Others May, You Cannot

The following was very helpful so thought I would share. It was written by G. D. Watson (1845-1924). Click here to read and hear audio:

If God has called you to be really like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. God’s call will put such demands of obedience on you that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians. At times, He will let other people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians who seem very religious will push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans. You cannot, and if you attempt it, you will meet with failure and rebuke from the Lord.

Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their successes, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you to despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor. God wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may demonstrate His faithful love for you in supplying your needs day by day.

God may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity in order to produce some fragrant fruit for His coming glory which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it now. The reward for your work is held in the hands of Jesus and you will not see it until He comes.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you with a jealous love. He will rebuke you for the little words and feelings or for wasting your time. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He does not owe you an explanation of these mysteries. But if you give yourself to be His child, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and give you the precious blessings for those who belong, heart and soul, to Him.

Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit. It is His option to tie your tongue, or chain your hand, or close your eyes in ways that He does not seem to use with others. And when you are so possessed by the living God that your heart delights over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

What is your only comfort in life and death?

That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and He has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven. In fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.—Heidelberg Catechism

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. —Philippians 3:8

HT:Ryan

Monergism Particular Redemption T-Shirt

Monergism has a new t-shirt that describes a biblical doctrine I hold dear, that of particular redemption (aka Limited Atonement). Rev 5:9-10 appears on the shirt, which has been preached recently by my pastor in his Revelation series, and appears in the Slain Lamb video I wrote about here. Here is a quote from Monergism:

The scope of Christ's work of redemption is both universal and particular: universal because it includes people of every ethnicity and nation; particular because Christ redeems a people for Himself from out of these nations, having had an eye for a remnant of mankind from every tribe. Here is the climax of God's redemptive purpose, fulfilling God's covenant to Abraham to bless the children of promise through his seed (Gen 12:2; Rom 9:6-13). This is why God has commanded the church to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth (Matt 28:18, 19) that He might gather those he has set apart for Himself in every city and town (Acts 18:10; John 17:9, 20)

Poor in spirit, rich in His grace - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Poor in spirit - rich in His grace


... what is the [meaning] of being 'poor in spirit' ... ? It is that Isaiah said (57:15): 'For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy
place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'

That is the quality of spirit, and you have endless illustrations of it in the Old Testament. It was the spirit of a man like Gideon, for instance, who, when the Lord sent an angel to tell him the great thing he was to do, said, 'No, no, this is impossible; I belong to the lowest tribe and to the lowest family in the tribe.' That was not Uriah Heep, it was a man who really believed what he said and who shrank from the very thought of greatness and honour, and thought it was incredible. It was the spirit of Moses, who felt deeply unworthy of the task that was
laid upon him and was conscious of his insufficiency and inadequacy. You find it in David, when he said, 'Lord, who am I that thou shouldst come to me? The thing was incredible to him; he was astonished by it. You get it in Isaiah in exactly the same way. Having had a vision, he said, 'I
am a man of unclean lips'. That is to be 'poor in spirit', and it can be seen right through the Old Testament. But let us look at it in the New Testament. You see it perfectly, for instance, in a man like the Apostle Peter who was naturally aggressive, self-assertive and self-confident-a
typical modern man of the world, brimful of this confidence and believing in himself. But look at him when he truly sees the Lord. He says, 'Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' Look at him afterwards as he pays his tribute to the Apostle Paul, in 2 Peter 3:15, 16. But ... he never ceases to be a bold man; he does not become nervous and diffident ... The essential personality remains; and yet he is 'poor in spirit' at the same time.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, i, p. 49-50

New Bulletin Inserts site

I've been blessed by the writing ministry of Bulletin Inserts (a Jim Elliff ministry), and now their website is updated. Check it out!

A Response to the ABC Story on the Children of the Westboro Church

It was not my plan to watch this ABC piece on the children of the Westboro Church in Topeka (you know, the nice folks who picket with signs that say, 'YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!' and other uplifting messages). But when I saw the video of their children spewing this hatred, I just could not turn away.

Still in shock this morning, I read the entire abc story. I was sickened by the perversion of truth that is so prevelant in their message. I prayed for those kids who are being indoctrinated in this church, and for the families who have to deal with this hatred at the funerals of their loved ones, including young men and women who have served in our military. I prayed that God would vindicate Himself against these blasphemous lies. Worst of all, I discovered that much of their 'doctrine' is based on a twisted version of the theology that I love and embrace (the doctrines of grace, aka Calvinism). It was time to find a level-headed response. I found it on Josh Buice's website, Delivered By Grace.

Buice is the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church located in McMinnville, Tennessee, and author of this helpful blog. He has written several articles about the Westboro church which were compiled into a document called Westboro Baptist Church Revealed: Evangelized, Interviewed, Reviewed.

The 30 page document is worth the read, if you can stomach the inflammatory hatred (coming from the Wesboro members). The first story describes Buice's encounter with the hate group as they protested outside the SBC Conference. I was touched by his willingness to walk across the street to witness to these folks, and his heart for their children. An official interview with the church itself is next, followed by Buice's clear response. The paper concludes with the story of death of the great missionary Jim Elliot, who gave his life spreading the glory and love of God to the Auca Indians of South America.

This article exposes the hatred and ignorance of the Westboro church, and best of all, Buice explains the true gospel that the Scriptures teach.

The Westboro Baptist Church has a skewed view of the Gospel which leads to a very skewed view of missions. Their view of missions is to spread a vile form of hatred mixed with the Old Testament law regarding passages of judgment without moving toward the answer to that judgment which is propitiation through Jesus Christ our Lord. It seems like a strange mixture of hyper-hatred + hyper-Calvinism put into a blender and mixed together. It simply does not make sense. How can people find so much joy and fulfillment in telling people they are damned?

To believe in the sovereignty of God is one thing, but to hide the good news from people who are damned is another! I pray for Westboro Baptist Church. My desire is to see them saved and spared from their incorrect understanding of our God. Yes, God is a God of wrath, but He is also a God of love and mercy. We must be faithful to spread the truth about Him in both respects - God judges Sin, but He saves on the basis of Jesus Christ and His blood sacrifice.

The Glory of the Resurrection Conference this weekend

I would like in my messages to consider the resurrection not only as a future hope but also for its present significance in the life of the believer. -- Richard Gaffin

Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Overland Park is hosting the KCARC Reformed Theology Conference this weekend (June 4-5).

Keynote speaker, Dr Richard Gaffin will speak about the glory of the Resurrection of Christ, this Friday evening (7:30 to 9:00) and Saturday morning (9:oo to Noon).

Gaffin is professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Emeritus at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA.

Click here for more information on this weekend's conference.

Slain Lamb

There is nothing, no one, more worthy of high and lofty words than Jesus Christ. So when I heard this 'song/sermon' I had to find a way to share it here. This video makes use of the 'Slain Lamb Outro' piece on the album Unpacked (download for free here), by iSix5.

Excerpts are taken from a sermon by Pastor Smedly Yates, a graduate of The Master's Seminary. Yates sermon, God Never Graduates from the Gospel, was preached at Grace Bible Church in Tempe, AZ on 3/7/2010.

This exalted view of Christ is central to the Scriptures. Tim Juhnke has been preaching through Revelation and his last two sermons have been a spiritual feast. From Revelation 5 we see this idea in The Investiture of the Lamb. Consider downloading Part 1 and Part 2.

Let us focus on the One who is both Lion and Lamb, and who will return to earth to judge the world.