March 18, 2010

We Can Rest In The Will Of God

Herman Bavinck discussing God’s communicable attributes and specifically the “will” of God concludes:

“…God’s will is identical with his being, his wisdom, his goodness, and with all his attributes. And it is for this reason that man’s heart and mind can rest in that will, for it is the will not of blind fate, incalculable fortune, or dark energy of nature, but of an omnipotent God and merciful Father. His sovereignty is a sovereignty of unlimited power, but it is also a sovereignty of wisdom and grace. He is King and Father at one and the same time.”

The Doctrine of God (p. 235)

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March 7, 2010

What’s the Solution for the Christian “Club”?

…in this terrific exhortation by W. Robert Godfrey it’s the word of Christ:

“We need the word of Christ to dwell in us richly today more than ever. Then churches may escape being a mess and become the radiant body of Christ as God intended.”

Be sure to read his entire article.

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March 4, 2010

Why Do You Desire To Know and Preach God’s Word?

Consider the words of Richard Baxter:

“Hard studies, much knowledge, and excellent preaching, if the ends be not right, is but more glorious hypocritical sinning. The saying of Bernard is commonly known: ‘Some desire to know merely for the sake of knowing, and that is shameful curiosity. Some desire to know that they may sell their knowledge, and that too is shameful. Some desire to know for reputation’s sake, and that is shameful vanity. But there are some who desire to know that they may edify others, and that is praiseworthy; and there are some who desire to know that they themselves may be edified, and that is wise.’”

I may be revealing my ignorance, but who is the Bernard that Baxter quotes?

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February 28, 2010

Christian, You Need The Gospel

…now as much as you did when you first believed.

B. B. Warfield puts it aptly:

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be trust as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest.

HT: Tullian Tchividjian

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February 27, 2010

Is Grace A ‘Thing’?

…no according to Sinclair Ferguson. Read this wonderfully Christ centered and Christ exalting quote:

“The union with Christ we have is not that we somehow share His grace. Because–follow me carefully–there actually is no ‘thing’ as grace. That actually is a Medieval Roman Catholic teaching, that there is a ‘thing’ called grace that can be separated from the person of Jesus Christ, something Jesus Christ won on the Cross, something He can bestow on you, and there are at least seven ways it can be bestowed on you and they all, as it happens, turn out to be in the hands of the church. And you can have this kind of grace, and this kind of grace, and this kind of grace …

There is no such ‘thing’ as grace! Grace is not some appendage to His being. Nor is it some substance that flows from us: ‘Let me give you grace.’ All there is is the Lord Jesus Himself. And so when Jesus speaks about us abiding in Him and He abiding in us–however mysterious it may be, mystical in that sense–it is a personal union. Do not let us fail to understand that, at the end of the day, actually Christianity is Christ because there isn’t anything else; there is no atonement that somehow can be detached from who the Lord Jesus is; there is no grace that can be attached to you transferred from Him. All there is is Christ and your soul.”

I tip my hat to Tony Reinke for posting this quote and for sharing his experience of hearing Ferguson preach this sermon.

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February 26, 2010

One Blasphemy Packed Paragraph

…courtesy of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion:

The “psychotic” God of the Old Testament is “arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Sadly, Dawkins sounds like some Christians.

HT: Venchenza

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January 9, 2010

Symington’s Pastoral Heart – An Example to Follow

As I said earlier this week, I’ve been reading William Symington: Penman of the Scottish Covenanters. After discussing Symington’s work, The Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ, Blackwood quotes Symington’s clear pastoral concern that one could read his work and only have an intellectual interest in Christ.

“Be it then the concern of all who read these pages, earnestly to seek such an interest in what the Saviour has done and is still doing…Let them not regard [these] as matters of curious speculation, or content themselves with mere doctrinal belief… They must become the subjects of saving faith…

Let not the reader, then, rise from the perusal of these pages, without seriously and conscientiously asking himself these questions: – Am I interested in the atonement and intercession of Jesus Christ? Have I faith in the sacrifice of the great High Priest? Has my soul been sprinkled with His precious blood? Does He plead in my behalf with the Father?… Were I called, at this moment, to recline my head on the pillow of death, could I indulge the comforting assurance that the advocate within the veil…would present on my behalf the request, ‘Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am’ [John 17:24]…? These are solemn questions. Let no one neglect to put them to himself.”

[This quote, although reproduced in the aforementioned book was originally found in Symington, William. The Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ (pp. 301-303)]

What an example to follow, not only when academic work is undertaken but even in ministry. Men, don’t deliver lectures this Lord’s Day, rather preach Christ from all the Scriptures!

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January 7, 2010

Definition of Atonement

I’ve been reading William Symington: Penman of the Scottish Covenanters. It has been a blessing so far and I may post some more excerpts in the future; however, for now here’s Symington’s concise definition of the atonement:

“That perfect satisfaction given to the law and justice of God, by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, on behalf of elect sinners of mankind, on account of which they are delivered from condemnation.”

This quote, although reproduced in the aforementioned book was originally found in Symington, William. The Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ (p.12)

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December 27, 2009

Christmas and the Post-Reformation Church

Tim Phillips quoted a Wall Street Journal article on the history of Christmas. The author makes an interesting observation as to how Christmas returned to the churches after the Reformation.

With the Reformation, Protestants tried to rid the church of practices unknown in its earliest days and get back to Christian roots. Most Protestant sects abolished priestly celibacy (and often the priesthood itself), the cult of the Virgin Mary, relics, confession and . . . Christmas.

In the English-speaking world, Christmas was abolished in Scotland in 1563 and in England after the Puritans took power in the 1640s. It returned with the Restoration in 1660, but the celebrations never regained their medieval and Elizabethan abandon.

There was still no Christmas in Puritan New England, where Dec. 25 was just another working day. In the South, where the Church of England predominated, Christmas was celebrated as in England. In the middle colonies, matters were mixed. In polyglot New York, the Dutch Reformed Church did not celebrate Christmas. The Anglicans and Catholics did.

…

By the middle of the 19th century, most Protestant churches were, once again, celebrating Christmas as a religious holiday. The reason, again, had more to do with marketing than theology: They were afraid of losing congregants to other Christmas-celebrating denominations.

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December 23, 2009

Christianity = “A Personal Relationship with God”

How many times have you heard a sincere Christian try to explain to an unbeliever that Christianity is all about having “a personal relationship with God”? Well, as sincere as that may be, it is simply not the case and is a distortion of the truth. Michael Horton (I know I’ve already quoted him this week, but this is the problem with reading a good book) aptly puts it this way:

“It is simply not true that unbelievers do not have a personal relationship with God. Paul here in Romans 1 says they do! It is not just that God’s existence can be discerned by his works, but that everyone already knows God – at least as judge. “So they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). It is precisely because unbelievers–even professing atheists–do have a personal relationship with God that, as creatures obligated to keep his law, they are under his wrath.”

Quote by Michael Horton, taken from The Gospel-Driven Life (p. 53)

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