Isaiah 10:5-34 The Lord’s Anger Redirected

by Larry Ferrell  |  February 2, 2018
In one sense the unity of this passage is very clear; it deals from beginning to end with the future downfall of Assyria. Its message also is clear: neither fear nor rely on Assyria; she is merely a tool in the Lord’s hand and her time, too, will come.

Verse 12 alerts us to the fact that, while the northern kingdom has not been lost to view entirely, the focus has shifted back to the south and to Jerusalem/Zion in particular. The Assyrian “flood” which overwhelmed the north eventually swept on into Judah as well. It was at Jerusalem that the Lord finished all His work of judging the two kingdoms. It shouldn’t surprise us that the Lord should then, as verse 12 tells us; redirect His anger towards arrogant Assyria. For chapter 2 has already put on record God’s abhorrence of arrogance and His intention to judge it, not only among His own people, but also in the world at large. Of course the judgment on Assyria here, like that on Israel and Judah, is envisioned as taking place within history rather than on the final day, but it is nevertheless entirely in keeping with the character of God as revealed in the earlier chapters. What is surprising is that the Lord should have chosen to use such a proud, pagan nation at all, especially against His own people. But two things are strongly affirmed. First, the Lord did in fact do so (vv. 5-6), and second, this did not absolve Assyria of moral accountability (vv. 7-11, 15). It’s not that Assyria resisted her calling (she was not even aware of it), but that she sinned in the matter in which she fulfilled it (arrogantly, v. 15). The twin truths of divine sovereignty and human responsibility are held together in a fine tension here, as they are in Scripture as a whole.

When Assyria is reduced to a remnant (v. 19), the remnant of Israel will no longer lean on her, but will lean upon the Lord (v. 20). Israel in verse 20 is not just the northern kingdom, but the whole twelve tribes, as the repetition of the name Jacob in verses 20 and 21 confirms. The whole land, both north and south, will be devastated, and only then will Assyria herself be dealt with (vv. 25-27).

Essentially, the choice that Isaiah and his compatriots faced was whether to respond to the circumstances that threatened them with calm reliance on God or with a frenzy of self-help, using whatever means the wisdom of the age deemed most likely to succeed. And since the world is always with us, and has the same basic character from age to age, it is an issue which always faces people of God in a multitude of ways small and great. In the book of Isaiah the issues of faith and unbelief are constantly related to the very pressing and practical business of political, national and personal survival, and this has a most important lesson to teach us. Faith is more than a means of justification; it is also a practical approach to the challenges of daily life, just as much for us as it was for those who faced the Assyrian threat. We are not only saved by faith; we are to live by it!

While God may use evil people to accomplish His purposes, this does not in any way diminish their accountability. We are in touch here with something we will not fully understand this side of heaven; it is part of the mysterious interplay between divine sovereignty and human freedom. We should, however, grasp it firmly and be profoundly grateful for it, for it will preserve us from either denying the reality of evil or fearing that it will ultimately triumph. Wicked men served God’s purpose by nailing Jesus to the cross, but the resurrection lays on them, and on all of us, the urgent need for repentance.

Isaiah 10:5-34 Reflection Questions:
What lessons do we learn with how God used Assyria concerning our Christian walk?
How do you respond to any difficult circumstances that threatened you, with calm reliance on God or with a frenzy of self-help?
What does it mean to you “to live by faith?”

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Philippians 2:17-24 Partners for Christ

by Larry Ferrell | February 16, 2018
Every now and then people object to living the normal Christian life on the grounds that what is required of a Christian is impossible. When you begin to study the Bible and realize that God wants you to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and you get a glimpse of His love, His compassion, His wisdom, His understanding, His holiness and all of His other perfections, you are apt to say, “Well, that’s impossible. I can’t do it. I guess I’ll just have to be content to live as I am.” That is wrong! It’s true that in this life you will never be completely like Christ and that much of your sanctification will consist in realizing how much unlike Him you still are. But you are to become like Him. The Bible teaches that although God’s standards are high, and thus seem impossible, God provides supernatural resources to meet them. God helps the Christian to put the highest of these principles into practice.

At this point someone is bound to object. “That might be all right in theory, but it’s pretty hard to do in practice. How can a Christian meet such standards?” Paul replies that although it is hard, it’s not impossible. To prove that it’s possible not only in theory, but also in practice, Paul presents three human examples: Paul himself, an apostle; Timothy, a young minister; and Epaphroditus, a layman. In the remainder of chapter 2 Paul uses these persons to show that the things he has been writing about are possible for the one who will surrender his or her life to God. We are going to look at the first two examples in this study.

The first example Paul uses is himself, although he does so only briefly. In fact, he uses only one verse (v. 17) to describe his own attitude and conduct as opposed to six verses for Timothy and Epaphroditus. To understand verse 17 we need to realize that Paul is using a potent image. The verb that is translated “poured out” is a technical word for a certain part of a pagan sacrificial offering. Following this sacrifice the ancient worshiper would make an additional offering called a libation. He would take a cup of wine and pour it on the altar, thus pouring it upon the sacrifice that was already burning. Because the altar was hot, the libation would immediately disappear in a puff of steam. Paul was placing hjis own achievements, even martyrdom, at a very low point on the scale of Christian service. He was holding up the faith and achievements of his converts for admiration. This is an example of the humility and obedience to Jesus Christ that Paul was writing about. Paul’s frame of mind was not something that came about in an instant of course. His humility was the product of a long relationship with God. If we would emulate Paul in his self-effacement, we must be prepared to start at the beginning. We must learn small lessons in humility before there can be large ones.

The second of Paul’s examples is Timothy, the young man whom Paul had often taken with him on his various missionary journeys. Paul speaks quite eloquently of him in verses 19-22. These verses say four things about Timothy. First, that Paul had “no one else like him.” Paul has been writing about the attitude of mind that thinks humbly of itself and much of others, and he has mentioned himself as an example. Now there is Timothy also, for Paul had found that he too was self-effacing in his conduct. Second, Paul says that Timothy was concerned for others. He cared for the naturally. In fact, he served them with the disposition of a true shepherd who was faithful in the care and protection of his flock. The third thing Paul praises Timothy for is his concern for Jesus Christ. Timothy put Jesus Christ first. In this he stood head and shoulders above those who were around him. The final thing Timothy is praised for is that he had learned to work with others (v. 22). How often we want to be independent! We want to serve God, but the work must be our work, and it must be run according to our conception of things. A real mark of Christian maturity is the ability to work with others cooperatively under the banner and for the cause of Jesus Christ.

Verse 22 also says much about Paul and his ability to work with others as it does about Timothy. Paul had referred to Timothy’s service as the service of a son with his father. But this is not the expression one would normally expect back then, or today either, for that matter. Paul puts the small word “with,” in the verse and thereby indicates that the service of himself and Timothy was a joint service in the Lord. This is the real answer to the problems of what some call the generation gap. We talk as if the generation gap were something new. But anyone who knows history well knows that it is not. There could have been jealousies, misunderstandings, diversities of purpose, rebellion, or tyranny. Instead of this, Paul and Timothy served together as partners in the spread of the gospel, each taking his standard and instructions from the Lord.

If you are a member of the younger generation, do you see the calling to which God has called you? It is not to rebellion against your parents or against the older generation in general. It is to work with them in mutual service to the Lord. You will be able to do this as you learn to serve Christ’s interests and not merely your own. This verse peaks also to the older generation. You have the duty of raising your children. You are to lead them to become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. You are to encourage them to follow Jesus, to learn the truth of the gospel, to emulate Christ’s character. You have a role of supervision. But you must never forget that you actually serve them as bond-slaves of Jesus Christ. Whatever standards you set for them and whatever patterns of obedience you seek to instill in them must also become real for you and be part of your service. You must remember that the ultimate loyalty of your children in not to you but to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you recognize your children’s devotion to the Lord and know the freedom of serving Him, then you will be able to work with them to proclaim the gospel of salvation. In this you encourage each other, and you shine as ever brighter examples of what the Christian life can be.

Philippians 2:17-24 Reflection Questions:
Have you completely surrendered your life to God or are you still holding on to certain parts?
Do you show such humility as Paul did as you meet with other Christians?
How are with working the younger or older generation? In working together, are taking your standard and instructions from the Lord?

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Philippians 2:14-16 What Are Your Goals?

by Larry Ferrell | February 9, 2018
Some people today think they have learned the Christian life from a book while sitting on the sidelines. But the real Christian life is learned by getting in the water, in this case the world. We are not to be of this world, but we are to be in this world. We are to live for Jesus Christ in the midst of a wicked and ungodly generation. This is what Paul’s great desire for the saints at Philippi, and it’s God’s desire for us. We are not to retreat from the world, but we are to live for God in the world. We are to do so even though the world is crooked and perverse.

How can we live for Christ in this world? First we must recognize that the world is crooked and perverse. All too often Christians look at this world as we might look at the sky on the afternoon of a June day and say, “The world is not so dark. It’s lovely.” Strip away the halo of the atmosphere of Christianity and its influence, and the blackness God said is there remains. Christians must constantly be aware of the darkness and must determine to be a contrast to it. The world has its goals: pleasure, success, sex, money, esteem. But these are not to be the goals of Christians..

First of all, we are to be submissive to God. The token of our submission is to be an attitude that does things without complaining or arguing. We must get out of the habit of arguing or complaining when God asks us to do things. God says, “I want you to do this,” and we are silent because a dialogue is going on inside us. We are saying, “Does God really mean that I have to do it just like that, or can I do it some other way?” Or are we saying, “Does God mean that I have to do it now? Maybe I can do it tomorrow or next year.” This is what Paul means by arguing.

The second thing that Paul says is to be characteristic of Christians is that they are to be blameless and pure in the sight of other people. The word translated “pure” means without mixture. It was used when talking about pure gold, pure copper, or any other metal that did not have impurities. In the same sense our lives are to be without mixture before others. We are to be aboveboard in our business dealings. We are not to say one thing and do another. We are not to hold part of the truth back or misrepresent the truth. We are also to be blameless. Just as the inward arguing has an outward expression in complaining that is bad, so this good inward characteristic of being our pure has an outward expression in being blameless. There is to be nothing that gives occasion for scandal.

Finally, Paul says that we are to be blameless before God, for we are to live “without fault” as His children. The word used here for “without fault” is also used in Ephesians 1:4, where it is translated “blameless.” It refers there, as in here in Philippians, to a Christian’s relationship to God. It means that our lives will be lived in the sight of God in such a way that they will be open before Him. There will be no barriers between ourselves and God. If we live this, we shall be able to pray as David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See it there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24).

This is a process that will go on throughout life. It is not going to be easy. Perhaps you are saying, “Not easy? It’s going to be impossible!” Well no, it’s not impossible. Our God is the God of the impossible, and He does things for us and in us that we cannot do for ourselves. The Bible tells us how this will happen (Gal. 2:20, Rom. 8:3-4, Rom. 12:2, Phil. 2:12-13). What do these verses mean? They mean that a person is incapable of living out the kind of life that God requires of him, but that God is capable of living out that life in a person who yields to His Spirit.

It’s a matter of spiritual life. God comes to a person who is spiritually unborn. He begins to penetrate his heart with the divine sperm of His Word so that life is conceived and the cell begins to grow. There is a period of incubation before the first cry that announces the arrival of new life, and this is followed by an even longer period of education, guidance, and nurturing in the home. At last the child goes forth to live in a way that honors his Father. And he goes forth, not as a computer that only gives back what is fed into it, but as an individual who thinks and decides and responds, and yet thinks and responds as Jesus Christ responds.

That is what God wants you to do. You are to submit to His Spirit, allowing Him to make you a light in the darkness of this world. You are to be blameless and pure both before others and before God. You are to hold forth the word of life to others. Those who have assisted in your spiritual birth and maturing should be able to say, as Paul did of the Philippians, “I…boast…that I did not run or labor for nothing.”

Philippians 2:14-16 Reflection Questions:
What have you been arguing with God about? What is He asking you to do but you don’t want to do it?
How are you doing in being pure and blameless? What will you do to improve this characteristic?
Are you living an open life before God so that you can pray the verse in Psalm 139:23-24?
Are you allowing God to make you a light in the darkness of this world? Are you submitting to His Spirit?

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Isaiah 9:8-10:4 The Lord’s Anger against Israel

by Larry Ferrell | January 26, 2018
We are at another of those points in the book where the focus returns suddenly to present realities, in this case the sad condition of the northern kingdom (Israel) and its imminent demise. It’s remarkable to see a southerner (from Judah) like Isaiah so even-handed in his assessment of the two kingdoms. But he understands that “Israel” in a theological sense is one people (north and south together) ruled by the Lord, so what happens in the north is just as significant for him as what happens in the south. But Judah was already infected with the same evils.

This four stanza poem is a classic of biblical social analysis, impressive in its logic, and frightening in its inevitability. The Word which the Lord has sent has fallen on deaf ears and from this easily dismissed beginning everything else follows as certainly as night follows day. The poem is either a prophetic forecast of events or a prophetic meditation bringing out the significance of events which have already taken place. The same issue faced Israel as Judah: would they accept and live by the Word of the Lord? The whole logic of Isaiah’s social analysis stems from this question. The Bible insists large scale national and international consequences follow from spiritual causes. There is no escape from the Word. All the people will know it. The word spoken and refused becomes the same message turned to chastisement. Their pride will not protect them against the coming fulfillment of the word.

In verse 10, the bricks falling down could refer to the earthquake which took place in the reign of Jeroboam II (786 – 746 BC). It was the voice of God, but they took it as a challenge to rise to the occasion: they were equal to it! On the other hand, the words may be metaphorical, indicating an awareness that things are falling apart met by a spirit of self-confidence towards the future, never stopping to read the lessons of the past. Not only will the set-back be overcome but the future will outshine the past as dressed stone and cedars surpass (mud) bricks and (common sycamore) fig trees. Pride made Israel think it would recover and rebuild in its own strength. Even though God made the people of Israel a nation and gave them the land they occupied, they put their trust in themselves rather than in Him. Too often we take pride in our accomplishments, forgetting that it is God who has given us our resources and abilities. We may even become proud of our unique status as Christians. God is not pleased with any pride or trust in ourselves because it cuts off our contact with Him.

The bricks have fallen, now the leaders fall (vv, 13-17). The consequences of rejecting the Lord’s Word unfold. Refusing revealed truth and therefore relying on unaided human wisdom, they find that it’s not enough. Their leaders become misleaders and everyone comes off the worse; from young men in their prime, who might be thought able to look after themselves, to the defenseless fatherless and widows, who are in any case without resource. Even the virtues which the Lord loves cannot be had without commitment to the Lord. When the Word is rejected every grace is subject to erosion. Under deficient leadership the door is opened to unchecked self-seeking. Verses 18-21 expose the betrayal of brotherliness, the essential barrenness of the acquisitive life and the breakdown of social cohesiveness. All this is attributed to a twofold cause: it’s the natural progress of wickedness but it’s also the implementation of the Lord’s wrath.

The fourth stanza (10:1-4) returns to the topic of leadership but not in the same way as verses 13-17. There the charge was general – inept, misleading leaders. Here the charge is of blatant misrule, the willful making of decrees in the interest of class-division and personal advantage. In the end, social unruliness (vv. 13-21) resolves itself into the dominance of an unscrupulous clique who write laws for their own ends.

Isaiah 9:8-10:4 Reflection Questions:
Does God feel distant to you? Could it be your pride and trust in yourself?
Can you remember of a time when you used human wisdom and found that it wasn’t enough? What was the outcome?
How does this study impact your leadership with family, job, church, etc?
What did Jesus have to say about those who used laws to their own ends?

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Philippians 2:12-13 Work Out Your Salvation

by Larry Ferrell | February 2, 2018
I don’t know who it was who first thought that being spiritual means withdrawing from the world, but the idea certainly entered the Christian church at an early period and has had detrimental effects ever since. In the early days of the church a Syrian monk named Simon Stylites sat on top of a pillar fifty feet high to avoid contact with the world. The Egyptian hermit Anthony lived most of his life in the desert, and there were others like him. These men were thought to be spiritual primarily because of their withdrawal. The Bible does not support this view of spirituality! No Christian must ever say that spending time alone with God is unnecessary, especially time spent in prayer. Yet the Bible never allows us to think that meditation has achieved its purpose for us unless it results in practical application. Truth leads to action, and there is no value to a mountaintop experience unless it helps us to live in the valleys.

Philippians 2:12 is a problem for Christians who neglect the context and assume, as a result, that the verse supports the idea of a “self-help” salvation. But the verse does not teach that. On the contrary, it teaches that because you are already saved, because God has already entered into your life in the person of the Holy Spirit, because you, therefore, have His power at work within you – because of these things you are now to strive to express this salvation in your conduct. This should be evident for a couple of reasons. First, it’s the clear meaning of the sentence itself. It says “work out your salvation (not, work toward or for or at your salvation). And no one can work his salvation out unless God had already worked it in.

The second reason why this verse refers to the outward conduct of those who have been saved is that there is a clear parallel between Philippians 2:12-15 and Deuteronomy 32:3-5. The parallel shows that Paul was thinking of Deuteronomy as he wrote to the Philippians. Paul was about to be taken out of this world himself, as Moses was. He did not know whether he would be killed immediately or whether he would be delivered for a short time, but he knew that this would probably be his last charge to his beloved friends at Philippi. But God has delivered the Philippians, and now, because of this deliverance, they were to work out the salvation that God had so miraculously given. They were to strive for the realization of God’s love, peace, holiness, goodness, and justice in their lives.

We have seen that we are to work out our salvation that God has worked in, but to see the whole picture one more thought must be added: Even as we work out our salvation we are to know that it is actually God’s Holy Spirit in us who does the working. Paul writes, “Therefore…work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (v. 12). But no sooner has he said this than he immediately adds, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (v. 13). It is actually God who does the working. God’s working begins with our wills, for the verse says that God works in us first to will and then to act out His good purpose. Willing always comes before doing.

We will never understand the doctrine of God’s working to form a person’s will until we realize that apart from the work of God in his or her heart through Jesus Christ a person does not have free will where spiritual realities are concerned. I know that someone will want to reply, “What! Do you mean to tell me that I cannot do anything I want to?” The answer is, “yes, you cannot.” You have free will to decide whether you will go to work or pretend you are sick. You can order turkey over roast beef at a restaurant. But you cannot exercise your free will in anything that involves your physical, intellectual, or spiritual capabilities. By your own free will you cannot decide that you are going to have a 50 percent higher I.Q. than you do or that you will have, or run the 100 dash in four seconds. You do not have free will in anything intellectual or physical.

More significantly, you do not have free will spiritually. You cannot choose God. Adam and Eve had free will to obey or to disobey God’s command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they disobeyed they fell away from God. They lost the free will to choose God. Since Adam and Eve, all people are born with the same inability to choose Him. Some are complacent; some are angry. Some are silent and philosophical. Some are resigned; some are anxious. But all are unable to come to God. No one does come to God until God reaches down by grace into the mud pit of human sin and impotence and lifts him up and places him again on the banks of the pit and says, “This is the way; walk in it.” This is what God does in salvation.

We must face this truth. Even if every generation of mankind and every city and village on earth had a John the Baptist to point to Jesus Christ to call us to Him, or if God rearranged the stars of heaven to spell out, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved,” no one would come or believe. If God sent His angels with the sound of a celestial trumpet to call us to repentance no one would repent. If you have come to God, it is only because God has first entered your life by His Holy Spirit to quicken your will, to open your eyes to His truth, and to draw you irresistibly to Himself. It is only after this that you are able to choose the path that He sets before you.

If you have seen this truth, you are ready to see that the same God who works in you to will also works through that will to do according to His good purpose. Ephesians 2:8-10 speaks twice of our works, the things that we do. One kind of work is condemned because it comes out of ourselves and is contaminated by sin. The other kind of work is encouraged because it comes from God as He works within the Christian. The verses say, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works [that is, of human working], so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works [that is, the result of God’s working], which God prepared in advance for us to do.” These verses are really Paul’s own commentary upon Philippians 2:12-13, for they tell us that although God can never be satisfied with any good that comes out of human beings, He is satisfied and pleased with the good that is done by Christians through the power of Jesus Christ within them. Through that power the tyranny of sin is broken, the possibility of choosing for God is restored, and a new life of communion with God and holiness is set before the Christian. The power of Christ within is a wonderful reality for Christians, for through it we may act according to God’s good purpose. We do not boast of ourselves or of human attainments. But we do boast in God! In Him we have all things and are enabled to work out our salvation.

Philippians 2:12-13 Reflection Questions:
Are you working out your salvation in your daily conduct by showing God’s love, peace, holiness, goodness, and justice in your lives?
Have you ever felt the power of God within enabling you to do what God desires?
What is God asking you to do?

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