3 of a Kind by Theodore Scott

Hello everyone. My name is Andrew and I was homeschooled.

It is true. For 10 years, through high school, I walked in those proud ranks.

And what a mighty force we were. Standing against the foes of cultural liberalism, the Democratic Party and the Public Educational System, we were a fell enemy to all things evil. Armed with our Latin, Logic and SAT scores we slew the ideas and perspectives we hated.

We measured ourselves against the ignorant horde of the Public Schooled and came out the Victors. It was we who were fair-minded. It was we who were free to think and reason. It was we who were preserved from State Controlled brain washing. It was we who had the best theology, the best philosophy and the best politics.

We bled republican red. We applied our proven grassroots ability and far-reaching networking to great success for our saviors in D.C. We fought to keep prayers public in the schools we shunned and we ached for our government to be run by Christians once again.

We spat upon the endless, mindless questioning of American-hating liberalism. We defended absolute Truth and repelled Mr. Darwin. We worked to keep our nation afloat in the seas of moral relativism. We were the sails and we were the rudder; predestined to put our Christian Country back on course.

We were the intellectual warriors, the fair-minded victors and the liberalism-squelching band of home-educated brothers. Ours was a proud tradition and we fought tooth and nail to defend it.

And yet.

I left the ranks of the Enlightened and upon entering the marketplace of ideas and results, I was humbled.

I found that I was not the conqueror and that there were scores of people educated differently than I who were far wiser and more intelligent than I.

I found that the Republican Party is just as nasty, spiteful and sin-filled than any political party anywhere in this sinning world.

I found that liberalism really does have some very searching questions, few of which I had developed any real solid answers for.

I found that my country is not really the greatest and that she will ultimately fall as all great countries have.

I found that I am just an ordinary guy relying on Jesus in a sinning, sorry world. I love myself too much. I love my mind too much. I love this world too much.

Home Education has much to offer. My parents did right by me in it. It took guts and gumption and they succeeded with flying colors. I know many more young men and women who have benefited from it as I have. My wife and I plan on homeschooling our own small children. Yet, it is still a human enterprise and as such, it is open to the same sin and vice as any activity engaged in by men.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Part 1

The Pharisee, according to his own perception of righteousness, had every reason to expect that he was right before God.  He followed all of the rules, He kept away from all of the sins, and he was absolutely more righteous than sinners like the tax collector.  Everyone knew how moral the Pharisee was and how utterly wicked and depraved the Tax Collector was.  This reality was not to be questioned.

Yet, the tax collector went home justified and the Pharisee did not.  The Tax Collector understood something vital: that he was indeed a sinner!  The Pharisee was right!  There was nothing in the tax collector to commend him to God.  There was nothing in his soul or in his heart that would make him in any way desirable or attractive to the Holy Lord.  He was utterly without help and hope apart from God’s sovereign mercy.  The Pharisee missed this key point: that he too was without hope apart from God’s Grace!  No matter how righteous he was, no matter how holy he was, no matter how lovely his prayers were or how much he fasted or how much he prayed, all of those works were filthy menstrual rags in comparison to the holiness of God, the holiness that is required for salvation.

This was the hope that the Tax Collector had.  That someway, somehow, God would overlook the blatantly obvious sin and still have mercy.  The Pharisee did not need this mercy.  God had already given it to him by making him so moral and upstanding that it inspired awe in those around him.  He exalted himself above the Tax Collector and above the people around him and above even God himself and Christ states that he did not go away justified.  Those who exalt themselves will be brought low.  Without Christ’s mercy, the Pharisee was damned.

And why was the Tax Collector justified?  Was it because of his righteous and holy repentance?  Certainly not!  He went home righteous because God heard his cry for mercy and loved and saved him.  The Tax Collector knew that he was lost apart from God’s mercy.  The Pharisee knew he was saved.  Christ did not come to save the righteous, but He did come to save sinners.  The Pharisee did not understand this reality.

How easy it would be to hate the Pharisee like the Pharisee hated the tax-collecting sinner!  “Lord, thank you that I’m not like other religious men!  I humbly pray three times a week, I give to the poor twice per year, I mourn over my sins every chance I get.  I thank you that I’m not like self-righteous men who try to earn their own salvation or even like this Pharisee.”  God forgive us for praying such prayers!  May he grant the mercy to repent like the Tax Collector, praying simply “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!”

Simply being a sinner is not enough to be saved.  A man can know he’s a sinner and that he is completely unrighteous, but if he is not humbled enough to cry for mercy like the Tax Collector, he will not find salvation.  There is really only one difference between the Pharisee and the Sinner.  The Sinner knows he is lost, whereas the Pharisee thinks he is saved.  Yet both are still lost.  It is not until a man cries for mercy and believes that that man finds the salvation he so desperately seeks and needs.

Religion is a very dangerous thing.  Having the understanding of salvation, or claiming to, can be an extremely powerful bargaining chip in the hands of wicked men.  People engage in all sorts of insanity to find salvation.  This is the beauty of Christ’s teachings, that only when one stops trying to be saved will he be in a position to attain it.  Christ did not come to save the righteous.  He came to save sinners.  He came to save men like the Tax Collector, who had nothing with which to commend himself to God.

Yet pharisaical men are not without hope.  The church’s greatest missionary, the Apostle Paul, described himself in his letter to the Philippians as being a man who had every reason to have confidence in and boast in his flesh by stating that he was “…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-6)  Paul put the Pharisee in Jesus’ story to absolute shame.  If that man was a good Pharisee, Paul was better.  According to the righteous under the law, Paul was blameless.  What was the difference then between Paul and this Pharisee?  The difference is found in verse 7 and 8, as Paul states: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7-8).  Paul understood the lesson of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  He knew that his righteousness was not enough.  If anyone had come close enough, it was Paul.  Paul’s heart beat with that of the penitent Tax Collector, not the Pharisee.  The self-proclaimed Chief of Sinners knew the wickedness of his heart and the hopelessness of trying to satisfy God’s righteousness apart from Jesus.  And that same humbled chief of sinners also knew something of the riches of the exaltation of being a son of God in Christ.

Perhaps one of the most poignant examples of Christ’s mercy to a man like the Tax Collector is the life of John Newton.  The author of the hymn “Amazing Grace” was a man who spent a great deal of time and exerted a great deal of effort to, like Jonah, run away from God.  After many years of fighting, this man was used of God in great and mighty ways (and through his hymns and his story, is still being used).  The inscription on his tombstone reads: “John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.”  This is the mercy that God has for sinners.  This grace is initially unlooked for, subsequently begged for and finally granted to the sinner; unearned, unexpected and above and beyond all hope.  Amazing grace, indeed!

Sermon Title – “Thankfulness for the Great Power of God”
Sermon Text – Revelation 11:15-19
Preacher – Jarrett Downs

I’m saved by grace, through faith in Christ
A sinner, now a saint
A rebel once, in Christ a son
All thanks to God, I’m saved

Although I’m saved, this life gets dark
God’s Hand is heavy still
When I despair of life and love
I thank His gracious will

God’s promises are sure and good
He loves His rebel own
When we are beat by lords and kings
Our God is on His Throne

The Church is beat and raped and killed
But still she marshals on
She’s kept by God, sustained by Grace
And loved by Christ the Son

The rule of God is over all
In times of love and strife
The Spirit keeps the Saints of God
In Christ the dead have life

The Church is made of sinners all
Of every kind and tribe
All sinners we in Christ are free
And loved by Him on high

All thanks to God who saves by grace
Through faith in Christ the Son
The Spirit moves and keeps the Church
Whose freedom has been won


Sermon Poetry , November 15, 2009
Sermon Title – “God and Adam in the Garden”
Sermon Text – Genesis 2:15-17
Preacher – Dr. Jim Renihan

In all of Creation was beauty to see
More lovely than can be designed
The Garden of Eden was perfectly made
Both lovely and wildly refined

The crowning achievement of all that was made
Was Adam in image of God
‘Twas beauty in Adam, in form and in heart
And lovely morality strong

Yet there in the Garden lived two comely trees
From one Adam never could eat
Consumption of one eternality gave
To eat of the other gave death

Required of Adam to perfectly live
Submission to Yahweh as Lord
With foul disobedience Adam would die
To follow or not Yahweh’s Word

With nasty rebellion, pure Adam chose death
And sin entered into the Earth
And sad separation between God and man
Brought death and much sorrow to birth

But even in sorrow a blessing proclaimed
A promise of Jesus the Lord
The Savior of many, the Ultimate Man
Who gave us salvation by works

In Adam humanity failed in the Fall
We shattered the promise of works
But now in our Adam, our Savior, our Christ
We’re saved by His grace in His works

Praise Father from whom all our blessings do flow
Praise Him all you Creatures below
Praise Him now you angels, the heavenly host
Praise Father, the Son and the Ghost

In Christ our salvation is won on the Cross
Through death do we sinners find love
In Christ we are chosen, foul worms are we all
In Christ we are made into sons!

And now in our Savior, we’ve life to obey
His righteousness covers our sins
Once sinners of darkness, now children of light
In Jesus, salvation is won

Sermon Poetry, 1 November 2009
Sermon Text – 2 Cor. 2:14-16

A fragrance of Jesus, a sweet smelling life
Lord, give me the mercy to be
A vessel to witness of Jesus’ great love
This mercy be showered on me

I’m planting the Gospel, I’m watering dirt
But haven’t the power to grow
The growing is given through Jesus’ shed blood
The Spirit enlivening stones

Although we aren’t many, Your mercy is large
You save how You will when You want
Lord, help us to trust You, though fearful we be
To suffer as Jesus above

Please keep us encouraged, to keep running on
To run further up, further in
Lord give perseverance, dear Father we pray
To stay in the race you have giv’n

Dear Father, this sinner is weak and is frail
With nary the strength to obey
Enable this sinner to love as I’m loved
The love of my Savior e’er sweet

I am not a righteous man.  tells me this.  I don’t truly fear the LORD, nor do I greatly delight in His commandments.  In fact, I seem to sin more than do good.  I am prideful in my sin against God.  Although I want to do good, I often don’t.  I’m rarely ever gracious and merciful.  I hate men in my heart and I covet what other people have.  I’m not a grace giver, and my pride keeps me from being a humble grace receiver.  

I do not deal generously.  When I do give it’s always with the taint of grumbling and selfishness.  The idea of lending without expecting a return is a hard concept for me.  Bad news scares me.  Hard times frighten me.  My heart quakes and my soul shakes when faced with the unknown.  I’m scared about the future and I have a hard time trusting the Lord when I am forced to deal with things outside of my control.  I’m stingy with my possessions.  I don’t give to the poor.  When I see the poor man, I am repulsed and I shy away from him.  

I’m a wicked man.  In my soul no real righteousness dwells.  My offspring won’t be mighty in the land, and if left to me, my generation would not be blessed.  My righteousness does not endure forever because I have no righteousness within me.  My heart is moved and I will not be remembered forever.  I will be forgotten.  I will not triumph over my adversaries in my righteousness.  I will not endure forever and I will not be exalted in honor.  

But God sent His Son for me.  Christ, the Righteous One, died for me.  Christ kept the Law for me.  Christ suffered for me.  

In Christ my sins are forgiven.  In Christ my heart is made new.  In Christ my affections are changed.  In Christ my desires and will are completely remade.  In Christ I am covered by His Blood.  In Christ I am clothed with His Righteousness

In Christ we will endure forever.  In Christ the Light dawns for us.  In Christ we are truly blessed.  In Christ we are remembered forevermore, by God and for God.  In Christ our hearts are held firm by His Pierced and Steady Hands.  In Christ death is defeated and bad news has no power over us.  In Christ our Enemies are defeated.

He’s the Savior of the poor, broken and downtrodden.  He’s the Salvation of Sinners and the Hope for the Lost.  His Righteousness endures forever and He is forever exalted.

I once saw Christ and I was angry.  I gnashed my teeth at Him and hated Him.  Yet, my desire perished.  My heart was remade.  Christ defeated me and made me new.  I am born again, in Christ, and I am forgiven.

Sermon Poetry, 4 October 2009
Sermon Title – “A Review of the Advantages and Difficulties of the Christian Life from Ephesians”
Sermon Text – Ephesians 4:17-32
Preacher – Pastor Larry Vincent

Good God, I’m a sinner
I love myself more than my neighbors around
My love is for me more than the Father, my God
Lord, save me by slaying my heart

Sweet Jesus, I’m helpless
I haven’t the strength to obey your commands
Your Salvation can’t come from keeping Your Law
Lord, save me by Jesus Your Son

Holy Spirit, I’m failing
Without Your good work, I will not become holy
I can’t and I won’t grow by myself in this world
Lord, save me and bring me to glory

I’m a Husband, a Father, Employee and Churchman
I’m called to obey in the paths that I tread
Without Jesus’ love and His Grace I will falter
Lord help me to love and to live for Your Name

Lord, bring me repentance
To honor Your name
So I’ll be like Jesus
Your mercies proclaim

Sermon Poetry – “Lord, Help Me”
Sermon Title – “Preaching Christ to the Natural Man”
Preacher – Dr. Tom Ascol

We live in a time where there’s gods all about
We’re proud of our pluralist ways
The people don’t know of the God of the Word
Ignoring the Ancient of Days

Lord help me when walking in markets and ways
When working among fellow men
Lord help me to preach Jesus Christ to the lost
To sinners, the lost and the damned

Lord help me be faithful to rightly engage
The culture in which I am pleased
To study and know it and judge it by truth
Lord help and show me Your Grace

Lord help me remember the sin of my heart
The sin that enslaves these around
Lord help me to love You and love neighbors too
A sinner was lost, now I’m found

In me light a fire that burns for Your Name
Your honor and glory proclaim
In culture around me, your honor to seek
Proclaiming Your glorious fame

Lord help me to study Your Scripture of Truth
And study the culture around
Respecting the sinner and loving the lost
In Christ, make the lost sinner found

And finally, Father, Your Truth will I tell
I haven’t the strength on my own
Please make me committed, Your glory to seek
Save sinners in Jesus the Son

Sermon Poetry – “Complete what You’ve Begun”
Sermon Title – “Preaching Christ to the Christian”
Preacher – Pastor Fred Malone

Although I’m saved I need the message of my Gospel King
The Revelation Fair and Sweet that Christ has died for me
I need to hear of Law and Sin and how I’ve been redeemed
I need to hear of Jesus Christ, the one who made me free

A slave was I, a rebel dead, I hated Good and Light
I railed against the Holy Law, its message did I fight
I felt I was a moral one, I had no need of Christ
I fought against His Cross of Love, I fought with all my might

But thank the Lord that He is strong, He won against my sin
His Holy Word broke through the haze, my heart did Jesus win
‘Twas Grace that saved a wretch like me, a rebel I had been
That Father chose, my Savior died, the Spirit lives within

So as I live, I need to have the Gospel preached to me
For I forget the Grace of Christ, the blood that washed me clean
The Law is kept by Christ alone, Redemption making free
The sinner’s heart, I look to Christ who died upon the Tree

The things I long to do I don’t, I do the things I hate
I long for good (engaging sin), to stay the Way called Straight
Oh who can save this wretched man, I thank the Father Great
For sending Christ to live and die, in Christ my heart is stayed

This road of life is long and heard, alone we all would fail
We all would walk the crooked way, in journeying to Hell
But thanks to God, we’re kept in Christ, His mercy makes us well
He gives us faith to walk the way, to gates wherein we’ll dwell

Oh Savior Sweet, Kind Jesus Fair! I come a man undone!
I have no strength within my frame, my weakened soul you’ve won
Lord, give me strength to walk the way you’ve chosen for this son
To love my neighbor, loving God, complete what you’ve begun

Sermon Poetry, 13  September 2009
Sermon Title – “Christian Liberty #3 – The Nature of Evil”
Sermon Text – Romans 14
Preacher – Steve Garrick

Much evil dwells
Within my heart
Oh, who can know my sin

My wickedness
Is black and foul
There dwells no good within

I take what’s good
Expressing sin
Engaging wickedness

What God has made
I take and use
I foul what God has blessed

I judge the one
Who’s bought by Christ
I am a hypocrite

Ignoring specks
I’m seeing logs
I’m blinded to the light

I am so weak
Lord make me strong
To battle sin within

Lord, teach me to
Your armor use
In Christ, the battle win

I set the sword,
The Scripture’s point
So I might fall on it

My sin’s exposed
My heart is pierced
That black and stinking pit

A sinner great
Is what I am
God’s love I cannot earn

Because of sin
I do deserve
In hell to scream and burn

But thank the Lord
He does not look
To me to save my life

He sent His Son
The perfect One
The bloodied spotless Christ

In Christ I’m saved
I’m covered with
His holy righteousness

I’m favored by
The Lord above
In Christ by God I’m blessed

In Christ I live
To do the will
Of God, Creator King

Although I sin
Christ prays for me
My song God’s glory sings

I thank the Lord
For sending Christ
So sinners might be saved

God does forgive
My sin within
In Christ my heart’s remade

Preacher – Jarrett Downs
Sermon Title – “Christian Liberty #2 – Freedom from the Law”
Sermon Text – Romans 7

It’s not freedom from the Law
In that I need not keep its word
Or trust emotions faint
Or do what’s right in my eyes

It fills my mouth with praise
To honor Christ as King
My bloodied Savior Lamb
My King and Perfect Potentate

Apart from Christ I am wed
To the Law I cannot keep
Perfection is Required
Then alas I am a whore

I need to be wed to Christ
The One who has kept the Law
Perfection He performed
In Christ, this sinner is freed and cleansed

This dirty prostitute
Is clothed in righteousness
The works of Jesus Christ
I now have freedom to obey

A means to sanctify
The Law is now to me
I’m freed from saving self
In Christ my heart is free

In Christ I can obey
To be like Jesus Christ
The Law is not my master
I’m wed to Jesus, my loving King

Outside of Christ we’re slaves
The Law’s an unforgiving master
Its requirements cannot be kept
As slaves, we are all rightly damned

But in Christ, our Righteous Lamb
We’re freed from the Law’s demands
We’re saved with Grace so free
We’re free in Christ to Live

Preacher – Jarrett Downs
Sermon Title – “Laodicea: The Church that Needed Nothing”
Sermon Text – Revelation 3:14-22

Jesus, You’re the Way, the Life, the Witness True
Your Word is Truth, You are the Truth
The Logos e’er divine

Forgive me, Jesus forgive me!
Neither hot nor cold, I’m tepid still
Repulsive to your taste

Forgive me, Jesus forgive me!
I think I’m rich and self-supplied
With nothing that I need

Have mercy, Jesus have mercy!
I’m naked, blind and wretched full
A man who’s pitied most

Have mercy, Jesus have mercy!
I think I’m rich, you know I’m poor
A man in need of Grace!

Have mercy, Jesus have mercy!
I’m poor, a wretched fool am I
A man deserving naught

Have mercy, Jesus have mercy!
Without Your Love I’m worse than sin
I don’t deserve rebuke

Sweet Jesus, sweet sweet Jesus!
You’ve saved a sinner poor and blind
You’ve clothed me in Your Love

Sweet Jesus, sweet sweet Jesus!
You condescend to Love this son
You bled so I might live

“If love is blind, lust is deaf, dumb and blind.”
– Jason Whitlock

Preacher – Jarrett Downs
Sermon Title – “The White-Washed Tombs of Sardis”, 9 August 2009
Sermon Text – “Revelation 3:1-6

I am comfortable, living laziness, I’m wearing a mask on my face
I’m an outward show, an inward show, a man who’s ignoring God’s Grace
My holiness is lacking, my sinfulness is growing
I’m living to earn Jesus’ Love
I want the glory of humanity, the memory of posterity
But when I stand before God, I am nothing

Jesus, you see my heart, you see my mind, You see the mask that I wear on my face
You see the outward show, you see the inward show, you see a sinner in need of Your Grace
My holiness is lacking my sinfulness is growing
I’m helpless to earn Jesus’ Love
Begon, oh glory of humanity, the memory of posterity
God I come to you broken, I am nothing

In Christ I live, In Christ I move, it is in Christ that I have all my being
By His blood I’m washed, by His blood I’m clean, in Christ by the Father I’m seen
Though holiness is lacking, Christ’s Grace is me is growing
I’m helpless to earn Jesus’ Love
I shout the glory of the Trinity, I yell His name for all posterity
In Christ my heart is softened, in Christ I am something

I live His name, it is by His Grace, so sinners like me can be saved
I tell His Love, I tell His Grace, for this goal my heart’s remade
Lord, holiness be giving, Christ’s Grace in my be growing
Please shower me with Jesus’ Love
To live the glory of the Trinity, to tell Your Name for all posterity
For Your Glory I am living,
For Your Honor I am telling,
So Your Worship will be growing … Jesus use me

Outside of the artists in the Square Peg Alliance, there is perhaps no musician today making better music or exhibiting more biblically edifying and encouraging music than Lecrae. This artistry is no more apparent than in his newest (and by far, best) offering to date, Rebel.

The album opens up with an awesome track aptly named “Rebel Intro”. This track sets the tune for the rest of the album with its direct statement that Jesus was a rebel, not because He was disobedient or rebellious per se, but because He was a “sanctified troublemaker” and obedient in perfection to the Father. The energy is maintained with the track “Don’t Waste Your Life”, and honest heart-felt appeal borrowed from the writings of John Piper to not waste your life on trivial pursuits, but to live life for the glory of God and for His renown.

Lecrae continues the plea to be a rebel in this world with the driving “God Hard” and the incredibly transparent, humbling and self-effacing “Indwelling Sin”, “Breathin’ to Death” and “Desparate”. The album continues with application in “Change”, “Fall Back”, “Live Free” and “Got Paper”.

Rebel ends in great encouragement with the songs “I’m a Saint” (reminiscent of Derek Webb’s “Saint and Sinner”), “The Bride” and “Beautiful Feet”. “The Bride” is an especially reassuring defense of the Church’s identity as Christ’s Bought Bride. Christians take a lot of flak in the World, many times justifiably so, yet this song asks us to consider ourselves not primarily as sinners, but as sinners loved by Jesus.

The whole album is worth a good long listen. Lecrae’s creative ability in songcraft is simply stunning, especially so when one couples the craft of the songs to their theological soundness and biblical consistency.  “Rebel” is worth the purchase cost and will be an encouragement to your soul.

“Don’t Waste Your Life” Sermon Jam (with John Piper audio), Download here

Download audio file (Dont_Waste_Your_Life_(Piper_Mix).mp3)