Posted by Gary on February 19, 2010
Romans 9:19 “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
When approaching the Word of God we are all immediately challenged, our fallen nature leaves us determined to think what we want to think as opposed to letting God tell us what to think. Yes, me too.
Nowhere is this more the case than in the issue of predestination. While predestination is referenced either by word specifically or in concept throughout Scripture, the defining section of God’s Word on predestination is Romans 9.
I had my first real study exposure to Romans 9 while attending Circleville Bible College a staunchly Wesleyan/Arminian college. In my class on Romans I was taught the classic Arminian interpretation of the passage which boiled down is that God chooses us because He knows that we are going to choose Him. According to Arminianism, predestination is not God’s prerogative or initiating action but a response, a reaction to our action.
This thinking I am afraid is born of our thinking. To our fallen, finite minds it could never be fair that God would predestine some people to salvation while leaving others to perish. The great emphasis in Arminianism is human will, we choose and God responds to our choice.
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Posted by Gary on February 11, 2010
Revelation 2:8-11 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: 9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’”
It is important to note that each of the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation ends with, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” While it is true that Jesus was writing to an actual church in Smyrna, His words are for the “churches” and the message contains truths, warnings and encouragements for His people and churches in all ages.
Tonight I read this letter and the following stood out to me:
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Posted by Gary on February 5, 2010
I find that the concern in me regarding today’s Christians and their political pursuits does not cease. I wrote an initial post entitled, “Trusting in Princes” to express my concern and revisit the topic today.
I understand fully that for now we are creatures of this world and much of our life must be taken up with the things of this world. We have to eat, work, sleep and have obligations that come from living in this world, this is all granted. Yet, the Bible commands the Christian to keep his focus, efforts and affections on the things above as much as possible (Colossians 3:1-2).What we think about, what we become joyful over or unhappy about reveals more than anything where we have placed our affections and trust.
I would ask Christians in our day to examine themselves to find out how much their thoughts, affections and trust are tied to the political happenings of this world compared to the things above and the gospel.
For example, how much do we find ourselves thinking about healthcare reform in comparison to thinking about how many people will die this day and enter eternity separated from Christ? How much time do we spend beefing up on political happenings compared to time beefing up on knowledge of Scripture, Christian living and theology? Are you more angry about the government czars appointed by the President than you are that 45,000,000 million babies have been slaughtered by our nation since the early 1970’s? Are you really angry about abortion? What have you ever done about it? How much do you know about the battle that surrounds abortion in comparison to what you know about the battles being fought in congress?
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Posted by Gary on January 29, 2010
Titus 2:14 “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
From J.C. Ryle’s sermon on zeal:
“Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature—which the Spirit puts into the heart of every believer when he is converted—but which some believers feel so much more strongly than others, that they alone deserve to be called zealous men.
This desire is so strong when it really reigns in a man, that it impels him to make any sacrifice—to go through any trouble, to deny himself to any amount—to suffer, to work, to labor, to toil—to spend himself and be spent, and even to die—if only he can please God and honor Christ.
A zealous man is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing—he cares for one thing—he lives for one thing—he is swallowed up in one thing—and that one thing is to please God.
Whether he lives—or whether he dies; whether he has health—or whether he has sickness; whether he is rich—or whether he is poor; whether he pleases man—or whether he gives offence; whether he is thought wise—or whether he is thought foolish; whether he gets blame—or whether he gets praise; whether he gets honor—or whether he gets shame—for all this, the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing, and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he is not worried—he is content.
—J.C. Ryle from “Be Zealous”
Sound like you?
Posted by Gary on January 28, 2010
While reading a sermon entitled, “Be Zealous” by J.C. Ryle I came across this quote from Robert Murray M’Cheyne concerning his heart and his ministry. I do believe it to be the true confession of any real minister of God:
“None but God knows what an abyss of corruption is in my heart. It is perfectly amazing that ever God could bless such a ministry.”
May God grant to all of His servants the same self-honesty and humility.
God grant us to see the truth about ourselves that we might then by grace see that Jesus is our righteousness. Grant that your servants would be empty of pride and full of the realization of grace received. O Lord, we have been full ourselves, make us full of Yourself. Amen.
Posted by Gary on January 15, 2010
This past Sunday our sermon Scripture was Revelation chapter 1 which includes a description of Jesus that I believe is so far from our conception of Him. This of course is the glorified Christ, as He is now after the resurrection in heaven and what do we know about such a Jesus?
Revelation 1:13-18 “and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Hair white as wool? Eyes like a flame of fire? Feet like burnished bronze? A voice like the sound of many waters? A sharp sword coming from His mouth? A face like the sun shining in its strength? A presence that causes even apostles to fall to the ground?
Our idea of Jesus is basically a gentle hippy. Long brown hair, deep blue eyes ( no flames in the eyes of our Jesus). Our Jesus has a gentle face with cheeks it would seemed brushed with rouge, the real Jesus’ face cannot be looked upon for the light from it is blinding. We could throw our arms around our Jesus, John sees Him and falls at His feet as if he were dead.
Our Jesus is only love and love to us means that He wants us to do whatever we think will make us happy even though what makes us happy is unholy and unlike Him. Is our Jesus the same Jesus who rules with a rod of iron and treads the winepress of the wrath of God Almighty?
Revelation 19:15 “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”
Please be certain that your Jesus is the Jesus of the Bible and almost certainly you will have to make some vast adjustments to your perception and thoughts. With all this said, the awesome, fearful, holy Jesus is full of mercy toward those who fear Him and have placed their faith in Him. For those like John who fall down before Him His response is always and mercifully, “Do not be afraid…”
Posted by Gary on December 19, 2009
Take a moment and read these truthful, helpful thoughts from Charles Spurgeon on the Incarnation of Christ and what it can mean for you:
This joy began with the shepherds, for the angel said to them, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Reader, shall the joy begin with you to-day? It avails you little that Christ is born, or that Christ died, unless unto you a Child is born, and for you Jesus bled. A personal interest in the birth, life, and death of Christ is the main point for each one of us…
…Jesus is the Friend of the poor, the sinful, and the unworthy. You, poor ones, need not fear to come unto Him; for He was born in a stable, and cradled in a manger. You have not worse accommodation than He had; you are not poorer than He was. Come and welcome to the poor man’s Prince, to the peasant’s Savior. Stay not back through fear of your unfitness; the shepherds came to Him in all their dishabille (casual dress). I read not that they tarried to put on their best garments; but, in the clothes in which they wrapped themselves that cold midnight, they hastened, just as they were, to the young Child’s presence. God looks not at garments, but at hearts; and accepts men when they come to Him with willing spirits, whether they be rich or poor…
…No aristocratic Christ have I to commend to you, but the Savior of the people, the Friend of publicans and sinners. Jesus is the true “poor man’s Friend;” He is “a Witness to the people, a Leader and Commander to the people.” Oh, that each one of us might truly say, “Unto me is Jesus born”! If I truly believe in Him, Christ is born unto me, and I may be as sure of it as if an angel announced it personally to me, since the Scripture assures me that, if I believe in Jesus, He is mine, and I am His, and through union with Him I become a partaker in His everlasting life, and in all that He has.
Charles Spurgeon from “The Incarnation: The Foundation of the Christian Faith”
It is one thing to declare that we believe that Christ is the Son of God and that He was born of a virgin. But do you believe that He died and rose again as the payment for sins? Even this is not enough…do you believe that He was born for you? That He died for you? That He rose again for the forgiveness of your sins? Christ is not yours until He becomes yours by an act of personal faith and reception of Him into your life. Is Christ yours?
Posted by Gary on December 16, 2009
I heard local radio host Bill Colley read from this column by Garrison Keillor today in the Baltimore Sun. The column is entitled, “Non believers, please leave Christmas alone”. While somewhat caustic, I think Keillor says well what many of us think about the never ending attempt to high-jack Christmas. Here is an excerpt:
You can blame Ralph Waldo Emerson for the brazen foolishness of the elite. He preached here at the First Church of Cambridge, a Unitarian outfit (where I discovered that “Silent Night” has been cleverly rewritten to make it more about silence and night and not so much about God), and Emerson tossed off little bon mots that have been leading people astray ever since. “To be great is to be misunderstood,” for example. This tiny gem of self-pity has given license to a million arrogant and unlovable people to imagine that their unpopularity somehow was proof of their greatness.
And all his hoo-ha about listening to the voice within and don’t follow the path, make your own path and leave a trail and so forth, encouraged people who might’ve been excellent janitors to become bold and innovative economists who run a wealthy university into the ditch.
Unitarians listen to the Inner Voice and so they have no creed that they all stand up and recite in unison, and that’s their perfect right, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite “Silent Night.” If you don’t believe Jesus was God, OK, go write your own damn “Silent Night” and leave ours alone. This is spiritual piracy and cultural elitism, and we Christians have stood for it long enough…
…Christmas is a Christian holiday – if you’re not in the club, then buzz off. Celebrate Yule instead or dance around in druid robes for the solstice. Go light a big log, go wassailing and falalaing until you fall down, eat figgy pudding until you puke, but don’t mess with the Messiah.
Garrison Keillor
Posted by Gary on
Colossians 2:23 “These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
It has been reported recently that Pope John Paul II engaged in the practice of self-flagellation, that is, whipping himself as a response to sin.
The report comes as the Roman Catholic Church continues its consideration of John Paul’s sainthood. It would appear that the revelation of the pope beating himself is an argument on behalf of his sainthood. (See this article on becoming a saint in Roman Catholicism).
How tragic this all is. Perhaps if John Paul had understood that sainthood is not achieved but received by the suffering and merits of Christ he would not have made himself suffer and misled the many who looked to him for truth.
Perhaps you think this all unkind but let me remind us that John Paul was the proclaimed bishop, teacher and shepherd of a billion souls and what message do we find in his actions? Punishment for his sins? This according to bishop Emory Kabongo:
“He would punish himself and in particular just before he ordained bishops and priests,”
Is this the message of the gospel, that my sins need to be punished further since Christ died for them? Was it not really finished when Jesus said, “It is finished?” (John 19:30). This practice is a tremendous revealer of the doctrine of Catholicism which at its root is human striving in addition to Christ’s work on the cross for salvation.
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Posted by Gary on November 26, 2009
Visiting BaylyBlog today I read a comparison between President Obama’s 2009 Thanksgiving proclamation and President Bush’s 2008 proclamation. Bush’s mentions God often in ways of reverence and humility. Obama, while giving God His mention ultimately dwells upon us.
This led me to the website that lists all the proclamations from past presidents and I came across Abraham Lincoln’s from 1863. It includes statements that boggle the mind in light of today’s false claim by America to believe in and revere God. Note words and concepts that he uses that a president today would never use nor would be tolerated by Americans who in the main do not believe in the God of the Bible but only give the words of lips which will never pass the bar of judgment for real faith:
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore if, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN”
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Posted by Gary on November 13, 2009
With all our attention on the Swine Flu and the simple truth that one in four people will have cancer in their lifetime you would hope that we would all be doing some thinking.
The sad truth is that the fall of Adam has left us with hearts that by nature do not want to hear from God, to hear His word of warning of the judgment to come and even more sadly, unwilling to hear about His terms of peace through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus.
We can refuse to go to church, turn off the television or radio as one of God’s messengers preaches or avoid the Christian in our work place or neighborhood but there is one messenger that God has that cannot be denied or ignored, sickness.
God will have His hearing and while every illness is not the direct result of sin, every illness preaches a sermon…sooner or later you and I are going to die and stand before the judgment seat of the holy God who made us. Are we ready to meet Him? Are we forgiven or still in our sins?
J.C. Ryle in his sermon, Christ in the Sick Room holds before us nine lessons that sickness teaches us. Won’t you do your soul some good today and read them and think? Maybe you’ll be moved to get serious about things and read the whole sermon. Wouldn’t it be something if we turned off the television, hung up the phone and put down the worthless books that we seem to have time for that do no good for our souls to read something that bears a message for our good? If you are not sick now, you will be soon and some day not so long from now with an illness that two aspirin and a call to the doctor will not remove. Take some moments now for Bishop Ryle:
I do not say that sickness always does good. Alas! We ministers know to our sorrow that it frequently does no good at all. Too often we see men and women, after recovering from a long and dangerous illness, more hardened and irreligious than they were before. Too often they return to the world, if not to sin, with more eagerness and zest than ever; and the impressions made on their conscience in the hour of sickness are swept away like children’s writing on the sand of the sea-shore when the tide flows.
But I do say that sickness ought to do us good. And I do say that God sends it in order to do us good. It is a friendly letter from heaven. It is a knock at the door of conscience. It is the voice of the Savior asking to be let in. Happy is he who opens the letter and reads it, who hears the knock and opens the door, who welcomes Christ to the sick room. Come now, and let me plead with you a little about this, and show you a few of the lessons which He by sickness would teach us.
1. Sickness is meant to make us think—to remind us that we have a soul as well as a body—an immortal soul—a soul that will live forever in happiness or in misery—and that if this soul is not saved we had better never have been born.
2. Sickness is meant to teach us that there is a world beyond the grave—and that the world we now live in is only a training-place for another dwelling, where there will be no decay, no sorrow, no tears, no misery, and no sin.
3. Sickness is meant to make us look at our past lives honestly, fairly, and conscientiously. Am I ready for my great change if I should not get better? Do I repent truly of my sins? Are my sins forgiven and washed away in Christ’s blood? Am I prepared to meet God?
4. Sickness is meant to make us see the emptiness of the world and its utter inability to satisfy the highest and deepest needs of the soul.
5. Sickness is meant to send us to our Bibles. That blessed Book, in the days of health, is too often left on the shelf, becomes the safest place in which to put a bank-note, and is never opened from January to December. But sickness often brings it down from the shelf and throws new light on its pages.
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Posted by Gary on October 20, 2009
Here is the second mark of the Holy Spirit in the life of a child of God as mentioned by J.C. Ryle in his sermon, “Having the Spirit”.
All who have the Spirit are taught by Him. He is called in Scripture, “The Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” (Eph. 1:17.) It was the promise of the Lord Jesus, “He shall teach you all things.” “He shall guide you into all truth.” (John 14:26; 16:13.) We are all by nature ignorant of spiritual truth. “The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God—they are foolishness to him.” (1 Cor. 2:14.)
Our eyes are blinded. We neither know God, nor Christ, nor ourselves, nor the world, nor sin, nor heaven, nor hell, as we ought. We see everything under false colors. The Spirit alters entirely this state of things. He opens the eyes of our understandings. He illumines us; He calls us out of darkness into marvelous light. He takes away the veil. He shines into our hearts, and makes us see things as they really are!
No wonder that all true Christians are so remarkably agreed upon the essentials of true religion! The reason is that they have all learned in one school—the school of the Holy Spirit. No wonder that true Christians can understand each other at once, and find common ground of fellowship! They have been taught the same language, by One whose lessons are never forgotten.
I appeal again to every thinking reader. Can he who is ignorant of the leading doctrines of the Gospel, and blind to his own state—can he be said to “have the Spirit “? Judge for yourself
Posted by Gary on October 16, 2009
Romans 8:9-11 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Are you reading J.C. Ryle yet? If not, get to it. Here is a site full of his sermons. A reading group within our church recently read Ryle’s sermon entitled, “Having the Spirit”. In it he lists ten marks that can be seen in the life of the person who has the Spirit, which of course is the determiner of whether or not we have been forgiven and will spend eternity with God. I will share the ten with you in separate posts, read them and answer honestly if you have the Spirit or not.
What then are these general effects which the Spirit always produces on those who really have Him? What are the marks of His presence in the soul?
All who have the Spirit are quickened by Him, and made spiritually ALIVE.
He is called in Scripture, “The Spirit of life.” (Rom. 8:3.) “It is the Spirit,” says our Lord Jesus Christ, “who quickens.” (John 6:63.) We are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins. We have neither feeling nor interest about true religion. We have neither faith, nor hope, nor fear, nor love. Our hearts are in a state of torpor; they are compared in Scripture to a stone. We may be alive about money, learning, politics, or pleasure—but we are dead towards God.
All this is changed when the Spirit comes into the heart. He raises us from this state of death, and makes us new creatures. He awakens the conscience, and inclines the will towards God. He causes old things to pass away, and all things to become new. He gives us a new heart; He makes us put off the old man, and put on the new. He blows the trumpet in the ear of our slumbering faculties, and sends us forth to walk the world as if we were new beings.
How unlike was Lazarus shut up in the silent tomb, to Lazarus coming forth at our Lord’s command! How unlike was Jairus’ daughter lying cold on her bed amidst weeping friends, to Jairus’ daughter rising and speaking to her mother as she was accustomed to do! Just as unlike is the man in whom the Spirit dwells to what he was before the Spirit came into him.
I appeal to every thinking reader. Can he whose heart is manifestly full of everything but God–hard, cold, and insensible—can he be said to “have the Spirit”? Judge for yourself.
