Thursday, December 31, 2009

Enemy

The natural man is an ememy to Christ: 1) An enemy to Christ's Prophetic Office- (Despise His Word) 2) An enemy to Christ's Priestly Office- (Despise His Sacrifice) 3) An enemy to Christ's Kingly Office- (Despise His Rule).


-- Thomas Boston

Sunday, December 27, 2009

SIMPLE PURITY

"So let us hold to this rule, that all human inventions which are set up to corrupt the simple purity of the word of God, and to undo the worship which he demands and approves, are true sacrileges, in which the Christian man cannot participate without blaspheming God, and trampling his honour underfoot."

- John Calvin

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Idolatry

“Will worship” (Col. 2:23) is ascribing to the will of man the work of God. Like all other forms of idolatry, it is damning to all who practice it. All who make the will of man a determining factor in salvation worship their own wills, worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, and set man in the place of God; and of all forms of idolatry spawned in hell, will-worship is the most abominable and the most absurd!

Don Fortner

Thursday, November 26, 2009

SPIRIT AND SUBSTANCE

The Word of God apart from the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is intellectualism; the crucifixion of Christ apart from the Word of God is sensationalism. The former has no spirit; the latter has no substance.

-- Jon Cardwell

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

THE COMPLIMENT

The devil is in the compliment, the voice of approval, acceptance, satisfaction, comfort, convenience, the illusion of control; he entertains, thrills, subtly intrigues, interests, all leading to the relative good but never to the Best, all ending in the seemingly right but never quite not-wrong, all centering on self but never on Christ.

Al Hartman, A FB friend.

Monday, November 16, 2009

NOT THE DRUDGERY

A holy self-denying, cross-bearing life, is not the drudgery of a slave, but the filial, loving obedience of a child; it springs from love to the person, and gratitude for the work of Jesus; and is the blessed effect of the spirit of adoption in the heart.

---Octavius Winslow


Friday, November 13, 2009

SHORTLY

I entreat you to bethink yourself seriously what a vain world this is, and how shortly it will leave you to a cold grave, and to everlastng misery, if you have not a better treasure than it.

---Richard Baxter

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

EMPTY

"Faithful preaching will render the minister unpopular, and will 'empty' churches--not fill them."

-- A.W. Pink

Monday, November 9, 2009

UNCOMPROMISING

The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that whenever the Kingdom of God was concerned Jesus was absolutely uncompromising, even when He realized that for Him personally the alternative to compromise was crucifixion.

Ernest Fremont Tittle.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

MOTHER OF JOY

Faith is a Mother of Joy. Without faith the soul shall be barren, and no joy will delivered. Anyone can be joyful in Zion, but God grants a joy in the caves. In this way it will be evidenced that the joy of the soul is not from the creation, but from the Creator. May we rejoice to KNOW HIM even in the fellowship of His sufferings.

Assumption

The Atheist assumes his mind is competent, but uses his own mind to make that deduction. So if an incompetent mind declares itself to be competent, then the soul recieves a validation from an invalid instrument and is thereby decieved. Yet the deception is not only from the invalid instrument, but from the individual himself who even began with such an assumption in the first place.

Monday, November 2, 2009

PARADOX

The Christian experiences a strange paradox throughout life: Extreme Contentment in Christ, yet Extreme Ambition for Christ.

LAUGHS

The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.

- Samuel Chadwick

Friday, October 30, 2009

SPIRIT-FILLED

"The church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is college trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles"

- Samuel Chadwick

(great point, yet this is not to be cannon powder for Charismatics though)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

ADDICTION

Too many say they want to go "deeper" but are just feeding their knowledge addiction, not learning life transformation.

(Tim Brister posted a RT @edstetzer:)

BELONG HERE

"Were any of us asked seriously, what it is that troubles us, we must refer it to one of these heads:— either we want strength or power, vigour and life, in our obedience, in our walking with God; or we want peace, comfort, and consolation therein. Whatever it is that may befall a believer that doth not belong to one of these two heads, doth not deserve to be mentioned in the days of our complaints."

-John Owen

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Police quiz Christian pensioner over gay beliefs

AT THE POINT

J.m. Vergara "At what point do you deal with sin? Not at the point of behavior—because then it’s too late—but at the point of desire."

---John MacArthur

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

INFINITE GRACE

The unchangeable method of God

(Matthew Mead, "The Almost Christian" 1661)

"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance." Luke 5:32. That is
such as see
themselves as sinners, and thereby in a lost condition.
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the
lost." Luke 19:10


God will have the soul truly sensible of the bitterness
of sin
—before it shall taste the sweetness of mercy.
The plough of conviction must go deep, and make
deep furrows in the heart, before God will sow the
precious seed of grace there—so that it may have
depth of earth to grow in.

This is the unchangeable method of God in
bestowing grace—to begin with conviction of sin.
First to show man his sin—then his Savior;
first his danger—then his Redeemer;
first his wound—then his cure;
first his own vileness—then Christ's righteousness.

The sinner must see the worthlessness and vileness
of his own righteousness—before he can be saved by
Christ's
righteousness. The Israelites are first stung
with the fiery serpents—and then the brazen serpent
is set up to heal them.

We must see the leprosy of our righteousness, and
be brought to cry out, "Unclean, unclean!" We must
mourn for Him whom we have pierced—and then
He sets open for us "a fountain to cleanse us from
all sin and impurity." Zechariah 12:10, 13:1.

Be convinced of the evil of sin—the filthy and heinous
nature of it. Sin is the greatest evil in the world—
it wrongs God;
it wounds Christ;
it grieves the Holy Spirit;
it damns a precious soul.
All other evils cannot be compared with this. Though
to DO sin is the worst work—yet to SEE sin is the best
sight! Sin discovered in its vileness—makes Christ to
be desired in His fullness!

Alas! it is Christ's infinite righteousness which
must atone for our sins—for it is an infinite God
whom we have sinned against!

If ever your sin is pardoned—it is Christ's infinite
mercy which must pardon it!

If ever you are reconciled to God—it is Christ's
infinite merit which must do it!

If ever your heart is changed—it is Christ's
infinite power which must effect it!

If ever your soul escapes hell, and is saved at last
—it is Christ's infinite grace which must save it!

MARCHING

When you were marching to hell!

(Thomas Watson, "
The Mischief of Sin")

"Even though I was once a blasphemer and a
persecutor and a violent man, I was shown
mercy
." 1 Timothy 1:13

Literally, "I was bemercied." Christians, why might not
you have been in the number of those who persist in
sinning? Because God has
bemiracled you with mercy!


See what cause you have to admire the stupendous
goodness of God, who has wrought a change in you
—and checked you in your full career of sin!

Christians, you who are vessels of election—were by
nature as wicked as others—but God had compassion
on you and plucked you as brands out of the fire! He
stopped you in your course of sinning—when you
were marching to hell!
He turned you back to
Him by sincere repentance. Oh, here is the banner
of love displayed over you!

Behold sovereign grace! Let your hearts melt in love
to God. Admire His royal bounty. Set the crown of all
your praises, upon the head of free grace! "By the
grace of God I am what I am!"
1 Corinthians 15:10

AN ABYSS

"When I look into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell. And yet it seems to me that my conviction of sin is exceedingly small and faint: it is enough to amaze me that I h...ave no more sense of my sin. I have greatly longed of late for a broken heart, and to lie low before God."

—Jonathan Edwards

GROWING CHILD

All believers do grow in grace. And this ye know is the difference between a painted child and a living child, and though he be but little and very weak, yet he grows bigger. But a child that is painted upon a wall grows not.

WILLIAM BRIDGE

Monday, October 26, 2009

THE CONCLUSION

"We have gone through many trials, but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is, that he who has been with us in six troubles, will not forsake us in the seventh.

C.H. Spurgeon

JEREMIAH 26

Jeremiah 26:8 (ESV)
And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, "You shall die!

HE SPOKE OF

The line Jesus took with the impressionable crowd was the exact opposite of much evangelism today. Instead of majoring in the benefits and blessings, the thrills and excitement, the adventure and advantages of being His disciples, He spoke more of the difficulties and dangers they would meet and the sacrifices that would be involved. He placed the cost being His disciple very high."

- J. Oswald Sanders

Sunday, October 25, 2009

SHORT SERMONS

Surely if men’s hearts were right, short sermons would be enough.

- Charles Spurgeon

IT IS CERTAIN

Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.

John Calvin

PREPARE

Preparing the mind, and being sober-minded, will always result in humbling the heart, it is not a preparation that vaunts itself up.

LOATHED BY THE MAJORITY

"God’s sovereign election is the truth most loathed and reviled by the majority of those claiming to be believers. Let it be plainly announced that salvation originated not in the will of man, but in the will of God (see John 1:13; Rom. 9:16), t...hat were it not so none would or could be saved for as the result of the fall man has lost all desire and will unto that which is good (John 5:40; Rom. 3:11)—and that even the elect themselves have to be made willing (Ps. 110:3), and loud will be the cries of indignation raised against such teaching.

It is at this point the issue is drawn. Merit-mongers will not allow the supremacy of the divine will and the impotency unto good of the human will, consequently they who are the most bitter in denouncing election by the sovereign pleasure of God, are the warmest in crying up the freewill of fallen man."

" - A.W. Pink

PRECEDES

totally copied from: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/sproul01.html

Regeneration Precedes Faith
By R. C. Sproul

One of the most dramatic moments in my life for the shaping of my theology took place in a seminary classroom. One of my professors went to the blackboard and wrote these words in bold letters: "Regeneration Precedes Faith."

These words were a shock to my system. I had entered seminary believing that the key work of man to effect rebirth was faith. I thought that we first had to believe in Christ in order to be born again. I use the words in order here for a reason. I was thinking in terms of steps that must be taken in a certain sequence. I had put faith at the beginning. The order looked something like this:

"Faith - rebirth -justification."

I hadn’t thought that matter through very carefully. Nor had I listened carefully to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. I assumed that even though I was a sinner, a person born of the flesh and living in the flesh, I still had a little island of righteousness, a tiny deposit of spiritual power left within my soul to enable me to respond to the Gospel on my own. Perhaps I had been confused by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome, and many other branches of Christendom, had taught that regeneration is gracious; it cannot happen apart from the help of God.

No man has the power to raise himself from spiritual death. Divine assistance is necessary. This grace, according to Rome, comes in the form of what is called prevenient grace. "Prevenient" means that which comes from something else. Rome adds to this prevenient grace the requirement that we must "cooperate with it and assent to it" before it can take hold in our hearts.

This concept of cooperation is at best a half-truth. Yes, the faith we exercise is our faith. God does not do the believing for us. When I respond to Christ, it is my response, my faith, my trust that is being exercised. The issue, however, goes deeper. The question still remains: "Do I cooperate with God's grace before I am born again, or does the cooperation occur after?" Another way of asking this question is to ask if regeneration is monergistic or synergistic. Is it operative or cooperative? Is it effectual or dependent? Some of these words are theological terms that require further explanation.

A monergistic work is a work produced singly, by one person. The prefix mono means one. The word erg refers to a unit of work. Words like energy are built upon this root. A synergistic work is one that involves cooperation between two or more persons or things. The prefix syn -

means "together with." I labor this distinction for a reason. The debate between Rome and Luther hung on this single point. At issue was this: Is regeneration a monergistic work of God or a synergistic work that requires cooperation between man and God? When my professor wrote "Regeneration precedes faith" on the blackboard, he was clearly siding with the monergistic answer. After a person is regenerated, that person cooperates by exercising faith and trust. But the first step is the work of God and of God alone.

The reason we do not cooperate with regenerating grace before it acts upon us and in us is because we can- not. We cannot because we are spiritually dead. We can no more assist the Holy Spirit in the quickening of our souls to spiritual life than Lazarus could help Jesus raise him for the dead.

When I began to wrestle with the Professor's argument, I was surprised to learn that his strange-sounding teaching was not novel. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield - even the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas taught this doctrine. Thomas Aquinas is the Doctor Angelicus of the Roman Catholic Church. For centuries his theological teaching was accepted as official dogma by most Catholics. So he was the last person I expected to hold such a view of regeneration. Yet Aquinas insisted that regenerating grace is operative grace, not cooperative grace. Aquinas spoke of prevenient grace, but he spoke of a grace that comes before faith, which is regeneration.

These giants of Christian history derived their view from Holy Scripture. The key phrase in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians is this: "...even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved)" (Eph. 2:5). Here Paul locates the time when regeneration occurs. It takes place 'when we were dead.' With one thunderbolt of apostolic revelation all attempts to give the initiative in regeneration to man are smashed. Again, dead men do not cooperate with grace. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.

This says nothing different from what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Unless a man is born again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God. If we believe that faith precedes regeneration, then we set our thinking and therefore ourselves in direct opposition not only to giants of Christian history but also to the teaching of Paul and of our Lord Himself.


(from the book, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, Tyndale House, 1990

Saturday, October 24, 2009

BAD PEACE

Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world: peace with sin, and peace in sin.

---Joseph Alleine

TEACH US HOW

“It is not recorded that His disciples ever said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us how to preach,’ but at least one of them was so struck with His prayers that he said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’”

—Spurgeon, Volume 56, Sermon #3181

Friday, October 23, 2009

THE THEOLOGIAN

Affliction is the Christian’s theologian

-Martin Luther

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

DISDAIN

We do not witness because we would rather avoid the disdain of unbelievers, not realizing in doing so we have provoked the disdain of our suffering Messiah.

GLORIFY CHRIST

Man's religion and God's religion: Man's religion is to build up the creature. God's religion is to throw the creature down in the dust of self-abasement, and to glorify Christ.

J.C. Philpot

WE CAN NO MORE

"We can no more unite ourselves to Christ, than a branch can incorporate itself into another stock; it is of him, of God, his proper and alone work."

- John Flavel

IT IS GOOD FOR ME

“If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace by the way and glory to the end – all this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no afflictions. He loves us too well to promise that.

“By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons, which without it we should never learn. By affliction He shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, makes us long for heaven. In the resurrection morning we shall all say, ‘it is good for me that I was afflicted.’ We shall thank God for every storm.”

~ J.C. Ryle

Monday, October 19, 2009

BUILT ON CHRIST

Faith is not built by preaching introspectively (constantly challenging people to question whether they have faith); faith is not built by preaching moralistically (which has exactly the opposite effect of focusing attention on the self rather than on Christ, in whom our faith is placed); faith is not built by joining the culture wars and taking potshots at what is wrong with our culture.

Faith is built by careful, thorough exposition of the person, character, and work of Christ.

- T. David Gordon;

CLEAVE MORE

God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.

— Thomas Watson

Sunday, October 18, 2009

I cannot go anywhere without Christ; I cannot perform the least duty without him here to help me; without Christ in anything, I produce nothing but stenching smoke; I cannot take my next breath without Christ by my side or his permitting me to, and neither would I want to go anywhere or do anything without him. The loveliness of Christ shines through into the darkest of dungeons or prisons, and turns them into palaces. I would be mad to wish a second to be without Christ.

(Covenanted Reformation)

http://www.covenantedreformation.co.uk/

Psalm 147:1-11 - Scottish Psalter 1650 (ACapella)

Friday, October 16, 2009

A DROP

There is more evil in a drop of sin than in a sea of affliction.

---THOMAS WATSON

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Chris Rice- Rock Of Ages

JESUS,Lover of my soul (it's all about You)

Holy is the Lord

It is Well with my Soul

John Piper - Why Does God Save People?

UNBELIEF WAS THE FIRST

Unbelief was the first sin, and pride was the first-born of it.

-- Stephen Charnock

We often learn more of God under the rod that strikes us, than under the staff that comforts us.

-- Stephen Charnock

RARE, VERY RARE

All men promiscuously do homage to God, but very few truly reverence him. On all hands there is abundance of ostentatious ceremonies, but sincerity of heart is rare.

-- John Calvin

WHAT THOU WILT

I have no hope at all but in thy great mercy. Grant what thou commandest and command what thou wilt. Thou dost enjoin on us continence . . . Truly by continence are we bound together and brought back into that ...unity from which we were dissipated into a plurality.

For he loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee, which he does not love not for thy sake. O love that ever burnest and art never quenched! O Charity, my God, enkindle me! Thou commandest continence. Grant what thou commandest and command what thou wilt.

-- Augustine

continence means = (self-restraint)

HOPE AND COURAGE

Hope has two beautiful daughters Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.

-- Augustine

FOUNDATION

Whoever has Christ in his heart, so that no earthly or temporal things -- not even those that are legitimate and allowed -- are preferred to Him, has Christ as a foundation. But if these things be preferred, then even though a man seem to have faith in Christ, yet Christ is not the foundation to that man.

-- Augustine

CONCEALS

"Religion is one of the chief ways that man conceals his unwillingness to forsake self-reliance and bank all his hopes on the unmerited mercy of God (Luke 18:9-14; Colossians 2:20-23)."

-John Piper-

IDOLATRY

"Nevertheless, let me tell you, that trust, confidence, reliance, and dependence, for salvation, are all acts and very solemn ones too, of divine worship: and upon whatsoever you depend, whether in whole or in part, for your acceptance with God,and for your justification in His sight, whatsoever, you rely upon, and trust in, for the attainment of grace or glory; if it be any thing short of God in Christ, you are an idolater to all intents and purposes."

- Augustus Toplady

FULLEST DISPLAY

Evil is anything and everything opposed to the fullest display of the glory of Christ

~ John Piper

RESPONSIBLE

"You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say."

- Martin Luther

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

NO HANKERINGS

"Every man who loves himself and seeks salvation by his own works, will loathe sovereign grace, and seek to load it with contempt. On the other hand, those who have been effectually humbled by the Holy Spirit and brought to realize that they are utterly dependent upon the discriminating mercy of God will have no hankerings after, nor patience with a system which sets the crown of honour upon the creature." - AW. Pink

Joy from Christ, not your performance - Paul Washer

Monday, October 12, 2009

TURNING STONES

"The devil would have Christ prove Himself to be God, by turning stones into bread; but the Holy Ghost shows His Godhead by turning stones into flesh (Eze. 36:26)."

-Thomas Watson

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Toplady SET #3

ORIGINAL SOURCE: HERE

One great contest, between the religion of Arminius, and the religion of Jesus Christ, is, who shall stand entitled to the praise and glory of a sinner’s salvation? Conversion decides this point at once; for I think, that, without any imputation of uncharitableness, I may venture to say, that every truly awakened person, at least when he is under the shine of God’s countenance upon his soul, will fall down upon his knees, with this hymn of praise ascending from his heart, “Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but to Thy Name, give the glory: I am saved not for my righteousness, but for Thy mercy and Thy truth’s sake..”

And this holds true even as to the blessings of the life that now is. It is God that sets up one, and puts down another (see Psalm 75:7). Victory, for instance, when contending princes wage war, is all of God. “The race is not to the swift, as swift; nor the battle to the strong” (Ecclesiastes 9:11), as such. It is the decree, the will, the power, the providence of God, which effectually, though sometimes invisibly, order and dispose of every event.

Toplady SET #2

ORIGINAL SOURCE: HERE

Very different is the idea which Scripture gives us, of the ever-blessed God, from that of those false gods worshipped by the heathens; and from that degrading representation of the true God, which Arminianism would palm upon mankind. “Our God [says this Psalm, verse the third] is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” This is not the Arminian idea of God: for our free-willers and our chance-mongers tell us, that God does not do whatsoever He pleases; that there are a great number of things, which God wishes to do, and tugs and strives to do, and yet cannot bring to pass: they tell us, as one ingeniously expresses it:

That all mankind He fain would save, But longs for what He cannot have. Industrious, thus, to sound abroad, A disappointed, changing God.

How does this comport with that majestic description, “Our God is in the heavens”! He sits upon the throne, weighing out, and dispensing, the fates of men; holding all events in His own hand; and guiding every link of every chain of second causes, from the beginning to the end of time. Our God is in heaven, possessed of all power; and (which is the natural consequence of that) He hath done whatsoever He pleased: or as the Apostle expresses it, (the words are different, but the sense is the same) “He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).

Therefore it is, that we both labour, and suffer reproach: even because we say (and the utmost we can say upon the subject, amounts to no more than this: to wit, that) our God is in heaven, and has done whatsoever pleased Him. And do according to His own sovereign pleasure He will, to the end of the chapter; though all the Arminians upon earth were to endeavor to defeat the divine intention, and to clog the wheels of divine government. He, that sits in heaven, laughs them to scorn: and brings His own purposes to pass, sometimes, even through the means of those very incidents, which evil men endeavor to throw in His way, with a mad view to disappoint Him of His purposes. ‘All things,” saith the Psalmist, “serve Thee” (Psalm 119:91).

Toplady SET #1

ORIGINAL SOURCE: HERE

by Augustus Toplady (1740-1778)

Not unto us, o LORD, not unto us, but unto Thy Name, give glory for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth’s sake (Psalm 115:1).

Some expositors have supposed, that this Psalm was penned by the prophet Daniel; on occasion of the miraculous deliverance of Shadrac, Meshac, and Abednego, when they came out, unhurt, from the burning fiery furnace, into which they had been thrown by the command of king Nebuchadnezzar.

And, indeed, there are not wanting passages, in the Psalm itself, which seem to countenance this conjecture. As where we read, at the fourth verse (speaking of the idols of the heathens, and, perhaps, with particular reference to that golden image which Nebuchadnezzar commanded to be worshipped), their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands: they have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they but they see not.

I dare say, that, in such an auditory as this, a number of Arminians are present. I fear, that all our public assemblies have too many of them. Perhaps, however, even these people, idolaters as they are, may be apt to blame, and, indeed, with justice, the absurdity of those who worship idols of silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. But let me ask: If it be so very absurd, to worship the work of other men’s hands; what must it be, to worship the works of our own hands? Perhaps, you may ask, “God forbid that I should do so.” Nevertheless, let me tell you, that trust, confidence, reliance, and dependence, for salvation, are all acts and very solemn ones too, of divine worship: and upon whatsoever you depend, whether in whole or in part, for your acceptance with God, and for your justification in His sight, whatsoever, you rely upon, and trust in, for the attainment of grace or glory; if it be any thing short of God in Christ, you are an idolater to all intents and purposes.

MORE THAN PAINT

"There is as much difference between heavenly comforts and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten and one that is painted on the wall."

- Thomas Watson

PRIDE SAYS

'In canvassing this momentous truth, let us begin where God Himself began: namely, with election. To whom are we indebted, for that first of all spiritual blessings? Pride says, “To me.” Self-righteousness says, “To me.” Man’s uncoverted will says, “To me.” But faith joins with God’s Word in saying, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Thy Name, be the whole glory of thy electing love ascribed"'

- Augustus Toplady

SAME LESSON

"Indeed all the saints are taught the same lesson - to renounce their own strength, and rely on the power of God; their own policy, and cast themselves on the wisdom of God; their own righteousness, and expect all from the pure mercy of God in Christ, which act of faith is so pleasing to God, that such a soul shall never be ashamed."

- William Gurnall,

Saturday, October 10, 2009

JEREMIAH 6:10

Jeremiah 6:10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.

Friday, October 9, 2009

WENT MOER WILLINGLY

The Puritan Thomas Watson comments on prayer, "Jesus Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace."

-- Thomas Watson

GREAT HYMN

Hail, thou once despised Jesus — St. Hilda

Original Trinity Hymnal, #128

Hail, thou once despised Jesus,
Hail, thou Galilean King!
Thou didst suffer to release us:
Thou didst free salvation bring.
Hail, thou agonizing Saviour,
Bearer of our sin and shame!
By thy merits we find favor;
Life is given through thy name.

Paschal Lamb, by God appointed,
All our sins were on thee laid;
By almighty love anointed,
Thou hast full atonement made:
All thy people are forgiven
Through the virtue of thy blood;
Opened is the gate of heaven,
Peace is made 'twixt man and God.

Jesus, hail! enthroned in glory,
There for ever to abide;
All the heav'nly hosts adore thee,
Seated at thy Father's side:
There for sinners thou art pleading;
There thou dost our place prepare;
Ever for us interceding,
Till in glory we appear.

Worship, honor, power, and blessing
Thou art worthy to receive:
Loudest praises without ceasing,
Meet it is for us to give.
Help, ye bright angelic spirits,
Bring your sweetest, noblest lays;
Help to sing our Saviour's merits,
Help to chant Immanuel's praise.

HOW CAN

"Can I ask you a question? How can a dead man pass through a narrow gate?"

— Paul Washer

THUNDERING

Sinners must hear the thundering of Mount Sinai before we bring them to Mount Zion.

---George Whitfield

USELESS UNLESS

"The best teaching in the world is useless unless the Holy Spirit takes hold of it and applies it and opens our understanding to it, and gives it a deep lodging place in our whole being."

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Monergism Books)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

NOTHING AT ALL

[Regarding confidence in God], I did no more than pray and preach; otherwise nothing at all. The Word did it all...while I sat still and drank beer with Philip and Amsdorf...

-Martin Luther

JESUS IS LIFE

Unto them that believe unto the saving of the soul, he (Jesus) is, he always has
been, precious — the sun, the rock, the life, the bread of their souls —
every thing that is good, useful, amiable, desirable, here or unto eternity.
In, from, and by him, is all their spiritual and eternal life, light, power,
growth, consolation, and joy here; with everlasting salvation hereafter. By
him alone do they desire, expect, and obtain deliverance from that woeful
apostasy from God, which is accompanied with — which containeth in it
virtually and meritoriously whatever is evil, noxious, and destructive unto
our nature, and which, without relief, will issue in eternal misery.

By him are they brought into the nearest cognation, alliance, and friendship with
God, the firmest union unto him, and the most holy communion with him,
that our finite natures are capable of, and so conducted unto the eternal
enjoyment of him. For in him “shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and
shall glory;” (Isaiah 45:25;) for “Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an
everlasting salvation;” they “shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world
without end:” verse 17.

from John Owen's Preface page 1:

A DECLARATION OF THE GLORIOUS MYSTERY
OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST — GOD AND MAN:

WITH

The Infinite Wisdom, Love, And Power Of God In The Contrivance
And Constitution Thereof;

AS ALSO,

Of The Grounds And Reasons Of His Incarnation; The Nature Of
His Ministry In Heaven; The Present State Of The Church Above
Thereon; And The Use Of His Person In Religion:

WITH

An Account And Vindication Of The Honor, Worship, Faith, Love,
And Obedience Due Unto Him, In And From The Church.

OWEN AND BUNYAN

There was no sufferer whose behalf John Owen exerted more his influence more earnestly than John Bunyan.

It is well known that, as a preacher, Bunyan excited, wherever he went, an interest not surpassed even by the ministry of Baxter. When Bunyan preached in barns or on commons, he gathered eager thousands around him; and when he came to London, 1200 people would be found gathered together at seven on the dark of morning of a winter working-day to hear him expound the Word of God. Among these admiring multitudes John Owen had often been discovered;-- the most learned of the Puritans hung for hours, that seemed like moments, upon the lips of this untutored genius.

The King is reported to have asked Owen on one occasion, how a learned man like him could go "to hear a tinker prate;" to which the great theologian answered, "May it please your majesty, could I poosess the tinker's abilities for preaching, I would willingly relinquish all my learning."

Volume 1. The Works of John Owen, page. XCII

ACCEPTABLE

"The task of the modern preacher is not to make Christ acceptable to sinners. Because Jesus Christ will never be acceptable to a sinner. The problem that faces us is not "how to make Christ or God acceptable to sinners?" but how do we make sinners acceptable to God. The answer to that is the Gospel, the cross of Jesus Christ."

(Greis Svdbygrace )

BARK

"A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent."

- John Calvin

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

BEST OF MY DUTIES

"Not only the worst of my sins, but the best of my duties speak me a child of Adam."

- William Beveridge


NOT INDUCEMENTS

"Sinful man stands in need, not of inducements or assistance to save himself, but precisely of saving; and Jesus Christ has come not to advise, or urge, or woo, or help him to save himself, but to save him."

- B.B. Warfield

FAITH FIRST

"the design of Christian doctrine is that believers should exercise themselves in good works," but "faith must go before in such a manner that good works may follow."

-- John Calvin

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

WRONG VIEW

"The doctrine of regeneration is absolutely foundational. It is because so many do not realize this that they have a wrong view of evangelism, and become interested overmuch in decisions."

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Monday, September 28, 2009

MERE PLEASURE OF GOD

"Those who are ordained unto eternal life were not so ordained on account of any worthiness foreseen in them, or of any good works to be wrought by them, nor yet for their future faith, but purely and solely of free, sovereign grace, and according to the mere pleasure of God."

- Augustus Toplady

All I Have Is Christ

Sunday, September 27, 2009

DIVINE WORK

"Conversion is as divine a work as creation."

- C.H. Spurgeon (monergism books)

(my note: yea, Conversion is even a greater divine work than creation; creation was making nothing into something without the death of Jesus; conversion is grounded in making the unclean to be clean due to the death of Jesus)

Saturday, September 26, 2009

VERY HONORABLE

The outward appearance and condition of the saints in those days being
very mean and contemptible, — their leaders being accounted as the filth
of this world, and as the offscouring of all things, — the inviting others
unto fellowship with them, and a participation of the precious things
which they did enjoy, seems to be exposed to many contrary reasonings
and objections: “What benefit is there in communion with them? Is it any
thing else but to be sharers in troubles, reproaches, scorns, and all manner
of evils?”

To prevent or remove these and the like exceptions, the apostle
gives them to whom he wrote to know (and that with some earnestness of
expression), that notwithstanding all the disadvantages their fellowship lay
under, unto a carnal view, yet in truth it was, and would be found to be (in
reference to some with whom they held it), very honorable, glorious, and
desirable. For “truly,” saith he, “our fellowship is with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ.”

-- John Owen, "Communion with God, Chapter 1"

MAGNIFIES MAN

Free-will doctrine – what does it? It magnifies man into God; it declares God’s purposes a nullity, since they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God’s will a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace dependent upon human action. Denying election on the ground of injustice it holds God to be a debtor to sinners so that if He gives grace to one He is bound to do so to all.

It teaches that the blood of Christ was shed equally for all men and since some are lost, this doctrine ascribes the difference to man’s own will, thus making the atonement itself a powerless thing until the will of man gives it efficacy. Those sentiments dilute the scriptural description of man’s depravity, and by imputing strength to fallen humanity, rob the Spirit of the glory of His effectual grace: this theory says in effect that it is of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, and not of God that showeth mercy."


C.H. Spurgeon

THEIR INSIGNIFICANCE

Hence the dread and amazement with which, as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God...Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until the have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.

-John Calvin

GOD IS THE OCEAN

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls c an be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean.

-Jonathan Edwards

ROMANS 8:28

All the sins of the saints

(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness", 1662)

"We know that all things work together for good,
to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

All the afflictions, and
all the temptations, and
all the oppressions, and
all the oppositions, and
all the persecutions--
which befall a godly man,
shall work for his good.

Every cross, and
every loss, and
every disease--
which befall the holy man,
shall work for his good.

Every device,
every snare,
every deceit,
every stratagem,
and every enterprise of Satan against
the holy man, shall work for his good.

They shall all help to make him . . .
more humble,
more holy,
more heavenly,
more spiritual,
more faithful,
more fruitful,
more watchful.

Every prosperity and every adversity;
every storm and every calm;
every bitter and every sweet;
every cross and every comfort--
shall work for the holy man's good.

When God gives a mercy--
that shall work for his good.
When God takes away a mercy--
that shall work for his good.

Yes, even all the falls and all the sins of
the saints shall work for their good. Oh . . .
the care,
the fear,
the watchfulness,
the tenderness,
the zeal--
which God raises in the souls of His saints by their
very falls! Oh the hatred, the indignation, and the
detestation--which God raises in the hearts of His
children against sin--by their very falling into sin!

Oh what love to Christ,
what thankfulness for Christ,
what admiration of Christ,
what cleaving to Christ,
what exalting of Christ,
what drawings from Christ's grace--
are saints led to, by their very falls!

It is the glory of God's holiness, that . . .
He can turn spiritual diseases--into holy remedies!
He can turn soul poisons--into heavenly cordials!
He can prevent sin by sin, and cure falling by falling!

O Christian! What though friends and relations frown upon you,
what though enemies are plotting and conspiring against you,
what though needs, like armed men, are breaking in upon you,
what though men rage, and devils roar against you,
what though sickness is devastating your family,
what though death stands every day at your elbow--
yet there is no reason for you to fear nor faint, because
all these things shall work for your good! Yes, there is
wonderful cause of joy and rejoicing in all the afflictions
and tribulations which come upon you--considering that
they shall all work for your good.

O Christians! I am afraid, I am afraid--that you do not
run so often as you should--to the breasts of this promise,
nor draw that sweetness and comfort from it, that it would
yield, and that your several cases may require. "We know
that all things work together for good, to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose." I
have been the longer upon this verse, because the condition
of God's people calls for the strongest cordials, and the
choicest and the sweetest comforts.

Friday, September 25, 2009

116 Clique - I See The Lord

HE IS HEARD

Everyone wants their voice heard, yet are not really interested in hearing what others are saying. The good news is, His sheep hear His voice, and they follow Him.

ABIDE SERIES #1

Abiding in Christ, at least means we don't abide in our emotions.

BUSINESS

"Even the choicest saints who seek to remain free from the condemning power of sin need to make it their business, as long as they live, to mortify the indwelling power of sin."

-- John Owen.

(source: Daniel Mac)

BACK UPON GOD

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else.

A.W. Tozer

NEVER LIKELY

“Let us take with us to church, not only our bodies, but our minds, our reason, our hearts and our consciences. Let us often ask ourselves, ‘What have I got from this sermon?’, ‘What have I learned?’, ‘What truths have been impressed on my mind?’.

“The heart is unquestionably the main point: but we must never forget that the Holy Ghost generally reaches the heart through the mind. Sleepy, idle, inattentive hearers are never likely to be converted.”

~ J.C. Ryle

http://networkedblogs.com/p12723781

GREAT AIM

"To cut off the sinner from all reliance upon himself, his merits and his powers; and throw him, naked and helpless, into the hands of the Holy Spirit to lead him to Christ in faith; should be the one great aim of the ministry.”

- Ichabod S. Spencer, (Monergism Books)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

RIGHTEOUSNESS

“One day as I was passing into the field, this sentence fell upon my soul: ‘Thy righteousness is in heaven.’ And with the eyes of my soul I saw Jesus at the Father’s right hand. ‘There,’ I said, ‘is my righteousness!’ So that wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say to me, ‘Where is your righteousness?’ For it is always right before him.

I saw that it is not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness IS Christ. Now my chains fell off indeed. My temptations fled away, and I lived sweetly at peace with God.

Now I could look from myself to him and could reckon that all my character was like the coins a rich man carries in his pocket when all his gold is safe in a trunk at home. Oh I saw that my gold was indeed in a trunk at home, in Christ my Lord. Now Christ was all: my righteousness, sanctification, redemption.”

- John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

http://firstimportance.org/2009/09/24/thy-righteousness-is-in-heaven-2/

Sunday, September 20, 2009

FLOW OUT OF

"We do more to bless and satisfy God by being shut up with Him in loving communication than by doing anything else. Whatever work He might open up for us to do at home or abroad, will flow effortlessly out of our communion with Him. He is more interested in winning our whole hearts than in our winning the world for Him."

- David Wilkerson (source: Disciple Life)

Saturday, September 12, 2009

DEATH TO SIN

"Were it not for sin--death would never have had a beginning! And were it not for death--sin would never have an ending!" By Jesus death we are declared, "not guilty"! praise be to God!!

( Bronni Vincent VanDerwerker )

Friday, September 11, 2009

God's Glory

"God's glory is the end of our being and doing, for being and doing are both from him, and therefore for him alone."

- Thomas Manton

PROGRAM

This is our real "Program": faith in Christ, fellowship with Christ, faithfulness to Christ, fruitfulness for Christ.

- Richard Baxter

EXTOL AND MAGNIFY

Extol and magnify God’s mercy, who has adopted you into his family; who, of slaves, has made you sons; of heirs of hell, heirs of the promise. Adoption is a free gift. He gave them power, or dignity, to become the sons of God. As a thread of silver runs through a whole piece of work, so free grace runs through the whole privilege of adoption."

-- Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, p. 240

SAME BODY

When I was beaten on the bottom of my feet, my tongue cried. Why did my tongue cry? It was not beaten. It cried because the tongue and the feet are both part of the same body. And you free Christians are part of the same Body of Christ that is now beaten in prisons in restricted nations, that even now gives martyrs for Christ. Can you not feel our pain?

-Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

GREATEST SORROW

"I do not understand how a man can be a sincere believer unto whom sin is not the greatest burden and sorrow"

-John Owen

Monday, September 7, 2009

EXCELLENCY

"The notion that there is a Christ, and that Christ is holy and gracious, is conveyed to the mind by the Word of God, but the sense of the excellency of Christ by reason of that holiness and grace, is nevertheless immediately the work of the Holy Spirit."

- Jonathan Edwards

Sunday, August 30, 2009

TO QUESTION

Election - "Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it; there it stands." Disbelief of Election - "I believe the man who is not willing to submit to the electing love and sovereign grace of God, has great reason to question whether he is a Christian at all...

-Charles H. Spurgeon

Thursday, August 20, 2009

FATHER PLANNED IT ALL

My Father Planned It All

1- What tho the way be lonely,and dark the shadows fall,
I know wher'er it leadeth, My Father planned it all.
I sing thru the shade and the sunshine, I'll trust Him whatever befall;
I sing for I cannot be silent, My Father planned it all.

2- There may be sunshine tomorrow, Shadows may break and flee,
Twill be the way He chooses, My Father's plan for me.
I sing thru the shade and the sunshine, I'll trust Him whatever befall;
I sing for I cannot be silent, My Father planned it all.

3- He guides my fal'tring footsteps, A--long the weary way;
For well he knows the pathway, Will lead to endless day.
I sing thru the shade and the sunshine, I'll trust Him whatever befall;
I sing for I cannot be silent, My Father planned it all.

4- A day of light and gladness, On which no shade will fall;
Tis this at last awaits me , My Father planned it all....
I sing thru the shade and the sunshine, I'll trust Him whatever befall;
I sing for I cannot be silent, My Father planned it all.

NEAR TO GOD

Dear friend,

I hope that you have found your trials so sweetened, and so sanctified, by God's blessing, that you have been enabled to rejoice in them!

Whatever may be the immediate causes of your troubles--they are all under the direction of a gracious hand--and each, in their place, cooperating to a gracious end. Your afflictions all come from God's heart, who loves you better than you love yourself! They are all tokens of His love and favor--and are necessary means of promoting your growth in faith and grace.

You are in the hands of Him who does all things well, and conducts His most afflictive dispensations to those who fear Him, with wisdom and mercy!

The Lord knows what is best for you! When there is an especial need-be for your being in the furnace--He knows how to support you; and at what season, and in what manner, deliverance will best comport with His glory and your good. These are the two great ends which He has in view, and which are inseparably connected together.

He knows our frame, and of what we are made. His pity exceeds that of the most tender parent. And though He causes grief--He will have compassion. Your afflictions which at present are not joyous but grievous, shall, when you have been duly exercised by them--yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. I trust the Lord gives you a measure of patience and submission to His holy will. If so, everything shall be well--and when He has fully tried you--you shall come forth as gold!

The thoughts of what we have deserved at His hands--and what Jesus suffered for our sakes--when applied by his Holy Spirit, have a sovereign efficacy to compose our minds, and enable us to say, "Not my will--but may Yours be done!" How unspeakably better is it to be chastened by the Lord now--than to be left to ourselves for a season, and at last condemned with the world.

The path of affliction is sanctified by the promises of God, and by the consideration of our Lord Jesus, who walked in it Himself, that we might not think it too much to tread in His steps. Yes, it has been a beaten path in all ages; for the innumerable multitudes of the redeemed who are now before the eternal throne, have entered the kingdom by no other way. Let us not then be weary and faint--but cheerfully consent to be the followers of those who, through faith and patience, are now inheriting the promises!

If, after much tribulation, we stand accepted before the Lord in His glory, we shall not then think much of the difficulties we met with in our pathway to glory. Then sorrow and sighing shall cease forever--and songs of triumph and everlasting joy shall take their place! Oh, happy transporting moment, when the Lord God Himself shall wipe every tear from our eyes!

Until then, may the prospect of this glory which shall be revealed, cheer and comfort our hearts! Hitherto the Lord has helped us. He has delivered us in six troubles--and we may trust Him in the seventh.

Whatever storms may arise, we have an infallible and almighty Pilot, who will be a Sun and a Shield to those who love Him!

As long as we live, new trials will be needful. It is not that the Lord delights in grieving us and putting us to pain; on the contrary, He rejoices in the prosperity of His servants. No, it is not for His pleasure--but for our profit, that we may be made partakers of His holiness!

Perhaps you may have observed a bird, in a hedge, or upon the boughs of a tree; if you disturb it--it will move a little higher--and thus you may make it change its place three or four times. But if it finds, after a few trials, that you continue to follow it--it takes wing at last, and flies away!

Thus it is with us! When the Lord drives us from one creature-rest, we immediately perch upon another! But He will not allow us to stay long upon any. At length, like the bird, we are sensible that we can have no safety, no stable peace below! Then our hearts take flight and soar heavenwards, and we are taught by His grace to place our treasure and affections out of the reach of earthly vanities. So far as this end is accomplished, we have reason to be thankful and say,
happy rod--that brought me nearer to my God!

-- John Newton; (from Gracegems)

John Piper - The Pride of Attachment to Someone Special

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

REJOICING OF GOD

The evangelist can get weary for after giving his message to man it is "forgotten, ignored, and without impact." but the solution for joy is to know God, "remembers, pays attention, and is pleased." Our joy is not based on the reaction of man, but the rejoicing of God.

Monday, August 17, 2009

ANNOY MEN NOT GOD

We fail to witness, because we know people are annoyed when they are presented with the gospel, but this works 3 ways. #2. You should be annoyed by their disinterest in the gospel, so why should you appease their annoyance, and they not appease your annoyance; but more importantly #3. We should rather annoy men in witnessing, than annoy God in not witnessing. Jesus knew his message offended men, but He lived to please God, and not men; So if need be, offend men, than offend God. And may this Jesus live in us by the Spirit.

PRAYER HELPS

“…it is very important for us to call upon him: First, that our hearts may be fired with a zealous and burning desire ever to seek, love and serve him, while we become accustomed in every need to flee to him as to a sacred anchor. Secondly, that there may enter our hearts no desire and no wish at all of which we should be ashamed to make him a witness, while we learn to set all our wishes before his eyes, and even to pour out our whole hearts. Thirdly, that we be prepared to receive his benefits with true gratitude of heart and thanksgiving, benefits that our prayer reminds us come from his hand [cf. Ps. 145:15-16]. Fourthly, moreover, that, having obtained what we were seeking, and being convinced that he has answered our prayers, we should be led to meditation upon his kindness more ardently. And fifthly, that at the same time we embrace with greater delight those things which we acknowledge to have been obtained by prayers. Finally, that use and experience may, according to the measure of our feebleness, confirm his providence, while we understand not only that he promises never to fail us, and of his own will opens the way to call upon him at the very point of necessity, but also that he ever extends his hand to help his own, not wet-nursing them with words but defending them with present help.”

John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book Three, Chapter XX)

source: http://cal.vini.st/

Saturday, August 15, 2009

ABSENCE OF

If you aren't a witness for Christ in the absence of suffering, what makes you think you'll be a witness 4 him in the presence of suffering?-- Tim Brister.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

SCRIPTURE POST#2

1 Samuel 8:1-9 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD.

7 And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."

SCRIPTURE POST

1 Kings 11:1-14 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. 9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. 11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen." 14 And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.

PRAYER WORK

The godly man does not play at prayer, for his heart is in it. Prayer to him is his chief work. (forget the source)

For prayer in secret is the veritable mainspring of the godly man’s life. And when we speak of prayer we are not referring to the prim, proper, stereotyped, self-regarding formalities which sometimes pass for the real thing. (forget the source, probably a puritan)

Like God Himself, the godly man is supremely jealous that God, and God only, should be honoured. (forget the source, probably a puritan)

"We take for granted that prayer is preparation for the work, whereas prayer is the work."

- Oswald Chambers (source: Mark Calhoun)

"We bank on service and do away with prayer. Consequently, by succeeding in the external we fail in the eternal, because in the eternal we succeed only by prevailing prayer"

- Oswald Chambers. (source: Mark Calhoun)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Christ's Call by K.P. Yohannan - Part 1

Christ's Call by K.P. Yohannan - Part 2

DEEMED IT MEET

"The first man fell because the Lord deemed it meet that he should: why he deemed it meet, we know not. It is certain, however, that it was just, because he saw that his own glory would thereby be displayed."

-- John Calvin, (Inst. 3.23.8)

source: Gene Long;

DELUSIONS

"Since our sins were so great that nothing could take them away except a ransom so immeasurable, shall we still claim to obtain righteousness by the strength of our own will, by the power of the law, or by the teaching of men? What shall we do with all these artifices, with all these delusions?" -

-- Martin Luther

source: monergism.com

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

ADJUSTMENT

Peace is the deliberate adjustment of my life to the will of GOD.


-- from J.M. Vergara

FOR A MOMENT

"If we were left to ourselves but for a moment–we would destroy ourselves in that moment! We can defile ourselves–but we cannot cleanse ourselves. The sheep can go astray alone–but can never return to the fold, without the assistance of the shepherd. “Hold me up–and I shall be safe!” (Psalm 119:117)"

— William Secker, The Consistent Christian, 1660

(source: newdemonstration.com)

HATRED AND LOVE

“Sense of sin and deep hatred of it, faith in Christ and love to Him, delight in holiness and longing after more of it, love for God’s people and distaste for the things of the world, – these are the signs and evidences which always accompany conversion.”

~ J.C. Ryle

Monday, August 10, 2009

NECESSARY

“Everything is necessary that [God] sends. Nothing can be necessary that he withholds.”

-- John Newton


"Pride is more fatal than death."

--John Piper


"Replacing the mercy of disapproval with tolerance is replacing medicine with poison."

--Robert Hart


“Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to failure.”

--John Piper

Four great quotes from a new FB friend.

Friday, August 7, 2009

HOW GREAT

How great is that strength you have, if that strength is Jesus Himself?

How great is that joy you have, if that joy is Jesus Himself?

How great is that shield you have, if that shield is Jesus Himself?

How great is that hope you have, if that hope is Jesus Himself?

How great is that reward you have, if that reward is Jesus Himself?

How great is that boasting you have, if that boasting is Jesus Himself?

Thursday, August 6, 2009

HOLY

"God is Holy, and is angry with the unholy, but in love has provided a Holy Sacrifice to make unholy people holy"

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

RELEVANT

"To be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal."

- Simone Weil

(RT @bkauflin)// J.m. Vergara RT @MattRodatus

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

CONFUSION PREVAILS

God's Sovereignty and the Human Will: A.W. Pink

Concerning the nature and the power of fallen man’s will, the greatest confusion prevails today, and the most erroneous views are held, even by many of God’s children. The popular idea now prevailing, and which is taught from the great majority of pulpits, is that man has a “free will”, and that salvation comes to the sinner through his will cooperating with the Holy Spirit. To deny the “free will” of man, i.e. his power to choose that which is good, his native ability to accept Christ, is to bring one into disfavour at once, even before most of those who profess to be orthodox. And yet Scripture emphatically says, “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” Rom. 9:16. Which shall we believe: God, or the preachers?

Should it be asked, But does not the Holy Spirit overcome a man’s enmity and hatred when he convicts the sinner of his sins and his need of Christ; and does not the Spirit of God produce such conviction in many that perish? Such language betrays confusion of thought: were such a man’s enmity really “overcome”, then he would readily turn to Christ; that he does not come to the Saviour, demonstrates that his enmity is not overcome. But that many are, through the preaching of the Word, convicted by the Holy Spirit, who nevertheless die in unbelief, is solemnly true. Yet, it is a fact which must not be lost sight of that, the Holy Spirit does something more in each of God’s elect than he does in the non-elect: he works in them “both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure” Php 2:13.

In reply to what we have said above, Arminians would answer, No; the Spirit’s work of conviction is the same both in the converted and in the unconverted, that which distinguishes the one class from the other is that the former yielded to his strivings, whereas the latter resist them. But if this were the case, then the Christian would make himself to “differ”, whereas the Scripture attributes the “differing” to God’s discriminating grace 1 Cor. 4:7. Again; if such were the case, then the Christian would have ground for boasting and self-glorying over his cooperation with the Spirit; but this would flatly contradict Eph 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”.

A.W. Pink

typed by: Bob Timenuff Johnson