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Glorifying God 7

September 6, 2016

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

God does not seek His own glory because it makes Him happy, to be honored and highly thought of, but because He loves to see Himself, His own excellencies and glories appearing in His works. He loves to see Himself communicated and it was His intention to communicate Himself that was a prime motive of His creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate motive. He Himself was His end, that is, Himself communicated. The very phrase “the glory” seems naturally to signify this. Glory is a shining forth, an effulgence. So the glory of God is the shining forth or effulgence of His perfections, as effulgence is the communication of light. For this reason, that brightness whereby God was wont to manifest Himself in the wilderness, and in the tabernacle and temple, was called God’s glory. As the brightness of the sun, moon, and stars is called their glory, so the glory of God is the shining forth of His perfections. The world was created that they [His perfections] might shine forth, that is, that they [His perfections] might be communicated.             Jonathan Edwards

The idea or doctrine of glorifying God is really at the heart of Christianity, though perhaps it is not recognized as such. There is nothing regarding the Gospel or of holiness that is not touched by this teaching. How God glorifies Himself in salvation and in sanctification is a vital teaching. When the Scriptures tell us that we are to glorify God in all we do, we should take some time and effort and prayer in seeking the Lord to teach us how we are to glorify Him. It is that important.

It might also be helpful to note that one of the Bible’s definitions of sin is that we have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). If it is sin to fall short of the glory of God, and yet it is holy to do all we do to the glory of God, then wisdom compels us to find out what it means to live to His glory. Glorifying God is not an option that is given to us, but it is part and parcel of what it means to live as a Christian. God saves sinners to the praise of His glory and sinners are to live for His glory after they are saved.

This means it is something worthy of our time, study, prayer, and seeking the Lord for a broken and humble heart. This should be a priority with us. It is, after all, a priority with God. It was God’s own primary motive in creating and it is still His primary motive in all He does. God created for His own glory, that is, to manifest His glory for His own pleasure. It is for the pleasure of God that we are to seek to glorify Him. It is not just some command that we must carry out (like the Pharisees thought of commands), but this is what we are to do out of love for Him. When people have a true love for each other, they want to see the other do what is best for them and they have joy in the pleasure and true good of the other person. As such we should be moved to joy at the pleasure of God in beholding His own glory that is manifested.

When God decides to glorify Himself, it is His own glory that He shines out from Himself. The King of Kings has chosen to glorify Himself through His people which means that He must communicate His glory to His people in order for that glory to shine through His people and then He can behold it. This, once again, is a vital point and needs to be stressed over and over. No human being can glorify God in his or her own strength and can do nothing to glorify God unless that human being has received the communication of the glory of God from God. It is God’s glory that must shine out from God and it is His glory that must be communicated to the person who has Christ and it is His glory that must shine through the person in order for Him to be glorified. We can do nothing unless we receive it. Since that is true, God Himself must communicate His glory to us if we are to glorify Him. Oh the beauty and glory of this great truth. We cannot glorify God unless He gives it to us and He only does it by grace alone. We don’t deserve to glorify Him, but it is by His grace that He communicates His glory to us that we can glorify Him.

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Mustings 123

September 5, 2016

Jeremiah 14:14 Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. 15 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them– yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land ‘– by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 “The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them– neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters– for I will pour out their own wickedness on them. 17 “You will say this word to them, ‘Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely infected wound. 18 ‘If I go out to the country, Behold, those slain with the sword! Or if I enter the city, Behold, diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest Have gone roving about in the land that they do not know.'” 19 Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror! 20 We know our wickedness, O LORD, The iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. 21 Do not despise us, for Your own name’s sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O LORD our God? Therefore we hope in You, For You are the one who has done all these things.

This passage seems to speak to modern America and perhaps the whole world. There are many false prophets and ministers who are using the name of the Lord to speak and they are speaking things that they did not obtain from the Scriptures not by the teaching of the Lord. Instead, they are speaking those things that flow from the futility and deception of their own minds. Over and over again God warned people that prophets and ministers are to speak according to the Scriptures and it is there that they can be checked. These ministers and/or prophets keep telling the people smooth messages rather than the truth of the mind of God. The people are greatly deceived, though indeed they wanted to be deceived.

While the prophets of old tried to tell the people that God would not judge them and send upon them diseases and famine. But this was what God intended to do and yet the prophets and ministers of that day said the exact opposite. The same is true in our day. Minister after minister wants to say smooth things to the people and deny that God will judge them and deny that there is a hell. Those who hear those things from the pulpits in our land must be awakened and told that the Lord did not send the teachers who teach those things. If one listens to those who speak in the name of the Lord it seems that many disqualify themselves by what they refuse to teach.

It is not until the Lord awakens people and shows them how deceptive their teachers are will they be awakened to what is really going on. The very thing that these deceptive teachers ignore or clearly deny is actually the thing that they should be warning people about. God judges sin each and every day and will judge it for eternity as well. It is so odd that there are so many warnings about these things in the Scriptures and yet these deceptive teachers refuse to accept those things and then teach the exact opposite of those things. Deceptive teachers, in terms of what is at the deepest part of their hearts, are children of the devil and we must always remember that the devil wants to be like God. He wants to deceive people as to who the real God is and distort the truth. This worked with Eve and continues to be a real issue of the day.

Our only hope is the same God who has judged us and is judging us. Our only hope is that He would by His great and marvelous grace give us hearts to seek His face for Himself and to seek Him on the basis of His own glory. We should learn to plead to the Lord to give us hearts that love Him and His glory so that we can really and truly seek Him. We should seek Him to show us how blind we are and how self-centered and prideful we are so that He would show us these things and drive us to the cross which alone can give light by Christ and His Spirit. We should seek Him asking Him to protect us against deception and grant us truth. We should seek Him to deliver us from the desire to have our ears tickled to the practice of our ears of hearing the truth with love.

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Great Quotes

September 3, 2016

The question is not so much about the time, and terms, and matter of our Justification, but how we are made righteous in the sight of God, which the Scriptures do affirm, to be by the perfect righteousness of Christ alone, which God doth impute to all his seed freely, without works and conditions performed by us. 1. Consider if the righteousness by which we are justified, be a perfect righteousness, then we are not justified by our obedience to Gospel precepts, but the righteousness whereby we are justified is a perfect righteousness, which is the righteousness of Christ alone, {Heb.1:8, Mt.6:33, Rom.4:6,} an everlasting righteousness, {Psal.119:142, 22:31, 35:28,} that righteousness which justifieth us before God, as it is not ours, so it is not in us. But as it is Christ’s righteousness, so it is in him, “In me you shall have righteousness and strength,” {Ps.71:15,16,19,24,} “I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.”

Justice and mercy do both meet in this Justification. Justice, in that he will not justify a sinner without a perfect righteousness; and yet mercy, in that he will accept him for such a righteousness; that is, neither in him, nor done by him, but by his Surety for him. {The joy of a Believer would always be unspeakable, did he always apprehend his happiness in and by Christ alone. In a word, the pure, glorious, matchless and spotless righteousness of Christ is a souls righteousness and resting place. “I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only,” for thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. “In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.” – Jer.33:16 – the perfection of Christ’s righteousness is held forth unto us, and always lieth before us, that we may be thankful for it, and peaceable with it, and rejoice in the Bestower of it.}

2. Consider the Apostles all along were very careful to keep this Doctrine of Justification by grace distinct from all other things, they all along do oppose the Law and grace, works and faith, our righteousness and Christ’s righteousness, teaching us thereby how needful it is they should be kept asunder. Justification by grace hath been and will be the bone of contention till the next coming of Christ. Why so? Because learning cannot reach it, natural wisdom is confounded at it, evil spirits do not know it, most men do persecute it, as being bereaved of the knowledge of it, or else corrupt it in the simplicity of it. Consider we should not be justified by grace, if any condition were required of us, in order to our justification; for the condition whatsoever performed, makes the Covenant a due debt; then justification should not be of grace, but of debt, contrary to the express words of Scripture. – This Doctrine is as the foundation and basis of all Christian Religion. This Doctrine is the inlet of all spiritual divine peace and consolation. This is the root and spring of all Gospel obedience. This Doctrine is the great stop and bar to keep out all floods of error. This Doctrine is the main support of a soul under all trials. This is the great Doctrine by which Satan’s kingdom is undermined and overthrown. This is the Doctrine that Satan doth most war against, either to pervert or corrupt. This Doctrine is the hardest piece to be learned, it being wholly supernatural in every part of it, above the reach of nature, and all things in us do oppose it. This Doctrine is the Root and Spring of all Gospel obedience, whatsoever men call obedience, if it ariseth not from hence, it is but forced and legal; for we must get up Gospel principles, if we would keep up Gospel practices. This Doctrine received, and the heart therein established, will be a stop and bar to keep out all floods of error. The floods of all error flow in at the pipe of ignorance, and especially ignorance of this very thing; namely, the Doctrine of Grace.

The error of the Papists {the Papists hold that we are not justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed, but by the righteousness of Christ inherent in us, and righteous actions done by us} of building and resting upon works, springs from their ignorance of this blessed Doctrine; the error of the Quaker springs purely from hence; the error of the Arminian springs in at the same pipe, partly by works, and partly by grace; they not seeking salvation by grace, but as it were by the works of the Law, they stumbled and fell. {Rom.9:32} And all the instability, formality, legality that there is at this day appearing amongst the Presbyterian, Independent and Baptist, or any other people professing godliness, doth arise from their ignorance or their little knowledge in this great mystery; nay farther, did you ever read, or from any true Christian hear, that any man or woman that was acquainted with, and in some good measure established in this Doctrine of grace {by the Spirit’s direct infusion of this truth into the heart, thereby generating a deep love to the same – “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved”} infected with, and overcome by these floods of error, that doth now swarm among us? Oh how doth Satan pollute and defile the souls and judgments of men, with Christ-dishonoring and soul undoing opinions. Robert Purnell {A Little Cabinet Richly Stored, 1657}

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Glorifying God 6

September 2, 2016

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

God does not seek His own glory because it makes Him happy, to be honored and highly thought of, but because He loves to see Himself, His own excellencies and glories appearing in His works. He loves to see Himself communicated and it was His intention to communicate Himself that was a prime motive of His creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate motive. He Himself was His end, that is, Himself communicated. The very phrase “the glory” seems naturally to signify this. Glory is a shining forth, an effulgence. So the glory of God is the shining forth or effulgence of His perfections, as effulgence is the communication of light. For this reason, that brightness whereby God was wont to manifest Himself in the wilderness, and in the tabernacle and temple, was called God’s glory. As the brightness of the sun, moon, and stars is called their glory, so the glory of God is the shining forth of His perfections. The world was created that they [His perfections] might shine forth, that is, that they [His perfections] might be communicated.             Jonathan Edwards

When God does all He does in order to manifest His own glories to Himself, to heavenly beings we don’t know about, and then to human beings; He does this (in and through human beings) by communicating Himself and His glories to the minds and hearts of human beings. He does not dwell in human beings because they are worthy for Him to do so, but He dwells in them because He has cleansed them and desires to glorify Himself in and through them. It is by a free and sovereign grace that He dwells in human beings. It is also be a free and sovereign grace that He glorifies Himself in and through human beings. This, once again, shows us the utter worthlessness of human works apart from what Christ works in the soul. When the human being does works apart from Christ, even if they are very religious works and very “Christian works” in a sense, the only thing to see is the glory of man. God does not behold His own glory in those works and as such He is not pleased. The glory of God will only shine forth in Christ and Christ only dwells in the humble.

What we can begin to see, then, is the beauty of true and biblical Christianity. The true Christian does not pursue holiness and good works out of a fear of hell and out of seeking to be holier than thou, but instead the true Christian pursues holiness in order that the glory of God would shine through Him or her. The true Christian does not see any problems with seeking the face of God out of a pure love and in order that God may be glorified. This is what the heart of one that loves God loves and seeks out of that love. Indeed no one (but Christ) can do this perfectly or even close to perfection while on earth, but the person that is seeking the Lord will seek Him knowing that God is glorified by Christ and the blood of Christ in forgiving that person’s sin. It is because of Christ purifying the person’s heart that He may dwell in it and because of His continuing life in the soul that a person is enabled to do good works and delight in the fact that those works are coming from God and are to His glory.

When a true Christian “hears” the command to glorify God, s/he can know that the command to glorify God has the ultimate motive of the glory of God. The believer is an instrument of the glory of God and thus has no ability to obtain righteousness in anything that the believer does. The believer delights to know that s/he is that instrument of glory and that what the believer needs to glorify God comes from God. The greatest love of the believer is God Himself and as such the true believer loves the glory of God and not self, though indeed this is far from perfect. However, the true believer longs to be free of self and of pride that s/he may glorify God more and more perfectly. How lovely and beautiful it is to be a partaker of the glory of God by having Christ as our life and how wonderful (beyond words to express) it is to glorify God and behold His glory shining out in others and in ourselves. The glory of God is His own ultimate motive and His glory becomes the ultimate motive of the believer as well. The believer wants to glorify God because the believer loves God and longs for God to be pleased with beholding His own glory. All things for to be for His glory and pleasure. He beholds His own glory and is pleased.

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Glorifying God 5

September 1, 2016

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

God does not seek His own glory because it makes Him happy, to be honored and highly thought of, but because He loves to see Himself, His own excellencies and glories appearing in His works. He loves to see Himself communicated and it was His intention to communicate Himself that was a prime motive of His creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate motive. He Himself was His end, that is, Himself communicated. The very phrase “the glory” seems naturally to signify this. Glory is a shining forth, an effulgence. So the glory of God is the shining forth or effulgence of His perfections, as effulgence is the communication of light. For this reason, that brightness whereby God was wont to manifest Himself in the wilderness, and in the tabernacle and temple, was called God’s glory. As the brightness of the sun, moon, and stars is called their glory, so the glory of God is the shining forth of His perfections. The world was created that they [His perfections] might shine forth, that is, that they [His perfections] might be communicated.        Jonathan Edwards

The language of Edwards is so full and descriptive in this paragraph, but it must also be admitted that one has to read the context over and over to get at the issues involved. We should not get weary of hearing of the God we love and His pursuit of His own glory, as indeed that is what we were created for and that is what we are to do (seek His glory) in all things. We must love the thought or grow to love the idea that God loves to see Himself and His own perfections and glory being manifested in and through His works. The fact that God loves Himself and seeks His own glory is His holiness rather than being a failure on His part. There is no greater glory and no greater Being to seek the glory of and so if He is going to seek the glory of the greatest Being He must seek His own.

He loves to see Himself communicated and it was His intention to communicate Himself that was a prime motive of His creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate motive. He Himself was His end, that is, Himself communicated.

The three sentences above are enormously important at understanding what Edwards meant regarding how God seeks His own glory and how that relates to us. It is because of that importance that I have set it apart and repeated it in this short post. God seeks His own glory and that is right and holy and good. It is the chief end of man as well. But how God seeks to glorify Himself and how man is to glorify God must meet at some point and that point is right here. It is not that God created trees and then leaned back to admire His glory in the trees, though indeed His glory shines in those as well. But God created human beings in His image and He did so that they would glorify Him, but not just glorify Him in any old way. They are to glorify Him by receiving from Him or by receiving Him.

It is another vital point to see and even savor that Edwards says that God “loves to see Himself communicated.” This is not the same thing as God loves to see something of Himself communicated, but God loves to see HIMSELF communicated. When a person communicates with another, we think of that as passing information from person A to person B. However, if the information passed along was not understood in the same way by person A and person B, communication did not happen. But again, God communicates HIMSELF. As a spiritual Being God can communicate Himself by giving Himself to others, though again in His communicating to others it must be the truth of Him (Christ) who is communicated and as a God of love He must communicate that love (the Spirit of love) so that it is the same truth and the same love.

Jesus the Christ is the very Word of God and as such He shines forth as the glory of God. Jesus Christ, as the Word of God, is the manifestation of the mind of God and the perfections of God. If we have seen Christ we have seen the Father. God communicates Himself to the soul by means of Christ and by the work of the Spirit of Christ. Jesus Christ dwells in the heart of the believer and it is His desires and His thoughts that are worked into the believer and it is His thoughts and His desires that are the very communications of God HIMSELF to the believer. We think His thoughts and love what He loves when He communicates Himself to our soul and overcomes the sinful loves and desires of our hearts by giving Himself and working Himself in us. When God has communicated Himself to us in and through and by Christ, He beholds His glory in us (the body of Christ, the Church).

In this we are getting at the heart of what it means to glorify God. We must receive from God what truly glorifies God. It is Christ who glorifies God in that He is the very shining forth of the glory of God. When the believer has Christ, who is the kingdom of God in the believer, the believer is now an instrument through which the glory of God will shine. The believer cannot shine forth the glory of God more than the believer receives the communications of God. Not only are we utterly and totally dependent upon Him for grace in justification, we are that dependent upon Him each moment for what it takes to glorify Him in what we do.

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Glorifying God 4

August 31, 2016

1 Cor 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

God does not seek His own glory because it makes Him happy, to be honored and highly thought of, but because He loves to see Himself, His own excellencies and glories appearing in His works. He loves to see Himself communicated and it was His intention to communicate Himself that was a prime motive of His creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate motive. He Himself was His end, that is, Himself communicated. The very phrase “the glory” seems naturally to signify this. Glory is a shining forth, an effulgence. So the glory of God is the shining forth or effulgence of His perfections, as effulgence is the communication of light. For this reason, that brightness whereby God was wont to manifest Himself in the wilderness, and in the tabernacle and temple, was called God’s glory. As the brightness of the sun, moon, and stars is called their glory, so the glory of God is the shining forth of His perfections. The world was created that they [His perfections] might shine forth, that is, that they [His perfections] might be communicated.         Jonathan Edwards

There are some basic and foundational truths that we must never back away from. God does not seek to glorify Himself because it makes Him happy. God does not seek His own glory in order for frail and sinful human beings to honor Him and for Him to be highly thought of by them. God seeks His own glory because He loves to see Himself manifested. In other words, the fruit that the believer bears comes from Christ first and foremost and it adds nothing to God. The spiritual fruit of the true believer is so that God can behold Himself and His glory in Christ by working it in and through the believer. When the fruit of the vine comes from the branch, which is true of all spiritual fruit, it is not of the works of the flesh of men that God is pleased with, but it is His own work manifested that He is pleased with. This is why we must work in His strength and for His glory.

When we think of the point of the works of men is not for men to make God look good before others and it is not something God needs, but this is a great blessing of grace that God brings men and shines Himself through them. God loves to see Himself, that is, His own excellencies and glories, and this is why men are to seek the glory of God. In being those who love God and being used by Him to bear spiritual fruit, the glory of God shines out of men because of the life of Christ in them and God beholds Himself and His own glory in the spiritual fruit of men. The image of something should look like the reality of that something. Man, being made in the image of God, should shine forth the glory of God in a way that God can behold Himself in those works.

If it is correct to say (with Edwards) that God seeks His own glory because He loves to see Himself and His glory shining out and appearing in the world He created, then we see that men are to eat and drink and all other things that they do so that God may behold His glory shining from them and through them. In this is love that we receive from God and it is toward God as well. We want God to behold Himself and His own glory in our works and lives and in doing that our reward is to be in communication with God and enjoy His glory. There is no merit in this but it is love for God and we receive all from Him. In this there is no righteousness earned and there is nothing (if we were perfect in attitude and intent) we want but God Himself. If we seek to glorify God as if it is a work, then we miserably fail in many ways and as such we sin in that we are really seeking ourselves rather than God.

It is a foundational thought in the theology of Jonathan Edwards, which I cannot imagine that anyone would disagree with other than (perhaps) some particulars, that the glory of God cannot be added to in any way. No man can add to the glory of God, but by the grace of God (in which He beholds His glory) He works His glory in (shares with man, makes man a partaker of) man and it is His own glory that He beholds in man. Oh how men should seek humility and a broken heart before God. How this teaching should break men of pride and self in that they cannot please God by anything they do unless that receive it from Him first. True Christians should give up all hope of doing things for God and seek Him to do things through them. The greatest reward of the Christian is to behold the glory of God and delight himself or herself in him with the delight in Him being from God Himself. This delight is also His own delight worked in the soul and as such the pure delight of the believer in God is itself a shining forth of His glory.

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Glorifying God 3

August 30, 2016

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).

God does not seek His own glory because it makes Him happy, to be honored and highly thought of, but because He loves to see Himself, His own excellencies and glories appearing in His works. He loves to see Himself communicated and it was His intention to communicate Himself that was a prime motive of His creating the world. His own glory was the ultimate motive. He Himself was His end, that is, Himself communicated. The very phrase “the glory” seems naturally to signify this. Glory is a shining forth, an effulgence. So the glory of God is the shining forth or effulgence of His perfections, as effulgence is the communication of light. For this reason, that brightness whereby God was wont to manifest Himself in the wilderness, and in the tabernacle and temple, was called God’s glory. As the brightness of the sun, moon, and stars is called their glory, so the glory of God is the shining forth of His perfections. The world was created that they [His perfections] might shine forth, that is, that they [His perfections] might be communicated. Jonathan Edwards

If it is so vital to glorify God in terms of it being the chief end of man, then we should know what this means at the heart level and then what it means to do this in terms of the very essence of it. It is such an impressive statement about what it means to be human that we should not take this lightly, but perhaps it is as important as our daily food. The chief end of man is not to live, it is to glorify and enjoy God forever. The chief end of man is not to do all he can do to keep from dying, but instead it is to glorify and enjoy God forever. When I Corinthians tells us that whatever we do we are to do it to the glory of God, that is a universal statement. There is nothing that we do or don’t do that is free from the command and privilege of glorifying and enjoying God. We must, simply and absolutely must, know something of what it means to glorify God.

As we think of John 15:4 above, it should tell us very clearly and without any question regarding the matter that there is nothing spiritual that we can do in our own ability and power. We are completely and absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ for any spiritual fruit that we are given the power and ability to bear. The command and privilege, then, to glorify God is something that is utterly beyond the power and ability of a human being to do. This throws us completely upon Christ and His grace to give us this. We don’t deserve to be instruments that God uses to glorify His name. We don’t deserve anything but His wrath on and in us. The glory of God is only shown to sinners by grace and we can only glorify Him by grace as well.

Glorifying God is no so much of a commandment that we are to keep as it is an aspect of eternal life. Yes, it is a part of the Great Commandment, but as with any and all commands of God we can only keep them if He gives us grace to keep them. If God gives us grace to keep them, we should view that as sharing in His life rather than our obeying commands. This may seem harsh to some, but to those who have spiritual taste buds this is a great part of life. We live totally upon Christ and we live in Christ and He lives in us. The commands of God should be viewed in the New Covenant as aspects of eternal life rather than do this or that or you will be punished. It is hard to imagine how a believer who has Christ as his or her life would view the Great Commandment as anything but the ache of his or her soul in wanting to be like God in love to God.

We simply must see that glorifying God is not something we can do in our own strength, but this is what we do when Christ lives in us by His Spirit and the Spirit of love works this love for God in us. This working the love for God and of God in us is really a sharing in the life of the God who loves Himself as triune. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, and the Spirit is the Spirit of love. There is a perfect love within the Trinity and no one can share in that love but by His free-grace alone. Loving God is a sharing in the life of God (II Peter 1:4-5) or being made a partaker of the Divine nature. Strong words, yes, but they are straight from the Bible. However, we must know for certain that we are not divine, but God shares Himself with His people and in that way we share in the Divine nature. Behold the privileges of being a child of God! Behold the wonders of free-grace in that God makes His people partakers of His Divine nature! This is at the heart of what it means to glorify God.

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The Church 10

August 29, 2016

Eph 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

The language of the day about “Church” or ‘church” is that of the externals and of churches being based on business models. Some church growth gurus even talk about how they learned their church growth methods from business models. This is sure evidence that men have no idea of what the true Church is and that they have no concept of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ cannot be brought about by the wisdom of the flesh and of the wisdom of men, but instead it is about the power of God. It does not matter how many people the wisdom of men can get into the door and can get to join the group and become more moral, what matters is the living God regenerating souls and dwelling in them.

How is the body of Christ built up? The Lord gave the churches leaders to teach them. The churches are built up when the know Christ, are built up in doctrine, and the members of the body love God and each other. The churches are not built up by greater numbers in and of themselves, but by those in the church becoming stronger in the faith and by Christ living in the soul. The churches are actually weaker when people give themselves to watered-down forms of evangelism as this brings in false converts and this is like bringing the things of the devil in to the churches. Evangelism must be God-centered first and foremost and as such it will be the true Gospel given out from the pulpits and the Bible studies of true churches.

Mat 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Here we see the Great Command or the Great Commission given to the Church. Where is the command to go out and water down a little message with a few points in it and ask people to pray a prayer? Where is the command for the Church to be devoted to evangelism (so-called) and virtually nothing else? The command is to make disciples of the nations. Yes, it is to make disciples, baptizing them, and then teaching them. However, disciples are baptized and disciples are to be taught. But notice that these people are to be disciples of Christ. They are not to be taught with little programs here and there, they are to be taught all that Christ commanded them.

Without going into John 17 where Jesus set out some wonderful teachings about unity and the oneness of His disciples and those who would come after Him with Him, we should not water down the Great Commission either. It would appear that it is necessary for the people to know the truth about the Trinity (though not in great detail, necessarily) before they are baptized. After all, they are to be baptized in the NAME of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The name of God is really all that God is. When we are talking about being baptized into the name of another, one should know something of God (perhaps a lot) before s/he is baptized. Surely we are to know the One we are being baptized in the name of. The teaching ministry of each church should be focused on the nature of God and what Christ taught. It is true that the teaching ministry of Christ was carried on by His apostles, so His teachings are in the epistles as well. What does Paul teach us about the Church? The Church is the body of Christ. This is so fundamental and so basic and yet the churches are thought to be nothing but tax exempt organizations now. Christ is all and in all His people!

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Musings on Sovereignty 9

August 28, 2016

The late deservedly celebrated Dr. Young, though he affected great opposition to some of the doctrines called Calvinistic, was yet compelled, by the force of truth, to acknowledge that “there is not a fly but has had infinite wisdom concerned not only in its structure, but in its destination.” Nor did the late learned and excellent Bishop Hopkins go a jot too far in asserting as follows: “A sparrow, whose price is but mean, two of them valued at a farthing (which some make to be the tenth part of a Roman penny, and was certainly one of their least coins), and whose life, therefore, is but contemptible, and whose flight seems giddy and at random; yet it falls not to the ground, neither lights anywhere, without your Father. His all-wise Providence hath before appointed what bough it shall pitch on, what grains it shall pick up, where it shall lodge, and where it shall build; on what it shall live, and where it shall die.” Our Savior adds, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God keeps an account even of that stringy excrescence. Do you see a thousand little motes and atoms wondering up and down in a sun-beam? It is God that so peoples it, and He guides their innumerable and irregular strayings. Not a dust flies in a beaten road but God raiseth it, conducts its uncertain motion, and, by His particular care, conveys it to the certain place He had before appointed for it; nor shall the most fierce and tempestuous wind hurry it any further. Nothing comes to pass but God hath His ends in it, and will certainly make His own ends out of it. Though the world seems to run at random, and affairs to be huddled together in blind confusion, and rude disorder, yet, God sees and knows the concatenation of all causes and effects, and so governs them that He makes a perfect harmony out of all those seeming jarrings and discords. It is most necessary that we should have our hearts well established in the firm and unwavering belief of this truth, that whatsoever comes to pass, be it good or evil, we may look up to the hand and disposal of all, to God. In respect of God, there is nothing causal nor contingent in the world.         Augustus Toplady

If God is truly sovereign and the extent of His sovereignty is indeed to the extent and degree as the people above said, then things must change in the local churches and in our lives as well. We basically live in a Pelagian world with the thinking guided by man-centeredness and the works and efforts of men. The attempt of men to practice scientific thinking in many ways is nothing but the outworking of a Pelagian system of thought. It is to remove the true center of all true science and remove the true center of man and focus those things in other directions. We are inundated with man-centeredness in all areas of life, and that includes the professing Church. We have taken the concept of God (rather than the absolute reality of God) and have made Him useful to our programs and our schemes for large buildings and income. We have made pitches to men and women for them to donate and to commit themselves to the work for God, but we have almost forgotten about God at all other than to expect His blessings if we work hard enough.

If God is sovereign over every destination of the fly and every movement of the fly, then He is sovereign over every act of every human being. If even the lowly sparrow has every event in its life planned by God and sovereignly superintended over, then how much more does He do the same over men? If it is God who is sovereign over the dust and how each speck of dust rises in the wind or by a tire and then he is sovereign over its every motion and where it lands, then how much more shall His people have comfort that He is sovereign over them. God cares for and nourishes His Church and His people can know that the earth and all things in it were created by Him for His own glory. There is no need for the Church to worry or be anxious; it is right where it is because of the sovereign hand of God. Yes, we should pray and seek the Lord and His face, but we should do so knowing that we are to seek for His sovereign will to be done.

The people of God must learn to rest more and more upon Him and His sovereignty. When hard things happen, and they will and they will happen often, we must know that it is His sovereign will being carried out. We can know that there is nothing that happens to us that He has not brought to pass and it came through His heart of love. The greatest thing for His people is to be contented with His presence knowing that He is our greatest good. The living and true God is perfect in all ways and who are we to argue and fret about His plan that is made with infinite wisdom? Surely our comfort is not a greater good than His glory? Our hope is in Him and His glory in Christ and not for our own physical welfare and riches. Our prayers for our welfare must always fall down the list in importance to His glory, His kingdom, and His will. He is sovereign, we are not.

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Musings on Sovereignty 8

August 27, 2016

The late deservedly celebrated Dr. Young, though he affected great opposition to some of the doctrines called Calvinistic, was yet compelled, by the force of truth, to acknowledge that “there is not a fly but has had infinite wisdom concerned not only in its structure, but in its destination.” Nor did the late learned and excellent Bishop Hopkins go a jot too far in asserting as follows: “A sparrow, whose price is but mean, two of them valued at a farthing (which some make to be the tenth part of a Roman penny, and was certainly one of their least coins), and whose life, therefore, is but contemptible, and whose flight seems giddy and at random; yet it falls not to the ground, neither lights anywhere, without your Father. His all-wise Providence hath before appointed what bough it shall pitch on, what grains it shall pick up, where it shall lodge, and where it shall build; on what it shall live, and where it shall die.” Our Savior adds, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. God keeps an account even of that stringy excrescence. Do you see a thousand little motes and atoms wondering up and down in a sun-beam? It is God that so peoples it, and He guides their innumerable and irregular strayings. Not a dust flies in a beaten road but God raiseth it, conducts its uncertain motion, and, by His particular care, conveys it to the certain place He had before appointed for it; nor shall the most fierce and tempestuous wind hurry it any further. Nothing comes to pass but God hath His ends in it, and will certainly make His own ends out of it. Though the world seems to run at random, and affairs to be huddled together in blind confusion, and rude disorder, yet, God sees and knows the concatenation of all causes and effects, and so governs them that He makes a perfect harmony out of all those seeming jarrings and discords. It is most necessary that we should have our hearts well established in the firm and unwavering belief of this truth, that whatsoever comes to pass, be it good or evil, we may look up to the hand and disposal of all, to God. In respect of God, there is nothing causal nor contingent in the world. Augustus Toplady

The God that the authors quoted above wrote about is really the only possible true and living God. The true God can be nothing but sovereign, and as such a denial that God is sovereign is really a denial of the true God. We cannot deny necessary attributes of God and still hold on to the true God. If we deny that God is a God of love (in the biblical sense), then we have denied the true God. If we deny that God is a thrice holy God, we have denied the true God. If we deny that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, then we have denied the true God. Why is it so hard to come to the conclusion, then, and recognize that the denial that God is sovereign is a clear denial of the true God?

A God that is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient can be nothing but sovereign if you think about it. If God is truly omnipotent, then there is no real power but His. If God is truly omnipresent, then truly He is everywhere there is a where. It should also be added that He is not just present, but He is all present in all places that He is. If God is truly omniscient, then He knows all things from eternity past to eternity future and nothing can take place apart from His knowledge and wisdom. That means that anything that happens can only happen if God allows it to happen or brings it to pass. Whatever the case, it means that He is the sovereign of this universe.

The description the authors above give of God, then, is not just some intellectual point of doctrine that is not all that important, but they are striving to set forth the biblical truth of the living and true God. This is not just some small point of difference, it has to do with the most important aspects of truth and that is the truth of who God is. It is not acceptable to deny the greatness and vastness of the love of God, and as such it is not acceptable to deny the greatness and vastness of the sovereignty of God.

The one and true God has declared that He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious. Fallen men have and still assert that God will be gracious to those who choose Him to be gracious to them. The one and true God declares that men are born from above not by the will of any man and not according to the blood line of men, but instead by the will of God. Yet fallen men have and still insist that God regenerates those who will choose Him by a prayer or by an act of faith. Man fell from God when man wanted to trust in his own wisdom. Now men want to trust in themselves for salvation rather than the sovereign God. Fighting the sovereignty of God in life and in the heart is really what fallen men do, but Christians seek God for all He is and love Him and His sovereignty because that is who He is.

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