prepared for destruction? Have you forgotten that you were on the precipice of the bottomless pit and you were ready in due time to slip into eternal fire separate from God to be tormented for all eternity? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?

When we remember our own dying state we will be quick to point people to the only remedy for their souls—the cross of Christ. When we remember that they are perishing, we will not care about their mocking and their cries for ear-tickling sermons—we will give them what we know they need. Wrote Thomas Brooks, “The damned shall live as long in hell as God himself shall live in heaven.” That fact alone should drive us to preach Christ crucified.

Check your hearts, brothers. Do you feel the terror of hell and do you cry out with Paul on Sunday mornings: (2Cor. 2:15-16) “For we (!) are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE THEY ARE PERISHING!

3. Because It is the Power of God (v. 18)

Power in the pulpit. Power evangelism. Power encounters. Pastors want power. But the power of God is not found in the usual places. It is not found in business models or worldly philosophy (v. 22). It is not found in charismatic dramatics or signs and wonders (v. 22).  It isn’t found in confrontation with demons and the occult. The power of God was displayed on the cross, where God sent His Son to be crushed for our iniquities. Jesus became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God! That is power!!!

Concerning the justification of God, John Calvin said, “Wherever the knowledge of it is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the Church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown.” This is the power of the cross. Why is the Church so weak and utterly incapable of making an impact in our nation? It has left this message behind and taken up the banners of politics, pop psychology, health and wealth, and so many other empty promises.

The Roman Catholic system, the Emerging movement, the Seeker Sensitive movement and the Liberal mainline denominations have all shown us what becomes of those who lay aside the cross of Christ. But it hasn’t stopped many men from flirting with those compromising  philosophies. Richard Baxter, “If a hardened heart is to be broken, it is not stroking but striking that must do it.” The only thing that can cut another stone is a diamond, the hardest gem on earth. In order to cut the hardest heart, we must use the sharpest tool. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ!

In Heb. 4:12 we are reminded, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Brothers, in our churches the temptation can be overwhelming to give up expository preaching in favor of sugar coated sermons that aim to please the itching ears of people. We reason in our hearts that once we have them in our churches we can preach the gospel to them, we just need to ease them into it. Don’t fall for this pragmatic lie! You are merely a tool in God’s hand. He uses you as His minister to wield His weapon of choice. You cannot change the soul of a man in any way. It is the Word of God preached—the Gospel alone that brings a sinner to his knees.

PREACH CHRIST BECAUSE THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS YOUR ONLY POWER!