A great Video that is 12 minutes well spent.
Year End Random Resources and Such
So as the 2010 year comes to a close and one step closer to the Lords return I wanted to put up just some random resources I have ran into this week that have been helpful to me in hopes they will bless you.
1) Is a free 30-page, downloadable eBook titled Gospel-Centered Parenting that the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) posted on there facebook this week. I have been going over it and it is packed with some very practical information on biblical parenting verse pragmatic parenting and a bunch of other articles and resources at the end that I will spend some time chasing down. You can get the pdf. by clicking here.
2. Next is a great resource Kevin DeYoung posted at The Gospel Coalition Blog giving a review on a book by Chris Brauns titled, "When the Word Lead Your Pastoral Search: Biblical Principles & Practices to Guide Your Search" and the link provides a full chapter for reivew that I have not tackled yet but look forward to doing so. This is a non addressed area of ministry from a literature presepctive as far as I have seen so this comes in at a great time of theological church growth. Keving DeYoung says this about the book,
3. The third thing I have is a recent 9 Marks Audio done by Shai Linne on the subject of Christianity and the Arts. This audio was extremely helpful not only from the artistic genre of vocation but all areas of vocation both business and cultural design. Shai Linne had some helpful and practical insight on how parents should encourage there children in secular work/art to glorify God not by staying away from cultural vocation but by being in it and doing it well as we point to Christ in all we endeavor to accomplish. Shai Linne said at one point that the goal of an artist is not to smuggle John 3:16 into a leaf on a painting he is doing for a corporation but to paint the leaf in such a way that it points to the glory of God and pray God allows oppurtunities to share the gospel in those situations. You can find that info here.
4. Well I have one more thing to add and that is a Will Varner audio on the book of James. Will Varner is releasing a commentary on James soon that I am looking forward to. But in this audio he makes a case for James actually being the head of the Jerusalem Church that is very insightful. You can find the audio here and the outline here.
1) Is a free 30-page, downloadable eBook titled Gospel-Centered Parenting that the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC) posted on there facebook this week. I have been going over it and it is packed with some very practical information on biblical parenting verse pragmatic parenting and a bunch of other articles and resources at the end that I will spend some time chasing down. You can get the pdf. by clicking here.
2. Next is a great resource Kevin DeYoung posted at The Gospel Coalition Blog giving a review on a book by Chris Brauns titled, "When the Word Lead Your Pastoral Search: Biblical Principles & Practices to Guide Your Search" and the link provides a full chapter for reivew that I have not tackled yet but look forward to doing so. This is a non addressed area of ministry from a literature presepctive as far as I have seen so this comes in at a great time of theological church growth. Keving DeYoung says this about the book,
"Chris Brauns’ book is the only resource of its kind that I have ever seen. If your church is searching for a pastor, or if you are a pastor seeking to equip your congregation to follow biblical guidelines when that day comes, I highly recommend this thoughtful, practical, biblical work to you."
3. The third thing I have is a recent 9 Marks Audio done by Shai Linne on the subject of Christianity and the Arts. This audio was extremely helpful not only from the artistic genre of vocation but all areas of vocation both business and cultural design. Shai Linne had some helpful and practical insight on how parents should encourage there children in secular work/art to glorify God not by staying away from cultural vocation but by being in it and doing it well as we point to Christ in all we endeavor to accomplish. Shai Linne said at one point that the goal of an artist is not to smuggle John 3:16 into a leaf on a painting he is doing for a corporation but to paint the leaf in such a way that it points to the glory of God and pray God allows oppurtunities to share the gospel in those situations. You can find that info here.
4. Well I have one more thing to add and that is a Will Varner audio on the book of James. Will Varner is releasing a commentary on James soon that I am looking forward to. But in this audio he makes a case for James actually being the head of the Jerusalem Church that is very insightful. You can find the audio here and the outline here.
Oh Christmas Tree
The difference between the non-Christian and the Christian is the difference between a Christmas tree on which people hang presents, and a living tree that bears fruit. They have to put them on the Christmas tree; it does not and cannot produce anything. But in the case of the growing tree it produces fruit. The fruit is no longer imposed from outside; it is something produced from the life, the sap and the power that are in the living tree.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spurgeon on Evangelism, Christmas, Family & Friends
Tony Reinke over at Sovereign Grace Ministries blog just posted some great comments by Spurgeon on looking and making opportunities to share Christ this Christmas season. The whole article can be read here. But I just wanted to lift a few remarks by Spurgeon for us all to keep in mind going into the season of celebrating our Emanuel (God with us) in the up coming weeks.....
Christmas is suited for sharing the gospel with family and friends.
Aim to share the story of God’s grace in your life.
By sharing we edify believers.
By sharing we reach lost friends and family.
Be alert for one-on-one opportunities to share your story.
Don’t expect this sharing to be easy.
Overcome this fear by sharing to honor your Savior.
Share your story with gratitude to God.
Share your story with humility.
Share your story truthfully—don’t embellish it.
Tell your story seriously—don’t share it flippantly.
Don’t neglect your personal devotions during Christmas.
Rest upon the Holy Spirit’s help to share.
Remember that this story you share over the holidays is the story that will be on your lips eternally.
I would only add to Spurgeons comments here that after sharing your personal story that you use that to segue to the gospel itself. The Story of Christ and His death, burial and resurrection. Sometimes the hardest thing for a Doctor to do is diagnose a fatal disease to a beloved patient. Scripture does not shy away from this and it has its proper place in evangelism. So in addition to sharing the story of Christ look to reveal the need for a Savior by pointing out some evidences of the disease (Sin). Do this in love and with a gentle Spirit. Use the law of God as a mirror and then heal with the loving glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
You who is not wounded.
“Are we earnest enough about the souls of others? Christian men and women, do you love your fellow-creatures, or do you not? How few there are of us who make it our business to be constantly telling out the sweet story of Jesus and his love! I read, the other day, of a chaplain in the Northern army in the lamentable war in the United States, who, while he lay wounded on the battle-field, heard a man, not far off, utter an oath. Though he himself was so badly wounded that he could not stand, yet he wished to reach the swearer to speak a gospel message to him, and he though, “I can get to him if I roll over.” So, though bleeding profusely himself, he kept rolling over and over till he got to the side of the poor blasphemer, and on the lone battle-field he preached to him Jesus. Some of the other men came along, and he said to them, “Can you carry me? I fear that I am dying, but I do not want to be taken off the field. I should like you, if you would, to carry me from one dying man to another, all the night long, that I might tell them of a Savior.” What a splendid deed was this! A bleeding man talking to those who were full of sin about a Savior’s bleeding wounds! Oh, you who have no wound, who can walk, and possess all the faculties to fit you for the service, how often you miss opportunities and refuse to speak of Jesus! “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord,” and at this moment I would have you think that the blessed Lord lays his pierced hand on thee saying, “Go and tell others what I have done for thee.” Never cease to tell the divine tale, as opportunity is given, until thy voice is lost in death; then thy spirit shall begin to utter the story in the loftier sphere.” C.H. Spurgeon
Maybe Elvis Was Just a Carnal Christian
An interesting article written by Todd Friel....
Maybe Elvis Was Just a Carnal Christian
Imagine trying to lovingly confront a high profile evangelical to share your concern that his Gospel presentation wasn't Biblical. Gulp. That is precisely what I did with Luis Palau several years ago prior to one of his mega-events.
I suggested he was giving the cure without explaining the disease of sin. Mr. Palau informed me that everyone has an overwhelming burden of guilt and it is not necessary for him to preach about their need for forgiveness.
Suspecting he might say that, I handed him a c.d. with a montage of people we interviewed on the street. We asked strangers, "Do you have an overwhelming burden of guilt?" The responses ranged from condescending disdain to outright laughter.
While Mr. Palau was very nice to me, he ultimately patted me on the head and said, "Be careful that you don't fall into that Lordship salvation trap. Christians can be carnal."
Carnal Christianity is the concept that says: you can live like the world and still be a Christian. It also teaches that sanctification can come some time after a person signs a car…er…asks Jesus into his hea…I mean gets saved.
Later that night at the festival, Mr. Palau's message included two profanities and proclamations like, "If Elvis had become a Christian, he would have been a rock star, but his life wouldn't have turned out so bad." He also informed the audience that if they would simply ask Jesus into their hearts, "The party starts right now." A woman from my church who just buried her seven year old son almost rushed the stage…and not to sign a card.
His Gospel presentation, as our British friends would say, was "a complete dog's breakfast."
It is no surprise that the follow up statistics to crusades are so tragic. The backslider rate (or Carnal Christian rate) hovers around 90%. It seems that Carnal Christianity and Gospel presentations that don't include sin, righteousness and judgment go hand and hand. In order to explain those statistics, the minister must:
1. Admit the preaching is inadequate and without Holy Spirit power.
2. Alter theology to explain how a decision-maker can name the name of Christ but live like the devil.
Option one is out of the picture. And so it is, since the early 20th century, modern day evangelicalism (thanks to Lewis Sperry Chafer and the Scofield Bible) has been proclaiming the oxymoron known as Carnal Christianity.
The support text for Carnal Christianity is I Cor.3:1-5. "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
Paul was warning the ignorant, sectarian Corinthians that they should not be divided into cliques. That's it. This text does not suggest that born-again believers can live like pagans. Paul was introducing them to new theology, not giving them license to sin.
With all credit to Ernest C. Reisinger's "A Carnal Christian," here are eight reasons why Carnal Christianity should be rejected.
1. In I Cor.1:2-5, Paul addressed his audience as "sanctified in Christ". So are they sanctified or carnal? In I Cor.2, Paul divides men into "natural" and "spiritual," i.e. un-saved and saved. By labeling some Christians as "carnal," Paul would be introducing a third classification of humans. Furthermore, this would violate every other presentation in Scripture that there are only two classes of people: children of God or children of wrath.
2. The new covenant of salvation includes two inseparable blessings at salvation: justification and sanctification. Carnal Christianity teaches you will be justified upon conversion, but sanctification is optional.
3. The Bible presents two types of faith: saving faith and spurious (false) faith (Lk. 8:13). Carnal Christianity does not recognize spurious faith. What a false assurance we allow the unregenerate to possess if we allow them to think their faith is valid when the Bible teaches it might be a false conversion.
4. Carnal Christianity excludes a necessary component of salvation: repentance. The unconverted sinner can just "ask Jesus into his heart" with no requirement to forsake sin.
5. How does a person know he is saved? Fruit in keeping with repentance. We are told to examine ourselves to see if we are in the truth. What a beautiful gift to the believer. If we can be carnal, how can we know we are saved? Carnal Christianity robs us of assurance.
6. Carnal Christianity may be a relatively new name, but it is merely a new moniker for an old false teaching: anti-nomianism. "Should we go on sinning that grace might more abound?" Carnal Christianity says, "Sure."
7. "Carnal Christian teaching is the mother of many second work-of –grace errors in that it depreciates the Biblical conversion experience by implying that the change in the converted sinner may amount to little or nothing." Dr. Reisinger goes on to point out that a second step is required to make a man a "spiritual Christian."
8. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, right? (Lk.2:11) Carnal Christianity divides Jesus and allows Him to be Savior but not Lord.
Listen to the words of A.A. Hodge. "Think of a sinner coming to Christ and saying, 'I do not want to be holy; I do not want to be saved from sin; I would like to be saved in my sins; do not sanctify me now, but justify me now.'"
That is ridiculous, isn't it? And so is Carnal Christianity. Even Elvis would agree with that.
Maybe Elvis Was Just a Carnal Christian
Imagine trying to lovingly confront a high profile evangelical to share your concern that his Gospel presentation wasn't Biblical. Gulp. That is precisely what I did with Luis Palau several years ago prior to one of his mega-events.
I suggested he was giving the cure without explaining the disease of sin. Mr. Palau informed me that everyone has an overwhelming burden of guilt and it is not necessary for him to preach about their need for forgiveness.
Suspecting he might say that, I handed him a c.d. with a montage of people we interviewed on the street. We asked strangers, "Do you have an overwhelming burden of guilt?" The responses ranged from condescending disdain to outright laughter.
While Mr. Palau was very nice to me, he ultimately patted me on the head and said, "Be careful that you don't fall into that Lordship salvation trap. Christians can be carnal."
Carnal Christianity is the concept that says: you can live like the world and still be a Christian. It also teaches that sanctification can come some time after a person signs a car…er…asks Jesus into his hea…I mean gets saved.
Later that night at the festival, Mr. Palau's message included two profanities and proclamations like, "If Elvis had become a Christian, he would have been a rock star, but his life wouldn't have turned out so bad." He also informed the audience that if they would simply ask Jesus into their hearts, "The party starts right now." A woman from my church who just buried her seven year old son almost rushed the stage…and not to sign a card.
His Gospel presentation, as our British friends would say, was "a complete dog's breakfast."
It is no surprise that the follow up statistics to crusades are so tragic. The backslider rate (or Carnal Christian rate) hovers around 90%. It seems that Carnal Christianity and Gospel presentations that don't include sin, righteousness and judgment go hand and hand. In order to explain those statistics, the minister must:
1. Admit the preaching is inadequate and without Holy Spirit power.
2. Alter theology to explain how a decision-maker can name the name of Christ but live like the devil.
Option one is out of the picture. And so it is, since the early 20th century, modern day evangelicalism (thanks to Lewis Sperry Chafer and the Scofield Bible) has been proclaiming the oxymoron known as Carnal Christianity.
The support text for Carnal Christianity is I Cor.3:1-5. "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
Paul was warning the ignorant, sectarian Corinthians that they should not be divided into cliques. That's it. This text does not suggest that born-again believers can live like pagans. Paul was introducing them to new theology, not giving them license to sin.
With all credit to Ernest C. Reisinger's "A Carnal Christian," here are eight reasons why Carnal Christianity should be rejected.
1. In I Cor.1:2-5, Paul addressed his audience as "sanctified in Christ". So are they sanctified or carnal? In I Cor.2, Paul divides men into "natural" and "spiritual," i.e. un-saved and saved. By labeling some Christians as "carnal," Paul would be introducing a third classification of humans. Furthermore, this would violate every other presentation in Scripture that there are only two classes of people: children of God or children of wrath.
2. The new covenant of salvation includes two inseparable blessings at salvation: justification and sanctification. Carnal Christianity teaches you will be justified upon conversion, but sanctification is optional.
3. The Bible presents two types of faith: saving faith and spurious (false) faith (Lk. 8:13). Carnal Christianity does not recognize spurious faith. What a false assurance we allow the unregenerate to possess if we allow them to think their faith is valid when the Bible teaches it might be a false conversion.
4. Carnal Christianity excludes a necessary component of salvation: repentance. The unconverted sinner can just "ask Jesus into his heart" with no requirement to forsake sin.
5. How does a person know he is saved? Fruit in keeping with repentance. We are told to examine ourselves to see if we are in the truth. What a beautiful gift to the believer. If we can be carnal, how can we know we are saved? Carnal Christianity robs us of assurance.
6. Carnal Christianity may be a relatively new name, but it is merely a new moniker for an old false teaching: anti-nomianism. "Should we go on sinning that grace might more abound?" Carnal Christianity says, "Sure."
7. "Carnal Christian teaching is the mother of many second work-of –grace errors in that it depreciates the Biblical conversion experience by implying that the change in the converted sinner may amount to little or nothing." Dr. Reisinger goes on to point out that a second step is required to make a man a "spiritual Christian."
8. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, right? (Lk.2:11) Carnal Christianity divides Jesus and allows Him to be Savior but not Lord.
Listen to the words of A.A. Hodge. "Think of a sinner coming to Christ and saying, 'I do not want to be holy; I do not want to be saved from sin; I would like to be saved in my sins; do not sanctify me now, but justify me now.'"
That is ridiculous, isn't it? And so is Carnal Christianity. Even Elvis would agree with that.
Radical Christianity?
Over the years there are certain fads in the main stream Christian circles that come and go. Those that either Barna or "Christianity" Today will do a news article on. Many of them are dangerous and some are just down right silly. Being more from the reformed ilk these fads bounce around out there and the Church does a fairly good job at identifying these issues and keeping away from them. But on occasion there are those subjects that are just so close to biblical Christianity they mask themselves under a cloak of "truthyness" (yes I did just make up a word).
One of those issues I have seen that has alarmed me more and more has been the term "Radical Christianity". I see folks like Francis Chan making a bold commitment to leave his church to start something new with no clear calling under this "pull" toward "radical Christianity". I have read books, seen blogs and heard from friends who are just discontent with there day to day life and always looking toward this form of a radical lifestyle.
Now don't get me wrong, Jesus does call us to live a radical, God glorifying, separate from the world, cross carrying kind of life. But my question is what does that look like? Because I am getting more and more a sense that people are associating that type of call to a modern day hipster/monk who does not take a shower and hangs out with the homeless all day. Again, I am not saying that we are not called to live radical (I know there will be people who will take that from this post) but all I am asking is what does that look like?
My concern is that if this is not placed in the proper context and we are breeding discontentment among the church. Take for instance Titus 2:3-5,
"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."
What do we have here? Well we have older women having a standard of godliness as to set an example and to teach the younger women of the church to do the following radical things, love there husbands, love there children, to be pure/self controlled, to be busy in there home, to be kind, and to be subject to there husbands. Does that sound radical in the sense of the term we have seen lately?
What about the following, Ephesians 6:5-7
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;Not with eye service, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.
What we have in this section is a call for a man to be working as if He was working for Christ. So this can be a dad who goes to work 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., pays his taxes, plays with the kids, loves his wife and is devoted to serving his local church. Is this radical?
My point is that more and more of the term is being redefined. And I am not trying to single France Chan out alone. In fact I dont know much about Frances (although I did post a great sermon he did aside from his ecumenical endorsements of Rick Warren). All that I have seen has been good up until this point. But that is irrelevant. Others are using it. Men who live among the homeless (by choice) and right a book, political movements, and other social and economical agendas. We have to understand the the Bible gives us clear direction as to our desire to live radical life's for Christ. But to the stay at home mom, that is radical. To the dad who is trying to pay the bills and study his bible, brother, that is the radical life. The NT gives such clear perspective declarations of how to conduct our self in the real world under real situations. To say that those are all irrelevant because God wants us to leave it all behind is simply not valid. Does that mean God does not call some to go into other countries? Of course He does. Does that mean God does not call some to (in a special way) minister to the homeless? Of course He does. Please hear me out, those things are in fact necessary. My question is are they any more radical then the mom trying to do the best she can and glorify her creator and go to here ladies bible class? Are they "more" radical then the dad who goes to work day in and day out and conduct a small bible study after family devotions? The New Testament I think would say no!
Heidelberg Catechism hip hop song!
The First Ever Rap Song About the Heidelberg Catechism. Yes you read that correctly. A song about the Heidelberg Catechism. This was challenge presented by C.J. Mahaney to Curtis Allen at the 2010 Next Conference. As I have looked forward to hearing this song it stuck me. I am excited to hear a rap song about the Heidelberg Catechism. This is just another testimony of God's unspeakable grace to a sinner. He has indeed made all things new. Click here to listen to the song.
Lyrics
Verse 1
Yeah I'm on a mission like a couple spies, and that guys is the reason why I catechize. The good news we almost forgot I recognize, Heidelberg rediscovering the gospel prize. It's not scripture but the truth in it will mention he, introduction hide and seek the 16th century. Written in a time when your mind was the weaponry, this document is back into the populace shouts to Kevin D. Better than you think not as bad as you remember, purpose driven truth, from Frederick the elector. He would initiate, the 129 questions to illustrate truths like Christ propitiates. All in a document, whose purpose was to teach children, a guide for preachers, and confessions in a church building. And this is all fact The Heidelberg Cat has been around but now it's seem like it is coming back.
Hook
We believe in the cross, believe in his life,
We believe in his death, believe he's the Christ.
We believe that he rose from grave yes it is him
And we read the Heidelberg Catechism
We believe in the after life and we believe nothing's after Christ, so we stand our ground, cuz the truth's been around from the word to the Heidelberg.
Verse 2
Year of the Heidelberg resulting in renewed passion, and we could see it in our lives lights camera action. Let's take a gander and address a few questions from Heidelberg document then look at the answers. But before that make sure that, you know how it's broken down, in a Q & A format, a few sections. Suggestions how to read this not to sound promotional, but Kevin put it in his book to make it a devotional. Each question each answer has a bit of commentary, so the application of it is not some involuntary. Mystery, the history screams through rings true but I'll just leave that up to God, cuz that's between you. to believe, but to believe you gotta read you and then you meditate on all the truths that the Heidelberg will illustrate. What's that the catechism homey where you been the good news we almost forgot let's get it in!
Verse 3
From the word to the Heidelberg, we see that what's the comfort of life should come first. And in death that I with, body and soul but belong to the savior, commentary from me man, tell this to your neighbor. Moving on, how many things are necessary for thee, enjoying this comfort, to live and die happily? Three, my sin's misery, deliverance from sin, and gratitude for God is how the answer ends. Let's stretch it out the Lord's day 23 the grandaddy of them all, questions 59 and 60. What good does it do to believe in all this? In Christ I am right heir to the promise. Paraphrase, anyways I'm kinda limited I'm just trying to say a couple things my man Kevin did. On the Heidelberg, go and get you one, and by the way CJ homey this was fun.
Lyrics
Verse 1
Yeah I'm on a mission like a couple spies, and that guys is the reason why I catechize. The good news we almost forgot I recognize, Heidelberg rediscovering the gospel prize. It's not scripture but the truth in it will mention he, introduction hide and seek the 16th century. Written in a time when your mind was the weaponry, this document is back into the populace shouts to Kevin D. Better than you think not as bad as you remember, purpose driven truth, from Frederick the elector. He would initiate, the 129 questions to illustrate truths like Christ propitiates. All in a document, whose purpose was to teach children, a guide for preachers, and confessions in a church building. And this is all fact The Heidelberg Cat has been around but now it's seem like it is coming back.
Hook
We believe in the cross, believe in his life,
We believe in his death, believe he's the Christ.
We believe that he rose from grave yes it is him
And we read the Heidelberg Catechism
We believe in the after life and we believe nothing's after Christ, so we stand our ground, cuz the truth's been around from the word to the Heidelberg.
Verse 2
Year of the Heidelberg resulting in renewed passion, and we could see it in our lives lights camera action. Let's take a gander and address a few questions from Heidelberg document then look at the answers. But before that make sure that, you know how it's broken down, in a Q & A format, a few sections. Suggestions how to read this not to sound promotional, but Kevin put it in his book to make it a devotional. Each question each answer has a bit of commentary, so the application of it is not some involuntary. Mystery, the history screams through rings true but I'll just leave that up to God, cuz that's between you. to believe, but to believe you gotta read you and then you meditate on all the truths that the Heidelberg will illustrate. What's that the catechism homey where you been the good news we almost forgot let's get it in!
Verse 3
From the word to the Heidelberg, we see that what's the comfort of life should come first. And in death that I with, body and soul but belong to the savior, commentary from me man, tell this to your neighbor. Moving on, how many things are necessary for thee, enjoying this comfort, to live and die happily? Three, my sin's misery, deliverance from sin, and gratitude for God is how the answer ends. Let's stretch it out the Lord's day 23 the grandaddy of them all, questions 59 and 60. What good does it do to believe in all this? In Christ I am right heir to the promise. Paraphrase, anyways I'm kinda limited I'm just trying to say a couple things my man Kevin did. On the Heidelberg, go and get you one, and by the way CJ homey this was fun.
Thankful to a mom who had me at fifteen. I know it was hard. I love you! To other soon to be mom's who are scared. It will be ok. To us the church (Proverbs 31:8-9) lets help the mom's and defend those with no voice.
Read some comments by Randy Alcorn on the song here. *Disclaimer, I dont think the artist is of the "Christian genre" so in no way am I endorsing the individual. I am however thankful for the lyrics and story of this song.
Read some comments by Randy Alcorn on the song here. *Disclaimer, I dont think the artist is of the "Christian genre" so in no way am I endorsing the individual. I am however thankful for the lyrics and story of this song.
Pray like a Reformer Part 3, Avoid Vain Repetition (by Wretchedradio)
The Lord's Prayer is the greatest martyr on earth. Everybody tortures and abuses it; few take comfort and joy in its proper use (Martin Luther, A Simple Way to Pray).
Luther is referring to a mindless and irreverent use of the Lord’s Prayer. There exists a temptation to recite the words without concern for their meaning. To do so is to fall into the trap of vain repetition, which is a violation of Christ’s instructions on prayer, “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do” (Matthew 6:7). In order to avoid this trap, we must gain a clear understanding of the words in the Lord’s Prayer.
Thankfully, Luther has provided us a helpful resource to aid our understanding. Below is his exposition of the Lord’s Prayer from his Small Catechism.
Preface: Our Father who art in heaven. God would thereby with this little introduction tenderly urge us to believe that He is our true Father, and that we are His true children, so that we may ask Him confidently with all assurance, as dear children ask their dear father.
1st Petition:Hallowed be Thy name. God's name is indeed holy in itself; but we pray in this petition that it may become holy among us also.
When the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we as the children of God also lead holy lives in accordance with it. To this end help us, dear Father in heaven. But he that teaches and lives otherwise than God's Word teaches profanes the name of God among us. From this preserve us, Heavenly Father.
2nd Petition: Thy kingdom come. The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we pray in this petition that it may come unto us also.
When our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life here in time and yonder in eternity.
3rd Petition:Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The good and gracious will of God is done indeed without our prayer; but we pray in this petition that it may be done among us also.
When God breaks and hinders every evil counsel and will which would not let us hallow the name of God nor let His kingdom come, such as the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh; but strengthens and keeps us steadfast in His Word and in faith unto our end. This is His gracious and good will.
4th Petition:Give us this day our daily bread. God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all wicked men; but we pray in this petition that He would lead us to know it, and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
Everything that belongs to the support and wants of the body, such as meat, drink, clothing, shoes, house, homestead, field, cattle, money, goods, a pious spouse, pious children, pious servants, pious and faithful magistrates, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.
5th Petition:And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look upon our sins, nor deny such petitions on account of them; for we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them; but that He would grant them all to us by grace; for we daily sin much, and indeed deserve nothing but punishment. So will we verily, on our part, also heartily forgive and also readily do good to those who sin against us.
6th Petition: And lead us not into temptation. God, indeed, tempts no one; but we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not deceive us, nor seduce us into misbelief, despair, and other great shame and vice; and though we be assailed by them, that still we may finally overcome and gain the victory.
7th Petition: But deliver us from evil. We pray in this petition, as in a summary, that our Father in heaven would deliver us from all manner of evil, of body and soul, property and honor, and at last, when our last hour shall come, grant us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself into heaven.
Conclusion: Amen. I should be certain that these petitions are acceptable to our Father in heaven and heard; for He Himself has commanded us so to pray, and has promised that He will hear us. Amen, Amen; that is, Yea, yea, it shall be so.
I pray that Luther's simple and memorable exposition will help you avoid the trap of vain repetition.
-Brainiac
Pray like a Reformer Part 2, the Lord’s Prayer (From Wretchedradio)
When the Disciples beseeched Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11: 1), Jesus taught them to pray what we now call the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; also Luke 11:2-4). When we desire to learn to pray, we can do no better than to return to Christ’s model as set forth in Holy Scripture.
Concerning the Lord’s Prayer, Luther said, “It is the very best prayer…It is surely evident that a real master composed and taught it”. He not only made use of this prayer but he also taught its use in A Simple Way to Pray.
Before we turn to Luther’s use of the Lord’s Prayer, allow me to review the structure of the Lord’s Prayer. It consists of three parts: a preface, six petitions and a conclusion. The preface is an address, it tells us to whom we are speaking. A petition is a request, appeal or entreaty, it tells for what we are asking. The conclusion is the end of the prayer, it finishes our prayer and enforces our petitions.
Preface: Our Father in heaven,
1st Petition: hallowed be your name.
2nd Petition: Your kingdom come,
3rd Petition: your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
4th Petition: Give us this day our daily bread,
5th Petition: and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
6th Petition: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil [1]
Conclusion: For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen[2]
Now then, here is a summary of Luther’s use of the Lord’s Prayer.
First, pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then choose a section and repeat it. As an example, let us take the first petition “Hallowed be your name”. Think about that petition, consider what it means and pray for that, both for yourself and for others.
“Lord, you have made your Name holy; I pray that you would keep it holy in me and in the world… etc.”
Next, consider how God grants that request, as well as what things may hinder it, both in your self and others. Pray for those things.
“Lord, may your name be kept holy by the pure preaching of your word. Grant that my thoughts and actions would glorify your Name…”
“May your people honor your Name…”
“May your word go forth over all the earth and your Name be exalted above all else…”
“May you convert or restrain your enemies, that they will either hallow your Name or be silent…”
Now you can move on to another section and repeat the same process: (1) consider what it means and pray for that, both for yourself and for others, (2) consider how God grants that request, as well as what things may hinder it, both in yourself and others and pray for those things. You can proceed through the entire prayer this way, or, if you desire, you can remain in one section until you are content. The point is not rigid formality or empty words, but rather learning to pray as Christ taught, with sincerity and according to God’s revealed will. Luther’s words are extremely helpful here,
You should also know that I do not want you to recite all these words in your prayer. That would make it nothing but idle chatter and prattle... Rather do I want your heart to be stirred and guided concerning the thoughts, which ought to be comprehended in the Lord's Prayer. These thoughts may be expressed, if your heart is rightly warmed and inclined toward prayer, in many different ways and with more words or fewer. I do not bind myself to such words or syllables, but say my prayers in one fashion today, in another tomorrow, depending upon my mood and feeling. I stay however, as nearly as I can, with the same general thoughts and ideas. It may happen occasionally that I may get lost among so many ideas in one petition that I forego the other six. If such an abundance of good thoughts comes to us we ought to disregard the other petitions, make room for such thoughts…The Holy Spirit himself preaches here, and one word of his sermon is far better than a thousand of our prayers. Many times I have learned more from one prayer than I might have learned from much reading and speculation.
Finally, remember, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we are praying the prayer that Christians have prayed for two millennia, all the way back to the Disciples and even the Lord Himself. May God grant you a fruitful time in prayer today.
-Brainiac
[1] Note: Luther divides the Lord’s Prayer into 7 petitions, seeing the conjunction “but” in v. 13 as introducing a new petition. I, however, following the Westminster Confession of Faith, have divided it into only six petitions. So, for Luther the 6th petition is “Lead us not into temptation” and the 7th petition is “but deliver us from evil”, whereas my division renders the 6th and final petition as “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The difference is not essential and you can adopt whichever convention you prefer.
[2] Note: If you are using a version other than the King James, the conclusion of Mt. 6:13 will be “Amen” rather than “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen”. Luther did not include the longer conclusion in his Catechism, but the Westminster Catechism does; therefore, I have chosen to include it. Here again, I leave it to the reader to decide which convention to adopt.
Here I Kneel, Learn to Pray Like a Reformer (Part 1)
A great article on prayer for our own spiritual growth and reflecting our dependance on God.
Brainy Yakking: Here I Kneel, Learn to Pray Like a Reformer (Part 1)
by Wretchedradio.com
Martin Luther, the instigator of the Protestant Reformation, is known for his famous dictum, “Here I stand.” However, before Luther could stand before the papists in Worms, he needed to kneel before his father in Heaven. And though he is known for his work as a Reformer, it was Luther who declared that the business of the Christian is prayer. And for Luther, business was good.
So respected were his prayers that a good friend, Peter the Barber, asked Luther to teach him how to pray. Luther responded with a short instructional booklet called, A Simple way to Pray, in which he told his friend “I will tell you as best I can what I do personally when I pray”. Thus, Luther has provided instructions for praying like a Reformer. And over the next couple of days, it is my aim to summarize for you Luther’s instructions on prayer, that you too may pray like a Reformer.
First, observe several general considerations about prayer.
1. Pray privately
There is certainly time and place for public prayers, but here Luther discusses finding a private place to pray quietly.
2. Pray first and last
Luther urges prayer first thing in the morning and last thing at night. “It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night.”
3. Pray twice
We pray both in our prayers and in our work. Quoting Jerome, he says, "‘He who works faithfully prays twice.’ This can be said because a believer fears and honors God in his work…Faith transforms work into prayer.” Interestingly, Luther also notes “On the other hand it is also true that the work of an unbeliever is outright cursing and
so he who works faithlessly curses twice”.
4. Pray habitually
“We must be careful not to break the habit of true prayer and imagine other works to be necessary which, after all, are nothing of the kind. Thus at the end we become lax and lazy, cool and listless toward prayer. The devil who besets us is not lazy or careless, and our flesh is too ready and eager to sin and is disinclined to the spirit of prayer.”
5. Pray eagerly
We do not want half-hearted or insincere prayers. Luther says, “It is of great importance that the heart be made ready and eager for prayer.” He then asks, “What else is it but tempting God when your mouth babbles and the mind wanders to other thoughts?
6. Pray attentively
“A good and attentive barber keeps his thoughts, attention, and eyes on the razor and hair and does not forget how far he has gotten with his shaving or cutting. If he wants to engage in too much conversation or let his mind wander or look somewhere else he is likely to cut his customer's mouth, nose, or even his throat. Thus if anything is to be done well, it requires the full attention of all one's senses and members, ‘He who thinks of many things, thinks of nothing and does nothing right.’ How much more does prayer call for concentration and singleness of heart if it is to be a good prayer!” [Teachers take note of Luther's consideration and knowledge of his audience, in this case, Peter the Barber]
7. Pray briefly, frequently and fervently
Luther cautions, “Take care … not to undertake …so much [at once] that one becomes weary in spirit. A good prayer should not be lengthy or drawn out, but frequent and ardent”.
8. Pray confidently
“Mark this”, says Luther, “You must always speak the Amen firmly. Never doubt that
God in his mercy will surely hear you... Do not leave your prayer without having said or thought, ‘Very well, God has heard my prayer; this I know as a certainty and a truth.’ That is what Amen means”.
May God grant you a fruitful time in prayer today.
-Brainiac
Commanded Gifts
At first glance the title of this post seems almost like an oxymoronic statement. What do you mean by commanded gifts? A gift is something given freely and not commanded of the receiving party to do. Its kind of like saying terms like boneless ribs or self help group. It just does not make sense. But when speaking of commanded gifts from a biblical perspective it becomes another story. So in terms of salvation I want to just discuss some of those aspects in a quick intro post. I may develop some of these points later or all of them depending on time. Lets begin to look at the gift of salvation from a biblical perspective....
Act's 13:48 says, "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed."
The verse above simply states that all those who believed were appointed to do so. But then why are they commanded to repent and trust in Christ if they were appointed to eternal life? Well this is where the commanded gifts come in. Lets look at those two terms of the same coin, repentance and faith in Christ....
Repentance the command....
Mark 1:14-15, "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Repentance the gift...
Acts 2:24 "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."
Faith the command....
John 11:25 "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live"
Faith the gift...
Ephesians 2:8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God"
Here we have on display the loving pursuing God who grants to His children the wonderful gifts of salvation NOT based on anything deserving in themselves but based on a sovereign God's choosing. None of these gifts are meritorious in themselves (for we have nothing to boast about) but they come handed down to us from the father of lights in whom there is no Shadow or turning. Interesting to see just how God's commands and grants our ability to do those commands by His great power.
C.J.'s Words of Wisdom
C.J. Helps put things in perspective by "Making Calvary your Landmark".
"Make this a priority in your spiritual disciplines. Dwell on some aspect of Christ and him crucified as revealed in your daily Scripture reading. Use your supplemental reading to refocus your gaze on the cross. Like Paul, resolve to know nothing except Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2)."
Read article here
"Make this a priority in your spiritual disciplines. Dwell on some aspect of Christ and him crucified as revealed in your daily Scripture reading. Use your supplemental reading to refocus your gaze on the cross. Like Paul, resolve to know nothing except Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2)."
Read article here
Westminster Confession on Christian Liberty
They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty, which is, that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. (The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XX: Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience)
“40 Reasons Why I Do Not Want To Commit Adultery”
A good article by Mark Spence (Dean from The School of Biblical Evangelism).
1. I would violate my relationship with my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, who has loved, cared, and died for me. This action would disregard the selfless and cruel death He suffered in order to give me power over this sin.
2. I would bring public shame and unnecessary disrepute to His most holy and precious name, which I have been privileged to represent.
3. I would have to someday face my gracious Savior, eye to eye at His judgment seat, giving an account for willfully squandering His abundant provision of purifying grace. At that moment of eternal consequences I would inevitably witness the results of my own
disregard for the rewards of faithfulness and obedience He so desired to give to me.
4. I would choose to submit myself to a destructive process of self-deception and the dulling of my conscience, causing a lack of confidence in my future ability to walk in obedience and faith.
5. I would inflict unimaginable pain on my wife — my best friend, and my faithful and sacrificial partner in ministry and life — and would have to stare into her tear-filled eyes to explain this conscious violation of my vows and describe the stupidity of my behavior.
6. I would permanently damage my wife’s ability to trust me or believe my word. I would lose her respect in the future, giving her constant cause for suspicion and question.
7. If my pattern of deception were to continue, or if she were unable to forgive me, I would lose her as my wife and would be left to face ongoing regret, loneliness, and pain.
8. In this case, I would permanently ruin my wife’s future fulfillment, causing her to face the remainder of her life feeling the struggle of rejection and dealing with the complications of single parenting or remarriage.
9. I would violate the love and trust of my precious children. In essence, I would be telling them, “Your mother is not a worthy person. Your father is a liar and a cheat. Honor is not as important as pleasure. My own selfish satisfaction is more important than loving my children.”
10. By destroying my own example and credibility with my children, I would lose future opportunities to influence them toward loving obedience and holiness and would plant within them a potential long-term resentment and bitterness toward the Lord and the ministry.
11. I would bring continual shame to my children every time they had to explain why their father was no longer in ministry — or why he was no longer together with their mother.
12. I would create destructive and continually tempting mental memories that would cultivate unhealthy lust and negatively affect future intimacy with my wife.
13. I would squander all of the money, time, effort, and pain that have gone into my preparation for and development in the pastoral ministry.
14. I would seriously disappoint those godly leaders who have faithfully invested themselves in me (e.g. professors, pastors, mentors, and relatives).
15. I would bring shame to the college and seminary from which I graduated, tarnishing their reputation and squandering their investment in my theological education and character development.
16. I would deeply wound and embarrass my parents, whose loving instruction, sacrificial investment, and current delight in the positive course of my life would be horribly violated.
17. I would significantly damage the solid ministry foundation and tarnish the wholesome legacy of my faithful predecessors of my current ministry.
18. I would bring long-term disrepute to the positive reputation of my church in the community, hindering future ministry to people in this area.
19. I would undermine the credibility and effort of other Christian ministries and leaders in my city, adding to the climate of mistrust that continues to expand with each story of moral failure.
20. I would violate the precious trusting relationship with my leadership board, causing difficulty for them into the future as they seek to lead the congregation and causing a potential spirit of mistrust on their part toward future senior pastors at this church.
21. I would destroy my credibility and relationship with staff members who have faithfully supported me and responded to my leadership. A revelation of duplicity at this level would wound them deeply and would hinder even their own leadership among the flock.
22. I would bring undeserved difficulty and pain to my ministry successor and his family, as they would be forced to reap what I have sown in their attempt to salvage the church and clean up the mess I would have made.
23. I would deeply wound all those who have been saved, discipled, equipped, counseled, and prayed for under my ministry, causing disappointment and disillusionment for some.
24. I would create possible disillusionment in the hearts of young men preparing for ministry as they wonder about the credibility of my leadership and the viability of authentic pastoral ministry.
25. If this should become newsworthy on a statewide or national scale, I would exacerbate the growing climate of mistrust toward Christianity at an even broader level.
26. I would squander my witness to various unsaved friends, acquaintances, and neighbors to whom I have witnessed over the years, perhaps driving them farther away from receiving Christ.
27. I would be thoughtlessly and carelessly throwing away the impact of the prayers of thousands of people who over the years have wholeheartedly supported me on their knees.
28. I would be heaping significant guilt and pain on the other woman, for the rest of her life.
29. I would potentially contribute to the dismantling of her marriage, family, and network of trusting friends.
30. I would run the risk of the complications of a pregnancy resulting from the extramarital sexual activity.
31. I would run the risk of physical consequences in the form of sexually transmitted diseases.
32. I would suffer the consequences of losing a job and creating serious practical strain on my family financially and socially.
33. I would experience the trauma of a career change, having violated the qualifications for pastoral office.
34. I would join the ranks of those whom I have previously despised and whose actions have deeply grieved me because of their violation of calling and trust through moral scandal.
35. I would live with personal life-long embarrassment and shame, as I would encounter regular reminders of my foolish and destructive choices.
36. I would be required to invest a significant amount of time and money in the process of recovery, as many hours of counseling and years of rebuilding would be required.
37. I would take myself out of the running for multiplied opportunities in the future that could have come my way, had I remained faithful.
38. I would run the risk of being permanently “shelved” in my usefulness to God and His kingdom, knowing that the overwhelming shame and personal regret could cause me to completely give up my service for Christ.
39. I would cause a countless number of people to doubt the validity of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, and the power of Christ as they might ask, “If it didn’t work for him, can it really work for me?”
40. I would bring delight to Satan and his demons as these enemies of my soul and opponents of Christ would exult in their victory over one of God’s called servants.
(Some of these concepts were originally conceived by Randy Alcorn in Leadership Journal.) Copyright © 2010 Daniel Henderson. All rights reserved.
1. I would violate my relationship with my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, who has loved, cared, and died for me. This action would disregard the selfless and cruel death He suffered in order to give me power over this sin.
2. I would bring public shame and unnecessary disrepute to His most holy and precious name, which I have been privileged to represent.
3. I would have to someday face my gracious Savior, eye to eye at His judgment seat, giving an account for willfully squandering His abundant provision of purifying grace. At that moment of eternal consequences I would inevitably witness the results of my own
disregard for the rewards of faithfulness and obedience He so desired to give to me.
4. I would choose to submit myself to a destructive process of self-deception and the dulling of my conscience, causing a lack of confidence in my future ability to walk in obedience and faith.
5. I would inflict unimaginable pain on my wife — my best friend, and my faithful and sacrificial partner in ministry and life — and would have to stare into her tear-filled eyes to explain this conscious violation of my vows and describe the stupidity of my behavior.
6. I would permanently damage my wife’s ability to trust me or believe my word. I would lose her respect in the future, giving her constant cause for suspicion and question.
7. If my pattern of deception were to continue, or if she were unable to forgive me, I would lose her as my wife and would be left to face ongoing regret, loneliness, and pain.
8. In this case, I would permanently ruin my wife’s future fulfillment, causing her to face the remainder of her life feeling the struggle of rejection and dealing with the complications of single parenting or remarriage.
9. I would violate the love and trust of my precious children. In essence, I would be telling them, “Your mother is not a worthy person. Your father is a liar and a cheat. Honor is not as important as pleasure. My own selfish satisfaction is more important than loving my children.”
10. By destroying my own example and credibility with my children, I would lose future opportunities to influence them toward loving obedience and holiness and would plant within them a potential long-term resentment and bitterness toward the Lord and the ministry.
11. I would bring continual shame to my children every time they had to explain why their father was no longer in ministry — or why he was no longer together with their mother.
12. I would create destructive and continually tempting mental memories that would cultivate unhealthy lust and negatively affect future intimacy with my wife.
13. I would squander all of the money, time, effort, and pain that have gone into my preparation for and development in the pastoral ministry.
14. I would seriously disappoint those godly leaders who have faithfully invested themselves in me (e.g. professors, pastors, mentors, and relatives).
15. I would bring shame to the college and seminary from which I graduated, tarnishing their reputation and squandering their investment in my theological education and character development.
16. I would deeply wound and embarrass my parents, whose loving instruction, sacrificial investment, and current delight in the positive course of my life would be horribly violated.
17. I would significantly damage the solid ministry foundation and tarnish the wholesome legacy of my faithful predecessors of my current ministry.
18. I would bring long-term disrepute to the positive reputation of my church in the community, hindering future ministry to people in this area.
19. I would undermine the credibility and effort of other Christian ministries and leaders in my city, adding to the climate of mistrust that continues to expand with each story of moral failure.
20. I would violate the precious trusting relationship with my leadership board, causing difficulty for them into the future as they seek to lead the congregation and causing a potential spirit of mistrust on their part toward future senior pastors at this church.
21. I would destroy my credibility and relationship with staff members who have faithfully supported me and responded to my leadership. A revelation of duplicity at this level would wound them deeply and would hinder even their own leadership among the flock.
22. I would bring undeserved difficulty and pain to my ministry successor and his family, as they would be forced to reap what I have sown in their attempt to salvage the church and clean up the mess I would have made.
23. I would deeply wound all those who have been saved, discipled, equipped, counseled, and prayed for under my ministry, causing disappointment and disillusionment for some.
24. I would create possible disillusionment in the hearts of young men preparing for ministry as they wonder about the credibility of my leadership and the viability of authentic pastoral ministry.
25. If this should become newsworthy on a statewide or national scale, I would exacerbate the growing climate of mistrust toward Christianity at an even broader level.
26. I would squander my witness to various unsaved friends, acquaintances, and neighbors to whom I have witnessed over the years, perhaps driving them farther away from receiving Christ.
27. I would be thoughtlessly and carelessly throwing away the impact of the prayers of thousands of people who over the years have wholeheartedly supported me on their knees.
28. I would be heaping significant guilt and pain on the other woman, for the rest of her life.
29. I would potentially contribute to the dismantling of her marriage, family, and network of trusting friends.
30. I would run the risk of the complications of a pregnancy resulting from the extramarital sexual activity.
31. I would run the risk of physical consequences in the form of sexually transmitted diseases.
32. I would suffer the consequences of losing a job and creating serious practical strain on my family financially and socially.
33. I would experience the trauma of a career change, having violated the qualifications for pastoral office.
34. I would join the ranks of those whom I have previously despised and whose actions have deeply grieved me because of their violation of calling and trust through moral scandal.
35. I would live with personal life-long embarrassment and shame, as I would encounter regular reminders of my foolish and destructive choices.
36. I would be required to invest a significant amount of time and money in the process of recovery, as many hours of counseling and years of rebuilding would be required.
37. I would take myself out of the running for multiplied opportunities in the future that could have come my way, had I remained faithful.
38. I would run the risk of being permanently “shelved” in my usefulness to God and His kingdom, knowing that the overwhelming shame and personal regret could cause me to completely give up my service for Christ.
39. I would cause a countless number of people to doubt the validity of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, and the power of Christ as they might ask, “If it didn’t work for him, can it really work for me?”
40. I would bring delight to Satan and his demons as these enemies of my soul and opponents of Christ would exult in their victory over one of God’s called servants.
(Some of these concepts were originally conceived by Randy Alcorn in Leadership Journal.) Copyright © 2010 Daniel Henderson. All rights reserved.
George Whitefield, "How to Listen to a Sermon"
How to Listen to a Sermon
by George Whitefield
Keys for getting the most out of what the preacher says
Jesus said, 'Therefore consider carefully how you listen' (Luke 8:18). Here are some cautions and directions, in order to help you hear sermons with profit and advantage.
1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty. To enter His house merely to have our ears entertained, and not our hearts reformed, must certainly be highly displeasing to the Most High God, as well as unprofitable to ourselves.
2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God. If an earthly king were to issue a royal proclamation, and the life or death of his subjects entirely depended on performing or not performing its conditions, how eager would they be to hear what those conditions were! And shall we not pay the same respect to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and lend an attentive ear to His ministers, when they are declaring, in His name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?
3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister. That was the reason Jesus Christ Himself could not do many mighty works, nor preach to any great effect among those of His own country; for they were offended at Him. Take heed therefore, and beware of entertaining any dislike against those whom the Holy Ghost has made overseers over you.
Consider that the clergy are men of like passions with yourselves. And though we should even hear a person teaching others to do what he has not learned himself, yet that is no reason for rejecting his doctrine. For ministers speak not in their own, but in Christ’s name. And we know who commanded the people to do whatever the scribes and Pharisees should say unto them, even though they did not do themselves what they said (see Matt. 23:1-3).
4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Preferring one teacher over another has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians: 'For whereas one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal, says he? For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?' (1 Cor. 1:12; 2:3-5).
Are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?
5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered. When our Savior was discoursing at the last supper with His beloved disciples and foretold that one of them should betray Him, each of them immediately applied it to his own heart and said, 'Lord, is it I?' (Matt. 26:22).
Oh, that persons, in like manner, when preachers are dissuading from any sin or persuading to any duty, instead of crying, 'This was intended for such and such a one!' instead would turn their thoughts inwardly, and say, 'Lord, is it I?' How far more beneficial should we find discourses to be than now they generally are!
6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put into practice what he shall show from the Book of God to be your duty.
No doubt it was this consideration that made St. Paul so earnestly entreat his beloved Ephesians to intercede with God for him: 'Praying always, with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and for me also, that I may open my mouth with boldness, to make known the mysteries of the gospel' (Eph. 6:19-20). And if so great an apostle as St. Paul needed the prayers of his people, much more do those ministers who have only the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit.
If only all who hear me this day would seriously apply their hearts to practice what has now been told them! How ministers would see Satan, like lightning, fall from heaven, and people find the Word preached sharper than a two-edged sword and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the devil’s strongholds!
This excerpt is adapted from Sermon 28 from The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield. Published by E. and C. Dilly, 1771-1772, London. George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a British Methodist evangelist whose powerful sermons fanned the flames of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies.
(Source)
by George Whitefield
Keys for getting the most out of what the preacher says
Jesus said, 'Therefore consider carefully how you listen' (Luke 8:18). Here are some cautions and directions, in order to help you hear sermons with profit and advantage.
1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty. To enter His house merely to have our ears entertained, and not our hearts reformed, must certainly be highly displeasing to the Most High God, as well as unprofitable to ourselves.
2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God. If an earthly king were to issue a royal proclamation, and the life or death of his subjects entirely depended on performing or not performing its conditions, how eager would they be to hear what those conditions were! And shall we not pay the same respect to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and lend an attentive ear to His ministers, when they are declaring, in His name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?
3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister. That was the reason Jesus Christ Himself could not do many mighty works, nor preach to any great effect among those of His own country; for they were offended at Him. Take heed therefore, and beware of entertaining any dislike against those whom the Holy Ghost has made overseers over you.
Consider that the clergy are men of like passions with yourselves. And though we should even hear a person teaching others to do what he has not learned himself, yet that is no reason for rejecting his doctrine. For ministers speak not in their own, but in Christ’s name. And we know who commanded the people to do whatever the scribes and Pharisees should say unto them, even though they did not do themselves what they said (see Matt. 23:1-3).
4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Preferring one teacher over another has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians: 'For whereas one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal, says he? For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?' (1 Cor. 1:12; 2:3-5).
Are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?
5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered. When our Savior was discoursing at the last supper with His beloved disciples and foretold that one of them should betray Him, each of them immediately applied it to his own heart and said, 'Lord, is it I?' (Matt. 26:22).
Oh, that persons, in like manner, when preachers are dissuading from any sin or persuading to any duty, instead of crying, 'This was intended for such and such a one!' instead would turn their thoughts inwardly, and say, 'Lord, is it I?' How far more beneficial should we find discourses to be than now they generally are!
6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put into practice what he shall show from the Book of God to be your duty.
No doubt it was this consideration that made St. Paul so earnestly entreat his beloved Ephesians to intercede with God for him: 'Praying always, with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and for me also, that I may open my mouth with boldness, to make known the mysteries of the gospel' (Eph. 6:19-20). And if so great an apostle as St. Paul needed the prayers of his people, much more do those ministers who have only the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit.
If only all who hear me this day would seriously apply their hearts to practice what has now been told them! How ministers would see Satan, like lightning, fall from heaven, and people find the Word preached sharper than a two-edged sword and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the devil’s strongholds!
This excerpt is adapted from Sermon 28 from The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield. Published by E. and C. Dilly, 1771-1772, London. George Whitefield (1714-1770) was a British Methodist evangelist whose powerful sermons fanned the flames of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies.
(Source)
Healthy Church = Biblical Preaching
All of the following marks I will cover over the next few weeks come from 9Marks ministry. These are not essentials of a church but they are essential marks of a healthy church with healthy members. As I write this I am in preparation and study for our summer family devotions. We have spent the last year in the book of John but as we approach chapter 11 we will be departing for a short time to address the subject of, "Love and Centrality of the Local Church." As my wife and I clear some new ground in our parenting we are discovering many area's in which we take for granted without ever explaining. The local church is something all Christian families do, but why? Do our children understand the essential necessity of the local church? Do they understand why we are dedicated to a local church?
My wife and I allowed them to pear into our search process for a local church a couple years ago. We wanted them to see some of what we were looking for. In fact this first mark we will discuss was the first essential mark we were going to expect. This mark is the first mark I will look for when suggesting a local church to family or friends wherever they live. We first go to two trusted resources. One is Masters Seminary and the other is 9marks church finder. If we cannot find any of those we then go to the local church websites and then go to the resource page, look at past sermons and can determine if this church has this mark or not.
So to embark on this subject, I will be spending much time looking at the effect and result of the local church in the book of Acts and in a few other books after we have gone through the nine marks of a healthy church. When I say centrality I think it is important to explain what I mean. Men by in large over the past fifty to one hundred years have undergone an industrialized reconstruction of how they go about providing for there families. About one hundred years ago most families had farms and worked within the confinements of there own properties. But with the industrialization of the nineteenth century many men began to leave there homes to work within travel distance for there primary means to provide. Today most men do not work in there own homes to provide for there family. I for instance must travel nearly forty miles away every day to get to work. Well one of the subsequent problems of this sort of lifestyle is that we take that same way of thinking to our local church. We do not interact on a constant basis within the body. We may drive twenty or thirty minutes away. We may fellowship on Sunday and maybe on Wednesday night class but other then that we are disconnected with the body. I don't think this is the biblical outline of how church is to be. I believe there needs to be more daily involvement. A dedication to those believers and a commitment to making it more then just a part of our life but the central part of our life. Yes we have unsaved family and friends and we do interact with them. But the church (a group believers) are to be dedicated to one another and to the glory of God. So, with that said, I have much to learn, I much more to model and am praying for grace as I look for those opportunities. So As I begin my studies on the subject I hope to serve you well by putting some of the marks of a healthy church and how to grow in greater love for the local church over the next several weeks.
All of the subjects I will cover over the summer months are based on the premise that you understand that church is for the believer (1 Cor. 12:12,13). In the New Testament we see believers getting together to fellowship, preach, partake in communion, practice church discipline, etc(Acts 2:42, Matthew 18). I know many man centered churches believe the point of the church is to gather, work at, focus on, model programs after the unsaved. Fill our churches with unregenerate people and if we do it in a very cool way then they will stay. I will simply say that is not a church in the biblical definition of the church. The seeker sensitive and emergent church does not have God's glory or your sanctification in focus but entertainment and comfort to the lost. Many of these marks would be offensive to the lost so therefore they will not be utilized as they would remove there biggest crowd. If this is you then I would encourage you to pray for your church, pray for your pastor, get great resources, study and they talk to your elders. See if they are willing to work on these areas. What is there reaction? A good shepherd will be understanding and talk to you with love and respect. If this is not the case then you have much larger problems. This is an important distinction. So with that said, lets begin our list.
MARK ONE: EXPOSITIONAL PREACHING
A healthy church will begin with the foundational understanding that God's word is where we are to go for our growth and sanctification. We must focus our attention to God's Word. This is sufficient for every thing in life and growth in godliness. It reveals to us who we are, who God is and what we are to do. It shows us how to structure our church to glorify Him, how to evangelize, how to parent, do marriage and all aspects of life. A healthy church has a Pastor who is less about his random topics from week to week with an occasion bible verse but the Bible itself is the focal point of the church service and the sermon. This obligates any possibility for a Pastor to get on his hobby horse and it does not skip any of the hard things we must learn. Expositional preaching is when you take a book of the Bible and you preach out it verse by verse. The Word is the focus and all our attention is on it. Our job as members of the local church is to place leaders in our pulpit who are gifted at there ability to discover what the point of the passage is and make that the point of there sermon. Then there task is to apply it to us, in the church, at this time. Topical Sermons can be expositional but only when you preach a topic based on a section of scripture or scriptures that specifically addresses that topic. But by in large your steady diet needs to be verse by verse and book by book exposure of God's Word.
Expository preaching is not something marked by style or personality but by biblical content. Sometimes we will find a preacher reading a section of scripture then preaching a random topic based loosely on the scripture. This is not expository preaching. Again, and this is important, expository preaching is the idea that the verse or section of scripture is the point of the message not used to support a Pastor's message. The Word itself is the authority and in fact a Pastor's authority starts and end's upon the authority of scripture itself. This means that they are accountable to call black what scripture's calls black and white the scripture calls white. They are also not qualified to take the grey areas of scripture and call them essential when God's word does not. It requires careful attention to the context, author, history, genre, etc.
Yes this is a requirement of the Pastor but ultimately it is the responsibility of the congregation and the individual families to make sure this is what they are placing themselves under.If not, it will and does stunt the growth of the believer. It results in immature Christians who (when listening to verse by verse preaching)use terms like, that is a boring style (again this is God's inspired Word we are talking about), well what about worship? (as if the sermon itself was not part of worship), those Pastor's are to legalistic and arrogant (as if the Pastor who is teaching his random topic making himself the focus of the sermon is more humble then the one who submits to God's Word making "it" the focal point of the sermon as more arrogant. Not to mention just an immature understanding of what legalism is). The seeker sensitive, emergent church movement inevitably ends up being more emotion based therefore preaching more from random subject then of consistent truth. But Bible based churches always end up with the Word as there foundation. So in short expository preaching is a correct understanding of the text within the context, correctly preaching that text as to make its main point the sermons main point and finally it requires a correct application. If you belong to this sort of church then your responsibility comes to play in your applying what you are hearing from God's Word as God addresses you each week. Pray to this end.
Resolved Conference
As the 2010 Resolved Conference gets under way tonight I thought I would pass a highlight video from last year.
Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken from Resolved on Vimeo.
Loving the Church, Faults and all
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One theme in today's "Christian" relevance plays over and over again. It is either something culturally accepted and boastfully alluded to by modern day social gospel preachers or it is something that is totally avoided and neglected due to disagreements by a younger rebellious youth. It is not new and seems to follow all age groups from the creation of man. The subject is the church and its main preeminence within the believers life. Today it seems the more convenient the church is to cater to the worldly desires of today's youth, the least amount of demands it places on any individual, and its ability to submit to the desires of the congregations, well the more attractive she is. The unregenerate person has no desire to be inconvenienced by church involvement. Unless of course it is center stage and one day a week with no prior requirements.
We seem to be living in an era where devotion to the centrality of the church upon a believer is almost completely neglected. Cultivating within our youth a strong desire to love the church and be devoted to it as the central focus of ones life takes a back seat to more important things like sports, education, leisure, and an array of other topics. Youth are not loving the church, loving the education of a proper worldview, sports within the context of the local church and leisure with the people they go to church with. It all seems like "work."
This attitude is usually bred by parents who seem to be rather non-submissive and uninformed on the need to love the church. They seem overly critical and have complaining hearts. The church is great as long as it does everything they agree with. Once a sacrifice of trust is required of them they are the first to shoot and complain or even leave. In face the battle cry of today's relevant church is to look and act as little like church as possible and as much like the world as they can afford (which comes far short).
Beware, for one you are working yourself out of a job. How? Every generation has this youthful pride that says the best way is different. Its not 2000 years of biblical theology. Its now, its hip, its cool, its not old. Young man, you are getting older. Many of you in less then 15 years will be the older uncool man. The next generation will come and repeat your method of ecclesiology. And you my friend, will loose your job because you will just be to old. You will not be respected but discarded and the "new" perspectives of prideful know it all spirituality will become even more liberal then your "new" ways which will all to soon become "old" ways. But what do you expect? This was your modeled ministry.
What I want to do over the next few weeks as the Lord allows is go through the 9 Marks of a healthy church. If you have not ran by these then do a google search for 9 Marks Ministry and go through each of the 9 Marks to see how your church stacks up. These are not necessary controversial marks but they are marks that all to often are assumed but never explained. This results in a distorted view of meaning on each mark. The reason I am doing this is two fold. One reason to serve you in your search for a healthy church. The second reason is all to often I have seen people who have neglected to lead there family to a healthy church either due to a lack of biblical leadership, concern of self, or simply because they do not know what to look for. My prayer is that in each case this will serve you in order to stir up again a desire to lead you and/or your family to a church with a high view of God and His Word or to aid you in what to look for as you discern the difference of a God centered church from a man centered church. Maybe you are in a situation where your parents are going to an unbiblical church. My prayer is that as you go through each mark you will become more aware of your need to pray. Maybe you are a submissive wife who is following a husband who seems to prefer position and or convenience more then family leadership. Well let these things revive a desire to pray for your church and further your commitment to God. Know that He is in control and your gentle loving spirit has an impact. But do not neglect the need for prayer and become desperate in your desire to see your family grow in grace. God will honor those prayers.
So after this introduction our first Mark will be "Expositional Preaching" in which I will be posting later this week. Commit to prayer for your family and your Pastors. Commit to being a part of the solution within your local church. It is easy to sit back and judge and never do the heavy lifting. Start to show a pattern of self denial to your local church and service. Begin to love the church and teach your children to do the same.
1 Corinthians 12:18-21
God has arranged the parts in the body,
every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
If they were all one part, where would the body be?
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!"
And the head cannot say to the feet, "I dont need
you!"
The Character of Genuine Saving Faith
The Character of Genuine Saving Faith
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
I. Evidences that neither prove nor disprove one’s faith
a. Visible morality: Matt 19:16-21
b. Intellectual knowledge: Romans 2:17ff
c. Religious involvement: Matt. 25:1-10
d. Active Ministry : Mark 7:21-24
e. Conviction of sin: Acts 24:25
f. Assurance: Matt 23
g. Time of decision: Luke 8:13-14
II. The fruit /proofs of authentic / true Christianity
a. Love for God: Luke 10:27, Romans 8:7
b. Repentance from sin: Psalm 32:5, II Cor 7:10, I John 1:8-10
c. Genuine Humility: Psalm 51:17, Matt 5:1-12, James 4:6-9
d. Devotion to God’s Glory: Psalm 105:3, Isaiah 43:7, I Cor 10:31
e. Continual Prayer: Luke 18:1, Eph. 6:18, James 5:16-18
f. Selfless love: I John 2:9ff, 3:14, 4:7ff
g. Separation from the world: I Cor. 2:12, James 4:4ff, I John 2:15-17
h. Spiritual Growth: Luke 8:15, John 15:1-6, Eph 4:12-16
i. Obedient Living: Matt 7:21, I Peter 1:2,22….I John 2:3-5
If list I is true of a person and list II is false or non-evident, then there could be cause to question the validity of one’s profession of faith. If list II is true of a person, then list I will be true as well.
From: Dr John MacArthur Study Bible Index Notes, 1997.
Silent Idol
Often when having conversations with family members, friends or even strangers I often find a common thread or sin among them all. It is not shocking and not surprising when I hear it because I was guilty of this same sin and totally oblivious to it. In fact this sin is the most deceptive sin I am aware of. It is deceptive because its cloaked in some form of "spirituality". It eases the conscience of daily struggles, hardship, conviction and judgment. I am convinced that this sin takes more people to hell then any other. This sin is even prevalent among many church attendees. Whole churches have been built on this sin. The sin as laid out in
Exodus 20:3-4,
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image".
Making a graven or "carved" image. In the Old Testament the foreign nations at that time were acustom to making false God's out of gold or wood. Bowing down to those false images and worshiping them. Here God is commanding His chosen people, the Jew's, not to commit the same sin of idolatry. They are commanded to worship the one true God. Just a basic observation would reveal that even God's people (after miracle upon miracle) have a human tendency to create a false God and worship it. To place there trust in it and to have faith in it. We even see later in the same book chapter 32 that when Moses "delayed" coming down to them they gathered to make a false god. They made a golden calf and worshiped it. When Moses became aware of this and ground there idol to powder Aaron responded by saying to Moses, "You know the people, that they are set on evil" (Exodus 32:23).So it is that we are all "set" to evil. We are apt to go the natural way of things. We want to go the easy way. We want to go the way that can quickly ease our own conscience. That is what we see in these passages and what we see continuing several thousand year's later. Therefor we commit this same sin.
So the question is how do we commit this sin? After all I am sure you do not have many family members making little idol's to place on there mantle and bow down to. So how do we see this in today's context. It's simple, when we create a god in our own making that is defined by self. A god who is ok with sin's committed by self but not ok with really bad people's sin's. A god who will overlook lying, stealing (but I was just a kid excuse), lust, etc. But who must hate rape and murder. It's always a god who will have justice on the sin's the individual did not commit but they turn around in a self righteous manner and point the finger to others to say God must punish them. They have made a god in there own mind. It's not made out of brick's, wood or gold but one out of the mind. It can even have a name like jesus but it's not the Jesus as revealed in the Bible. It's one they made up. As one begins to define the God of the Bible the more they will see that there god is not like that. And that is true because there god does not even exist. It is a figment of one's imagination. It cannot save them on judgment day. They often will have a emotional connection with this god and say they pray every day. This is true also but the person they are praying to is self. It is self worship. Often those in this sin will consider themselves "spiritual" not religious. They have an over attraction with angel's. The more they are aware that there god is not the same God of the Bible they will seek to destroy the true God. They will set out to look for evidence to disprove the Bible, to run to every conspiracy theory under the sun. They will never have a urge to study the Bible for the sake of truth but to disprove it. They will never pick up a book to prove it's accuracy but quick to purchase the next "top seller" proving the "truth" of the Bible. Why? Because much like the Jew's of Moses' day "they are set on evil". I was once that very person. I was a self professing "Christian" but I had no love for the Bible, Worshiping God with other believers, serving a local church, obeying any of God's command's, or trusting Jesus alone. My god had a name, it was jesus but in reality it was Gary.
We must be aware that the devil transform's himself as an angel of light(2 Corinthians 11:14). This road of self worship will be wide and easy (Matthew 6:13-14)and even say, "This way to heaven" but it is a lie. It boil's down to this, we do not define God starting with self. I dont define God starting with me, we must go to an authoritative book, The Bible. In that Book God has defined Himself in many ways. He has revealed Himself to us. He show's us He is a God of justice, holiness and forgiveness. But it's not some passive kind of forgiveness. It was purchased with blood. The blood of God's own Son, Jesus Christ.
Avoiding Dissension in the Home
Some great stuff from Richard Baxter. Although this is written almost 400 years ago it still rings true today.
From Richard Baxter: It is a great duty of husbands and wives to live in quietness and peace, and avoid all occasions of wrath and discord. Because this is a duty of so great importance, I shall first open to you the great necessity of it, and then give you more particular directions to perform it.
(1) Your discord will be your pain, and the vexation of our lives. Like a bile, or wound, or fracture in your own bodies, which will pain you till it is cured; you will hardly keep peace in your minds, when peace is broken so near you in your family. As you would take heed of hurting yourselves, and as you would hasten the cure when you are hurt; so should you take heed of any breach of peace, and quickly seek to heal it when it is broken.
(2) Dissension tends to cool your love; oft falling out doth tend to leave a habit of distaste and averseness on the mind. Wounding is separating; and to be tied together by any outward bonds, when your hearts are separated, is but to be tormented; and to have the insides of adversaries, while you have conjugal outsides. As the difference between my house and my prison is that I willingly and with delight dwell in the one, but am unwillingly confined to the other, such will be the difference between a quiet and an unquiet life, in your married state; it turneth your dwelling and delight into a prison, where you are chained to those calamities, which in a free condition you might overrun.
(3) Dissension between the husband and the wife, doth disorder all their family affairs; they are like oxen unequally yoked, that can rid no work for striving with one another. Nothing is well done because of the variance of those that should do it, or oversee it.
(4) It exceedingly unfitteth you for the worship of God; you are not fit to pray together, nor to confer together of heavenly things, nor to be helpers to each other's souls: I need not tell you this, you feel it by experience. Wrath and bitterness will not allow you so much exercise of love and holy composedness of mind, as every one of those duties do require.
(5) Dissension disableth you to govern your families aright. Your children and servants will take example by you; or think they are at liberty to do what they list, when they find you taken up with such work between yourselves; and they will think you unfit to reprove them for their faults, when they see you guilty of such faults and folly of your own; nay, you will become the shame and secret derision of your family, and bring yourselves into contempt.
(6) Your dissensions will expose you to the malice of Satan, and give him advantage for manifold temptations. A house divided cannot stand; an army divided is easily conquered, and made a prey to the enemy. You cannot forsee what abundance of sin you put yourselves in danger of. By all this you may see what dissensions between husband and wife do tend to, and how they should be avoided.
For the avoiding of them observe these sub-directions:
(1) Keep up your conjugal love in a constant heat and vigor. Love will suppress wrath; you cannot have a bitter mind upon small provocations, against those that you dearly love; much less can you proceed to reviling words, or to averseness and estrangedness, or any abuse of one another. Or if a breach and wound be unhappily made, the balsamic quality of love will heal it. But when love once cooleth, small matters exasperate and breed distaste.
(2) Both husband and wife must mortify their pride and passion, which are the causes of impatiency; and must pray and labour for a humble, meek, and quiet spirit. A proud heart is troubled and provoked by every word or carriage that seemeth to tend to their undervaluing. A peevish, froward mind is like a sore and ulcerated member, that will be hurt if it be touched. He that must live near such a sore, diseased, impatient mind, must live even as the nurse doth with the child, that maketh it her business to rock it, and lull, and sing it quiet when it crieth; for to be angry with it, will do no good; and if you have married one of such a sick or childish temper, you must resolve to bear and use them accordingly. But no Christian should bear with such a malady in themselves; nor be patient with such impatiency of mind. Once get the victory over yourselves, and the cure of your own impatience, and you will easily keep peace with one another.
(3) Agree together beforehand, that when one is in the diseased, angry fit, the other shall silently and gently bear, till it be past and you are come to yourselves again. Be not angry both at once; when the fire is kindled, quench it with gentle words and carriage, and do not cast on oil or fuel, by answering provokingly and sharply, or by multiplying words, and by answering wrath with wrath.
(4) If you cannot quickly quench your passion, yet at least refrain your tongues; speak not reproachful or provoking words: talking it out hotly doth blow the fire, and increase the flame; be but silent, and you will the sooner return to your serenity and peace. Foul words tend to more displeasure. As Socrates said when his wife first railed at him, and next threw a vessel of foul water upon him, 'I thought when I heard the thunder, there would come rain'; so you may portend worse following, when foul, unseeming words begin. If you cannot easily allay your wrath, you may hold your tongues, if you are truly willing.
(5) Let the sober party condescend to speak fair and to entreat the other. Say to your angry wife or husband, 'You know this should not be betwixt us; love must allay it, and it must be repented of. God doth not approve it, and we shall not approve it when this heat is over. This frame of mind is contrary to a praying frame, and this language contrary to a praying language; we must pray together anon; let us do nothing contrary to prayer now: sweet water and bitter come not from one spring,' etc. Some calm and condescending words of reason, may stop the torrent, and revive the reason which passion had overcome.
(6) Confess your fault to one another, when passion hath prevaileth against you; and ask forgiveness of each other, and join in prayer to God for pardon; and this will lay a greater engagement on you the next time to forbear: you will sure be ashamed to do that which you have so confessed and asked forgiveness for of God and man. If you will but practise these directions, your family peace may be preserved.
(Thankful for OldTruth.com although shut down still serves me well with great reading).
From Richard Baxter: It is a great duty of husbands and wives to live in quietness and peace, and avoid all occasions of wrath and discord. Because this is a duty of so great importance, I shall first open to you the great necessity of it, and then give you more particular directions to perform it.
(1) Your discord will be your pain, and the vexation of our lives. Like a bile, or wound, or fracture in your own bodies, which will pain you till it is cured; you will hardly keep peace in your minds, when peace is broken so near you in your family. As you would take heed of hurting yourselves, and as you would hasten the cure when you are hurt; so should you take heed of any breach of peace, and quickly seek to heal it when it is broken.
(2) Dissension tends to cool your love; oft falling out doth tend to leave a habit of distaste and averseness on the mind. Wounding is separating; and to be tied together by any outward bonds, when your hearts are separated, is but to be tormented; and to have the insides of adversaries, while you have conjugal outsides. As the difference between my house and my prison is that I willingly and with delight dwell in the one, but am unwillingly confined to the other, such will be the difference between a quiet and an unquiet life, in your married state; it turneth your dwelling and delight into a prison, where you are chained to those calamities, which in a free condition you might overrun.
(3) Dissension between the husband and the wife, doth disorder all their family affairs; they are like oxen unequally yoked, that can rid no work for striving with one another. Nothing is well done because of the variance of those that should do it, or oversee it.
(4) It exceedingly unfitteth you for the worship of God; you are not fit to pray together, nor to confer together of heavenly things, nor to be helpers to each other's souls: I need not tell you this, you feel it by experience. Wrath and bitterness will not allow you so much exercise of love and holy composedness of mind, as every one of those duties do require.
(5) Dissension disableth you to govern your families aright. Your children and servants will take example by you; or think they are at liberty to do what they list, when they find you taken up with such work between yourselves; and they will think you unfit to reprove them for their faults, when they see you guilty of such faults and folly of your own; nay, you will become the shame and secret derision of your family, and bring yourselves into contempt.
(6) Your dissensions will expose you to the malice of Satan, and give him advantage for manifold temptations. A house divided cannot stand; an army divided is easily conquered, and made a prey to the enemy. You cannot forsee what abundance of sin you put yourselves in danger of. By all this you may see what dissensions between husband and wife do tend to, and how they should be avoided.
For the avoiding of them observe these sub-directions:
(1) Keep up your conjugal love in a constant heat and vigor. Love will suppress wrath; you cannot have a bitter mind upon small provocations, against those that you dearly love; much less can you proceed to reviling words, or to averseness and estrangedness, or any abuse of one another. Or if a breach and wound be unhappily made, the balsamic quality of love will heal it. But when love once cooleth, small matters exasperate and breed distaste.
(2) Both husband and wife must mortify their pride and passion, which are the causes of impatiency; and must pray and labour for a humble, meek, and quiet spirit. A proud heart is troubled and provoked by every word or carriage that seemeth to tend to their undervaluing. A peevish, froward mind is like a sore and ulcerated member, that will be hurt if it be touched. He that must live near such a sore, diseased, impatient mind, must live even as the nurse doth with the child, that maketh it her business to rock it, and lull, and sing it quiet when it crieth; for to be angry with it, will do no good; and if you have married one of such a sick or childish temper, you must resolve to bear and use them accordingly. But no Christian should bear with such a malady in themselves; nor be patient with such impatiency of mind. Once get the victory over yourselves, and the cure of your own impatience, and you will easily keep peace with one another.
(3) Agree together beforehand, that when one is in the diseased, angry fit, the other shall silently and gently bear, till it be past and you are come to yourselves again. Be not angry both at once; when the fire is kindled, quench it with gentle words and carriage, and do not cast on oil or fuel, by answering provokingly and sharply, or by multiplying words, and by answering wrath with wrath.
(4) If you cannot quickly quench your passion, yet at least refrain your tongues; speak not reproachful or provoking words: talking it out hotly doth blow the fire, and increase the flame; be but silent, and you will the sooner return to your serenity and peace. Foul words tend to more displeasure. As Socrates said when his wife first railed at him, and next threw a vessel of foul water upon him, 'I thought when I heard the thunder, there would come rain'; so you may portend worse following, when foul, unseeming words begin. If you cannot easily allay your wrath, you may hold your tongues, if you are truly willing.
(5) Let the sober party condescend to speak fair and to entreat the other. Say to your angry wife or husband, 'You know this should not be betwixt us; love must allay it, and it must be repented of. God doth not approve it, and we shall not approve it when this heat is over. This frame of mind is contrary to a praying frame, and this language contrary to a praying language; we must pray together anon; let us do nothing contrary to prayer now: sweet water and bitter come not from one spring,' etc. Some calm and condescending words of reason, may stop the torrent, and revive the reason which passion had overcome.
(6) Confess your fault to one another, when passion hath prevaileth against you; and ask forgiveness of each other, and join in prayer to God for pardon; and this will lay a greater engagement on you the next time to forbear: you will sure be ashamed to do that which you have so confessed and asked forgiveness for of God and man. If you will but practise these directions, your family peace may be preserved.
(Thankful for OldTruth.com although shut down still serves me well with great reading).
The Function of the Law
“The character of God leads to the Law of God--God’s whole relationship to the world and to man. All this designed to bring people to conviction of sin, and to lead them to repentance. And that in turn should lead them to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the One and only Saviour. That is the message of salvation, that is called evangelistic preaching.” - Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Martin Luther "Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ."
"The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God's Law and show the nature of sin."
"...we would not see nor realize it (what a distressing and horrible fall in which we lie), if it were not for the Law, and we would have to remain forever lost, if we were not again helped out of it through Christ. Therefore the Law and the Gospel are given to the end that we may learn to know both how guilty we are and to what we should again return."
In a sermon published way back in 1537, Martin Luther spoke of the Law being used as a schoolmaster the bring sinners to Christ. Listen to his words of warning: "This now is the Christian teaching and preaching, which God be praised, we know and possess, and it is not necessary at present to develop it further, but only to offer the admonition that it be maintained in Christendom with all diligence. For Satan has attacked it hard and strong from the beginning until the present, and gladly would he completely extinguish it and tread it underfoot."
John Wesley In writing to a young evangelist instructed, "Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace."
"While he cries out, O what love have I to thy Law! all the day long is my study in it. He sees daily, in that divine mirror, more and more of his own sinfulness. He sees more and more clearly, that he is fullness a sinner in all things -- that neither his heart nor his ways are right before God, and that every moment sends him to Christ. Therefore I cannot spare the Law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ, seeing I now want it as much to keep me to Christ, as I ever wanted it to bring me to Him. Otherwise this 'evil heart of unbelief' would immediately 'depart from the living God.' Indeed each is continually sending me to the other--the Law to Christ, and Christ to the Law."
John Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace" "Ignorance of the nature and design of the Law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes."
Charles Spurgeon "I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law." Then he warns, "Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt; this is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain; for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ . . . They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law. Therefore the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it must not be removed from its place."
"The Law cuts into the core of the evil, it reveals the seat of the malady, and informs us that the leprosy lies deep within."
"They must be slain by the law before they can be made alive by the gospel."
Jonathan Edwards "The only way we can know whether we are sinning is by knowing His Moral Law."
"They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John iii. 18. 'He that believeth not is condemned already.' So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John viii. 23. 'Ye are from beneath.' And thither be is bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him."
George Whitefield "First, then, before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your actual transgressions against the Law of God."
John Wesley "...it is the ordinary method of the Spirit of God to convict sinners by the Law. It is this which, being set home on the conscience, generally breaketh the rocks in pieces. It is more especially this part of the Word of God which is quick and powerful, full of life and energy and sharper than any two-edged sword."
"It remains only to show...the uses of the Law. And the first use of it, without question, is to convince the world of sin. By this is the sinner discovered to himself. All his fig-leaves are torn away, and he sees that he is 'wretched and poor and miserable, blind and naked.' The Law flashes conviction on every side. He feels himself a mere sinner. He has nothing to pay. His 'mouth is stopped' and he stands 'guilty before God.' To slay the sinner is then the first use of the Law, to destroy the life and strength wherein he trusts and convince him that he is dead while he lives; not only under the sentence of death, but actually dead to God, void of all spiritual life, dead in trespasses and sins."
"Before I can preach love, mercy and grace I must preach sin, law and judgment."
"The second use {of the Law} is to bring him unto Life, unto Christ that he may live. It is true, in performing both these offices, it acts the part of a severe school master. It drives us by force, rather than draws us by love. And yet love is the spring of all. It is the spirit of love which, by this painful means, tears away our confidence in the flesh, which leaves us no broken reed whereon to trust, and so constrains the sinner, stripped of all to cry out in the bitterness of his soul or groan in the depth of his heart, 'I give up every plea beside, Lord I am damned but thou hast died.'"
C. S. Lewis "When we merely say that we are bad, the 'wrath' of God seems a barbarous doctrine; as soon as we perceive our bad-ness, it appears inevitable, a mere corollary from God's goodness..."
J. I. Packer "Unless we see our shortcomings in the light of the Law and holiness of God, we do not see them as sin at all."
John Bunyan "The man who does not know the nature of the Law, cannot know the nature of sin."
A. W. Pink "Just as the world was not ready for the New Testament before it received the Old, just as the Jews were not prepared for the ministry of Christ until John the Baptist had gone before Him with his claimant call to repentance, so the unsaved are in no condition today for the Gospel till the Law be applied to their hearts, for 'by the Law is the knowledge of sin.' It is a waste of time to sow seed on ground which has never been ploughed or spaded! To present the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to those whose dominant passion is to take fill of sin, is to give that which is holy to the dogs."
Augustine "The Law is not in fault, but our evil and wicked nature; even as a heap of lime is still and quiet until water be poured thereon, but then it begins to smoke and burn, not from the fault of the water, but from the nature and kind of the lime which will not endure it."
Matthew Henry "Herein is the Law of God above all other laws, that it is a spiritual law. Other laws may forbid compassing and imagining, which are treason in the heart, but cannot take cognizance thereof, unless there be some overt act; but the Law of God takes notice of the iniquity regarded in the heart, though it go no further."
D. L. Moody "Ask Paul why [the Law] was given. Here is his answer, 'That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God' (Romans 3:19). The Law stops every man's mouth. I can always tell a man who is near the kingdom of God; his mouth is stopped. This, then, is why God gives us the Law—to show us ourselves in our true colors."
"The law can only chase a man to Calvary, no further."
J. C. Ryle "People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell ... Let us expound and beat out the Ten Commandments, and show the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of their requirements. This is the way of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do better than follow His plan. We may depend on it, men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those who the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world."
A. B. Earle "I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the Law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They will not escape from danger until they see it."
A. W. Tozer "No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God."
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones "A gospel which merely says, 'Come to Jesus,' and offers Him as a friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convincing of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. (The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the Law; and it is because the Law has not been preached that we have had so much superficial evangelism.) True evangelism... must always start by preaching the law."
"The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Savior, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the Law to bring such an understanding to a man's mind and conscience. That is why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago in the time of the puritans, and 200 years ago in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary law work."
John R. Stott "We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses, to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ."
John MacArthur "God's grace cannot be faithfully preached to unbelievers until the Law is preached and man's corrupt nature is exposed. It is impossible for a person to fully realize his need for God's grace until he sees how terribly he has failed the standards of God's Law
Martin Luther "Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ."
"The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God's Law and show the nature of sin."
"...we would not see nor realize it (what a distressing and horrible fall in which we lie), if it were not for the Law, and we would have to remain forever lost, if we were not again helped out of it through Christ. Therefore the Law and the Gospel are given to the end that we may learn to know both how guilty we are and to what we should again return."
In a sermon published way back in 1537, Martin Luther spoke of the Law being used as a schoolmaster the bring sinners to Christ. Listen to his words of warning: "This now is the Christian teaching and preaching, which God be praised, we know and possess, and it is not necessary at present to develop it further, but only to offer the admonition that it be maintained in Christendom with all diligence. For Satan has attacked it hard and strong from the beginning until the present, and gladly would he completely extinguish it and tread it underfoot."
John Wesley In writing to a young evangelist instructed, "Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace."
"While he cries out, O what love have I to thy Law! all the day long is my study in it. He sees daily, in that divine mirror, more and more of his own sinfulness. He sees more and more clearly, that he is fullness a sinner in all things -- that neither his heart nor his ways are right before God, and that every moment sends him to Christ. Therefore I cannot spare the Law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ, seeing I now want it as much to keep me to Christ, as I ever wanted it to bring me to Him. Otherwise this 'evil heart of unbelief' would immediately 'depart from the living God.' Indeed each is continually sending me to the other--the Law to Christ, and Christ to the Law."
John Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace" "Ignorance of the nature and design of the Law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes."
Charles Spurgeon "I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law." Then he warns, "Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt; this is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain; for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ . . . They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law. Therefore the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it must not be removed from its place."
"The Law cuts into the core of the evil, it reveals the seat of the malady, and informs us that the leprosy lies deep within."
"They must be slain by the law before they can be made alive by the gospel."
Jonathan Edwards "The only way we can know whether we are sinning is by knowing His Moral Law."
"They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John iii. 18. 'He that believeth not is condemned already.' So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John viii. 23. 'Ye are from beneath.' And thither be is bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him."
George Whitefield "First, then, before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your actual transgressions against the Law of God."
John Wesley "...it is the ordinary method of the Spirit of God to convict sinners by the Law. It is this which, being set home on the conscience, generally breaketh the rocks in pieces. It is more especially this part of the Word of God which is quick and powerful, full of life and energy and sharper than any two-edged sword."
"It remains only to show...the uses of the Law. And the first use of it, without question, is to convince the world of sin. By this is the sinner discovered to himself. All his fig-leaves are torn away, and he sees that he is 'wretched and poor and miserable, blind and naked.' The Law flashes conviction on every side. He feels himself a mere sinner. He has nothing to pay. His 'mouth is stopped' and he stands 'guilty before God.' To slay the sinner is then the first use of the Law, to destroy the life and strength wherein he trusts and convince him that he is dead while he lives; not only under the sentence of death, but actually dead to God, void of all spiritual life, dead in trespasses and sins."
"Before I can preach love, mercy and grace I must preach sin, law and judgment."
"The second use {of the Law} is to bring him unto Life, unto Christ that he may live. It is true, in performing both these offices, it acts the part of a severe school master. It drives us by force, rather than draws us by love. And yet love is the spring of all. It is the spirit of love which, by this painful means, tears away our confidence in the flesh, which leaves us no broken reed whereon to trust, and so constrains the sinner, stripped of all to cry out in the bitterness of his soul or groan in the depth of his heart, 'I give up every plea beside, Lord I am damned but thou hast died.'"
C. S. Lewis "When we merely say that we are bad, the 'wrath' of God seems a barbarous doctrine; as soon as we perceive our bad-ness, it appears inevitable, a mere corollary from God's goodness..."
J. I. Packer "Unless we see our shortcomings in the light of the Law and holiness of God, we do not see them as sin at all."
John Bunyan "The man who does not know the nature of the Law, cannot know the nature of sin."
A. W. Pink "Just as the world was not ready for the New Testament before it received the Old, just as the Jews were not prepared for the ministry of Christ until John the Baptist had gone before Him with his claimant call to repentance, so the unsaved are in no condition today for the Gospel till the Law be applied to their hearts, for 'by the Law is the knowledge of sin.' It is a waste of time to sow seed on ground which has never been ploughed or spaded! To present the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to those whose dominant passion is to take fill of sin, is to give that which is holy to the dogs."
Augustine "The Law is not in fault, but our evil and wicked nature; even as a heap of lime is still and quiet until water be poured thereon, but then it begins to smoke and burn, not from the fault of the water, but from the nature and kind of the lime which will not endure it."
Matthew Henry "Herein is the Law of God above all other laws, that it is a spiritual law. Other laws may forbid compassing and imagining, which are treason in the heart, but cannot take cognizance thereof, unless there be some overt act; but the Law of God takes notice of the iniquity regarded in the heart, though it go no further."
D. L. Moody "Ask Paul why [the Law] was given. Here is his answer, 'That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God' (Romans 3:19). The Law stops every man's mouth. I can always tell a man who is near the kingdom of God; his mouth is stopped. This, then, is why God gives us the Law—to show us ourselves in our true colors."
"The law can only chase a man to Calvary, no further."
J. C. Ryle "People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell ... Let us expound and beat out the Ten Commandments, and show the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of their requirements. This is the way of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do better than follow His plan. We may depend on it, men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those who the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world."
A. B. Earle "I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the Law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They will not escape from danger until they see it."
A. W. Tozer "No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God."
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones "A gospel which merely says, 'Come to Jesus,' and offers Him as a friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convincing of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. (The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the Law; and it is because the Law has not been preached that we have had so much superficial evangelism.) True evangelism... must always start by preaching the law."
"The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Savior, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the Law to bring such an understanding to a man's mind and conscience. That is why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago in the time of the puritans, and 200 years ago in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary law work."
John R. Stott "We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses, to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ."
John MacArthur "God's grace cannot be faithfully preached to unbelievers until the Law is preached and man's corrupt nature is exposed. It is impossible for a person to fully realize his need for God's grace until he sees how terribly he has failed the standards of God's Law
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