Test Your Faith

Here is John Owen again. This section is taken from Christologia, chapter XIX, on http://www.ccel.org/.

The glory of heaven consists in the full manifestation of divine wisdom, goodness, grace, holiness, — of all the properties of the nature of God in Christ. In the clear perception and constant contemplation hereof consists no small part of eternal blessedness. What, then, are our present thoughts of these things? What joy, what satisfaction have we in the sight of them, which we have by faith through divine revelation? What is our desire to come unto the perfect comprehension of them? How do we like this heaven? What do we find in ourselves that will be eternally satisfied hereby? According as our desires are after them, such and no other are our desires of the true heaven, — of the residence of blessedness and glory. Neither will God bring us unto heaven whether we will or no. If, through the ignorance and darkness of our minds, — if, through the earthliness and sensuality of our affections, — if, through a fulness of the world, and the occasions of it, — if, by the love of life and our present enjoyments, we are strangers unto these things, we are not conversant about them, we long not after them, — we are not in the way towards their enjoyment. The present satisfaction we receive in them by faith, is the best evidence we have of an indefeasible interest in them. How foolish is it to lose the first fruits of these things in our own souls, — those entrances into blessedness which the contemplation of them through faith would open unto us, — and hazard our everlasting enjoyment of them by an eager pursuit of an interest in perishing things here below! This, this is that which ruins the souls of most, and keeps the faith of many at so low an ebb, that it is hard to discover any genuine working of it.

John Owen on Conformity to Christ

From his book Christologia, found at Christian Classics Ethereal Library (linked on my sidebar), is a short paragraph from Owen about true conformity to Christ:

One Christian who is meek, humble, kind, patient, and useful unto all; that condescends to the ignorance, weaknesses and infirmities of others; that passeth by provocations, injuries, contempt, with patience and with silence, unless where the glory and truth of God call for a just vindication; that pitieth all sorts of men in their failings and miscarriages, who is free from jealousies and evil surmises; that loveth what is good in all men, and all men even wherein they are not good, nor do good, — doth more express the virtues and excellencies of Christ than thousands can do with the most magnificent works of piety or charity, where this frame is wanting in them. For men to pretend to follow the example of Christ, and in the meantime to be proud, wrathful envious, bitterly zealous, calling for fire from heaven to destroy men, or fetching it themselves from hell, is to cry, “Hail unto him,” and to crucify him afresh unto their power.

I Dare Not Think Where I Would Be

Didst Thou, my Lord, Thine all resign,
And courts of glory thus forsake,
Laying aside Thy rights divine,
Of human clay so to partake?
I dare not think where I would be
Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty!

And loving Thine unto the end
Thou gavest Thyself in blood to die -
And, oh, for sinners, what a Friend!
For even such a wretch as I.
I dare not think where I would be
Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty!

Oh, Holy One - becoming sin -
No words can tell the sacrifice!
What agonies enduredst Thou then,
When Thou didst pay redemption's price?
I dare not think where I would be
Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty!

Oh, could my tears forever flow
And could my zeal no languor know
These all for sin could not atone
For Thou must save, and Thou alone.
In dying on dark Calvary,
Thou gavest up all Thy liberty.

Though rich, yet poor becamest Thou,
Thou prayedst "Not My will but Thine,"
Thou drainedst the bitter cup for me,
Bearing the awful wrath Divine.
I dare not think where I would be
Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty!

And can it be that I should gain
(I dare not think where I would be . . .)
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
( . . . Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty!)
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

MC (et al)

That He Might Fill All Things

Since it is God's plan that Christ "fill all things," "have the preeminence," and that "every knee should bow" to Him, it is not straining the Scripture to see that all of my life should be filled up by Him: that the knees of my desires and will should also bow to Him, and that in every part of my life He should have the preeminence. If every thought is to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, then certainly everything else in my life (my words and deeds) must follow, because all is based on that which originates in the heart - that is, the thoughts.

What a joy it would be if He did indeed "fill all things" in my life. There is no lack in Him as to fulness for He is altogether lovely. Though my flesh is weak and I am unequal to the task because of sin still warring in my members, still I would always behold His face, which shows forth the glory of God. Then would my life be filled to overflowing; then would the glory of all that He is in me and to me pour forth from my life in ceaseless praise to Him in everything I think, do, and say - and what could be a greater joy on the earth than this: to reflect His beauty and glory in my life?

The Parable of our Righteous God

At the beginning of Luke 18, Jesus gives a parable about a widow and an unjust judge. His purpose in telling the parable is given in verse 1: "That men ought always to pray and not to faint."

The widow has a claim against someone who is called her "adversary." Someone has wronged her in some way, and she has a legal claim, apparently. The judge to whom the widow comes is "unjust", and "feared not God, neither regarded man." This case appears hopeless for the widow, that she will ever receive satisfaction. The judge "feared not God" Who had commanded special care for widows, "neither regarded man," - he did not care even about seeing justice done.

The widow kept coming back, however, and the judge perceived that she was going to weary him with her continual coming. For her persistence, he takes her case. It is not because he suddenly realizes that she has a good case, or that he has suddenly become a God-fearing man that he decides to avenge the widow - he still acts as he pleases. What pleases him is that this widow leave him alone, so he will act on her behalf in order to effect that end. He wants to get this pesky lady off his back so he can have some peace.

Remember the purpose of the parable: "That men ought always to pray and not to faint." Is Jesus drawing a parallel between this unjust judge and God? Is He saying that God answers our prayers when He finally gets weary of us? First, God is not unjust. He cannot be compared to the judge on those grounds. As the character of the judge is opposite that of our God, so are all of the motives and incentives to keep on coming before God with our requests.

Jesus is telling us that even the most unjust among men can be prevailed upon through persistence. If this is true in the case of the unjust judge, how much more true is it that God will hear the prayers of His elect "though He bear long with them"? God is not unjust. Though we might besiege the throne of grace for a considerable time - perhaps for years, even - yet He will make the crooked straight and the rough places plain. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low. God will not leave injustices as they are. He will make all things right, in His time. The parallel is not between the judge and God, but between the case of the widow and that of God's elect, while a contrast is made between the judge and God. The widow has a complaint that she brings regularly to the judge; we have complaints we bring regularly to Jehovah God. She has to press her case because the judge is unjust; we press our case because our Judge is not unjust, and we know He will help us. She finally receives help because the judge didn't want to put up with her any more; we receive help because the Lord, in His time, will answer our prayers out of His great love wherewith He loves us.

"He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

I've Always Believed in Eternity!

When I was about 12 years old, my sister told me about a girl she knew that believed that when you die, you cease to exist. Not knowing Christ then, I had no Biblical objection to that concept. I remember, however, that later on (perhaps that same day), I was riding my bicycle toward the center of our town. What my sister had told me came rushing back into my mind. As I was riding, my whole being screamed inside me that such a thing could not be true. I understood in myself that I could never cease to exist. Now that I know the Bible somewhat, I know what it teaches concerning the Judgment, and eternal existence for the blessed and the damned.

I wonder if that knowledge inside of me was a part of "the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

Usurping

The Devil would exalt himself
To be as the Most High,
By imitating Providence;
And often, so do I.

The Prince of Darkness tries to shape
Events to suit his mind;
And I, as well, would have control:
In me his ways I find.

Yes, I would cast God from His throne
When things don't go my way-
And for God's will, exalt my own,
Exerting sinful sway.

I'll sin to try to make events
Go as I think they should;
As if I could, by being bad,
Work all things for my good!

"I trust in God," I often sing -
In piety divine,
But when I cannot see the way
It's "not Thy will, but mine!"

Oh, God, my sinful heart would cast
Thy rule from my soul -
Lord, cast instead my sin aside,
And take complete control!

MC

God's Love Shown in His Promises

"Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."

"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little."

"Fear Him Who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell."

"He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

How do these promises show the love of God? By the simple fact that they are in Scripture at all. God didn't have to give any warnings to us. He could have thrown us all into Hell forever, without a word to us, and He would have been just in doing so. These promises are His warnings of love to us, that we might enter in at the strait gate. God must reward sinners for their sins because He is just. He cannot simply "forget it". Every sinful thought, word, and deed must be rewarded with its wages - "the wages of sin is death" - or God Himself would be unrighteous.

The promises we usually think of are much nicer to read, but we cannot come to those until we see the ones above. There is no appreciation of "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," unless we first see God's wrath against us, and His just assessment of our character. Since God is holy, absolutely holy, and we are absolutely sinful, He WILL tear us to pieces and there WILL be none to deliver, without the deliverance that He Himself prescribes:

"Behold the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world."

"Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

The Deceitfulness of Sin

John Owen again, on the Mortification of Sin in Believers. This is in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library which you can enter on my sidebar, or just begin here for Owen's book on mortification.

In speaking about having a particular lust in the heart (note: lust is the Biblical word that refers to any ungodly desire of the flesh), Owen says:

Consider the danger of it, which is manifold:—
(1.) Of being hardened by the deceitfulness. This the apostle sorely charges on the Hebrews, chap. iii. 12, 13, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” “Take heed,” saith he, “use all means, consider your temptations, watch diligently; there is a treachery, a deceit in sin, that tends to the hardening of your hearts from the fear of God.” The hardening here mentioned is to the utmost, — utter obduration; sin tends to it, and every distemper and lust will make at least some progress towards it. Thou that wast tender, and didst use to melt under the word, under afflictions, wilt grow as some have profanely spoken, “sermon-proof and sickness-proof.” Thou that didst tremble at the presence of God, thoughts of death, and appearance before him, when thou hadst more assurance of his love than now thou hast, shalt have a stoutness upon thy spirit not to be moved by these things. Thy soul and thy sin shall be spoken of and spoken to, and thou shalt not be at all concerned, but shalt be able to pass over duties, praying, hearing, reading, and thy heart not in the least affected. Sin will grow a light thing to thee; thou wilt pass it by as a thing of nought; this it will grow to. And what will be the end of such a condition? Can a sadder thing befall thee? Is it not enough to make any heart to tremble, to think of being brought into that estate wherein he should have slight thoughts of sin? Slight thoughts of grace, of mercy, of the blood of Christ, of the law, heaven, and hell, come all in at the same season. Take heed, this is that thy lust is working towards, — the hardening of the heart, searing of the conscience, blinding of the mind, stupifying of the affections, and deceiving of the whole soul.

Evil Speaking

Isn't it interesting that when people gossip, they assign motives for the deeds of those whom they are slandering. Now, how can they know what people were thinking when they did the things they did? Can these talebearers read minds? Of course not. So, how do they know what the motive was? They don't. Where then do they get the motives that they assign to these who are the subjects of their evil speaking? Why, they are the inventions of their own minds, out of the awful corruption of their own hearts! These backbiters assign motives to others that they themselves would have, or have had, in similar situations. So, when we backbite, gossip, speak evil, bear tales and slander, we are really revealing our own wicked hearts, laying them bare for all to see.



It is to our shame that when we see the vileness of another's heart as he defames a brother to us, we respond in kind and take the slanderer's sin as an excuse and justification to slander too. How contrary to our Saviour's commands we delight to be in this. "Charity . . . thinketh no evil."



"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Heaven

Heaven isn't going to be a place where we spend our time (eternity?) gorging ourselves with everything we gave up on earth in order to become Christians. Christ is the center of Heaven - yea, Heaven itself - and all eyes will be upon Him, beholding Him in His glory. We will feast upon Him. If your expectations of Heaven are anything but that rapturous state of being forever with the Lord, then it is not Heaven that you are looking for.

Grace and Duty

Grace doesn't replace duty; it simply enables us to do it.

These days are very dark in the church, for it seems that we care little that we are not much in prayer, reading of the Word, and meditation therein. If we have little desire toward holiness, fighting against sin, and shining as lights in this evil world, we are in a very sickly state indeed.

When our duties as Christians do not fill our days, our minds and our hearts, and do not make use of all of our strength; when our sin is a thing lightly esteemed and God's kingdom is little regarded, where indeed is the fear of God in us?

It is a great evil to see grace as license that gives approval to run after our lusts while excusing our laxity in Christian duty.

Country Club Christianity

When our Christianity is no more than a club, and we measure ourselves by ourselves, we have little sense of God or His holiness; there is only an attempt to measure up to those in the particular club in which we participate. When, on the other hand, we as individuals seek to know God, to be horrified at our sinfulness in every part of ourselves in comparison to His absolute holiness - to seek Him truly to the point where we indeed do hate and reject all else but Christ that would have dominion over us, it is then, and then only that we can truly be said to be followers of Christ, disciples, Christians. Then, as God is working in us individually as the several parts of the body of Christ, when we come together with other believers we shall truly be a church, instead of just a religious organization.

So, You Think You Are Pretty Good?

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

How can you hope to approach the throne of a holy God on the basis of your own merit? If, as the Scripture affirms, your BEST is filthy rags before God, how can you even enter a plea of self-righteousness? All the good you have done - and it IS good, in a human sense - is not acceptable to God. The same sentence is passed upon all of humanity: hear this verse - "There is none righteous, no not one." and this one: "There is none that doeth good, no not one," and one more: "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

The filthy rags are not simply dirt-stained rags. The word "filthy" carries the idea of that which is absolutely repulsive and disgusting; something that, were someone to hand it to you, would cause you to immediately cast it as far from you as possible. Since all of us can think of things like that on our own, it is not necessary to speak of that revolting thing that some have declared is the meaning of those words "filthy rags." The point is, this disgusting thing that could make you violently ill to touch or even to look upon is a picture of your righteousness which you are trying to offer God, desiring to be accepted upon your own merit. Now, if your good works are so disgusting to God, what about those things that you call sin?

Why are our good works so distasteful to God? "We are all as an unclean thing." Being sinners, everything we touch is stained by our sin. That stain doesn't seem to bother us, as a rule, because it is part of who we are, and we love it. To a holy God, however, our sin appears utterly vile. When we see that great distance between His holiness and ourselves, we can begin to understand how awful it is to try to present those "filthy rags" of our own supposed righteousness to God. So, do you see why God won't accept you on your own merit?

Where is acceptance with God then? Since all have sinned, none have, in themselves, that "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." Acceptance with God is not in us, but the Scripture declares that those who are accepted are "accepted in the Beloved," that is, in Christ. We are only accepted through Christ's substitionary sacrifice for our sin on the cross of Calvary, and on the basis of His righteousness.

"He became sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

"CHRIST died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures."

"HE was wounded for OUR transgressions."

"Who HIS OWN SELF bare OUR sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed."

"Who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification."

So, Christ died for His people to make them righteous in Himself: "He shall save His people from their sins." and "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it."

God's righteousness is satisfied by Christ's obedience in suffering God's wrath in the stead of all who will believe on Him:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Therefore, you are not good at all before God, unless you are in Christ. But, being in Christ, you stand in His righteousness, accepted with the Father.

If you have been looking to your filthy rags to make you acceptable, lay them aside. God commands you to "repent and believe the Gospel" which Gospel says that "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again, according to the Scriptures."

God must punish sin. In His justice He has done so in Christ, for all who ever will believe:

"That He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me."

Mortification, More Quotes From Owen

In my last post, I quoted from John Owen's work The Mortification of Sin in Believers. You can find this book at Banner of Truth, or on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library; and the book itself is right here. I also made a link to it which is on the left side of this page.

Here are some more quotes:

Urging us to the duty:

"but sin is still pressing forward, and that because it hath no bounds but utter relinquishment of God and opposition to him; that it proceeds towards its height by degrees, making good the ground it hath got by hardness, is not from its nature, but its deceitfulness. Now nothing can prevent this but mortification; that withers the root and strikes at the head of sin every hour, so that whatever it aims at it is crossed in. There is not the best saint in the world but, if he should give over this duty, would fall into as many cursed sins as ever any did of his kind."

How the duty is to be accomplished - by the power of the Spirit in the new man:

"This is one main reason why the Spirit and the new nature is given unto us, — that we may have a principle within whereby to oppose sin and lust. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit.” Well! and what then? Why, “The Spirit also lusteth against the flesh,” Gal. v. 17. There is a propensity in the Spirit, or spiritual new nature, to be acting against the flesh, as well as in the flesh to be acting against the Spirit: so 2 Pet. i. 4, 5. It is our participation of the divine nature that gives us an escape from the pollutions that are in the world through lust;"

Owen laments that, in his day, a proper understanding of mortification of sin is rare. It sounds like today.

"The truth is, what between placing mortification in a rigid, stubborn frame of spirit . . . on the one hand, and pretences of liberty, grace, and I know not what, on the other, true evangelical mortification is almost lost amongst us;"

Let's not fool ourselves:

"Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness who walks not over the bellies of his lusts. He who doth not kill sin in this way takes no steps towards his journey’s end. He who finds not opposition from it, and who sets not himself in every particular to its mortification, is at peace with it, not dying to it."

And a rather lengthy quote that is a poignant commentary upon the state of the church today:

Before I proceed to the consideration of the next principle, I cannot but by the way complain of many professors of these days, who, instead of bringing forth such great and evident fruits of mortification as are expected, scarce bear any leaves of it. There is, indeed, a broad light fallen upon the men of this generation, and together therewith many spiritual gifts communicated, which, with some other considerations, have wonderfully enlarged the bounds of professors and profession; both they and it are exceedingly multiplied and increased.

Hence there is a noise of religion and religious duties in every corner, preaching in abundance, — and that not in an empty, light, trivial, and vain manner, as formerly, but to a good proportion of a spiritual gift, — so that if you will measure the number of believers by light, gifts, and profession, the church may have cause to say, “Who hath born me all these?” But now if you will take the measure of them by this great discriminating grace of Christians, perhaps you will find their number not so multiplied.

Where almost is that professor who owes his conversion to these days of light, and so talks and professes at such a rate of spirituality as few in former days were, in any measure, acquainted with (I will not judge them, but perhaps boasting what the Lord hath done in them), that doth not give evidence of a miserably unmortified heart? If vain spending of time, idleness, unprofitableness in men’s places, envy, strife, variance, emulations, wrath, pride, worldliness, selfishness, 1 Cor. i., be badges of Christians, we have them on us and amongst us in abundance.

"And if it be so with them who have much light, and which, we hope, is saving, what shall we say of some who would be accounted religious and yet despise gospel light, and for the duty we have in hand, know no more of it but what consists in men’s denying themselves sometimes in outward enjoyments, which is one of the outmost branches of it, which yet they will seldom practise? The good Lord send out a spirit of mortification to cure our distempers, or we are in a sad condition!"

The Mortification of Sin

How to kill the sin in us, to put it to death, is a dilemma for every one who truly is born again. We know that Christ has done it in His death on the cross, but to see it carried out in our daily lives . . . well, there's the problem. I am currently reading a work on this very thing, by a man who lived a very long time ago: The Mortification of Sin in Believers, by John Owen. Owen lived in the 1600s, but, could have been writing today, with respect to the subject matter of his work. I guess that things spiritual are pertinent to the church in every age. I find within Owen's writings, not simply his scholarly approach (which is little in itself by way of recommendation), but a deep humility before the things of God, whereby he deals with the matters of the heart, and not simply the externals of religion. Here are some quotes from the above work, copied from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.


The Scripture that Owen speaks on is this verse from Romans 8:13: “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live.” He then proceeds to explain what mortification is, and to show that it is a crucial duty in the life of every Christian.

"The intendment of the apostle in this prescription of the duty mentioned is, — that the mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh is the constant duty of believers."

"The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh."

Owen then talks about the idea of sinless perfection in this life.

"Indwelling sin always abides whilst we are in this world; therefore it is always to be mortified. The vain, foolish, and ignorant disputes of men about perfect keeping the commands of God, of perfection in this life, of being wholly and perfectly dead to sin, I meddle not now with. It is more than probable that the men of those abominations never knew what belonged to the keeping of any one of God’s commands, and are so much below perfection of degrees, that they never attained to a perfection of parts in obedience or universal obedience in sincerity."

And the great need for mortification is the fact that sin is always active within and against us.

"Sin doth not only still abide in us, but is still acting, still labouring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh. When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion."

"So that sin is always acting, always conceiving, always seducing and tempting. Who can say that he had ever any thing to do with God or for God, that indwelling sin had not a hand in the corrupting of what he did? And this trade will it drive more or less all our days. If, then, sin will be always acting, if we be not always mortifying, we are lost creatures. He that stands still and suffers his enemies to double blows upon him without resistance, will undoubtedly be conquered in the issue. If sin be subtle, watchful, strong, and always at work in the business of killing our souls, and we be slothful, negligent, foolish, in proceeding to the ruin thereof, can we expect a comfortable event? There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so whilst we live in this world."

And about the goal of sin and its pervasiveness . . .

"Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head."

How serious is this idea of the mortification of sin in believers?

"The contest is for our lives and souls. Not to be daily employing the Spirit and new nature for the mortifying of sin, is to neglect that excellent succour which God hath given us against our greatest enemy. If we neglect to make use of what we have received, God may justly hold his hand from giving us more. His graces, as well as his gifts, are bestowed on us to use, exercise, and trade with. Not to be daily mortifying sin, is to sin against the goodness, kindness, wisdom, grace, and love of God, who hath furnished us with a principle of doing it."

The Lord has seen fit to point out sin in me as I have been reading this book and the many Scriptures Owen cites as references as he writes. It is my prayer that He will continue to do so, and to cleanse me from every iniquity.

I will post more of these quotes from the book later, but I urge you to read it yourself online, or purchase the volume from Banner of Truth.

Wouldn't It Be Great!

Wouldn't it be great that if every time my mind wandered, it wandered to Jesus? Since such is the state of Heaven (a heart and mind full of Him), why not begin it now? Every memory would be of Him and His Word. When thoughts pop into my mind they would not be reminders of ungodly song lyrics, or vile thought patterns that I must constantly battle, or even lawful things that simply use energy that would be better spent upon Him; they would be of Him and His ways, of Him and His glory, of Him, only of Him.

The 42nd and 43rd

Why art thou cast down, my soul,
And in my heart all peace is gone?
Hope thou in God: I shall again
Sing praises at His mighty throne.

My soul, thine eyes are turned away
From Him where refuge can be found;
Small wonder, then, so dark the day,
When trials and troubles do abound.

The floods come from His waterspouts,
His waves and billows me o'erflow -
Mine enemies would have me doubt,
But still His goodness I may know.

Lord, send Thy Light; Lord, send Thy Truth;
They, back to Thee shall bear my heart,
Unto that most holy place
Where deepest joys Thou dost impart.

Though now my soul in heaviness
Cleaves to the dust, I hope in Him.
Be ready, harp: for soon I'll sing,
And praise my Saviour once again.

MC

What About Holiness?

I have been thinking along these lines for a while, but have not known exactly how to put my thoughts together on this matter. Personal holiness, it seems (from reading the old writers), used to be something you could see outwardly. Now, holiness seems to be so personal that nobody else knows it exists. I have enjoyed very much reading the works of Spurgeon, Bunyan, Owen, et al. To them, someone who had been saved lived differently from the world, so differently that anyone could tell that there had been a remarkable change in that person's life. There were places that Christians didn't go, amusements that were called "worldly", and behaviours that simply were not found among Christian people.

In thinking about my own life, I can say that I need to be more holy, and that there are many things that distract me from that pursuit of holiness. I am sure that some of these things show up externally, in behaviours, and not simply in my innermost being where no one else can see. I want to be like Christ, and I am struggling even now to put down some of the works of the flesh in my life that pull me in the wrong direction.

To take a larger view of things, it is necessary to step back, sometimes quite a ways back, in order to get a better perspective. It is my opinion that, looking at the big picture, we can see some areas in which the church has failed in its corporate pursuit of holiness. We have tried, for one, to institute a system of holiness, much as that which the Pharisees had in place in Jesus' day. There was the idea that if you did this and didn't do that, you were holy. Jesus condemned this type of thinking in the Pharisees and in us when He quoted the Old Testament, saying: "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." It has always been (and always will be) the tendency of men to try to reduce holiness to a list of dos and don'ts. Sometimes young people will be quick to see the fallacy of that practice, and because they see the hypocrisy of making external standards a test of holiness, they reject everything they are taught, out of hand. This happens in the world as well as in the church, by the way. These astute(?) young people make an accurate observation, but then demonstrate a foolish reaction, based upon that observation. They go off the proverbial deep end. In the Christian realm, new churches and denominations are begun as a result, new voices are heeded, new practices and beliefs are embraced, and by some, Christianity is rejected altogether. All of these things occur, often with the same hypocritical lack of discernment that they assign to their parents.

Externals do not determine one's spirituality. You cannot say a man is spiritual simply by the way he dresses, the way he wears his hair, what he abstains from, etc. Mormon missionaries could be mistaken for BJU students, for example. Externals do not make you holy. The young people are right in this. But their reasoning has a fatal flaw. It seems they think that since externals don't determine what we are before God, externals don't matter. Let me expand on that with a ridiculous for instance to demonstrate:

"Since not stealing doesn't make me holy, it is okay to steal."

The translation into the church goes like this: A person is not a Christian because he looks a certain way, listens to a particular type of music, spends his time in "Christian" activities and with Christian people, doesn't drink, smoke, etc. . . . therefore, he can look however he wants to, listen to whatever music he likes, do whatever he wants with whoever he wants, drink, smoke, etc. and still be holy, because holiness isn't determined by what he is on the outside. After all, God looks on the heart.

There is one thing that I want to say to address this type of thinking: While externals do not determine our spirituality, they ARE indications of it. Holy people will behave a certain way: they WILL be different. And I am afraid that much of the unholiness in the church today (in young and old alike) exists simply because people will not have anyone telling them what to do. So, what kind of Christian does not obey his Lord? But I level this charge at myself first.

What Grace is This!

When I consider all my sin:
The vileness still found within;
I wonder then, how can it be
That God's dear Lamb did die for me?

And so, of reaching Heaven's bliss,
I do despair, and ponder this:
My sin too great to be forgiven,
Nor e'er one hope to enter Heaven.

Then sweetly comes that blessed voice:
"Lift up your head, My child, rejoice -
My grace, sufficient e'er shall prove:
Thy sin, though great, bows to My love."

My heart and voice in wonder sing
"Amazing grace." My soul takes wing
To lift the Name of Him on high,
Who loved me and for me did die.

MC

That's Impossible!

"And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate." - Mark 15:1

How can Infinity be bound? How can Omnipotence be restrained? Poor, pitiful man, how is it that you think that the creature can hold the Creator captive? Is it not possible only because He has permitted you to do so? Because, in the eternal counsels of God, it was determined to be, that Jesus should be bound, therefore He was bound. "He became obedient unto death," and, in preparation for this death, He humbled Himself and was bound by vessels of clay.

Let all creation wonder, that He Who said "Let there be," should bow to the dust which He had created. Stand amazed, ye angels of God, that impotence should tie the hands of the Almighty. Well, by permission it was done, that all things should be fulfilled, and the Lord of Glory so humbled Himself. Man would have humbled Him, if he could have done so, but it was not the will of man that bound the Saviour. Man did will it, to be sure, but it was according to the counsel of God's own will that Jesus should be bound and carried away. This was proven in that the sufferings of Christ never went beyond what the Scriptures foretold of them. There was not one blow more or less to that blessed face than was before determined, not one taunt, not one action of the combined forces of the Jewish mob and the Roman soldiers that had not been accounted for in the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Wicked men took Him and slew Him, but only because God did design that it should happen. Man, in the height of his wrath against God, in the fulness of his rage against the Brightness of His Glory, could do no more than perform the will of God in the matter. Let nature rise up against its Maker, still it is like the sea to which God has said "this far and no farther." Nothing can be done that has not been foreknown, foreseen, and foreordained. Man, as free as he wills to be, still is bound to carry out the will of God.

So, Christ, as our righteous Samson, is not bound by the cords of His captors, but by the Father's will. And even in the apparent triumph of His oppressors He could have snapped their bonds with ease, but for His submission to the eternal Will of God. And in His death, our Mighty Lord slew more than He did in His life, for in His death, Death itself died, and Christ destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil.

Oh, foolish men, you cannot see that the bonds are on your own wrists: for as you move to do all the wickedness you desire, yet you only accomplish that which has been ordered from before the foundation of the world!

Satan, in all glee do you bruise His heel, and yet, in so doing, the fatal blow strikes your own head.

Who can stand against the power of God? When every work of man and devils to dishonor God is turned to His eternal glory, what can be done against Him? Sing, all ye His saints, His wondrous works in salvation - sing the wisdom of His ways - sing His glory and grace! Who but our Saviour could, in being bound, bind sin and death and Hell? And who but He, being carried away captive, could lead our captivity captive and give gifts unto men?

"Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake."


O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

GRACE

G - Gone With the Wind - "and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

R - Reservation Undeserved - "not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

A - Atonement Accomplished - "Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

C - Called Without Repentance - "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."

E - Eternally Secure - "And they shall never perish."

Nothing But This!

"That I may know Him."

What else matters but knowing Christ? We are not simply talking about being saved. There are myriads of people who claim that the Christian life is not a religion but a relationship. Then, these very same people spend their lives proving the very opposite. It is these who know so little of Christ. They make their religion a matter of being in church every time the doors are opened, giving the right amount of money, praying in the right way, taking part in every ministry of the church, dressing right, wearing their hair in a certain way, and listening to the right kind of music. Nor is this the nature of one kind of church only, but all are afflicted with it. The rules change from church to church, but they are there in all of them. But in all of this, these people do not find Christ, but only an uneasy satisfaction that they are righteous before God. I say "uneasy satisfaction" because, if they are truly God's children, they will not ever be really satisfied with these outward trappings of religion, such trappings that even the worst of reprobates can observe.

True Christianity is a religion, which, simply defined, is the worship of God. Christianity is the only true religion there is. But it is never made of only that which we see outwardly. The heart of Christianity, the heart of religion, the heart of the only true worship of God is Jesus Christ, and knowing Him. Christ is our religion. The sun of our day rises and sets upon Him; the center of all we do is Christ; He is our very life, and the reason we are so dead in our devotion and service for Him is because we do not know Him as we ought. The psalmist cried "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God!" and we must do no less. When we come to the end of the rituals and rites and endless service in the flesh, we still find ourselves dry and empty. There is no life in these things. Church does not make us Christians - Christians make the church! Our churches are dead because we are practically dead in our spiritual lives on an individual basis. We are called to build up the church, not the other way around. We don't go to church to get a blessing, but to give one. We are called to share with the body what Christ is to us, and to encourage others that He is everything He says He is, because we have tried Him and found Him faithful; we have tasted and seen that He is good. But if we have not seen Him in our homes, as we have opened the Word, sitting at His feet, how can we come to church and have anything to share? How can the church grow as we ourselves are feeding upon the husks of the world, drinking water out of broken cisterns, spending money for that which is not bread, and, even in our religious activity, seeking some magic formula that will be our spirituality, and satisfy that thirst within that only Jesus Christ Himself can fill?

I don't know all that it means to know Christ, but I do know that there is a lot more to it than I have experienced. Knowing Him as I ought, my heart will be so full of His glory and beauty that sin will appear as it really is, a horrible enemy that is to be hated and found hateful. I won't have to follow some plan or program for resisting evil: His grace is sufficient. Knowing Him as I ought, it will be a delight to speak of Him everywhere. He is so lovely, so wonderful, and it will be my joy to tell others of Him. I won't need a soul-winning class, for He Himself will make me a fisher of men. Every little problem that we come to grips with in the Christian life will not be solved by focusing on those problems. Only as we turn our eyes upon Jesus, will all that is wrong in us be made right. We are so often running here and there, trying to put out the little fires that break out in our lives, and we have no peace. Frenzied activity is not the way. If we could just get away from all of that, and sit at Jesus' feet, look at His wonderful face, then, then His glory would subdue our sinful desires; then His beauty would make us beautiful; then His holiness would make us holy.

The psalmist who cried that he thirsted for God, looked for God's light and truth to lead him back to God. We too must cry out to God that He would send out His light and truth to us as well. Through His Word (as we seek Him in it, not through merely "reading our Bibles"), we will come to the holy hill of God's dwelling, to His tabernacles, to the altar (don't stop yet!) and to God Himself, through Jesus Christ. This is where the psalmist was longing to go, even beyond the veil, into the holy of holies, into fellowship with God Himself. Why cannot we all be as John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, leaning upon the breast of the Saviour? What? Shall we be content with hearing about the goodness of the Lord, and not tasting Him for ourselves? Let us not be content to simply be in the place where God is proclaimed, although that is good. Nor shall we stop at the altar where the sacrifice is made, but let us go on into the most holy place, that secret place of sweet communion with God!

I realize that I don't know even the smallest part of what I am saying here, but I do know that our religion has to be more than its outward dress, or we are no better off than any of the false religions in the world. There has to be more to it than this! Christ has to be pure joy, love, glory, holiness and so much more to us, or all of our religion is vain. There is that fellowship with Him that makes our afflictions seem light and our troubles seem small compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. It is my conviction that, although Heaven is still before us, it is not yet, still:

the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk the golden streets.

There is more, Christian, there is more than you have seen yet! He is more glorious than you know, and He is yours! He is yours! There is a taste of Heaven on earth, if we will only come to Him, for He is Heaven!


My deep, supreme desire is not simply that I may be like Jesus, or that I may know more about Him, but

That I may know Him.

I Can Almost See Heaven From Here!

When I read in the Word of my Saviour so true
Who died upon dark Calvary,
How He humbled Himself to the death of the cross,
To purchase salvation for me,
And how, by His blood, He atoned for my sins -
In Him before God I appear -
And knowing: in Him I am heir of all things,
I can almost see Heaven from here!

The Word tells me plainly that Satan will come,
As a lion who tries to devour
Whoever he will, and he does not relent,
Tempting my soul ev'ry hour.
The world and the flesh try to draw me away,
And cause me to doubt and to fear,
But none of these things can move me from this:
I can almost see Heaven from here!

He is faithful Who called me and drew me to Him,
The work He's begun, He'll complete.
Nothing can separate me from His love;
My foes all fall under His feet.
To leave or forsake me, He never shall do,
He has said it; His promise is clear.
He's there at the throne now and prays for my soul:
I can almost see Heaven from here!

Thus seeing such promises filling His Word
With the Spirit's own witness in me,
I too am persuaded God loves me in Christ,
And with Him forever I'll be.
Persuaded He's able to keep that for me
I've committed to Him, I'll not fear.
With Christ God will certainly give me all things -
I can almost see Heaven from here!

mlc

Can This Be Grace?

Can this be grace? A sinner such as I, condemned to Hell,
Should taste of Heaven's glories and await
Not judgment, but a trip through Heaven's gate,
And naught but that bright prospect mine to tell.

Can grace be this? The joys of feasting daily with the King,
To rest upon sweet promises of life,
Though this world full of enemies is rife,
Yet I, exceeding riches now can sing.

And shall this grace, be lost upon a worthless worm defiled?
Or shall I, as a joyous bird, in flight
Within such grace, exploring such delight,
So sing, so very glad to be His child.

So, what is grace? That He who loves me now did love me then,
Before He made the world, or any men.
And sent His Son to pay the awful cost.
And called my name so I should not be lost.

Have you this grace? The Lamb who died can wash you white as snow,
And cast away your sin behind His back,
And in Himself provide your ev'ry lack.
He liveth ever, just to make it so.

Lest Any MAN Should Boast

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

I was greatly impressed by a sermon I listened to today, highlighting God's purpose and sovereign grace in salvation. You can read it or listen here. This reminded me of the Scripture I pasted at the start of this article. I emphasize in the title and in the Scripture quotation above, the word "man". When you read the verse, say it out loud, emphasizing this word. "Lest any "man" should boast." When you emphasize this word in that way, you are also saying that there is someone who should boast. Not man, but God. God's purpose in saving us is that we might be to the praise of His glory, not our own. Every aspect of salvation, yes, every aspect of everything is so that God might boast, and so that we might spend eternity (how can you spend that which is eternal? but what else can you say?) praising the glory of His grace. If salvation were of works, man would boast. He would have the right, since he did it himself. But, since man does nothing for salvation, God gets all the glory. Our salvation started with God's purpose and grace, and His choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We could have had no part in that, for we were not even around. Nor do we have a part in it now, for it is not of works, lest any man should boast. A salvation that rests entirely upon God and His eternal purposes provides great security, for it was all conceived, begun and shall be consummated in and through Him. And how can He fail? "For of Him, and through Him and to Him are all things." To God be the glory!

Make Yourself Remember!

Psalm 42 and 43 issue this rhetorical question 3 times: "Why art thou cast down, o my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?" I say "rhetorical" because there is no answer required or sought, but only this command to self follows: "Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him."

These psalms remind us, among so much else, that our trust has been misplaced, for why would we have to tell ourselves to hope in God if we were already doing so? Also, when you tell yourself to hope in God, you have to give yourself reason to hope in Him, that is, you have to go to the Scriptures and look at the promises again. But we are not reading pretty promises for encouragement simply because they sound so nice. No, our very life depends upon this. It is not the promise itself that makes it valuable, but the fact that each promise of the Word of God is part of a sketch of our Lord. That is, it describes Him in His character. When we meditate on the promises of God, we are remembering who He is, and what He has said He will do for us because of who He is. So, when we read: "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," we see a picture of One who is faithful to us even when everyone else and everything else stand impotent to give us any aid whatsoever. We have, by the promise, reason to hope, and as we meditate upon that promise, the hope is rekindled within our hearts until we do finally return to that place of joy and praise, which is what we were longing for from the beginning. So, we must rebuke ourselves for being cast down, and make ourselves remember to hope in God, for there is no hope otherwise.

Thy Kingdom Come!

Jesus taught us to pray for His coming kingdom. Among many other things, this prayer can remind us that His kingdom, while it is here in our hearts, is not here on this earth in all of its fulness, nor is it in our hearts the way it ought to be. Thinking of the coming kingdom reminds us also of our Saviour's instruction to store up our treasures in Heaven, and not on earth. The point is that to depart and be with Christ is far better than where we are now, no matter how closely we are able to walk with Him here. We have "an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away," reserved in Heaven for us. The desire for Christ's coming kingdom also speaks of our future reward with Him, beholding His glory.

As we look for His coming, we need to see that we are holding on to this world, and loving it, when we should be letting go of everything temporal and reaching for that which is eternal, instead. It seems to me that I am like the child at the mall whose fingers have to be pried off of the handles of the plastic pony, who is carried out, screaming for just one more ride, tearfully looking back, as if by looking he could hold on to that which is quickly vanishing from view. When I die, will it be like that, a dragging away with a desperate last cry at being separated from that which I love too much? And if it is so, where can I hope to end up, if my treasures are indeed here on earth in such great measure? But will not the gracious Lord instead grant me the heart of a child who, longing for His presence, and desiring to behold His beauty, cannot find any place of comfort in this world? Will He not give me a heart that has me looking upward, waiting for His coming with great joy and anticipation, so that might find death a welcome thing, that brings me at once to the One Who is my joy, my life and my all? Then, I will not be as Lot's wife, looking back with desire at this perishing Sodom, but looking to Jesus, with my arms open wide to embrace Him, the Lover of my soul, at Whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore. I would be as the child who is only too glad to leave the mall, because he is not impressed with its vain show. Instead, he looks eagerly toward home, where he belongs, and he just can't wait to get there. Lord, give me such a heart; make me such a child.

God is Still There!

I have found that my Saviour is present in my life even when I have not seen Him working. My problem, mostly, is that I too often think that He is working according to my plan. He is on my side, "If God be for us, who can be against us," but it is not according to my plans and will, but according to His.

It Is Just That!

Over the years, as a Christian, I have heard warnings about many of the old Puritan writers. They always go something like this: "Well, Spurgeon was good, but you have to be careful. After all, he was a hyper-calvinist." This caveat is repeated for virtually all of the old guys that wrote such deep, mighty works for God. "You can use their stuff, but don't buy what they are selling!"
And in sermon after sermon, you hear quotes from Spurgeon, Bunyan, Luther, Calvin (him too?) and other of the good old writers. But there is always the caveat. " They were good, but . . . " or "They were good in spite of their Calvinism and their treatment of the sovereignty of God."

Here is the big deal, though. The real thing. They were not good in spite of their teaching on God's sovereignty. It was precisely the fact that they believed what they believed that makes their works live on today. They wrestled with these deep things of God, and bowed to His sovereign grace, sometimes after much struggle. But it is out of these struggles that we have such giants of the faith (though they would never have called themselves such). So, it is not "in spite of their doctrine" that they are so good. It is just that very doctrine that makes them good. Divorce them from what they believed, and they will become unbelievable.

Perhaps if we wrestled with these things ourselves, instead of rejecting them out of hand whenever the Spirit comes to teach them to us, we would finally find them sweet to the taste and health to our Christian lives.