All,
I hope everyone is well. I met with Martin last night and he suggested something that I would like everyone to consider. He has the ability and know how to "Live Feed" our little group to the Internet. It would be cast to a different website that would link to our site, temporarily. Then that feed could be archived and viewed at any time. All that view it can be tracked. I know of people who do not attend but who are interested in what the Lord is doing here. What a perfect opportunity to reach others with these great truths and yet keep our immediate group at a manageable size! In addition, when people go out of town or miss group, they can catch up with what happened. There are many things that can be done on the site such as Posting the Outline of each study and having a chat forum. We don't know of anything like it on the Web. This could be an open door and then again it may just be a tool for our group. Martin will be back at group on Monday and we would like everyone to try and stay back about 20 to 30 minutes if possible for him to answer questions that you may have and to show you what can be done. I personally think it is a great idea and utilizes a gift that we have been given and a talent given to one of our members. It may be that if we put this out there, the Lord does not bless it. If that is the case, then it can be canceled and we will continue as we were. However, if the Lord does bless it and it grows, we will want to consider incorporating both our current site and the new site into one. Please also know that we can film in such a way that those who don't want to be shown on the Net will not have to be. Please consider and Pray about this and I look forward to speaking with you all over the weekend and or on Monday. May God richly bless each one of you!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wheat and Tares - By Matthew Henry
Commentary on Matthew 13:24-43 - "Observe, Such is the proneness of fallen man to sin, that if the enemy sow the tares, he may even go his way, they will spring up of themselves and do hurt; whereas, when good seed is sown, it must be tended, watered, and fenced, or it will come to nothing. The tares appeared not till the blade sprung up, and brought forth fruit. There is a great deal of secret wickedness in the hearts of men, which is long hid under the cloak of a plausible profession, but breaks out at last. As the good seed, so the tares, lie a great while under the clods, and at first springing up, it is hard to distinguish them; but when a trying time comes, when fruit is to be brought forth, when good is to be done that has difficulty and hazard attending it, then you will return a discern between the sincere and the hypocrite: then you may say, This is wheat, and that is tares."
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Upper Room Covenant Group
I Thessalonians 5:15-24 "See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearances of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."
All,
We are entering a new stage in the life of our Covenant Group. It has been relatively easy thus far. We are beginning to discuss doctrines that have divided many bodies of believers in Church History. Sometimes division is needed to preserve Holiness or Vital Doctrine, other times division has been because of pride or ambition. I have been praying that God will preserve this group if it be his will, from without and from within. I would ask everyone to search themselves and test their motives for being in this group. I know we are aware, but sometimes it is helpful to repeat it, we are all from different backgrounds and have different experiences. Some people may say things that we disagree with and some people may say things in a tone we do not like. Yet it is important to keep in mind the exhortation of numerous scripture. We are to prefer one another and are to be patient with one another in love, helping the weaker brothers and sisters. Yet I believe that we are also to bear with those brethren that may be bolder and more outspoken. The body consist of John Wesleys and George Whitefields. We all have different gifts and different "orchestrated" weaknesses. Something much higher than our belief, reputation or pride is at stake! We are being conformed to the image of Christ and there are people whom we do not know that are looking in at us to see if this work is of God. Let us all give one another the benefit of the doubt as we proceed. If we are offended, let us prove all things and hold to that which is good. God cares for his Children and will not look kindly on those who mistreat them. If this is not your heart then it may be best for you to leave now. If it is your heart, and I trust it is, then let us proceed in fear, being jealous for one an other's holiness and sanctification as we are our own. If we see sin or immaturity in another, let us approach them in love for their benefit and the strengthening of the body. Faithful is he that called us! Oh, let that be close to our hearts! If we are his children and act toward one another as the world does, he is faithful to chastise us to preserve us and Glorify his Holy Name.
I am not saying that anything is wrong but I see the danger of it and we should be extremely cautious as we proceed. This is not directed at anyone as much as it is directed at myself. I tend to speak before I think and if I were to offend you, I would hope that you would be gracious towards me and not speak ill of me or sneer behind my back. I have made mistakes and the Lord has been faithful to correct me. If you will not call me on my sins, then pray to God that he will correct me. I would consider this the loving and faithful act of a brother, sister and friend. I will do my best to be faithful in this respect to you as well. I Love, more than you can know, each member of our group and it is my deepest desire that God would move among us and send us out for from here for his Glory.
May God richly bless each one of you and may He cause His face to shine upon you.
All,
We are entering a new stage in the life of our Covenant Group. It has been relatively easy thus far. We are beginning to discuss doctrines that have divided many bodies of believers in Church History. Sometimes division is needed to preserve Holiness or Vital Doctrine, other times division has been because of pride or ambition. I have been praying that God will preserve this group if it be his will, from without and from within. I would ask everyone to search themselves and test their motives for being in this group. I know we are aware, but sometimes it is helpful to repeat it, we are all from different backgrounds and have different experiences. Some people may say things that we disagree with and some people may say things in a tone we do not like. Yet it is important to keep in mind the exhortation of numerous scripture. We are to prefer one another and are to be patient with one another in love, helping the weaker brothers and sisters. Yet I believe that we are also to bear with those brethren that may be bolder and more outspoken. The body consist of John Wesleys and George Whitefields. We all have different gifts and different "orchestrated" weaknesses. Something much higher than our belief, reputation or pride is at stake! We are being conformed to the image of Christ and there are people whom we do not know that are looking in at us to see if this work is of God. Let us all give one another the benefit of the doubt as we proceed. If we are offended, let us prove all things and hold to that which is good. God cares for his Children and will not look kindly on those who mistreat them. If this is not your heart then it may be best for you to leave now. If it is your heart, and I trust it is, then let us proceed in fear, being jealous for one an other's holiness and sanctification as we are our own. If we see sin or immaturity in another, let us approach them in love for their benefit and the strengthening of the body. Faithful is he that called us! Oh, let that be close to our hearts! If we are his children and act toward one another as the world does, he is faithful to chastise us to preserve us and Glorify his Holy Name.
I am not saying that anything is wrong but I see the danger of it and we should be extremely cautious as we proceed. This is not directed at anyone as much as it is directed at myself. I tend to speak before I think and if I were to offend you, I would hope that you would be gracious towards me and not speak ill of me or sneer behind my back. I have made mistakes and the Lord has been faithful to correct me. If you will not call me on my sins, then pray to God that he will correct me. I would consider this the loving and faithful act of a brother, sister and friend. I will do my best to be faithful in this respect to you as well. I Love, more than you can know, each member of our group and it is my deepest desire that God would move among us and send us out for from here for his Glory.
May God richly bless each one of you and may He cause His face to shine upon you.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Hasty Prayer
Ecclesiastes 5:2-Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let they words be few.
This verse needs no real exposition. How careful would we be if we were standing before the President of the United States? Regardless of how we felt about a President, I am sure that we would tread and speak carefully out of fear and respect. And yet, in most Churches and Christian gatherings, when the schedule says it's time to pray everyone bows their heads and someone starts praying before most people have closed their eyes. I am amazed at how quickly people just start running their mouth when they are supposed to be in the presense of God. Isn't prayer something that God calls us into? Does he not know what we need before we ask it? It is God who invites us into communion with him and WE receive benefits and blessings thereby. Let us, who believe in the Sovereignty of God not cast away this understanding when it comes to prayer. Yes, we may approach boldly but that does not mean presumptuously. If it were not for Christ and his Righteousness we could not come to the base of the Mountain, much less into the very throneroom. Make much of Christ! Cling to him, look to him and do not run infront of him into the Presence of God. Keep it in the forefront of your mind that our God is a Consuming Fire and as CS Lewis wrote, "He is not Tame."
This verse needs no real exposition. How careful would we be if we were standing before the President of the United States? Regardless of how we felt about a President, I am sure that we would tread and speak carefully out of fear and respect. And yet, in most Churches and Christian gatherings, when the schedule says it's time to pray everyone bows their heads and someone starts praying before most people have closed their eyes. I am amazed at how quickly people just start running their mouth when they are supposed to be in the presense of God. Isn't prayer something that God calls us into? Does he not know what we need before we ask it? It is God who invites us into communion with him and WE receive benefits and blessings thereby. Let us, who believe in the Sovereignty of God not cast away this understanding when it comes to prayer. Yes, we may approach boldly but that does not mean presumptuously. If it were not for Christ and his Righteousness we could not come to the base of the Mountain, much less into the very throneroom. Make much of Christ! Cling to him, look to him and do not run infront of him into the Presence of God. Keep it in the forefront of your mind that our God is a Consuming Fire and as CS Lewis wrote, "He is not Tame."
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Prayer
Last night my wife and I had a discussion on the effect of our prayers, and why it seems that most times God doesn't answer our petitions. I went back to AW Pink's book "The Sovreignty of God" and read the section on prayer. This is an excerpt that I thought might help some of us who struggle with this.
Our views respecting prayer need to be revised and brought into harmony with the teaching of Scripture on the subject. The prevailing idea seems to be that I come to God and ask Him for something that I want, and that I expect Him to give me that which I have asked. But this is a most dishonoring and degrading conception. The popular belief reduces God to a servant, our servant: doing our bidding, performing our pleasure, granting our desires. No; prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need, committing my way unto the Lord, and leaving Him to deal with it as seemeth Him best. This makes my will subject to His, instead of, as in the former case, seeking to bring His will into subjection to mine. No prayer is pleasing to God unless the spirit actuating it is "not my will, but Thine be done." "When God bestows blessings on a praying people, it is not for the sake of their prayers, as if He was inclined and turned by them; but it is for His own sake, and of His own Sovereign will and pleasure. Should it be said, to what purpose then is prayer? it is answered, This is the way and means God has appointed for the communication of the blessing of His goodness to His people. For though He has purposed, provided, and promised them, yet He will be sought unto, to give them, and it is a duty and privilege to ask. When they are blessed with a spirit of prayer it forebodes well, and looks as if God intended to bestow the good things asked, which should be asked always with submission to the will of God, saying, Not my will but Thine be done" (John Gill).
The distinction just noted above is of great practical importance for our peace of heart. Perhaps the one thing that exercises Christians as much as anything else is that of unanswered prayers. They have asked God for something: so far as they are able to judge they have asked in faith believing they would receive that for which they had supplicated the Lord: and they have asked earnestly and repeatedly, but the answer has not come. The result is that, in many cases, faith in the efficacy of prayer becomes weakened, until hope gives way to despair and the closet is altogether neglected. Is it not so?
Now will it surprise our readers when we say that every real prayer of faith that has ever been offered to God has been answered? Yet we unhesitatingly affirm it. But in saying this we must refer back to our definition of prayer. Let us repeat it. Prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need (or the need of others), committing my way unto the Lord, and then leaving Him to deal with the case as seemeth Him best. This leaves God to answer the prayer in whatever way He sees fit, and often, His answer may be the very opposite of what would be most acceptable to the flesh; yet, if we have really LEFT our need in His hands it will be His answer, nevertheless. Let us look at two examples.
In John 11 we read of the sickness of Lazarus. The Lord "loved" him, but He was absent from Bethany. The sisters sent a messenger unto the Lord acquainting Him of their brother's condition. And note particularly how their appeal was worded-"Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick." That was all. They did not ask Him to heal Lazarus. They did not request Him to hasten at once to Bethany. They simply spread their need before Him, committed the case into His hands, and left Him to act as He deemed best! And what was our Lord's reply? Did He respond to their appeal and answer their mute request? Certainly He did, though not, perhaps, in the way they had hoped. He answered by abiding "two days still in the same place where He was" (John 11:6), and allowing Lazarus to die! But in this instance that was not all. Later, He journeyed to Bethany and raised Lazarus from the dead. Our purpose in referring here to this case is to illustrate the proper attitude for the believer to take before God in the hour of need. The next example will emphasize rather, God's method of responding to His needy child.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul had been accorded an unheard-of privilege. He had been transported into Paradise. His ears had listened to and his eyes had gazed upon that which no other mortal had heard or seen this side of death. The wondrous revelation was more than the Apostle could endure. He was in danger of becoming "puffed up" by his extraordinary experience. Therefore, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, was sent to buffet him lest he be exalted above measure. And the Apostle spreads his need before the Lord; he thrice beseeches Him that this thorn in the flesh should be removed. Was his prayer answered? Assuredly, though not in the manner he had desired. The "thorn" was not removed but grace was given to bear it. The burden was not lifted but strength was vouchsafed to carry it.
Does someone object that it is our privilege to do more than spread our need before God? Are we reminded that God has, as it were, given us a blank check and invited us to fill it in? Is it said that the promises of God are all-inclusive, and that we may ask God for what we will? If so, we must call attention to the fact that it is necessary to compare Scripture with Scripture if we are to learn the full mind of God on any subject, and that as this is done we discover God has qualified the promises given to praying souls by saying "If ye ask anything according to His will He heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Real prayer is communion with God so that there will be common thoughts between His mind and ours. What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with His thoughts and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him. Here then is the meeting-place between God's Sovereignty and Christian prayer: If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us, and if we do not so ask He does not hear us; as saith the Apostle James, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" or desires (4:3).
But did not the Lord Jesus tell His disciples, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you" (John 16:23)? He did; but this promise does not give praying souls carte blanche. These words of our Lord are in perfect accord with those of the Apostle John: "If ye ask anything according to His will He heareth us." What is it to ask "in the name of Christ"? Surely it is very much more than a prayer formula, the mere concluding of our supplications with the words "in the name of Christ." To apply to God for anything in the name of Christ, it must needs be in keeping with what Christ is! To ask God in the name of Christ is as though Christ Himself were the suppliant. We can only ask God for what Christ would ask. To ask in the name of Christ is therefore to set aside our own wills, accepting God's!
Let us now amplify our definition of prayer. What is prayer? Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude-an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God. Prayer is a confession of creature weakness, yea, of helplessness. Prayer is the acknowledgment of our need and the spreading of it before God. We do not say that this is all there is in prayer, it is not: but it is the essential, the primary element in prayer. We freely admit that we are quite unable to give a complete definition of prayer within the compass of a brief sentence, or in any number of words. Prayer is both an attitude and an act, an human act, and yet there is the Divine element in it too, and it is this which makes an exhaustive analysis impossible as well as impious to attempt. But admitting this, we do insist again that prayer is fundamentally an attitude of dependency upon God. Therefore, prayer is the very opposite of dictating to God. Because prayer is an attitude of dependency, the one who really prays is submissive, submissive to the Divine will; and submission to the Divine will means that we are content for the Lord to supply our need according to the dictates of His own Sovereign pleasure. And hence it is that we say every prayer that is offered to God in this spirit is sure of meeting with an answer or response from Him.
Our views respecting prayer need to be revised and brought into harmony with the teaching of Scripture on the subject. The prevailing idea seems to be that I come to God and ask Him for something that I want, and that I expect Him to give me that which I have asked. But this is a most dishonoring and degrading conception. The popular belief reduces God to a servant, our servant: doing our bidding, performing our pleasure, granting our desires. No; prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need, committing my way unto the Lord, and leaving Him to deal with it as seemeth Him best. This makes my will subject to His, instead of, as in the former case, seeking to bring His will into subjection to mine. No prayer is pleasing to God unless the spirit actuating it is "not my will, but Thine be done." "When God bestows blessings on a praying people, it is not for the sake of their prayers, as if He was inclined and turned by them; but it is for His own sake, and of His own Sovereign will and pleasure. Should it be said, to what purpose then is prayer? it is answered, This is the way and means God has appointed for the communication of the blessing of His goodness to His people. For though He has purposed, provided, and promised them, yet He will be sought unto, to give them, and it is a duty and privilege to ask. When they are blessed with a spirit of prayer it forebodes well, and looks as if God intended to bestow the good things asked, which should be asked always with submission to the will of God, saying, Not my will but Thine be done" (John Gill).
The distinction just noted above is of great practical importance for our peace of heart. Perhaps the one thing that exercises Christians as much as anything else is that of unanswered prayers. They have asked God for something: so far as they are able to judge they have asked in faith believing they would receive that for which they had supplicated the Lord: and they have asked earnestly and repeatedly, but the answer has not come. The result is that, in many cases, faith in the efficacy of prayer becomes weakened, until hope gives way to despair and the closet is altogether neglected. Is it not so?
Now will it surprise our readers when we say that every real prayer of faith that has ever been offered to God has been answered? Yet we unhesitatingly affirm it. But in saying this we must refer back to our definition of prayer. Let us repeat it. Prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need (or the need of others), committing my way unto the Lord, and then leaving Him to deal with the case as seemeth Him best. This leaves God to answer the prayer in whatever way He sees fit, and often, His answer may be the very opposite of what would be most acceptable to the flesh; yet, if we have really LEFT our need in His hands it will be His answer, nevertheless. Let us look at two examples.
In John 11 we read of the sickness of Lazarus. The Lord "loved" him, but He was absent from Bethany. The sisters sent a messenger unto the Lord acquainting Him of their brother's condition. And note particularly how their appeal was worded-"Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick." That was all. They did not ask Him to heal Lazarus. They did not request Him to hasten at once to Bethany. They simply spread their need before Him, committed the case into His hands, and left Him to act as He deemed best! And what was our Lord's reply? Did He respond to their appeal and answer their mute request? Certainly He did, though not, perhaps, in the way they had hoped. He answered by abiding "two days still in the same place where He was" (John 11:6), and allowing Lazarus to die! But in this instance that was not all. Later, He journeyed to Bethany and raised Lazarus from the dead. Our purpose in referring here to this case is to illustrate the proper attitude for the believer to take before God in the hour of need. The next example will emphasize rather, God's method of responding to His needy child.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul had been accorded an unheard-of privilege. He had been transported into Paradise. His ears had listened to and his eyes had gazed upon that which no other mortal had heard or seen this side of death. The wondrous revelation was more than the Apostle could endure. He was in danger of becoming "puffed up" by his extraordinary experience. Therefore, a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, was sent to buffet him lest he be exalted above measure. And the Apostle spreads his need before the Lord; he thrice beseeches Him that this thorn in the flesh should be removed. Was his prayer answered? Assuredly, though not in the manner he had desired. The "thorn" was not removed but grace was given to bear it. The burden was not lifted but strength was vouchsafed to carry it.
Does someone object that it is our privilege to do more than spread our need before God? Are we reminded that God has, as it were, given us a blank check and invited us to fill it in? Is it said that the promises of God are all-inclusive, and that we may ask God for what we will? If so, we must call attention to the fact that it is necessary to compare Scripture with Scripture if we are to learn the full mind of God on any subject, and that as this is done we discover God has qualified the promises given to praying souls by saying "If ye ask anything according to His will He heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Real prayer is communion with God so that there will be common thoughts between His mind and ours. What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with His thoughts and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him. Here then is the meeting-place between God's Sovereignty and Christian prayer: If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us, and if we do not so ask He does not hear us; as saith the Apostle James, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" or desires (4:3).
But did not the Lord Jesus tell His disciples, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you" (John 16:23)? He did; but this promise does not give praying souls carte blanche. These words of our Lord are in perfect accord with those of the Apostle John: "If ye ask anything according to His will He heareth us." What is it to ask "in the name of Christ"? Surely it is very much more than a prayer formula, the mere concluding of our supplications with the words "in the name of Christ." To apply to God for anything in the name of Christ, it must needs be in keeping with what Christ is! To ask God in the name of Christ is as though Christ Himself were the suppliant. We can only ask God for what Christ would ask. To ask in the name of Christ is therefore to set aside our own wills, accepting God's!
Let us now amplify our definition of prayer. What is prayer? Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude-an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God. Prayer is a confession of creature weakness, yea, of helplessness. Prayer is the acknowledgment of our need and the spreading of it before God. We do not say that this is all there is in prayer, it is not: but it is the essential, the primary element in prayer. We freely admit that we are quite unable to give a complete definition of prayer within the compass of a brief sentence, or in any number of words. Prayer is both an attitude and an act, an human act, and yet there is the Divine element in it too, and it is this which makes an exhaustive analysis impossible as well as impious to attempt. But admitting this, we do insist again that prayer is fundamentally an attitude of dependency upon God. Therefore, prayer is the very opposite of dictating to God. Because prayer is an attitude of dependency, the one who really prays is submissive, submissive to the Divine will; and submission to the Divine will means that we are content for the Lord to supply our need according to the dictates of His own Sovereign pleasure. And hence it is that we say every prayer that is offered to God in this spirit is sure of meeting with an answer or response from Him.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Christ vs. Moralism
First, I want to apologize for this long post. There is actually a second part to this which is rich in truth, but for this morning this will do. As I was meeting with three other men this morning we entered into a discussion on the validity of moralism. What I mean by that is the great human effort to change our laws/government to conform to the Bibical tenets of Christainity. I thought this article was very good not only in response to this but putting our motivation in the right place. I hope you have time to read it, I know it will enrich your walk.
Christ vs. Moralism by John W. Hendryx
Death is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23) and Jesus Christ had none (Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5; 2 Cor 5:21). Death, therefore, had no rightful claim on Him thus Jesus died an unnatural death. This means that Jesus, the true remnant of Israel, alone fulfilled the covenant from our side, pleasing God. And all who are united to Him share in His distinction that death has no rightful claim on them (6:23b). So Jesus alone is our focus, our religion, our righteousness. Yet we still, as Christians often get caught up in our own spirituality. That is, we focus incessantly on how we are doing, whether reading the Word, praying, involving myself in a body of like-minded believers, being a witness,. etc. We often do this in a way where we expect to win God's approval and somehow become more spiritual. While all these things are all good and helpful when done in the right spirit, it is not exactly what is meant by giving oneself fully to the Lord, or being spiritual.
To give oneself to the Lord means that you begin align yourself with God and his redemptive plan for the world. It means to lose all confidence in oneself and recognize Jesus as the all in all. The gospel remains our only hope as a Christian. All of these other activities don't make you in any way more pleasing to God. He is already pleased with you in Christ and the covenant he has made with you in Him. When we realize this, these other activities are overflow, not duty driven acts to put on our spiritual resumé. Our delight is in the Lord and the story of His redemptive activity through history culminating in his finished work in Christ on the cross. It is not about our piety ... instead we work out of salvation in fear and trembling before the Lord. The more we look at Him the more we are transformed into His likeness (2 Cor 2:18). As long as we view the core of spirituality as some morbid self-introspection and practice of disciplines then we fall into the danger of taking our eyes off of Jesus.
Sinclair Ferguson aptly said, "from the New Testament's point of view, those who have almost forgotten about their own spirituality because their focus is so exclusively on their union with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished are those who are growing and exhibiting fruitfulness. Historically speaking, whenever the piety of a particular group is focused on OUR spirituality that piety will eventually exhaust itself on its own resources. Only where our piety forgets about itself and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ."
So the question often arises to me about how much spiritual activity is enough? The answer is the same every time: what Jesus has accomplished for you is already sufficient. God is as pleased as He can be with you and could not be more pleased with you because of Jesus. Preach this gospel to yourself every day and you will begin to see a new world open before you. You will rest in Christ's completed work and out of the overflow of the new life you have in Him, you will do all things filled with the Holy Spirit. He becomes greater while you become less. The most mundane, banal activity then becomes spiritual ... not simply when you are reading your Bible. You don't curry God's favor or earn more points in heaven by your activities. God has set his affection on you. You are his son - this is a reality to those who are in Christ. Recall in the parable of the prodigal son where the older brother is angry with God because he said, "I have worked all my life for you and never given me a slaughtered calf." He saw his relationship with his father as a servant rather than a son. First, you must know that you are worse than could ever be imagined and are impotent to do anything on your own. Such despairing in oneself is necessary to true spirituality. Yet God is more gracious than you imagined and adopts you as his very own son. When you know you are thus loved then all of what you do will reflect that. You will forgive others, and delight in good works not because God needs to be appeased, but because you are loved by him and that overflows in your life to others. Oh, but how easy it is to forget this and slip back into perfectionism. The Apostle Paul waned against this tendency in Galatians 3:3 when he said, "having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Here we clearly see Paul's frustration in persons who think that we start with grace in the gospel but then move on to perfection through other means.
A common religion of our time is one of moralism, and many evangelicals tend to moralism without even realizing they are. Moralism seeks to achieve perfection through behavior modification. It often accompanies the religion of "family values" that we hear about each day on the radio. This kind of religion risks self-righteously looking down on unbelievers by putting our supposed morality in a comparison with theirs. It is as if we believe our entrance into Christianity is by grace but that our lives in Christ are due to our maintained by some kind of moralism. Those who believe this fall into the trap of (at least subconsciously) believing that is not grace alone that make us to differ with others. But we must always remember that God's commands to us to be holy and love our neighbor etc. are not there to show our ability, but to reveal our inability (Rom 3:19, 20). So instead of spending our time gazing at our navels in the hope that we become more spiritual and can attain some kind of perfection, true Christianity recognizes and faces up to our sinful imperfection. We can never obey God's commands no matter how hard we try. Anyone who thinks that they could possibly live sinlessly for an hour or a day has not yet come face to face with God and his utter holiness. We flatter ourselves to think this way but the apostolic assertion is that if a man shall keep the whole law and yet offend at one point he is guilty of all.
The good news is that we do not need to ascend to God via human effort (an impossible supposition) because He has descended to us. The philosophy of the age, even among Christians who should know better, is to focus on what we human beings can do to be saved. True Christianity, I believe, teaches that there is nothing we can do... we must despair of ourselves, because what we could not do for ourselves, Christ has done for us. Unfortunately a large percentage of Christians think moralism, avoiding wrongdoing of every kind, is what Christianity is all about, (otherwise why so much effort to get our morals put into law) not realizing that we need to repent of trusting in our good deeds and bad ones. Paul, says to the Philippians that all his good works are but rubbish compared to Christ. But even though we know this, our remaining corruption still deceives us sometimes into thinking that God wants something from us other than Christ. It is easy to see that much of Christianity has slipped into this error because the barriers and differences with Roman Catholicism seem to be coming down everywhere I look. Even in Peter Jennings interview with member's of Ted Haggard's church people were saying that they don't see that much difference anymore. I am not saying that unity would not be a good thing, but this unity is not based on truth but on family values, political alliances and morality, all of which are not the gospel.
But none of us can live up to the high standards we impose upon ourselves and often hide it when we fail, thinking that we must put on a good face to other Christians. That is called hypocrisy. Our many attempts at perfection often lead to immoral behavior, especially when it makes us feel superior to others. Rather, we should lead with our weaknesses and admit our sinfulness which points each other and the world to Christ. The world would believe us much more if we simply stopped pretending and boasting about being so much more moral than we really are. Real humility would go a long way in opening eyes for the problem with humanity is not simply our committing various sins, but with our very natures which we desperately need to be delivered from, something only Christ can do, not only at the beginning of our salvation, but each day. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be good, it is God's command, but when we are honest, not one is able to even come close to achieving this goal.
All ways which consist of human effort to reach God, whether it be through the will, intellect or emotions, are futile. We have no hope to reach God this way, for not only do we utterly fail to live up to God's holy law, but we have no desire to do so, except by God's grace. True Christian piety begins with God's decent to us in Christ and our ascent to Him through Christ. This leaves zero room for human pride. It is all about what God does for us. Only Christ fulfilled the covenant and achieved the moral perfection that a holy God justly requires. And his death bore the punishment for our willful rebellion and sinful passions. The Scripture requires perfection of you, but you don't have the moral ability to do it. God commands us to be righteousness then turns around and says that we have none (Isaiah 64:6). All self-righteousness is, therefore, out the door. We are guilty of sin against a holy God and therefore, justly deserve God's wrath. Agreeing with this reveals that the Holy Spirit has begun doing a work of grace in you and is the first step in conversion. God law, therefore, must be preached to the proud but the gospel to the broken-hearted, as Martin Luther says. When the Law breaks our pride, autonomy, self-sufficiency and the belief in the utter impotence to save ourselves, then and only then does the gospel become good news (and understandable). Any pulpit or gospel presentation that leaves out God's wrath presents an incomplete and incomprehensible "gospel", but many are doing it. Only in Christ are God's holy demands toward us fully satisfied. The Scripture testifies that believing that this is accomplished, not by our will, but by the grace of God (Rom 9:16; John 6:65). The preachers job, therefore, is to continually place the law and the gospel before Christians. May the Lord Jesus richly bless you.
Christ vs. Moralism by John W. Hendryx
Death is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23) and Jesus Christ had none (Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5; 2 Cor 5:21). Death, therefore, had no rightful claim on Him thus Jesus died an unnatural death. This means that Jesus, the true remnant of Israel, alone fulfilled the covenant from our side, pleasing God. And all who are united to Him share in His distinction that death has no rightful claim on them (6:23b). So Jesus alone is our focus, our religion, our righteousness. Yet we still, as Christians often get caught up in our own spirituality. That is, we focus incessantly on how we are doing, whether reading the Word, praying, involving myself in a body of like-minded believers, being a witness,. etc. We often do this in a way where we expect to win God's approval and somehow become more spiritual. While all these things are all good and helpful when done in the right spirit, it is not exactly what is meant by giving oneself fully to the Lord, or being spiritual.
To give oneself to the Lord means that you begin align yourself with God and his redemptive plan for the world. It means to lose all confidence in oneself and recognize Jesus as the all in all. The gospel remains our only hope as a Christian. All of these other activities don't make you in any way more pleasing to God. He is already pleased with you in Christ and the covenant he has made with you in Him. When we realize this, these other activities are overflow, not duty driven acts to put on our spiritual resumé. Our delight is in the Lord and the story of His redemptive activity through history culminating in his finished work in Christ on the cross. It is not about our piety ... instead we work out of salvation in fear and trembling before the Lord. The more we look at Him the more we are transformed into His likeness (2 Cor 2:18). As long as we view the core of spirituality as some morbid self-introspection and practice of disciplines then we fall into the danger of taking our eyes off of Jesus.
Sinclair Ferguson aptly said, "from the New Testament's point of view, those who have almost forgotten about their own spirituality because their focus is so exclusively on their union with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished are those who are growing and exhibiting fruitfulness. Historically speaking, whenever the piety of a particular group is focused on OUR spirituality that piety will eventually exhaust itself on its own resources. Only where our piety forgets about itself and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ."
So the question often arises to me about how much spiritual activity is enough? The answer is the same every time: what Jesus has accomplished for you is already sufficient. God is as pleased as He can be with you and could not be more pleased with you because of Jesus. Preach this gospel to yourself every day and you will begin to see a new world open before you. You will rest in Christ's completed work and out of the overflow of the new life you have in Him, you will do all things filled with the Holy Spirit. He becomes greater while you become less. The most mundane, banal activity then becomes spiritual ... not simply when you are reading your Bible. You don't curry God's favor or earn more points in heaven by your activities. God has set his affection on you. You are his son - this is a reality to those who are in Christ. Recall in the parable of the prodigal son where the older brother is angry with God because he said, "I have worked all my life for you and never given me a slaughtered calf." He saw his relationship with his father as a servant rather than a son. First, you must know that you are worse than could ever be imagined and are impotent to do anything on your own. Such despairing in oneself is necessary to true spirituality. Yet God is more gracious than you imagined and adopts you as his very own son. When you know you are thus loved then all of what you do will reflect that. You will forgive others, and delight in good works not because God needs to be appeased, but because you are loved by him and that overflows in your life to others. Oh, but how easy it is to forget this and slip back into perfectionism. The Apostle Paul waned against this tendency in Galatians 3:3 when he said, "having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Here we clearly see Paul's frustration in persons who think that we start with grace in the gospel but then move on to perfection through other means.
A common religion of our time is one of moralism, and many evangelicals tend to moralism without even realizing they are. Moralism seeks to achieve perfection through behavior modification. It often accompanies the religion of "family values" that we hear about each day on the radio. This kind of religion risks self-righteously looking down on unbelievers by putting our supposed morality in a comparison with theirs. It is as if we believe our entrance into Christianity is by grace but that our lives in Christ are due to our maintained by some kind of moralism. Those who believe this fall into the trap of (at least subconsciously) believing that is not grace alone that make us to differ with others. But we must always remember that God's commands to us to be holy and love our neighbor etc. are not there to show our ability, but to reveal our inability (Rom 3:19, 20). So instead of spending our time gazing at our navels in the hope that we become more spiritual and can attain some kind of perfection, true Christianity recognizes and faces up to our sinful imperfection. We can never obey God's commands no matter how hard we try. Anyone who thinks that they could possibly live sinlessly for an hour or a day has not yet come face to face with God and his utter holiness. We flatter ourselves to think this way but the apostolic assertion is that if a man shall keep the whole law and yet offend at one point he is guilty of all.
The good news is that we do not need to ascend to God via human effort (an impossible supposition) because He has descended to us. The philosophy of the age, even among Christians who should know better, is to focus on what we human beings can do to be saved. True Christianity, I believe, teaches that there is nothing we can do... we must despair of ourselves, because what we could not do for ourselves, Christ has done for us. Unfortunately a large percentage of Christians think moralism, avoiding wrongdoing of every kind, is what Christianity is all about, (otherwise why so much effort to get our morals put into law) not realizing that we need to repent of trusting in our good deeds and bad ones. Paul, says to the Philippians that all his good works are but rubbish compared to Christ. But even though we know this, our remaining corruption still deceives us sometimes into thinking that God wants something from us other than Christ. It is easy to see that much of Christianity has slipped into this error because the barriers and differences with Roman Catholicism seem to be coming down everywhere I look. Even in Peter Jennings interview with member's of Ted Haggard's church people were saying that they don't see that much difference anymore. I am not saying that unity would not be a good thing, but this unity is not based on truth but on family values, political alliances and morality, all of which are not the gospel.
But none of us can live up to the high standards we impose upon ourselves and often hide it when we fail, thinking that we must put on a good face to other Christians. That is called hypocrisy. Our many attempts at perfection often lead to immoral behavior, especially when it makes us feel superior to others. Rather, we should lead with our weaknesses and admit our sinfulness which points each other and the world to Christ. The world would believe us much more if we simply stopped pretending and boasting about being so much more moral than we really are. Real humility would go a long way in opening eyes for the problem with humanity is not simply our committing various sins, but with our very natures which we desperately need to be delivered from, something only Christ can do, not only at the beginning of our salvation, but each day. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be good, it is God's command, but when we are honest, not one is able to even come close to achieving this goal.
All ways which consist of human effort to reach God, whether it be through the will, intellect or emotions, are futile. We have no hope to reach God this way, for not only do we utterly fail to live up to God's holy law, but we have no desire to do so, except by God's grace. True Christian piety begins with God's decent to us in Christ and our ascent to Him through Christ. This leaves zero room for human pride. It is all about what God does for us. Only Christ fulfilled the covenant and achieved the moral perfection that a holy God justly requires. And his death bore the punishment for our willful rebellion and sinful passions. The Scripture requires perfection of you, but you don't have the moral ability to do it. God commands us to be righteousness then turns around and says that we have none (Isaiah 64:6). All self-righteousness is, therefore, out the door. We are guilty of sin against a holy God and therefore, justly deserve God's wrath. Agreeing with this reveals that the Holy Spirit has begun doing a work of grace in you and is the first step in conversion. God law, therefore, must be preached to the proud but the gospel to the broken-hearted, as Martin Luther says. When the Law breaks our pride, autonomy, self-sufficiency and the belief in the utter impotence to save ourselves, then and only then does the gospel become good news (and understandable). Any pulpit or gospel presentation that leaves out God's wrath presents an incomplete and incomprehensible "gospel", but many are doing it. Only in Christ are God's holy demands toward us fully satisfied. The Scripture testifies that believing that this is accomplished, not by our will, but by the grace of God (Rom 9:16; John 6:65). The preachers job, therefore, is to continually place the law and the gospel before Christians. May the Lord Jesus richly bless you.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A Premium on Sin?
Luke 7:41-47 "A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? - Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven for she loved much. But he who is forgiven loves little."
When I was a teenager of about 18, I was speaking with a friend about my salvation. I told her how I had said the "Prayer of Salvation" when I was six and sincerely meant it. I commented to this friend that I wished I had not been saved at such a young age because I had not experienced enough sin in my life to appreciate the Grace of God as much as others who had sinned greatly. I used this verse as my basis for this belief.
I want you to think very hard about this and the working of the Holy Spirit in your own conversion. Please, for the sake of your own Soul, consider again the parable in Luke above.
If we take this scripture at face value, then Christ is putting a premium on sin. He is teaching that those who run up the most debt will value their salvation more than those who have sinned less. If this is the case, should we sin more and then come to Christ so that we can highly esteem this Grace? God Forbid! This is not the teaching of Scripture. It is not the value or number of our sins that Christ is here speaking about. It is the realization and understanding of the depth and greatness of our sin against the Greatness and Goodness of a Holy God. This is an understanding that is given by the Holy Spirit. It does not come to the natural mind. (1 Corinthians)
Consider this, especially if you were "Saved" as a young child or grew up in a Christian Home. You have been born with the same depraved nature as every other vile sinner on earth. "But I have not committed great sins" you may say. Ah, but it is in the little sins that your nature may be most clearly revealed. For example, there is nothing in our physical makeup or in nature itself that would cause us to think or speak of God and his attributes as a small thing. There is nothing in a man's genetic makeup or physical body that should cause him to brake the 3rd Commandment. Other sins, such as gluttany could almost be excused because we eat to survive and may eat more than we should because something taste good or because we are not as hungry as we thought. We tend to fall to those things which make us feel good or that we recieve some benifit from. What benifit do we recieve from Cursing or using the Lords name without reverence? We do not use the name of Hitler as an explitive do we? Why is that? Why do we take the name of a good God, who has given us life, love, hapiness, good food, air to breath and many other things and use it as a small thing or an explitive. How sinful is this nature of ours?
Examine yourself by scripture. Examine your experience by scripture. Can you see the Holy Spirit in your past, not only convicting you of sin but testifying to your condemnation before a Holy and Just God? Was there a time when he stripped you of your own righteousness and works and left you naked and destitute at the foot of the Cross? If not, who will stand before God in your stead on that day? Will it be Christ and his righteousness or will it be you and your own righteousness? Oh, how dreadful to be judged by your own works? Please, examine yourself. Fear! Lest a promise being left us, you seem to come short of.
There is no premium on sin. All are forgiven much! It is evident that some people have a deeper knowledge of how much they have been forgiven than others. Some learn this quickly while others grow in this understanding. How great is this God and how sinful are we? There is none righteous, no not one. We have all gone out of the way. No man will come unto the Father but through Christ. All must be stripped of their own righteousness before Christ will impute to them his.
When I was a teenager of about 18, I was speaking with a friend about my salvation. I told her how I had said the "Prayer of Salvation" when I was six and sincerely meant it. I commented to this friend that I wished I had not been saved at such a young age because I had not experienced enough sin in my life to appreciate the Grace of God as much as others who had sinned greatly. I used this verse as my basis for this belief.
I want you to think very hard about this and the working of the Holy Spirit in your own conversion. Please, for the sake of your own Soul, consider again the parable in Luke above.
If we take this scripture at face value, then Christ is putting a premium on sin. He is teaching that those who run up the most debt will value their salvation more than those who have sinned less. If this is the case, should we sin more and then come to Christ so that we can highly esteem this Grace? God Forbid! This is not the teaching of Scripture. It is not the value or number of our sins that Christ is here speaking about. It is the realization and understanding of the depth and greatness of our sin against the Greatness and Goodness of a Holy God. This is an understanding that is given by the Holy Spirit. It does not come to the natural mind. (1 Corinthians)
Consider this, especially if you were "Saved" as a young child or grew up in a Christian Home. You have been born with the same depraved nature as every other vile sinner on earth. "But I have not committed great sins" you may say. Ah, but it is in the little sins that your nature may be most clearly revealed. For example, there is nothing in our physical makeup or in nature itself that would cause us to think or speak of God and his attributes as a small thing. There is nothing in a man's genetic makeup or physical body that should cause him to brake the 3rd Commandment. Other sins, such as gluttany could almost be excused because we eat to survive and may eat more than we should because something taste good or because we are not as hungry as we thought. We tend to fall to those things which make us feel good or that we recieve some benifit from. What benifit do we recieve from Cursing or using the Lords name without reverence? We do not use the name of Hitler as an explitive do we? Why is that? Why do we take the name of a good God, who has given us life, love, hapiness, good food, air to breath and many other things and use it as a small thing or an explitive. How sinful is this nature of ours?
Examine yourself by scripture. Examine your experience by scripture. Can you see the Holy Spirit in your past, not only convicting you of sin but testifying to your condemnation before a Holy and Just God? Was there a time when he stripped you of your own righteousness and works and left you naked and destitute at the foot of the Cross? If not, who will stand before God in your stead on that day? Will it be Christ and his righteousness or will it be you and your own righteousness? Oh, how dreadful to be judged by your own works? Please, examine yourself. Fear! Lest a promise being left us, you seem to come short of.
There is no premium on sin. All are forgiven much! It is evident that some people have a deeper knowledge of how much they have been forgiven than others. Some learn this quickly while others grow in this understanding. How great is this God and how sinful are we? There is none righteous, no not one. We have all gone out of the way. No man will come unto the Father but through Christ. All must be stripped of their own righteousness before Christ will impute to them his.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Arise Thou That Sleepest!
John 11:43 "And when he thus had spoken, he cried out with a loud voice, Laz'arus, come forth."
Have you ever wondered why Jesus called out Lazarus by name? Martin Lloyd Jones said that if he did not clarify who he was calling, all the dead would have come forth. I agree with him. How powerful is this God of ours? Wasn't it this very Lord who called forth the World out of darkness by a word?
This story is a wonderful picture of the New Birth pictured in Ezekiel 36 & 37. The scripture takes special pains to show that Lazarus was DEAD. He was not in a coma, for he stinketh. Ask yourself this question. Could Lazarus of his own power have raised himself from the dead? In the very same way that Lazarus was physically dead, we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). Look how Romans 3 portrays the unregenerate and see the similarities. They have no life within them, nothing that can reconcile them to God. We are unable to make ourselves spiritually alive, just as Lazarus was not able to bring himself back to life.
Where did the power come from? Where did the life come from? The power was clearly not in the man's faith. It goes against logic and sound reason that a dead man can have and excersize anything, especially faith. The power was in the command of the Lord. The Life was in the Lord's command. Lazarus came forth in response to the power spoken in the command. Look at Matthew 12:13 and you will see the same thing. Jesus told the man with the withered hand to "stretch forth thine hand." The man responded in faith to the command of the Lord. It is God who calls into existence. He makes alive that which was dead. It is those that liveth that believe and those that believe that will inherit eternal life (Matthew 11:26).
Lastly, consider now Ezekiel 18:31,32 - "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." See also 2 Peter 3:9 Will you attribute this work to a man? That would be the very definition of a "Works Salvation". One may say, "That may be so and all that you say may be true, but this command has been given to everyone and therefore everyone may arise by the power of the command." But let us consider scripture. Is that what God has revealed? IS he speaking to everyone, or is he is speaking to Israel. Hebrews 8:8 - "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel" -Romans 9:6-8 - "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED BE CALLED. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Oh, Consider! What do we say when we call the world God's children. Romans 11:26 - "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There Shall Come Out of Zion The Deliverer, And Shall Turn Away UnGodliness From Jacob." The promise is only meant for the Seed, the Seed are made alive and prove themselves to be the Seed and alive by believing, and believing, they live eternally. How wonderful!
Who is like unto our God! Who will cause the blind to see and the mute to speak? Who will raise the dead? And consider the blessedness of this people that he has chosen for himself. Are they not blessed indeed? Not because of anything within them but because of who they are in. Because of Who has made them alive and who they have been made alive in. The worth is in the Creator of Life, not in the creature. Words cannot describe the praise that is due such a Holy and Worthy God. May this encourage us to seek out and gather in his Children, call out to everyone to repent and come to the Supper of the Lamb and know that his children WILL hear, and Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit will bring them forth. We do not have to convince anyone against their will. Christ will give them new hearts and they will respond in Faith. Praise him, worship and obey him. Let Angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of All.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus called out Lazarus by name? Martin Lloyd Jones said that if he did not clarify who he was calling, all the dead would have come forth. I agree with him. How powerful is this God of ours? Wasn't it this very Lord who called forth the World out of darkness by a word?
This story is a wonderful picture of the New Birth pictured in Ezekiel 36 & 37. The scripture takes special pains to show that Lazarus was DEAD. He was not in a coma, for he stinketh. Ask yourself this question. Could Lazarus of his own power have raised himself from the dead? In the very same way that Lazarus was physically dead, we are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). Look how Romans 3 portrays the unregenerate and see the similarities. They have no life within them, nothing that can reconcile them to God. We are unable to make ourselves spiritually alive, just as Lazarus was not able to bring himself back to life.
Where did the power come from? Where did the life come from? The power was clearly not in the man's faith. It goes against logic and sound reason that a dead man can have and excersize anything, especially faith. The power was in the command of the Lord. The Life was in the Lord's command. Lazarus came forth in response to the power spoken in the command. Look at Matthew 12:13 and you will see the same thing. Jesus told the man with the withered hand to "stretch forth thine hand." The man responded in faith to the command of the Lord. It is God who calls into existence. He makes alive that which was dead. It is those that liveth that believe and those that believe that will inherit eternal life (Matthew 11:26).
Lastly, consider now Ezekiel 18:31,32 - "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." See also 2 Peter 3:9 Will you attribute this work to a man? That would be the very definition of a "Works Salvation". One may say, "That may be so and all that you say may be true, but this command has been given to everyone and therefore everyone may arise by the power of the command." But let us consider scripture. Is that what God has revealed? IS he speaking to everyone, or is he is speaking to Israel. Hebrews 8:8 - "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel" -Romans 9:6-8 - "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, IN ISAAC SHALL THY SEED BE CALLED. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Oh, Consider! What do we say when we call the world God's children. Romans 11:26 - "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There Shall Come Out of Zion The Deliverer, And Shall Turn Away UnGodliness From Jacob." The promise is only meant for the Seed, the Seed are made alive and prove themselves to be the Seed and alive by believing, and believing, they live eternally. How wonderful!
Who is like unto our God! Who will cause the blind to see and the mute to speak? Who will raise the dead? And consider the blessedness of this people that he has chosen for himself. Are they not blessed indeed? Not because of anything within them but because of who they are in. Because of Who has made them alive and who they have been made alive in. The worth is in the Creator of Life, not in the creature. Words cannot describe the praise that is due such a Holy and Worthy God. May this encourage us to seek out and gather in his Children, call out to everyone to repent and come to the Supper of the Lamb and know that his children WILL hear, and Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit will bring them forth. We do not have to convince anyone against their will. Christ will give them new hearts and they will respond in Faith. Praise him, worship and obey him. Let Angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of All.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
"One Thing is Needful"
George Whitefield, on his last trip to America, scratched into a window at a house he visited the words, "One Thing is Needful". What did he mean? Why of all things did he scratch this into the window. We would do well to follow the advice left behind, not by Whitefield but by Christ himself in Luke 10:42. Christ said, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Martha was so busy doing that she missed precious moments with her savior. Where are our priorities? It is good that we should work and support our family. It is good that we should spend time with our families. It is good that we spend time in study. It is good that we spend time at Church. How much time, do we spend sitting at the feet of Christ? Where does communion with Christ rank in our daily activities? Have we a living and healthy relationship with the Lord Jesus? We know of him, but is knowing of your spouse enough? Have we a relationship at all? Will a head knowledge preserve us in the day of trial that is approaching? What about the Judgment? Will you recognize the face of your beloved, do you long for it now? If not, I doubt whether you will long for it in eternity. If your heart is new, you will not be given another. You desire the things now, that you will desire in eternity. What are they? Psalms 27 - "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. - When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. - I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strenthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."
I cannot encourage you enough to seek the Lord. Our God is not like other gods, he is alive and will answer. Do not be slothful, do not hesitate and do not quit. Doing so is not the characteristic of the Bride of Christ. Read the Parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew. Test thyself. Sleep not, rest not, persevere, seek him out, give him no rest until he communes with you. Once you have drank from this fountain, the world and all its entertainments carry no enjoyment. ONLY, One Thing is Needful!
I cannot encourage you enough to seek the Lord. Our God is not like other gods, he is alive and will answer. Do not be slothful, do not hesitate and do not quit. Doing so is not the characteristic of the Bride of Christ. Read the Parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew. Test thyself. Sleep not, rest not, persevere, seek him out, give him no rest until he communes with you. Once you have drank from this fountain, the world and all its entertainments carry no enjoyment. ONLY, One Thing is Needful!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Worthy of your time
In responding to a question regarding the proper method to share the Gospel to someone who believes to be converted but shows no evidence of God's transforming work David gave the following things to think about which I thought were worthy of a post. (Bear in mind this stems from the previous post from Matthew's Henry's commentary.)
David said;
1. The first couple of sentences spoke of the differentness of Christ's Gospel. When you reach out to someone that already believes they are saved you have to make sure of your own belief. Is your message clearly different from that of what she already believes? What does she need to move from and what will she be moving to? If not, what will be your reason for bringing this up to her? If she does not evidence the working of Grace in her life, you have to be able to pinpoint that to her.
2. Christ preached a great deal in parables. He used common things that people could relate to in order to teach them at their level. Keep in mind that whatever is done in her will only be done by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. However, we must be instant in season and out and able to rightly divide the Word of Truth ourselves. It may be helpful, once you have thought through item 1 to actually study the Parable of the Soils. It is all about the False Convert in contrast to the True Child of God. Using that parable may be the tool to open her eyes to her current condition.
3. We must bear with the infirmities of the weak. We must earnestly seek the good of our decieved brothers. If you have not spent time in prayer for her, check your own heart to make sure your motives are pure. You will not accomplish anything by a good arguement. However, the Holy Spirit through power, truth and your love and honest rebuke and exhortation may pluck a child from the fire.
4. Knowledge! Light! All things we must be emersed in and be able to share in a biblical way.
5. Your goal should not be to convince her! You must awake her to action! You must tell her the truth about herself in love and in tears. Be ever mindful that you are not trying to win an arguement. You must jar her awake and be there for her whenever she may need it. The Holy Spirit does the heart work. I find that after I have shoved someone out of bed, they often return to me with questions, rather than go to the people that comfort them where they are at.
6. This is all extremely important. Proceed with caution and great fear. Look at the threats! If she were to die in her sins, she will spend an eternity in the agony and torture of hell and after an eternity she will realize that it is but a point and an eternity without rest or respite lies ahead of her. Proceed in Holy Fear.
I was especially convicted by Number 3.
Do we love those in our lives enough to share the truth with them, even though this truth might drive them away.
David said;
1. The first couple of sentences spoke of the differentness of Christ's Gospel. When you reach out to someone that already believes they are saved you have to make sure of your own belief. Is your message clearly different from that of what she already believes? What does she need to move from and what will she be moving to? If not, what will be your reason for bringing this up to her? If she does not evidence the working of Grace in her life, you have to be able to pinpoint that to her.
2. Christ preached a great deal in parables. He used common things that people could relate to in order to teach them at their level. Keep in mind that whatever is done in her will only be done by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. However, we must be instant in season and out and able to rightly divide the Word of Truth ourselves. It may be helpful, once you have thought through item 1 to actually study the Parable of the Soils. It is all about the False Convert in contrast to the True Child of God. Using that parable may be the tool to open her eyes to her current condition.
3. We must bear with the infirmities of the weak. We must earnestly seek the good of our decieved brothers. If you have not spent time in prayer for her, check your own heart to make sure your motives are pure. You will not accomplish anything by a good arguement. However, the Holy Spirit through power, truth and your love and honest rebuke and exhortation may pluck a child from the fire.
4. Knowledge! Light! All things we must be emersed in and be able to share in a biblical way.
5. Your goal should not be to convince her! You must awake her to action! You must tell her the truth about herself in love and in tears. Be ever mindful that you are not trying to win an arguement. You must jar her awake and be there for her whenever she may need it. The Holy Spirit does the heart work. I find that after I have shoved someone out of bed, they often return to me with questions, rather than go to the people that comfort them where they are at.
6. This is all extremely important. Proceed with caution and great fear. Look at the threats! If she were to die in her sins, she will spend an eternity in the agony and torture of hell and after an eternity she will realize that it is but a point and an eternity without rest or respite lies ahead of her. Proceed in Holy Fear.
I was especially convicted by Number 3.
Do we love those in our lives enough to share the truth with them, even though this truth might drive them away.
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