But one thing puts the lie to this self deception — the continuing existence and destruction of lust.

Earlier Christians wisely included lust among the deadliest sins. For lust is the impregnated parent of all forms of sin. James explained that “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:14–15).

From the first stolen bite of forbidden fruit to the avaricious gaze of mall-bound window shoppers, lust has coursed through the hearts of men like the most poisonous venom.

Lust involves any strong desire, craving, or want that opposes the holy will and command of God. Lust perverts, twists, and defiles all that is good and beautiful, and this is particularly true with sexual or carnal lust.

For example, some people today tout homosexuality as an “orientation” equal in virtue to heterosexuality. They appeal to the “love” shared between two persons of the same gender, and on that basis, contend that equality and public acceptance must be guaranteed. To some, these sexual passions are so strong as to appear innate. Moreover, we are told that homosexual desires are private, harmless to others, and beyond the censure of society.

But if that is true, what are we to think of a passage like Romans 1:26–27? The Bible defines homosexual desires as “contrary to nature,” not an equal alternative orientation. Homosexuality is a “dishonorable passion” that “consumes” men and women, leading to shameless behavior. The strong emotional pull of lust and the affections shared between persons in a homosexual relationship — whatever those affections may be called — cannot properly be called “love.” After all, love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing” (1 Cor. 13:6), and homosexuality is wrongdoing. Moreover, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah over what today would be called “private” decisions indicates that lust is a serious social problem.

And herein is the ultimate problem with lust: Those overcome with lust “receive in themselves the due penalty for their error” (Rom. 1:27) and will face the Lord as “an avenger in all these things” (1 Thess. 4:6). God keeps “the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:9–10). Lust blinds men to the fact that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God.

What is the antidote to this ensnaring, soul-destroying vice? It is the cultivation of chastity.

Cultivating chastity begins with the knowledge of God and His will. The apostle Paul captures this relationship well. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thess. 4:3–5). Unbelieving Gentiles are given over to lust because they do not know God. But those who do know God and His will pursue moral and sexual purity. And how can it be otherwise since God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)?

Moreover, this knowledge of God produces weeping over vice. Consider the Bible’s description of Lot during the days of Sodom and Gomorrah: “That righteous man lived among them day after day…tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:8). Lust grieved Lot. Likewise, the psalmist wept over the broken law of God in his day (Ps. 119:136). And the true disciples of Christ are the blessed who mourn (Matt. 5:4). They are also the pure in heart who will see God (Matt. 5:8). The road to chastity begins with weeping, but it ends in the beatific vision of God Himself.

Christ Jesus gave Himself to purchase a lawless people (Titus 2:14), who are then made clean in conscience, heart, and soul through faith in Him (Heb. 9:13–14; James 4:8). This is why Paul could borrow the image of chastity to describe Christ’s ongoing purification of the Bride (Eph. 5:27) as well as his own labors on behalf of the Corinthian church: “I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). When we see Christ we shall be like Him — pure (1 John 3:2–3).

Thus is the superiority of chastity over lust demonstrated. Lust works its way toward death. Chastity leads to the glories of heaven with Christ Jesus and the Father. Can there really be any doubt as to which path is best?

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From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul. © Tabletalk magazine. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Email: tabletalk@ligonier.org. Toll free: 1-800-435-4343.

All this lies behind the remarkable words of Hebrews 12:18–28. We have come to Mount Zion — not to Mount Sinai, as Moses and the first pilgrim people did. As participants in the new exodus accomplished by Christ (see Luke 9:31, where “departure” literally means exodus), we have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. We have already received a kingdom that cannot be shaken (12:28). That is why we must see to it that we “do not refuse him who is speaking.”

This sustained use of Old Testament imagery is all-pervasive in Hebrews, although elements of it obviously appear throughout the New Testament. But the underlying structures of thought are the same in three ways. First, the promise of the old has been fulfilled in the new, in Christ. Second, another grammatical pattern is evident, one which we usually associate with the apostle Paul; namely, the indicatives of grace give rise to the imperatives of obedience. Third, this principle is also evident in the way in which Christians are urged to live in the light of the privileges they enjoyalready and therefore to persevere to enter those they do not yet fully experience. Thus promiseleads to fulfillment, grace leads to obedience, already is linked to not yet.

Now, as the author comes to the final warning passage in Hebrews 12:25–29, it helps if we see its apparent severity in the light of this third principle. “You have not come … But you have come” (Heb. 12:18, 22). What are our privileges? They are truly amazing. Rather than come — as did believers in the day of promise and shadow — to an assembly convened at a mountain engulfed with a sense of awful judgment, we have come to the abiding city of God. Indeed we have come to God Himself, not with Moses, but with Jesus. For we have received the new covenant in His shed blood.

This is the assembly in which we gather for worship to hear the voice of Christ in His Word, to lift our voices under His choral direction in praise, to share His trust in His Father, and to gather around Christ as His brothers and sisters (see Heb. 2:10–13). Consequently, this is also our family— composed of the redeemed from among all mankind and the elect among the angelic host. This is the kingdom in which we are enrolled as citizens (12:23). Moreover, it is a kingdom, unlike all the kingdoms and empires of this world, that cannot be shaken (12:27–28). What riches are ours in these three dimensions of the life of grace! And they are already ours in Christ! Here and now, our lives are punctuated by special visiting rights to heaven’s glory as we assemble with our fellow believers.

“See that you do not refuse Him” (Heb. 12:25ff.). Here is the final extended warning passage in Hebrews. They have often been regarded as “problem” passages because of the implication they seem to carry, namely, that believers might fall away from Christ and be lost. But to read these passages in such a way is to abstract them from their contexts in the letter and from the covenant dynamic of the Gospel. For when we read these passages in the context of the letter as a whole, we come to realize that they belong to an ongoing series of exhortations to be read in the light of the privileges of grace.

In fact, the author of Hebrews thought of his entire letter as a word of encouragement to persevere (13:22). As any father would do, so the author, as a spiritual father, and speaking on behalf of the “Father of spirits” (12:9), encourages his spiritual children with exhortations that are both positive and negative.

The key here is the new covenant structure of the Gospel. It is built on a better Mediator and better promises than the old. But it remains a covenant. Its dynamic is the same: God gives His promise of grace (fulfilled now in Christ); His promise is life through faith in Christ, and death for any who spurn the blood of the new covenant (see 10:26–31).

So, we have already “come to Mount Zion … the heavenly Jerusalem.” But we have not yet finally entered it. We hear its worship, we experience its power; its light enlightens our camping ground (Heb. 6:4–5). But there is a River still to be crossed. The doors of the City are never shut (Rev. 21:5), but we do not yet dwell inside the city gates. We must still wade through the River. Like Christian, (in virtually the last words of The Pilgrim’s Progress, part one), we know that there is “a way to Hell, even from the Gates of Heaven, as well as from the City of Destruction.” God’s covenant faithfulness calls for faith that perseveres to the end.

When we have seen the privileges that are already ours, we have every reason to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and persevere in penitential faith until that which is now ours in part becomes ours in whole and forever.

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From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul. © Tabletalk magazine. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Email: tabletalk@ligonier.org. Toll free: 1-800-435-4343.

The beginning of this chapter contains a most pathetical expostulation of God, by the prophet, with his people, about their sins and unworthy walking before him. Having, with an apostrophe to the mountains and hills, verses 1, 2, stirred up their attention, and raised them to the consideration of his plea with them in verses 3–5, he emphatically presses them with the mercies he had of old bestowed upon them, with the patience and love toward them which he showed and exercised in his dealings with them.

The conviction being effectual to awaken them, and fill them with a sense of their horrible ingratitude and rebellions, verses 6, 7, they begin to make inquiry, according as is the custom of persons under the power of conviction, what course they shall take to avoid the wrath of God, which they could not but acknowledge was due to them. And here, as God speaks, Hos. vii. 1, when he would heal them, their iniquity and wickedness is discovered more and more; they discover the wretched principles whereon they were acted, in all that they had to do with God.

Indeed convictions, on what account soever, made effectual upon the soul, draw out its inward principles; which are not otherwise to be discovered. Many there are who have, in notion, received the doctrine of free justification by the blood of Christ, whom, while they are secure in their ways, without trouble or distress, it is impossible to persuade that they do not live and act upon that principle, and walk before God in the strength of it. Let any great conviction, from the word or by any imminent or pressing danger, befall these men, — then their hearts are laid open, — then all their hopes are in their repentance, amendment of life, performance of duties in a better manner; and the iniquity of their self-righteousness is discovered.

The beginning of this chapter contains a most pathetical expostulation of God, by the prophet,with his people, about their sins and unworthy walking before him. Having, with an apostrophe tothe mountains and hills, verses 1, 2, stirred up their attention, and raised them to the considerationof his plea with them in verses 3–5, he emphatically presses them with the mercies he had of oldbestowed upon them, with the patience and love toward them which he showed and exercised inhis dealings with them.The conviction being effectual to awaken them, and fill them with a sense of their horribleingratitude and rebellions, verses 6, 7, they begin to make inquiry, according as is the custom ofpersons under the power of conviction, what course they shall take to avoid the wrath of God, whichthey could not but acknowledge was due to them. And here, as God speaks, Hos. vii. 1, when he would heal them, their iniquity and wickedness is discovered more and more; they discover thewretched principles whereon they were acted, in all that they had to do with God.

Indeed convictions, on what account soever, made effectual upon the soul, draw out its inwardprinciples; which are not otherwise to be discovered. Many there are who have, in notion, receivedthe doctrine of free justification by the blood of Christ, whom, while they are secure in their ways,without trouble or distress, it is impossible to persuade that they do not live and act upon thatprinciple, and walk before God in the strength of it. Let any great conviction, from the word or byany imminent or pressing danger, befall these men, — then their hearts are laid open, — then alltheir hopes are in their repentance, amendment of life, performance of duties in a better manner;and the iniquity of their self-righteousness is discovered.

Thus was it with these Jews. Their sins being charged home upon them by the prophet, so that they are not able to stand under their weight and burden, he now discovers the bottom of all their principles in dealing with God; and that is this, that having provoked him, something they must do whereby to appease him and atone his anger.

In their contrivance to this purpose, they fix on two general heads. First, They propose things which God himself had appointed, verses 6, 7; — secondly, Things of their own finding out, which they supposed might have a farther and better efficacy to the end aimed at than any thing appointed of God himself, verse 7.

First. They look to sacrifices and burnt-offerings for help; — they consider whether by them, and on their account, they may not come before the Lord, and bow themselves before the high God; that is, perform such a worship for which they may be acquitted from the guilt of their sins.

Sacrifices were a part of the worship of God appointed by himself, and acceptable to him when offered in faith, according to his mind; yet we find God frequently rejecting them in the Old Testament, whilst yet their institution was in force, and themselves good in their kind. Now, this rejection of them was not absolute, but with respect to somewhat that vitiated the service in them.

Among these, two were most eminent:—

1. When they were rested in, as the matter and cause of their justification and acceptation with God, beyond their typical virtue.

2. When they were relied on to countenance men in the neglect of moral duties, or to continue in any way of sin.

Both these evils attended this appeal of the Jews unto their sacrifices. They did it first to please God, or appease God, — that on their account they might be freed from the guilt of sin, and be accepted: and then to countenance themselves in their immoralities and wickedness; as is evident from the prophet’s reply, verse 7, calling them from their vain confidence in sacrifices, to justice, judgment, mercy, and humble walking with God. But, —

Secondly, They find this will not do; conscience will not be satisfied nor peace be obtained by any performance of these ordinary duties, though they should engage in them in an extraordinary manner; no, though they could bring thousands of rams, and ten thousand rivers of oil. Though men attempt never so vigorously, in never so extraordinary a manner, to quiet their souls, terrified with the guilt of sin, by any duties whatever, it will not do, — the work will not be accomplished; therefore they will make farther attempts. If nothing that God hath appointed will reach the end they aim at, because they were never appointed by him for that end, they will invent or use some way of their own that may appear to be of more efficacy than the other: “Shall I give my first-born for my transgression?”

The rise and occasion of such sacrifices as here are mentioned, — the sacrificing of men, of men’s sacrificing their own children; the use of such sacrifices throughout the world, among all nations; the craft and cruelty of Satan in imposing them on poor, sinful, guilty creatures, with the advantages which he had so to do, — I have elsewhere declared. For the present, I shall only observe two things in the state and condition of convinced persons, when pressed with their sins, and a sense of the guilt of them, who are ignorant of the righteousness of God in Christ:—

1. They have a better opinion of their own ways and endeavours, for the pleasing of God and quieting their consciences, than of any thing of God’s institution, or the way by him appointed for that end. This is the height that they rise to, when they have fixed on what is most glorious in their own eyes. Tell a Papist who is convinced of sin, of the blood of Christ, — it is folly to him. Penances, satisfaction, purgatory, intercession of the church in the mass, have much more desirableness in them:— these Eliabs must wear the crown. The case is the same with innumerable poor souls at present, who hope to find more relief in their own duties and amendment of life than in the blood of Christ, as to the appeasing of God and obtaining of peace.

2. There is nothing so horrid, desperate, irksome, or wicked, that convinced persons will not engage to do under their pressure on the account of the guilt of sin. They will burn their children in the fire, whilst the cries of their conscience outcry the lamentation of their miserable infants: which, as it argues the desperate blindness that is in man by nature, choosing such abominations rather than that way which is the wisdom of God; so also the terrors that possess poor souls convinced of sin, that are unacquainted with the only remedy.

This being the state and condition of these poor creatures, the prophet discovers to them their mistake and desperate folly in the verse of my text.  Two things are contained in this verse; — the one is implied, the other expressed in words:—

First. Here is something implied; and that is, a reproof of the error and mistake of the Jews. They thought sacrifices were appointed for the appeasing of God by their performance of them; and that this was their business in their worship, — by their duty in performance of them, to make satisfaction for the guilt of sin. This the prophet calls them from, telling them that is not their business, their duty: God hath provided another way to make reconciliation and atonement; it is a thing above their power. Their business is to walk with God in holiness; for the matter of atonement, that lies on another hand. “He hath showed thee, O man, what he requireth of thee:” he expects not satisfaction at thy hands, but obedience on the account of peace made.

Secondly. What is expressed is this, — that God prefers moral worship, in the way of obedience, to all sacrifices whatever; according to the determination afterward approved by our Saviour, Mark xii. 33, “What doth the Lord require of thee?”

Now, this moral obedience he refers to three heads:— Doing justly; loving mercy; and walking humbly with God.

How the two first are comprehensive of our whole duty in respect of men, containing in them the sum and substance of the second table, I shall not stay to declare. It is the third head that I have fixed on, which peculiarly regards the first table and the moral duties thereof.

Concerning this I shall do these three things:— I. I shall show what it is to walk with God. II. What it is to walk humbly with God. III. Prove this proposition: Humble walking with God, as our God in covenant, is the great duty and most valuable concernment of believers.

I. As to our walking with God, some things are required to it, and some things are required in it:—

1. Some things are required to it; as, —

(1.) Peace and agreement. Amos iii. 3, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” And he tells us, that walking with God, when there is no peace with him, is like walking in a forest where and when the lion roareth, verse 8, — when a man can have no thoughts but what are full of expectation of his immediately being torn asunder and devoured. So God threateneth to deal with them that pretend to walk with him, and yet are not at peace with him, Ps. l. 22, “Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” Who are these? Those to whom he speaks,  verse 16, “But unto the wicked, God saith:” the exceptive “but,” distinguishes them from those of whom he spoke before, verse 5, who had made a covenant with him by sacrifice, and so obtained peace in the blood of Christ. When Cain and Abel went into the field together, and were not agreed, the issue was, that the one slew the other. When Joram met Jehu in the field, he cried, “Is it peace?” and finding by his answer that they were not agreed, he instantly flew, and cried out for his life. “ ‘Agree,’ saith our Saviour, ‘with thine adversary whiles thou art in the way,’ lest the issue be sad to thee.”

You know at what enmity God and man do stand, whilst he is in the state of nature. They are alienated from God by wicked works, — are enemies; and their carnal mind is enmity to him, Rom. viii. 7; and his wrath abideth on them, John iii. 36; — they are children of his wrath, Eph. ii. 3. Were I to pursue this head in particulars, I could manifest from the rise and first breach, from the consideration of the parties at variance, the various ways of managing of it, and its issue, that this is the saddest enmity that can possibly be apprehended. You know, also, what our peace and agreement with God is, and whence it doth arise. Christ is “our peace,” Eph. ii. 14. He hath made an end of the difference about sin, Dan. ix. 24. He hath made peace for us with God; and by our interest in him, we, who were afar off, are made nigh, and obtain peace, Rom. v. 1; Eph. ii. 14, 15. This, then, I say, in the first place, is required to our walking with God, — that we are at peace with him, and agreement in the blood of Christ; — that we are by faith actually interested in the atonement; — that our persons are accepted, as the foundation of the acceptation of our duties.

Without this, every attempt for walking with God in obedience, or the performance of any duties, is, —

[1.] Fruitless. All that men do is lost. “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination;” their holy things are dung, which God will remove. In all their duties they labour in the fire; not any of their works shall turn to their eternal account. God looks on all their duties as the gifts of enemies, that are selfish, deceitful, and, of all things, to be abhorred. Such men may have their reward in this life; but as to what they aim at, their pains are lost, their hearing is lost, their alms are lost, — all is fruitless.

[2.] Presumptuous. They put themselves upon the company of God, who hates them, and is hated by them. Ps. l. 16, “But unto the wicked saith God” (this is God’s language to them in their duties), “Thou bold, presumptuous rebel, what hast thou to do to take my name in thy mouth? Why dost thou howl thus before me, and offer swine’s blood in my presence? How camest thou hither, not having a wedding garment? I hate thy most solemn oblations.” Indeed, it will be found at the issue, that intolerable presumption lies at the bottom of all unregenerate men’s attempts to walk with God. They count it a slight thing to do so; — they deal with him as one that took very little notice how he is dealt withal.

This, I say, is the first thing required to our walking with God, — that we be at peace and agreement with him in the blood of Christ. And, as the psalmist says, “Consider this, ye that know not God,” who have not made a covenant with him, in and by the sacrifice of his Son. You meet him in the field, — you put yourselves upon his company, — you pretend to walk with him in these duties, and those other, which custom, education, conviction, or self-righteousness, puts you upon; — in every one of them you provoke him to his face to destroy you. You seem to flatter him that you are agreed, when he declares that you are at enmity. Let a man deal thus with his ruler:— conspire against his crown and dignity, attempt his death, despise his authority, reproach his reputation; and then, when he is proclaimed rebel and traitor, and condemned to die, let him come into his presence, as in former days, and deal with him as a good subject, — offer him gifts and presents; — shall he think to escape? Will he not be seized on, and delivered over to punishment?

Every man, in his natural estate, is a rebel against God. Thou hast rejected his authority, conspired his ruin, the ruin of his kingdom, — art proclaimed by him a traitor and rebel, — art sentenced to eternal death: is it for thee now to meet him, — to go and flatter him with thy mouth, and fawn upon him in thy other duties? Will he not remember thy rebellions, despise thy offering, command thee out of his presence into bonds and prison, — abhor thy gifts? What canst thou else expect at his hands? This is the best and utmost of their condition, in their obedience, who are not interested in Christ; and the more earnest and zealous you are, the more ready in the performance of duties, the more do you put yourselves on him and his company who hates you upon the justest grounds in the world, and is ready to destroy you.

(2.) The second previous thing is, oneness of design. For persons occasionally to fall into the company of one another, and so to pass on together for a little season, doth not suffice for them to be said to walk together. Oneness of aim and design is required to it. The aim of God, in general, is his own glory; he makes all things for himself, Prov. xvi. 4; Rev. iv. 11; — in particular, as to the business of our walking with him, it is the praise of his glorious grace, Eph. i. 6.

Now, in this aim of God to exalt his glorious grace, two things are considerable:— First, That all which is to be looked for at the hand of God, is upon the account of mere grace and mercy, Tit. iii. 4, 5. God aims at the exalting of his glory in this, — that he may be known, believed, magnified, as a God pardoning iniquity and sin. And, secondly, That the enjoyment of himself, in this way of mercy and grace, is that great reward of him that walks with him. So God tells Abraham, when he calls him to walk before him, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward,” Gen. xv. 1. The enjoyment of God in covenant, and the good things therein freely promised and bestowed by him, is the exceeding great reward of them that walk with God. This also, then, is required of him that will walk with God, — that he hath the same design in his so doing as God hath; — that he aims in all his obedience at the glory of God’s grace; and the enjoyment of him as his exceeding great reward.

Now, according to what was before said of the design of God, this may be referred unto three heads:—

[1.] In general:— that the design of the person be the glory of God. “Whatever we do,” saith the apostle (that is, in our worship of God, and walking with him), “let all be done to his glory.” Men who, in their obedience, have base, low, unworthy ends, walk as contrary to God in their obedience as in their sins. Some serve him for custom; some for an increase of corn, wine, or oil, or the satisfying of some low earthly end; some aim at self and reputation. All is lost; — it is not walking with God, but warring against him.

[2.] To exalt the glory of God’s grace. This is one part of the ministry of the gospel, — that in obedience we should seek to exalt the glory of grace. The first natural tendency of obedience was, to exalt the glory of God’s justice. The new covenant hath put another end upon our obedience: it is to exalt free grace; — grace given in Christ, enabling us to obey; grace accepting our obedience, being unworthy; grace constituting this way of walking with God; and grace crowning its performance.

[3.] Aiming at the enjoyment of God, as our reward. And this cuts off the obedience of many from being a walking with God. They perform duties, indeed; but what sincerity is there in their aims for the glory of God? Is it almost once taken into their thoughts? Is not the satisfaction of conscience, the escape of hell and wrath, the sole aim they have in their obedience? Is it of concernment to them that the glory of God be exalted? Do they care, indeed, what becomes of his name or ways, so they may be saved? Especially, how little is the glory of his grace aimed at! Men are destroyed by a self-righteousness, and have nothing of a gospel obedience in them. Look on the praying and preaching of some men: is it not evident that they walk not with God therein, seek not his glory, have no zeal for it, no care for his name; but rest in the discharge of the duty itself?

(3.) That a man may walk with another, it is required that he have a living principle in him, to enable him thereunto. Dead men cannot walk; or if they do, acted by any thing but their own vital principle and essential form, they are a terror to their companions, — not a comfort in their communion. For a dead carcase, or a trunk, to be moved up and down, is not walking. Hence this is everywhere laid down as the principle of our obedience, — that we “who were dead are quickened;” that “the law of the Spirit of life makes us free from the law of sin and death,” Rom. viii. 2. That we may walk with God, a principle of a new life is required; that we may have power for it, and be pressed to it from that which is within us. Had not a man rather walk alone, than have a dead carcase, taken out of a grave, and acted by an external force and power, to accompany him?

This, I say, is a third consideration. The matter of our walking with God consists, as shall be showed, in our obedience, — in our performance of duties required. In this, we are all more or less engaged; yea, so far, that perhaps it is hard to discover who walks fastest, and with most appearance of strength and vigour. But, alas! how many dead souls have we walking amongst us!

[1.] Are there none who are utter strangers to a new spiritual life — a life from above, hid with Christ in God, a life of God — that mock almost at these things; at least, that can give no account of any such life in them; — that think it strange it should be required of them that they should give any account of this life, or of being begotten again by the Spirit; yea, that make it a most ridiculous thing? “What, then, is it they will yet plead for themselves? Why do they not walk with God? Is not their conversation good and blameless? Who can charge them with any thing? Do they not perform the duties required of them?” But, friend, would it be acceptable to thee to have a dead man taken out of his grave, and carried along with thee in thy way? All thy services, thy company, is no other to God; he smells nothing but a noisome steam from thy presence with him: thy hearing, praying, duties, meditations, they are on this account all an abomination to him. Tell me not of thy conversation. If it be from a pure conscience (that is, a conscience purified in the blood of Christ), and faith unfeigned, which is the life, or a fruit of it, whereof we are speaking, — it is glorious and commendable; if from other principles, the Lord abhors it.

[2.] Are there none who are acted, in their obedience and duties, not from inward principles, and spiritualized faculties, but merely from outward considerations, and external impressions? The apostle tells us how believers “grow,” and “go on to perfection,” Eph. iv. 16; Col. i. 19. Christ is the head; from him, by the Spirit, into every joint and sinew is derived an influence of life, that the body may thereby and therewith go on towards perfection. How is it with sundry others? They are set upon their feet by custom or conviction: one joint is supplied by repute, another by fear and shame, a third by self-righteousness, a fourth by the lash of conscience; and so they are driven on by a mere external impress. And these are the principles of the obedience of many. By such things as these are they acted in their walking with God. Do you suppose you shall be accepted, or that peace will be your latter end? I fear many that hear me this day may be in this condition. Pardon me if I am jealous with a godly jealousy. What means else that hatred of the power of godliness, that darkness in the mystery of the gospel, that cursed formality, that enmity to the Spirit of God, — that hatred of reformation, that is found amongst us?

If there be so many things required to walking with God, to fit men for it; and many who do strive to walk with him are yet lost from a defect of them, in the midst of their obedience and performance of duties, — what will become of them, where shall they appear, who never once attempted to walk with him, — who are wrought upon by no considerations to make it their business so to do? I speak not only of those amongst us, young and old, whose pride, folly, idleness, debauchery, profaneness, hatred of the ways of God, testify to their faces, to all the world, to the shame and danger of the places wherein they live, that they are servants to sin, and walk contrary to God, — who also will walk contrary unto them, until they are no more. I speak not, I say, of such as these, who are judged of all; nor yet only of those who are kept to outward observances merely on the account of the discipline of the place, and the hopes which they have laid up in it for their outward good, with such other carnal aims; — but of some also who ought to be leaders of others, and examples to that flock that is amongst us. What endeavours to walk with God are found upon them, or seen in their ways? Vanity, pride in themselves, families, and relations, yea, scoffing at religion and the ways of God, are the examples some give. I wish worldliness, selfishness, hardness, and straitness of bowels, with open vanity, do not eat up all humble walking with God, as to the power of it, in others.

The vanity of the highest profession, without this humble walking, which is another deceit, shall be afterward spoken unto. For the present, let me speak to them of whom I have spoken somewhat already. If many shall cry, “Lord, Lord,” and not be heard; if “many shall strive to enter,” and shall not; what will be their lot and portion? Poor creatures! you know not the condition of your souls; you cry “Peace, and sudden destruction is at hand.” Take heed, lest the multitude of sermons and exhortations you have, make you not, like the men that dwell by the falls of mills, deaf with their continual noise. God sends his messengers sometimes to make men deaf, Isa. vi. 10. If that be your portion, it will be sad with you. Give me leave to ask you two or three questions, and I have done:—

1. Do you not please yourselves, some of you, in your ways, and that with contempt of others? Do you not think they are fools, or envious, or hypocrites, or factious, that reprove you; and scorn them in your hearts? Do you not rather love, honour, imitate, such as never pressed you (nor will) to this business of a new life, — to walk with God; and so suppose the times ruined, since this new-fangled preaching came up amongst you; — desiring to hear things finely spoken, and fopperies of men ignorant of God and themselves? Or, —

2. Do you not relieve yourselves, with the help of profligate souls, that you will be better, — you will repent when the season is better suited for it, and your present condition is changed? Or, —

3. Do not some of you labour to put far from you all thoughts of these things? “Amici, dum vivimus, vivamus;” — “It will be well enough with us, though we add drunkenness to thirst.” Do not, I say, one or all of these rotten, corrupted principles lie at the bottom of your loose walking with God? Take heed, I beseech you, lest the Lord tear you in pieces!

The most solemn of all days in Israel was the great day of atonement, the only day in the year on which the high priest entered into the Most Holy Place in the Temple. Before he approached that mysterious sanctuary, the law enjoined that he should divest himself of his costly garments, and clothe himself from head to foot in a plain white linen dress. He then took the vessel with the sacrificial blood in his hand, and, thrilling with sacred awe, drew back the veil, in order, humbly and devoutly, to approach the throne of grace, and sprinkle the atoning blood. He remained no longer in the sacred place than sufficed to perform his priestly office. He then came out again to the people, and, in Jehovah’s name, announced grace and forgiveness to every penitent soul.
We shall now see this symbolical and highly significant act realized in its full and actual accomplishment. The immaculate Jesus of whom the whole Old Testament priest-hood, according to the divine intention, was only a typical shadow, conceals Himself behind the thick veil of an increasing humiliation and agony; that bearing in His hands His own blood, He may mediate for us with God His Father. He realizes and accomplishes all that Moses included in the figurative service of the tabernacle. The precise manner in which this was accomplished we shall never entirely fathom with our intellectual powers; but it is certain that He then finally procured our eternal redemption.

Once more we return to the road to the cross, and in spirit mingle with the crowd proceeding to the place of execution. They are just passing the rocky sepulchers of the kings of Israel. The ancient monarchs sleep in their cells, but a dawning resurrection gleams upon their withered remains when the Prince of life passes by. The procession then enters the valley of Gehenna, which once reeked with the blood of the sacrifices to Moloch. But there is another still more dreadful Gehenna; and who among us would have escaped it, had not the Lamb of God submitted to the sufferings which we now see Him enduring?

We are arrived at the foot of the awful hill, but before ascending it, let us cast a look on the crowd behind us, and see if, amid all the hatred and rancor that rages there like an infernal flame, we can discover any traces of sympathy and heartfelt veneration for the divine Sufferer. And lo! an estimable little group meets our eye, like a benignant constellation in the darkness of the night. We first perceive the pious Salome, the mother of the two “sons of thunder.” She desires to set her children an example of faithfulness unto death, and we know that both James and John afterward showed themselves perfectly worthy of such a mother. Near Salome walks Mary, the near relative of the blessed virgin. She had also the great privilege of seeing her two sons, James the Less and Joses, received into the immediate fellowship of the great Master. And lo! yonder walks Mary Magdalene sobbing aloud, who had experienced above others the delivering power of Him who came to destroy the works of the Devil.

But who is she with tottering step, leaning on the disciple whom Jesus loved, dejected more than all the rest, who covers her grief-worn face? It is the sorely tried mother of our Lord, in whom Simeon’s prophecy is now fulfilled: “A sword shall pierce through your own soul also.” But she had scarcely the smallest presentiment that it would be accomplished in such a manner. But look up, Mary! Cast yourself with all your grief into the arms of the eternal Father. Do you see your Son going to be crucified? He also sees! He who is crowned with thorns is His Son as well as yours. Look at the dear disciple, who though inconsolable himself, tries to support the deeply grieved mother of his Lord. What a scene! But how gratifying is it to perceive that love for the Man of Sorrows has not wholly become extinct upon earth! Nor shall it ever expire. Do not be concerned on that account. In that mourning group you see only the first divinely quickened germs of the future kingdom of the divine Sufferer. From a few, a multitude that no man can number will before long proceed.

After this cursory retrospect of the Savior’s attendants, let us again put ourselves in motion with the crowd. Only a few steps upward, and we reach the end of the dreadful pilgrimage. Where are we now? We are standing on the summit of Mount Calvary—Golgotha—horrifying name—the appellation of the most momentous and awful spot upon the whole earth. Behold a naked and barren eminence, enriched only by the blood of criminals, and covered with the bones of executed rebels, incendiaries, prisoners, and other offscourings of the human race. An accursed spot, where love never rules, but where naked justice alone sits enthroned, with scales and sword, and from which every passerby turns with abhorrence, a nocturnal rendezvous of jackals and hyenas.

This place, so full of horrors, becomes transformed into “the hill from where comes our help,” whose mysteries many kings and prophets have desired to see, and did not see them. Yes, upon this awful hill our roses shall blossom, and our springs of peace and salvation burst forth. The pillar of our refuge towers upon this height. The Bethany of our repose and eternal refreshment here displays itself to our view. Truly the ancients were correct in their assertion, that Mount Calvary formed the center of the whole earth; for it is the meeting place where the redeemed, though separated in body by land and sea, daily assemble in spirit, and greet each other with the kiss of love.

Not less correct were they in the legend that father Adam was buried beneath Mount Calvary—this hill being really Adam’s grave, when by the latter we understand the fallen sinful man, whom we all carry about in us, and who was crucified with Christ on Golgotha. It is strange that to this day the learned dispute the position of this hill, and that there is scarcely a prospect of ascertaining the place with certainty. But it was the divine intention that the material mount should be exalted into the region of that which is spiritual; and such is actually the case. It finds its abiding place in the believing view of the world.

On that awful mount ends the earthly career of the Lord of glory. Behold Him, then, the only green, sound, and fruitful tree upon earth, and at the root of this tree the ax is laid. What a testimony against the world, and what an annihilating contradiction to everything that bears the name of God and divine Providence, if the latter did not find its solution in the mystery of the representative atonement! Behold Him, then, covered with wounds and ignominy, and scarcely distinguishable from the malefactors among whom He is reckoned.
But have patience. In a few years, Jerusalem that rejected Him glorifies Him in the form of a smoking heap of ruins, as the beloved Son of the Most High, whom no one can assail with impunity; and surrounded by the lights of the sanctuary, living monuments arise, in three quarters of the globe, bearing the inscription, “To Christ, the Redeemer of the world.” But before these things take place, a horrible catastrophe must occur. The life of the world only springs forth from the death of the just One. The hour of His baptism with blood has arrived.

Alas! alas! what is it that now takes place on that bloody hill? Four barbarous men, inured to the most dreadful of all employments, approach the Holy One of Israel, and offer Him, first of all, a stupefying potion composed of wine and myrrh, as usual at executions. The Lord disdains the draught, because He desires to submit to the will of His heavenly Father with full consciousness, and to drink the last drop of the accursed cup. The executioners take the Lamb of God between them, and begin their horrid occupation by tearing, with rude hands, the clothes from off His body. There He stands, whose garment once was the light, and the stars of Heaven the fringe of His robe, covered only with the crimson of His blood, and divested of all that adorned Him, not only before men, but also in His character as Surety, before God.

After having unclothed the Lord, and left Him, by divine direction, only His crown of thorns, they lay Him down on the wood on which He is to bleed. Thus, without being aware of it, they bring about the moment predicted in Psalm 22, where we hear the Messiah saying: “Do not be far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me about; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.” What a dying bed for the King of kings! My friends, as often as we repose on the downy cushions of divine peace, or blissfully assemble in social circles, singing hymns of hope, let us not forget that the cause of the happiness we enjoy is solely to be found in the fact that the Lord of glory once extended Himself on the fatal tree for us.

See His holy arms forcibly stretched out upon the cross—His feet laid upon each other. Thus Isaac once lay on the wood on Mount Moriah. But the voice that then called out of Heaven, saying: “Lay not your hand upon the lad!” is silent on Calvary. The executioners seize the hammer and nails. But who can bear to look upon what further occurs? The horrible nails from the forge of Hell, yet foreseen in the sanctuary of eternity, are placed on the hands and feet of the righteous Jesus, and the heavy strokes of the hammer fall. Do you hear the sound? They thunder on your heart, testifying in horrible language of your sin, and at the same time of the wrath of Almighty God.

Awake you that are asleep in sin, and rouse yourself likewise you who are lulling yourself in carnal security! How many proud and haughty heart has been broken into salutary repentance by those strokes! Why does not your heart also break? For know that you did aid in swinging those hammers; and that the most crying and impious act which the world ever committed is charged to your account.

See, the nails have penetrated through, and from both hands and feet gushes forth the blood of the Holy One. These nails have rent the rock of salvation for us, that it may pour forth the water of life; have torn the heavenly bush of balm that it may send forth its perfume. Yes, they have pierced the handwriting that was against us, and have nailed it to the tree; and by wounding the Just One have penetrated through the head of the old serpent. Let no one be deceived with respect to Him who was thus nailed to the cross! Those pierced hands bless more powerfully than while they moved freely and unfettered. They are the hands of a wonderful Architect who is building the frame of an eternal Church—yes, they are the hands of a Hero, which take from the strong man all his spoil. There is no help or salvation save in these hands; and these bleeding feet tread more powerfully than when no fetters restrained their steps. Nothing springs or blooms in the world, except beneath the prints of these feet.

The most dreadful deed is done, and the prophetic words of the Psalm: “They pierced my hands and my feet,” have received their fulfillment. The foot of the cross is then brought near to the hole dug for it. Powerful men seize the rope attached to the top of it, and begin to draw, and the cross, with its victim, elevates itself and rises to its height. Thus the earth rejects the Prince of life from its surface, and, as it seems, Heaven also refuses Him. But we will let the curtain drop over these horrors. Thank God! In that scene of suffering the Sun of grace rises over a sinful world, and the Lion of Judah ascends into the region of the spirits that have the power of the air in order, in a mysterious conflict, eternally to disarm them on our behalf.

Look what a spectacle now presents itself. The moment the cross is elevated to its height, a crimson stream falls from the wounds of the crucified Jesus. This is His legacy to His Church. We render Him thanks for such a bequest. It falls upon spiritual deserts, and they blossom as the rose. We sprinkle it upon the doorposts of our hearts, and are secure against destroyers and avenging angels. Where this rain falls, the gardens of God spring up, lilies bloom, and what was black becomes white in the purifying stream, and what was polluted becomes pure as the light of the sun. There is no possibility of flourishing without it, no growth nor verdure, but everywhere desolation, barrenness, and death.

There stands the mysterious cross—a rock against which the very waves of the curse break. He who so mercifully engaged to direct this judgment against Himself hangs yonder in profound darkness. Still He remains the Morning Star, announcing an eternal Sabbath to the world. Though rejected by Heaven and earth, yet He forms the connecting link between them both and the Mediator of their eternal and renewed amity.

Ah, see! His bleeding arms are extended wide; He stretches them out to every sinner. His hands point to the east and west; for He shall gather His children from the ends of the earth. The top of the cross is directed toward the sky; far above the world will its effects extend. Its foot is fixed in the earth; the cross becomes a wondrous tree, from which we reap the fruit of an eternal reconciliation.

Nothing more is requisite, than that God should grant us penitential tears, and then, by means of the Holy Spirit, show us the Savior suffering on the cross. We then escape from all earthly care and sorrow, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. For our justification in His sight, nothing more is requisite than that, in the consciousness of our utter helplessness, we lay hold of the horns of that altar which is sprinkled with the blood that “speaks better things than that of Abel.” And the Man of Sorrows displays to us the fullness of His treasures, and bestows upon us, in a superabundant degree, the blessing of the patriarch Jacob on his son Joseph: “The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.”

There stands erected the standard of the new covenant, which, when it is understood, spreads terror around it no less than delight, and produces lamentation no less than joy and rejoicing. It stands to this day, and will stand forever. And wherever it is displayed, it is surrounded by powerful manifestations and miraculous effects. Look how the missionary fields become verdant, and a springtime of the Spirit extends itself over the heathen deserts! Hark how the harps of peace resound from the islands of the sea; and behold how, between the icebergs of the north, the hearts begin to glow with the fire of divine love! From where these changes? These resurrection wonders? From where this shaking in the valley of dry bones? The cross is carried through the land, and beneath its shade the soil becomes verdant and the dead revive.

“I am crucified with Christ,” exclaims the apostle, and by these words points out the entire fruit which the cross bears for all believers. His meaning is, “They are not His sins, for which the curse is there endured, but mine; for He who thus expires on the cross, dies for me. Christ pays and suffers in my stead.” But that of which Paul boasts is the property of us all, if by the living bond of faith and love we are become one with the crucified Jesus. We are likewise exalted to fellowship with the cross of Christ in the sense also that our corrupt nature is condemned to death, our old man, with his affections and lusts. We see the cross of Calvary unfold its full and peace-bestowing radiance. It arches itself, like a rainbow, over our darkness, and precedes us on our path of sorrow like a pillar of fire. Oh, that its serene light might always shine upon our path through this valley of tears, and as the tree of liberty and of life strike deep its roots into our souls! Apprehended by faith, may it shed its heavenly fruit into our lap, and warm and expand our hearts and minds beneath its shade!

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Frederick Wilhelm Krummacher was born in Prussia in 1796. He held a pastorate in Germany but firmly held the old Lutheranism, renouncing rationalism. He came to New York in 1843, but turned down offers to return to Germany in 1847 and settled in Berlin. He died in Prussia on December 10, 1868. He was a prolific writer and is best known for his book, Elijah the Tishbite

Everyone in the church has one or more spiritual gifts. Everyone should be involved in ministry. Everyone should be seeking to lead others to the point where they bring glory to God by the way they think and feel and act. But there are some people to whom the Lord has given qualities of personality that tend to make them more able leaders than others. Not all of these qualities are distinctively Christian, but when the Holy Spirit fills a person’s life each of these qualities is harnessed and transformed for God’s purposes.

1. Restless

Spiritual leaders have a holy discontentment with the status quo. Non-leaders have inertia that causes them to settle in and makes them very hard to move off of dead center. Leaders have a hankering to change, to move, to reach out, to grow, and to take a group or an institution to new dimensions of ministry. They have the spirit of Paul, who said in Phil. 3:13, “Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Leaders are always very goal-oriented people.

God’s history of redemption is not finished. The church is shot through with imperfections, lost sheep are still not in the fold, needs of every sort in the world are unmet, sin infects the saints. It is unthinkable that we should be content with things the way they are in a fallen world and an imperfect church. Therefore, God has been pleased to put a holy restlessness into some of his people, and those people will very likely be the leaders.

2. Optimistic

Spiritual leaders are optimistic not because man is good but because God is in control. The leader must not let his discontentment become disconsolation. When he sees the imperfection of the church he must say with the writer of Hebrews (6:9), “Though we speak thus, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things that belong to salvation.” The foundation of his life is Romans 8:28, “God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” He reasons with Paul that, “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, will then surely give us all things with him” (Rom. 8:32). Without this confidence based upon the goodness of God manifested in Jesus Christ the leader’s perseverance would falter and the people would not be inspired. Without optimism restlessness becomes despair.

3. Intense

The great quality I want in my associates is one of intensity. Romans 12:8 says that if your gift is leadership, “do it with zeal.” Romans 12:11 says, “Never flag in zeal, boil in the spirit!” When the disciples remembered the way Jesus had behaved in relation to the temple of God they characterized it with words from the Old Testament like this, “Zeal for thy house has eaten me up” (John 2:17). The leader follows the advice of Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” When Jonathan Edwards was a young man he wrote a list of about seventy resolutions. The one that has inspired me the most goes like this: “To live with all my might while I live.” Count Zinzendorf of the Moravians said, “I have one passion. It is He and He alone.” Jesus warns us in Revelation 3:16 that he does not have any taste for people who are lukewarm: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” Spiritual leaders must go out alone somewhere and ponder what unutterable and stupendous things they know about God. If their life is one extended yawn they are simply blind. Leaders must give evidence that the things of the Spirit are intensely real. They cannot do that unless they are intense themselves.

4. Self-controlled

By self-controlled I do not mean prim and proper and unemotional, but rather master of our drives. If we are to lead others toward God we cannot be led ourselves toward the world. According to Gal. 5:23 self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. It is not mere willpower. It is appropriating the power of God to get mastery over our emotions and our appetites that could lead us astray or cause us to occupy our time with fruitless endeavors. In 1 Corinthians 6:12 Paul says, “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.” The Christian leader must ruthlessly examine his life to see whether he is the least enslaved by television, alcohol, coffee, golf, computer games, fishing, Playboy, masturbation, good food. Paul said in 1 Corinthians. 9:25, “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” And he says in Galatians. 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passion and desires.” Spiritual leaders ruthlessly track down bad habits and break them by the power of the Spirit. They hear and follow Romans 8:13, “If you life according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.” Spiritual leaders long to be free from everything that hinders their fullest delight in God and service of others.

5. Thick-skinned

One thing is for sure: if you begin to lead others you will be criticized. No one will be a significant spiritual leader if his aim is to please others and seek their approval. Paul said in Galatians 1:10, “Am I seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men I should not be a servant of Christ.” Spiritual leaders do not seek the praises of men, they seek to please God. Dr. Carl Lundquist, former President of Bethel College and Seminary, said in his final report to the Baptist General Conference that there was hardly one of the 28 years in which he served the Conference that he was not actively opposed by many people.

If criticism disables us, we will never make it as spiritual leaders. I don’t mean that we must be the kind of people who don’t feel hurt, but rather that we must not be wiped out by the hurt. We must be able to say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” We will feel the criticism but we will not be incapacitated by it. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “We do not lose heart.”

Leaders must be able to digest depression because they will eat plenty of it. There will be many days when the temptation is very strong to quit because of unappreciative people. Criticism is one of Satan’s favorite weapons to try to get effective Christian leaders to throw in the towel.

I should, however, qualify this characteristic of being thick-skinned. I do not want to give the impression that spiritual leaders are closed off to legitimate criticism. A good leader must not only be thick-skinned but also open and humbly ready to accept and apply just criticism. No leader is perfect and Jonathan Edwards said once that he made it a spiritual discipline to look for the truth in every criticism that came his way before he discarded it. That’s good advice.

6. Energetic

Lazy people cannot be leaders. Spiritual leaders “redeem the time” (Eph. 5:16). They work while it is day, because they know that night comes when no man can work (John 9:4). They “do not grow weary in well doing” for they know that in due season they shall reap if they do not lose heart (Gal. 6:9). They are “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord their labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). But they do not take credit for this great energy or boast in their efforts because they say with the apostle Paul, “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). And: “For this I toil, striving with all the energy which He mightily inspires within me” (Col. 1:29).

The world is run by tired men, someone has said. A leader must learn to live with pressure. None of us accomplishes very much without deadlines and deadlines always create a sense of pressure. A leader does not see the pressure of work as a curse but as a glory. He does not desire to fritter away his life in excess leisure. He loves to be productive. And he copes with the pressure and prevents it from becoming worrisome with promises like Matthew 11:27, 28 and Philippians 4:7, 8 and Isaiah 64:4.

7. A Hard Thinker

“Be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature!” (1 Cor. 14:20). It is not easy to be a leader of people who can outthink you. A leader must be one who, when he sees a set of circumstances, thinks about it. He sits down with pad and pencil and doodles and writes and creates. He tests all things with his mind and holds fast to what is good (1 Thes. 5:21). He is critical in the best sense of the word, that is, not gullible or faddish or trendy. He weighs things and considers pros and cons and always has a significant rationale for the decisions that he makes. Careful and rigorous thought is not contrary to a reliance on prayer and divine revelation. The apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:7, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in everything.” In other words, God’s way of imparting to us insight is not to short-circuit the intellectual process.

8. Articulate

It is hard to lead others if you cannot state your thoughts clearly and forcefully. Leaders like Paul aim to persuade men, not coerce them (2 Cor. 5:11). Leaders who are spiritual do not muster a following with hot air or waves or words but rather with crisp, solid, compelling sentences. The apostle Paul aimed, like all good leaders, at clarity in what he said. According to Colossians 4:4 he asked the people to pray for him, “that I might make it clear, as I ought to speak.” It is astonishing and lamentable how many people today cannot speak in complete sentences. The result is that a great fog surrounds their thought. Neither they nor their listeners know exactly what they are talking about. A haze settles over the discussion and you walk away wondering what it was all about. If no one rises above the muddle-headedness and verbal chaos of “You know . . . I mean . . . Just really”, there will not be any leadership.

9. Able to Teach

It is not surprising to me that some of the great leaders at Bethlehem Baptist Church have been men who are also significant teachers. According to 1 Timothy 3:2 anyone who aspires to the office of overseer in the church should be able to teach. What is a good teacher? I think a good teacher has at least the following characteristics.

• A good teacher asks himself the hardest questions, works through to answers, and then frames provocative questions for his learners to stimulate their thinking.
• A good teacher analyzes his subject matter into parts and sees relationships and discovers the unity of the whole.
• A good teacher knows the problems learners will have with his subject matter and encourages them and gets them over the humps of discouragement.
• A good teacher foresees objections and thinks them through so that he can
  answer them intelligently.
• A good teacher can put himself in the place of a variety of learners and therefore explain hard things in terms that are clear from their standpoint.
• A good teacher is concrete, not abstract, specific, not general, precise, not vague, vulnerable, not evasive.
• A good teacher always asks, “So what?” and tries to see how discoveries shape our whole system of thought. He tries to relate discoveries to life and tries to avoid compartmentalizing.
• The goal of a good teacher is the transformation of all of life and thought into a Christ-honoring unity.

10. A Good Judge of Character

Jesus knew the hearts of men (Jn. 2:17) and he urged us to be perceptive in assessing others (Mt. 7:15ff.). Leaders must know who is fit for what kind of work. Good leaders have good noses. They can snoop out barnacles in a hurry, that is, people who are forever listening but never learning or changing. They can detect potential when they see it in a beginner. They can hear in a short time the echoes of pride and hypocrisy and worldliness. The spiritual leader steers a careful course between the dangers of rigid pigeonholing on the one hand and indifference on the other hand.

11. Tactful

Paul said in Colossians 4:5, 6, “Conduct yourself wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, to know how it is necessary to answer each one.” And the writer of Proverbs said, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (25:11). We must remember that leaders are aiming to change hearts, not just to get jobs done. Therefore, alienating people unnecessarily is self-defeating. Tact is that quality of grace that wins the confidence of people who are sure you won’t do or say something stupid. You can’t inspire a following if people have to hang their heads in embarrassment at the inappropriate and insensitive things you say or do. Tact is especially needed in a leader to help cope with embarrassing or tragic situations. For example, very often when you are leading a group someone will say something totally irrelevant, which is recognized to be very foolish by everyone in the group. A tactful leader must be able to divert the attention of the group back to the main course of the discussion without heaping scorn upon the individual. Another example, which I recall, comes from my experience at Wheaton College. I was present at the chapel service where V. Raymond Edman had a heart attack in the pulpit and fell over and died. Hudson Armerding, who followed him as president, was sitting behind him when Dr. Edman paused in his lecture, took one step to the side, and fell over. In one of the most beautiful and sensitive demonstrations of tact that I have ever seen, Dr. Armerding quickly kneeled beside him as 2,000 students fell silent. Then he stood, led us in a brief prayer committing Dr. Edman to the Lord, and dismissed the students quietly. Dr. Edman died as we walked out.

The tact of a leader must demonstrate itself in forthright confrontation. The person who is unwilling to approach a person who needs admonition or rebuke will not be a successful spiritual leader. Combined with his judgment of people’s character, a leader’s tact will enable him to handle delicate negotiations and opposing viewpoints. His choice of words will be astute rather than clumsy. (There is a big difference between saying, “Your foot is too big for this shoe” and “This shoe is too small for your foot”.)

12. Theologically Oriented

Colossians 3:17 says, “Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 2:16 speaks of the spiritual man as having the mind of Christ. A spiritual leader knows that all of life, down to its smallest detail, has to do with God. If we are to lead people to see and reflect God’s glory, we must think theologically about everything. We must work toward a synthesis of all things. We must probe to see how things fit together. How do war and sports and pornography and birthday celebrations and literature and space travel and disease and enterprise all hang together? How do they relate to God and his purposes?

Leaders must have a theological standpoint that helps give coherence to all things. This will give the leader a stability that keeps him from being knocked off his feet by sudden changes in circumstances or new winds of doctrine. He knows enough about God and his ways that things generally fit into a pattern and make sense even when they are unpleasant. So the leader does not throw up his hands but points the way onward to God.

13. A Dreamer

According to Joel 2:28, in the last days (in which we now live), “Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions.” This is the positive counterpart to restlessness. We must not only be discontent with the present but also dreaming dreams of what could be in the future. In 2 Kings 6:15-17, Elisha and his servant were surrounded by Assyrians in the city of Dothan. When the servant sees this and cries out with dismay, Elisha prays and says, “O Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Leaders can see the power of God overshadowing the problems of the future. This is a rare gift – to see the sovereign power of God in the midst of seemingly overwhelming opposition. Most people are experts at seeing all the problems and reasons not to move forward in a venture. Many pastors are ruined by boards who think that they have done their duty when they throw up every obstacle and problem to an idea that he brings. That’s cheap. Hope and solutions are expensive. The spirit of venturesomeness is at a premium today. 0, how we need people who will devote just five minutes a week to dream of what might possibly be. The text says that old men will dream dreams. How sad it is, then, to see so many old people assuming that their age means that now they can coast and turn over the creativity to the young. It is tragic when age makes a man jaded instead of increasingly creative. Every new church, every agency, every new ministry, every institution, every endeavor, is the result of someone having a vision and laying hold on it like a snapping turtle.

14. Organized and Efficient

A leader does not like clutter. He likes to know where and when things are for quick access and use. His favorite shape is the straight line, not the circle. He groans in meetings that do not move from premises to conclusions but rather go in irrelevant circles. When something must be done he sees a three-step plan for getting it done and lays it out. A leader sees the links between a board decision and its implementation. He sees ways to use time to the full and shapes his schedule to maximize his usefulness. He saves himself large blocks of time for his major productive activities. He uses little pieces of time lest they go to waste. (For example, what do you do while you are brushing your teeth? Could you set a magazine on the towel rack and read an article?) A leader takes time to plan his days and weeks and months and years. Even though it is God who ultimately directs the steps of the leader, he should plan his path. A leader is not a jellyfish that gets tossed around by the waves, nor is he an oyster that is immovable. The leader is the dolphin of the sea and can swim against the stream or with the stream as he plans.

15. Decisive

In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah cries out, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions: if the Lord is God follow him; but if Baal then follow him.” A leader cannot be paralyzed by indecisiveness. He will take risks rather than do nothing. He will soak himself in prayer and in the Word and then rest himself in God’s sovereignty as he makes decisions, knowing that he will very likely make some mistakes.

16. Perseverant

Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, “He who endures to the end will be saved.” Paul said in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not grow weary in well-doing.” We live in a day when immediate gratification is usually demanded. That means that very few people excel in the virtue of perseverance. Very few people keep on and keep on in the same ministry when there is significant difficulty. Vision without perseverance, however, results in fairy tales not fruitful ministry. My dad once told me that the reason he thinks many pastors fail to see revival in their churches is that they leave just before it is about to happen. The long haul is hard, but it pays. The big tree is felled by many, many little chops. The criticisms that come your way will be long forgotten if you keep on doing the Lord’s will.

17. A Lover

Here I am speaking directly to men who are husbands and leaders. Paul said in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives!” Love her! Love her! What does it profit a man if he gains a great following and lose his wife? What have we led people to if they see that it leads us to divorce? What we need today are leaders who are great lovers. Husbands who write poems for their wives and sing songs to their wives and buy flowers for their wives for no reason at all except that they love them. We need leaders who know that they should take a day alone with their wives every now and then; leaders who do not fall into the habit of deriding and putting their wives down, especially with careless little asides in public; leaders who speak well of their wives in public and complement them spontaneously when they are alone; leaders who touch her tenderly at other times besides when they are in bed. One of the greatest temptations of a busy leader is to begin to treat his wife as a kind of sex object. It starts to manifest itself when the only time he ever kisses her passionately or touches her tenderly is when he’s trying to allure her into bed. It is a tragic thing when a wife becomes a mannequin for masturbation. Learn what her delights are and bring her to the fullest experience of sexual climax. Talk with her and study her desires. Look her in the eye when you talk to her. Put down the paper and turn off the television. Open the door for her. Help her with the dishes. Throw her a party. LOVE HER! LOVE HER! If you don’t, all your success as a leader will very likely explode in failure at home.

18. Restful

We began with the quality of restlessness and we end with the quality of restful. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Ps. 127:1,2). The spiritual leader knows that ultimately the productivity of his labors rests in God and that God can do more while he is asleep than he could do while awake without God. He knows that Jesus said to his busy disciples, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while” (Mk. 6:31). He knows that one of the Ten Commandments was, “Six days shall you labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:9,10). He is not so addicted to work that he is unable to rest. He is a good steward of his life and health. He maximizes the totality of his labor by measuring the possible strains under which he can work without diminishing his efficiency of unduly shortening his life.

Conclusion

There are no doubt many other qualities which could be mentioned which, if a person has, would make him an even more successful leader. These are simply the ones that came to my mind as I was pondering this subject. one need not excel in every one of them. But the more fully each one is developed in a person the more powerful and fruitful he will be as a leader. Let me emphasize again that it is the inner circle that makes the leadership spiritual. All genuine leadership begins in a sense of desperation; knowledge that we are helpless sinners in need of a great savior. That moves us to listen to God in his Word and cry out to him for help and for insight in prayer. That leads us to trust in God and to hope in his great and precious promises. This frees us for a life of love and service which, in the end, causes people to see and give glory to our Father in heaven.

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By John Piper. © Desiring God. 
This article, reprinted here in its entirety, was originally posted at desiringGod.org.

Part One is available here.