Posted by Gary on April 23, 2010
Each week I try to include in our church bulletin a quote regarding the Christian faith hoping that people either before service or after will take some moments to read it, you know a little mini sermon from a guest speaker. I search the web and look for things to share and today found “Praying for Your Children” by William Scribner.
I would like to share a segment with you it was a rebuke and challenge for me. If we were really convinced that our children had souls and were going to spend eternity either with God or without Him we would pray more for them.
It is so very easy to say that we believe certain things such as the fact that our children have souls but what are we doing to help see them by saved? Prayer is vital but there is much more. Do we read the Bible to them and seek to apply it to their hearts? What do we let them watch and read? What do they see in us as they watch us? Is it the faith that we tell them we believe? Now Scribner:
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
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.
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Gary on October 10, 2009
Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
John 3:5 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Reading J.C. Ryle the past few months has been such an encouragement and challenge. I have noticed in a number of sermons that Ryle comes back consistently to the issue of whether or not our hearts have been made ready for heaven while we yet remain on earth.
Ryle’s point is simple: Heaven is holy for God is there. Heaven is eternity with God, in the place of God, amongst the people of God, singing the praises of God, doing the will of God. If we have no desire for God, His people, His work and praise of Him now, why do we think we would like it later? Here is Ryle in his own words:
“Without conversion of heart we could not enjoy heaven, if we got there. Heaven is a place where holiness reigns supreme, and sin and the world have no place at all. The company will all be holy; the employments will all be holy; it will be an eternal Sabbath-day. Surely if we go to heaven, we must have a heart in tune and able to enjoy it, or else we shall not be happy. We must have a nature in harmony with the element we live in, and the place where we dwell. Can a fish be happy out of water? We know it cannot. Well, without conversion of heart we could not be happy in heaven.
Look round the neighborhood in which you live, and the people with whom you are acquainted. Think what many of them would do if they were cut off forever from money, and business, and newspapers, and cards, and partys, and races, and hunting, and shooting, and worldly amusements! Would they like it? Think what they would feel if they were shut up forever with Jesus Christ, and saints, and angels! Would they be happy? Would the eternal company of Moses, and David, and Paul, be pleasant to those who never take the trouble to read what those holy men wrote? Would heaven’s everlasting praise suit the taste of those who can hardly spare a few minutes in a week for private religion, even for prayer? There is but one answer to be given to all these questions. We must be converted before we can enjoy heaven. Heaven would be no heaven to any child of Adam without conversion.”
From a sermon entitled, “Conversion” by J.C. Ryle to read it click here
If you were to ask most people if they want to go to heaven virtually everyone would say yes. But I think an important question is, “Do we really want to go to heaven or do we just want to avoid going to hell?” Wanting to avoid hell does not mean that we will love the things of heaven, it just means that we want to escape flames.
Many people are deceived, they believe that they are on their way to heaven though they have never received the new birth or had their hearts changed by God. Being a Christian does not mean being perfect but it does mean that God has done something to us that fundamentally changes our hearts, desires and what we enjoy and live for.
Are you on your way to heaven? You may know simply by honestly asking and answering whether or not heaven dwells in your heart now. Do you love God? Do you think about Him? Do you desire to hear from Him in His Word? Do you like to talk to Him? Do you praise Him? Are you serving Him now as those who are in heaven now do? Have you divorced your heart from this world?
My question tonight is not whether or not you want to go to heaven, you may well want just to avoid hell which proves nothing more than that you have some degree of your wits about you. Have you been born again? Do you pursue the God of heaven and the things of heaven here on earth?
Posted by Gary on July 13, 2009
As one whose calling and work includes performing funerals, I have a vantaged place from which to view the thinking of society when it comes to the death of others. In recent years you may have noticed that funerals are less frequently referred to as "funerals" they are more and more frequently called "life celebrations." The thinking here isn’t hard to follow, "funeral" sounds negative and sad, "life celebration" sounds joyful and hopeful.
There are times when we can rightly call for celebration when a person dies, when and only when that person was in right standing with God through the merits and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. When a forgiven, redeemed sinner dies it is reason to celebrate, that person has gone into the presence of God:
Psalm 16:11 "In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever."
According to the Bible, God Himself celebrates when one who belongs to Him dies and is brought to heaven with Him:
Psalm 116:15
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones."
Here painful honesty is required, an honesty that apart from enablement from God we will never apply. How many people are entering God’s presence when they die? How often do we truly have a right to call for celebration? Did you know, not many? "On what authority do you say this?" one might ask. On the authority of the Lord Jesus:
Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."
In twenty years of ministry and many funerals I can tell you that I can’t remember one time it being said of a person who died, "I don’t think they are in heaven." In virtually every case the declaration made of the deceased is that, "They are in a better place" or "They aren’t suffering anymore" or "God took them home". It doesn’t matter if the deceased never made any profession of faith in Christ or gave any indication of ever coming to repentance in their life. The base assumption is that essentially everyone goes to heaven, with every funeral we can rejoice. Oh, perhaps Hitler isn’t in heaven but beyond him virtually everyone else is in heaven.
Our calls for celebration without discretion flows from denial, a refusal to listen to the Son of God. Not many are going to heaven, only a few are finding the path to life.
How do we know if someone is in heaven? First, we cannot make the ultimate declaration in this matter can we? I do not mean it is impossible for a person to know they are going to heaven because Christ’s death insures that those who come to Him by faith will be saved. But even here we must be cautious…have you ever questioned whether or not you are truly in the faith?
2 Corinthians 13:5
"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you– unless indeed you fail the test?"
If you have not tested your claim to heaven I would warn you that you are not standing on safe ground.
Posted by Gary on June 9, 2009
John 17:2 “even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.”
Over the past year I have read John 17 probably four or five times. This chapter of the Bible is the prayer that Jesus offered to the Father on the night of the Last Supper. I do not think there is anything more glorious, profound and revealing as this pouring out of the Son’s heart to the Father.
As is always the case with Jesus you must ponder every phrase and word. Jesus does not waste words or say things He doesn’t mean. Read John 17 (also called “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer”) and you will gain insight into marvelous, challenging and if embraced, comforting truths.
Today was another occasion on which I read Jesus’ prayer and I was struck by the above sentence from it. It was as if I had never read it before though I had read it many times. In one sense what I read added nothing to what I already had in terms of established truth from God. I am thoroughly Reformed theologically, I know that God chooses those who will be saved and that His choice has nothing to do with what one has done or might do. God’s choice of a fallen sinner is based upon reasons known only to Himself for His own purposes and glory:
Ephesians 1:5 “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,”
Ephesians 1:11 “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,”
John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Listen to what Jesus tells us here, He is letting us in on something more profound than the the revelations sent back from the Hubble Space Telescope, He is letting us in on things that were taking place before the world and space existed in eternity past. He is also letting us in on things that have to do with eternity future, who it is that will spend eternity with God.
Will you listen to Jesus? Do you want to get it? Here is what He has told us…He (Jesus) has been given authority over all flesh (that includes you by the way) to give eternal life…to whom? To those that the Father has given Him.
Now look at the verse as it reads: “even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” Granted, the Bible speaks in places of eternal life being given to “whosoever will”. Those of us who are Reformed in theology do not deny that “whosever” will come to Christ will be saved but Jesus has revealed something in His prayer to the father, who will come? Who will receive Jesus and eternal life? Those that the Father has given Him. What is more than implied is that only those the Father has given the Son will receive eternal life: “…that to all whom you have given Him, He may grant eternal life.”
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Gary on July 24, 2007
The gospel of many is the gospel of sincerity, it does not matter what you believe as long as you are sincere (see more here). In the recent controversy concerning the prayer for the conversion of the Jews which will be offered in the resurrected Latin mass of the Catholic Church this statement was made by Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League:
“How do we now sit and dialogue when the other side believes we are blind and need to be converted?”
Humanly we can sympathize with a person resenting being called “blind” and “unconverted” but the important issue is if someone is blind and unconverted. Do we even believe that there is such a thing as spiritual blindness and being unconverted in this day? Most don’t.
Before calling theology to enter the Fray, Foxman’s statement makes no sense simply on the basis of logic (which is not at odds with theology by the way). Can two things that oppose each other both be true? One faith involved holds forth Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of man, the other rejects Jesus as the Messiah. Can both of these groups be correct? If salvation is at stake, must not these groups be willing to speak of the other as blind and unconverted? In many cases I think we must admit that people do not believe salvation is at stake. If Mr. Foxman believes salvation is at stake, he must be willing to view Christians as blind and unconverted. Amazingly, this is what his faith did throughout the Old Testament. Those who were uncircumcised and outside God’s covenant with Abraham were without God and without hope.
There are some to whom salvation is all-important and I mean here people who do not currently possess salvation. God is always at work drawing men to Himself and when He does begin to draw someone, He makes the answer to how salvation can be had vital to that person. I am more and more convinced that where we must begin in the work of evangelism in this day is to reason with men on the basis that not everything can be true. Those whom God is saving will seek the matter out to its end. But perhaps today they are still caught in the deception of sincerity, they may believe that the claims of the different world faiths do not matter just the sincerity of the adherents. God has given us minds and when He begins to save someone, He begins to send light and truth into their mind and so we hold before them the simple, undeniable truth, things that contradict each other cannot all be true, this is often the first seed that grows into salvation.
We are going to have to be willing to embrace the call to discipleship if we are going to be used of God in our day. We are going to have to be willing to lovingly yet firmly use words like “blind” and “unconverted”. How politically incorrect Paul was:
Acts 17:22-31
“So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.”The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
21st Century Social Architect: “Excuse me Paul; we don’t use words like “ignorance” in religious dialogue today.”
Paul: “I wasn’t dialoging, I was proclaiming.”
21st: “But you were dialoging, and doing so well at first and then meanly used the word “ignorance”.
Paul: “We have different definitions of dialogue. By dialogue you mean that each side is considered equally valid. I was willing to make mention of the Athenian’s many gods and religious spirit so that I could open a door to show them that they don’t know the one, true God. Your goal is to have everyone feel good when the conversation stops, my goal is to see people receive salvation.”
21st: “In the process you have also offended many people. Who taught you to deal with people this way; this doesn’t seem very much like Jesus.”
Paul: “Actually it was Jesus who taught me to approach people this way; He told the woman at the well that she worshipped that which she did not know and that woman came to faith and is in heaven today.”
21st: “It still doesn’t seem right.”
If we are going to see the gospel go forward we will need to strip away the delusion that everything can be true. We will have to be willing to be called, “mean” and “bigoted”. Let’s remember that is not our goal to have people think well of us now, but later. Let them think of us as mean now, it will be all the more enjoyable when they embrace us in heaven.
