Our Father

 

TAUGHT THEOLOGICALLY

 

I Stand Here Freed

 

NO TRUTH BOMBS

 

Prayer is not Performance.

 Prayer is not performance but climbing up to the heart of God.

Martin Luther

(in other words, climbing up on the lap of God, the love of God, the fellowship of God.)

Self

 

Repentance toward God

 "I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:20-21

"Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" always go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. This is the only way that sinners obtain eternal salvation. Both are necessary. Both are vital. Both are gifts of God's grace.

True repentance is "toward God." Paul preached "repentance toward God," because there is a repentance that is not toward God. There is a legal repentance that is no more than a sense of guilt, a dread of God's wrath, and a fear of Hell. But repentance toward God is produced by the goodness of God (Romans 2:4), not the wrath of God. It comes from the revelation of redemption by Christ (Zechariah 12:10), not from the fear of judgment.

Repentance, in its essence, is a change of heart toward God, as illustrated in the prodigal son (Luke 15:14-20), the publican (Luke 18:13), and David (Psalm 51:4).

Repentance is the honest acknowledgment and confession of sin to God (1 John 1:9). It is an acknowledgment by a person that he has offended God by his sin, that his very heart is enmity against God, and that it is right for God to punish him for his sin (Psalm 51:4; Romans 8:7).

Repentance is sitting in judgment with God against yourself, abhorring yourself by reason of your sin, and pleading for mercy on the basis of pure grace through the merits of Christ alone. Only God Himself can cause a person thus to repent (Acts 5:31; Jeremiah 31:18; Lamentations 5:21).

Three Great Quotes

 ''God knoweth we have nothing of ourselves, therefore in the covenant of grace he requireth no more than he giveth, and giveth what he requireth, and accepteth what he giveth." - Richard Sibbes

There is no form of sinfulness to which you are addicted which Christ cannot remove. - Charles Spurgeon

''Content not yourselves with...divine truth...you accidentally gain in conversation; but let it be very much your business to search for it, and that with the same diligence and labor with which men are wont to dig in mines of silver and gold." - Jonathan Edwards

"For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish." ~Jeremiah 31:25

Sin Remains

 Why does God allow sin to remain in His people?

Thomas Boston, 1676-1732 (edited and summarized by Shane Lems)

"Why do I keep struggling with the same sinful thoughts?"
"Why can't I just gain victory over lust and pride?"
"Why does God allow sin to remain in His people?"

These are questions Christians ask from time to time. We think of how nice it would be if we didn't have to struggle with sinful thoughts, words, and deeds. But, in His sovereignty, God has a reason for allowing sin to remain in His children. Here are some of Thomas Boston's answers:

  1. God has ordered the matter of the believer's sanctification that sin is left to be active in their souls while here on earth, for their further humiliation. For example, God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. And so we find David, after his grievous fall, grows in the grace of humility.

  2. The Lord allows sin to remain in His people so they are stirred to the frequent exercise of prayer. The soul feels the continual need of pardon, and therefore must be much lying at God's footstool. When His children grow remiss in their duty, the Lord sometimes allows them to fall into some grievous sin to awaken them and wound their conscience, so that they cry to Him like a child who falls into a fire.

  3. The sin left in us makes us more watchful of our hearts which still are prone to wander. When a prisoner escapes, and they catch him, they will put him into more close custody than before. We walk through a world filled with many snares; if we were not watchful, we would be caught in them!

  4. Just like God allowed some Canaanites to remain in the land to try His people, so He has left remains of natural corruption in them for their exercise and trial. Indwelling sin makes us lean on Christ's strength and use God's armor in the battle.

  5. Through sin is left in us, we are made more and more to feel our need for Christ and His precious blood for the removal of our guilt daily contracted anew, and for the strengthening of our souls in our Christian course--so that we come out of the wilderness resting upon our Beloved.

  6. Through the indwelling sin that remains, Christ is glorified. While the enemy, sin, dwells in us, Christ's grace and Holy Spirit are at work in us so that the enemy cannot overcome, domineer, or destroy us. Because of indwelling sin we know that we cannot justify ourselves, but can only be justified by the perfect obedience of Christ, which we lay hold of by faith. In this, Christ is glorified.

  7. To see how God makes such an excellent medicine from such poisonous ingredients, cannot be but very delightful! Romans 8:28

The struggle against indwelling sin is difficult for sure. But when we remember God's sovereign use of indwelling sin in His people for their good and His glory, it helps us press on in the faith with our eyes fixed on Jesus. He will one day graciously give us the full victory over sin!

"Those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son!" Romans 8:29

"In keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness!" 2 Peter 3:13

"To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy--to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." Jude 1:24-25

    ~  ~  ~  ~

Imputed to Him, Imputed to Us.

 

Not only is the Sin of Man imputed to Christ,

But the righteousness of Christ is Transferred to us, to our Account.  -- R.C. Sproul.

GO TO JESUS CHRIST

 “My dear brethren, let me beseech you to go to Jesus Christ; tell Him how you are assaulted by the evil one, who lies in wait for your souls; tell Him you are not able to master him in your own strength; beg His assistance, and you shall find Him ready to help you.”

— George Whitefield

Bring Heaven to Us

 “A saving, though an immethodical knowledge of Christ, will bring us to heaven, John 17: 2, but a regular and methodical, as well as a saving knowledge of him, will bring heaven into us, Col. 2: 2, 3.”

― John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened, Or, a Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory Wherein the Impetration of Our Redemption by Jesus Christ Is Orderly Unfolded as It Was Begun, Carryed On, and Finished by His Covenant-Transaction

THEY SEE NO REASON

 People do not believe in God’s wrath; they think He is incapable of it. They listen to preachers everywhere tell them that God loves them unconditionally, and when they hear that, they see no reason to fear His wrath. R.C. Sproul

A Letter of John Newton

 "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows!" John 16:33

Dear friend,
You have lately been in the furnace--and are now brought safely out. I hope you have much to say of the grace, care, and skill of the great Refiner, who watched over you; and that you have lost nothing but dross. Let this experience be treasured up in your hearts for the use of future times. Other trials will come--but you have found the Lord faithful to His promise, and have good encouragement to trust Him again.

I doubt not, but you will have your share of trials; but when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, it sweetens what bitter things the Lord puts into our cup, and enables us to say, "None of these things move me!"

Yes, the life of faith is a happy life, and
  if attended with conflicts--there is an assurance of victory;
  if we sometimes get a wound--there is healing balm near at hand;
  if we seem to fall--we are raised again; and
  if tribulations abound--consolations shall abound likewise.

Is it not happiness--to have an infallible Guide, an invincible Guard, an almighty Friend! To be able to say of the Maker of heaven and earth, "He is my Beloved, my Shepherd, my Savior, and my Husband!"

Oh the peace that flows from believing . . .
  that all events in which we are concerned, are under His immediate disposal;
  that the hairs of our head are all numbered;
  that He delights in our prosperity;
  that there is a need-be, if we are in heaviness, and
  that all things shall surely work for our good!

How happy to have such views of God's sovereignty, wisdom, love, and faithfulness--as will enable us to meet every painful dispensation with submission, and to look through the changes of the present life--to that unchangeable inheritance to which the Lord is leading us, when all evil shall cease, and where joy shall be perfect and eternal!

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away!" Revelation 21:4

God Sees

  1 million is 0.0142857143% of 7 billion.  More than likely our lives will not directly (personally) impact even 1 million people;  which means over 99% of the population will know essentially nothing of our life on a personal level.  It stands to reason therefore, that our labors should be primarily towards God who does directly observe our labors.  Sure, the names of American Presidents are known by millions, but that doesn't mean they directly (personally) impact the people who know their name.  People are impacted by people the talk to daily, weekly in a home or church, or co-worker.  A good book may shape someone, but most of the stuff we read wears off in a month or two, we need that repeated guidance which comes from conversations, friendships that are given by a spouse, parent, or close friend.  Your faith and endurance will renew me much more than some book I read 9 years ago.  A book will not listen to my frustrations or struggles, but a spouse and parent will.  My final point is that we should labor diligently (not because mankind notices, because 99% will not notice) because God sees, and God knows our faith, love, and motive to glorify Him in that labor and ministry.

The Natural Man needs grace.

 

The Love of Christ

 Remember:

“All that Christ does for us is but the expression of that love which was originally taken up in God’s own heart...Christ adds 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱 of love to God’s heart, but only draws it out…and makes it flow forth…” —Puritan Thomas Goodwin, Works, 4:86

Several by Spurgeon

 “The day will come, dear friend, when your cheeks, all befouled with weeping, shall be washed, and made fair to look upon. Your eyes may be weary with waiting and watching, and red with weeping; but that weeping shall endure only for a night. “Joy cometh in the morning,” as surely as the morning cometh after the night. Bear your sorrows bravely, for they are appointed of your Heavenly Father in supreme wisdom. Bear them joyfully, for they will bring forth to you the peaceable fruits of righteousness.” -- CHS.

“It is for love; in the gospel, sinner, you are invited to be reconciled to God, you are assured that God forgives your sins, ceases to be angry, and would have you reconciled to him through his Son. Thus love is established between God and the soul. Then it is for laughter, for happiness, for joy. Those who come to God in Christ Jesus, and believe in him, have their hearts filled with overflowing peace, which calm lake of peace often lifts up itself in waves of joy, which clap their hands in exultation. It is not to sorrow but to joy that the great King invites his subjects, when he glorifies his Son Jesus. It is not that you may be distressed, but that you may be delighted that he bids you believe in the crucified Savior and live.” -- CHS. “Behold, I make all things new,” saith he. Oh! thou canst not tell the influences of his scepter when he sits upon the throne of the heart! Thou canst not tell what showers of mercy, what streams of benediction, what mountains of joy, and hills of happiness, shall be thine when Jesus comes and reigns in thy soul.” -- CHS. Lay down this principle as a law: God does nothing arbitrary. If He takes away your health, for instance, it is because He has some reason for doing so. This is true of everything you value, and if you have real faith in Him, you will not insist on knowing this reason. -- CHS. If a glimpse of our Savior here on earth can be so refreshing and delightful--then what will Heaven be? --CHS. "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

Zeal and Prudence

 There is often too much self in our zeal, and too much of the fear of man in our prudence.

John Newton

Assurance from the Trinity

 Assurance of salvation is founded on:

1. The blood & righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel;

2. The inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are made;

3. The testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God.

— 2LCF 18.2

In other words, we can be sure of our salvation because of Christ’s work 𝘧𝘰𝘳 us, the Spirit’s work 𝘪𝘯 us, and the Spirit’s testimony 𝘵𝘰 us of the Father’s love.

Mike Riccardi

Romans 5:19

 “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were constituted sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be constituted righteous.”

— Romans 5:19

Adam’s disobedience to God's law in the Garden provides an actual, lived-out record of human disobedience which was counted to be ours through our union with him. His law-breaking is the legal basis on which God justly constitutes all men guilty.

In the same way, Christ’s life of obedience to God's law provides the actual, lived-out record of righteousness which is counted to be ours through our union with Him. His law-keeping is the legal basis on which God justly constitutes guilty sinners righteous.

Christ died for our sins, and He lived for our righteousness. Leave out one or the other, and you preach a half-gospel.

Daily Reading

 

Only Christ can mix and administer

 Repentance is a soul-medicine that only Christ can mix and administer. If sorrow for sin be of our own or another's brewing, or if it is trusted in in place of His blood and merits, it is a toxic counterfeit, and not true repentance.

"Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance.." (Acts 5:13)

"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." (Zech. 12:10)

by "Jonathan Edward" not the original, but someone born 19 years ago or so.

For the People of God

 The bronze serpent was not intended for the Canaanites or the Egyptians, who lived and died in unbelief. Rather, it was exclusively for God's people, who looked and lived. So it is with the death of Christ. He died for His people, for all who would put their trust in Him. (Dr. Steven Lawson's "Foundations of Grace" page 93).

MULTIPLE

 "As God at first gives faith through the Word, so He also exercises, increases, confirms and perfects it through the Word." - Martin Luther

"Faith is sustained by looking at Christ, crucified and risen, not by turning from Christ to analyze your faith… Paradoxically, if we would experience the joy of faith, we must not focus much on it. We must focus on the greatness of our Savior." - John Piper 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 built by careful, thorough exposition of the person, character, and work of Christ.- T. David Gordon; 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) "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

Multiple Puritans on Prayer

 “When you begin to pray always get into this position, leaning on His bosom. Don’t pray to some one far off. Don’t pray even to some one in the same room.” - Andrew Bonar

“As in the case of prayer, when God prepares the heart to pray, He prepares His ear to hear (Ps. 10:17). So in the case of spiritual hunger, when God prepares the heart to hunger, He will prepare His hand to fill." ~Thomas Watson

"He has ordained beforehand that the day when He prepares our hearts to pray shall be the day when His ear shall hear the desire of the humble, and shall become the season of our deliverance.” ~Isaac Watts

"God graciously determines that warm, affectionate prayers are forerunners of a decreed mercy! These ardent affections are kindled by divine grace when the mercies promised are about to fall on us. Prayer is the chain that draws souls up to God and the mercies of God to us!” ~Samuel Lee

"We do not pray out of hope to alter God's eternal purposes; but we pray to obtain that which God has ordained to be received by our prayers. We ask, that we may be fit to receive what God has from all eternity determined to give by prayer, and not otherwise." ~Ezekiel Hopkins

BURN BY PRAYER

 The truths that I know best I have learned on my knees. I never know a thing well, till it is burned into my heart by prayer.

John Bunyan

I can't help myself

 I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me. -CS Lewis

CONTENTMENT FROM FULLNESS IN CHRIST

 That is, contentment is not mainly negative, but there is a strong positive focus. It is not achieved by a mere denial of desires, which leaves one empty. Rather, it entails a deliberate focus on the immeasurable treasures that we already possess in Christ. It is not produced by an exercise of willpower, but it is a natural outcome of knowledge.

COMMUNE

"We do well to remember that no amount of activity in the King's service will make up for the neglect of the King Himself." -Duncan Campbell. 

 We miss a thousand blessings because we’re too busy to commune with God. We are here, there, and everywhere, except where we ought to be. -Charles Spurgeon

GROANS ARE THE DEEP BASS

I tell you the groans of the damned in hell are the deep bass of the universal anthem of praise that shall ascend to the throne of my God for ever and ever. -Charles Spurgeon

Not a decision

 

Quite Hopeless

 

Beyond His Will

What the Gospel is not

The gospel isn’t advice, instructions, threats, or warnings. It isn’t our response to the gospel: not our repentance, faith, or obedience. It’s not our story or our testimony. It is the good news of victory of all God has accomplished for us through Christ by the Spirit. -- Burk Parsons

God knew the worst about you.

God knew the worst about you when he accepted you for Jesus' sake; and the verdict which he passed then was, and is, final. -- J.I. Packer

NATURAL DISTANCE

A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom; and that it is by God's power that he is upheld and provided for,and that he needs God's wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for Him.” ~Jonathan Edwards~

 

MAKE THEM KNOW THAT HE LOVES THEM.

 God hath abundantly revealed to us, in His word, that 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 in bringing men from sin to holiness of life, is, first to make them know that He loveth them, and that their sins are blotted out.

—Puritan Stephen Marshall (Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, Pg. 19)

Expects nothing from this World.

 

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

 [Some not-so-well-known verses]

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,

Till released from flesh and sin,

Yet from what I do inherit,

Here Thy praises I'll begin;

Here I raise my Ebenezer;

Here by Thy great help I've come;

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,

Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood;

How His kindness yet pursues me

Mortal tongue can never tell,

Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me

I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,

I shall see Thy lovely face;

Clothed then in blood washed linen

How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace;

Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,

Take my ransomed soul away;

Send thine angels now to carry

Me to realms of endless day.

Robert Robinson (1735-90), 1758, as it appeared in his A Collection of Hymns Used by the

Church of Christ in Angel Alley, Bishopgate, 1759

CAST DOWN

 Remember, you that are cast down, under the sense of sin, that Jesus, your friend, in the court above, "is able to save to the uttermost.”

—Puritan John Flavel, Works 1.178

My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 1 John 2:1

EFFICACY IN THE BLOOD

 John Flavel – ‘...there is more efficacy in the blood of Christ (to forgive sins, than there is reason in the heinousness of sin to condemn the sinner). There is power enough in that blood, not only to pardon (your) sins, but the sins of the whole world, were it actually applied. There is not only sufficiency, but also a redundancy of merit in that precious blood.’ - (Works, vol.1, p.375)

Christ is All the Armour

 

Great Awakening

 GREAT AWAKENING.  

Jonathan Edwards, who was one of America's greatest theologians, was a New England pastor of the 1700s. Edwards was brilliant. At age 6 he studied Latin. He entered Yale when not quite 13 and graduated when barely 15. He was ordained at 19, taught at Yale by 20 and later became president of Princeton. Harvard granted him both a bachelor's and a master's degree on the same day.

But he is best known for Sinners In The Hands of an Angry God - the most famous sermon in American history. He preached it on Sunday, July 8th, 1741 while ministering in tiny Enfield, Connecticut. A group of women had spent the previous night praying for revival. When Edwards rose to speak, he quietly announced his text was Deuteronomy 32:35 "... their foot shall slide in due time." This "hellfire and brimstone" approach was somewhat a departure for Edwards. Of his thousand written sermons, less than a dozen are of this type. Edwards neither gestured nor raised his voice. He spoke softly and simply, warning the unconverted that they were dangling over hell like a spider over the fire.

"O sinner! Consider the fearful danger. The unconverted are now walking over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there innumberable places in this covering so weak that it will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen."

Edwards' voice was suddenly lost amid cries and commotion from the crowd. He paused, appealing for calm. Then he concluded: "Let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom."

Strong men held to pews and posts, feeling they were sliding into hell. Others shook uncontrollably and rolled on the floor. Throughought the night cries of men and women were heard throughout the village, begging God to save them. Five hundred were converted that evening, sparking a revival that swept thousands into the kingdom. The Great Awakening had come.

THE DUTIES GOD REQUIRES

the duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ. We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God’s tasks. This is a law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible to perform a duty in our own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment. But alas, this is a secret we often fail to discover.

--John Owen

"We can have no power from Christ unless we live in a persuasion that we have none of our own." - John Owen

IF GOD DID NOT WANT TO ANSWER YOU

 "If God did not want to answer you, He would not have you pray." ~Martin Luther

THE MISERABLE

 "God is the God of the humble, the miserable, the afflicted, the oppressed, the desperate, and those who have been brought to nothing. ~Martin Luther

I did not induce it

 "The spiritual life which I have is not my own. I did not induce it, and I cannot maintain it. It is only and solely the work of Christ. It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me. My whole life is His alone."

John Owen

Repentance quote by MLJ

ULTIMATE TEST

The ultimate test of my understanding of the scriptural teaching is the amount of time I spend in prayer. As theology is ultimately the knowledge of God, the more theology I know, the more it should drive me to seek to know God. Not to know “about” Him but to know Him! The whole object of salvation is to bring me to knowledge of God… If all my knowledge does not lead me to prayer there is something wrong somewhere. ~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones

A Praying Man

“A praying man is a useful man; Useful to God. Even a man of limited knowledge who is a man who spends much time in the presence of God is a useful man to God and a pleasing man to God.” - Paul Washer

God sees us in Jesus

God sees us in Jesus and loves us with an infinite love. Every believer, though his faith may be weak, his fears many, his corruptions strong, his trouble great, and his temptations sore, is the object of God’s delight. — James Smith

It is the will of God

 "It is the will of God to have the Spirit of God use the Word of God to make the children of God look like the Son of God." – H.B. Charles Jr.

FORGIVENESS REQUIRES THE SATISFACTION OF GOD'S JUSTICE

 Forgiveness requires the satisfaction of God’s justice as an expression of God’s mercy. We are not forgiven based upon how bad we feel about our sins. -- Kevin DeYoung.

Owen on Sanctification

 

OUR FAITH DOESN'T SAVE US

 

Vocation post

Your vocation and the daily routine of work matters to God. “All phases of life should glorify God, and if a man is a carpenter or a plumber, he should and can glorify God by his trade as well as a student or professor. To serve God acceptably, one does not need to be a monk, neither does he need to be a scholar…What is required is that each should use faithfully what he has received.” ~Gordon Clark

ARMS UNDERNEATH

 

TOO MUCH EASY

 

I can be weighed

 "I can be weighed against the law, and yet sit securely, knowing that now and for ever, I am equal to the law. It hath nought against me since Christ is mine, Its terrors have no power to affright me, and as for its demands they can exact nothin...g of me for they are fulfilled to the utmost in Christ." -C. H. Spurgeon.

Rest in Him Then

 

Surely

 Surely Adam could not propagate so strong a poison but Jesus Christ could propagate as strong an antidote, and much stronger. 

Matthew Henry.

Adam’s fall was terribly effectual, it has brought death upon the human race age after age. And Christ’s death is wonderfully effectual, for on behalf of all those for whom he died, his atonement so prevails as to put their sins away for ever. 

-Charles Spurgeon.

INSTABILITY OF EARTHLY THINGS

 

Our sins stand no chance of standing safely before a Holy God.

 “The greatest guilt that ever was contracted upon a trembling, shaking conscience, can stand before the efficacy of the blood of Christ no more than the sinner himself can stand before the justice of the Lord, with all their guilt upon him. Flavel, 1.328

Paraphrased by James Dorman IV: Just as: A guilty sinner stands no chance of standing safely before a Holy God.

In similar manner: The believer's sins (no matter how large, or greatly felt) stand no chance of standing safely before the powerful, effective atoning pardoning redeeming forgiving blood of Christ.

SEEING MORE CLEARLY

There is a difference between growing worse and worse, and thy seeing more clearly how bad thou art.

—John Bunyan, Works 1.287

 We are sinful out of measure, but see it not to the full, until an hour of temptation comes. But when it comes, it does as a painter does, sketching out our heart… yet the sight of what we are should not keep us from coming to Jesus Christ.

—John Bunyan, Works 1.287

There is a difference between growing worse and worse, and thy seeing more clearly how bad thou art.

—John Bunyan, Works 1.287There is a difference between growing worse and worse, and thy seeing more clearly how bad thou art.

—John Bunyan, Works 1.287

There is a difference between growing worse and worse, and thy seeing more clearly how bad thou art.

—John Bunyan, Works 1.287

There is a difference between growing worse and worse, and thy seeing more clearly how bad thou art.

—John Bunyan, Works 1.287

Christ is glorified

 Christ is glorified, and God in and by Him, in the preaching of the Gospel, whether men receive it or not.

—John Owen, on Hebrews 4:1

Surely

 Surely if He would not spare His own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever He should, after this, deny or withhold from His people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them.

— J. Flavel

What is Prayer

 

This is a great answer;  and yet, perhaps, it can be improved;  What would be the description of prayer based upon the prayer Jesus taught His disciples.

A.  Our:  Corporate; Community,

B.  Father:  Fellowship/Family.  Love, Nurture, Instruction, Guidance, Provision, Correction.

C. who are in Heaven:  Holy, Separate, Eternal, Powerful, Pure, Creator, Aseity.

D.  Hallowed be thy name..

(unfinished article....)  

Is He Absolute

 

Speak to the Ear

 A man may speak to the ear, but it is the Spirit of God alone who can speak to the heart.

George Whitefield

CEASED COUNTING HEADS

 

Three Quotes for today

 "I have not one good work that I dare think of, much more trust to, but being what I am, unworthy, undeserving, and hell-deserving, I trust Christ to save me, and if he does not save me, he is not as good as his word; but I have no suspicion about that."

Charles H. Spurgeon

"If God be just, he cannot punish me for sin for which Jesus has offered satisfaction. As long as there is justice in the heart of Deity, it cannot be that a soul justly claiming Christ as his substitute can himself be punished."

Charles H. Spurgeon

“Let it not be forgotten that God’s providences are but the manifestations of His decrees: what God does in time is only what he purposed in eternity- His own will being the alone cause of all His acts and works.”

~ Arthur Pink 1886-1952, "The Sovereignty of God"