Should a day come whence gathered my foes
And if they would harm me and tear down my prose
If they discourage and seek to deface
Even if armies surround me to slay
Then I would cry and call on your name
If stones of fire rain down from the sky
And boils spread over and cover my skin
If clouds block the sun and keep me from light
Even if cancer were found deep within
Still I would cry and call on your name
If all I had was taken from me
If all my money, possessions were gone
Even if my roof was only a tree
And everything right had been turned into wrong
You are still there, you are with me
What if my friends denied they loved me?
Rejected by lovers, and by family?
What if all I had was the hope of you?
Would I be thankful that you remain true?
Though he slay me, yet will I trust him
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Comfort in Every Condition
One amazing thing about God is the fact that he meets all people where they are. He knows what each person needs individually and he knows how to meet their needs. He has different names and attributes that can comfort any person in any situation.
William Bridge, in his book “A Lifting Up for the Downcast”, says it like this: “Are you accused by Satan, the world, or your own conscience? Christ is called your Advocate. Are you ignorant? He is called the Prophet. Are you guilty of sin? He is called a Priest, a High Priest. Are you afflicted with many enemies, inward and outward? He is called a King, and King of kings. Are you in straits? He is called your way. Are you hungry or thirsty? He is called Bread and Water of Life. Are you afraid you shall fall away, and be condemned at the last? He is our second Adam, a public person, in whose death we died, and in whose satisfaction we satisfied justice. As there is no temptation or affliction, but some promise or other especially suits it: so there is no condition, but some name, some title, some attribute of Christ especially suits it.”
So often, when we are discouraged or downcast, it is because we focus on our conditions and circumstances instead of that which does not change, namely Christ and his promises. We never want to pretend that hard times don’t exist, that simply isn’t true; but we do want to cling to what does not sway with our ever-changing conditions. If Christ is unmovable, if he is unchangeable, if he is the same yesterday, today and forever (as Scripture says in Hebrews 13:8), then he is the rock we must build our lives upon. We must not build upon the sand, which shifts with the tides.
When you find yourself discouraged, remind yourself that you have no need to be, for Jesus is our all in all, our everything in every situation.
As the Puritan said, there is a name, an attribute of God for any condition you find yourself in that will give you comfort and peace. Do not be content in your discouragement, but seek out the encouragement God has for you in that time.
William Bridge, in his book “A Lifting Up for the Downcast”, says it like this: “Are you accused by Satan, the world, or your own conscience? Christ is called your Advocate. Are you ignorant? He is called the Prophet. Are you guilty of sin? He is called a Priest, a High Priest. Are you afflicted with many enemies, inward and outward? He is called a King, and King of kings. Are you in straits? He is called your way. Are you hungry or thirsty? He is called Bread and Water of Life. Are you afraid you shall fall away, and be condemned at the last? He is our second Adam, a public person, in whose death we died, and in whose satisfaction we satisfied justice. As there is no temptation or affliction, but some promise or other especially suits it: so there is no condition, but some name, some title, some attribute of Christ especially suits it.”
So often, when we are discouraged or downcast, it is because we focus on our conditions and circumstances instead of that which does not change, namely Christ and his promises. We never want to pretend that hard times don’t exist, that simply isn’t true; but we do want to cling to what does not sway with our ever-changing conditions. If Christ is unmovable, if he is unchangeable, if he is the same yesterday, today and forever (as Scripture says in Hebrews 13:8), then he is the rock we must build our lives upon. We must not build upon the sand, which shifts with the tides.
When you find yourself discouraged, remind yourself that you have no need to be, for Jesus is our all in all, our everything in every situation.
As the Puritan said, there is a name, an attribute of God for any condition you find yourself in that will give you comfort and peace. Do not be content in your discouragement, but seek out the encouragement God has for you in that time.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Killing Sin with Christ
God’s grace is truly an amazing thing. Right when one thinks they understand it, a new aspect of grace is revealed; like a cavern with an endless amount of connected caves and rooms is God’s grace.
Grace goes beyond the past: it covers the present and future as well. Grace doesn’t only cover our past sins, but also the ones we commit in the present as well as those committed in the future. Throughout all of eternity. God will be lavishing his grace on all those who have faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).
But how often do we act like we have only been forgiven for what we have done in the past? We act like we have to live perfectly, from the day we got saved forward, in order to maintain God’s favor.
William Bridge, in his book “A Lifting Up for the Downcast”, talks about how we so often have a mentality of needing to be clean before coming to Christ. We think that we need to deal with our sin in order to come to Jesus. “When you go to mourn for sin, begin aloft with Christ: and do not always think to begin below with sin, and so to come up to Christ; but begin aloft with Christ, and so by your humiliation, fall down upon sin.” In other words, the way to deal with sin is by coming to Christ first. There is no real way to mortify our sin but by the power of Christ through his Holy Spirit. We do not earn grace; we receive grace for no merit of our own, and from there we deal with sin.
If we try to deal with our sin first, we will ultimately fail. Even if we have temporary victories, all that will do is puff us up and cause great pride to develop in our hearts. Later, when we fail at killing sin, we will become discouraged and depressed. Bridge says, “There is many a poor soul that hath said, I will be first humbled for my sin, and then I will go to Christ; but he has stuck so long in the legal work, that he has never come at Christ.”
What a sad person, he who tries to attain peace with God by dealing with sin apart from Christ! He gets so stuck on the killing of sin, which won’t actually happen, that he never even gets to Christ. No ultimate good can come from trying to kill our sin apart from receiving grace first. How can we try to come to Jesus unless we have first received his grace? It cannot happen. Grace comes and grace stays. Grace justifies and grace kills our sin. Grace will have the last word for all those who have faith in Jesus and his work of salvation.
Be encouraged, that though you give into sin, it’s not something Jesus has not already forgiven. Walk in the grace God has given and will give you, and from there kill your sin.
Grace goes beyond the past: it covers the present and future as well. Grace doesn’t only cover our past sins, but also the ones we commit in the present as well as those committed in the future. Throughout all of eternity. God will be lavishing his grace on all those who have faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:7).
But how often do we act like we have only been forgiven for what we have done in the past? We act like we have to live perfectly, from the day we got saved forward, in order to maintain God’s favor.
William Bridge, in his book “A Lifting Up for the Downcast”, talks about how we so often have a mentality of needing to be clean before coming to Christ. We think that we need to deal with our sin in order to come to Jesus. “When you go to mourn for sin, begin aloft with Christ: and do not always think to begin below with sin, and so to come up to Christ; but begin aloft with Christ, and so by your humiliation, fall down upon sin.” In other words, the way to deal with sin is by coming to Christ first. There is no real way to mortify our sin but by the power of Christ through his Holy Spirit. We do not earn grace; we receive grace for no merit of our own, and from there we deal with sin.
If we try to deal with our sin first, we will ultimately fail. Even if we have temporary victories, all that will do is puff us up and cause great pride to develop in our hearts. Later, when we fail at killing sin, we will become discouraged and depressed. Bridge says, “There is many a poor soul that hath said, I will be first humbled for my sin, and then I will go to Christ; but he has stuck so long in the legal work, that he has never come at Christ.”
What a sad person, he who tries to attain peace with God by dealing with sin apart from Christ! He gets so stuck on the killing of sin, which won’t actually happen, that he never even gets to Christ. No ultimate good can come from trying to kill our sin apart from receiving grace first. How can we try to come to Jesus unless we have first received his grace? It cannot happen. Grace comes and grace stays. Grace justifies and grace kills our sin. Grace will have the last word for all those who have faith in Jesus and his work of salvation.
Be encouraged, that though you give into sin, it’s not something Jesus has not already forgiven. Walk in the grace God has given and will give you, and from there kill your sin.
Friday, February 4, 2011
All Truth is God's Truth
This is not some exhaustive treatise on all that could be said about truth. I’m sure there is much that could (and probably needs to) be expounded upon with each idea expressed. Understand my intention in writing this: we should use all truth to point to the whole truth, the ultimate truth, the authoritative truth.
Truth, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality.” God is the ultimate fact and reality (truth); therefore, all truth is God’s truth. If there be anything true, whether philosophically, theologically, scientifically, historically, or in any other way, it is true because God has made it true: because he owns all truth.
In Acts 17, Paul the Apostle uses the truths the Athenian’s believed to point to the greater truth of God. Quoting some of their own poets and philosophers, Paul says, “For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Paul uses the partial truths they believe to point to ultimate truth.
We, as Christians, need to take the beliefs that people hold, affirm what is true in them, and point those truths to the ultimate truth, which we find in Scripture. This does not mean affirming the sin they have by nature or the lies they believe. Having a part of the truth isn’t enough. If a person believes people are evil, but doesn’t believe Jesus lived perfectly in our place, they don’t have the whole truth. If another person believes Jesus loves everybody and therefore all people are accepted into salvation, but doesn’t believe people are by nature evil and deserving of God’s wrath, they don’t have the whole truth.
We can affirm in these things that yes, people are evil, and yes, Jesus loves everybody, but we need to point people to the whole truth, the big picture. Ultimate and authoritative truth is found in Scripture alone; all truth should be tested by and held accountable to Scripture.
Jonathan Edwards, in The Freedom of the Will, writes, “This great truth, that Jesus is the Son of God, was not spoiled because it was once and again proclaimed with a loud voice by the devil. If truth is so defiled because it is spoken by the mouth, or written by the pen of some ill-minded mischievous man, that it must never be received, we shall never know when we hold any of the most precious and evident truths by a sure tenure.”
The truth is the truth, regardless of who says it. Even demons and the worst of men can know the truth, but knowing isn’t enough. Faith is required. May we who have become new creations by faith through grace always be pointing people to ultimate truth so they too can become new creations. We are not only inviting people to know the truths of Jesus (even Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus, knew him), but to have a saving faith in him. We most certainly need to know the truth, for belief requires knowledge. But knowledge does not require belief. We are not saved by knowing the truth, but by believing it.
(I received help from Adam Smith in editing this post)
Truth, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality.” God is the ultimate fact and reality (truth); therefore, all truth is God’s truth. If there be anything true, whether philosophically, theologically, scientifically, historically, or in any other way, it is true because God has made it true: because he owns all truth.
In Acts 17, Paul the Apostle uses the truths the Athenian’s believed to point to the greater truth of God. Quoting some of their own poets and philosophers, Paul says, “For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Paul uses the partial truths they believe to point to ultimate truth.
We, as Christians, need to take the beliefs that people hold, affirm what is true in them, and point those truths to the ultimate truth, which we find in Scripture. This does not mean affirming the sin they have by nature or the lies they believe. Having a part of the truth isn’t enough. If a person believes people are evil, but doesn’t believe Jesus lived perfectly in our place, they don’t have the whole truth. If another person believes Jesus loves everybody and therefore all people are accepted into salvation, but doesn’t believe people are by nature evil and deserving of God’s wrath, they don’t have the whole truth.
We can affirm in these things that yes, people are evil, and yes, Jesus loves everybody, but we need to point people to the whole truth, the big picture. Ultimate and authoritative truth is found in Scripture alone; all truth should be tested by and held accountable to Scripture.
Jonathan Edwards, in The Freedom of the Will, writes, “This great truth, that Jesus is the Son of God, was not spoiled because it was once and again proclaimed with a loud voice by the devil. If truth is so defiled because it is spoken by the mouth, or written by the pen of some ill-minded mischievous man, that it must never be received, we shall never know when we hold any of the most precious and evident truths by a sure tenure.”
The truth is the truth, regardless of who says it. Even demons and the worst of men can know the truth, but knowing isn’t enough. Faith is required. May we who have become new creations by faith through grace always be pointing people to ultimate truth so they too can become new creations. We are not only inviting people to know the truths of Jesus (even Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus, knew him), but to have a saving faith in him. We most certainly need to know the truth, for belief requires knowledge. But knowledge does not require belief. We are not saved by knowing the truth, but by believing it.
(I received help from Adam Smith in editing this post)
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sneak Attack!!!
I was talking with my sister tonight, who is going to Nicaragua for a missions trip in a few days, and she was telling me about how much spiritual attack she is experiencing, both relationally with friends as well as with Jesus.
This made me think, why does it seem like Satan attacks us so much more when we are about to go on missions trips?
My answer is not one that is normally said. I would agree with those who would say that there is heightened spiritual attack to cause disunity amongst the group going on a missions trip, that Satan wants people to feel isolated and alone, that Satan wants people to keep their eyes on anything but Jesus, and that Satan wants to prohibit a work of God from happening on the trip by distracting the people on it.
But I believe there is a subtle sneak attack that Satan does to many people who go on missions trips when he makes them think they are being attacked more before going on a missions trip than normal. I think there possibly exists a greater deception that many people don’t see.
It is important for every Christian to understand that the whole of their life is to be lived on mission; and, I would say, especially wherever they call home. But many people who go on missions trips think missions consist only in going to other places, namely foreign countries. Satan loves this because it keeps people from living on mission where they call home. They associate missions apart from normal life.
This is the deeper deception that Satan promotes in many Christian’s lives, by attacking them more before missions trips. People think, “Satan is attacking me (or us) so much more when I go on mission. When I’m at home, he doesn’t attack as much; it’s because I’m not on a missions trip.” He furthers this idea, that mission is apart from one’s home, by associating big spiritual attack with going to other countries for missions.
How absurd. We are on the mission of Christ wherever we are, even if that is in our own neighborhood, ESPECIALLY in our own neighborhood.
Now that the secret is out, Satan’s subtle sneak attack, let us live on mission wherever we call home. Let us proclaim to truth of the Gospel of Christ where we live as though it actually can save the people we live with and around, not just those in other countries.
This made me think, why does it seem like Satan attacks us so much more when we are about to go on missions trips?
My answer is not one that is normally said. I would agree with those who would say that there is heightened spiritual attack to cause disunity amongst the group going on a missions trip, that Satan wants people to feel isolated and alone, that Satan wants people to keep their eyes on anything but Jesus, and that Satan wants to prohibit a work of God from happening on the trip by distracting the people on it.
But I believe there is a subtle sneak attack that Satan does to many people who go on missions trips when he makes them think they are being attacked more before going on a missions trip than normal. I think there possibly exists a greater deception that many people don’t see.
It is important for every Christian to understand that the whole of their life is to be lived on mission; and, I would say, especially wherever they call home. But many people who go on missions trips think missions consist only in going to other places, namely foreign countries. Satan loves this because it keeps people from living on mission where they call home. They associate missions apart from normal life.
This is the deeper deception that Satan promotes in many Christian’s lives, by attacking them more before missions trips. People think, “Satan is attacking me (or us) so much more when I go on mission. When I’m at home, he doesn’t attack as much; it’s because I’m not on a missions trip.” He furthers this idea, that mission is apart from one’s home, by associating big spiritual attack with going to other countries for missions.
How absurd. We are on the mission of Christ wherever we are, even if that is in our own neighborhood, ESPECIALLY in our own neighborhood.
Now that the secret is out, Satan’s subtle sneak attack, let us live on mission wherever we call home. Let us proclaim to truth of the Gospel of Christ where we live as though it actually can save the people we live with and around, not just those in other countries.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Blessed Assurance
I’ve been reading Jonathan Edwards’ The Freedom of the Will. In recent chapters he has been speaking on how, because God knows all future events, it is impossible for them to be otherwise. Whether or not God’s knowledge of the future is the cause of every single thing that happens or choice humans make is beyond the scope of this blog. The purpose of this entry is simple: the assurance of our salvation.
Edwards is refuting the thought of certain Arminians of his day that God cannot certainly know what will happen in the future because if he did, he would not be worthy of praise because he is the one who made the events take place. God can only be praiseworthy if he has no hand in the moral choices of people. Edwards thinks this to be a load of crap. The fact that God knows future moral choices people make does not make him any less worthy of praise.
He writes how it was prophesied that the Messiah would not give into sin (whether or not the Messiah was able to sin will not be addressed in this entry) and that he would be given glory, a kingdom, and success. He cites verses such as Isaiah 42:1-8, 49:7-9, 50:5-9, 52:13-15, 53:10-12 and Psalm 2:6-7, 45:3-4,110:4. Assuming Jesus was capable of sinning and losing his future glory and kingdom, it was still prophesied that he would not sin; therefore, in one sense, it was literally impossible for Jesus to have failed unless God did not know future events. Even if Jesus was on the brink of sinning, he could point back to the scriptures that guaranteed his victory and gain confidence by what was true. Even though he was tempted to the point of bloodshed, he knew it COULD NOT lead to sin because it had been written by God’s perfect foreknowledge that he would not.
The reason I say all this is because it has HUGE implications on his bride, The Church, Christians. Jesus promises The Church that the gates of Hades will not prevail against them (Matthew 16:18), The Church is promised that they will not be tempted beyond what they can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13), that they will be sustained and not moved (Psalm 55:22), that they HAVE eternal life and nobody can snatch them from Jesus (John 10:28), etc. There are many more verses that could be referenced. But these hold my point: that just like it was impossible for Jesus to fail, it is impossible for Jesus’ church to fail. We will persevere till the last day. We have a real hope that has been written down by the perfect foreknowledge of God, which nothing can change. What God has spoken, what God has written, cannot help but come to pass.
Be encouraged, that because Jesus did not fail, neither shall we who have faith and have been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have been clothed in the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the future is already set in stone for us! We will be raised into resurrection bodies. Death will be defeated. We will be glorified. Nothing can stop this from coming to pass. LET’S SPREAD THE WORD!!!
Edwards is refuting the thought of certain Arminians of his day that God cannot certainly know what will happen in the future because if he did, he would not be worthy of praise because he is the one who made the events take place. God can only be praiseworthy if he has no hand in the moral choices of people. Edwards thinks this to be a load of crap. The fact that God knows future moral choices people make does not make him any less worthy of praise.
He writes how it was prophesied that the Messiah would not give into sin (whether or not the Messiah was able to sin will not be addressed in this entry) and that he would be given glory, a kingdom, and success. He cites verses such as Isaiah 42:1-8, 49:7-9, 50:5-9, 52:13-15, 53:10-12 and Psalm 2:6-7, 45:3-4,110:4. Assuming Jesus was capable of sinning and losing his future glory and kingdom, it was still prophesied that he would not sin; therefore, in one sense, it was literally impossible for Jesus to have failed unless God did not know future events. Even if Jesus was on the brink of sinning, he could point back to the scriptures that guaranteed his victory and gain confidence by what was true. Even though he was tempted to the point of bloodshed, he knew it COULD NOT lead to sin because it had been written by God’s perfect foreknowledge that he would not.
The reason I say all this is because it has HUGE implications on his bride, The Church, Christians. Jesus promises The Church that the gates of Hades will not prevail against them (Matthew 16:18), The Church is promised that they will not be tempted beyond what they can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13), that they will be sustained and not moved (Psalm 55:22), that they HAVE eternal life and nobody can snatch them from Jesus (John 10:28), etc. There are many more verses that could be referenced. But these hold my point: that just like it was impossible for Jesus to fail, it is impossible for Jesus’ church to fail. We will persevere till the last day. We have a real hope that has been written down by the perfect foreknowledge of God, which nothing can change. What God has spoken, what God has written, cannot help but come to pass.
Be encouraged, that because Jesus did not fail, neither shall we who have faith and have been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have been clothed in the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the future is already set in stone for us! We will be raised into resurrection bodies. Death will be defeated. We will be glorified. Nothing can stop this from coming to pass. LET’S SPREAD THE WORD!!!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
What John Calvin thought of the Papists
“The papists, who are accustomed to set aside the true meaning of the Scriptures, and to spoil all the mysteries of God by their own fooleries, have here contrived an absurd fable; for they have falsely alleged that the oxen and asses in the stall worshipped Christ when he was born; by which they show themselves to be egregious asses. (And indeed I wish that they would imitate the ass which they have invented; for then they should be asses worshipping Christ, and not lifting up the heel against his divine authority.)” - John Calvin
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