Not its results

 

God has entrusted the ministry of the Word to us, not its results.

-- R.C. Sproul

JOY IS NOT SELF-INDUCED

For the Christian, joy is not a self-induced, self-sustained, emotional state of being. It is a Spirit-instilled, Spirit-sustained state of heart and mind. That joy is a fruit *of* the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) means it originates and proceeds from the Spirit of God, not from ourselves.

Darrell B. Harrison.  (on twitter).  

Series of Quotes by Calvin

 Now, since the arrangement of all things is in the hand of God, since to him belongs the disposal of life and death, he arranges all things by his sovereign counsel, in such a way that individuals are born, who are doomed from the womb to certain death, and are to glorify him by their destruction. If any one alleges that no necessity is laid upon them by the providence of God, but rather that they are created by him in that condition, because he foresaw their future depravity, he says something, but does not say enough. Ancient writers, indeed, occasionally employ this solution, though with some degree of hesitation. The Schoolmen, again, rest in it as if it could not be gainsaid. I, for my part, am willing to admit, that mere prescience lays no necessity on the creatures; though some do not assent to this, but hold that it is itself the cause of things. But Valla, though otherwise not greatly skilled in sacred matters, seems to me to have taken a shrewder and more acute view, when he shows that the dispute is superfluous since life and death are acts of the divine will rather than of prescience. If God merely foresaw human events, and did not also arrange and dispose of them at his pleasure, there might be room for agitating the question, how far his foreknowledge amounts to necessity; but since he foresees the things which are to happen, simply because he has decreed that they are so to happen, it is vain to debate about prescience, while it is clear that all events take place by his sovereign appointment.

— John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 23, Paragraph 6

...how foolish and frail is the support of divine justice afforded by the suggestion that evils come to be, not by His will but by His permission... It is a quite frivolous refuge to say that God otiosely permits them, when Scripture shows Him not only willing, but the author of them...

— John Calvin, The Eternal Predestination of God, 10:11

(Definition of Otiosely: serving no practical purpose or result.)

The devil, and the whole train of the ungodly, are in all directions, held in by the hand of God as with a bridle, so that they can neither conceive any mischief, nor plan what they have conceived, nor how muchsoever they may have planned, move a single finger to perpetrate, unless in so far as he permits, nay unless in so far as he commands, that they are not only bound by his fetters but are even forced to do him service (John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 17, Paragraph 11)

...thieves and murderers, and other evildoers, are instruments of divine providence, being employed by the Lord himself to execute judgments which he has resolved to inflict.

— John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 17, Paragraph 5)

For God's will is so much the highest rule of righteousness that whatever he wills, by the very fact that he wills it, must be considered righteous. When, therefore, one asks why God has so done, we must reply: because he has willed it. But if you proceed further to ask why he so willed, you are seeking something greater and higher than God's will, which cannot be found. Let men's rashness, then, restrain itself, and not seek what does not exist, lest perhaps it fail to find what does exist.

— John Calvin

Here they recur to the distinction between will and permission, and insist that God permits the destruction of the impious, but does not will it. But what reason shall we assign for his permitting it, but because it is his will? It is not probable, however, that man procured his own destruction by the mere permission, without any appointment, of God; as though God had not determined what he would choose to be the condition of the principal of his creatures. I shall not hesitate therefore to confess plainly with Augustine, "that the will of God is the necessity of things, and that what he has willed will necessarily come to pass." God is very frequently said to blind and harden the reprobate, and to turn, incline, and influence their hearts, as I have elsewhere more fully stated. But it affords no explication of the nature of this influence to resort to prescience or permission.... For the execution of his judgements, he, by means of Satan, the minister of his wrath, directs their counsels to what he pleases and excites their wills and strengthens their efforts. Thus when Moses relates that Sihon the king would not grant a free passage to the people, because God had "hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate" he immediately subjoins the end of Gods design: "That he might deliver him into thy hand" Since God willed his destruction, the obduration of his heart therefore was the divine preparation for his ruin.”

— John Calvin, Institutes, III, xxili, 8; and II, iv, 3

And it ought not to seem absurd for me to say that God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his descendants, but also meted it out in accordance with his own decision...

— John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 23, Paragraph 7

A distinction has been invented between doing and permitting, because to many it seemed altogether inexplicable how Satan and all the wicked are so under the hand and authority of God, that He directs their malice to whatever end He pleases, and employs their iniquities to execute His judgements… How foolish and frail is the support of divine justice afforded by the suggestion that evils come to be, not by His will but by His permission… It is a quite frivolous refuge to say that God otiosely permits them, when Scripture shows Him not only willing, but the author of them…Who does not tremble at these judgments with which God works in the hearts of even the wicked whatever He will, rewarding them nonetheless according to desert? Again it is quite clear from the evidence of Scripture that God works in the hearts of men to incline their wills just as he will, whether to good for His mercy’s sake, or to evil according to their merits.

— John Calvin, The Eternal Predestination of God, 10:11

We hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things, –that from the remotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, He decreed what he was to do, and now by his power executes what he decreed. Hence we maintain, that by His providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.

— John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 16, Paragraph 8

Creatures are so governed by the secret counsel of God, that nothing happens but what he has knowingly and willingly decreed.

— John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 16, Paragraph 3

God causes everything and of necessity, that is, in accordance with his providence.

— John Calvin, The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, 1996, pg. 253

Everything that happens, happens of necessity, as God has ordained.

— John Calvin, The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, 1996, pg. 258

We define predestination as the eternal design of God, whereby he determined what he wanted to do with each man. For he did not create them all in the same condition, but foreordains some to everlasting life and others to eternal damnation.

— John Calvin

NO NATURAL MAN CAN BELIEVE THE GOSPEL

 

What a wonderful Person

 

(James Smith, "The Person and Work of Christ" 1849)  LISTEN to audio!  Download audio

What a wonderful person is my glorious Lord Jesus! All the divine attributes are found in Him. As there are no limits to His fullness, there can be no limit to my supplies, or the least prospect of need.

Jesus is my divine Savior!
His bounty will supply me,
His omnipotence will deliver me,
His omnipresence will protect me,
His omniscience will guard me,
His love will animate me,
His mercy will heal me,
His grace will support me,
His compassion will comfort me,
His pity will relieve me,
His goodness will provide for me,
His tenderness will soothe me,
His kindness will encourage me,
His patience will bear with me,
His justice will avenge me,
His faithfulness will embolden me,
His holiness will beautify me,
His anger will awe me,
His life will quicken me,
His light will illumine me,
His Word will regulate me,
His joy will delight me,
His blessedness will elevate me,
His long-suffering will lead me to repentance,
His immutability will secure the fulfillment of all the promises to me,
His truth will be my shield and buckler,
His sovereignty will raise my admiration,
His condescension will inspire me with gratitude and love,
and His all-sufficiency will satisfy me both in time and eternity!

In Jesus, God has reconciled me to Himself, imputing my trespasses to Him, and His obedience to me.

God by Jesus, takes away . . .
  all my sins,
  His own wrath, and
  my deserved condemnation!

All good things . . .
  are treasured up in Christ,
  were procured for me by Christ,
  flow to me through Christ, and
  are conferred on me for the sake of Christ!

How exactly suited is the Lord Jesus to my case! Inflexible justice demands my blood, but He becomes my substitute, and spills His own!

In Jesus, I see my sin, and God's justice meet!
He removes the one, and satisfies the other!

What is Jesus called in God's holy Word?
A Savior, in reference to my lost condition.
A Reconciler, in reference to the enmity that existed between myself and God.
A Redeemer, in reference to my slavery to sin.
A Mediator, in respect to the disagreement between myself and the Most High God.
A Refiner, with respect to my filthiness.
An Advocate, with regard to my perplexed cause.
A Prophet, in respect to my ignorance.
A Priest, with a view to my guiltiness.
A King, in regard to my weakness and foes.
A Bridegroom, regarding my lowly estate and relationship.
A Physician, with regard to my many soul maladies.
In a word, Jesus is "All In All."

O to know more of Jesus, in . . .
  the glory of His person,
  the riches of His grace,
  the perfection of His work,
  the tenderness of His heart,
  the strength of His love and
  the effectual working of His power!

GIVE ALL THE GLORY TO GOD

 

PREACHING THE LAW

 

NOT JUST PROPOSITIONS

 

Same Bible Same Holy Spirit

 

FEELING VERSUS FAITH

 

I Belong to God

 

Organized Idolatry

 

YET HE LOVES US

 

EVERYTHING IS BEING USED FOR YOUR GOD

 

Coram Deo Described

 

God knows what He is doing.

 

LOOK UP

 

This is JC Ryle, Upper Room Pg. 197-98

God will give me a new one.

 Chop off my head, and it won't harm me. I have a God who will give me a new one.

~ Martin Luther

HOW IS A SINNER JUSTIFIED

 Q. How is a believing sinner justified?

A. Not because of the worth of his faith or because of his imperfect Christian obedience, but purely by grace, for the sake of Christ’s perfect atonement & intercession, with faith only as an instrument, & apart from works of the Law.

—Wilhelmus Schortinghuis (1700-1750), Essential Truths in the Heart of a Christian, Pg. 94

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