Before Your Throne We Sinners Bend

Before Your Throne We Sinners Bend—Don Fortner

(Tune: The Doxology—LM)

 

The Father in wisdom profound a ransom for our souls has found.

Before His throne we sinners bend our hearts and pray, “Free-grace extend!”

 

Eternal Son, incarnate God, our Prophet, Priest, Redeemer, Lord,

Before Your throne we sinners bend and pray, “Savior, free-grace extend!”

 

Blest, sov’reign Spirit, by whose breath poor souls are raised to life from death,

Before Your throne we sinners bend, eternal life to us extend!

 

Great God, our Father, Spirit, Son, Eternal God, great Three in One,

Before Your throne we sinners bend, Your mercy, love, and grace extend!

A Sermon That Should Never Be Preached

Any sermon which leaves sinners looking at themselves, their works, their feelings, their achievements, their failures, their sins, or even their faith, rather than looking to Christ, ought never to have been preached. The object of preaching is to turn the eyes of sinners to the sinners’ Substitute. – Don Fortner

Spurgeon Thursday

“IT PLEASED GOD”

NO. 3202

 A SERMON

PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 1910.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,

ON LORD’S-DAY EVENING, OCTOBER 19, 1862.

“It pleased God.” Galatians 1:15.

 

WE will read the whole verse from which our text is taken—“But  when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His Grace.” You will perceive, I think, in these words, that the Divine plan of salvation is very clearly laid down. It begins, you see, in the will and pleasure of God—“when  it pleased God.” The foundation of salvation is not laid in the will of man. “It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” It does not begin with man’s obedience and then proceed onward to the purpose of God—but  here is its commencement, here the fountainhead from which the Living Waters flow—“It  pleased God.” Next to the Sovereign will and good pleasure of God comes the act of separation,  commonly known by the name of election. This act is said, in the text, to take place even in the mother’s womb, by which we are taught  that it took place before our birth when as yet we could have done nothing whatever to win it or to merit it! God separated us from the earliest part and time of our being! And, indeed, long before that, when as yet the mountains and hills were not piled and the oceans were not formed by His creative power, He had, in His eternal purpose, set us apart for Himself. Then, after this act of separation came the effectual calling—“and  called me by His Grace.” The calling does not cause the election—the election, springing from the Divine purpose, causes the calling! The calling comes as a consequence of the Divine purpose  and the Divine separation, and you will note how the obedience follows the calling. The Apostle does not begin to be a preacher, according to the purpose and will of God, until first of all the Spirit of God has called him out of his state of nature into a state of Grace. So the whole process runs thus—first  the sacred, Sovereign purpose of God, then the distinct and definite election or separation, then the effectual and irresistible calling and then afterwards, the obedience unto life, and the sweet fruits of the Spirit which spring from there. They err, not knowing the Scriptures,  who put any of these processes before the others, out of the Scriptural order. They who put man’s will first, know not what they say, nor whereof they affirm, for it is not of the will of man, says the Apostle in the most peremptory and positive manner—the  salvation of any soul is a display of the eternal purpose and Sovereign will of God!

And, Beloved, by this test may we know the certainty of our election,  if we have obediently  yielded to the call of God. If the Divine calling has produced in us the fruit of obedience, then we may assuredly believe that we were separated unto God before time began, and that this separation was according to the eternal purpose and will of God! Like golden links of a chain, any one of these will draw on the others. Am I justified? Then I was called by God’s Grace. Am I called? Then I was predestined to be called and, on the other hand, if I was predestined, then I shall be called, being called, I shall be justified, being justified, I shall be glorified! I think I have used this illustration  before. On that bank of the great river of time is the massive pillar of Divine Foreknowledge and Predestination,  and on the other side of the river is the equally massive pillar of Glorification.  How are we to bridge these two? Both of these pillars are in the mists and clouds of eternity, but these stupendous chains stretch right across the intervening chasm—“Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,  them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”  If I want to know

The Wicked Through Pride Refuse to Seek God – A Sermon by Edward Payson

 

“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God” – Psalm 10:4

 

In this psalm we have a full length portrait of a careless, unawakened sinner, drawn by the unerring pencil of truth; and so perfect is the resemblance, that were it not for the blinding influence of sin, every such sinner would discover in it, as in a glass, his own image. Two of the features, which compose this portrait, are delineated in our text. The first is an unwillingness to seek after God. The second is pride, which causes that unwillingness. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. In discoursing on this passage, we shall endeavor to show—that the wicked will not seek after God—and that it is the pride of their hearts, which prevents them from seeking him. It will be understood, that by the wicked, we here intend careless, unawakened sinners.

 

I. The wicked will not seek after God. The expression implies, not only that they do not seek after him, but that they will not. It is the settled, determined purpose of their hearts, not to seek him; and to this purpose they will obstinately and unalterably adhere, unless their wills are subdued by divine grace. With a view to illustrate and establish this truth, we observe

 

1. That the wicked will not seek after the knowledge of God. This the scriptures plainly assert. The wicked say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. It is also evident from the experience of all ages, that no careless, unawakened sinner, ever used any means, or made the smallest endeavors to acquire a knowledge of God. Our Savior explicitly declares, that all who seek, shall find. But the wicked do not find the knowledge of God; therefore they never seek it. They will not study the scriptures with a view to become acquainted with God. It is true, they sometimes read the scriptures; but they read them either in a formal, careless manner, or to quiet the remonstrances of conscience, or to find arguments in favor of some false system of religion, which may encourage them in sinful pursuits, and enable them to indulge delusive hopes of future happiness. They never look into the Bible with a sincere desire to find God there; nor study it with that humble, docile, childlike temper, without which it will ever be studied in vain. And while many thus read the scriptures with improper views, or wrong feelings, many also, there is reason to fear, scarcely read them at all. From week to week, and from year to year, their Bibles lie on the shelf unopened, while they know little more of their contents than of the Koran of Mahomet.

 

The wicked will not pray for the knowledge of God. It can never be said with truth of a wicked man, behold he prayeth. On the contrary, he invariably casts off fear, and restrains prayer before God. He may indeed, and, as we have already seen, often does, request God to depart from him, and like the evil spirits in our Savior’s time, he may cry, I beseech thee, torment me not. But never does he sincerely ask for divine instruction. Never does he cry after knowledge, or lift up his voice for understanding. If he did, he would infallibly obtain it; for every one that asketh, receiveth. Ye have not, says the apostle, because ye ask not.

 

The wicked will not improve those opportunities for acquiring the knowledge of God, which our public and private religious institutions afford. It is true that many of them attend frequently, perhaps constantly, on the instructions of the sanctuary; but it is equally true, that custom, curiosity, a regard to reputation, or a wish to pass away the time, and not a desire for divine knowledge, induces their attendance. That this is not an uncharitable supposition is apparent from their conduct. Often, while the most solemn and important truths are proclaimed in their hearing, their thoughts, like the fool’s eyes, are in the ends of the earth; and they literally hear as though they heard not. If at any time they listen more attentively to the preached word, it is not with a wish to understand, believe and obey it. Their whole aim in listening often appears to be, to find some real,

Currently Reading

I’ve been reading Steve Lawson’s Foundations of Grace and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand God’s grace in a Biblical, thorough, and exegetical way.  Lawson starts in Genesis and goes through Revelation and has done an outstanding job of documenting many passages of Scripture that deal with God’s grace.  Currently I am reading the chapter on the Gospel of John, which Lawson calls The Mount Everest of Theology.  During my reading time this morning, I read the following:

Selective Choice.  Christ has chosen His people out of the world of lost sinners.  Because this divine choice does not include everyone, those who are not chosen hate the elect:

  “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  – John 15:19

Jesus openly taught His disciples the doctrine of election.  Making no apology, He cited this cardinal truth as a chief reason why the world hates them.  (James Montgomery) Boice explains, “What is the meaning of this?  It is merely the old subject of election.  Christ elected the disciples to salvation.  He chose them for a specific work in this world.  Therefore, although the world rejects Christ’s salvation and despises His work, it hates those who have been chosen by Him for it.  There is probably nothing that the world hates more than the doctrine of election.  Certainly it was this more than anything else that caused the world’s virulent hatred of Christ during the days of His ministry…. Nothing so stirs up the hatred of the worldly mind than the teaching that God in sovereign grace elects some and does not elect others.”  Of course, Christ’s choice was preceded by the eternal choice of the Father.  (William) Hendriksen notes, “The act which took place in time was based upon an act which occurred in eternity (Eph 1:4).”  The divine choosing by the Father and the Son distinguished believers from the world, stirring the hatred of unbelievers.

We all want to be liked and loved and certainly do not want to be hated.  But this is just another area in which we Christians will be hated by the world.  It isn’t pleasant, but it is to be expected.

Daily Roundup

Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased – A quote from Charles Wesley that is brought to light in an article on Prosperity by Margaret Manning.

God Cannot Deny Himself – Sounds pretty narcissistic, but it is a factual reality.  For God to deny himself would mean he isn’t God.  A message from John Piper.

Sinners in a Fishbowl – Barnabas Piper, John Piper’s son, talks about being a preachers kid.

Bible Study group no longer welcome at McDonald’s – And to think I stopped at one this morning to grab a cup of coffee.  Hmmmm.

Some Basic Thoughts on Manhood – Thabiti Anyabwile (yes, that is his name) opens up and talks about the topic of manhood.