Daily Roundup

Thoughts That Have Helped Me – Bob Jennings went home to be with the Lord in November of 2012.  These are a few thoughts he wrote about 3 months prior.

How Christians Prepare for Suffering – If you think the Christian life is one of ease, health, wealth, etc.  Well, I’m not sure you know the same Jesus that I do.

Law & Liberty: A Biblical Look At Legalism – A new book that is coming out in a month by Don Kistler, John MacArthur, Joel Beeke and Phil Johnson.

Judge Not! – A 16 part bible study by Mike Ratliff.

The Link Between Spirituality and Sexuality – There is an embedded creational link between sexuality and spirituality. We were created for monogamy in both, and when a society loses one, it won’t be long before it loses the other.

Quote:

We must treasure in our hearts that we are not saved merely by what Christ has done for us, but by who He was, is, and will be forever! – Paul Washer

Spurgeon Thursday

TREMBLING AT THE WORD OF THE
NO.2071

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD’S DAY, FEBRUARY 24,
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,
ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 1, 1884.

“To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at My Word.”
Isaiah 66:2.

PORTRAIT painting is a great art. Many pretend to it but the masters of the art are few. In the Word of God we have a gallery of portraits  so accurate, so striking, that only the hand of the Lord could have drawn them. Most of us have been startled to see our own portrait there. The best of all is that at the bottom of each likeness we have the Lord’s judgment upon the character so that we are able to form an estimate of what our true condition is before the Lord. Here you have a man drawn—he is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at the Word of the Lord. Here, also, you have the Lord’s estimate of him—“To this man will I look.”

I hope to dwell chiefly upon the character described in the closing words, “And trembles at My Word.” Support the text by the fifth verse, “Hear the Word of the Lord, you that tremble at His Word.” This trembling is, in God’s esteem, an admirable trait in their character. The glorious Jehovah from His Throne in Heaven speaks of those contrite ones who tremble at His Word—and then the Prophet takes up the strain and cries, “Hear the Word of the Lord, you that tremble at His Word.” It is a very great mercy that there are descriptions of saints given in the Word of God which go very low and reach the feeblest degrees of Divine Grace and the saddest frames of mind.

We find the children of God sometimes upon very high places—their  spiritual  life is vigorous and their inward joy is abounding.  When we give you descriptions of saints in that condition, many of the Little-Faiths  at once cry out, “Alas, I know nothing of this! Would God it were so with me! But, indeed, it is not.” They are greatly discouraged by those very things which should raise their spirits and stimulate their desires—for surely if one Believer is able to climb the Delectable Mountains, there is all the more hope that another may do so.

Yet, we have to thank God that in His priceless Scripture,  He has painted for us portraits  of the Believer in his low estate. In the picture gallery of those saved by faith we find Rahab as well as Sarah and erring Samson as well as holy Samuel. In the Family

Daily Roundup

Is The Gospel Enough? – When it becomes chic to talk about the gospel then watch out because much gospel-talk will contain more talk than gospel.

The Colossian “Hymn” – Colossians 1:15-20, is one of the most Christ-glorifying passages of all the New Testament.  Imagine a hymn using this text.

Elements of Productive Bible Study:  READ! – One of the key elements of productive Bible study is to read the Bible.   A novel concept, I agree.  But osmosis hasn’t worked for me so far.

Is God’s Love Unconditional? – Where in Scripture do we find this notion of the unconditional love of God? If God’s love is absolutely unconditional, why do we tell people that they have to repent and have faith in order to be saved?

I Feel Sorry For God – It’s sort of darkly-funny that a people who are themselves so unable, unwilling to keep the Law can be also so intent on making sure God is judging other people.

Looking Away from Self to Jesus – How we need to do a better job of this in our walk in Christ.

Quote:

The Gospel, buy it’s nature, to our nature, is offensive.  If we are not being offended by the Gospel everyday we need to examine and see if we are walking in “The Way”. – Thom Cole

Good’er and Bad’er

A realization has humbled me this morning. So many times we look at life, at people, at this world around us and expect the “right” thing to happen. What happened this morning is I was reading C. S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity. In Book 3, he ends chapter 4 thus:

When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really, you understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.

Why is it that this is so simple, yet so hard for Christians to understand? One who does not have the Spirit of God touching their life has no concept of the total depravity that is upon them. I use the illustration that you cannot blame a pig for running back to the mud puddle after you wash it since that is what pigs do. Yet, somehow, we expect a person to not go back to their sinfulness just because we have invited them to come to church, or when we have shared time with them and told them the Gospel. Unless the Spirit of God touches them, there is no hope of them not going back to what they ultimately are.

Our job, as I see it, is to continue being a witness to them for the glory of God and to pray that the Spirit of God open their eyes to who, and what they really are; lost sinners who need a Savior. Like Lewis wrote above, they do not even realize their lost state while He has opened our eyes to our need. That should lead us to Doxology for His mercy to us and renewed prayer that His Spirit touch our lives as well the lives of the lost around us. This should also not make us feel or act in any way superior, it should humble us to the fact that God had mercy on us and touched our lives for His glory so that the fame of His name would be manifest in this world.