There are four points in this material I am trying to emphasize. Great quote!!
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Loving God by Knowing God
Friday, August 4, 2023
Trials are Appointments
Your trials, Christian,
are not accidents stemming
from an uncontrolled cosmos.
Your trials are appointments
from a holy God who loves you
and is purifying you.
OWEN STRACHAN
@MISSIONALWEAR
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Postmill Notes
Someone's Notes on Postmill
The Kingdom Of God
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Efficient Cause of Our Justification
What is the efficient cause of our justification?
We draw Near through Christ, because in Christ He drew near to us.
"From where do we derive the confidence to walk with God, particularly our God, who is "a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29)? Was there not such fear among His people of old that seeing God was believed to be unbearable, leading to certain death? Can anyone, without extreme horror, contemplate the dreadful appearance God made to them on Mount Sinai? Even Moses, their mediator, said, "I tremble with fear" (Hebrews 12:21), and all the people said, "Do not let God speak to us, or we will die" (Exodus 20:19). Even though individuals may have notions of God's goodness and kindness, when faced with the revelation of His glory, they tremble with fear and astonishment. Has this not been the case even with His choicest saints (Habakkuk 3:16; Isaiah 6:5; Job 42:5-6)? Where, then, do we find the audacity to walk with God? The apostle will answer this for us in Hebrews 10:19: "We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus." Similarly, Ephesians 3:12 states, "In him we have boldness and access with confidence." Rather than standing at a distance like the people during the giving of the law, we draw near to God with boldness, and this is possible because of one reason: The fear and terror of God are a result of sin. Adam did not consider hiding himself until he had sinned. The guilt of sin on our conscience and the common notion ingrained in our hearts that God is a righteous avenger cause us to dread His presence, fearing that He has come to bring our sins to remembrance. However, by His sacrifice and atonement, the Lord Jesus has removed this conscience of sin, along with the dread of God's revenge on its account. He has taken away the sword of the law that condemns us, granting us great boldness before God. He now reveals Himself not as a vengeful Judge but as a tender, merciful, and reconciled Father. Moreover, while we naturally possess a spirit of bondage that torments us with numerous fears, Jesus takes it away and grants us the Spirit of adoption. Through this Spirit, we cry out, "Abba, Father," and confidently and graciously behave as children. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17), specifically freedom from all the dread and terror associated with the administration of the law. Since there is no sin that God will more severely avenge than any audacity displayed by individuals outside of Christ, there is no grace more pleasing to Him than the boldness He grants us through the blood of Jesus."
REPENTANCE RENOUNCES; FAITH GOES OUT
THOMAS WATSON Self-renunciation. Faith is going out of one's self, being taken off from our own merits, and seeing we have no righteousness of our own. "Not having my own righteousness." Self-righteousness is a broken reed, which the soul dares not lean on. Repentance and faith are both humbling graces; by repentance a man abhors himself; by faith he goes out of himself. As Israel in their wilderness march, behind them saw Pharaoh and his chariots pursuing, before them the Red Sea ready to devour; so the sinner behind sees God's justice pursuing him for sin, before, hell ready to devour him; and in this forlorn condition, he sees nothing in himself to help—but he must perish unless he can find help in another.
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Quotes from Luther
Luther: We, on the other hand, teach and comfort an afflicted sinner this way: “Brother, it is impossible for you to become so righteous in this life that your body is as clear and spotless as the sun. You still have spots and wrinkles (Eph. 5:27), and yet you are holy.” But you say: “How can I be holy when I have sin and am aware of it?” “That you feel and acknowledge sin—this is good. Thank God, and do not despair. It is one step toward health when a sick man admits and confesses his disease.” “But how will I be liberated from sin?” “Run to Christ, the Physician, who heals the contrite of heart and saves sinners. Believe in Him. If you believe, you are righteous, because you attribute to God the glory of being almighty, merciful, truthful, etc. You justify and praise God. In short, you attribute divinity and everything to Him. And the sin that still remains in you is not imputed but is forgiven for the sake of Christ, in whom you believe and who is perfectly righteous in a formal sense. His righteousness is yours; your sin is His.”
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 26 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 233.