New Demonstration

From First to Last Jesus Does All Things Well

JM Vergara — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:59:12 +0000

Starting today I will be posting “Daily Devotions” from various saints of old, Lord willing from the present as well. I hope that in some small way you would be able to find spiritual help in posts like this.

I found this particular one from a friend on Facebook, though I am not sure if it’s from a Devotional book. Nevertheless it has great devotional content that gives much to meditate on.

Peruse slowly and feel the weight of the language Sir Octavius employs to make known our Lord who does all things well.

“He has done all things well.”—Mark 7:37

Yes, from first to last, from our cradle to our grave, from the earliest pang of sin’s conviction to the last thrill of sin’s forgiveness, from earth to heaven; this will be our testimony in all the way the Lord our God has led us in the wilderness: “He has done all things well.”

In providence and in grace,
in every truth of His Word,
in every lesson of His love,
in every stroke of His rod,
in every sunbeam that has shone,
in every cloud that has shaded,
in every element that has sweetened,
in every ingredient that has embittered,
in all that has been mysterious, inscrutable, painful, and humiliating;
in all that He gave,
in all that He took away,

—this testimony is His just due, and this our grateful acknowledgment through time and through eternity:

“He has done all things well.”

Has He converted us through grace by a way we had thought the most improbable?

Has He torn up all our earthly hopes by the roots?

Has He thwarted our schemes, frustrated our plans, disappointed our expectations?

Has He taught us in schools most trying, by a discipline most severe, and lessons most humbling to our nature?

Has He withered our strength by sickness, reduced us to poverty by loss, crushed our heart by bereavement?

And have we been tempted to exclaim, “All these things are against me?” Ah! no! faith will yet obtain the ascendancy, and sweetly sing:

“I know in all things that befell,
My Jesus has done all things well.”

Beloved, it must be so, for Jesus can do nothing wrong. Study the way of His providence and grace with the microscopic eye of faith, view them in every light, examine them in their minutest detail, as you would the petal of a flower, or the wing of an insect; and, oh, what wonders, what beauty, what marvellous adaptation would you observe in all the varied dealings with you of your glorious Lord!

I’ll sing of Jesus crucified,
The Lamb of God who bled and died,
A healing balm, a crimson tide,
Flowed from His head, His feet, His side!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

He sought me in the wilderness,
And found me there in deep distress;
He changed and washed this heart of mine,
And filled me with His love Divine!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

For what the Lord has done for me,
For boundless grace so rich and free,
For all His mercies that are past,
I’ll praise Him while my life shall last!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

When sorrow’s waves around me roll,
His promises my mind console;
When earth and hell my soul assail,
His grace and mercy never fail.
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

When death shall steal upon my frame,
To damp and quench the vital flame,
I’ll look into my Savior’s breast,
And there recline and sweetly rest.
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

And when we join the ransomed throng,
To chant the sweet immortal song,
With tuneful heart, and voice, and tongue,
We’ll roll the lofty note along!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

To Him who washed us in His blood,
And made us kings and priests to God;
Hosanna we will ever sing,
And make the heavenly arches ring!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

“He has done all things well.”—Mark 7:37

—adapted from Octavius Winslow’s, “The Sigh of Christ”

Thanks to Patte Smith, Found in GraceGems.org

Frailty of the Human Soul

JM Vergara — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:11:54 +0000

What is it in the human soul that causes it to forget His redeemer in the first breathe of the closing of His Bible? How tragic it is that our hearts immediately wander away just minutes after closing a prayer. Frailty. Such is the condition and always will be in this journey toward the Celestial city. What a sad state of affairs in one moment to be so immersed in the magnitude of soul-drowning sweetness of His glory, and in the next moment have little or none at all of the evidence of the mind and heart of Christ.

Indeed, what a wonder it is that a man can witness to a measure the inexpressible riches of the majesty of Christ and yet in his next waking moment have is affections redirected so quickly to mere trifles. Entertainment, the busyness of the day, the mere preoccupancy to vain and selfish endeavors that profit not the soul anything.

A tragedy it is if nothing else! To sit in witness to the manifold glory of the infinitely Holy One and yet have our mind and affections unfettered to such indescribable realities. Oh that Christ Himself may truly be formed in us [Gal 4:19]—in me and my failing soul.

Let us labor—Labor! dear heart to put of our putrid old man, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness [Eph 4:22-24].

Let us devote the travailing of our souls not to the millions of insignificant pitfalls in thoughts and activities that rob us of fire that would so inflame our souls, rather, let us cast ourselves—moment by moment, thought after thought, action after action—to Him who made all things well.

And perhaps soon in this Pilgrim’s journey, if the Lord wills, we would discover and finally experience what it truly means when the Word of the living God speaks these words:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”—Galatians 2:20

“…that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”—Philippians 1:20,21

Surely His inexhaustible grace, His ineffable Holiness can entertain us as no worldly show can.

Surely the unsurpassable reality of His awesome beauty and majesty can consume all our affections as no temporal entity can ever do.

Surely, surely, He must be enough. More than enough.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

—Robert Robinson

New Demonstration Version 3.0 Launch!

JM Vergara — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:31:17 +0000

It’s been 2 months since I’ve last written, and if it’s not that obvious to you yet one reason is my blog redesign of N.D. for the New year of 2010! A lot has happened in the past few months that I want to share with you all—all of which are testimonies of God’s sovereign grace (as is everything that happens in life!).

As I recount these experiences I will try again to be faithfully consistent in posting daily, not to mention continuing my series on the doctrines recovered at the time of the reformation.

So, dear reader, let us tread together as we ponder yet again the wonders and immeasurable riches of God’s great grace.

P.S.

Tell me what you think about the new design.:)

I’m particularly happy with how the blockquote section turned out. As well as the comments section.:)

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New Year Prayers of a Weak and Broken Soul

JM Vergara — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:59:21 +0000

1830

Be pleased, dear Lord, to grant me during the present year–more of Your gracious presence, more tenderness of conscience and fear of offending You; more humility, stronger faith, and more entire devotedness to Your cause. Enable me to leave my temporal concerns entirely with You, to walk by faith, to have my treasure in heaven, and to manifest by my conduct–that I am Your disciple. Let me not grow cold or lukewarm–but may “I lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset me, and may I run with patience the race set before me, looking unto Jesus. Amen.”

1832

“Here I raise my Ebenezer.” Thus far the Lord has brought me. Though the past has been a year of multiplied transgressions and backslidings, I trust, through His abundant mercy, my face is still Zionward, and that my prevailing desire is to be devoted entirely to His service. Take me, dearest Lord, and form me for Your own glory. I feel much bodily weakness. Oh, that through the crevices of this frail tabernacle, I may see some of the glories of the eternal world!

1840

Most dear and precious Christ, I had not thought to see another new-year’s day–but hoped before now–to have beheld You face to face! Like him of old, who was possessed of a legion of demons, I besought that I might be with You. But for a season, You have seen good to withhold the full answer to my request. “May Your will be done!” Glorify Yourself in me, and be much, very much with me, until You shall say, “Arise, my love, and come away,” to be with Me forever! I desire most humbly and unreservedly, in Your own strength, to yield to Your Divine disposal–all I have and am, and to continually lose my wish and will, in Yours. I would lay at Your feet all creatures and created good, with every seeming evil–and embrace Yourself, my Jesus, as my joy, portion, happiness, wisdom, strength, peace–yes, my all in all–for the coming year, or so much of it as I tarry upon earth; and then, as my joyful, blissful portion through eternity! Oh, lead me, Holy Comforter, more into Christ–and out of SELF! I have had much of blessing–but I long and pray for more; in Jesus’ name. Enlarge my expectations more, I beg You–and more I shall receive. “Lord, increase my faith.”

1842

Precious Christ, I come with a large request for 1842: it is that You would be the “Alpha and Omega” of it. Do You not say, “Ask what I shall give you?” Yourself, Lord! You have most blessedly given Yourself to me. But I find sweet liberty to entreat more unfolding, revealing, and opening of Your glorious person, amazing work, and matchless love, than I have yet had; and more losing and treading down of SELF, too–that I may be lost in Your fullness, and forgotten and forsaken in Your soul-absorbing glories. Oh! raise me higher, draw me nearer, that I may daily die, and You live in me more manifestly. I just give myself to You, to live on You, to live in You, to live for You, more and more than heretofore, and that by the power of the Spirit resting on me. I humbly ask that mine may be a large and still-increasing portion; that, under fresh anointings, You, most lovely Jesus, may be more fully known, more loved, more served; for it is to You the Holy Spirit leads, of You He testifies.

Oh, do make this a large, rich, full year! You being increasingly honored in me, and I increasingly lost in You, and made an increasing blessing to Your dear people. An Ebenezer for past mercies befits me; large and magnificent have been Your bestowments; bountiful and constant Your favors to me–a poor worthless nothing! “Bless the Lord, O my soul–and all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

Taken from the diary of Ruth Bryan.

Seen at GraceGems.org // First posted on Jan 6, 2008

Evangelicalism Stands or Falls with Calvinism

JM Vergara — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:26:15 +0000

‘The world should realize with increased clearness that Evangelicalism stands or falls with Calvinism.’¹

The great princeton theologian Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield wrote those words a century ago. At the time, Calvinism still had a major influence on evangelicalism, helping to define its theology, shape its spirituality, and clarify its mission. That is no longer as true as it once was. Increasingly Calvinism is defined over against evangelicalism, and while many Calvinists still consider themselves evangelicals, most evangelicals are suspicious of Calvinism.

On a first reading, therefore, Warfield’s claim seems excessive, and probably false. One doubts whether it would find widespread acceptance in the contemporary church. What has Calvinism to do with evangelicalism? And why would the vitality of the evangelical church in any way depend on Calvinist theology?

As surprising as it may seem, Warfield’s claim is the thesis of this book, namely, that evangelicalism stands or falls with Calvinism. To put this in a slightly less provocative way, evangelicalism needs Calvinism. In order to see why this is so, it helps to remove the labels.

By “Evangelicalism,” Warfield essentially meant what German Lutherans meant when they first started using the term during the Protestant Reformation: a church founded on the gospel, the good news if salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And when Warfield spoke of “Calvinism,” he was referring to the Protestant Reformation, with its insistence on justification by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone.

To put it more simply, evangelicalism stands for the gospel and Calvinism stands for grace. What Warfield was really saying, therefore, is something that every Christian should and must believe: the gospel stands or falls by grace.

As Warield recognized, the gospel is not really the gospel unless it is a gospel of grace; in other words, the gospel is only good news if it announces what God has done to save sinners.

And if that is true, then the gospel stands or falls with the doctrines of grace.

—James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002.), p17-18.

Footnotes

B. B. Warfield, quoted in Arthur C. Custance, The Sovereignty of Grace (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1979), 83-84.

Thinking of His Birth Reminds me of His Death

JM Vergara — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:34:55 +0000

Let us spend this moment, as Christmas day comes, in reflection of God’s infinitely tremendous condescending grace by sending His Son to take up the flesh of sinful man to live among us on this earth, to fulfill the law that we never can and never could, that such righteousness may be imputed to us as our sin be imputed to Him. And in His death He bore the penalty of our sin, the full weight of the wrath of God. And in His resurrection He conquered death for our justification.

Let all the saints shout praise
for the grace of God has come
in the person of His only Son
the sting of death is gone!

He came on earth to live the life
the life we could never live.
Perfectly living God’s law
in His righteousness we are redeemed.

Our death to Him, His life to us
O! it is the great exchange!
Eternal wrath is what was for us
instead in Christ we are given Eternal Grace!

To HIM who loved us long ago,
Before we came to be,
Who left his throne for earth below
To save a wretch like me:
To HIM who freed us from our sin
By dying on the cross,
To make us whole without, within,
Redeemed from dreadful loss:
All praise to Christ from grateful men
Forevermore. Amen.

—James Montgomery Boice, Hymns for a Modern Reformation

And just for good fun, let me share with you a parody of the “12 Days of Christmas”, the “12 Days of Calvinism.”
Click here.

Lastly, let me share with you this sermon from Mark Kielar on the origin of Christmas. I encourage you to listen through to the end of the sermon for a discerning word from Pastor Mark whether or not we should celebrate Christmas day.

Grace Greater Than Our Sin

JM Vergara — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:05:04 +0000

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
—Romans 5:20

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Refrain

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Refrain

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Refrain

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

Refrain

Words: Julia H. Johnston, in Hymns Tried and True (Chicago, Illinois: The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 1911), number 2.
Music: Daniel B. Towner, 1910.

A Prayer Anticipating the Lord’s Day Morning

JM Vergara — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:30:39 +0000

O Maker and Upholder of all things,
Day and night are thine; they are also
mine from thee –

the night to rid me of the cares of the day,
to refresh my weary body,
to renew my natural strength;

the day to summon me to new activities,
to give me opportunity to glorify thee,
to serve my generation,
to acquire knowledge, holiness, eternal life.

But one day above all days is made especially
for thy honour and my improvement;

The sabbath reminds me
of thy rest from creation,
of the resurrection of my Saviour,
of his entering into repose.

Thy house is mine,
but I am unworthy to meet thee there,
and am unfit for spiritual service.

When I enter it I come before thee as a sinner,
condemned by conscience and thy Word,

For I am still in the body and in the wilderness,
ignorant, weak, in danger,
and in need of thine aid.

But encouraged by thy all-sufficient grace
let me go to thy house with a lively hope
of meeting thee,
knowing that there thou wilt come to me
and give me peace.

My soul is drawn out to thee in longing desires
for thy presence in the sanctuary, at the table,
where all are entertained on a feast of
good things;

Let me before the broken elements,
emblems of thy dying love,
cry to thee with broken heart for grace
and forgiveness.

I long for that blissful communion of thy people
in thy eternal house in the perfect kingdom;
These are they that follow the Lamb;

May I be of their company!

Taken from The Valley of Vision—A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions.
Read more puritan prayers such as this here.

Sin’s Painted Pleasures and Sugared Poisions…

JM Vergara — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:29:30 +0000

As the Scriptures often call attention to the “heart” or “soul” of a person, Owen argues that such references tend to be shorthand for the various faculties, and thus to deal with sin the whole person must be engaged. Although Owen gives ample attention to each of the faculties, let us focus on the affections as a test case to show the nature of sin and temptation.

Far too often Christians working within the Reformed tradition have been guilty of confusing stoic ideals of emotional detachment with maturity in the Christian life. But this Reformed tradition, which Owen self-consciously grows out of, has at its best made significant space for the importance of the affections.

As early as the sixteenth century John Calvin, one of the great fathers of the Reformed tradition, saw this confusion and warned against it. Calvin chided those Christians who acted like “new stoics,” because they believed that groaning, weeping, sadness, and having deep concerns were signs of sinfulness.

According to Calvin such comments tend to grow from “idle men who, exercising themselves more in speculation than in action,” do not understand the pain of this world and the ravages of sin, which the Savior who wept and mourned knew so well. The goal of Calvin and of others after him, like Owen, was not the absence of affections, but rightly informed and directed affections.

Affections are a gift from God to all humanity. Far too often the faculties have been “gendered” in the church, for example, when people lump “rationality” with men and “emotions” with women. In addition to empirical evidence that easily contradicts such hastily drawn stereotypes, one should reject such schemas because all Christians are called to love God with their mind, will, and affections.

Healthy affections are crucial to the life of faith, and numbing them cannot be the answer. In Owen’s estimation, because the affections are so important to faithful obedience, Scripture often interchanges the language of heart and affections, for here is “the principal thing which God requires in our walking before him. . . . Save all other things and lose the heart, and all is lost—lost unto all eternity.”

The goal of the Christian life is not external conformity or mindless action, but a passionate love for God informed by the mind and embraced by the will. So the path forward is not to decrease one’s affections but rather to enlarge them and fill them with “heavenly things.”

Here one is not trying to escape the painful realities of this life but rather endeavoring to reframe one’s perspective of life around a much larger canvas that encompasses all of reality.

To respond to the distorting nature of sin you must set your affections on the beauty and glory of God, the loveliness of Christ, and the wonder of the gospel:

“Were our affections filled, taken up, and possessed with these things . . . what access could sin, with its painted pleasures, with its sugared poisons, with its envenomed baits, have unto our souls?”

Resisting sin, according to this Puritan divine, comes not by deadening your affections but by awakening them to God himself.

Do not seek to empty your cup as a way to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no longer room for sin.

—Kelly M. Kapic, Introduction; Life in the Midst of Battle: John Owen’s Approach to Sin, Temptation, and the Christian Life.

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

—Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2006)

Read the whole of this most edifying work on Christian Sanctification, mortification of sin and holy living, here. If you’ve found great help in John Owen’s Mortification of Sin I am persuaded that you would find the same in this work, if not more so. It is my hope and prayer that it would lead you ever close to the Lord Christ Jesus as you tread the Pilgrim’s life of holiness for the glory of God.

P.S. Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor has done an awesome job in this. I’m sure you would appreciate it as much as I have.

First Posted: June 12, 2009

The Law not for Condemnation, but Sanctification

JM Vergara — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:47:40 +0000

For the law indeed says that it is God’s will and command that we walk in new life. However, it does not give the power and ability to begin or to carry out this command. Instead, the Holy Spirit, who is given and received not through the law but through the proclamation of the gospel (Gal. 3:2, 14), renews the heart.

Thereafter, the Holy Spirit uses the law to instruct the reborn and to show and demonstrate to them in the Ten Commandments what is the “acceptable will of God” (Rom. 12:2) and in which good works, “which God prepared beforehand,” they are “supposed to walk” (Eph 2:10). The Holy Spirit admonishes them to do these works, and where because of the flesh they are lazy, indolent, and recalcitrant, he reproves them through the law.

Thus, he combines both functions: he “kills and makes alive, he brings down to hell and raises up” (1 Sam. 2:6). In this he functions not only to comfort but also to punish, as it is written, “When the Holy Spirit comes, he will reprove the world (including the old creature) because of sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).

Sin, however, is everything that opposes God’s law. a St. Paul says, “All Scripture is useful for teaching, for reproof . . .” (2 Tim. 3:16), and reproof is the proper function of the law. Therefore, as often as believers stumble, they are reproved by God’s Spirit from the law, and by the same Spirit they are restored again and comforted with the proclamation of the holy gospel.

However, in order to avoid all misunderstanding as much as possible and to teach and maintain the real difference between the works of the law and the works of the Spirit, it must be most diligently noted that, when we speak of good works that are in accord with the law of God (for otherwise they are not good works), the word “law” has one single meaning, namely, the unchanging will of God, according to which human beings are to conduct themselves in this life.

The distinction between these two kinds of works is due to the difference between two different kinds of people who make an effort to keep this law and will of God. For as long as human beings are not reborn but do act according to the law and do perform its work because they are commanded, either out of fear of punishment or desire for reward, they are still under the law.

St. Paul calls the works of such people works of the law in the strict sense (Rom. 2:15; 3:20; Gal. 2:16; 3:2, 10), for they are coerced by the law as is the case of slaves, and they are saints of the stripe of Cain.

However, when people are born again through the Spirit of God and set free from the law (that is, liberated from its driving powers and driven by the Spirit of Christ), they live according to the unchanging will of God, as comprehended in the law, and do everything, insofar as they are reborn, from a free and merry spirit.

Works of this kind are not, properly speaking, works of the law but works and fruits of the Spirit, or, as Paul calls them, “the law of the mind” and “the law of Christ.” For such people are “no longer under law but under grace,” as St. Paul says in Romans 8 (7:23; 6:14).

However, since believers in this world are not perfectly renewed—the old creature clings to them down to the grave—the battle between spirit and flesh continues in them. Therefore, they indeed desire to perform the law of God according to their inner person, but the law in their members struggles against the law of their mind (Rom 7:23). To this extent they are never without the law, and at the same time they are not under the law but in the law; they live and walk in the law of the Lord and yet do nothing because of the compulsion of the law.

As far as the old creature, which still clings to them, is concerned, it must be driven not only by the law but also by tribulations, because it does everything against its own will, under compulsion, f no less than the godless are driven by the threats of the law and are thus kept obedient (1 Cor 9:27; Rom 7:18, 19).

For this reason, too, believers require the teaching of the law: so that they do not fall back on their own holiness and piety and under the appearance of God’s Spirit establish their own service to God on the basis of their own choice, without God’s Word or command. As it is written in Deuteronomy 12:8, 28, 32], “You shall not act . . . all of us according to our own desires,” but “listen to the commands and laws which I command you,” and “you shall not add to them nor take anything from them.”

Furthermore, believers also require the teaching of the law regarding their good works, for otherwise people can easily imagine that their works and life are completely pure and perfect. However, the law of God prescribes good works for believers, so that it may at the same time show and indicate, as if in a mirror, that they are still imperfect and impure in this life. For we must say with our dear Paul, “Even if I am not aware of anything against myself, I am not thereby justified” (1 Cor 4:4).

Therefore, since Paul admonishes the reborn to do good works, he expressly holds the Ten Commandments before them in Romans 13:9, and on the basis of the law he recognizes that his good works are imperfect and impure (Rom 7:7–13). David says (Ps 119:32), “I run the way of your commandments,” “but do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you” (Ps 143:2).

However, the law does not teach how and why the good works of believers are pleasing and acceptable to God, even though in this life they are in fact imperfect and impure because of the sinfulness of the flesh. The law demands total, perfect, pure obedience if it is to please God. Instead, the gospel teaches that our “spiritual sacrifices” are pleasing to God “through faith” “because of Christ” (1 Peter 2:5; Heb 11:4; cf. 13:15).

In this respect Christians are not under the law but under grace. This is so because they are personally freed from the curse and condemnation of the law through faith in Christ and because their good works, though imperfect and impure, are pleasing to God through Christ. This is also true because they act in a God-pleasing way—not because of the coercion of the law but because of the renewal of the Holy Spirit—without coercion, from a willing heart, insofar as they are reborn in their inner person. At the same time they continually do battle against the old creature.

For the old creature, like a stubborn, recalcitrant donkey, is also still a part of them, and it needs to be forced into obedience to Christ not only through the law’s teaching, admonition, compulsion, and threat but also often with the cudgel of punishments and tribulations until the sinful flesh is completely stripped away and people are perfectly renewed in the resurrection.

Then they will need neither the proclamation of the law nor its threats and punishment, just as they will no longer need the gospel, for both belong to this imperfect life. a Instead, just as they will see God face-to-face, so they will perform the will of God by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God spontaneously, without coercion, unhindered, perfectly and completely, with sheer joy, and they will delight in his will eternally.

—Formula of Concord, The Solid Declaration: VI. The Third Use of the Law

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A Christless Gospel is No Gospel at All

JM Vergara — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:59:17 +0000

Every week, in the tradition of Daily or Weekly dose of Spurgeon’s all around the blogosphere, we in New.Demonstration would like to present our own version of it. Every week, once a week, I will be reading chronologically from Charles Spurgeon’s Sermon Archive. I will be beginning with his very first published sermon ’till his last, Lord willing, if there are choice excerpts to be taken from each sermon, each week I will post them here in N.D.’s very own “Weekly Dose of Spurgeon”.

To start off this new series, here is Charles Spurgeon’s edifying preface to his published Sermon volume.

Preaching of the Word by the chosen servants of the living God, is the ordained means for the gathering in of the elect. It is not the Word read, so much as that which is heard, which has the promise attached to it; hence the importance of a devout attendance on the ministry of the Gospel. Nevertheless, without doubt, the Holy Ghost who has helped us in the delivery of these Sermons, will also afford his divine assistance now that we send them forth in this volume.

We have most certainly departed from the usual mode of preaching, but we do not feel bound to offer even half a word of apology for so doing, since we believe ourselves free to use any manner of speech which is calculated to address the truth upon our hearers.

The matter also will afford no small amount of food for controversialists, but concerning it we simply say, that as we have learned theology in another school than that of men, so shall we hope ever to declare the whole of what the Lord shall teach us, without tarrying for human opinions.

The word Calvinism, is frequently used here as the short word which embraces that part of divine truth which teaches that salvation is by grace alone, but it is not hence to be imagined that we attach any authority to the opinion of John Calvin, other than that which is due to every holy man who is ordained of God to proclaim his truth.

We use the word simply for shortness of expression, and because the enemies of free grace will then be quite sure of what we mean. It is our firm belief, that what is commonly called Calvinism, is neither more nor less than the good old gospel of the Puritans, the Martyrs, the Apostles, and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here, the proud legalist, the conceited believer in the unaided strength of man, and the self-exalting moralist, will discover very little suitable to their corrupt palate and much to excite their enmity; but the humbled sinner may possible find words of comfort, and the self-loathing believer will perhaps obtain a glimpse of his Lord.

Our hope is, that inferior matters in dispute will not so much be regarded, as “the things which we have spoken touching the king.” Jesus is the Truth. We believe in him-not merely in his words. He himself is Doctor and Doctrine, Revealer and Revelation, the Illuminator and the Light of Men. He is exalted in every word of truth, because he is its sum and substance. He sits above the gospel, like a prince on his own throne.

Doctrine is most precious when we see it distilling from his lips and embodied in his person. Sermons are valuable in proportion as they speak of him and point to him. A Christless gospel is no gospel and a Christless discourse is the cause of merriment to devils.

The Holy Ghost who has ever been our sole instructor, we trust, teach us more of Jesus, until we comprehend with all saints, what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, only have we labored to extol: may the Lord himself succeed our endeavors.

Grace, mercy, and peace, be with all the saints,

From their servant in Jesus, C. H. Spurgeon January, 1856.
Preface, New Park Street Pulpit Sermons: Volume 1

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The Dark Night of the Soul

JM Vergara — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:32:39 +0000

The dark night of the soul. This phenomenon describes a malady that the greatest of Christians have suffered from time to time. It was the malady that provoked David to soak his pillow with tears. It was the malady that earned for Jeremiah the sobriquet, “The Weeping Prophet.” It was the malady that so afflicted Martin Luther that his melancholy threatened to destroy him.

This is no ordinary fit of depression, but it is a depression that is linked to a crisis of faith, a crisis that comes when one senses the absence of God or gives rise to a feeling of abandonment by Him. Spiritual depression is real and can be acute. We ask how a person of faith could experience such spiritual lows, but whatever provokes it does not take away from its reality. Our faith is not a constant action. It is mobile. It vacillates. We move from faith to faith, and in between we may have periods of doubt when we cry, “Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief.”

We may also think that the dark night of the soul is something completely incompatible with the fruit of the Spirit, not only that of faith but also that of joy. Once the Holy Spirit has flooded our hearts with a joy unspeakable, how can there be room in that chamber for such darkness?

It is important for us to make a distinction between the spiritual fruit of joy and the cultural concept of happiness. A Christian can have joy in his heart while there is still spiritual depression in his head. The joy that we have sustains us through these dark nights and is not quenched by spiritual depression. The joy of the Christian is one that survives all downturns in life.

In writing to the Corinthians in his second letter, Paul commends to his readers the importance of preaching and of communicating the Gospel to people. But in the midst of that, he reminds the church that the treasure we have from God is a treasure that is contained not in vessels of gold and silver but in what the apostle calls “jars of clay.”

For this reason he says, “that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Immediately after this reminder, the apostle adds, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Cor. 4:7–10).

This passage indicates the limits of depression that we experience. The depression may be profound, but it is not permanent, nor is it fatal. Notice that the apostle Paul describes our condition in a variety of ways. He says that we are “afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down.” These are powerful images that describe the conflict that Christians must endure, but in every place that he describes this phenomenon, he describes at the same time its limits. Afflicted, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed.

So we have this pressure to bear, but the pressure, though it is severe, does not crush us. We may be confused and perplexed, but that low point to which perplexity brings us does not result in complete and total despair. Even in persecution, as serious as it may be, we are still not forsaken, and we may be overwhelmed and struck down as Jeremiah spoke of, yet we have room for joy. We think of the prophet Habakkuk, who in his misery remained confident that despite the setbacks he endured, God would give him feet like hind’s feet, feet that would enable him to walk in high places.

Elsewhere, the apostle Paul in writing to the Philippians gives them the admonition to be “anxious for nothing,” telling them that the cure for anxiety is found on one’s knees, that it is the peace of God that calms our spirit and dissipates anxiety. Again, we can be anxious and nervous and worried without finally submitting to ultimate despair.

This coexistence of faith and spiritual depression is paralleled in other biblical statements of emotive conditions. We are told that it is perfectly legitimate for believers to suffer grief. Our Lord Himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Though grief may reach to the roots of our souls, it must not result in bitterness. Grief is a legitimate emotion, at times even a virtue, but there must be no place in the soul for bitterness.

In like manner, we see that it is a good thing to go to the house of mourning, but even in mourning, that low feeling must not give way to hatred. The presence of faith gives no guarantee of the absence of spiritual depression; however, the dark night of the soul always gives way to the brightness of the noonday light of the presence of God.

—R.C. Sproul, Tabletalk Magazine -- February 1st, 2008

How Sweet and Aweful is The Place

JM Vergara — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:32:48 +0000

How sweet and awe-full is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!

Here every bowel of our God
With soft compassion rolls;
Here peace and pardon bought with blood
Is food for dying souls.

While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”

’Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly drew us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.

Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.

Words: Isaac Watts, Hymns and Sacred Songs, 1707.
Music: St. Columba, ancient Irish melody.

God, the only Potentate Sovereign King!

JM Vergara — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:30:27 +0000

In Arthur W. Pink’s book, The Sovereignty of God, he writes in his introduction:

After nineteen centuries of Gospel preaching, Christ is still “despised and rejected of men”. Worse still, He (the Christ of Scripture) is proclaimed and magnified by very few. In the majority of modern pulpits He is dishonoured and disowned. Despite frantic efforts to attract the crowds, the majority of the churches are being emptied rather than filled.¹

What an assertion this is. Isn’t Christ exalted in pulpits today? True, but not the Christ of Scripture. Christ as God, King and High Priest is preached too little, and in His place a weak beggar is worshiped and exalted by many. Sir Arthur then continues:

And what of the great masses of non-church goers? In the light of Scripture we are compelled to believe that the “many” are on the Broad Road that leadeth to destruction, and that only “few” are on the Narrow Way that leadeth unto life. Many are declaring that Christianity is a failure, and despair is settling on many faces. Not a few of the Lord’s own people are bewildered, and their faith is being severely tried.

And what of God? Does He see and hear? Is He impotent or indifferent? A number of those who are regarded as leaders of Christian-thought told us that, God could not help the coming of the late awful War, and that He was unable to bring about its termination. It was said, and said openly, that conditions were beyond God’s control. Do these things look as though God were ruling the world?²

Many in what passes itself to be Evangelicalism today would strongly deny what is said above, but is it not true? How true it is that the God that is thundered in pulpits today, though a form of sovereignty is given lip-service, is one that is utterly helpless and weak. God is given the task of regulating the heavens and the seas and the deep, but when it comes in the affairs of man who is regulating it? What is confessed by most Christians today is that man himself is the final authority in the affairs of his life. “God has a vote, the devil has a vote and we cast the deciding vote.”

Who is regulating affairs on this earth today—God, or the Devil?

Or is Man the Ruler and Final Arbiter of his fate?

The systems of man that he has designed in religion even in religion that calls itself Christianity all has to make room for man in the scheme so that man’s power, man’s authority can have some say, and fundamentally God is the one controlled by the religions of man.

Who is regulating affairs on this earth today—God, or the Devil?

What saith the Scriptures? If we believe their plain and positive declarations, no room is left for uncertainty.

They affirm, again and again, that God is on the throne of the universe; that the sceptre is in His hands; that He is directing all things” after the counsel of His own will”.

They affirm, not only that God created all things, but also that God is ruling and reigning over all the works of His hands.

They affirm that God is the “Almighty”, that His will is irreversible, that He is absolute sovereign in every realm of all His vast dominions. And surely it must be so.

Only two alternatives are possible: God must either rule, or be ruled; sway, or be swayed; accomplish His own will, or be thwarted by His creatures. Accepting the fact that He is the “Most High”, the only Potentate and King of kings, vested with perfect wisdom and illimitable power, and the conclusion is irresistible that He must be God in fact, as well as in name.

This is the God of Scripture. He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. (1 Timothy 6:15-16)

Were all the denizens of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth to combine in revolt against him, it would occasion him no uneasiness, and would have less effect upon his eternal and unassailable throne than has the spray of Mediterranean’s waves upon the towering rocks of Gibraltar. So puerile and powerless is the creature to affect the Most High, Scripture itself tells us that when the Gentile heads unite with apostate Israel to defy Jehovah and his Christ, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh” (Psalm 2:4).³

Though men so desperately desire to shackle the arms of Omnipotence in the confines of the heavenly realm Scripture testifies so differently concerning God’s nature. The Lord of Glory is not only the Lord of the Heavens, but He too is the Lord of all the earth and all creation.

The Only Potentate

The whole of God’s Sovereign Kingship is summarized in the words of Paul:

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)

Nothing comes to pass without His decrees. Nothing exists or sustains it’s existence without His empowerment. To limit God’s sovereignty is to nullify the whole of that sovereignty and to assign it to something or someone else. Fundamentally this is the desire of man since the fall of Adam, placing ourselves in the throne of the universe and put God in the position of serving us.

But no, that is not the testimony of Scripture. God is God. He is the only Potentate. These descriptions are not mere poetry or just empty trinkets to adorn the throne of grace, rather these are God-ordained titles as prescribed in the realities revealed in Scripture.

God truly is the King of kings. God truly is the Lord of lords. Anything less is an idol, a fashioning of an imaginary being in our minds.

Sovereignty of God, Humility, Praise

Though even when presented with these truths many still want to keep their autonomy, many still want to be the king of their own universe. Against popular belief this is a futile activity. We are but creatures, unprofitable servants before Him. What are mere worms to do in order to take the throne from the God of the universe?

Yet still it is denied by so many. I am convinced that the acceptance of the reality of the Sovereignty of God is a self-crushing thing. This truth is not something that man would think up in order to be popular and win the crowd. This truth strips man of all forms of boasting, even to the smallest degree.

There are many a time when men and women, even the advanced in age have been approached with this truth, and they replied with nothing else but: “I can never love a God like that.”

That is true, they never will. Unless God takes a man’s heart of stone and changes it with a heart of flesh, he never will. Only when a man sees himself as undeserving, wretched and unprofitable will the truth of God’s Sovereignty be understood, by the grace of God, be loved.

Men can of course consciously uphold the sovereignty of God in one sense, but they can do so and absolutely despise it. Yet it is only the saved and humbled soul that can say with the Apostle: “To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Romans 11:36)”

The Sovereignty of God and the Heart of Man

How involved then is God in the exercise of His sovereignty in the affairs of this earth? In the lives of men? Many would decry that he is only involved in the big things, the volcanoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis (though of course there are those who deny God even of His authority over nature), but not in the minutia, not in the everyday details of human life, definitely not in the human mind and heart.

What does Scripture say?

1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife. 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, She is my sister? And she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.

6 Then God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. (Genesis 20:1-6)

What a declaration that is! So plainly said yet so invariably denied. It is thundered in most pulpits that it is we who direct our hearts to God in obedience, or in sin in disobedience. But what does Scripture tell us? It is God Himself who kept Abimelech from sinning!

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. (Proverbs 21:1-2)

But no, sinful man doesn’t like that. “Don’t you dare step on my freedom.” Suddenly in Christendom today it is God’s heart that is a stream of water in the hands of men, and man turns it wherever he wills.

23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. (Exodus 34:23-24)

God kept Abimelech from sinning against Him to not take Sarah as his wife, the same thing is expressed here. Three times a year the men of the house of Israel are commanded to appear before Jehovah in worship. Three times a year the land they posses will be left without them. Now remember, Israel isn’t really popular with the neighboring countries.

In fact, all those around Israel would want to do is to either conquer or destroy Israel. In the midst of that God would say, “I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land.” Now that’s surprising. God did not go for, “No, I will defend your lands against them”, but He went for, “no one shall covet your land.” No one shall even desire their land! They may hate the Israelites all they want, they may have that overwhelming desire to take hold of their land, but when that time comes thrice a year, the LORD God of Israel sovereignly says, “No, no one shall even covet your land.”

30 But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day. (Deuteronomy 2:30)

Here again we have the unflinching declaration of God’s Sovereignty over the hearts of men. It should be understood that each and every kingdom that the nation of Israel has come against to this point have been devoted to destruction. Any person in their right mind would realize that there’s no point going against Israel at that particular point in time.

It’s fairly obvious that they’re unbeatable (being the elect of God). Yet what do we have here? Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let the nation of Israel pass, for it is God who hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that they too may be devoted to destruction!

Surely of course, the king of Heshbon didn’t plan at all to be destroyed. I’m sure many of us in our own personal lives had other plans different from what came to pass. But what does the Word of God say about our plans?

20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. 21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. (Proverbs 19:20-21)

We plan and desire so many things in our hearts, in our arrogance we perceive ourselves as the sovereign of our lives. From youth we are told that we can do anything that we put our minds into. But what does Scripture testify? It is God who moves the heart of man like streams of water. It is God’s purposes that will stand.

5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger;

the staff in their hands is my fury!

6 Against a godless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take spoil and seize plunder,

and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7 But he does not so intend,

and his heart does not so think;

but it is in his heart to destroy,

and to cut off nations not a few;

(Isaiah 10:5-7)

Here we have God’s declaration in using Assyria to punish apostate Israel, and yet what do we read here? God used Assyria to accomplish His purpose though Assyria did not so intend and his heart did not so think? And when He was done with using Assyria to punish His people, He then turns back against Assyria for doing such evils against Israel?

12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.

13 For he says:

By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I remove the boundaries of peoples,

and plunder their treasures;

like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

14 My hand has found like a nest

the wealth of the peoples;

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth;

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened the mouth or chirped.

15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,

or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

(Isaiah 10:5-15)

How could God do such a thing? He uses a nation to punish His nation? Then after He’s finished using that nation to punish, He’ll punish that nation for what the nation did? Does your theology allow to have a God like that?

But no, most of us don’t like that. There’s that pull in our hearts that says: “No, they don’t deserve that! …That’s not fair!”

Is God Unfair?

People then would object that that’s just the Old Testament. God is different in the New Testament. Which of course is an impossibility since God is the same today, yesterday and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and to Him there is no variableness or shadow of turning (James 1:17).

Luke 13. Two disasters: Pilate kills worshipers and mixes the blood with the sacrifices, and the tower of Saloam falls killing 18 innocent bystanders. Question for Jesus: “What’s up with this? Where was God?” But on 9/11, God was in the same place he was in 9/10–sovereign on his throne.

Jesus did not say that these two events happened while God was asleep. Jesus did not say that God was diverted by counting the hairs on someone else’s head.

Jesus gave the same answer regarding each disaster: “You’re asking me the wrong question. If you really wanted to know about the providence of God, you would ask the real question–why didn’t the temple fall on my head? Why wasn’t it my blood.”⁴

“But, wait wait! Isn’t that unfair?” God used Assyria but punishes them anyway after and now this? Not to mention the king of Heshbon?

Any man with even the slightest bit of humanistic reason would argue at the majority of text I presented that, as much as God is presented as a sovereign God, He surely appears to be one that is so unfair. But is not God just? Is not God holy, righteous and just?

Who are we to say to Him: “You know, they deserve mercy!” A pagan people? Deserving of mercy? A people that has blasphemed God, lived idolatrous lives, and as the letter to the Romans tells us, that though they knew God they did not honor Him as God, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened?

Is God under any moral obligation to show mercy upon such a people? Is this not the moral state all sinners are in?

Omnibenevolence?

Certainly there is that thing in us, that voice in our hearts that cries out, “No! I don’t deserve this! They don’t deserve that! Aren’t You love? Are you not a merciful God?” We as fleshly human beings have this idea that God is “omnibenevolent”. We have this idea that God must show love and mercy to every single individual.

Omnibenevolence? We can’t have a man be omnibenevolent. For a man to be unable to carry out justice and punish the wicked? Can you imagine a judge that cannot pass sentences against child molesters and murderers? It would certainly be so disgusting for a judge to be such! And yet what we can’t stand for a mere human being to be, most of us would want to see that very thing that we despise and hate to be in God.

But no, God is just, and all the heavens tremble before Him, and all the nations are reputed as nothing before Him. Then is it not right when we read Romans 9 when it says that God will have mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills? Can we see and understand that there is particularity in God’s sovereign grace?

Total Depravity of Man

But yet there is that thing that clicks in our hearts when we talk about total dependency on a sovereign God. It is in our nature to do something, to do stuff, to do things that would validate some degree of value in us. What is it then that so pulls us to feel and think this way? What is it in us that so demands of God and puts Him in the position to bend His will to ours? What is it in a man that raises His fists towards the face of the Sovereign and says: “How dare you!”

It is nothing less but man’s depravity. That man is sinful and sin has corrupted every part of his nature. A man dead in sin will never acknowledge a sovereign God. A man worshiping His self-righteousness never will. Only the man that God Himself has humbled, changed and regenerated to spiritual life can say with the Apostle: “To Him be the glory forever and ever. (Rom 11:36) And say with the Psalmist: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. . . (Psalm 115:1)”

In This Series:

Footnotes

Pink, A. W. (1996). The sovereignty of God. Index created by Christian Classics Foundation. (electronic ed.) (12). Simpsonville SC: Christian Classics Foundation.
Pink, A. W. (1996). The sovereignty of God. Index created by Christian Classics Foundation. (electronic ed.) (12). Simpsonville SC: Christian Classics Foundation.
A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 37
R.C. Sproul, http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/AuthorIndex/37/1980_Holiness_and_Justice/

First Effect of the Gospel: Make People Stop & Think

JM Vergara — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:42:05 +0000

So the first effect of Christianity is to make people stop and think. They are not simply overawed by some great occasion. They say, “No, I must face this. I must think.” That is the work of the Spirit. The people in Acts thought again. They repented—the Greek word is metanoia—they changed their mind completely. The Spirit always leads people to think, and, as I have been showing you, the greatest trouble is that men and women go through life without thinking. Or they think for a moment but find it painful, so they stop and turn to a bottle of whiskey or television or something else—anything to forget.

Is it not obvious that the world, speaking spiritually and intellectually, is in a doped condition? In all sorts of ways men and women evade the facts. They can do this with great energy, they can be very intellectual, but ultimately they end up with nothing.

What does the Spirit make us think about? Well, not first and foremost about ourselves. I must emphasize that Christianity does not start with us. It does not say, “Do you want to get rid of that sin that is getting you down? Do you want happiness? Do you want peace? Do you want guidance?” That is not Christianity. That, again, is the approach of the cults. No, these people in Jerusalem were made to think about Jesus Christ! They were given the objective, historical facts about this person . . .

The next point is that the . . . Spirit now makes us go on to realize the relevance of Jesus Christ, and everything concerning Him, to ourselves personally . . .

You can sit in a chair and read a book about Jesus Christ, you can read about Him in your Bible, and you can read books of theology. Very interesting. To an intelligent person there is no study more entrancing. It has been the occupation of some of the greatest minds of the centuries. But you can do all that and still not be a Christian. It is the Holy Spirit who makes each of us see the relevance of Jesus to ourselves, so that we are no longer spectators, no longer critics, no longer people taking a wonderful, objective view. No, no, I am under criticism myself. The relevance of this has come to me. I see that I am involved in all this, and I had not realized it.

—D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones, Authentic Christianity (1st U.S. ed., page 53, Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books.)

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—Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, Overcoming Sin and Temptation (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2006)

P.S. Kelly Kapic and Justin Taylor has done an awesome job in this. I’m sure you would appreciate it as much as I have.

First Posted: June 12, 2009

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Related posts:Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing Deeper than the Stain Has Gone! | Lord’s Day Quotes O, That I Had a Thousand Voices!

God, the only Potentate Sovereign King!

In This Series:

Footnotes

Related posts:God’s Sovereign Kingship Who is Regulating Affairs on Earth, God or the Devil? Reformation Theology: An Introduction

First Effect of the Gospel: Make People Stop & Think

...No Related Posts...I think.

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My Father Planned It All!

The All-Satisfying Supremacy of God Over All Things

Frailty of the Human Soul

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The Dark Night of the Soul!

A Christian Should Not be Anything but Zealous!

The Life of Resolved of Jonathan Edwards

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New Year Prayers of a Christian Soul.

Benefits of Adversity—My Grace is Sufficient for Thee

If I Should Suffer, Go Unclothed, and be in Poverty. . .

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Time Mag: New Calvinism 3rd Most Powerful Idea

Belated 12 Days of Calvinism!

Reformation Theology: An Introduction

And just for good fun, let me share with you a parody of the “12 Days of Christmas”, the “12 Days of Calvinism.”
Click here.

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All That I Was, My Sin, My Guilt, My Death!

God’s Wrath is Coming. Are You Ready?

Thy Life in my death?!

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What Grace is This?

The Love of God.

O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing!

Taken from The Valley of Vision—A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions.
Read more puritan prayers such as this here.

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. . . Until Thou Alone Art Seen in Me.

Thank You for Refusing Many of My Prayers.

If I Should Suffer, Go Unclothed, and be in Poverty. . .

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The Imponderable Depths of Sin and Grace

There Should be an Abhorrence of Ourselves for Sin!

Do Not Let Your Heart be Happy Even One Moment

Related posts:
The Dark Night of the Soul!

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Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Deeper than the Stain Has Gone! | Lord’s Day Quotes

O, That I Had a Thousand Voices!

Related posts:
God’s Sovereign Kingship

Who is Regulating Affairs on Earth, God or the Devil?

Reformation Theology: An Introduction