The Glory of God - Man's Chief End - (Part Four)

When I started my Theology Art projects two years ago, one of the first things I created was a hand-illustrated vest with the image of Thomas Watson on one side of the vest and one of his rather provocative quotes on the other.  When I originally read the quote, I had to ask myself, "How would the majority of professing Christians in the twenty-first century react to this?"  Would they agree?  So what was that quote?  Here it is:

"God's glory is more worth than heaven, and more worth than the salvation of all men's souls."

What are your initial thoughts when you read that? Do you agree with that statement? Ponder it for a minute or two.  This quote was taken from his treatise on Man's Chief End is to Glorify God of which I have been copying excerpts from as part of this four part series. I truly believe that we (modern Christians) need to ponder these things and very few have ever even been introduced to such thoughts, let alone, pondered them.

Let us listen a bit more to Thomas Watson on the topic:

" When the Spirit revives the heart with comfort, it comes not only with its anointing, but with its seal; it sheds God's love abroad in the heart. Rom. 5:5, "Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:3. 

In the Word we hear God's voice; in the sacrament we have his kiss. The heart being warmed and inflamed in a duty is God's answering by fire. The sweet communications of God's Spirit are the first fruits of glory. Now Christ has pulled off his veil, and showed his smiling face; now he has led a believer into the banqueting-house, and given him of the spiced wine of his love to drink; he has put in his finger at the hole of the door; he has touched the heart, and made it leap for joy. Oh how sweet is it thus to enjoy God! The godly have, in ordinances, had such divine raptures of joy, and soul transfigurations, that they have been carried above the world, and have despised all things here below.

Use 1.

Is the enjoyment of God in this life so sweet? How wicked are they who prefer the enjoyment of their lusts before the enjoyment of God! 2 Pet. 3:3, "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life," is the Trinity they worship. Lust is an inordinate desire or impulse, provoking the soul to that which is evil. There is the revengeful lust, and the wanton lust. Lust, like a feverish heat, puts the soul into a flame. Aristotle calls sensual lusts brutish, because, when any lust is violent, reason or conscience cannot be heard. These lusts besot and brutalise the man. Hos. 4:11,"Whoredom and wine take away the heart;" the heart for anything that is good. How many make it their chief end, not to enjoy God, but to enjoy their lusts; as that cardinal who said, "Let him but keep his cardinalship of Paris and he was content to lose his part in Paradise." Lust first bewitches with pleasure, and then comes the fatal dart. Prov. 7:23, "Till a dart strike through his liver." This should be as a flaming sword to stop men in the way of their carnal delights. Who for a drop of pleasure would drink a sea of wrath?

Use 2.

 Let it be our great care to enjoy God's sweet presence in his ordinances.  Enjoying spiritual communion with God is a riddle and mystery to most people.  Every one that hangs about the court does not speak with the king. 

We may approach God in ordinances, and hang about the court of heaven, yet not enjoy communion with God.  We may have the letter without the Spirit, the visible sign without the invisible grace. It is the enjoyment of God in a duty that we should chiefly look at. Psalm 13:2, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." Alas! what are all our worldly enjoyments without the enjoyment of God? What is it to enjoy good health, a brave estate, and not to enjoy God? Job 30:28, "I went mourning without the sun." So mayest thou say in the enjoyment of all creatures without God, "I went mourning without the sun." I have the starlight of outward enjoyments, but I lack the Sun of Righteousness. "I went mourning without the sun."

It should be our great design, not only to have the ordinances of God, but the God of the ordinances. The enjoyment of God's sweet presence here is the most contented life: he is a hive of sweetness, a magazine of riches, a fountain of delight, Psalm 36:8,9. The higher the lark flies the sweeter it sings; and the higher we fly by the wings of faith, the more we enjoy of God. How is the heart inflamed in prayer and meditation!   What joy and peace is there in believing! Is it not comfortable being in heaven?  He that enjoys much of God in this life carries heaven about him.   Oh let this be the thing we are chiefly ambitious of, the enjoyment of God in his ordinances! The enjoyment of God's sweet presence here is an earnest of our enjoying him in heaven.

"How dare anyone deprive us of our comforts!"

Ever find yourself thinking that way?

My husband and I just finished volume one of  Sam Storm's two volume book entitled "A Sincere and Pure Devotion to Christ".  Michael reads a chapter or two each night before we turn out the lights.  One portion really stood out to me as I was contemplating the American Christian culture and how, frankly, scared we are of putting ourselves in harms way for the sake of the gospel.   Here is the excerpt below, which God used to both convict and encourage us:

I travel extensively throughout the U.S. and occasionally overseas, speaking at churches and conferences. Typically, either at some point while I'm away or immediately upon my return, my wife lovingly asks such questions as: "Did the ministry go well? Did they respond positively to what you had to say? Did you sleep well in the hotel? At what restaurants did you eat? Are you feeling o.k.?"

 

She's never yet heard me say in reply: "They threw stones at me during my first sermon. One caught me square in the forehead. I felt my life was in jeopardy on a few occasions and I honestly didn't know if I'd escape. Two leaders in the church beat me with rods and the local sheriff threw me in jail on the second night. I didn't sleep a wink in that stinking cell and the food was so repulsive I couldn't eat a thing. Other than that, the ministry was great!"

 

No one in the Christian west anticipates such treatment. If we ever encountered anything remotely similar to what Paul faced, we'd wipe the dust from our shoes and never return. Surely "ministers of God" (v. 4a) who are dedicated to the gospel ought to expect the best of everything. How dare anyone deprive us of our comforts!

 

So what would motivate a man to willingly pursue a life characterized by the sort of hardships Paul endured? What could possibly sustain a man through such sufferings?

 

One answer is found in Hebrews 10:32-34. There we read of Christians who "endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated" (vv. 32-33). Beyond this, they "joyfully accepted the plundering" of their "property" (v. 34)! Here's why. Here's how. They "knew" they "had a better possession and an abiding one" (v. 34).

 

The degree to which we find suffering intolerable is the degree to which we lack confidence in the glory of our inheritance in Christ. To the extent that we are embittered by oppression and persecution, we reveal our lack of satisfaction in him.

 

Paul was in the grip of the glory to come (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16-18), and found strength to endure. Like those believers in Hebrews 10, he feasted on the promise of a future with Christ and held fast.

 

  

Random Thoughts

I often hear statements like, "Our goal as Christians is to become more Christ-like".  Is that really our goal?  Should we think about it as a goal?  I believe that becoming more Christ-like is the result of a life lived in communion with Christ.  To present it as the "reason or goal" for readng the Word, or praying, or serving others, or worshipping, or doing all of those things that we as Christians do, seems to make the Christian life more about "Me" than about "Him".  Something to ponder.

I often hear statements that seem to indicate that our goal is also Heaven, and heaven is used as a motivation for persevering with little or no mention of Christ.  I believe that many of us think more about Heaven and our own glorified bodies than we do about being with Christ.   This is even true in regard to life here on earth.

Thomas Goodwin Once said:

"If I were to go to heaven, and find that Christ was not there, I would leave immediately, for heaven would be hell to me without Christ."

Richard Sibbs said:

 It is better to be in any place with Christ than to be in heaven itself without him. All delicacies without Christ are but as a funeral banquet. Where the master of the feast is away, there is nothing but solemnness. What is all without Christ? I say the joys of heaven are not the joys of heaven without Christ; he is the very heaven of heaven.

True love is carried to the person. It is adulterous love, to love the thing, or the gift, more than the person. St Paul loved the person of Christ, because he felt sweet experience that Christ loved him, his love was but a reflection of Christ's love first. He loved to see Christ, to embrace him, and enjoy him that had done so much and suffered so much for his soul, that had forgiven him so many sins, etc.

I believe that one danger that is plauging the modern Christian church, yes, even the reformed church, is a subtle slip into a "me" centered faith.  It is subtle; however, we can detect in our words, if we listen carefully enough.    We should desire to be more Christ-like so that our lives would reflect His power and beauty and we would be better equipped to minister to others; not so that we can feel better about our progress in the faith.

During a recent worship service a thought came to mind and I wrote it down.  I do not normally take notes or write during the preaching of a sermon; but this was one of those thoughts that I could not let go of and borrowed my husbands pen.  The thought was,

"The most miserable day on earth,when you are in Christ, is far better than the best day on earth if you are without Him." 

I fear many don't really understand that and perhaps don't even like the sound of it.
Just some random thoughts.

'If this is Christianity; I may not be a Christian!'

The full quote is, "If this is Christianity, then I have never really known what Christianity is. In fact; If this is Christianity, I may not be a Christian". This was a quote from a pastor of a church, after he was introduced to the "Christianity" expressed and experienced by men who lived over 400 years ago. He was filled with sorrow and with joy (all at the same time) for the very first time in His walk with the Lord.

I have found this to be my own same experience and I have found that many genuinely "born-again" believers are moved in the very same way when they discover the depth of the hearts of these men for Christ. This is truly one of God's precious gifts to His people.

Why is this important? It is important because we are living in "shallow", "superficial", "man-centered times" and yet true believers hunger and thirst for Joy--for REALITY; for purpose.

Read this excerpt (unfortunately many of you won't) from Thomas Watson's treatise on "Men's Chief End" and tell me if this is your experience. Tell me if you hunger for this. Tell me if you experience this beauty and depth with the Lord while you attend His ordinances. This is "Christianity" and this is what our souls long for and can experience.

The enjoyment of God in this life. It is a great matter to enjoy God's ordinances, but to enjoy God's presence in the ordinances is that which a gracious heart aspires after. Psalm 63:2, "To see thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." This sweet enjoyment of God is when we feel his Spirit co-operating with the ordinance, and distilling grace upon our hearts.

When in the Word the Spirit quickens and raises the affections. Luke 24:32, "Did not our hearts burn within us?"

When the Spirit transforms the heart leaving an impress of holiness upon it. 2 Cor. 3:8, "We are changed into the same image, from glory to glory."

When the Spirit revives the heart with comfort, it comes not only with its anointing, but with its seal; it sheds God's love abroad in the heart. Rom. 5:5, "Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:3.

In the Word we hear God's voice; in the sacrament we have his kiss. (Have you felt the kiss of Christ in the sacraments?) The heart being warmed and inflamed in a duty is God's answering by fire. The sweet communications of God's Spirit are the first fruits of glory. Now Christ has pulled off his veil, and showed his smiling face; now he has led a believer into the banqueting-house, and given him of the spiced wine of his love to drink; he has put in his finger at the hole of the door; he has touched the heart, and made it leap for joy.

Oh how sweet is it thus to enjoy God! The godly have, in ordinances, had such divine raptures of joy, and soul transfigurations, that they have been carried above the world, and have despised all things here below. (Is this your experience?)
Is the enjoyment of God in this life so sweet?

How wicked are they who prefer the enjoyment of their lusts before the enjoyment of God! 2 Pet. 3:3, "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life," is the Trinity they worship. Lust is an inordinate desire or impulse, provoking the soul to that which is evil. There is the revengeful lust, and the wanton lust. Lust, like a feverish heat, puts the soul into a flame. Aristotle calls sensual lusts brutish, because, when any lust is violent, reason or conscience cannot be heard. These lusts besot and brutalise the man. Hos. 4:11,"Whoredom and wine take away the heart;" the heart for anything that is good. How many make it their chief end, not to enjoy God, but to enjoy their lusts; as that cardinal who said, "Let him but keep his cardinalship of Paris and he was content to lose his part in Paradise." Lust first bewitches with pleasure, and then comes the fatal dart. Prov. 7:23, "Till a dart strike through his liver." This should be as a flaming sword to stop men in the way of their carnal delights. Who for a drop of pleasure would drink a sea of wrath?

Let it be our great care to enjoy God's sweet presence in his ordinances. Enjoying spiritual communion with God is a riddle and mystery to most people. Every one that hangs about the court does not speak with the king.

We may approach God in ordinances, and hang about the court of heaven, yet not enjoy communion with God.

We may have the letter without the Spirit, the visible sign without the invisible grace. It is the enjoyment of God in a duty that we should chiefly look at. Psalm 13:2, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." Alas! what are all our worldly enjoyments without the enjoyment of God?

What is it to enjoy good health, a brave estate, and not to enjoy God? Job 30:28, "I went mourning without the sun." So mayest thou say in the enjoyment of all creatures without God, "I went mourning without the sun." I have the starlight of outward enjoyments, but I lack the Sun of Righteousness. "I went mourning without the sun." It should be our great design, not only to have the ordinances of God, but the God of the ordinances.

The enjoyment of God's sweet presence here is the most contented life: he is a hive of sweetness, a magazine of riches, a fountain of delight, Psalm 36:8,9. The higher the lark flies the sweeter it sings; and the higher we fly by the wings of faith, the more we enjoy of God. How is the heart inflamed in prayer and meditation! What joy and peace is there in believing! Is it not comfortable being in heaven? He that enjoys much of God in this life carries heaven about him. Oh let this be the thing we are chiefly ambitious of, the enjoyment of God in his ordinances! The enjoyment of God's sweet presence here is an earnest of our enjoying him in heaven.

Ah, yes! This is Christ and this is Christianity.

Deck the Halls?

We (the Christian Community) have become so "dumbed down" that we often do things without ever questioning or examining anything--without thinking; and, then with uneducated consciences we hold very strong convictions about our own practices and traditions.   To send the point home; how many of us sing right along with "Deck the Halls" during this time of year, clueless to what we are actually joining in?  Take a listen.

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Tis the season to be jolly,
Don we now our gay apparel,
Troll the ancient Yule tide carol,
See the blazing Yule before us,
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Follow me in merry measure,
While I tell of Yule tide treasure,
Fast away the old year passes,
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,
Sing we joyous, all together,
Heedless of the wind and weather,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.


The following is from a Wiccan Website to educate those people seeking to correctly celebrate December 25th, in order that they understand the meaning, history and tradition correctly:

Sabbats, Yule celebrates the rebirth of the Sun, the Sun God, and honors the Horned God. Yule is the longest night of the year, when balance is suspended and then gives way to the coming light. It is a time to look on the past year's achievements and to celebrate with family and friends. In ancient times, the Winter Solstice corresponded with the Roman Saturnalia (Dec. 17-24), pagan fertility rites, and various rites of Sun worship. This day is the official first day of winter. The Goddess gives birth to the Sun Child and hope for new light is born. The origins of most of the Christian Christmas traditions come from the Pagan Yule celebration, such as the Christmas tree, the colors red and green and gift giving. Yule is also known as the Winter Solstice, Midwinter, Alban Arthan, Finn's Day, Festival of Sol, Yuletide, Great Day of the Cauldron, and Festival of Growth.


At the Winter Solstice, the two God-themes of the year's cycle coincide. Yule, which according to the Venerable Bede, comes from the Norse Iul meaning "wheel", marks the vanquishing of the Holly King (Dionysus), God of the Waning Year, by the Oak King (Apollo), God of the Waxing Year. The Goddess, who was Death-in-Life at Midsummer, now shows her Life-in-Death aspect; for although at this season she is the "leperous-white lady", the Queen of the cold Darkness, yet this is her moment for giving birth to the Child of Promise, the Son-Lover who will re-fertilize her and bring back light and warmth to her kingdom.


An extraordinarily persistent version of the Holly King/Oak King theme at the Winter Solstice is the ritual hunting and killing of the wren - a folklore tradition found as far apart in time and space as ancient Greece and Rome and today's British Isles. The wren, "little king" of the Waning Year, is killed by his counterpart, the robin redbreast, who finds him hiding in as ivy bush (or sometimes in Ireland in a holly bush, as befits the Holly King). The robin's tree is the birch, which follows the Winter Solstice in the Celtic Tree calendar. In the acted-out ritual, men hunted and killed the wren with birch rods.


As for traditions, the modern personification of the Christmas Spirit known as Santa Claus was at one time the pagan God of Yule. To the Scandinavians, Woden was once known as "Christ on the Wheel", an ancient Norse title for the Sun God who was reborn at the time of the Winter Solstice. St. Nicholas, in early folklore, rode not a reindeer, but a white horse through the sky - like Woden.


The burning of the Yule Log stems from the old custom of the Yule Bonfire that was burned to give life and power to the Sun, which was thought to be reborn at the Winter Solstice. In later times, the outdoor bonfire custom was replaced by the indoor burning of log and red candles etched with carvings of solar designs and other magickal symbols. As the Oak Tree was considered to be the Cosmic Tree of Life by the ancient Druids, the Yule Log is traditionally Oak. Some Wiccan traditions use a Pine Yule Log to symbolize the dying God Dionysus.


Mistletoe was considered very magickal by the Druids, who called it the "Golden Bough". They believed it possessed great healing powers and gave mortal men access to the underworld. The living plant, which is actually a parasitic shrub with leathery evergreen leaves and waxy white berries, was at one time thought of as the genitalia of the great God Zeus, whose sacred tree is the Oak. The phallic significance of mistletoe stems from the idea that its white berries were drops of the God's Divine Semen in contrast to the red berries of the Holly, which were equated with the Sacred Menstrual Blood of the Goddess. The life-giving essence which mistletoe suggests provides a symbolic divine substance and a sense of immortality to those who hang it at Yuletide. In ancient times, ecstatic sexual orgies frequently accompanied the rites of the Oak King; in modern times, however, the custom of kissing under the mistletoe is all that remains.


The relatively modern tradition of decorating the Christmas tree is a custom that evolved from the silver fir and pine groves associated with the Great Mother Goddess. The lights and ornaments hung on the tree as decoration are actually symbols of the Sun, Moon, and Stars as they appear in the Cosmic Tree of Life. They also represent departed souls who are remembered at the end of the year. Sacred presents (which evolved into modern day Christmas gifts) were also hung on the tree as offerings to various deities such as Dionysus.


There is an ancient Egyptian ritual involving Isis and Osiris, and his brother/enemy Set, who kills Osiris and is driven away by the shaking of Isis' sistrum, to bring about Osiris' rebirth. For the festival, people decorated the outside of their houses with oil-lamps that burned all night. At midnight, the priests emerged from an inner shrine crying, "The Virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!" and showing the image of a baby to the worshipers. Osiris and Horus, his son/other-self, represent at the same time the solar and vegetation God-aspects; Horus is both the Sun reborn (the Greeks identified him with Apollo) and "Lord of the Crops". The lamps burning all night on the eve on Midwinter survive, in Ireland and elsewhere, as the single candle burning in the window on Christmas Eve, lit by the youngest in the house, and as the modern lights that are strung on the outside of houses.


Placing cakes in the boughs of the oldest apple trees in the orchard and pouring on cider, as a libation was an old pagan Yuletide custom practiced in England, and known as "Wassailing the Orchard Trees". It was said that the cider was a substitute for the human or animal blood offered in primitive times as part of a Winter Solstice Fertility Rite. After offering a toast to the health of the apple trees and giving thanks to them for producing fruit, the farmers would then enjoin the trees continue producing abundance.

The above is not some "bah hum bug" puritan or reformers' words; but the actual pagans who love this day and want to make sure they have a full and complete pagan worship.

In fact, once you study all of the most legitimate historical sources available, you can quickly understand the reason most reformers and puritans saw the celebration of Christmas as an abomination.  In fact, even as late as Spurgeon and A.W. Pink, men were aware of these things.  What has happened, church?

Morality & Regeneration (Part Two)

Morality is a neat cover for foul venom,
but it does not alter the fact that the heart is vile,
and the man himself is under damnation.


Men will be damned with good works
as well as without them,
if they make them their confidence.


You may go to hell as well dressed
in the garnishings of morality
as in the rags of immorality.


It is still the old nature- wash it, and cleanse it,
and bind it, and curb it, and bridle it-
it is still the old fallen nature,
and cannot understand spiritual things.
C.H. Spurgeon

To the eye of one who sees not as God sees, there is much that is comparatively illustrious in the character and conduct of such men. But while we cheerfully make these concessions, we may not substitute a mere visible morality, however exemplary, however vivid and useful, for true holiness. It is easy to conceive all the virtues of an unexceptional moral deportment concentrated in men who are at heart strangers to the spirit of Jesus Christ. A person of the character to which we refer may, for example, be a professed disbeliever in the truths and doctrines of the Gospel. There are not lacking even infidels who rarely disregard the laws of good neighborhood and civil society. David Hume would have blushed at the imputation of moral dishonesty and yet could boldly deny his God and Savior.

Seneca and Socrates inculcated by their writings and sustained by their conduct a morality which, though not faultless, did honor to the pagan world, but they were pagans still. There are also men in these Christian lands who from the peculiarity of their condition, from the restraints of education and habit, from high notions of honor from a keen sense of propriety and gentlemanly deportment, or from motives of mere ambition and personal aggrandizement, would seldom be detected in an immoral action; who, at the same time, disclaim every principle of the Holy Scriptures.

The morality of which we speak, with all its excellencies, is subjected to a lamentable defect. It regards only a part of the divine law. A merely moral man may be very scrupulous of duties he owes to his fellow men, while the infinitely important duties he owes to God are kept entirely out of sight. Of loving and serving God, he knows nothing. Whatever he does or whatever he leaves undone, he does nothing for God. He is honest in his dealings with all except God, he robs none but God, he is thankless and faithless to none but God, he feels contemptuously, and speaks reproachfully of none but God. A just perception of the relations he sustains to God constitutes no part of his principles, and the duties which result from those relations constitute no part of his piety. He may not only disbelieve the Scriptures, but may never read them; may not only disregard the divine authority, but every form of divine worship, and live and die as though he had no concern with God and God had not concern with him.

The character of the young man in the Gospel presents a painful and affecting view of the deficiencies of external morality (see Mat. 19:16-22). He was not dishonest, nor untrue; he was not impure nor malignant; and not a few of the divine commands he had externally observed. No, he says, “All these have I kept.” Nor was his a mere sporadic goodness, but steady and uniform. He had performed these services “from his youth up.” Nor was this all. He professed a willingness to become acquainted with his whole duty. “What lack I yet?” And yet when brought to the test, this poor youth saw that, with all his boasted morality, he could not deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Christ. I said that mere morality regarded only a part of the divine law, but to speak more correctly, it disregards the whole of it.

The sum and soul of obedience to the divine law consists in love to God. But the people whom we describe, though they many have some knowledge of God and may confess his worthiness to be loved, love almost everything else more than He. They have no supreme delight and complacency in His excellence; it is no source of congratulation to those who He is what He is, and that He sways the empire of the universe; and if they ever fix their thoughts upon God, their contemplation of His holiness, justice, and sovereignty are rather the sources of suspicion, alarm, and uneasiness, than of tranquility, confidence, and holy pleasure. Men of this description, therefore, are wholly destitute of the radical and essential principle of conformity to the law of God. However they may have the appearance of rectitude, they fail in all the essential parts of holy obedience. Nor is there in such a character any conformity to the requisitions of the Gospel. Repentance, faith, humility, submission, hope, and joy are acts of a mind that delights in God.

There is a wide distinction between moral virtues and Christian graces. Christian graces spring from holy love and have their origin in holy motives. They regard chiefly the glory of God and the interests of His Kingdom and then govern the relationships of men with their fellow men as God has required. Moral virtues spring from supreme selfishness. They have their origin in motives that are never recognized by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have no regard for the glory of God and the interests of His Kingdom and go just so far as a well-regulated self-interest leads the way and there they stop.

Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit!

How little we truly understand about the Spirit of God and how influenced is our understanding by the current Christian culture that we swim in.  As I was reading a sermon by Spurgeon on "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."—Ephesians 4:30; the following excerpt made me pause. I am almost certain that most modern "orthodox" Christians, who think that they have a grasp on the indwelling, sealing, and filling of the Spirit of God, would read the following and object.

Our graces are much like the flower called the Hydrangea, when it has plenty of water it blooms, but as soon as moisture fails, the leaves drop down at once. And so when the Spirit goes away, faith shuts up its flowers; no perfume is exhaled. Then the fruit of our love begins to rot and drops from the tree; then the sweet buds of our hope become frostbitten, and they die. Oh, what a sad thing it is to lose the Spirit. Have you never, my brethren, been on your knees and have been conscious that the Spirit of God was not with you, and what awful work it has been to groan, and cry, and sigh, and yet go away again, and no light to shine upon the promises, not so much as a ray of light through the chink of the dungeon. All forsaken, forgotten, and forlorn, you are almost driven to despair. You sing with Cowper:—


"What peaceful hours I once enjoyed,
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void,
The world can never fill.
Return, thou sacred dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest,
I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
And drove thee from my breast.


The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from its throne,
And worship only thee."


Ah! sad enough it is to have the Spirit drawn from us. But, my brethren, I am about to say something with the utmost charity, which, perhaps, may look severe, but, nevertheless, I must say it. The churches of the present day are very much in the position of those who have grieved the Spirit of God; for the Spirit deals with churches just as it does with individuals. Of these late years how little has God wrought in the midst of his churches. Throughout England, at least some four or five years ago, an almost universal torpor had fallen upon the visible body of Christ. There was a little action, but it was spasmodic; there was no real vitality. Oh! how few sinners were brought to Christ, how empty had our places of worship become; our prayer-meetings were dwindling away to nothing, and our church meetings were mere matters of farce.

You know right well that this is the case with many London churches to this day; and there be some that do not mourn about it. They go up to their accustomed place, and the minister prays, and the people either sleep with their eyes or else with their hearts, and they go out, and there is never a soul saved. The pool of baptism is seldom stirred; but the saddest part of all is this, the churches are willing to have it so. They are not earnest to get a revival of religion. We have been doing something, the church at large has been doing something. I will not just now put my finger upon what the sin is, but there has been something done which has driven the Spirit of God from us. He is grieved, and he is gone. He is present with us here, I thank his name, he is still visible in our midst. He has not left us. Though we have been as unworthy as others, yet has he given us a long outpouring of his presence. These five years or more, we have had a revival which is not to be exceeded by any revival upon the face of the earth. Without cries or shoutings, without fallings down or swooning, steadily God adds to this church numbers upon numbers, so that your minister's heart is ready to break with very joy when he thinks how manifestly the Spirit of God is with us. But brethren, we must not be content with this, we want to see the Spirit poured out on all churches.

As I reflect back on my past experience in local churches, I recall (years ago) heralding this very same warning and then being corrected by the church leadership and accused of having a "critical spirit".  I am daily thankful that we have a endless multitude of godly men, who have already left this earth to be with the Lord, to turn to for encouragement, edification and affirmation, when the modern church is in a decline and the teaching is limited.

Do you live constantly acknowledging the reality of the presence of Christ?

When Christ is with us we are safe, for what wolf can rend a sheep when it is close to the shepherd’s hand? When we are away from Jesus, we are not only in peril, but are already despoiled; to lose fellowship with Jesus is loss enough in itself, even if no further calamity occur. Ships without a pilot, cities without watchmen, babes without a nurse, are we without Jesus. We cannot do without him, the less we attempt it the better. Samson without his locks is the sad type of a believer out of fellowship.

How dare we go forth to business on any one day without the presence of the Lord? As well might the warrior go to battle without shield and buckler. Should we not daily pray, “If thy presence go not with me, carry me not up hence”? How can we go to our beds till he has kissed us with the kisses of his mouth? May not even the dreams and visions of the night prove our bane if our souls be not committed to his keeping? For my part, I love to murmur to myself, as I place my head on my pillow, those charming lines —

“Sprinkled afresh with pardoning blood,
I lay me down to rest,
As in th’ embraces of my God,
Or on my Savior’s breast.”

C. H. Spurgeon

"...certain secret, mystic, and divine impulses..."

I fear that the title of this post may twist some people's faces up; which brings me great sorrow. So many have been indoctrinated into limiting the supernatural reality of the existence, presence, attributes and operations of God among His people.  I am so thankful to our Lord that he has gifted the church with teachers and preachers throughout the church's history to bring encouragement to those still alive in the body.   This is where I go to graze when my soul is in need of green pastures"

To mere professors Christ Jesus is never anything but a myth. They believe there was such a man, but he is only an historical personage to them. To true believers in Christ, however, he is a real person, now existing, and now dwelling in the hearts of his people. And oh! I bear my witness that if there be anything which has ever been certified to my consciousness it is the existence of Jesus, the man, the Son of God.


Oh friends, have we not, when our soul has been in a rapture, thrust our finger into the prints of the nails? Have we not been so drawn away from the outward world, that in spiritual communings we could say, He was to us as our brother that sucked the breasts of our mother, and when we found him without we did embrace him, and we would not let him go? His left hand has been under our head, and his right hand has embraced us. I know this will sound like a legend even to men who profess to be Christ's followers, but I question the reality of your piety if Christ be not one for whom you live, and in whom you dwell; with whom you walk, and in whom you hope soon to sleep that you may wake up in his likeness. A real Christ and a real God—no man has real religion till he knows these. So again the Holy Spirit, who is, with the Father and the Son, the one God of Israel; the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, indivisibly One and yet everlastingly Three—the Holy Spirit is also real, for




"He, in our hearts of sin and woe
Makes living streams of grace arise,
Which into boundless glory flow."


Tell us there is no Spirit? Why, about this we can speak positively. A fool may say that there is no magnetic influence, and that no electric streams can flow along the wires, but they who have once been touched by that mysterious power know it; and the Holy Spirit's influence on men is quite as much within the sphere of our recognition, if we have ever felt it, as is the influence of galvanism or magnetism. Those who have once felt the spiritual life know when it is flowing in; when its strength is withdrawn, and when it returns anew. They know that at times they can do all things; their heaviest trial is a joy, and their weightiest burden a delight; and that at other times they can do nothing, being bowed down to the very dust with weakness. They know that at times they enjoy peace with God through Jesus Christ, and that at other times they are disturbed in spirit. They have discovered, too, that these changes do not depend upon the weather, nor upon circumstances, nor upon any relation of one thought to another, but upon certain secret, mystic, and divine impulses which come forth from the Spirit of God, which make a man more than man, for he is filled with Deity from head to foot, and whose withdrawal makes him feel himself less than man, for he is filled with sin and drenched with iniquity, till he loatheth his own being. Tell us there is no Holy Spirit! We have seen his goings in the sanctuary, but as we shall have to mention these by-and-bye, we pass on, and only now affirm that the Father, Son, and Spirit, are to true Christians no fiction, no dream, no fancy, but as real and as true as persons whom we can see, things which we can handle, or viands which we can taste.

C.H. Spurgeon

MARKS of the MESSENGER: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel

Thoughts on Chapter Two:


As mentioned in the previous post, one of our church's nurture groups is reading the book by J. Mack Stiles entitled, Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel.  Tonight we were gathering to discuss the topics that the author brought forth in Chapter Two entitled, Students of the Message.


As I was contemplating the content of this chapter, I looked back at the title of the book.  It seemed to me that a very important word was missing from the subtitle.  As the chapter pointed out: one can know the gospel intellectually; reform their behavior to better live in outward conformity to the gospel; and, even speak the gospel without ever being born-again.  What is the missing word?  Love!   The title would be better:  Knowing, Loving, Living and Speaking the Gospel.  That was observation number one.  If we don't love the gospel, our knowledge; our life; our speech will profit nothing.  Let us remember:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Observation Two:  There was a paragraph that stuck out head and shoulders above the rest, which clearly articulated and exposed a very common misunderstanding among professing Christians.  This is the paragraph:

There is a tendency to think that our sins are bigger than our sin--maybe because it's that rare case when the plural is smaller than the singular.  Sins are those individual acts of rebellion--symptoms of a bigger problem.  Our sin is the bigger problem: it's our condition or state which is in hideous rebellion toward a holy and good God.   When Christians feel that sins (acts) are bigger than sin (condition), they see evangelism as an effort of moral reform rather than explaining the steps that need to take place to rip out our wicked hearts and replace them with new hearts–that amazing work of God that Jesus called being born again.

To help illustrate how important it is that we clearly understand what is being expressed in the above paragraph; let me ask you to think on the following:

Let's say your co-workers where gathered around in a break room and the conversation turned to discussing homosexuality.  One turns towards you, knowing that you are a Christian, and says, Hey, isn't it true that you believe that all homosexuals will go to hell?   How would you respond?

If you are confused about "sin" versus "sins", you could very well miss this opportunity to share the truth.  You might even respond in a way that would add to the misconception that they already are suffering under about Christ, Christianity and the gospel of grace. 

So how would you answer?

If your answer is something like "The Bible says all sinners will go to hell"; or, if you are even able to quote 1 Corinthians 6 9:10 "...do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." and that was all you said, you are guilty of the very thing chapter two was warning against.  In fact, you would be guilty of confirming your listeners' misconceptions about what true Christianity is.

What should be your response?  The two examples above make no mention of Christ or the gospel.  The two examples above leave your listeners thinking that if they want to go to Heaven, they better clean up their act.  So, what should one say when presented with such a sweet opportunity?

Something like this comes to mind, "I am so glad you asked me that question.  Let me ask you a question in return.  Did you know that even someone who lives a life of sexual purity, (even a nun for example), will go to hell when they die; if they are not reconciled to God through Christ?" 

In your mind, picture this exchange occurring.  What would be the reaction of the listeners?   In most cases, the conversation about homosexuality would come to an end. In fact, in most cases, any conversation would abrubtly end. You could follow up the dead silence by saying, "So many people are confused about Christianity.  If any of you would like to hear more about Christ: Who He is, Why He came, and what He accomplished on the Cross to save sinners (even moral ones), just let me know and we can meet for coffee after work.  I would love the opportunity to share with you."

The bottom line is that we must get over being defensive about our faith.  Our mission is to share the truth in love.  We cannot make them believe it.  We cannot convince them that the Bible is the Word of God.  What we can do (by, and because of, His Spirit within us) is know it thoroughly, love it deeply, and live it joyfully; so that when we speak it, we speak the truth in love.

Observation Three:  I was disappointed by one poorly worded statement on the top of page 30, which read:

The older I get, the less I feel compelled to avoid the subject by hemming, hawing and tiptoeing around, and the more I want people to open their eyes.

I am certain that the poor phraseology of that statement was simply an oversight on the part of the author.  It is clear, by the rest of the book, that this author knows that they cannot open their eyes.  It is God who must open their eyes.  Words are so very important! 

Evangelism

Last night was the first gathering of our churches nurture group where we are reading the book by J. Mack Stiles entitled, "Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel."  The first chapter is full of provocative statements that need to be examined and meditated upon.  I hope we will stay focused on the content and message in the book.


Because I was not not raised in the church, I have the benefit of reflecting back on the numerous ways I was "evangelized" by professing Christians, of all types.  The bottom line is: if you cannot clearly articulate the truth of who Christ is and what He accomplished; if you are not living and loving the gospel; if Christ is not truly your all-in-all; if you have simply added Him on like an extra "thing" in your life, if He does not bring you delight; if you are not acknowledging the reality of His presence in your life; if you cannot naturally and sincerely speak of His beauty and your delight in Him; if other things compete with Him, and can actually supersede Him, for your joy and attention; if you think that sharing Christ is a duty rather than a delight; then, the lost will see that and know that; and, your words will, not only be meaningless and empty; but, your very life and words will bring dishonor and shame to His name.


When more time allows, I will write more...

Speaking the Truth in Love - 2

If you think you have been ill treated, you will have an opportunity of showing that you are a disciple of Jesus, who "when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not." . . . The wisdom that is from above is not only pure, but peaceable and gentle; and the want of these qualifications, like the dead fly in the pot of ointment, will spoil the savor and efficacy of our labors.

If we act in a wrong spirit, we shall bring little glory to God, do little good to our fellow creatures, and procure neither honor nor comfort to ourselves. If you can be content with showing your wit, and gaining the laugh on your side, you have an easy task; but I hope you have a far nobler aim, and that, sensible of the solemn importance of gospel truths, and the compassion due to the souls of men, you would rather be a means of removing prejudices in a single instance, than obtain the empty applause of thousands. Go forth, therefore, in the name and strength of the Lord of hosts, speaking the truth in love; and may he give you a witness in many hearts that you are taught of God, and favored with the unction of his Holy Spirit.

John Newton, Works, Vol 1 (Banner of Truth, 1985), p. 269f. The complete letter is available online.

Have you heard of "BibleMesh"?

Some pastors have spent their entire ministry preaching almost exclusively from the New Testament. In fact, some men have admitted that that was their life's goal. One might congratulate them for achieving that and at the same time wonder if achieving "their goal" was a good thing for their congregation.

I am encouraged to learn that The Gospel Coalition's 2011 national conference, running April 12 to 14 in Chicago, features renowned speakers who will model Christ-centered teaching from the Old Testament to help Christians study and teach all of God's Word. To learn more, click HERE.

Dovetailing with the Gospel Coalition's 2011 theme—preaching Christ from the Old Testament—BibleMesh will help your congregation understand how Jesus fits into the Old Testament.

BibleMesh is an interactive Bible learning website that presents the story of God's redemptive acts as a single narrative from Genesis to Revelation. An international team of pastors, scholars, and church leaders presents hundreds of short articles and videos explaining the characters, events, historical contexts, and theology of the Bible. Pastor Tim Keller anchors the course through video introductions to each of the seven eras.

Click here to learn more

Below is just a sampling of some of the wonderful resources pastors will find. It is an excerpt from an article by Sinclair Ferguson on Preaching Christ from the Old Testament that is available through BibleMesh.

In particular we must learn to preach Christ from the Old Testament without falling into the old traps of an artificial exegesis.

But how do we legitimately preach the text of the Old Testament as those who stand on this side of Pentecost? What difference does it make to expound Genesis or Psalms as believers in Jesus Christ? Or, to put it in a more graphic way, how can we reconstruct the principles of Jesus’ conversation in Luke 24:25-7 and 45, and learn to follow his example of showing how all the Scriptures point to him so that hearts are ‘strangely warmed’ and begin to burn? In particular, how may we do this without lapsing into what we (sometimes a little too cavalierly) deem to be either patristic allegorising or post-reformation spiritualising? If only we had heard how Jesus did this on the Emmaus Road, in the Upper Room, during the forty days between his resurrection and his ascension, we might grasp the principles by which it is done, so that we too could genuinely preach the text of the Old Testament as Christian preachers and not as rabbis!

Yet we must also preach the Scriptures without denuding them of the genuine historical events they record and the reality of the personal experiences they describe or to which they were originally addressed. How, then, do we preach Christ, and him crucified without leapfrogging over these historical realities as though the Old Testament Scriptures had no real significance for their own historical context?

In discussing the pre-Christ revelation of God as Trinity B B Warfield describes the Old Testament as a richly furnished but dimly lit room. Only when the light is turned on do the contents become clear. That light has been switched on in Christ and in the New Testament’s testimony to him. Now the triune personal being of God becomes clear. To read the Old Testament with the light switched off would be to deny the historical reality of our own context. On the other hand, we would be denying the historical reality of the text and its context if we were to read and preach it as though that same light had already been switched on within its own pages. Thus our task as Christian preachers must be to take account of both. Fulfilling that task drives us back into the basic hermeneutical question for the Christian exegete: How do we relate the Old Testament to the New Testament? The longer we labour in ministry, the more we ask that question. The more we know about the answer to it, the more we realise there is so much more left to explore. It is a life long pursuit.

30 Year Anniversary

What a delightful surprise to finally get to see one of the men I so dearly love and possibly one of the greatest expositional preachers the English speaking world has ever known, in this rare interview footage. This footage was released on February 28, 2011, to mark the 30 year anniversary of his death.

May God continue to use this man to not only inspire, encourage, and exhort the men in the pulpits today; but also to raise up many more preachers who, driven along by the Holy Spirit, faithfully expound God’s word:

Spend eleven minutes. Click HERE