Passion

Quotes of The Week

John Owen said  “Be Killing Sin or It will be Killing You,

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
––John Newton

You missed meaning of this...it is absolutely TRUE you cannot be married to Christ if you don't first turn from sin

"The best way to prove that a stick is crooked is to set a straight one beside it. No words need to be spoken." AW Tozer

Only Jesus can satisfy your soul and give you contentment. NO human being can do that!

"In a nutshell, abiding in Christ means allowing His Word to fill our minds, direct our wills,& transform our affections."-Sinclair Ferguson

IS THE SPIRIT OFGOD IN YOU REALLY?

Do you have the Spirit of God in you? You have some religion, most of you. But what kind is it? Is it a home-made article? Did you make yourself what you are? If so, you are a lost man up to this moment. If you have gone no further than you have walked yourself, you are not on the road to heaven yet, you have got your face turned the wrong way. But if you have received something which neither flesh nor blood could reveal to you, if you have been led to do the very thing which you once hated and to love that which you once despised and to despise what your heart and your pride were once set on, then, if this is the Spirit’s work, rejoice, for where he has begun the good work he will carry it on.

And you may know whether it is the Spirit’s work by this. Have you been led to Christ, and away from self? Have you been led away from all feelings, from all doings, from all willings, from all prayings, as the ground of your trust and your hope, and have you been brought nakedly to rely upon the finished work of Christ? If so, this is more than human nature ever taught any man. This is a height to which human nature never climbed. The Spirit of God has done that, and he will never leave what he has once begun. . . .

But if you do not have the Spirit of Christ, you are not his. May the Spirit lead you to your room now to weep, now to repent, and now to look to Christ, and may you now have a divine life implanted which neither time nor eternity shall be able to destroy.”

C. H. Spurgeon, Revival Year Sermons (Edinburgh, 1996), page 65. Style updated.

THE PROBLEM OF SELF FIXED

The Doctor on the problem of self. Our society tells us to feed our independence, our self-sufficiency and as a result our pride. The Doctor wisely points to a very different way:

How well the devil knows our human weakness! There is no method, therefore, that he more frequently uses . . . than just to play on this problem of self as it is present in every one of us. The ways in which he does so are almost endless. He works on self in order to encourage pride. He tries to make us proud of our gifts, our brains, our understanding, our knowledge . . .

Another form which this evil can take stems from the fact that various desires always tend to arise from self—the desire for importance, the desire for position . . . All this leads above everything else to a sprit of self-satisfaction . . .Furthermore this condition leads to selfishness and self-centredness. Self is always interested in itself. Everything revolves round this particular entity; and it becomes the centre of a constellation. That in turn leads to jealousy and envy . . .

To the extent that we are governed by self we are sensitive, and as such we can be easily hurt, easily depressed, and discouraged. Self is always watching for insults and slights. It is always hypersensitive. It is delicate, it is sensitized to everything; the slightest speck troubles it and alarms it. Self is totalitarian; it demands everything, and it is irritated and hurt if it does not get everything. As a consequence it becomes a most fruitful cause of quarrels and divisions and unhappiness . . .

If you have a great brain, it is no credit to you, you were born with it. If you have a wonderful singing voice, you have not produced it, it was given you. What are you boasting about? All that you have is not the result of your action and activity; it is something with which God has endowed you . . .

Paul always kept the grace of God in view; it kept him humble; it kept his spirit sweet; it kept him from the horrible sin of self and of pride and self-importance. Christians have nothing to boast of. We are what we are entirely as the result of the grace of God. -

David Martyn. Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Warfare : An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10 to 13 (Edinburgh; Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976), 334.

THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST...........

• "The old sabbath [Saturday, when Jesus was in the tomb] was like a candle lit in the night before the rising and appearing of the sun." (Athanasius, in Thomas Oden and Christopher Hall, edd., Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture: New Testament II: Mark [Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1998], p. 240)"I, who am the Chief corner-stone, the elect, the precious, lie for a little time within a stone— I who am a stone of stumbling to the Jews, and of salvation to them who believe. The Tree of life, therefore, was planted in the earth, that the earth which had been cursed might enjoy the blessing, and that the dead might be released." (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 13:35)

• "Everywhere deceit recoils upon itself, and against its will supports the truth. And observe. It was necessary for it to be believed that He died, and that He rose again, and that He was buried, and all these things are brought to pass by His enemies. See, at any rate, these words [in Matthew 27:63-64] bearing witness to every one of these facts. 'We remember,' these are the words, 'that that deceiver said, when He was yet alive,' (He was therefore now dead), 'After three days I rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be sealed,' (He was therefore buried), 'lest His disciples come and steal Him away.' So that if the sepulchre be sealed, there will be no unfair dealing. For there could not be. So then the proof of His resurrection has become incontrovertible by what ye have put forward. For because it was sealed, there was no unfair dealing. But if there was no unfair dealing, and the sepulchre was found empty, it is manifest that He is risen, plainly and incontrovertibly. Seest thou, how even against their will they contend for the proof of the truth?...Seest thou how they labor for the truth against their will? For they themselves came to Pilate, themselves asked, themselves sealed, setting the watch, so as to be accusers, and refuters one of another." (John Chrysostom, Homilies On Matthew, 89:1)

• "The Savior is placed in the sepulcher of another, because he died for the salvation of others." (Augustine, in Thomas Oden and Christopher Hall, edd., Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture: New Testament II: Mark [Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1998], p. 238)"But the height of His glorification had to be preceded by the depth of His passion. Accordingly, He went on to add, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.' But He spake of Himself. He Himself was the grain that had to die, and be multiplied; to suffer death through the unbelief of the Jews, and to be multiplied in the faith of many nations." (Augustine, Tractates On John, 51:9)"Fear not O bride, nor despair. Do not think yourself hopeless if your bridegroom withdraws his face for a while. All things work together for the good, so that both from his absence and his presence you gain something better....Being absent he will become more desired, and being more desired he will be more earnestly sought, and being long sought more acceptably found." (anonymous, in Thomas Oden and Christopher Hall, edd., Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture: New Testament II: Mark [Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1998], p. 200)

From an ancient homily (ca. fourth century), attributed in some traditions to Epiphanius of Constantia:

Something strange is happening. There is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the king is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh, and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parents, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives, Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. [...]

I am your God, who for your sake, have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants, I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. [...]

For your sake I, your God, became your son. I, the Lord, took the form of a slave. I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back, see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.
Rise. Let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. [...] The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers, swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

CAN'T WAIT TO BE AT CHURCH ON SUNDAY..... HE IS RISEN.....FOR ME......

TO BELIEVE TRUTH IS TO APLPLY TRUTH

“It is one thing to believe the truth, it is a very different thing to apply it. We did listen, and apply the truth, initially; otherwise we would not be Christians at all.

We did listen, and apply the truth, initially; otherwise we would not be Christians at all.

But it is possible for us … to go on, content with just listening to, or reading the truth, and never applying it to ourselves, or examining ourselves in the light of it.

Is this not one of the most alarming possibilities in the Christian life?… read the life of any man who has ever been used of God … in connection with revival, and you will always find that he was a man who had examined himself, and had become alarmed about himself.

It has always been the thing that has led him to God and to prayer — his astonishment at himself. But if we do not examine ourselves we will never truly pray, and our lives will be lived entirely on the surface.

Now, how little we hear about self-examination! Oh, we believe in having a quiet time, a short reading of Scripture, a hurried prayer, and we have done everything. But where is self-examination?

How much talk is there about mortification of the flesh? (Colossians 3:5, Romans 8:13)… allow the truth to search you … apply it to yourself … preach to yourself … talk to yourself … meditate about these things … bring yourself under conviction …[do] not let yourself escape.

But …do not stop at that … allow the Scriptures to lead you to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to the cleansing of His blood. In other words, any Christian who is depressed and morbid and introspective is really failing to apply the doctrine of justification by faith only.

If you stop in your sins, if you stop in the dust and the ashes and in the sackcloth, I say, you are not scriptural. You must go on from that and look to Him, and apply again the truth to yourself.

You must be certain that you end in a condition of thanksgiving and praise, with a realization that your sins are covered and blotted out, and that you are renewed, and that you are able to go forward.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Westchester, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1987), pp. 80-83.

Economy or Morals to be the issue?

Kyle and Charles

I quoted a passage from one of David Wells' books:

• "It is one of the defining marks of Our Time that God is now weightless. I do not mean by this that he is ethereal but rather that he has become unimportant. He rests upon the world so inconsequentially as not to be noticeable. He has lost his saliency for human life. Those who assure the pollsters of their belief in God's existence may nonetheless consider him less interesting than television, his commands less authoritative than their appetites for affluence and influence, his judgment no more awe-inspiring than the evening news, and his truth less compelling than the advertisers' sweet fog of flattery and lies. That is weightlessness. It is a condition we have assigned him after having nudged him out to the periphery of our secularized life....Weightlessness tells us nothing about God but everything about ourselves, about our condition, about our psychological disposition to exclude God from our reality." (God In The Wasteland [Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1995], pp. 88, 90)

THEOLOGICAL

A FEW PHOTO OF MY TRIP TO LEXINGTON AND ERIC TOOK ME UP ON HIS LADDER TRUCK 96 FEET INTO THE ARE AND GETTING A VIEW OF LEXINGTON, KY.

Theological controversies and disputes
(Letters of John Newton)

I am not to expect others to see with my eyes! I am deeply convinced of the truth of John the Baptist's aphorism in John 3:27, "A man can receive nothing--except it be given him from Heaven." I well know, that the little measure of knowledge I have obtained in the things of God--has not been owing to my own wisdom and teachableness, but to God's goodness. Nor did I learn everything all at once--God has been pleased to exercise much patience towards me, for the past twenty-seven years--since He first gave me a desire of learning from Himself. He has graciously accommodated Himself to my weakness, borne with my mistakes, and helped me through innumerable prejudices, which, but for His mercy, would have been insuperable hindrances! I have therefore no right to be angry, impatient, or censorious to others, especially as I have still much to learn, and am so poorly influenced by what I seem to know!

• I am weary of theological controversies and disputes, and desire to choose for myself, and to point out to others, Mary's part--to sit at Jesus' feet, and to hear His words. I cannot, I must not, I dare not--be contentious! Only, as a witness for God, I am ready to bear my simple testimony to what I have known of His truth, whenever I am properly called to it.

Of which all of us such remember as we study the Word Of God today.

Politics, Activism and the Gospel

Politics, Activism, and the Gospel

John MacArthur, Jr.

• With the nation focused on the November elections, we thought a post on politics might be appropriate. The point of this article is not that we should abstain from any participation in the political process, but rather that we must keep our priorities straight as Christians. After all, the gospel, not politics, is the only true solution to our nation’s moral crisis.We can’t protect or expand the cause of Christ by human political and social activism, no matter how great or sincere the efforts. Ours is a spiritual battle waged against worldly ideologies and dogmas arrayed against God, and we achieve victory over them only with the weapon of Scripture. The apostle Paul writes: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

THE TRUE MINISTRY OF PAIN

The true ministry of pain(J. R. Miller, "In Green Pastures")

There is a Christian art of enduring pain, which we should seek to learn. The real goal is not just to endure the suffering which falls into our life; to bear it bravely, without wincing; to pass through it patiently, even rejoicingly. Pain has a higher mission to us, than to teach us heroism. We should endure it in such a way as to get something of spiritual blessing out of it.Pain brings to us some message from God, which we should not fail to hear. It lifts for us the veil which hides God's face, and we should get some new glimpses of His beauty, every time we are called to suffer. Pain is furnace-fire, and we should always come out of this furnace, with the gold of our graces gleaming a little more brightly. Every experience of suffering ought in some way--to lift us nearer God, to make us more gentle and loving, and to leave the image of Christ shining a little clearer in our lives.

QUOTES AND THE PERSON WHO QUOTES QUOTES

^

I was on ExpositoryThought site with Paul Lamey, he quotes Zinsser who said

• "If anyone asked me how I learned to write, I’d say I learned by reading the men and women who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and trying to figure out how they did it."

Then I made a comment:

I first heard years ago, Charles “T” Jones say, “You are what you are reading in the last five years.” And he is right. Paul said “How many ideas he has read or how he has been shaped by a few of those ideas?” Is a great statement. I read the books that I believe will shape by theology and thinking.

I constantly listen to sermons or read the sermons to try to discover how they came up with that point or position, or even how they are framing their ideas.

We are not an island unto our self in this matter of preaching or even the art of writing a message.

Then a comment by David McCrory ost was:

• I’m reminded of a quote by Spurgeon,

"The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own."

"WHY EVERY SELF-RESPECTING CALVINIST IS A PREMILLENNIALIST"

and other quotes I received this week, via E-mail

John MacArthur, Oswald Chamber, John Scott, A.W. Tozer, Thomas Brooks, Charles Spurgeon, Albert Mohler, Uncle Chuck, Donald Whisnant, Glenn Frankie, Tim Challies

I was unable to attend this year’s Shepherd’s Conference at the Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is pastor. This year the main keynote speakers were:

I was bless by been able to read from live blogging by Tim Challies.

• "The session concerned itself with sovereign election, Israel, and eschatology, Dr. MacArthur sought to answer questions such as does the end matter. Does it matter to God? Should it matter to us? The answer is that of course it matters to God and thus should matter to us. History is heading to a divinely designed and revealed end, and if it matters enough to God to reveal it, it should matter enough to us to study it. And yet we often seem to think that God somehow muddled the biblical discussion of the end times so badly that it is best to just conced the muddle and move on. Yet MacArthur believes that the hard work involved in understanding the prophetic passeages is neither needless nor impossible.
• MacArthur made the point that those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election regarding the church and its place in God’s purpose and those who defend the truth of promise and fulfillment and believe in election being divine unashamedly deny the same for elect Israel. This is a strange division. "Its too late for Calvin," he said, "but it’s not too late for the rest of you. If Calvin were here he would join our movement."
  The trust of the message was simple:
• Of all people to be pre-millennialist it should be the Calvinist - - those who believe in sovereign election. A-millennialism is ideal for Arminians because according to their theology God elects notbody and preserves nobody. A-millialism is consistent with Arminianism. Yet it is inconsistent with Reformed theology and its emphasis on God’s electing grace."
• IS ESCHATOLOGICAL DOGMATISM NECESSARY? IS IT EVEN HELPFUL?
  This week at the Shepherd’s Conference 2007 John MacArthur where 3,000 pastors of all background attended: John MacArthur, Steve Lawson, C.J. Mahaney (stepped in for John Piper who’s father died) Albert Mohler, Mark Dever

Oswald Chambers

• We are not saved to be "channels only," but to be sons and daughtersof God. We are not turned into spiritual mediums, but into spiritualmessengers; the message must be part of ourselves. The Son of God wasHis own message, His words were spirit and life; and as His disciplesour lives must be the sacrament of our message. The natural heartwill do any amount of serving, but it takes the heart broken byconviction of sin, and baptized by the Holy Ghost, and crumpled intothe purpose of God before the life becomes the sacrament of itsmessage.There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. Apreacher is one who has realized the call of God and is determined touse his every power to proclaim God's truth. God takes us out of ourown ideas for our lives and we are "batter'd to shape and use," asthe disciples were after Pentecost. Pentecost did not teach thedisciples any thing; it made them the incarnation of what theypreached - "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me."Let God have perfect liberty when you speak. Before God's message canliberate other souls, the liberation must be real in you. Gather yourmaterial, and set it alight when you speak.

John Scott

• 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10. 2). A defense of God’s justice (continued)First, when ill God vindicate his justice and redress the present imbalance of human experience? Answer: This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels (7b). The parousia (official visit) has now become the apokalypsis (unveiling) of Jesus Christ. The basic affirmation of his coming is almost identical in both letters:

A.W. Tozer said:

• Pastoral Ministry: Fencing With MastersFor the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. --2 Timothy 4:3-4Every one who has come to the years of responsibility seems to have gone on the defensive. Even some of you who have known me for years are surely on the defensive--you have your guard up all the time!I know that you are not afraid of me, but you are afraid, nevertheless, of what I am going to say. Probably every faithful preacher today is fencing with masters as he faces his congregation. The guard is always up. The quick parry is always ready.
• It is very hard for me to accept the fact that it is now very rare for anyone to come into the house of God with guard completely down, head bowed and with the silent confession:
• "Dear Lord, I am ready and willing to hear what You will speak to my heart today!"We have become so learned and so worldly and so sophisticated and so blase and so bored and so religiously tired that the clouds of glory seem to have gone from us. Christ the Eternal Son, 108-109."Lord, quiet my own heart before You and give me that humble spirit of listening. Whenever I come before You (including this morning!), may it be with my 'guard completely down, head bowed.... ready and willing to hear what You will speak to my heart today.' Amen."
  

Brooks said in 1662

Holiness will render you most beautiful and amiable. As holiness is the beauty of God, and the beauty of angels--so it is the beauty and glory of a Christian also. Holiness casts such a beauty upon man, as makes him very amiable and desirable.

Holiness is lovely, yes--loveliness itself. Purity is a Christian's splendor and glory. There is no beauty compared to that of sanctity; nothing beautifies and bespangles a man like holiness. Holiness is so attractive and so lovely a thing--that it draws all eyes and hearts to an admiration of it. Holiness is so great a beauty--that it puts a beauty upon all other excellencies in a man. That holiness is a very beautiful thing, and that it makes all those beautiful who have it--is a truth that no devil can deny!

Charles Spurgeon said

Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is matter of secondary importance whether thou livest on the mountain of honour or in the valley of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, thou art covered with the wings of God, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep thee from that hallowed intercourse, which is the choice privilege of a soul wedded to THE WELL-BELOVED. Be not content with an interview now and then, but seek always to retain His company, for only in His presence hast thou either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be unto us a friend who calls upon

Albert Mohler’s blog :

• Just a few decades ago, educators and other observers were warning that the American attention span was growing dangerously short. Educators reported that students had difficulty maintaining focus on a subject -- even for just a few minutes. Well, it now looks like those minutes may be turning into seconds. In this morning's blog, Dr. Albert Mohler says the attention deficit spells further challenge for educators, parents and preachers.

Uncle Chuck sent this to me:

• A little boy was overheard praying:"Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it.I'm having a real good time like I am."

My brother Donald Whisnant said this:

• You can believe as fact every word the Bible says, including about God, Christ, his death on the cross and resurrection, Heaven and Hell, and the entire Gospel message, but still be lost for eternity. Even Satan knows the facts (James 2:19) and shudders. To "believe" in the sense of John 3:16 is to turn away from trusting in your own schemes and self-efforts to get to Heaven (including church membership and sacraments, baptism, and doing good deeds) to trusting wholly and alone in what Christ has already done for you by his death on the cross as the only payment God will accept (nothing you can add) to satisfy his judgment against the human race because of Adam’’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Read to hear what God says in Romans chapter 5. Don Whisnant
  
  

Glenn Frankie e mail me this week:

• Charles; I would offer that when a person suggests that a pastor did a good job with his sermon - the meaning is with the hearer - not with the Pastor. I feel it comes to application and individual need. I can honestly say that I hear some messages that sound better - more meaningful to me than others. That - to me - says the Holy Spirit was convicting me more with the author's message/ the Pastor's sermon.
  

Drafted by Charles E. Whisnant 03 10 07