How Christ Conquered Bitterness

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:23)

No one was more grievously sinned against than Jesus. Every ounce of animosity against him was completely undeserved.

No one has ever lived who was more worthy of honor than Jesus; and no one has been dishonored more.

If anyone had a right to get angry and be bitter and vengeful, it was Jesus. How did he control himself when scoundrels, whose very existence he sustained, spit in his face? First Peter 2:23 gives the answer: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

What this verse means is that Jesus had faith in the future grace of God’s righteous judgment. He did not need to avenge himself for all the indignities he suffered, because he entrusted his cause to God. He left vengeance in God’s hands and prayed for his enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Peter gives us this glimpse into Jesus’s faith so that we would learn how to live this way ourselves. He said, “You have been called [to endure harsh treatment patiently] . . . because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

If Christ conquered bitterness and vengeance by faith in what God, the good Judge, had promised to do, how much more should we, since we have far less right to murmur for being mistreated than he did?

John Piper 

Look Again Before You Judge

“Judge not, that you be not judged.”

MATTHEW 7:1

 

PONDER THIS

Some years ago, a woman was waiting for an airplane. She went to an airport shop and bought a bag full of cookies and sat down in the terminal. Soon, a man came and sat down beside her. The cookies were in between the two of them, unopened. The man reached over, opened the cookies, took one out, and began to eat it. She thought, “What unmitigated gall and nerve that he would do that!” In response, she reached in, got one, ate it herself, and gave him a dirty look. He just smiled, then reached in and got another. They traded back and forth until there was one cookie left in the bottom, and with a smile, he broke it in half, took one half, and left her the other half. She thought as she got on the airplane, “I’ve never seen a person as arrogant as that man was.” But when she opened her purse, there was her bag of cookies unopened.

Sometimes we judge other people because of our sheer ignorance. Romans 14:4 says, “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” Another reason we unmercifully judge other people and fail to tolerate them is that we’re insensitive. We don’t love as we ought. But Jesus did not come to condemn. He came to save. As John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

When was a time you assumed the worst about another person but found out you were wrong?

What are some ways you can remind yourself that God is the only right judge of people?

PRACTICE THIS

If appropriate, reach out to a person you’ve misjudged and apologize. If this is not appropriate or possible, journal about this circumstance.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Forgives and Is Still Just

 

Nathan the prophet comes to David after his adultery and murder and says, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 

(2 Samuel 12:13–14)

This is outrageous. Uriah is dead. Bathsheba is raped. The baby will die. And Nathan says, “The Lord has put away your sin.”

Just like that? David committed adultery. He ordered murder. He lied. He “despised the word of the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:9). He scorned God. And the Lord simply “put away [his] sin”?!

What kind of a righteous Judge is God? You don’t just pass over rape and murder and lying. Righteous judges don’t do that.

This was one of Paul’s greatest theological problems — very different from the ones people struggle with today: how can God forgive sin and still be righteous? Here is what Paul said in Romans 3:25–26:

God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

In other words, the outrage that we feel when God seems to simply pass over David’s sin would be good outrage if God were simply sweeping David’s sin under the rug. He is not.

God sees, from the time of David, down the centuries to the death of his Son, Jesus Christ, who would die in David’s place, so that David’s faith in God’s mercy and God’s future redeeming work unites David with Christ. And in God’s all-knowing mind, David’s sins are counted as Christ’s sins and Christ’s righteousness is counted as his righteousness, and God justly passes over David’s sin for Christ’s sake.

The death of the Son of God is outrageous enough, and the glory of God that it upholds is great enough, that God is vindicated in passing over David’s adultery and murder and lying. And ours.

And so God maintains his perfect righteousness and justice while at the same time showing mercy to those who have faith in Jesus, no matter how many or how monstrous their sins. This is unspeakably good news.

John Piper 

Standing in Jesus’ Shoes

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” 

JOHN 16:8-11

 

PONDER THIS

You’re a sinner because of what you are, what you do, and what you’ve not done. But when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness, He deals with what you are. We are by nature children of wrath, but when we get saved, we become partakers of the divine nature. The Bible calls this, “The new birth.” Christians are not just people who’ve reformed, and they are not just nicer people: Christians have had a change of nature. God changes what you are and then He forgives what you’ve done.

Remember you do what you do because of what you are. He changes what you are, and He forgives what you’ve done—every stain, every blot, every blur, every blemish is buried in the grave of God’s forgetfulness. Not only does He change what we are and cleanse what we’ve done, but He also gives what we need: righteousness. He took our sin that we might take His righteousness.

A woman once said, “It feels to me as if I’m standing in Jesus’ shoes and He’s standing in mine.” A theologian couldn’t have said it better.

How are you different than you were before you met Christ?

In what ways do you still need to be changed by Christ?

PRACTICE THIS

Think about those in your Christian community who have experienced clear transformation in Christ. Encourage them in their faith by sharing how you have seen them grow.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Afraid to Stray

Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! (Psalm 31:19)

Consider two important truths in Psalm 31:19.

1. The goodness of the Lord

There is a peculiar goodness of God. That is, there is not only God’s general goodness that he shows to all people, making his sun rise on the evil and the good (Matthew 5:45), but also a peculiar goodness, as the psalm says, for “those who fear” him.

This goodness is abundant beyond measure. It is boundless. It lasts forever. It is all-encompassing. There is only goodness for those who fear him. Everything works together for their good (Romans 8:28). Even their pains are filled with profit according to Romans 5:3–5.

But those who do not fear him receive a temporary goodness. Romans 2:4–5 describes it like this: “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Kindness. Forbearance. Patience. Goodness. But it does not meet with the fear of the Lord, but hardness.

That’s the first truth: the goodness of the Lord.

2. The fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord is the fear of straying from him. Therefore, it expresses itself in taking refuge in God. That’s why two conditions are mentioned in Psalm 31:19 — fearing the Lord and taking refuge in him. “Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have 1) stored up for those who fear you and 2) worked for those who take refuge in you!”

They seem to be opposites. Fear seems to drive away and taking refuge seems to draw in. But when we see that this fear is a fear of running away — a fear of straying from him — then they work together.

There is a real trembling in the heart of the saints. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). But it is the trembling one feels in the arms of a Father who has just plucked his child from the undertow of the ocean. It is the trembling at the terrible prospect of thinking we don’t need a Father.

So, cherish the goodness of the Lord. Fear straying from him. Flee from every sin and take refuge in him. “Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you!”

John Piper