tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33721972419732052852024-03-12T18:14:39.416-05:00In-depth Biblical Treasureskatherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.comBlogger3718125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-22714230508984777022020-12-12T04:43:00.000-06:002020-12-12T04:43:19.098-06:00The Foreknowledge Of God # 2<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Foreknowledge Of God # 2</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Take the word "immortality." Surely it requires no study! Obviously it has reference to the indestructability of the soul. Ah, my readers, it is foolish and wrong to assume anything where the Word of God is concerned.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If the reader will take the trouble to carefully examine each passage where "mortal" and immortal" are found, it will be seen that these words are never applied to the soul, but always the body.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now what has been said on "flesh," the "world," "immortality," applies with equal force to the terms "know" and "foreknow." Instead of imagining that these words signify no more than a simple cognition, the different passages in which they occur require to be carefully weighed. The word "foreknowledge" is not found in the Old Testament. But "know" occurs there frequently. When that term is used in connection with God, it often signifies to regard with favor, denoting not mere cognition but an affection for the object in view, "I know you by name" (Exodus 33:17). "You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you" (Deuteronomy 9:24). "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). "They have made princes, and I knew it not" (Hosea 8:4). "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). In these passages "knew" signifies either loved or appointed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In like manner, the word "know" is frequently used in the New Testament, in the same sense as the Old Testament. "Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you" (Matt. 7:23). "I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me" (John 10:14). "If any man loves God, the same is known by Him" (1 Cor. 8:3). "The Lord knows those who are His" (2 Tim. 2:19).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now the word "foreknowledge" as it is used in the New Testament is less ambiguous than in its simple form "to know." It is people God is said to "foreknow," not the actions of those people. In proof of this we shall now quote each passage where this expression is found.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first occurance is in Acts 2:23. There we read, "Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." If careful attention is paid to the wording of this verse, it will be seen that the Apostle was not there speaking of God's foreknowledge of the act of the crucifixion, but of the Person crucified. "Him (Christ) being delivered by..."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The second occurrence is in Romans 8:29-30. "For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those he justified, He also glorified." Weigh well the pronoun that is used here. It is not what He did foreknow, but those He foreknew. It is not the surrendering of their wills nor the believing of their hearts, but the people themselves, that are here in view.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew" (Romans 11:2). Once more the plain reference is to people, and to people only.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now in view of these passages (and there are no more) what Scriptural ground is there for anyone saying God "foreknew" the acts of certain ones, namely, their repenting and believing, and that because of those acts He elected them unto salvation? The answer is: None whatsoever! Scripture never speaks of repentance and faith as being foreseen or foreknown by God. Truly, He knew from all eternity that certain ones would repent and believe, yet this is not what Scripture refers to as the object of God's foreknowledge. The word uniformly refers to God's foreknowing people, then let us "hold fast the form of sound words." (2 Tim. 1:13).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The plain truth in Romans 8:29 is that God, before the foundation of the world, singled out certain sinners and appointed them unto salvation (2 Thess. 2:13). This is clear from the concluding words of the verse: "He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." God did not predestine those whom He foreknew were conformed," but, on the contrary, those whom He foreknew (that is, loved and elected). "He predestined to be conformed." Their conformity to Christ is not the cause, but the effect of God's foreknowledge and predestination.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">God did not elect any sinner because He foresaw that he would believe, for the simple but sufficient reason that no sinner ever does believe until God give him faith; just as no man sees until God gives him sight. Sight is God's gift, seeing is the consequence of my using His gift. So faith is God's gift (Eph. 2:8, 9), believing is the consequence of my using His gift. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Once more, in Romans 11:5 we read of "a remnant according to the election of grace." There it is, plain enough; election itself is of grace, and grace is unmerited favor, something for which we had no claim upon God whatever.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If then the reader is a real Christian, he is so because God chose him in Christ before the foundation of the world, and chose not because He forsaw you would believe, but chose simply because it pleased Him to choose; chose you notwithstanding your natural unbelief. This being so, all glory and praise belongs alone to Him. You have no ground for taking any credit to yourself. You have "believed through grace", and that, because your very election was "of grace." (Romans 11:5).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The End)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-26570724096656175062020-12-05T04:38:00.000-06:002020-12-05T04:38:00.789-06:00The Foreknowledge Of God # 1<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Foreknowledge Of God # 1</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">What controversies have been engendered by this subject in the past! But what truth of Holy Scripture is there which has not been made the occasion of theological and ecclesiastical battles? The deity of Christ, His virgin birth, His atoning death, His second advent; the believer's justification, sanctification, security; thechurch, its organization, officers, discipline; baptism, the Lord's prayer and a score of othert precious truths might be mentioned. Yet, the controversies which have been waged over them did not close the mouths of God's faithful servants; why then, should we avoid the vexing question of God foreknowledge, because, forsooth, there are some who will charge us with fomenting strife? Let others contend if they will, our duty is to bear witness according to the light given us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are two things concerning the foreknowledge of God about which many are in ignorance; the meaning of the term, and its Scriptural scope. Because this ignorance is so widespread, it is an easy matter for preachers and teachers to palm off perversions of this against error, and that is to be established in the faith; and for that, there has to be prayerful and diligent study, and a receiving with meekness the engrafted Word of God. Only then are we fortified against the attacks of those who assail us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are those today who are misusing this very truth in order to discredit and deny the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. Just as higher critics are repudiating the divine inspiration of the Scriptures; evolutionists challenge the work of God in creation; so some pseudo Bible teachers are perverting His foreknowledge in order to set aside His unconditional election unto eternal life.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When the solemn and blessed subject of divine foreordination is expounded, when God's eternal choice of certain ones to be conformed to the image of His Son is set forth - the enemy sends along some man to argue that election is based upon the foreknowledge of God, and this "foreknowledge" is interpreted to mean that God foresaw certain ones would be more pliable than others, that they would respond more readily to the strivings of the Spirit, and that because God knew they would believe, He accordingly predestined them unto salvation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But such a statement is radically wrong. it repudiates the truth of total depravity, for it argues that there is something good in some men. It takes away the independence of God, for it makes His decrees rest upon what He discovers in the creature. It completely turns things upside down, for in saying God foresaw certain sinners would believe in Christ, and that because of this, He predestined them unto salvation, is the very <b>reverse of the truth.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Scripture affirms that God, in His high sovereignty, singled out certain ones to be recipients of His distinguishing favors (Acts 13:48), and therefore He determined to bestow upon them the gift of faith. False theology makes God's forknowledge of our believing the cause of His election to salvation; whereas, <b>God's election is the cause, and our believing in Christ is the effect.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Before proceeding further with our discussion of this much misunderstood theme, let us pause and define our terms. What is meant by "foreknowledge"? To know beforehand," is the ready reply of many. But we must not jump to conclusions, nor must we turn to Webster's dictionary as the final court of appeal, for it is not a matter of the etymology of the term employed. What is needed is to find out how the word is used in Scripture. <b>The Holy Spirit's usage of an expression always defines its meaning and scope. </b>It is failure to apply this simple rule which is responsible for so much confusion and error. So many people assume they already know the signification of a certain word used in Scripture, and then they are too dilatory to test their assumptions by means of a concordance. Let us amplify this point.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Take the word "flesh." Its meaning appears to be so obvious that many would regard it as a waste of time to look its various connections in Scripture. It is hastily assumed that the word is synonymous with the physical body, and so no inquiry is made. But, in fact, "flesh" in Scripture frequently includes far more than what is corporeal, all that is embraced by the term can only be ascertained by a diligent comparison of every occurrence of it and by a study of each separate context.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Take the word "world." The average reader of the Bible imagines this word is the equivalent for the human race, and consequently, many passage where the term is found are wrongly interpreted.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 2)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-68428706369234385862020-11-28T04:45:00.000-06:002020-11-28T04:45:11.632-06:00The Grace Of God # 1<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Grace Of God # 1</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Grace is a perfection of the divine character which is exercised only toward the elect. Neither in the Old Testament nor in the New, is the grace of God ever mentioned in connection with mankind generally, still less with the lower orders of His creatures. In this it is distinguished from "mercy," for the mercy of God is "over all His works." (Psalm 145:9).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Grace is the sole source which flows the goodwill, love, and salvation of God unto His chosen people. </b>This attribute of the divine character was defined by Abraham Booth in his helpful book, "The Reign of Grace" thus: "It is the eternal and absolute free favor of God, manifested in the bestowment of spiritual and eternal blessings to the guilty and the unworthy."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favor of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them, and for which no compensation is demanded from them. Nay, more; it is the favor of God shown to those who not only have no positive deserts of their own, but who are thoroughly il-deserving and hell-deserving. It is completely unmerited and unsought, and is altogether unattracted by anything in or from or by the objects upon which it is bestowed. Grace can neither bebought, earned, nor won by the creature. If it could be, it would cease to be grace. When a thing is said to be of "grace", we mean that the recipient has no claim upon it, that it was in no way due him. It comes to him as pure charity, and, at first, unasked and undesired.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The fullest exposition of the amazing grace of God is to be found in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. In his writings "grace" stands in direct opposition to works and worthiness - all works and worthiness, of whatever kind or degree. This is abundantly clear from Romans 11:6, "And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." Grace and works will no more unite than an acid and an alkali. "By grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. It is not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9). The absolute favor of God can no more consist with human merit than oil and water will fuse into one (Romans 4:4-5).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are three principal <b>CHARACTERISTICS</b> of divine grace.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First, divine grace is <b>eternal. </b>Grace was planned before it was exercised and purposed before it was imparted: "Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." (2 Timothy 1:9).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Secondly, divine grace is <b>free, </b>for none did ever purchase it: "Being justified freely by His grace." (Romans 3:24).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thirdly, divine grace is <b>sovereign, </b>because God exercises it toward and bestows it upon whom He pleases: "Even so might grace reign." (Romans 5:21). If grace "reigns" then it is on the throne, and the occupant of the throne is sovereign. Hence "the throne of grace." (Hebrews 4:16).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Just because grace is unmerited favor, it must be exercised in a sovereign manner. Therefore does the Lord declare, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious." (Exodus 33:19). Were God to show grace to all of Adam's descendants, men would at once conclude that He was righteously compelled to take them to Heaven as a fit compensation for allowing the human race to fall into sin. But the great God is under no obligation to any of His creatures, least of all to those who are rebels against Him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 2)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-36135309263066697902020-11-28T04:40:00.000-06:002020-11-28T04:40:19.179-06:00The Grace Of God # 2<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Grace Of God # 2</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Eternal life is a gift, therefore it can neither be earned by good works, nor claimed as a right. Seeing that salvation is a "gift," who has any right to tell God on whom He ought to bestow it? It is not that the Giver ever refuses this gift to any who seek it wholeheartedly, and according to the rules which He has prescribed. No! He refuses none who come to Him empty-handed, and in the way of His appointing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But if out of a world of impenitent and unbelieving rebels, God is determined to exercise His sovereign right by choosing a limited number to be saved, then who is wronged? Is God obliged to force His gift on those who value it not? Is God compelled to save those who are determined to go their own sinful way?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But nothing more riles the natural man, and brings to the surface his innate and inverterate enmity against God, then to press upon him the eternality, the freeness, and the absolute sovereignty of divine grace. That God should have formed His purpose from everlasting, without in any way consulting the creature - is too abasing for the unbroken heart. That grace cannot be earned or won by any efforts of man is too self-emptying for self-righteousness. And that grace singles out whom it pleases to be its favored object, arouses hot protests from haughty rebels. The clay rises up against the Potter and asks, "Why have You made me thus?" A lawless insurrectionist dares to call into question the justice of divine sovereignty.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The distinguishing grace of God is seen in saying those people whom He has sovereignly singled out to be His high favorites. By "distinguishing" we mean that grace discriminates, makes differences, chooses some and passes by others. It was distinguishing grace which selected Abraham from the midst of his idolatrous neighbors and made him "the friend of God." It was distinguishing grace which saved "publicans an sinners," but said of the religious Pharisees, "Let them alone!" (Matt. 15:14). <b>Nowhere does the glory of God's free and sovereign grace shine more conspicuously than in the unworthiness and unlikeliest of its objects.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Beautifully was this illustrated by James Harvey: "Where sin has abounded, says the proclamation from the court of Heaven, grace does much more abound."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Manasseh </b>was a monster of barbarity, for he caused his own children to pass through the fire, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. (2 Chronicles 33). Yet, through God's superabundant grace he is humbled, he is reformed, and becomes a child of forgiving love, and heir of immortal glory."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Behold that bitter and bloody persecutor, <b>Saul, </b>when, breathing out threatenings and end upon slaughter, he worried the lambs and put to death the disciples of Jesus. Yet, admire and adore the inexhaustible treasures of grace - this Saul is admitted into the holy fellowship of the prophets, is numbered with the noble army of martyrs and makes a distinguished figure among the glorious company of the apostles!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The <b>Corinthians </b>were monstrous even to a proverb. Some of them wallowed in such abominable vices, and habituated themselves to such outrageous acts of injustice, as were a reproach to human nature. Yet even these sons of violence and slaves of sevsuality were washed, sanctified, justified. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Washed," in the precious blood of a dying Redeemer; "sanctified," by the powerful operations of the blessed Spirit; "justified," through the infinitely tender mercies of a gracious God. Those who were once the burden of the earth - are now the joy of Heaven, the delight of angels.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The <b>Holy Spirit </b>is the <b>communicator </b>of grace. God the Father is the <b>Fountain </b>of all grace. God the Son is the only <b>Channel </b>of grace. The Gospel is the <b>Publisher</b> of grace. The Spirit is the <b>Bestower </b>of grace.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thus we4 may say with the late G. S. Bishop: "Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the axe of justice, so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures, so averse to God that they cannot turn to Him, so blind that they cannot see Him, so deaf that they cannot hear Him, and so dead that He Himself must open their graves and lift them into resurrection."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The End)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-45318912996185384802020-11-14T04:15:00.000-06:002020-11-14T04:15:19.294-06:00The Beauty Of Holiness<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Beauty Of Holiness</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Worship the Lord - in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:2). Holiness is the antithesis of sin; and the beauty of holiness is in direct contrast from the ugliness of sin. Sin is a deformity, a monstrosity. Sin is repulsive, repellent to the infinitely pure God: that is why He selected leprosy, the most loathsome and horrible of all diseases, to be its emblem. When the Prophet was Divinely inspired to depict the condition of degenerate Israel, it was in these words, "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores." (Isaiah 1:6). O that sin were sickening and hateful to us: not merely its grosser forms - but sin iteself.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">At the opposite extreme from the hideousness of sin is <b>"the beauty of holiness." </b>Holiness is lovely in the sight of God: necessarily so. It is the reflection of His own nature, for He is "glorious in holiness" (Exo. 15:11). O that it may be increasingly attractive to, and earnestly sought after, by us!<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Perhaps the simplest way of bringing out the beauty of holiness will be to contrast it from the beauties of time and sense.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First, the beauty of holiness is<b> imperceptible to the natural man, </b>and therein it differs radically from the beauties of mere nature. He can behold and admire a lovely gien, the softly flowing river, the mountain pines, the rushing waterfall; but for the excellence of spiritual graces - he has no eyes. He regards one who (by grace) meekly submits to sore trials - as a moral weakling. He looks upon one who denies self for Christ's sake - as a fool. He considers the man who adheres strictly to the narrow way - as one who misses the best of this life. The natural man is totally incapable of discerning the excellence of that which is of great price in the sight of God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Do some think we are stating this too strongly? Then let them be reminded of the solemn fact that when the Holy One tabernacled here upon earth, the unregenerate saw in Him "no beauty" that they should desire Him ((Isaiah 53:2); and it is the same today. God must remove the scales from the eyes of our heart before we can perceive that holiness is beautiful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Second, the beauty of holiness is <b>real </b>and <b>genuine, </b>and therein it differs radically from much of the beauty which is seen in this world. How much that appeals to the gaze of the natural man is artificial and fictitious. How much human beauty is made up-, the product of the artifices of the salon. Even when physical beauty is natural, how rarely it is accompanied by moral virtues. No wonder our forefathers were accustomed to say, "Beauty is but skin deep." Not so the beauty of holiness: it is rooted in the inner man, and sheds its purifying influence over the entire being. "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain" (Proverbs 31:30). But holiness does not disappoint its possessor, for its beauty is spiritual and Divine. True, it has many counterfeits in the religious world - yet the genuine article has a ring to it, which the godly cannot mistake.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Third, the beauty of holiness is <b>abiding, </b>and therein it differs radically from all the beauty of earth. The wooded glen, whose varied tints are so pleasing in the summer sunlight, is leafless and drab when winter comes. The glorious sunset, which human skill can neither produce nor adequately reproduce, disappears within a few minutes. The fairest human countenance quickly withers: "all her beauty is departed" (Lam. 1:6). Even when it is preserved to the end of a short life, "their beauty shall consume in the grave" (Psalm 49:14). Yes, there is change and decay in all we see. The only beauty which is unfading and everlasting, is the beauty of holiness. The fruit of the Spirit will never lose its bloom! Spiritual graces shall endure after this poor world has all gone up in smoke. How fervently, then, should we pray, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." (Psalm 90:17).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fourth, the beauty of holiness is <b>satisfying, </b>and herein it differs radically from the beauty of the things of time and sense. Godliness with contentment is great gain. True, the Christian is never satisfied with his own holiness; rather does he continue to hunger and thirst after righteousness to the end. Nevertheless, the holier we are - the closer we walk with God - the more real rest of soul shall we enjoy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fifth, the beauty of holiness is <b>glorifying to God. </b>To glorify his Maker is the bounden duty of man, and nothing honors Him so much as our walking in separation from all that is displeasing to Him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"O worship the Lord - in the beauty of holiness." This is the only kind of beauty which the Lord cares for in our devotions. "Godliness is to the soul, as the light is to the world - to illumine and adorn it. It is not greatness which sets us off before God - but godliness." Ornate architecture and expensive apparel - God has no delight in. It is the loveliness of inward purity and outward sanctity, which pleases the thrice Holy One. Sincerity of heart, fervor of spirit, reverence of demeanor, the exercise of faith, the outgoings of love, are some of the elements whicfh comprise the "beauty of holiness" in our worship.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-84208275209748065602020-11-07T04:14:00.000-06:002020-11-07T04:14:55.391-06:00The Mercy Of God # 3<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Mercy Of God # 3</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">From what has just been before us, let us note how vain is the presumptuous hope of the wicked, who, notwithstanding their continued defiance of God, nevertheless count upon His being merciful to them. How many there are who say, "I do not believe that God will ever cast me into hell; He is too merciful."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such a hope is a viper, which if cherished in their bosoms will sting them to death. God is a God of justice as well as mercy, and He has expressly declared that He will "by no means clear the guilty" (Exodus 34:7). Yes, He has said, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psalm 9:17).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As well might men reason thus: I do not believe that if filth is allowed to accumulate and sewage become stagnant and people deprive themselves of fresh air - that a merciful God will let them fall a prey to a deadly fever. The fact is that those who neglect the laws of health are carried away by disease, notwithstanding God's mercy. Equally true is it that those who neglect the laws of spiritual health, shall forever suffer the second death.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Unspeakably solemn is it to see so many abusing this divine perfection. They continue to despise God's authority, trample upon His laws, continue in sin - and yet presume upon His mercy! But God will not be unjust to Himself. (Luke 13:3). To continue in sin and yet reckon upon divine mercy remitting punishment, is diabolical. It is saying, "Let us do evil, that good may come," and of all such it is written that their "damnation is just" (Revelation 3:8). Presumption shall most certainly be disappointed; read carefully Deuteronomy 29:18-20. Christ is the spiritual Mercy seat, and all who despise and reject His Lordship shall "be destroyed in their way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment." (Psalm 2:12).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But for our final thought be of <b>God's spiritual mercies unto His children. </b>"Your mercy is great unto the heavens" (Psalm 57:10). The riches of God's mercy transcend our loftiest thought. "For as the Heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:11). None can measure it. The elect are designated "vessels of mercy" (Romans 9:23). It is mercy which <b>quickened </b>them when they were dead in sins (Ephesians 2:4-5). It is mercy which <b>saves </b>them (Titus 3:5). It is His abundant mercy which <b>begat </b>them unto an eternal inheritance. (1 Peter 1:3). Time would fail us to tell of His preserving, sustaining, pardoning, supplying mercy. Unto His own, God is "the Father of mercies." (2 Corinthians 1:3).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"When all Your mercies, O my God,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My rising soul surveys,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Transported with the view I'm Lost,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In wonder, love, and praise."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The End)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-73503077328535465242020-10-24T04:25:00.000-05:002020-10-24T04:25:11.879-05:00The Mercy Of God # 2<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Mercy Of God # 2</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But at this point a difficulty may suggest itself to some of our readers, namely, Does not Scripture affirm that "His mercy endures forever" (Psalm 136:1). Two things need to be pointed out in that connection.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">God can never cease to be merciful, for this is quality of the divine essence (Psalm 116:5), but the exercise of His mercy is regulated by His sovereign will. This must be so, for there is nothing outside Himself which obliges Him to act; if there were, that "something" would be supreme, and God would cease to be God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is pure sovereign grace which alone determines the exercise of divine mercy. God expressly affirms this fact in Romans 9:15, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is not the <b>wretchedness </b>of the creature which causes Him to show mercy, for God is not influenced by things outside of Himself as we are. If God were influenced by the abject misery of leprous sinners, He would cleanse and save all of them. But He does not. Why? Simply because it is not His pleasure and purpose to do so.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Still less is it the <b>merits </b>of the creature which causes Him to bestow mercies upon them, for it is a contradiction in terms to speak of meriting "mercy". "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." (Titus 3:5) - the one standing in direct antithesis to the other.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nor is it the mercy of Christ which moves God to bestow mercies on His elect: that would be substituting the effect for the cause. It is "through" or because of the tender mercy of our God that Christ was sent here to His people (Luke 1:78). The merits of Christ make it possible for God to righteously bestow spiritual mercies on His elect, justice having been fully satisfied by the Surety! Divine mercy arises solely from God's imperial pleasure.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Again, though it be true, blessedly and gloriously true, that God's mercy "endures forever," yet we must observe carefully the objects to whom His "mercy" is shown. Even the casting of the reprobate into the lake of fire is an act of mercy. The punishment of the wicked is to be contemplated from a threefold viewpoint.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">From God's side, it is an act of justice, vindicating His honor. The mercy of God is never shown in the infury of His holiness and righteousness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">From the side of the reprobate, it is an act of equity, when they are made to suffer the due reward of their iniquities.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But from the standpoint of the redeemed, the punishment of the wicked is an act of unspeakable mercy. How dreadful would it be if the present order of things, when the children of God are obliged to live in the midst of the children of the devil, should continue forever! Heaven would at once cease to be Heaven, if the ears of the saints still heard the blasphemous and filthy language of the reprobate. What a mercy that in Heaven, "Nothing evil will be allowed to enter - no one who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty - but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life!" (Revelation 21:;27).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lest the reader might think in the last paragraph we have been drawing upon our imagination, let us appeal to Holy Scripture in support of what has been said. In Psalm 143:12 we find David praying, "And in Your mercy cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul; for I am Your servant." Again, in Psalm 136:15 we read that God "overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea - for His mercy endures forever." It was an act of vengeance upon Pharaoh and his army, but it was an act of mercy unto the Israelites.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Again, in Revelation 19:1-3 we read: "After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in Heaven, saying, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her." Again they said, "Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!" (Revelation 19:1-3).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 3)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-34030904684010126762020-10-17T04:31:00.000-05:002020-10-17T04:31:24.973-05:00The Mercy Of God # 1<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Mercy Of God # 1</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"O give thanks unto the Lord: for He is good, for His mercy endures forever." (Psalm 136:1). For this perfection of the divine character, God is greatly to be praised. Three times over in as many verses does the Psalmist here call upon the saints to give thanks unto the Lord for this adorable attribute. And surely this is the least that can be asked for from those <b>who have been recipients </b>of such bounty. When we contemplate the characteristics of this divine excellency, we cannot do otherwise than bless God for it. His <b>mercy </b>is great, plenteous, tender, abundant, it is "from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him" (Psalm 103:17).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well may we say with the Psalmist, "I will sing aloud of Your mercy" (59:16).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy to whom I show mercy." (Exodus 33:19). Wherein differs the "mercy" of God from His "grace"? The mercy of God has its spring in the divine goodness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first issue of God's goodness is His benignity or bounty, by which He gives liberally to His creatures as creatures, thus has He given being and life to all things.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The second issue of God's goodness is His mercy, which denotes the ready inclination of God to relieve the misery of fallen creatures. Thus, <b>mercy presupposes sin.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Though it may not be easy at the first consideration to perceive a real difference between the grace and the mercy of God, it helps us thereto if we carefully ponder His dealings with the unfallen angels. He has never exercised mercy toward them, for they have never stood in any need thereof, not having sinned or come beneath the effects of the curse. Yet, they certainly are the objects of God's free and sovereign grace.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First, because of His election of them from out of the whole angelic race (1 Timothy 5:21).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Secondly, and in consequence of their election, because of His preservation of them from apostasy, when satan rebelled and dragged down with im one-third of the celestial multitude (Revelation 12:4).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thirdly, in making Christ their Head (Colossians 2:10; 1 Peter 3:22), whereby they are eternally secured in the hold condition in which they were created.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fourthly, because of the exalted position which has been assigned to them: to live in God's immediate presence (Daniel 7:10), to serve Him constantly in His heavenly temple, to receive honorable commissions from Him (Hebrews 1:14). This is abundant grace toward them; but it is not "mercy."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In endeavoring to study the mercy of God as it is set forth in Scripture, a threefold distinction needs to be made, if the Word of Truth is to be "rightly divided" thereon.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">First, there is a <b>general mercy </b>of God, which is extended not only to all men, believers and unbelievers alike, but also to the entire creation: "His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalms 145:9); "He gives to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25). God has pity upon the brute creation in their need, and supplies them with suitable provision.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Secondly, there is a <b>special mercy </b>of God, which is exercised toward mankind, helping and supporting them, notwithstanding their sins. To them also He communicates all the necessities of life, "for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thirdly, there is <b>sovereign mercy </b>which is reserved for the heirs of salvation, which is communicated to them in a covenant way, through the Mediator.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The difference between the second and third distinctions pointed out above, it is important to note that the mercies which God bestows on the wicked are solely of a <b>temporal nature; </b>that is to say, they are confined strictly to this present life. There will be no mercy extended to them beyond the grave: "It is a people of no understanding: therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, and He who formed them will show them no favor" (Isaiah 27:11).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 2)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-82707301765097933662020-10-10T04:18:00.000-05:002020-10-10T04:18:20.053-05:00The Holiness Of God # 3<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Holiness Of God # 3</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such is the holiness ascribed to the divine nature and character in the Scriptures, that it clearly demonstrates their superhuman origin. The character attributed to the "gods" of the ancients and of modern heathendom is the very reverse of that immaculate purity which pertains to the true God. <b>An ineffably holy God, who has the utmost abhorrence of all sin, was never invented by any of Adam's fallen descendants! </b>The fact is, that nothing makes more manifest the terrible depravity of man's heart and his enmity against the living God, than to have set before him One who is infinitely and immutably holy. His own idea of sin is practically limited to what the world calls "crime." Anything short of that, man palliates as "defects," "mistakes," "infirmities," etc. And even where sin is owned at all, excuses and extenuations are made for it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The god which the vast majority of professing Christians "love" is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the "indiscretions" of youth. But the Word says, "You hate all workers of iniquity" (Psalm 5:5). And again, "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11). But men refuse to believe in <b>this </b>God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention. No, <b>sinful man was no more likely to devise a holy God than to create the Lake of Fire in which he will be tormented forever and ever!</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because God is holy, acceptance with Him on the ground of <b>creature doings </b>is utterly impossible. A fallen creature could sooner create a world, than produce that which would meet the approval of infinite Purity. Can darkness dwell with Light? Can the Immaculate One take pleasure in "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:61)? The best that sinful man brings forth is defiled. A corrupt tree cannot bear good fruit. God would deny Himself and vilify His perfections, were he to account as righteous and holy that which is not so in itself; and nothing is so which has the least stain upon it contrary to the nature of God. But blessed be His name,<b> that which His holiness demanded, His grace has provided in Christ Jesus our Lord. </b>Every poor sinner who has fled to Him for refuge, stands "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). Hallelujah!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because God is holy the utmost reverence befits our approaches unto Him. "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all those who are about Him" (Psalm 89:7). Then "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; He is holy" (Psalm 99:5). Yes, "at His footstool," in the lowest posture of humility, prostrate before Him. When Moses would approach unto the burning bush, God said, "Take off your shoes from your feet" (Exodus 3:5). He is to be served "with fear" (Psalm 2:1-1). Of Israel His demand was, "I will show Myself holy among those who are near Me. I will be glorified before all the people." (Leviticus 10:3). <b>The more our hearts are awed by His ineffable holiness, the more acceptable will be our approaches unto Him.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Because God is holy, we should desire to be conformed to Him. </b>His commandment is, "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). We are not bidden to be omnipotent or omniscient as God is, but "as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct" (1 Peter 1:15).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"This is the prime way of honoring God. We do not so glorify God by elevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or pompous services for Him - as when we aspire to a conversing with Him with unstained spirits, and live to Him in living like Him" (Charnock).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Then as God alone is the Source and Fount of holiness, let us earnestly seek holiness from Him. Let our daily prayers be that He may "sanctify us wholly; and our whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The End)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-13546307953337445942020-10-03T04:26:00.000-05:002020-10-03T04:26:57.451-05:00The Holiness of God # 2<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Holiness of God # 2</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">God's holiness is manifested in His <b>law. </b>That law forbids sin in all of its modifications: in its most refined as well as its grossest forms, the intent of the mind as well as the pollution of the body, the secret desire as well as the overt act. Therefore do we read, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). Yes, "the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether" (Psalm 19:8-9).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">God's holiness is best manifested at the <b>Cross. </b>Wondrously and yet most solemnly does the atonement display God's infinite holiness and abhorrence of sin. <b>How hateful sin must be to God, for Him to punish it to its utmost deserts when it was imputed to His Son!</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from saving Me, so far from the words of My groaning?" (Psalm 22:1).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Not all the vials of judgment that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of a sinner's conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced against the rebellious demons, nor the groans of the damned creatures - give such a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, as the wrath of God let loose upon His Son!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Never did divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Saviour's countenance was most marred in the midst of His dying groans. When God had turned His smiling face away from Him, and thrust His sharp knife into His heart, which forced that terrible cry from Him, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" He adores this perfection, "You are enthroned as the holy one!" (Psalm 22:3).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Because God is holy He hates all sin. He love everything which is in conformity to His laws, and loathes everything which is contrary to it. His Word plainly declares, "wicked people are an abomination to the Lord" (Proverbs 3:32). And again, "The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord" (Proverbs 15:26). It follows, therefore, that He must necessarily punish sin. Sin can no more exist without demanding His punishment, than without requiring His hatred of it. <b>God has often forgiven sinners, but He never forgives sin; and the sinner is only forgiven on the ground of Another having born his punishment; for "without shedding of blood is no remission of sin" </b>(Hebrews 9:22). Therefore we are told "The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies" (Nahum 1:2).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For one sin God banished our first parents from Eden. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For one sin all the posterity of Canaan fell under a curse which remains over them to this day. (Genesis 9:21). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For one sin Moses was excluded from Canaan.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For one sin Elisha's servant smitten with leprosy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For one sin Ananias and Sapphira were cut off out of the land of the living.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Herein we find proof for the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The unregenerate do not really believe in the holiness of God. Their conception of His character is altogether one-sided. They fondly hope that His mercy will override everything else. "You thought that I was just like you" (Psalm 50:21) is God's charge against them. They think only of a "God patterned after their own evil hearts. Hence their continuance in a course of mad folly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 3)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-63828523184095390072020-09-26T04:29:00.000-05:002020-09-26T04:29:29.126-05:00The Holiness Of God # 1<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The Holiness Of God # 1</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy." (Revelation 15:4). <b>God only is independently, infinitely, immutably holy. </b>In Scripture He is frequently styled "The Holy ONE." He is so because the sum of all moral excellency is found in Him.<b> He is absolute Purity, unsullied even by the shadow of sin. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5).</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Holiness is the very excellency of the divine nature: <b>the great God is "glorious in holiness" </b>(Exodus 15:11). Therefore do we read,<b> "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." </b>(Habakkuk 1:13).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As God's power is the opposite of the native weakness of the creature; as His wisdom is in complete contrast from the least defect of understanding or folly; so His holiness is the very antithesis of all moral blemish or defilement. Of old God appointed singers in Israel "that should praise the beauty of holiness." (2 Chronicles 20:21).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Power is God's arm;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">omniscience is His eye;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">mercy is His duration, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">but holiness is His beauty." (Charnock)<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is this, supremely, which renders God lovely to those who are delivered from sin's dominion. A chief emphasis is placed upon this perfection of God:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"God is more often styled Holy than Almighty, and set forth by this part of His dignity more than by any other. This is more fixed on as an epithet to His name than any other. You never find it expresses "His mighty name" or "His wise name" but His great name, and most of all, His holy name. This is the greatest title of honor; in His holiness does the majesty and venerableness of His name appear." (Charnock)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This perfection, as none other, is solemnly celebrated before the Throne of Heaven, the seraphim crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:3). God Himself singles out this perfection, "Once have I sworn by My holiness." (Psalm 89:35). God swears by His "holiness" because that is a fuller expression of Himself than anything else. Therefore we are exhorted, "Sing unto the Lord, O saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." (Psalm 30:4). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Holiness may be said to be a transcendental attribute, that, as it were, runs through the rest, and casts luster upon them. It is the attribute of attributes. Thus we read: "the beauty of the Lord" which is none other than "the beauty of holiness." (Psalm 110:3).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">"As holiness seems to claim an excellency above all His other perfections, so it is the glory of all His attributes. As it is the glory of the Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead; as His power is the strength of all His attributes, so His holiness is the beauty of them. As all His attributes would be weak without almightiness to back them, so all would be unlovely without holiness to adorn them. Should His holiness be sullied, all the rest would lose their honor; as at the same instant the sun should lose its light, it would lose the heat, its strength, its generative and quickening virtue. As sincerity is the luster of every grace in a Christian, so is purity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice, His wisdom is a holy wisdom, His power is a "holy arm". His truth or promise is a holy promise. His name, which signifies all His attributes in conjunction is "holy."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">God's holiness is manifested in His <b>works.</b> "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works." (Psalm 145:17). Nothing but that which is excellent can proceed from Him.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Holiness is the rule of all His <b>actions. </b>At the beginning He pronounced all that He made "very good", which He could not have done had there been anything imperfect or unholy in them. Man was made "upright" (Ecc. 7:29), in the image and likeness of his Creator. The angels that fell were created holy, for we are told that they "kept not their first habitation" (Jude 6). Of satan it is written, "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you." (Ezekiel 28:15).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~A. W. Pink~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 2)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-84595236006613802232020-09-12T04:27:00.000-05:002020-09-12T04:27:30.409-05:00Think On These Things # 2<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Think On These Things # 2</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We are continually meeting those who are discouraged, who have fallen under the shadow of misfortune, who have done wrong, perhaps, and are suffering in reputation; or who have been unjustly treated - and are enduring the sting. These are the people to whom our love should go out in words of hope and cheer, instead of blame.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">One of the most significant words of personal experience in the Old Testament, is that in which David tells us, at the close of his wonderful life, that all he had attained and achieved he owed to God's gentleness. "Your gentleness has made me great!" If God had been harsh with him - stern, critical, severely exacting, David never would have reached the noble life, with its wonderful achievements, which he finally attained. If God had been severe with him after his falls and failures, David never would have risen to power and distinction. God's gentleness made him great. We can help others to become great only by being patient with them. Men and women everywhere need nothing so much as gentleness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Are not many of us too brusque with each other? Do we not lack in kindliness, in patience, in tenderness? Some men would have to believe that gentleness is an unmanly quality. But it is not; rudeness and harshness are always unmanly, gentleness is divine. For many people, life is not easy, and we make it very much harder for them to live worthily - when we deal harshly, when we are exacting, when we chide or blame them, or when we exercise our wits in saying smart, cutting, and irritating things to annoy and vex them. If was said of William Cullen Bryant, that he treated every neighbor as if he were an angel in disguise. That is, he had a feeling akin to reverence for everyone who entered his presence. We do not know to who we are speaking, when we meet a stranger. Let us treat him as the poet did his neighbor - as if he were an angel.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Someone defines a gentlemen, as one who never needlessly causes pain to another. If we are followers of Christ, we have no right to be ungentle, to be ill-mannered, to act disagreeably, and to treat anyone rudely, brusquely. "If there is any virtue, if there is any thing praiseworthy, think on these things." We should never forget the teaching of our Master - that the hungry person we feed in His name, the sick person we visit, the stranger to whom we show kindness, the discouraged person we encourage, the fainting one we lift up and start on his way again - is the Master Himself. "Inasmuch as you did it unto one of these y brethren, even these least - you did it unto Me." How would we treat Jesus if we found Him in any condition of need? That is to be the test in our dealings with men. We dare not to be ungentle to anyone - it may be an angel in disguise; it may be Christ Himself!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The teaching applies to our own personal experience of sorrow. We should seek the line of brightness in any dark picture, and think of that. And there always are breaks in the clouds through which we can see the blue and the stars. No lot in life is ever so utterly hopeless as to have in it nothing to alleviate its unhappiness. There is always something of brightness, one line, at least, in the darkest experience.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There always are comforts, no matter how great the sorrow. Every cloud has in it some bit of silver lining. There are hopes, consolations, encouragements, in every experience of grief or loss, and we are to think of these - and not alone of the sad elements in the experience.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Think of the good - not the evil. Think on the loveliness - not on the disfigurements. Think on pure - not on the soiled. Think on the hopeful things in others - their possibilities of nobleness, not on their faults. In sorrow find the face of Christ, and gaze on that until you forget your grief in all life, if there is any virtue, any thing pariseworthy, any beauty, any joy - think on these things, and it will lift up your life into strength, nobleness, divineness!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~J. R. Miller~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The End)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-26413518862540649552020-09-05T04:25:00.000-05:002020-09-05T04:25:02.911-05:00Think On These Things # 1<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Think On These Things # 1</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are certain habits of life, which are far reaching in their influence. The habit of cheerfulness, for instance, is said to be of great worth to a person. The habit of being always an encourager, never a discourager, gives incalculable value to one's personality and influence. A discourager is a misanthrope. He makes life harder for every other life he touches, and an encourager is a constant inspiration to others, and makes life easier for everyone.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is another habit of life, which if it were to become universal would change many things - namely, the habit of always seeing the good in people, in conditions, in circumstances, and in experiences. Paul suggests it, when he says in a remarkable passage, "If there is any virtue, and if there is any thing praiseworthy - think on these things." (Philippians 4:8). The emphasis seems to be on "any" - if there is any virtue, even the last, in another, if there is in a life which seems almost wholly bad, even the smallest thing that is good - we are to find that and to think upon that mere speck of beauty, rather than on the much that is evil and unbeautiful. If there is in a person, any thing praiseworthy, any smallest quality or act that is worthy of praise, of which we can speak with even the faintest approval and commendation, we should give thought to that, and voice our appreciation, rather than think and speak of the many things in the person that are not good or praiseworthy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is easy to think of reasons why this is the Christian way. It is Christ's way with us. If there is anything good, even the faintest spark of virtue or hope in a life - Christ sees it. He is looking for good and hopeful things. Some people see only the faults and flaws in the lives of others - they are looking for these things - blemishes, defects, imperfections. They are never trying to find anything beautiful, and they find what they seek. Our Master, however, is looking for things that are praiseworthy - good beginnings of better things.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Someone asked the curator of an academy of fine arts, regarding the pictures of a certain artist: "What do you consider the defects in his work?" The answer was, "We do not look for defects here - but for excellences." It is thus that our Master does in our lives - He does not look for the imperfections, of which there always are many - but for things that are worthy of commendation. If there is any virtue - He finds it, takes notes of it, nourishes it, and woos it out. If Christ looked upon us as we too often look upon others - seeing the flaws, the shortcomings, the inconsistencies, the failures - and judged us by these, not many of us ever would grow into beauty. But where there is even a spark of good he finds it, and cultivates it into His best possibilities.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We shall never become of much use in the world - until we learn this lesson of always finding and encouraging the best. We shall never lift up anyone to a higher, better life - until we have found in him something to approve and commend. There are some men and women who wish to help others, to be of use to them - but work after a wrong method. They think they must eliminate the faults and defects which they find - and so they watch for things they cannot approve. They have keen eyes for specks and blemishes - none are too small for them to see - but they never see the beautiful things in another. The Master refers to such people, in His teaching about motes and beams. He would have us to look for the good, not the evil, in others.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is no life so devoid of beauty and good - that it has in it nothing worthy of commendation. Ruskin found even in the mud of London streets, the elements out of which gems are formed - the opal, the sapphire, the diamond. The love of Christ finds even in the moral refuse of this world possibilities of loveliness in character and heavenliness in life. We cannot do anything to help men - by indulging in criticism and denunciation. We can call out the good in others only as the sun woos out the plants and flowers from the cold earth in the springtime - by its warmth. If the friends of men, finding the smallest beginnings of virtue and encouraging them - the earth would soon be changed into a garden!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~J. R. Miller~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 2)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-56919542925274405582020-08-29T04:29:00.000-05:002020-08-29T04:29:19.620-05:00Pharisees And Sadducees # 9<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Pharisees And Sadducees # 9</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I desire to impress the immense importance of these four points upon all who read this paper:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(a) Clear views of the sinfulness of human nature.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(b) Clear views of the inspiration of Scripture.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(c) Clear views of the Atonement and Priestly office of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(d) Clear views of the work of the Holy Spirit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I believe that false doctrines about the church, the ministry, and the Sacraments, about the love of God, the death of Christ, and the eternity of punishment - will find no foothold in the heart which is sound on these four points. I believe that they are four great safeguards against the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I will now conclude this paper with a few remarks by way of <b>PRACTICAL APPLICATION. </b>My desire is to make the whole subject useful, to those into whose hands these pages may fall, and to supply an answer to the questions which may possibly arise in some hearts. What are we do do? What advice have you got to offer for these times?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>(1) In the first place, I will ask every reader of this paper to find out whether he has "saving personal religion for his own soul." </b>This is the principal thing, after all. It will profit no man to belong to a sound visible church - if he does not himself belong to Christ. It will avail a man nothing to be intellectually sound in the faith, and to approve sound doctrine - if he is not himself sound at heart. Is this the case with you? Can you say that your heart is right in the sight of God? Is it renewed by the Holy Spirit? Does Christ dwell in it by faith? O, rest not, rest not - until you can give a satisfactory answer to these questions! The man who dies unconverted, however sound his views - is as truly lost forever as the worst Pharisee or Sadducee that ever lived!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>(2) In the next place, let me entreat every reader of this paper who desires to be sound in the faith - to study the Bible diligently. </b>That blessed book is given to be a light to our feet, and a lantern to our path. No man who reads it reverently, prayerfully, humbly, and regularly - shall ever be allowed to miss the way to heaven! By it every sermon, and every religious book, and every ministry ought to be weighed and proved.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>(3) In the next place, let me adivse every reader of this paper who has reason to hope that he is sound in faith and heart, to "take heed to the PROPORTION of truths." </b>I mean by that, to impress the importance of giving each truth of Christianity the same place and position in our hearts - which is given to it in God's Word. The first things not to be put second - and the second things must not be put first in our religion. The church must not be put above Christ. Ministers must not be exalted above the place assigned to them by Christ. Means of grace must not be regarded as an end instead of a means. Attention to this point is of great consequence; the mistakes which arise from neglecting it are neither few nor small. Here lies the immense importance of studying the <b>whole Word of God, </b>omitting nothing, and avoiding partiality in reading one part more than another.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>(4) In the next place, let me entreat every true hearted servant of Christ "not to be deceived by the superficial disguise" under which false doctrines often approach our souls in the present day. </b>Beware of supposing that a teacher of religion is to be trusted, because although he holds some unsound views - that he yet "teaches a great deal of truth." Such a teacher is precisely the man to do you harm! Poison is always given in small doses and mixed with wholesome food.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is a dreadful fact that "satan himself masquerades as an angel of life." There is no greater common notion that "if a man is serious about his religion - he must be a good man!" Beware of being carried away by this delusion</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>(5) In the next place, let me counsel every true servant of Christ - to "examine his own heart" frequently and carefully as to his state before God. </b>This is a practice which is useful at all times. We ought to watch our hearts with double-watchfulness. Give more time to meditation, and reflection.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>(6) Last of all, let me urge all true believers "to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." </b>We have no cause to be ashamed of that faith. We have the truth, and we need to stand up boldly for Evangelical religion. We need not be afraid to say so. The judgment day will prove who is right - and to that day we may boldly appeal!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~J. C. Ryle~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The End)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-69096743867046813882020-08-22T04:30:00.000-05:002020-08-22T04:30:48.068-05:00Pharisees And Sadducees # 8<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Pharisees And Sadducees # 8</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Furthermore, we must boldly maintain that this Word of God is the only rule of faith and of practice - that whatever is not written in it - cannot be required of any man as needful of salvation; and that however plausibly new doctrines may be defended, if they are not in the Word of God - they cannot be worth our attention. It matters nothing who says a thing, whether he be bishop or minister; pastor or pope. It matters nothing that the thing is well said, eloquently, attractively, forcibly, and in such a way as to turn the laugh against you. We are not to believe it except it is proved to us by Holy Scripture.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last - but not least, <b>we must use the Bible as if we believed it was given by inspiration. </b>We must use it with reverence, and read it with all the tenderness with which we would read the words of an absent father. We must not expect to find no mysteries in a book inspired by the Spirit of God. We must rather remember that in nature there are many things we cannot understand; and that as it is in the book of nature, so it will always be in the book of Revelation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We should draw near to the Word of God in that spirit of piety recommended by Lord Bacon many years ago. "Remember," he says, speaking of the book of nature, "that man is not the master of that book - but the interpreter of that book." And as we deal with the book of nature, so we must deal with the Book of God. We must draw near to it, not to teach - but to learn, not like the master of it - but like a humble scholar, seeking to understand it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(c) For another thing, <b>we must take heed to our doctrine respecting "the atonement and priestly office of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." </b>We must boldly maintain that the death of our Lord on the Cross was no common death. It was not the death of a martyr. It was not the death of one who only died to give us a mighty example of self-sacrifice and self-denial. The death of Christ was an offering up to God of Christ's own body and blood, to make an atoning sacrifice for man's sin and transgressions. This sacrifice was typified in every offering of the Mosaic law - a sacrifice of the mightiest influence on all mankind. Without the shedding of that blood there could not be, there never was to be, any remission of sin.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Furthermore, we must boldly maintain that this crucified Saviour evermore sits at the right hand of God, to make intercession for all who come to God by Him; that He there represents and pleads for those who put their trust in Him; and that He has delegated His office of Priest and Mediator to<b> no</b> man, or set of men on the face of the earth. We need <b>none</b> besides. We need<b> no</b> Virgin Mary, <b>no</b> angels, <b>no</b> saint, <b>no</b> priest, <b>no</b> person ordained or unordained -<b> to stand between us and God</b> - but the one Mediator, Christ Jesus.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Furthermore, we must boldly maintain that peace of conscience is not to be brought by confession to a priest, and by receiving a man's absolution from sin. It is to be had <b>only by going to the great High Priest, Christ Jesus;</b> by confession before Him, not before man. Absolution can come from Him who alone can say, "Your sins are forgiven! Go in peace!"</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last - but not least, we must boldly maintain that peace with God, once obtained by faith in Christ, is to be kept up, not by mere outward ceremonial acts of worship, not by receiving the sacrament of the Lord's Supper every day - but by the daily habit of looking to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, eating by faith His body, and drinking by faith His blood; that eating and drinking of which our Lord says that he who eats and drinks shall find His "body to be food indeed - and His blood to be drink indeed."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Godly John Owen declared, long ago, that if there was any one point more than another that satan wished to overthrow, it was the Priestly office of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "satan knew well," he said, that it was the "principle foundation of faith and consolation of the Church." Right views about Christ's office, are of essential importance in the present day, if men would not fall into error.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(d) One more remedy I must mention. <b>We must take heed to our doctrine about "the work of the Holy Spirit." </b>Let us settle it in our minds, that His work is no uncertain invisible operation on the heart - and that where He is, He is not hidden, not unfelt, not unobserved. We believe that the rain, when it falls, can be felt. We believe that where there is life in a man - it can be seen and observed by his breath. So is it with the influence of the Holy Spirit. No man has any right to lay claim to it - except its <b>fruits, </b>its experimental effects, can be <b>seen </b> in his life. Where He is, there will ever be new knowledge, new faith, new holiness, new fruits in the life, in the family, in the world, in the church. And where these new things are not seen, we may well say, with confidence, that there is no work of the Holy Spirit in that person. These are times in which we all need to be on our gurard about the doctrine of the work of the Spirit. One said, long ago, that the time would perhaps come when men might have to be martyrs for the work of the Holy Spirit. That time seems not far distant. At any rate, if there is one truth in religion which seems to have more contempt showered upon it than another, it is the work of the Holy Spirit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~J. C. Ryle~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 9)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-91350610608660597112020-08-15T04:31:00.000-05:002020-08-15T04:31:13.392-05:00Pharisees And Sadducees # 7<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Pharisees And Sadducees # 7</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>IV. I propose in the fourth and last place, to suggest some SAFEGUARDS and treatment against the dangers of the present day - the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of the Sadducees.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I feel that we all need more and more, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, to guide, to teach, and to keep us sound in the faith. We all need to watch more, and to pray to be held up, and preserved from falling away. But still, there are certain great truths, which, in a day like this, we are specially bound to keep in mind. There are times when some common epidemic invades a land, when medicines, at all times valuable, become of special value. there are places where an uncommon malaria prevails, in which remedies, in every place valuable, are more than ever valuable in consequence of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So I believe there are times and seasons in the Church of Christ when we are bound to tighten our hold upon certain great leading truths, to grasp them with more than ordinary firmness in our hands, to press them to our hearts, and not to let them go. Such doctrines I desire to set forth in order, as the great prescription against the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. When Saul and Jonathan were slain by the archers, David ordered the children of Israel to be taught the use of the bow.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(a) For one thing, if we would be kept sound in the faith, we must take heed to our doctrine about the "total corruption of human nature." The corruption of human nature is no slight thing. It is no partial, skin-deep disease - but a radical and universal corruption of man's will, intellect, affections, and conscience. We are not merely poor and pitiable sinners in God's sight - we are guilty sinners; we are blameworthy sinners; we deserve justly God's wrath and God's condemnation. I believe there are very few errors and false doctrines of which the beginning may not be traced up to unsound views about the corruption of human nature. Wrong views of a disease will always bring with them wrong views of the remedy. Wrong views of the corruption of human nature will always carry with them wrong views of the grand treatment and cure of that corruption.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(b) For another thing, we must take heed to our doctrine about "the inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures." Let us boldly maintain, in the face of all the opposers, that the whole of the Bible is given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that all is inspired completely, not one part more than another, and that there is an entire gulf between the Word of God and any other book in the world. We need not be afraid of difficulties in the way of the doctrine of absolute inspiration. There may be many things about it, which are far too high for us to comprehend. Scripture inspiration is a miracle, and all miracles are necessarily mysterious. But if we are not to believe anything until we can entirely explain it, there are very few things indeed that we shall believe.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We need not be afraid of all the assaults which criticism brings to bear upon the Bible. From the days of the apostles the Word of God have been incessantly "tried" and has never failed to come forth as gold, uninjured, and spotless.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">We need not be afraid of the discoveries of science. Astronomers may sweep the heavens with telescopes, and geologists may dig down into the heart of the earth - and never shake the authority of the Bible! "The voice of God, and the work of God's hands - never will be found to contradict one another." We need not be afraid of the researches of travelers. They will never discover anything which contradicts God's Bible. I believe that if a man were to go over all the earth and dig up a hundred buried Ninevehs, there would not be found a single inscription which would contradict a single fact in the Word of God!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">~J. C. Ryle~</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(continued with # 8)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-31245478500081117912020-08-08T04:25:00.000-05:002020-08-08T04:25:20.079-05:00Pharisees and Sadducees # 6<font face="verdana"><b>Pharisees and Sadducees # 6</b></font><div><font face="verdana"><b><br /></b></font></div><div><font face="verdana">I consider the most dangerous champion of the Sadducee school, is not the man who tells you openly that he wants you to lay aside any part of the truth, and to become a free-thinker and a skeptic. It is the man who begins with quietly insinuating doubts as to the position that we ought to take up about religion, doubts whether we ought to be so positive in saying "this is truth, and that falsehood," doubts whether we ought to think men wrong who iffer from us on religious opinions, since they may after all be as much right as we are. It is the man who tells us we ought not to condemn anybody's views, lest we err on the side of the lack of love. It is the man who always begins talking in a vague way about God being a God of love, and hints that we ought to believe perhaps that all men, whatever doctrine they profess, will be saved. It is the man who is ever reminding us that we ought to take care how we think lightly of men of powerful minds, and great intellects (though they are deists and skeptics), who do not think as we do, and that, after all, "great minds are all more or less, taught of God!" It is the man who is ever harping on the difficulties of inspiration, and raising questions whether all men may not be found saved in the end, and whether all may be right in the sight of God. It is the man who crowns this kind of talk by a few calm sneers against whet he is pleased to call "old-fashioned views," and "narrow-minded theology," and "bigotry," and the "lack of liberality and love," in the present day. But when men begin to speak to us in this kind of way, then is the time to stand upon our guard. Then is the time to remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and "Be careful and be on your guard against the yeast!"</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">Once more, why do I say this? I say it because there is no security against Sadduceeism, any more than against Phariseeism, unless we resist its principles in the bud! Beginning with a little vague talk about "love," you may end in the doctrine of universal salvation, fill heaven with a mixed multitude of wicked as well as godly, and deny the existence of hell. Beginning with a few high-sounding phrases about intellect and the inner light in man, you may end with denying the work of the Holy Spirit, and maintaining that Homer and Shakespeare were as truly inspired as Paul, and thus practically casting aside the Bible. Beginning with some dreamy, misty idea about "all religions containing more or less truth," you may end with utterly denying the necessity of missions, and maintaining that the best plan is to leave everybody alone. Beginning with dislike to "Evangelical religion," as old-fashioned, narrow, and exclusive - you may end by rejecting every leading doctrine of Christianity - the atonement, the need of divine grace, and the divinity of Christ.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">Let us be on our guard against the "insidiousness" of false doctrine. Like the fruit of which Adam and Eve ate, at first sight it looks pleasant and good, and a thing to be desired. "Poison" is not written upon it, and so people are not afraid. Like counterfeit coin, it is not stamped "bad." It passes for the real thing, because of the very likeness it bears to the truth. Let us be on our guard against the "very small beginnings" of false doctrine. Every heresy began at one time, with some little departure from the truth. There is only "a little seed of error" needed to create a great tree of heresy. It is the little stones which make up the mighty building. It was the little pieces of lumber, which made the great ark that carried Noah and his family over a deluged world. It is the little leaven which the whole lump. It is the little flaw in one link of the chain which wrecks the gallant ship, and drowns the crew. It is the omission or addition of one little item in the doctor's prescription, which spoils the whole medicine, and turns it into poison. We do not tolerate quietly a little dishonesty, or a little cheating, or a little lying. Just so, let us never allow a little false doctrine to ruin us, by thinking it is but a "little one," and can do no harm. The Galatians seemed to be doing nothing very dangerous when they 'were observing special days and months and seasons and years," yet Paul says, "I fear for you" (Galatians 4:10, 11).</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">Finally, let us be on our guard against supposing that "we at any rate are not in danger." "Our views are sound, our feet stand firm. Others may fall away - but we are safe!" Hundreds have thought the same, and have come to a dreadful end. In their self-confidence they tampered with little temptations, and little forms of false doctrine; in their self-conceit, they went near the brink of danger; and now they seem lost forever! They appear given over to a strong delusion, so as to believe a lie. Some of them are praying to the Virgin Mary, and bowing down to images. Others of them are casting overboard one doctrine after another, and are stripping themselves of every sort of religion, but a few scraps of Deism. Very striking is the vision in Pilgrim's Progress, which describes the hill error as "very steep on the farthest side," and "when Christian and Hopeful looked down they saw at the bottom, several men dashed all to pieces by a fall they had from the top." Never, never let us forget the caution to beware of "yeast;" and if we think we stand, let us "be careful that we don't fall!"</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">~J. C. Ryle~</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">(continued with # 7)</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-72402930406063203492020-07-25T05:13:00.000-05:002020-08-01T04:25:12.900-05:00Pharisees And Sadducees # 5<font face="verdana"><b>Pharisees And Sadducees # 5</b></font><div><font face="verdana"><b><br /></b></font></div><div><font face="verdana">Finally, I ask any one to mark what is going on this very day. I ask whether it is not true that have left the established church and joined the Church of Rome within the last thirty years? I ask whether it is not true that hundreds remain within our boundaries, who in heart are little better than Romanists? I ask again whether it is not true that scores of young men are spoiled and ruined by the withering influence of skepticism, and have lost all positive principles in religion? Sneers at religious newspapers, loud declarations of dislike to "denominations," high-sounding, vague phrases about "deep thinking, broad views, new light, free handling of Scripture, and the barren weakness of certain schools of theology, make up the whole Christianity of many of the rising generation. And yet, in the face of these notorious facts, men cry out, "Hold your peace about false doctrine. Let false doctrine along!" I cannot hold my peace. Faith in the Word of God, love to the souls of men, the vows I took when I was ordained, all alike constrain me to bear witness against the errors of the day. And I believe that the saying of our Lord is eminently a truth for the times: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees!"</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana"><b>III. The third thing to which I wish to call attention is - the peculiar NAME by which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of the doctrines of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.</b></font></div><div><font face="verdana"><b><br /></b></font></div><div><font face="verdana">The words which our Lord used were always the wisest and the best that could be used. He might have said, "Be careful and be on your guard against the doctrine, or the teaching, or of the opinions of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." But He does not say so: He uses a word of a peculiar nature - He says, "Be careful and be on your guard against the <b>"yeast" </b>of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." Now we all know what is the true meaning of the word "yeast." The yeast is added to the lump of dough in making a loaf of bread.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">This yeast bears but a small proportion to the lump into which it is mixed; just so, our Lord would have us know, the first beginning of false doctrine is but small, compared to the body of Christianity. It works <b>quietly and silently;</b> just so, our Lord would have us know false doctrine works secretly in the heart in which it is once planted. It insensibly changes the character of the whole mass with which it is mingled; just so, our Lord whould us know, the doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees turn everything upside down, when once admitted into a Church or into a man's heart. Let us mark these points: they throw light on many things that we see in the present day. It is of vast importance to receive the lessons of wisdom that this word "yeast" contains in itself.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">False doctrine does not meet men face to face, and proclaim that it is false. It does not blow a trumpet before it, and endeavor openly to turn us away from the truth as it is in Jesus. It does not come before men in broad day, and summon them to surrender. It approaches us secretly, quietly, insidiously, plausibly, and in such a way as to disarm man's suspicion, and throw him off his guard. It is the wolf in sheep's clothing, and satan in the garb of an angel of light, who have always proved the most dangerous foes of the Church of Christ.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">I believe the most powerful champion of the Pharisees is not the man who bids you openly and honestly come out and join the Church of Rome; it is the man who says that he agrees on all points with you in doctrine. He would not take anything away from those evangelical views that you hold; would not have you make any changes at all; all he asks you to do is to "add" a little more to your belief, in order to make your Christianity perfect. "Believe me," he says, "We do not want you to give up anything. We only want you to hold a few more clear views about the Church and the sacraments. We want you to add to your present opinions, a little more about the office of the ministry, and a little more about the authority of Bishops, and a little more about the Prayer Book, and a little more about the necessity of order and of discipline. We only want you to add "a little more" of these things to your system of religion, and you will be quite right.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">But when men speak to you in this way, then is the time to remember what our Lord said, and to "Be careful and be on your guard!" This is the yeast of the Pharisees, against which we are to stand upon our guard. Why do I say this? I say it because there is no security against the doctrine of the Pharisees - unless we resist the principles in their beginnings!</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">1. Beginning with a "little more about the Church" - You may one day put the Church in the place of Christ.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">2. Beginning with a "little more about the ministry - You may one day regard the minister as "the mediator between God and man."</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">3. Beginning with a "little more about the sacraments" - You may one day altogether give up the doctrine of justification by faith without the deeds of the law.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">4. Beginning with a "little more reverence for the Prayer book - You may one day place it above the Holy Word of God itself.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">5. Beginning with a "little more honor to Bishops" - You may at last refuse salvation to everyone who does not belong to an Episcopal Church.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">~J. C. Ryle~</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">(continued with # 6)</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-34901765094083539812020-07-25T04:32:00.000-05:002020-07-25T04:32:51.248-05:00Pharisees and Sadducees # 4<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Pharisees and Sadducees # 4</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But, I desire to bring the subject even nearer at the present moment. I ask my readers to consider whether warnings like this are not especially needed in our own times. We have, undoubtedly, much to be thankful for. We have made great advances in arts and sciences in the last three centuries, and have much of the form and show of morality and religion. But, I ask anybody who can see beyond his own door, or his own living room, whether are do not live in the midst of <b>dangers from false doctrines?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have among us, on the one side, a group of men who, wittingly or unwittingly, are paving the way to the Church of Rome - a school that professes to draw its principles from primitive tradition, the writings of the Fathers, and the voice of the Church - a teaching that talks and writes so much about the Church, the ministry, and the Sacraments, that it makes them like Aaron's rod which swallows up everything else in Christianity, a teaching that attaches vast importance to the <b>outside form and ceremony </b>of religion - to gestures, postures, bowings, crosses, holy water, seats of honor for the clergy, altar cloths, incense, statues, banners, processions, floral decorations, and many other like things, about which not a word is found in the Holy Scriptures as having any place in Christian worship! I refer, of course tothe school of Churchmen called <b>Ritualists. </b>When we examine the proceedings of that school, there can be but one conclusion concerning them. I believe whatever is the meaning and intention of its teachers, however devoted, zealous, and self-denying, many of them are, those whom have followed the <b>cloak of the Pharisees.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have, on the other hand, a school of men who, wittingly, or unwittingly, appear to pave the way to <b>Socinianism </b>- a school which holds strange views about the absolute inspiration of the Holy Scripture, and stranger views about the doctrine of sacrifice, and the Atonement of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, strange views about the eternity of punishment, and God's love to man, a school strong in negatives - but very weak in positives, skillful in raising doubts - but impotent in removing them, clever in unsettling and unscrewing men's faith - but powerless to offer any firm rest for man. And, whether the leaders of this school mean it or not - I believe that on them has fallen <b>the cloak of the Sadducees.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These things sound harsh. It saves a vast deal of trouble - to shut our eyes, and say, "I see no danger," and because it is not seen, therefore not to believe it. It is easy to cover our ears and say, "I hear nothing," and because we hear nothing, therefore to feel no alarm. But we know well who they are that rejoice over the state of things we have to deplore in some quarters of our own Church. We know what the Roman Catholic thinks: we know what the Socinian thinks. The Roman Catholic rejoices over the rise of the Catholicism; the Socinian rejoices over the rise of men who teach such views as those set forth in modern days about the atonement and inspiration. They would not rejoice as they do if they did not see their work being done, and their cause being helped forward.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The danger, I believe, is far greater than we are apt to suppose. The books that are read in many quarters are most mischievous, and the tone of thought on religious subjects, among many classes, and especially among the higher ranks, is deeply unsatisfactory. The plague is abroad! If we love life, we ought to search our own hearts, and try our own faith, and make sure that we stand on the right foundation. Above all, we ought to take heed that we ourselves do not drink the poison of false doctrine, and go back from our first love!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I feel deeply the painfulness of speaking out on these subjects. I know well that speaking plain about false doctrine is very unpopular, and that the speaker must be content to find himself being thought of as very uncharitable, very troublesome, and very narrow-minded. Most people can never distinguish difference in religion. To the bulk of men a clergyman is a clergyman, and a sermon is a sermon, and as to any difference between one minister and another, or one doctrine and another, they are utterly unable to understand it. I cannot expect such people to approve of any warning against false doctrine. I must make up my mind to meet with their disapproval, and must bear it as I best can. But I will ask any honest-minded, unprejudiced Bible reader, to turn to the New Testament and see what he will find there. He will find many plain warnings against false doctrine:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Watch out for false prophets!" (Matthew 7:15).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy!" (Colossians 2:8).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings!" (Hebrews 13:9).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Do not believe every spirit - but test the spirits to see whether they are from God!" (1 John 4:1).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He will find a large part of several inspired epistles taken up with elaborate explanations of the doctrine, and warnings against false teaching. I ask whether it is possible for a minister who takes the Bible for his rule of faith - to avoid giving warnings against doctrinal error!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">~J. C. Ryle~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(continued with # 5)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-63920158835262080892020-07-18T04:24:00.000-05:002020-07-18T04:24:46.565-05:00Pharisees and Sadducees # 3<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Pharisees and Sadducees # 3</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>(b) </b>The doctrine of the <b>SADDUCEES,</b> on the other hand, may be summed up in three words: free-thinking, skepticism, and rationalism. Their creed was far less popular than that of the Pharasees, and, therefore, we find them mentioned less often in the New Testament Scriptures. So far as we can judge from the New Testament, they appear to have held the doctrine of degrees of inspiration; at all times they attached greater value to the Pentateuch (first five Books of the Old Testament) above all the other parts of the Old Testament, if indeed they did not altogether ignore the latter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">They believed that there was no resurrection, no angels, and no spirits, and tried to laugh men out of their belief in these things, by bringing forward difficult questions. We have an instance of their mode of argument, in the case which they propounded to our Lord of the woman who had had seven husbands, when they asked, "At the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven?" And in this way they probably hoped, by rendering religion absurd, and its chief doctrines ridiculous, to make men altogether give up the faith they had received from the Scriptures. Remember, all this time, we cannot say that the Sadducees were downright infidels - this they were not. We may not say they denied revelation altogether; this they did not do. They observed the law of Moses. Many of them were found among the priests in the times described in the Acts of the Apostles. Caiphas who condemned our Lord, was a Sadducee. But the practical effect of their teaching was to shake men's faith in any revelation, and to throw a cloud of doubt over men's minds, which was only one degree better than infidelity. And of all such kind of doctrine: free thinking, skepticism, rationalism, our Lord says, <b>"Be careful and be on your guard!"</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now the question arises - Why did our Lord Jesus Christ deliver this warning? He knew, no doubt, that within forty years the schools of the Pharisees and the Sadducees would be completely overthrown. He who knew all things from the beginning, knew perfectly well that in forty years Jerusalem, with its magnificent temple, would be destroyed, and the Jews scattered over the face of the earth. Why then do we find Him giving this warning about "the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I believe that our Lord delivered this solemn warning for the perpetual benefit of that Church which He came to earth to establish. He spoke with a prophetic knowledge. He knew well the diseases to which human nature is always liable. He foresaw that the two great plagues of His Church on earth would always be the doctrine of the Pharisees and the doctrine of the Sadducees. He knew that these would like two large rocks, between which His truth would be perpetually crushed and bruised until He came the second time. He knew that there always would be Pharisees in spirit, and Sadducees in spirit, among professing Christians. He knew that their succession would never fail, and their generation never become extinct, and that though the names of Pharisees and Sadducees were no more, yet their principles would always exist. He knew that during the time that the Church existed, until His return, there would always be some who would add to the Word and some who would subtract from it, and some who would bleed it to death, by subtracting from its principle truths. And this is the reason why we find Him delivering this solemn warning: <b>"Be careful and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees!"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">And now comes the question, Did not our Lord Jesus Christ have good reason to give this warning? I appeal to all who know anything of Church history - was there indeed not a cause? I appeal to all who remember what took place soon after the apostles were dead. Do we not read that in the primitive Church of Christ, there rose up two distinct parties; one ever inclined to err, like the Arians, in holding less than the truth; the other ever inclined to err, like the relic worshipers and saint worshipers of the Roman Catholic Church, in holding more than the truth as it is in Jesus? Do we not see the same thing coming out in later times, in the form of Roman Catholicism? There are ancient things. In a short paper like this it is impossible for me to enter more fully into them. They are things well known to all who are familiar with records of past days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There always have been these two great parties - the party representing the principles of the Pharisee, and the party representing the principles of the Sadducee. Therefore our Lord had good cause to say of these two great principles, <b>"Be careful and be on your guard."</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">~J. C. Ryle~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(continued with # 4)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-21843347392106270142020-07-11T04:23:00.000-05:002020-07-11T04:23:21.006-05:00Pharisees and Sadducees # 2<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Pharisees and Sadducees # 2</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I may be allowed to say that none warnings so much as the <b>ministers </b>of Christ's Gospel. Our office and our ordination are no security against errors and mistakes. It is true, that the greatest heresies have crept into the Church of Christ by means of ordained men! Ordination does not confer any immunity from error and false doctrine! Our very familiarity with the Gospel often creates in us a hardened state of mind. We are apt to read the Scriptures, and preach the Word, and conduct public worship, and carry on the service of God, in a dry, hard, formal, callous spirit. Our very familiarity with sacred things, unless we watch our hearts, is likely to lead us astray. "Nowhere," says an old writer, "is a man's soul in more danger - than in a minister's study." The history of the Church of Christ contains many dismal proofs that the most distinguished ministers may for a time fall away. Who has not heard of Cranmer recanting and going back from those opinions he had defended so stoutly; though, by God's mercy, raised again to witness a glorious confession at last? Who has not heard of Jewell signing documents that he most thoroughly disapproved, and of which signature he afterwards bitterly repented? Who does not know that many others might be named, who at one time or another, have been overtaken by faults, have fallen into errors, and been led astray? And who does not know the mournful fact that many of them never came back to the truth - but died in hardness of heart, and held their errors to the end!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These things ought to make us humble and cautious. They tell us to distrust our own hearts, and to pray to be kept from falling. In these days, when we are especially called upon to cleave firmly to the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation, let us be careful that our zeal for Protestantism does not puff us up, and make us proud. Let us never say in our self-conceit, "I shall never fall into the errors Roman Catholicism or any New Theology: those views will never suit me." Let us remember that many have begun well and run well for a season - and yet afterwards turned aside out of the right way. Let us be careful that we are spiritual men - as ell as Protestants, and real friends of Christ - as well as enemies of antichrist. Let us pray that we may be kept from error, and never forget that the twelve Apostles themselves were the men to whom the Great Head of the Church addressed these words: <b>"Be careful and be on your guard!"</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>II. I propose, in the second place, to explain - what were those DANGERS against which our Lord warned the Apostles. </b>"Be careful," He says, "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." The danger of which He warns them is <b>false doctrine. </b>He says nothing about the sword of persecution, or the love of money, or the love of pleasure. All these things no doubt were perils and snares to which the souls of the Apostles were exposed; but against these things our Lord raises no warning voice here. His warning is confined to one single point: "The yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." We are not left to conjecture what our Lord meant by the word "yeast." The Holy Spirit, a few verses after the very text on which I am now dwelling, tells us plainly that by yeast was meant the "doctrine" of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Let us try to understand what we mean when we speak of the "doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>(a) </b>The doctrine of the <b>PHARISEES </b>may be summed up in three words: they were <b>formalists, tradition-worshipers, and self-righteous. </b>They attached such weight to the traditions of men that they practically regarded them of more importance than the inspired writings of the Old Testament. They valued themselves on excessive strictness in their attention to all the ceremonial requirements of the Mosaic law. They thought much of being descended from Abraham, and said in their hearts, "We have Abraham for our father!" They imagined, because they had Abraham for their father - that they were not in danger of hell like other men, and that their descent from him was a kind of title to heaven. They attached great value to washings and ceremonial purifyings of the body, and believed that the very touching of the dead body of a fly or gnat would defile them. They made a great deal about the external parts of religion, and such things that could be seen by men. They made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the fringes of their garments. They prided themselves on paying great honor to dead saints, and garnishing the graves of the righteous. They were very zealous to make converts. They prided themselves in having power, rank, and preeminence, and of being called by men, "Teacher, Teacher." These things, and many things like these, the Pharisees did. Every well-informed Christian can find these things in the Gospels of Matthew 15 and 23; and Mark 7.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Remember, all this time, they did not formally deny any part of the Old Testament Scripture. But they brought in, over and above it, so much of human invention, that they virtually put Scripture aside, and buried it under their own traditions. This is the sort of religion of which our Lord says to the Apostles, <b>"Be careful and be on your guard."</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">~J. C. Ryle~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(continued with # 3)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-47291941124809541422020-07-04T04:21:00.000-05:002020-07-04T04:21:50.968-05:00Pharisees and Sadduces # 1<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Pharisees and Sadducees # 1</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!" (Matthew 16:6).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Every word spoken by the Lord Jesus is full of deep instruction for Christians. It is the voice of the Chief Shepherd. It is the Great Head of the Church speaking to all its members - the King of kings speaking to His subjects - the Master of the house speaking to His servants - the Captain of our salvation speaking to his soldiers. Above all, it is the voice of Him who said, "I did not speak of My own accord - but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it." (John 12:49). The heart of every believer in the Lord Jesus ought to burn within him - when he hears his Master's words, he ought to say, "Listen! It is the voice of My Beloved!" (Song of Solomon 2:8).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Every word spoken by the Lord Jesus, is of the greatest value. Precious as gold, are all His words of doctrine and teaching; precious are all His parables and prophecies; precious are all His words of comfort and of consolation; precious, the not least of which, are all His words of caution and of warning. We are not merely to hear Him when He says, "Come to Me - all who are weary and heavy burdened," we are to also hear Him when He says, "Be careful - and be on your guard."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am going to direct attention to one of the most solemn and emphatic warnings which the Lord Jesus ever delivered: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." On this text I wish to erect a beacon for all who desire to be saved, and to preserve some souls, if possible, from making their lives a shipwreck. The times call loudly for such beacons: the spiritual shipwrecks of the last twenty-five years have been deplorably numerous. The watchman of the Church ought to speak out plainly now, or forever hold their peace.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. First of all, I ask my readers to observe WHO are those to whom the warning of the text was addressed. </b>Our Lord Jesus was not speaking to men who were worldly, ungodly, and unsanctified - but to His own disciples, companions, and friends. He addressed men who, with the exception of the apostate Judas Iscariot, were right-handed in the sight of God. He spoke to the twelve Apostles, the first founders of the Church of Christ, and the first ministers of the Word of salvation. And yet even to them He addressed the solemn caution of our text: "Be careful and be on your guard!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is something very remarkable in this fact. We might have thought that these Apostles needed little warning of this kind. Had they not given up all for Christ's sake? They had. Had they not endured hardship for Christ's sake? They had. Had they not believed Jesus, followed Jesus, loved Jesus, when almost all the world was unbelieving? All these things are true; and yet to them the caution was addressed: "Be careful and be on your guard!" We might have imagined that at any rate the disciples had little to fear from the "yeast of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." They were poor and unlearned men, most of them fishermen or tax collectors; they had no desire to follow the teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees; they were more likely to be prejudiced against them than to feel any drawing towards them. All this is perfectly true; yet even to them there comes the solemn warning: "Be careful and be on your guard!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There is useful counsel here for all who profess to love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. It tells us loudly that the most eminent servants of Christ are not beyond the need of warnings, and ought to be always on their guard. It shows us plainly that the holiest of believers ought to walk humbly with his God, and to watch and pray so that he won't fall into temptation, and be overtaken with sin. None is so holy, that he cannot fall - not ultimately, not hopelessly - but to his own discomfort, to the scandal of the Church, and to the triumph of the world. None is so strong that he cannot for a time be overcome. Chosen as believers are by God the Father, justified as they are by the Holy Spirit - believers are still only men - they are still in the body, and still in the world. They are ever near temptation. They are ever liable to misjudge, both in doctrine and in practice. Their hearts, though renewed, are very feeble; their understanding, though enlightened, is still very dim. They ought to live like those who dwell in an enemy's land, and every day to put on the armor of God. The devil is very busy; he never slumbers or sleeps. Let us remember the falls of Noah, and Abraham, and Lot, and Moses, and David, and Peter; and remembering them - be humble, and be careful so that we don't fall.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">~J. C. Ryle~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(continued with # 2)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-45611543710977243922020-06-27T04:26:00.000-05:002020-06-27T04:26:52.144-05:00Consistent Teaching<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Consistent Teaching</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"You, then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?" (Romans 2:21).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">We all need teaching; but, generally speaking, we love to teach - rather than to be taught. We instruct others - but neglect ourselves. This is true of preachers and Bible teachers especially. The language of Paul may be addressed to many of us. <b>"You, then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?" </b>Let us endeavor for once to be impartial, and look at this point closely, soberly, and seriously.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You teach others to be <b>temperate </b>- but indulge yourself far beyond what nature requires! A variety of fine dishes must be provided, and, if positive gluttony is avoided - conscience has learned to be silent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If two invitations are given - one to plain and poor meal, where the spare time will be taken up in prayer and godly conversation; and another to a sumptuous table, where gossip and entertainment will engage the attention - which will be preferred? "You, then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You teach others <b>self-denial </b>- but do not practice the same yourself. Others are exhorted to make sacrifices - to work for God - to earn, that they may give, to give even out of their poverty. But the teacher is paid for all that he does, and gives litle or nothing. Not a journey does he take - without some remuneration; not a sacrifice does he make, not a power does he overtax. He talks freely, urges warmly, illustrates eloquently, argues fervently; but he is ranked among some whom our Lord addressed, "They do not practice what they preach." Reader, is this at all like you? "You then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You teach others to be <b>humble; </b>but is humility your characteristic? A proud man in the pulpit preaching humility - what an anomaly! And yet there are such things. They talk about humility; but their general bearing, their conduct towards others, their evident self-importance - proves that they are not humble. They appear to say, "Others should be humble - yet I may be proud. Others should be meek - yet I may be haughty. Others should submit - yet I may resent. Others should forbear - yet I may avenge myself." Or, "Do as I say - not as I do." CAn this be right? How must it appear in the eyes of God?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Preacher, teacher, professor - are you proud? Is there the proud look? The haughty manner? The contemptuous sneer? The cold, distant, self-important bearing? Can this be approved by God. Will this pass the scrutny of the Most High? Will the Holy Spirit fill your heart, or consecrate your body as His temple? Is it any wonder that you meet with no success? "You, then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You teach <b>activity </b>for God and immortal souls; but relaxation, the parlor, the worthless book, or some vain entertainment - occupies your time and attention. Others should visit the sick, relieve the poor, warn the rebellious, expostulate with the backslider, and carry the gospel to every creature. But you have not the tact, the talent, the time. The slothful man says, "There's a lion in the streets! If I go outside, I might be killed!" No, no! It is laziness, it is sloth and the love of ease in the heart. Be active yourself, or say nothing about it. Never blame others, unless you set them the example. "You, then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You teach, if may be, <b>close walking with God; </b>but, like Peter, you follow afar off yourself. What! Is it good for others to get near to God, to live as under His eye, to speak always as within His hearing, and to endeavor to commend themselves to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator - and can it be well for you to live at a distance, to forget His presence, to speak as if He heard you not, and to walk as though He regarded not your conduct?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Many talk of close walking - but know but little about it. Alas! the frivolous conversation, the worldly spirit, the careless manner, and the lack of conformity to God - tell a tale which cannot be well misunderstood! You, then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Dear brethren, this subject requires the most solemn and serious consideration. How can we teach others consistently - if we do not teach ourselves, so as to practice what we teach?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">How can we reprove other - if we take as much or more for ourselves. How can we urge others to be meek and lamb-like - if we are passionate and roar like a lion?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In a word, how can we reprove any sin - if we ourselves indulge in it? How can we urge the attainment of any excellence - if we disregard it ourselves? How can we be of much use, either to the world or the church - unless we ourselves live up to our profession?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"You, then, who teach others - do you not teach yourself?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Holy Spirit! come down in all the fullness of Your power upon all our pastors, preachers, and teachers - and so sanctify, influence, and transform us - that we may teach what is truth, and practice what we teach; and conform our lives to our profession - for the dear Redeemer's sake. Amen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">~James Smith~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(The End)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-44340004306215929112020-06-20T04:26:00.000-05:002020-06-20T04:26:16.164-05:00In Word and In Power<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>IN Word and In Power</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"Our gospel came to you not simply with <b>words </b>- but <b>also </b>with <b>power, </b>with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction" (1 Thessalonians 1:5).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The purposes of God are accomplished in the use of means; and while God's rule is His purpose - our rule is the precepts of His Word. In attending to duty, we expect the Lord to accomplish His will. We are commanded to preach the gospel to every creature, and it is our duty to do so; and while we are doing so, God accompanies it with power to the hearts of His elect. In this way, Paul knew that the Thessalonians were elected of God, as he states, "Our gospel came to you not simply with words - but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Privilege Conferred. </b>The gospel was sent unto them. The gospel is good news - good news from God - good news from God to every creature. It is the good news of salvation - of salvation for sinners - salvation for sinners which is all of grace. It is a salvation which prevents all penal evils - and secures all real, spiritual, and everlasting good. Paul calls it our gospel, because he was entrusted with it, he was commissioned to proclaim it, he knew its power, savor, and sweetness of it in his own soul, and he preached it to others. This gospel he carried to Thessalonica, and preached it with much success, so that many were converted, a church of Christ was formed, and others were raised up to spread it further.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Difference Made in its Reception. </b>It came to <b>ALL </b>as a message from God, and it was delivered to <b>ALL</b> without distinction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To <b>SOME </b>in word only, as a fact to be believed, as a message to be received, and acted upon, and as a subject commending itself to the understanding, the conscience, and the heart.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But it came to <b>OTHERS </b>in power. There was a divine agent secretly working - even the Holy Spirit. There was an all-conquering energy put forth - even the power of God. There was a glorious effect produced - even a full persuasion of its truth and authority, of its high and infinite importance, and of its adaptation to their circumstances and needs. In consequence of this: they cordially embraced it with all readiness of mind; they acted upon it, exercising faith in Jesus; they were transformed by it, into the moral likeness of God; and were filled with joy and peace in believing. This proved to the apostle that they were chosen to salvation, so that he could say, "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">See, <b>God's sovereignty. </b>He sends a message to all. A message of love and mercy. He proposes and presents Christ to all and to each one who hears the gospel. He equally and alike invites all to come, receive, and enjoy salvation. But He sends the Spirit to some - in whom he exerts His secret power, in consequence of which they not only listen to the message - but embrace the offered blessing, and are saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">See, <b>why the gospel succeeds. </b>Not because a certain class of men preach it, or because it is preached in any particular way; though the Spirit generally makes use of the most suitable means; but because the power of the Holy Spirit attends it! This irresistible power quickens the soul, opens the eyes of the understanding, and awakens the slumbering conscience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The influence exerted, resembles the influences of light on flowers, or the thaw on frozen gardens, or the sun's rays on wax or ice. Gently, quietly and gradually - the heart is changed; and the change of the heart soon appears in the life, as here, "You turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God - and you became imitators of us."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">See, <b>what we should especially pray for. </b>We have the gospel, we have our ministers, and we have our sanctuaries; but one thing is still lacking - it is "the power of the Spirit of God." The effect we desire to see, even the conversion of sinners, the sanctification of believers, the edification of the body of Christ, and the subjecting of the world to Christ - never will be, never can be - <b>without</b> "the power of the Holy Spirit."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For the presence and power of the Spirit to accompany the Word - we should earnestly, constantly, and unitedly pray. On this blessing our hearts should be set, to obtain this blessing all the saints should unite, and until we receive this blessing, we should give God no rest!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Reader, how do you feel on this point? Has the gospel been attended with the power of the Holy Spirit to your own soul? Are you very desirous that the same power should attend it to others? Do you cry mightily to God that the power of the Spirit may attend the gospel - be it preached by whom it may?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">~James Smith~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(The End)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3372197241973205285.post-51145330717212888622020-06-13T04:24:00.000-05:002020-06-13T04:24:29.772-05:00The Scriptures and Sin # 3<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>The Scriptures and Sin # 3</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>6. </b>An individual is spiritually profited when the Word fortifies against sin. The Holy Scriptures are given to us not only for the purpose of revealing our innate sinfulness, and the many, many ways in which we "come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), but also to teach us how to obtain deliverance from sin, how to be kept from displeasing God. "Your word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11). This is what each of us is required to do: "Receive, I pray you, the law from His mouth, and lay up His Words in your heart" (Job 22:22). It is particularly the commandments, the warnings, the exhortations, we need to make our own and to treasure; to memorize them, meditate upon them, pray over them, and put them into practice. The only effective way of keeping a plot of ground from being overgrown by weeds is to sow good seed therein: "Overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:21). So the more Christ's Word dwells in us "richly," the less room will there be for the exercise of sin in our hearts and lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is not sufficient merely to assent to the veracity of the Scriptures, they require to be received into the affections. It is unspeakably solemn to note that the Holy Spirit specifies as the ground of apostasy, "because the love of the truth they received not" (2 Thess. 2:10). "If it lie only in the tongue or in the mind, only to make it a matter of talk and speculation, it will soon be gone. The seed which lies on the surface, the fowls in the air will pick it up. Therefore hide it deeply; let it get from the ear into the mind, from the mind into the heart; let it soak in further and further. It is only the love of it - when it is dearer than our dearest lust, then it will stick to us" (Thomas Manton).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nothing else will preserve from the infections of this world, deliver from the temptations of satan, and be so effective a preservative against sin, as the Word of God received into the affections, "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide" (Psalm 37:31). As long as the truth is active within us, stirring the conscience, and is really loved by us, we shall be kept from falling. When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife, he said, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen.39:9). The Word was in his heart, and therefore had prevailing power over his lusts. The ineffable holiness, the mighty power of God, who is able both to save and to destroy. None of us knows when he may be tempted: therefore it is necessary to be prepared against it. "Who among you will give ear...and hear for the time to come" (Isa. 42:23). Yes, we are to anticipate the future and be fortified against it, by storing up the Word in our hearts for coming emergencies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>7. </b>An individual is spiritually profited when the Word causes him to practice the opposite of sin. "Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). God says, "You shall," sin says "I will not"; God says "You shall not," sin says "I will." Thus, sin is rebellion against God, the determination to have my own way (Isa. 53:6). Therefore sin is a species of anarchy in the spiritual realm, and may be likened unto the waving of the red flag in the face of God. Now the opposite of sinning against God is submission to Him, as the opposite of lawlessness is subjection to the law. Thus, to practice the opposite of sin is to walk in the path of obedience. This is another chief reason why the Scriptures were given; to make known the path which is pleasing to God for us. They are profitable not only for reproof and correction, but also for "instruction in righteousness."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here then, is another important rule by which we should frequently test ourselves. Are my thoughts being formed, my heart controlled, and my ways and works regulated by God's Word? This is what the Lord requires; "Be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." (Jas. 1:22).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Let both writer and reader honestly and diligently measure himself; as in the presence of God, by the seven things here enumerated. Has your study of the Bible made you more humble, or more proud - proud of the knowledge you have acquired? Has it raised you in the esteem of your fellow men, or has it led you to take a lower place before God? Has it produced in you a deeper abhorrence and loathing of self, or has it made you more complacent? Has it caused those you mingle with, or perhaps teach, to say, I wish I had your knowledge of the Bible; or does it cause you to pray, "Lord give me the faith, the grace, the holiness You have granted my friend, or teacher?" "Meditate upon these things; give yourself wholly to them; that your profiting may appear unto all" (1 Timothy 6:15).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">~Arthur W. Pink~</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(The End)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script></div>katherine sewellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10550456330110229211noreply@blogger.com0