tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89440465146281459472024-03-08T15:51:19.602-06:00Grace Greater Than ALL Our SinUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-26795667354921509502013-04-06T06:00:00.000-05:002013-04-06T06:00:11.665-05:00<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Praise to God for His Grace</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did not come to Thee, Lord,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Until I heard Thy call.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nor wanted to be free, until</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thou didst my soul enthrall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A joyful slave, with sin-stopped ears,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I wandered lost for many years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did not hear Thy call, Lord,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Till Thou mine ears didst heal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I could not see Thy beauty till </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thyself Thou didst reveal,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And NEVER would have come to Thee,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If Thou hadst not my soul set free.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, wondrous grace! I praise Thy Name,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, Thou who madest mine eyes to see;</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And madest me love Thee from that day </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thou brakest my chains and set me free.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, sing, my soul, and dance with joy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sweet grace the rebel's heart doth claim!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And let me ev'ry part employ</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To magnify His awesome Name.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">mlc 10/20/12</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-45790300842127226412013-03-30T15:25:00.000-05:002013-03-30T15:25:39.053-05:00<div align="center">
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Grace Upon Grace</span></strong></div>
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<span class="userContent">I loved my sin and did not care<br /> For holy things and saints of God,<br /> Nor wished to breathe celestial air -<br /> Content, this darkened earth I trod.<br /> I had no longing for the Lord, <br /> His beauty I refused to see,<br /> Nor trembled at His holy Word:<br /> I mocked and scorned sweet Wisdom's plea.<br /> <br /> But then an awesome sight I saw:<br /><span class="text_exposed_show">A Saviour, hanging on a tree.<br /> Grace then did make me turn aside<br /> And there the Lamb did speak to me:<br /> "'Tis for your sin, this crown of thorns;<br /> Your wicked ways My blood does spill;<br /> In love divine I pour it out,<br /> To bring you captive to My will."<br /> <br /> And gently He did turn my heart<br /> To love His saints and all His ways;<br /> To long to be at home with Him<br /> In light, for everlasting days.<br /> He drew me then to follow Him - <br /> His wondrous glory filled my sight;<br /> Now wisdom's path I long to tread,<br /> And His sweet law is my delight.</span></span></div>
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<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">mlc 10-20-12</span></span></div>
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-14587285398394555122011-05-07T15:36:00.002-05:002011-05-07T15:50:49.587-05:00Maybe?I might start blogging again. I really like to write, and if it is helpful to anyone in any way, I am glad to do it. God is so good, and has done so much in my life, that I like to praise Him in the things I write, and share that with others. There is none so great as our Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to lift Him up. <br /><br />One person who is incredibly impressive for his desire for God and his intensity in preaching and writing, and, I guess in person (I would like to meet him) is John Piper. If you want to be blessed by good, sound preaching, you should listen at <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/">www.desiringGod.org</a>. Go to the resource library, click on "sermons" and you can listen. We have been listening to his preaching through Romans, which you can access by choosing the category "by series". Also, there are a number of excellent books by him, that would bless you greatly if you read them. <br /><br />I want to know Christ to the fullest, whatever that may be in this life, and Piper has helped me greatly along that road. <br /><br />"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, <em>being made conformable unto His death </em>(Wow!); if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." We don't want to die, but if we don't, we won't be resurrected!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-441941096467933082010-12-24T14:24:00.001-06:002010-12-24T14:24:00.452-06:00Blessed ChristmasAt work, we have the radio going all the time. I am privileged to listen to country music one week, and classic rock music the next, alternating each week. The radios in the areas where I work are usually loud enough to hear all the words of the songs. I say that I am privileged because, though I would not choose those stations myself as my personal listening preferences, anything that the Lord has in my life is there because He has placed it there, and is using it for His glory and my refinement as a Christian. <br /> <br />Most of the country music is newer, so I did not recognize but a song or two. I grew up listening to country music, so I know many of the songs from the 60s and 70s. The rock music is from the 60s, 70s and 80s, and I know most of those, because I changed my music to match most of my peers when I was in high school. In both of the categories, rock and country, there are a few songs that I like, but not many. In the rock category, I often find myself turning away from some of the favorites I had as a teenager and afterwards, because their lyrics are about things I have laid aside in order to draw closer to Jesus Christ. He is more lovely than anything those songs promise. The subject matter of the song provides for temptations to dwell on things that draw me away from Him. That is the case with much of the country music as well. I cannot enjoy it, and I really do not want to enjoy it.<br /><br />The title of this blog entry has to do with Christmas. Well, on these radio stations they are playing Christmas songs among the others. There is sometimes contradiction between the Christmas music and the others. To illustrate, the song "O Holy Night" was playing on the rock station when we came back from lunch one day. It was very well done, and I was greatly blessed by hearing it. Immediately following this, however, with no pause for reflection, the radio blasted out Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." Much of the blessing from O Holy Night was quickly gone. <br /><br />I think that probably I was the only one there who had a problem with the station playing Queen right after O Holy Night. But that is where people are. Whether country or rock, when they listen at Christmas they expect to hear some Christmas songs along with their usual fare. It is, at least, a small acknowledgment of the Saviour in a world that has pretty much forgotten Him. But it indicates the effect of religion on the lives of the general populous of America. A little bit here and there is alright, but it doesn't change the way I live, and life pretty much goes on as normal, no matter whether or not there was a Saviour born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. That's how I lived before I knew Christ. I liked Christmas. But the Saviour seemed so strange, so out of place, not even a real person. Pretty much like Santa Claus.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-73021622051179163662010-12-21T13:57:00.003-06:002010-12-21T14:22:51.625-06:00Lord, Thou Hast the WordsAgony over not having a feeling of God's presence, so many temptations to lay down arms, to turn away from Christ. I cannot do it. He has the words of eternal life. He is the Joy that is evermore at the right hand of God. I love Him - how can I leave Him? And yet, as I say that, there are a thousand voices ready to tempt me to do just that. My wicked heart would deify every blessing that God gives me, loving the blessings and not the Blesser. How easy that is to see, illustrated by my own Christmas experiences as a child. The givers, my parents or brothers and sisters, were only my channels to getting what I wanted. Sure, I would thank them, if reminded that I needed to do so, but I was not truly thankful to them, or for them. I loved the toys, but not the people who gave them to me. And now, how easy it is to love the pleasures of life without loving the One who gives the pleasures as well as the capacity for enjoying them. How easy it is to say that it is this or that situation that will give me true joy, when even the joy of the most desirable situation would not be there if God did not add it into the mix. Food would taste like cardboard if God did not give it the flavor and me the taste buds to enjoy it. And not only as a process, but every time. He is in everything, making it work the way it is supposed to every time, or it wouldn't. There are no natural processes, truly. God is a God of order, and He continues to bless things to work the way that they always have, but still, it is His hand in it each time it occurs that makes it happen the way it has always happened, and we have the illusion of processes and cause and effect. But nothing can keep going unless He keeps it going. And He is keeping everything going, every moment of every day - there is not one thing that works by itself, or even by processes that He has set up and left to run on their own. There can be no such thing, for if God leaves anything to itself, it would cease to exist immediately. It did not exist before He made it, and it shall not continue without being upheld constantly by the word of His power. <br /> <br />So, anything that I look to for a pleasure that it has given in the past is not able to give me that pleasure unless God wills that it be so, each time I engage in the thing. If I enjoy a particular song, and am thrilled with the music and the lyrics, I cannot look to that song as the ultimate giver of the pleasure, but to God who has given me the pleasure through that song. There are pleasures in reading the Bible, but a Scripture that brought me joy and comfort at one time might not do so at another, because I am seeking the experience, rather than God Himself. So, I could even make an idol out of the Word of God. And I do. <br /> <br />And there are other voices that draw me away in doubt and fear, that make me question the reality of it all - whether any of it is true. I must cling to Christ, for He is the only One in whom I have found peace and true joy. All else has failed me, and continues to fail. So, I hear Him say to me again "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-60053603673742731712010-10-02T15:36:00.003-05:002010-10-07T15:57:34.857-05:00I Have Seen the Lord!Here is a great <a href="http://desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/i-have-seen-the-lord#/watch/full">sermon</a> from John Piper of the same title as this blog entry.<br /><br />By the way, it has been a coon's age since I have been here. Anybody still out there?<br /><br />If you merely read Piper's sermons you don't get nearly the same effect as you will if you watch the video. If Spurgeon were living now, I would certainly watch videos of his sermons rather than just reading them. There is something about hearing and seeing that makes a greater impact on the heart than merely reading. Try it. You will never want to simply read Piper's sermons again.<br /><br />If you don't know Piper at all, you will be greatly encourage by his preaching. I highly recommend him.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-66066003886124531662010-04-15T17:47:00.002-05:002015-11-07T13:26:42.041-06:00DesertedThey say that God doesn't leave His people, that He is always with them. They say that if there are any problems, it is simply with your perception, because God has not moved. So, it is always this: if I push the right buttons I can overcome, and go on my way rejoicing. <br />
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No. It has never been that way. God is sovereign, and He is not at my beck and call, I am to be at His. I might do everything right, as far as anyone can tell, and still feel the emptiness of walking without Him, the dryness of the desert of no communion. Everything loses its flavor: every joy is forced, every laugh is hollow, every song (if I can sing at all) is in a minor key, for He is not there. And if you tell me that it is just my perception, I say "What's the difference?" It is hell to be without God, really, or even when it just feels like you are without God. It is all the same thing according to my perception. What is it to me that God is still there, if I cannot hear His voice? How can I derive any comfort from a present Saviour, if He does not make His presence known, if I cannot know His grace and peace filling my soul? What good is it to me that my Father is home, if I cannot go climb up into His lap, and feel His strong arm holding me tight, pulling me close? You may live far off from Him if you can, but I cannot. I don't like it when I cannot find Him anywhere. Just your telling me that He is always there, when I cannot get to Him, provides me no comfort. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!<br />
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I see shadows, glimpses of Him out of the corner of the eye, but that is not enough. I need Him. I am thirsty, and none of these broken cisterns have any water. I am hungry, and tired of trading my money for that which is not bread. My soul thirsts for God. When shall I come and appear before God! <br />
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How long, O Lord? How long wilt Thou forget me? Forever?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-84443430696122901862010-04-10T10:21:00.002-05:002010-04-10T10:25:30.548-05:00A Powerful SermonThis is a great sermon. You should listen to it. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/4563/Video/">The Immeasurable Greatness of His Power Toward Us</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-11731197422991179302010-03-15T16:03:00.002-05:002010-03-15T16:55:40.065-05:00What Sin Is<span style="font-size:130%;">In reading the book of Joshua again, I have been struck once again with the seeming severity of judgment upon Achan and his family for his transgression. The punishment has seemed to me to be over and above what was merited, because of the shocking nature of it. However, this time, I have asked the Lord to help me to understand. I believe that He has.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">When Satan tempted Eve, he promised her that she and Adam would "be as gods, knowing good and evil." I have not thought as much about that as I have recently, and as I should have, for that is the place where we see the beginning of sin in man. Why do all die in Adam? What was the enormity of a transgression that consisted in eating a piece of fruit? Just a piece of fruit. Well, if it was just the piece of fruit that makes up the totality of the transgression, it might be justifiable to say that the punishment overreaches the crime. A piece of fruit, however, was merely the battleground. Many injunctions of Scripture call for obedience in matters seemingly as trivial as a piece of fruit. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The fruit itself is almost immaterial in the whole matter of Adam's sin. The nature of sin is not in the size of the matter, nor in the obvious deed itself, but in the heart of the man who perpetrates the sin. This is not to say that one thing that is called sin in one case, might not be called so in another. There are arguments for such a statement, and evidence that can be produced to substantiate such claims, but I am not entering into that aspect of the matter at this time. What I am saying is that sin, with respect to its severity, is not in the act itself, but in the heart. So, what was in Achan's heart? What was in Adam's heart? What is in my heart, when I sin?</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">So, Satan said: "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." What does that mean, knowing good and evil? And how does that make us like gods? The answer is, perhaps obvious to everyone reading this, but it was good for me to see it so clearly. If I can choose what I want to do, deciding for myself what is right and wrong (good and evil), then, in effect, I am taking the place of God. What power! Simply by throwing out God and His ways, His authorities (the Bible, parental authority, governmental authority, etc.), I can have absolute power over my own affairs! I can be all I can be, I can run my own life! I can do it my way! After all, I am God! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Such a manner of thinking was at the heart of Satan's temptation. "You don't have to do what God says, even though He is your Creator. You are an independent, autonomous being. You decide. Follow your heart. If it feels good, do it!" </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The only problem with such an outlook on life is this: It was not Adam's call to decide to eat the fruit. God had already made that call, and Adam's deliberate disobedience was an "in-your-face" rejection of God Himself. Achan did the same thing. Satan's "I will be like the Most High" became the fight song of mankind. We have taken it up, even from the womb. That cry of independence. I am God. I have a right. I can choose for myself. "Sure, Satan. I'll be as God. What do I have to lose? After all, fruit is good for me!" </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">So, the few things Achan took were not the problem. Nor was it a piece of fruit for Adam and Eve. Nor is it just whatever the little thing is in which <u>we</u> love to have our way. It is the rebellion in our hearts. It is our desire to dethrone God, and set ourselves in His place. As our Creator, He has the right to do whatever He wills with His own. As His creatures, we don't have that right. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Our carrying out of this same scenario of sin is a daily event. The only reason God doesn't kill us for it is because of the cross of Christ. The garments of rebellion do not look any prettier upon us than they did upon Adam, or Achan . . . or Satan. As Christians, we are even more culpable, because we know a little about the price that was paid on that cross, by a God who so loved the world . . . And how can we even claim to know Him, when we abide one moment with rebellion to any of His commands in our hearts ? Even the smallest infractions involve the same sin: "I will decide what is right and wrong. I know what is good and evil. I am God." The commands of Christ do not stretch. His rules do not bend. We know that we are His because we keep His commandments, and those commandments are not grievous to us. We would rather have God's way than our own in the matter, if we truly love Christ.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I am not so concerned about Achan anymore. He deserved more than what he got. But so do I. I run to the cross of Christ for refuge. I am ashamed. How dare I assert my rights to do anything, or be anything for the sake of my own understanding. I don't want to be God. I don't want to go my own way. But I can still hear that hiss of the serpent: "Ye shall be as gods." Lord Jesus, come quickly, and make all things new.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-64520254430124140422010-01-07T17:52:00.002-06:002010-01-07T18:26:48.711-06:00My Life Work<span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em>"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." - Philippians 3:10</em></strong></span><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">While it is so hard to raise my mind to much contemplation of Christ, to profitable thoughts about Him, to an admiration of Him as He is portrayed in the Scriptures, and to that view of glory that transforms me into His image, yet by God's grace, and only that way, I shall fight every day to get that view of Him - a view my soul needs so desperately that there is nothing else it needs beside. I cannot even really know what that means "That I may know Him," because such a knowledge, while not too high (at least the beginnings of it, for the encouragement of everyone who has a desire for it), yet it ends in Heaven, it finds its fulness there, and the Scripture itself says that we know not what we shall be, but when we see Him, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. I only can know in part here, but when I see Him, I shall lay aside childish things for as full a revelation of Christ's beauty as God shall be pleased to give me for my everlasting blessedness and satisfaction. My goal then, or my life's work, is to know as much of Him as possible in this life, because if it is my happiness <em>in eternity</em> to behold Him in His glory, it must be no small portion of the happiness of <em>this life</em> to behold His glory as I am able. This glory of Christ is His beauty, His awesomeness, His majesty and everything about Him that attracts. And the true view of it is only found in the Scriptures, for they testify of Him, and set Him forth - they present Him as our beautiful Saviour. So, I shall be a student of the Word of God, for that purpose only, that I may know Him, that I may, through the Word, see the Sun of Righteousness, and look on His face who is altogether lovely. It is, as I said, so difficult to raise my thoughts to this great object, but I must do it, and if you read this, pray for me this prayer, and others like it:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em>That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:<br /> The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,<br /> And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.</em></strong></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-33802726279606551782009-12-05T14:51:00.003-06:002009-12-05T14:57:24.269-06:00Test Your Faith<span style="font-size:130%;">Here is John Owen again. This section is taken from <em>Christologia, </em>chapter XIX, on <a href="http://www.ccel.org/">http://www.ccel.org/</a>. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-76880607023706838102009-11-14T11:31:00.000-06:002009-11-14T11:31:00.496-06:00John Owen on Conformity to Christ<span style="font-size:130%;">From his book <u>Christologia</u>, found at Christian Classics Ethereal Library (linked on my sidebar), is a short paragraph from Owen about true conformity to Christ:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">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.</span></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-59741747814854348952009-11-11T15:32:00.002-06:002009-11-12T11:24:04.678-06:00I Dare Not Think Where I Would Be<span style="font-size:130%;">Didst Thou, my Lord, Thine all resign, </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And courts of glory thus forsake, </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Laying aside Thy rights divine, </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Of human clay so to partake? </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I dare not think where I would be </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And loving Thine unto the end </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Thou gavest Thyself in blood to die - </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And, oh, for sinners, what a Friend! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">For even such a wretch as I. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I dare not think where I would be </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Oh, Holy One - becoming sin - </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">No words can tell the sacrifice! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">What agonies enduredst Thou then, </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">When Thou didst pay redemption's price? </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I dare not think where I would be </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Oh, could my tears forever flow </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And could my zeal no languor know </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">These all for sin could not atone<br />For Thou must save, and Thou alone. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">In dying on dark Calvary, </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Thou gavest up all Thy liberty.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Though rich, yet poor becamest Thou, </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Thou prayedst "Not My will but Thine," </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Thou drainedst the bitter cup for me, </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Bearing the awful wrath Divine. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I dare not think where I would be </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And can it be that I should gain<br />(I dare not think where I would be . . .)<br />Died He for me, who caused His pain?<br />( . . . Hadst Thou retained Thy liberty!)<br />Amazing love! How can it be<br />That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me! </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">MC (et al)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-65350215142833744512009-08-12T12:38:00.000-05:002009-08-12T12:38:00.779-05:00That He Might Fill All Things<span style="font-size:130%;">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 <u>thought</u> 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.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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? </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-80359228899462415802009-08-10T13:01:00.000-05:002009-08-10T13:01:00.232-05:00The Parable of our Righteous GodAt 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."<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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 <u>parallel</u> is not between the judge and God, but between the case of the widow and that of God's elect, while a <u>contrast</u> 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 <u>not</u> 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.<br /><br />"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?"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-19747240898920900082009-08-08T08:00:00.000-05:002009-08-08T08:00:02.286-05:00I've Always Believed in Eternity!<span style="font-size:130%;">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. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I wonder if that knowledge inside of me was a part of "the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world."</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-56129595980349893852009-08-04T10:00:00.001-05:002009-08-05T09:25:39.014-05:00Usurping<span style="font-size:130%;">The Devil would exalt himself </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">To be as the Most High,</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">By imitating Providence; </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And often, so do I.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Prince of Darkness tries to shape </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Events to suit his mind;</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And I, as well, would have control:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">In me his ways I find.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Yes, I would cast God from His throne</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">When things don't go my way-</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And for God's will, exalt my own,</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Exerting sinful sway.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I'll sin to try to make events </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Go as I think they should;</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">As if I could, by being bad,</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Work all things for my good!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"I trust in God," I often sing -</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">In piety divine,</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">But when I cannot see the way</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">It's "not Thy will, but mine!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Oh, God, my sinful heart would cast</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Thy rule from my soul -</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Lord, cast instead my sin aside,</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And take complete control!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">MC</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-69170259711062752872009-07-31T14:28:00.002-05:002009-07-31T14:46:25.447-05:00God's Love Shown in His Promises<span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em>"Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em></em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em>"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little."</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em></em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em>"Fear Him Who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell."</em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em></em></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em>"He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."</em></strong></span><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."</span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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" - </span><span style="font-size:130%;">or God Himself would be unrighteous. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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 <strong>WILL</strong> tear us to pieces and there <strong>WILL</strong> be none to deliver, without the deliverance that He Himself prescribes:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em><strong>"Behold the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world."</strong></em></span><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."</span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-12127507217013662772009-07-30T08:00:00.000-05:002009-07-30T08:00:05.323-05:00The Deceitfulness of Sin<span style="font-size:130%;">John Owen again, on the <u>Mortification of Sin in Believers</u>. This is in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library which you can enter on my sidebar, or just begin <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/mort.toc.html">here</a> for Owen's book on mortification.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> Consider the danger of it, which is manifold:—<br />(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; <strong>there is a treachery, a deceit in sin, that tends to the hardening of your hearts from the fear of God</strong>.” 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. <strong>Sin will grow a light thing to thee;</strong> 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. <strong>Take heed, this is that thy lust is working towards,</strong> — the hardening of the heart, searing of the conscience, blinding of the mind, stupifying of the affections, and deceiving of the whole soul.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-13385594382582787472009-07-28T11:35:00.001-05:002009-07-28T11:35:00.835-05:00Evil Speaking<span style="font-size:130%;">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. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em><strong>"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and <u>evil speaking</u>, 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."</strong></em></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-7546391924933013232009-07-26T11:24:00.000-05:002009-07-26T11:24:00.403-05:00Heaven<span style="font-size:130%;">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.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-26445987047522888342009-07-24T11:11:00.001-05:002009-07-24T11:11:00.220-05:00Grace and Duty<span style="font-size:130%;">Grace doesn't replace duty; it simply enables us to do it.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-12781723656751866052009-07-22T08:00:00.002-05:002009-07-22T08:00:07.548-05:00Country Club Christianity<span style="font-size:130%;">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.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-18952701979740280712009-07-18T10:11:00.002-05:002009-07-18T10:52:51.752-05:00So, You Think You Are Pretty Good?<strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"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."</span></em></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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 - <em>"There is none righteous, no not one."</em> and this one: <em>"There is none that doeth good, no not one,"</em> and one more: <em>"all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."</em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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?</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"He became sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." </em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." </em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"CHRIST died for OUR sins, according to the Scriptures." </em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"HE was wounded for OUR transgressions." </em></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"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."</em></span><br /><em></em><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"Who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification."</em></span> <strong> </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">So, Christ died for His people to make them righteous in Himself: <em>"He shall save His people from their sins."</em> and <em>"Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it."</em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">God's righteousness is satisfied by Christ's obedience in suffering God's wrath in the stead of all who will believe on Him:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"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."</em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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 <em>"Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again, according to the Scriptures."</em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">God must punish sin. In His justice He has done so in Christ, for all who ever will believe: </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"That He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."</em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em></em></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me."</em></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8944046514628145947.post-14695378204581578482009-07-16T08:00:00.001-05:002009-07-16T08:00:02.128-05:00Mortification, More Quotes From Owen<span style="font-size:130%;">In <a href="http://mindifisaysomething.blogspot.com/2009/07/mortification-of-sin.html">my last post</a>, I quoted from John Owen's work <u>The Mortification of Sin in Believers</u>. You can find this book at <a href="http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/home.php">Banner of Truth</a>, or on the <a href="http://www.ccel.org/">Christian Classics Ethereal Library</a>; and the book itself is right <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/mort.toc.html">here</a>. I also made a link to it which is on the left side of this page. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Here are some more quotes:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Urging us to the duty:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"<strong>but sin is still pressing forward, and that because it hath no bounds but utter relinquishment of God and opposition to him</strong>; 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. <strong>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."</strong></span></em><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">How the duty is to be accomplished - by the power of the Spirit in the new man:</span><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"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,” </span></em><a class="scripRef" id="i.v-p8.1" onmouseover="popupVerse(this, 'Gal 5:17 - 5:17')" onclick="return goBible('nt','Gal','5','17','5','17');" onmouseout="leaveVerse()" href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.Gal.5.html#Gal.5.17" name="_Gal_5_17_0_0"><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Gal. v. 17</span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">. 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 </span></em><a class="scripRef" id="i.v-p8.2" onmouseover="popupVerse(this, 'iiPet 1:4 - 1:4')" onclick="return goBible('nt','iiPet','1','4','1','4');" onmouseout="leaveVerse()" href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.iiPet.1.html#iiPet.1.4" name="_2Pet_1_4_0_0;_2Pet_1_5_0_0"><em><span style="font-size:130%;">2 Pet. i. 4, 5</span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">. <strong>It is our participation of the divine nature that gives us an escape from the pollutions that are in the world through lust;"</strong></span></em><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Owen laments that, in his day, a proper understanding of mortification of sin is rare. It sounds like today.</span><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"<strong>The truth is, what between placing mortification in a rigid, stubborn frame of spirit . . .</strong> <strong>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;"</strong></span></em><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Let's not fool ourselves:</span><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"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."</span></em></strong><br /><strong><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And a rather lengthy quote that is a poignant commentary upon the state of the church today:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">Before I proceed to the consideration of the next principle, I cannot but by the way complain of <strong>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.</strong> 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. </span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>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.</strong> </span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">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? <strong>If vain spending of time, idleness, unprofitableness in men’s places, envy, strife, variance, emulations, wrath, pride, worldliness, selfishness, </strong></span></em><a class="scripRef" id="i.v-p11.1" onmouseover="popupVerse(this, 'iCor 1:0 - 1:0')" onclick="return goBible('nt','iCor','1','0','1','0');" onmouseout="leaveVerse()" href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/asv.iCor.1.html" name="_1Cor_1_0_0_0"><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>1 Cor. i.</strong></span></em></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>, be badges of Christians, we have them on us and amongst us in abundance. </strong></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:130%;">"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? <strong>The good Lord send out a spirit of mortification to cure our distempers, or we are in a sad condition!"</strong></span></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2