tremble at his wrath as well as his grace

"But, careless sinner, learn that thy salvation now hangs in God's hand. Oh, remember thou art entirely in the hand of God. Thou hast sinned against him, and if he wills to damn thee, damned thou art. Thou canst not resist his will nor thwart his purpose. Thou hast deserved his wrath, and if he chooses to pour the full shower of that wrath upon thy head, thou canst do nothing to avert it. If, on the other hand, he chooses to save thee, he is able to save thee to the very uttermost. But thou liest as much in his hand as the summer's moth beneath thine own finger.

He is the God whom thou art grieving every day. Doth it not make thee tremble to think that thy eternal destiny now hangs upon the will of him whom thou hast angered and incensed? Dost not this make thy knees knock together, and thy blood curdle? If it does so I rejoice, inasmuch as this may be the first effect of the Spirit's drawing in thy soul. Oh, tremble to think that the God whom thou hast angered, is the God upon whom thy salvation or thy condemnation entirely depends. Tremble and "kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way while his wrath is kindled but a little." - C.H. Spurgeon

Paul Potts

his first performance:



...and his second appearance:

getting it right AND getting it out

Bravo to Horton for being honest about an important issue in the church today. We must not only get the gospel right, but get the gospel out.

Here's part of Against Heresies interview with Michael Horton:

Question from Against Heresies: Reformed or conservative Christians are sometimes accused of having an unhealthy interest in controversy and polemics. Is this a fair comment?

Horton: "In my view, the short answer, unfortunately, is “yes.” We are often known more for what we’re against than by what we’re for.

In Acts 2, the church was identified by its devotion to the apostles’ teaching, the breaking of the bread, the fellowship, the prayers, and an intense evangelistic and missionary zeal. We read repeatedly throughout Acts not only that the Word of God was faithfully taught, but that it spread. Today, we are often pressed to choose between getting the gospel right and getting the gospel out. If the gospel is the good news that we say that it is: sinners reconciled to a holy God through the work of Christ alone, why shouldn’t we be the vanguard of outreach to the world?

I fear that it all comes down to sloth or laziness, and I include myself in that critique. Conservatives are often enthusiastic about the truth, but lazy about mission; progressives are often enthusiastic about mission and lazy about the truth..."

Read the whole interview on Against Heresies

Who is Israel?

"It is therefore not ultimately a question of whether one is a Jew or a Christian in terms of outward organization, but of whether one is "inwardly circumcised"-that is, buried and raised with Christ. Nothing that exists apart from him-even that which calls itself Christian, can live, and nothing that is in him can die. Jesus is not only the federal head and mediator of the covenant; he is in his very person "a covenant to the people" (Isa. 42:6)." - Michael Horton

read more

relevance

Relevance is one of those words that can have negative connotations in the religious world - specifically the reformed world. Modern evangelicalism is said to have abandoned much of it's trust in the ordinary means of grace, to the seductions of "relevance". This is where a church starts to think that people shouldn't hear the harsh words of scripture that proclaim man "sinner", or that mankind is doomed to hell unless saved by the grace of God. This kind of relevance manifests itself in the desire to be understood by the culture and trusted, because the church "gets it" and therefore provides a springboard into biblical truth. This, in turn, can lead a person to God. The danger with this form of relevance is that it can water down the truths of God's word, so what you end up with is a message that doesn't sound too dissimilar from what the world has to offer - although it may have a few Christian words thrown in.

A positive kind of relevance is what Paul talked about in his letters - the kind that is familiar with culture, yet is always concerned with sharing the undiluted truth about man's terrible plight and God's unimaninable offer of free grace. I'm talking about Paul being a Greek to the Greeks and a Jew to the Jews. So what's the difference between good relevance and bad? For one, it's a love of truth - all of it. How can the good news sound truly good unless you've faced the bad news in all it's ugliness and fierceness? Reformation theology frees us from the possibility that we're in charge of our eternal state. It frees us to RESPOND out of gratitude to God's incredible mercy. This kind of fearlessness is the fruit of God's truth, so we CAN relate to one another with a kind of openess that's unafraid. Of course, we still ARE afraid sometimes; our flesh can be such a spoiler...

Anyway, on to the deeper path I'm trying to make here. I'm trying to say something about relevance here that gets at the heart of why we are who we are. Here's what I mean: What is man's deepest need? His deepest desire? I think a good answer is to be valued, to be relevant. Who doesn't want others to listen to them when they have something to say? Who doesn't want to feel needed and important? We have our "circle of friends" and family who show us that kind of relevance and we love it. However, what if we get satisfied with that kind of effect, and only let a select few make us feel relevant? The problem is, we start "rating" people according to how "relevant" they make us feel. Guess what? If someone in our life - be it work, church, family, friends - doesn't live up to our "relevance standard", we treat them with less respect, we treat them with less relevance - in effect, "you don't matter all that much to me, I won't give you any more attention than I HAVE to."

This sounds terrible (maybe it doesn't?), but we can slowly fall into this over time. Keep in mind this is so subtle, we may not know it's happening to us. It may be the guy in your office who's a little "nerdier" than you, or the girl at church who's always "bugging" you, or the person who holds a different political view than you, or a different theological perspective - whatever, you can think of your own examples. The point is, it creeps up on you, and before you know it, YOU are turning into a snob. I know I have been. I woke up this morning and realized I'm not the kind of person I really like. Try this: think of a person you really admire, someone you would trust with your bank account, or to pick up your kids from school. Always a willing and eager friend. Why do you like them so much? Because they make you feel relevant. They take the time to listen to you. They respond with affirmation to you. Rejoice with you. Empathize with you. Basically, treat you with respect - a human being made in the image of God.

My problem is, I could think of those people in my life who were like that, but when it came down to it, I wasn't that person. I'm not an eager listener lately. I have people I listen to, but I also have those I kind of "shun". Not outright ignore, but think of as a "less important person". I don't like that about myself. The thing I fear most is being irrelevant. Someone who could drop off the planet and not be missed. Most of the time it comes out at work or church. I'll try to say something, and feel (this could be real or imagined, it doesn't matter) that no one is taking me seriously. Sometimes I'll cover it up with humor, but that just makes it worse. Sure, I get instant results, but eventually, people will think that I'm just a "jokester" and have nothing of substance to say.

Ok, on to the remedy... Are you ready for this?! It' really profound!: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat others as better than yourself. I've determined to let these sentences burn their way into my brain - by the Spirit's power - and not worry about MY relevance, but everyone ELSE'S! I've been so caught up in myself and how people think of me, that I've become my own worst enemy.

Lord, help me to remember that You've shown the greatest act of love and mercy to me. You specifically elected me out of love, not because I deserved it, but because You chose to. I have received the greatest affirmation of "relevance" any creature could. I don't need to depend on other's affirmations for my happiness, I have all the affirmation I need! Therefore, help me to love my fellow man, to have a listening ear to all. To have compassion, to actually CARE about someone other than myself. To be the kind of friend I would want to have. To treat others with RELEVANCE. Amen.

sacraments fit hand and glove with the gospel

"... the sacraments are not incidental to the Christian life, nor do they contradict our doctrine of justification sola fide. In fact, the sacraments fit hand and glove with the gospel. For God has promised to save us from our sins, and this promise is confirmed and renewed every time we witness a baptism and every time we take and eat. For when we hear those words, “this is my body, broken for you,” we are reminded that Jesus Christ has turned aside God’s anger toward our sins.

That same Savior who has died for me – taking away the covenant curse which I deserve – invites me to the font and to the table where he feeds and nourishes me, and where he swears on his sovereign oath, “I am your God and you are my people.” And what glorious words for sinners such as we. Come all you who are weary and burdened, for here you will find rest and refreshment."

- Kim Riddlebarger

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gratitude

"Imagine that you, in a fit of rage, wantonly and violently and irrationally destroyed your neighbor's car. Imagine that your neighbor was, for the purposes of this story, perfectly innocent. What does your neighbor owe you? Justice! He owes you prosecution to the full extent of the law. If, however, he fixed his car and gave you a 7-series BMW that would be grace. What should your response be? Should it not be humility and profound gratitude? Would you not think of your neighbor's wonderful graciousness every time you thought of or saw that BMW? Of course you would! Wouldn't that sense of gratitude color your life and relation to your neighbor and everyone else?

Of course Christians have committed crimes that are even more inexplicable than this. We violated God's law when we had been constituted righteous and holy. We forfeited glory for what? As Christians, we are the recipients of a grace that far transcends an automobile. As Paul says, we were slaves to sin and now we've been made free in Christ." - R. Scott Clark, The Heidelblog: April 10, 2007

Read the whole article

what he did

According to Christian belief, Jesus is our Saviour, not by virtue of what he said, not even by virtue of what he was, but by what he did. He is our Saviour, not because he inspired us to live the same kind of life that he lived, but because he took upon himself the dreadful guilt of our sins and bore it instead of us on the cross. Such is the Christian conception of the Cross of Christ. It is ridiculed as being a "subtle theory of the atonement." In reality, it is the plain teaching of the word of God; we know absolutely nothing about an atonement that is not a vicarious atonement, for that is the only atonement of which the New Testament speaks. And this Bible doctrine is not intricate or subtle.

On the contrary, though it involves mysteries, it is itself so simple that a child can understand it. "We deserved eternal death, but the Lord Jesus, because he loved us, died instead of us on the cross"--surely there is nothing very intricate about that. It is not the Bible doctrine of the atonement which is difficult to understand--what are really incomprehensible are the elaborate modern efforts to get rid of the Bible doctrine in the interests of human pride.

Modern liberal preachers do indeed sometimes speak of the "atonement." But they speak of it just as seldom as they possibly can, and one can see plainly that their hearts are elsewhere than at the foot of the Cross. Indeed, at this point, as at many others, one has the feeling that traditional language is being strained to become the expression of totally alien ideas.

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity & Liberalism, p. 118-9

o wretched man that i am

What a great quote:

"Unless and until we are graciously allowed to see ourselves and our state as they really are, grace holds no interest for us."

- R. Scott Clark

read more on The Heidelblog

monergism.com gets a great face-lift

Check out their new improved site!

Monergism.com is the best reformed theology resource for articles, books, audio, etc... bar none. They also have a terrific bookstore. Kudos on their redesign.

ashamed at Christ's second coming?

1 Corinthians 3: 12-15 says:
"Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."

I was always taught to dread the final judgement, not that I'd be lost in Hell, but because I didn't obey Christ with pure and perfect motives. This kind of teaching is scary because it removes a Christians's joy and replaces it with guilt and dread. It's kind of like waiting for Daddy to come home because you know you're in trouble and he's going to spank you. Ironically, this teaching stems from a fundamenatalism that isn't too far from the teachings of Rome. You end up with a kind of "protestant purgatory". Think I'm exaggerating? Charles Stanley teaches something that sounds eerily familiar to this Read More.

It's interesting also, that the passage in 1 Cor. dealing with the "fire" which purges is used by Rome to further the doctrine of purgatory see Calvin's commentary.

Calvin speaks of this passage as distinguishing correct vs. false doctrine in the church (right doctrine taught = gold, silver, jewels / false doctrine = wood, hay and stubble).

The term "works" in the passage is referring to teachings, and not so much "doings" by the congregation. This is a revelation to me, coming from a background that always stressed the Christian's works as though we had something to be ashamed of at the final judgement! This is why I love reformed theology! The doctrine of Christ's imputation should fill me with anticipation and great hope/relief at His return. Why? Because I'm accounted by God as if I had the perfection of Christ Himself! I no more deserve rewards after justification than before.

"It is begun." VS. "it is finished."

R. Scott Clark, over at The Heidelblog has written yet another great entry about what our only comfort is. Here's a little of it:

"...has fully satisfied for all my sins..."

"In order to understand our confession we need to know a little about the history of the medieval church before the Reformation. Rome taught (and teaches) that Christ died to make salvation possible (by the way, does this sound familiar? Don't lots of evangelicals speak just this way about salvation?) The Reformed way of speaking about salvation is to say that Jesus accomplished salvation for us and applies it to us by his Spirit. According to Rome, however, Jesus' death makes it possible and the Spirit begins the process of sanctification and eventual justification in baptism. In the Roman scheme, our duty is to cooperate with grace toward eventual , final justification. When we sin, according to Rome, we are obligated to do penance.

... Not so in the Heidelberg Catechism. According to the Protestant view, Jesus has propitiated God's wrath and expiated our sins. He has satisfied for "all my sins." He has reconciled God to me and all believers. Rome says, "It is begun." Jesus says: "It is finished." He has redeemed me from all the power of the devil. It isn't just "underway." It's done. God is not propitiated, he is not reconciled, and I am not redeemed in any way by anything the Spirit does within me or anything I do in cooperation with grace. It's done for me. The only "condition," (instrument really) is this: "if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart" (HC 60). The whole Reformation can be said to have turned on the difference between two prepositions. When it comes to being right before God the Roman preposition is "in" and the Protestant preposition is "for." Thank God for that little preposition "for!" "

the bondage of the will

'Martin Luther and the Bondage of the Will' by Wellington Protestant Reformed Fellowship (WPRF)

A great audio teaching on the background of Luther and his influential work.

http://www.cprf.co.uk/audio/m3u/martinluther.m3u

how am i righteous before God?

Here's my analysis of Heidelberg #60 -

Question 60. How are you righteous before God?
Answer: Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ.

Even though:
A. My conscience accuses me.
B. I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and
C. The fact that I am still inclined to all evil.

Nevertheless, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace:
C. Grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed any sin. More than that, as if I had fully accomplished all the obedience which Christ has accomplished for me.

Conclusion: I benefit from C. simply and only because I embrace these benefits with a believing heart.

christianity - what it's not, what it is

"Christianity is not a religion of ethics, morality, or politics. Its central message is the proclamation of the death of God’s Son, under God's curse, dying in unspeakable anguish to turn aside God’s holy hatred of sin, so that all who trust in him and in him alone can be saved from God’s wrath and be assured of God’s favor toward them. If we lose that message we have lost Christianity itself."

- Dr. Kim Riddlebarger

the law is spiritual

-from Martin Luther's Intro to Romans

"In chapter 7, St. Paul says, "The law is spiritual." What does that mean? If the law were physical, then it could be satisfied by works, but since it is spiritual, no one can satisfy it unless everything he does springs from the depths of the heart.

But no one can give such a heart except the Spirit of God, who makes the person be like the law, so that he actually conceives a heartfelt longing for the law and henceforward does everything, not through fear or coercion, but from a free heart.

Such a law is spiritual since it can only be loved and fulfilled by such a heart and such a spirit. If the Spirit is not in the heart, then there remain sin, aversion and enmity against the law, which in itself is good, just and holy."

faith is defiance

Faith is defiance. Abraham’s faith defied every possibility that he saw, in favor of the “impossible” word that he heard. This is why “faith comes by hearing … that is, the word of faith which we preach” (Rom. 10:17). To trust in God is to distrust every other promise-maker. The world makes a lot of promises: “Try this product and you’ll be ….” Constantly buying into new fads or makeovers as so many fig leaves to hide the seriousness of our condition, we hand ourselves over to marketers who persuade us that we can attain salvation, however we define that. Even the church can become a place where people get the idea that they exist merely to usher in the kingdom by serving on committees and being involved in a thousand programs. We have a lot of purposes, a lot of goals—some of them noble. Desperate to save ourselves and our kids from everything but the wrath of God, we fail to realize that, however watered down, these are all nothing but law rather than promise. Eventually, we will become burned out on good advice. What we need is good news.

- Michael Horton
- excerpt from The Promise Driven Life

ready to forgive

As Spurgeon once wrote, salvation is "all of grace". Yet, we need to be reminded also, that sanctification - the Christian life - is all of grace too. I'm more and more convinced that the evidence of sanctification is not primarily victory over sin, but an ever brightening realization of the depths of sin in one's own heart, and at the same time, an ever leaning trust in the life and death of Christ on our account.

Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

"That he (God) is ready to forgive appears in this yet more glorious fact, that what God demands of man by the gospel he also works in him by his spirit; as for confession of sin he puts the words into the sinner's mouth, repentance he works in the sinner's heart, and saving faith his own Spirit creates in the sinner's soul. Is he not ready to forgive when even what might be called the condition of pardon in one light is under another aspect a gift of free grace?" - C.H. Spurgeon

luther on the mosaic law

The Law of Moses Binds Only the Jews and Not the Gentiles

"Here the law of Moses has its place. It is no longer binding on us (New Testament believers)
because it was given only to the people of Israel. And Israel accepted
this law for itself and its descendants, while the Gentiles were
excluded. To be sure, the Gentiles have certain laws in common with
the Jews, such as these: there is one God, no one is to do wrong to
another, no one is to commit adultery or murder or steal, and others
like them. This is written by nature into their hearts; they did not
hear it straight from heaven as the Jews did. This is why this entire
text does not pertain to the Gentiles. I say this on account of the
enthusiasts. (2) For you see and hear how they read Moses, extol
him, and bring up the way he ruled the people with commandments. They
try to be clever, and think they know something more than is presented
in the gospel; so they minimize faith, contrive something new, and
boastfully claim that it comes from the Old Testament. They desire to
govern people according to the letter of the law of Moses, as if no
one had ever read it before.

But we will not have this sort of thing. We would rather not preach
again for the rest of our life than to let Moses return and to let
Christ be torn out of our hearts. We will not have Moses as ruler or
lawgiver any longer. Indeed God himself will not have it either. Moses
was an intermediary solely for the Jewish people. It was to them that
he gave the law. We must therefore silence the mouths of those
factious spirits who say, "Thus says Moses," etc. Here you simply
reply: Moses has nothing to do with us. If I were to accept Moses in
one commandment, I would have to accept the entire Moses. Thus the
consequence would be that if I accept Moses as master, then I must
have myself circumcised, (3) wash my clothes in the Jewish way, eat
and drink and dress thus and so, and observe all that stuff. So, then,
we will neither observe nor accept Moses. Moses is dead. His rule
ended when Christ came. He is of no further service."


from http://www.covopc.org/Papers/Luther_on_Moses.html

simultaneously saint and sinner

SIMUL IUSTUS ET PECCATOR- "JUSTIFIED, AND AT THE SAME TIME SINFUL" - by Charles Biggs

Eternal life is Christ dwelling in His righteousness in the soul of the justified person. So eternal life can be easily understood as union with Jesus Christ.


And the word for that union with him is faith. The sinner comes to him, rests in him, trusts in him, is one with him, abides with him; and this is life because it never ends. The united soul abides in the Vine eternally. Weakness, sin, proneness to sin never brings separation, but only the Father's pruning, which cements the union even and ever tighter (John 15:1-8).


Our great hope in our union with Christ is that we know that we are truly forgiven of all our sins. Christ died for all of our sins, not merely a few of them, but all of them.


As justified sinners, we will still struggle with sin and temptation, in fact a Christian ought to be described as a "struggling sinner", or better "one who struggles with sin". In John's first epistle, he writes that if we say we have no sin we lie and we call God a liar (1 John 1:8-10). In fact, John says if we claim to be without sin "his word has no place in our lives" (primarily because the Word became flesh "to save his people from their sins").


However, those covered with Christ's righteousness given to them, those who have Christ as their Advocate with the Father, can go to Christ confessing their sins and he is faithful and just and will forgive as well as purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8,9). We have this great benefit because we are united to Christ and because he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 2:2).


To be justified and at the same time sinful ("simul iustus et peccator") is to be one who is united with Jesus Christ while truly struggling against our sinful nature, or "old man" as Paul describes our former way of sinful life in this world. We are truly at war with our sinful nature as justified sinners!


The difficulty with the war is that we know our sinful inclinations are not good, yet we still are very much attracted to our sins. We hate our sins, while we love them; we love certain sins, while we at the same time hate them! It is like in the 'Fellowship of the Rings' when Bilbo desires to get rid of the great ring he has obtained from Gollum. He knows it is evil and too powerful for him to control, yet he tells Gandalf the Wizard "it is precious" to him. While we struggle to kill our "old man", our sinful nature and the sins that so easily beset us, we at the same time think they are "precious" to us. Notice how Paul describes this life-long battle with sin in Romans 7.


Paul describes the conflict in this way: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me...For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - -this I keep on doing" (Romans 7:15-20).


In our conflict with our sin, this is exactly how we feel as well! We want to do good, we desire to obey God's law because it is our delight, but at the same time our sins are still "precious" to us. Where can we go? What can we do? We must run to the Lord Jesus Christ daily confessing our sins and transgressions, knowing confidently that he will forgive us and purify us. This is exactly what Paul does: "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God --through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom. 7:24,25).


There is a daily struggle and battle going on in the heart's of justified sinners! We are at the same time justified and yet still tainted with sin. Our hope is that he will cleanse us, he will purify us and one day will present those who are united to Jesus Christ as a Bride without spot, wrinkle, or blemish.


In other words, we shall be perfect as he is perfect when we are glorified on that Great Day when Christ shall return for his bride! This is our hope today! God, who began a good work our uniting us to His Son, shall complete it on the Day of His return! Glory be to God! May God grant us more grace and strength to overcome our sins, to despise and hate the sins that so easily beset us, causing us to see Jesus as more "precious" in our sight, and our sins as truly heinous in His sight!


Remember that God has granted us means of grace to help us in our battle: the Word of God and the Lord's Supper! May His Spirit help us today to hate the sins that are so "precious" to us and may we be more conformed to his image this Christmas season! Amen.


In the Name of the LORD of the Word and in the fellowship of His service,

- Pastor Biggs