The Glory of God 44

November 16, 2015

An attribute of God must be determined from what He is within Himself rather than judged by our own standards. God is the standard of Himself and of all things.

Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

The self-sufficiency of God gives a beautiful view of God and how it is that the Gospel is of Christ alone and grace alone. The self-sufficiency of God gives us the basis (in some respects) of free-grace and how it is that grace must be free or it is not grace. But something must happen in the hearts of men for them to desire grace and then to receive grace. The hearts of men are born full of self and pride and as such their hearts are opposed to free-grace and their need of a Savior to save them to the uttermost. Since God only gives grace to the humble and men are proud and full of self, something must change their hearts or they will always stand opposed to grace. The natural man hates free-grace though he does not mind a little help if he needs it, but the idea of needing to be saved from even the best that he can do is something his pride cannot and will not accept. The biblical teaching that even the very best of our works (man’s works of righteousness) are as filthy rags is hateful to the proud.

The Gospel is of free-grace alone and the only works allowed are those by Jesus the Christ. Jesus, who is the sufficiency of God, will only save sinners when He is sufficient and nothing that man does is sufficient for the slightest addition to the sufficiency of God in Christ. While pride is the puffing up of self, humility is being emptied of self. Only those who are emptied of self will be emptied of pride and as such will look to grace alone for salvation. One pastor reported a member of his church as saying this: “If Jesus came one million miles to save me, that last inch is mine.” That was a man who refused the full sufficiency of Christ and wanted some little part reserved for himself, but of course that little part was far more than he thought. It was control of when he would accept Christ (so to speak). That was a man who did not know his own heart or the sufficiency of God in Christ, which means that instead of looking to free-grace he looked to himself. His heart was not changed.

Matthew 18:1-4 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

In Matthew 18 the disciples did as they did on several occasions, they wanted to know who was the greatest. This was a question among them because each of them wanted to be the greatest. Jesus took this particular opportunity to teach them and all who were to follow a basic truth. That basic truth is that a person must be turned by God and become like a child in order to even enter the kingdom. The person that has not become like a child will not enter the kingdom. The heart of man must be changed from one that is seeking greatness to that of a small child which receives all from another. All that a small child can possibly do is to receive from others, so all that a man with a changed heart can do is to receive grace without trying to earn it or use it to be great in the eyes of others.

The teaching of Christ in Matthew 18 can be looked at in a few different ways, but one thing that is very clear is that the heart of man must be changed by another (God) from proud and self-seeking to a humble heart that receives all from another. This is what must happen to the heart of proud man or he will forever hate free-grace. God must change that heart and He alone can change the heart from being proud to being humble. The Lord Jesus Christ and His free-grace cannot be received by a proud heart and a proud heart despises free-grace as well. In the marvel of the passage above we can see that not only are sinners saved by free-grace, but free-grace must change the heart to where it will even desire free-grace. Oh how men must not despise the self-sufficiency of God and look to their own sufficiency. Instead, men should look to the sufficiency of God alone to change their heart and make them willing for free-grace in the day of His power.

Posted in The Glory of God, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

The Glory of God 43

November 14, 2015

An attribute of God must be determined from what He is within Himself rather than judged by our own standards. God is the standard of Himself and of all things.

Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

The Gospel is the demonstration of the sufficiency of God in saving sinners apart from anything in them to move Him to save Him. This sufficiency is the grace of God. Man constantly wants to add something or contribute a little to a lot, but the Gospel of God will have none of that. Not only is salvation by grace alone, sanctification is by Christ alone and His grace alone as well. God does not save sinners by His grace alone and then leave them to their own devices and strength for sanctification, but only He is sufficient in Christ for that as well. Oh how sinners are stripped of their pride and self and humbled in the dust in order that they can see and understand that Christ alone is sufficient to save to the glory of God alone.

Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Where do we see anything in the text just above that makes the slightest room for men to add to their own salvation? It is God our Savior who appeared and He saved us because of His kindness and love. He did not save sinners based on their deeds or their righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy. He does not save sinners based upon their good hearts, but by His sovereign work of grace in regenerating sinners and renewing them by the Holy Spirit. He does not give the Holy Spirit to sinners because of what they have done, but He gives the Spirit through Jesus Christ who is the full and sufficient Savior. In all of this sinners are justified completely and totally by His grace and there is utterly nothing that they have contributed, will contribute, or can contribute. Grace does not need, want, or condone any attempts to help. To the degree that sinners try to help, they show that they don’t rest in the sufficiency and grace of God alone.

The Gospel of God tells us that God alone is sufficient for anything and all things regarding salvation and sanctification. The Gospel tells us that we have nothing to do with our own salvation though man is always wanting to do one little thing. The Gospel of God puts His sufficiency on display and yet it tells man that he is sufficient for nothing in this context. Man has nothing he can do but receive. Man has nothing that he can boast about but the cross of Christ. Man has nothing to contribute to his own salvation but the sin from which He is saved from. Man has no ability and no sufficiency and so God is not anxiously waiting on us to contribute out part in the matter, but instead it all rests upon His sufficiency.

Are sinners able to contribute to the wisdom of God in Christ? Are sinners able to help God justify themselves? Are sinners able to contribute to the price Christ paid for their redemption? Are sinners able to contribute even the slightest to the propitiatory work of Christ on the cross? Where, then, is the sufficiency of human beings in salvation? They have none. God alone is sufficient for all things and man can do nothing and can add nothing to the sufficiency of God. The glory of God in Christ shines forth and it is as if the heavens are declaring that God is sufficient in Christ to save sinners.

Posted in The Glory of God | Leave a Comment »

The Glory of God 42

November 13, 2015

An attribute of God must be determined from what He is within Himself rather than judged by our own standards. God is the standard of Himself and of all things.

Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

While Paul spoke to a people who believed in an unknown God, it appears that there are many in our day who have an unknown Gospel. The Gospel has nothing to do with what man can help God do or what man can contribute to his own salvation, but it is all about the glory of grace and the full sufficiency of God. The attributes of God are not an exercise in academic knowledge, but instead the attributes of God comprise the most practical and vitally important field of study for all people. The Gospel is not stuck in a corner somewhere apart from the attributes of God, but instead the Gospel flows from and is inextricably linked to them. The self-sufficiency of God, while it can be distinguished and studied in one sense apart from the Gospel, cannot be studied very far apart from the Gospel and the Gospel is not set out very thoroughly apart from teaching it in connection with the sufficiency of God. We must always remember that the attributes of God shine out in everything to do with God, so the very heart of the Gospel of God will always be the attributes of God.

Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

We can see vital aspects of the Gospel in the passage above, but we can also see that the passage is full of the character and attributes of God. What is sufficient to raise dead sinners to life? Can a dead sinner contribute or add anything to the character and actions of God? Is God alone sufficient to raise sinners from the dead or does something else have to happen and or be added? The text does not allow for any action to be added to the actions of God. He is rich in mercy because of His great love, so we have no need (or ability) to try and make ourselves worth of mercy and love. Who is it that actually makes sinners alive in Christ? It is God who takes dead sinners and makes them alive with Christ, but not only that, He seats them with Christ in the heavenly places. Why does He do that? So that He will manifest and show the surpassing riches of His grace. If sinners could add anything to their own resurrection from the spiritually dead, it would detract from the riches of His grace. In fact, it would make grace no longer to be grace. The grace of God and the power of God are sufficient for the whole salvation of sinners. There is nothing they can possibly contribute to or add to regarding the Gospel.

The grace of God is sufficient to save sinners quite apart from anything they can add to His work. The text (Ephesians 2:4-10 above) tells us that it is by grace that you have been saved. This is the same thing as saying that it is by the self-sufficiency of God that sinners are saved. Verse 8 follows or is given as a reason to explain how it is that God has saved sinners by raising them from the spiritually dead in order to show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward them for all eternity. Yes, grace comes to sinners through faith, but the verse goes on to say that even that faith is the gift of God. Works also have no place in this because there is no room for boasting either. The Gospel is all about the grace of God which is to say that the Gospel relies on the self-sufficiency of God. The sinner has no room for boasting because there is nothing that the sinner has to do with his salvation. Not only is faith a gift, but God prepares works for saved sinners to do. All comes from the self-sufficiency of God and nothing from the sufficiency of man, so clearly the Gospel is all of grace and all boasting is to be about God.

Posted in The Glory of God | Leave a Comment »

The Glory of God 41

November 11, 2015

An attribute of God must be determined from what He is within Himself rather than judged by our own standards. God is the standard of Himself and of all things.

Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

God did not create anything out of sense of lack, but more of a sense of fullness. Out of love for Himself and His own glory He created all things to manifest His own glory to Himself for His own pleasure. Creation was for the glory of God and He beholds Himself in it to some degree, but far more than His glory in creation He made mankind who is made in His image. The purpose for man is to glorify God as well. But the highest point of all the beauties and glories is the Lord Jesus Christ. The earth and mankind have a purpose by which God displayed His glory in and through Christ in His conception, birth, life, crucifixion, and resurrection. Oh how Christ is the very glory of God shining forth and how God beholds Himself in Christ and all whom Christ dwells in. God alone was and is sufficient for all of that and humanity should bow in utter humility before Him.

Romans 4:16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

The Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ is by grace alone and the promise of God is guaranteed to all the descendants of Abraham, that is, all those who are in Christ. As Galatians 3:29 sets out so beautifully, “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” Only those who belong to Christ are the descendants of Abraham and heirs according to promise. The promise God made to Abraham was to him and his seed, which we are told (Gal 3:16) is Christ. “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.” The Gospel is all of grace because God saves to the glory of His grace (Eph 1:5-6). While people argue about faith, what Romans 4:16 shows us is that faith cannot be a work because God uses faith in such a way that the promise is in accordance with grace. This destroys all hope that man can contribute anything to His salvation and sets out the full sufficiency of God in Christ. Men can argue as they please about faith, but faith is a gift of God and that is in full accordance with free-grace and anything that makes faith out to be a work of man is an attack on grace and an attack on the sufficiency of God in Christ.

Romans 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

We can see how Romans 4:16 works in accordance with Romans 11:6. Whatever is a work makes grace no longer to be grace. We must always keep in mind that grace is always linked with the full and complete sufficiency of God and is always opposed to the works of man for salvation or anything else that depends on man doing the works in his own strength or so-called free-will. Once again, any work makes grace no longer to be grace. We can say with confidence that for grace to be grace it must be 100% grace or it is not the grace of God. In the same way, God is either completely self-sufficient or He needs somebody to add some little something. If something is added, regardless of how small it is, then self-sufficiency is completely overthrown. So if God sets out the Gospel to be by faith so that it is in accordance with grace and grace to be grace must not have the slightest work added to it, then we can see with clarity that faith is not a work and cannot add anything to grace. God alone is self-sufficient and the Gospel is of grace from beginning to end and that includes faith which comes from Him as a free gift. His self-sufficiency shines in the Gospel of grace alone but it falls when someone tries to add some little something (like faith) to it. We must not do that or we will be preaching another Gospel and a different god than the true God.

Posted in The Glory of God | Leave a Comment »

The Glory of God 40

November 10, 2015

An attribute of God must be determined from what He is within Himself rather than judged by our own standards. God is the standard of Himself and of all things.

Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

The sufficiency of God as shining forth in Christ is seen at its highest points in the cross and in the Gospel of Christ crucified. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Gospel of God is the Gospel of grace alone because the Gospel of God is the Gospel of the self-sufficient God. This Gospel of the self-sufficient God is one that tells us that He needs no help from us and that in fact when we try to help Him that will be seen as not looking to His sufficiency alone. The Gospel of grace alone is the only Gospel that there is. When people fall away from grace alone, they have fallen away from the only real and true Gospel, which is to say that they have fallen away from the self-sufficiency of God to some aspect of their own sufficiency.

The Gospel of grace alone sets out that God’s salvation is sufficient apart from any works we can do and apart from anything we can become. The Gospel of the sufficiency of God is the Gospel of grace alone and it tells us that salvation is by grace alone apart from one or many works or merit of a human being or many human beings. God sees sinners as they are and they are dead in sins and trespasses and utterly obnoxious to His perfect holiness, which is to say that there is nothing in them to attract Him and there is nothing they can do but sin against Him and as such they have nothing to offer Him and nothing to move Him. If they are going to be saved it will be by His sufficiency alone (His grace alone). There is no other hope but in Him because there is nothing sufficient in saving sinners but the sufficient God alone.

Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

What Romans 3 proclaims to us in the context of God and His self-sufficiency, is that sinners are justified by His grace and that grace alone. There is nothing in the sinner that could possibly move God to save the sinner, so this grace is a free-grace which is a sovereign grace that God gives because of who He is and not because of anything found in the sinner. Can the sinner pay any part of his own redemption price or does God pay the whole price? Is the payment of Christ sufficient payment or is something lacking on the part of the sinner? Was something lacking in the propitiatory sacrifice offered up by Christ or is it completely and totally sufficient? This is a huge dividing line between the biblical teaching of God and Arminianism (not to mention Pelagianism). What God has done is completely and totally sufficient and there is no need of anything for man to contribute to. However, men will still try to add to the completed and perfect work of God in Christ saying that they must contribute faith. This is still an effort to contribute something of the human flesh to the completed work of God.

God has demonstrated His righteousness in Christ and Christ is either completely sufficient or He lacked something. If He lacked something, then we have to make that up in order for God to be just in saving sinners. However, God only declares just those who have faith in Christ. If a person has faith in self, even just a little, then the person does not have faith in the self-sufficient God who has displayed His sufficiency in Christ. God declares guilty sinners just because of Christ alone as what Christ has done is fully sufficient. Who are sinners to boast in? Are they to boast in themselves or in Christ? All boasting in self and the work or works of self is done away with. Self has done nothing but sin and so self has nothing to boast about. The Gospel is about His self-sufficiency and His self-sufficiency alone. There is no room for us to add the slightest to the Gospel.

Posted in The Glory of God | Leave a Comment »

Christ Centeredness 3

November 9, 2015

The first foundation of the delight a true saint has in God, is His own perfection; and the first foundation of the delight he has in Christ, is His own beauty; He appears in Himself the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely; the way of salvation by Christ is a delightful way to him, for the sweet and admirable manifestations of the divine perfections in it; the holy doctrines of the gospel, by which god is exalted and man abased, holiness honored and promoted, and sin greatly disgraced and discouraged, and free and sovereign love manifested; are glorious doctrines in his eyes, and sweet to his taste, prior to any conception of his interest in these things. Indeed the saints rejoice in their interest in God, and that Christ is theirs; and so they have great reason; but this is not the first spring of their joy; they first rejoice in God as glorious and excellent in Himself, and then secondarily rejoice in it, that so glorious a God is theirs; they first have their hearts filled with sweetness, from the view of Christ’s excellence, and the excellency of His grace, and the beauty of the way of salvation by Him; and then they have a secondary joy, in that so excellent a Savior, and such excellent grace is theirs.

But that which is the true saint’s superstructure, is the hypocrite’s foundation. When they hear of the wonderful things of the gospel, of God’s great love in sending His Son, of Christ’s dying love to sinners, and the great things Christ has purchased, and promised to the saints, and hear these things livelily and eloquently set forth; they may hear with a great deal of pleasure, and be lifted up with what they hear; but if their joy be examined, it will be found to have no other foundation than this, that they look upon these things as theirs, all this exalts them, they love to hear of the great love of Christ so vastly distinguishing some from others; for self-love, and even pride itself, makes ‘em affect great distinction from others; no wonder, in this confident opinion of their own good estate, that they feel well under such doctrine, and are pleased in the highest degree, in hearing how much God and Christ makes of them. So that their joy is really a joy in themselves, and not in God.

And because the joy of hypocrites is in themselves, hence it comes to pass, that in their rejoicings and elevations, they are wont to keep their eye upon themselves; having received what they call spiritual discoveries or experiences, their minds are taken up about them, admiring their own experiences; and what they are principally taken and elevated with, is not the glory of God, or the beauty of Christ, but the beauty of their experiences. They keep thinking with themselves, what a good experience is this! What a great discovery is this! What wonderful things have I met with! And so they put their experiences in the place of Christ, and His beauty and fullness; and instead of rejoicing in Christ Jesus, they rejoice in their admirable experiences. (Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections, pp. 250-251).

If Jonathan Edwards was right when he wrote those words, he is still right. But if he was and is right about the joy of true believers and then of hypocrites, the modern version of Christianity has been devastated with hypocrisy and as such a deceptive view of Christ. Modern “religion” has a focus upon the sinner as if God was focused on the sinner and made much of the sinner. Oh how it pleases the hypocrite to think upon how much God makes of him, but this is nothing more than sinners loving those who love them. Indeed, as Edwards points out, their joy is nothing more than a joy in themselves and they are delighted to hear how God loves them and makes much of them. Again, if the analysis of Edwards is correct, then the vast majority of preaching in America is doing nothing toward teaching men of true repentance toward God, but instead it deceives them about God and true conversion.

In the true Gospel and in true Christianity men are changed from the love of themselves to a love for God. In fact, men must be granted repentance of their love for self and their pride for there to be a true conversion. Until God has worked a true repentance in the hearts of men from their pride and self-love, they will never hear the true Gospel and they will never be turned from loving themselves to where they will love the true God in Christ. The true Gospel takes sinners and turns them from being slaves of pride and self-love to where they now love God as the core and center of their whole beings and lives. The hypocrite thinks of God and the Lord Jesus being all about himself, but the true Gospel and the true God is that God is all about Himself and sinners must be turned to love Him with all of their being for who He is and not just for what He has done. The hypocrite has nothing but delight in what he thinks has been done for him out of love for self, but the believer delights in the beauty and glory of God before he thinks of himself. The hypocrite may love to think upon Christ as long as self is the center, but the true believer is centered upon Christ first.

Posted in Christ Centeredness | Leave a Comment »

Musings 94

November 8, 2015

Transgressions: Blotted out by Christ

First; Concerning the grace that the Lord is pleased to hold forth to his people here, namely, “The blotting out their transgressions and not remembering their sins.” First, let us consider what it is for the Lord to blot out transgressions; it is an usual phrase in the scripture, and imports much comfort in it. It is an allusion, or an allegorical expression; wherein the Lord is pleased to hold forth his love to man, after the manner of men; to set forth his carriage to men, according to theirs one to another. It is a phrase borrowed from the practice of men, that keep their debt-books, wherein they cuter, and record the several debts men owe them; that so, for the better helping of their memory, they may find what is due, and know what to demand and call for; I say, the Lord here speaking of “blotting out of transgressions,” hath reference to such debt books, wherein he hath recorded the several debts, or sins, which he enters as men commit them; now the blotting out is nothing else, but that, whereas there were such and such transgressions in the record of God, he draws a blot over them. And that he here hath reference to such kind of dealing, in blotting out transgressions, you may see clearly manifested unto you, in Colossians 2:14, where this phrase of blotting out, is explained: “You being dead in your sins, hath he quickened, together with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses;” now, mark what follows: “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances which was against us, and was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” what “the hand-writing of ordinances” there is, you may plainly perceive by the words going before, namely, “All our trespasses, and all our sins.” Now the taking away of sin, is called a “blotting it out,” and expressed thus; “The blotting out of the hand-writing that was against us,” because they were, as it were, written down; but the Lord hath razed and blotted them out. You are not to conceive that there are really such things with God, that he did indeed keep a book, and enter down in it all the several actions of men, and so calling men to account, will open it, and will read out the several firings there written; but the phrase is only an allusion spoken for our better capacity. And, for this cause, you shall find the scripture frequently makes mention of such books God hath. When the seventy disciples came to Christ, rejoicing that the devils were made subject unto them, he replies, “Rejoice not that the devils are made subject unto you, but rejoice, rather, that your names are written in the book of life.” Here is a book, and the names of the disciples written in it; but, if you will mark Revelation 20:12, you will find, there is not only the book of life, but other books besides, out of which the dead, both small and great, were judged, according to their works that they had done; as if he had said, besides the book of life, there is the book of works, wherein the several actions of men are recorded, by which, at the great day, men are to be judged as they are found in them; according to the several debts that are therein, they are to receive their sentence. Mark, now, for the better apprehension of our weak capacity, the Lord hath taken up such a kind of illustration of his dealing with men; namely, by recording our debts in books; yet, he tells us for our comfort, that, though there be such books, we need not fear; though they shall be opened, yet whatsoever was written in them, in reference to us, is all crossed and blotted out; and, when we come to account, there shall be nothing reckoned unto us, as a fault (Jude 1:24.).         (Tobias Crisp, taken from Supralapsarian.com)

Posted in Musings | Leave a Comment »

Christ Centedness 2

November 6, 2015

Obedience of Christ unto Salvation

Compare these things together, as they stand in Romans 5:18, 19, you will perceive, that the obedience, the doing of the will of God, is one branch of righteousness requisite in Christ towards the discharge of persons from their sins; “As by the offence of one man, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, (saith the apostle) so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all to justification of life;” here is a comparison, or rather an opposition, set between Adam’s offence, and Christ’s righteousness; as the one brought judgment, so the other brings justification and life to men; yea, but what is that righteousness, that is there spoken of, you say? The apostle tells you plainly: “For, as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so, by the obedience of one, many are made righteous.” Observe it well, we are made righteous; how? by the obedience of one; that one is Christ. Well, but what is this obedience? It is an obedience set up in opposition to Adam’s disobedience. What was Adam’s disobedience? The breach of the law. What must Christ’s obedience be then, but the fulfilling of it? So it must be certainly true, it is directly against the gospel of Christ to exclude the active obedience of Christ, from power and share to plead out. The cause of those that believe; I say, the active obedience of Christ comes in to make the plea for this discharge; and, as the active, so likewise the passive obedience of Christ; the scripture is more full in this, than in the other, because it is the complement of all, the last thing Christ went through for the discharge of the sins of men; you shall see there is no fruit that illustrates the discharge of a person from sin; hence it is appropriated unto Christ’s sufferings. If you speak of reconciliation, which consists of God’s acceptance of persons, and his agreeing with them in the death of all controversy, between him and them; for that is reconciliation, when persons, that were at variance, are now made friends, and all things that were objected between them are answered, and no more for one to say against another; I say, if you speak of this reconciliation to God, it is appropriated to the blood of Christ; as Romans 5:10, “if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of his Son; how much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life?” So that reconciliation is attributed unto the death of Christ; that was the last act of the Son of God for man. Again, “You, who were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Here you see the same thing in substance, given unto the blood of Christ, though in other words: men that were afar off, that God, was at controversy with, who were at great distance from him, by the blood of Christ are made nigh again. So likewise, the satisfaction that God takes for the discharge of sin which he hath acknowledged is said to be the travail of the soul of Christ: “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied.” The apostle speaks in general, in his epistle to the Hebrews, without blood there is no remission of sins; “Christ entered with his blood once, into the holy of holies; and thereby he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Infinite it were to quote scripture for the illustration of this, that to the sufferings of Christ, (which are indeed all summed up in the shedding of his blood, because that was the last, and chief of all) all blessings are attributed, as reconciliation, adoption, etc.   (Tobias Crisp, obtained from Supralapsarian.com)

Posted in Christ Centeredness | Leave a Comment »

Christ Centeredness 1

November 5, 2015

Christ is the life of the believer. Mark what the apostle saith, “Our life is hid with Christ in God.” It is true, there is a natural life, that may be destroyed as well as the life of a wicked man; but yet the soul of a believer is not destroyed; it is cannon proof, all the devils in hell cannot destroy it; “Christ himself is our life; now, when he shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory.” So that Christ himself must be killed, before our lives shall be destroyed by the enemies. You that are believers have this advantage of your enemies, the unbelievers; you may take away their lives, but they cannot take away yours; they have but one life, a natural life but they that are believers, have a life in Christ; nay he is their life. Beloved, the Lord intends only your good in all your changes, and that which is best, he provides for you; though your life be taken away from you, where is the hurt or loss? Consider it well, beloved, death is but the opening of the prison doors to let you out; it is but the arrival of a vessel into the haven of rest. What doth the sword do when it enters into a believer? It makes but a change of immortality for mortality, of life for death, of strength for weakness, of glory for shame, of holiness for sin; it doth but pull down a rotten house of clay, to give possession of mansions of glory; it doth but take persons from a cottage at will, to enter into a lordship of inheritance; for it gives full possession of an eternal one. The sword that enters into the breast of a believer, doth but put him into the chamber of the bridegroom, and consummates the marriage of the Lamb to him; it is the fulfilling of the great cry of the saints, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly;” and, “I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.” It takes the bride into communion with her long looked-for beloved, and gives her possession of those things she longed for. (Tobias Crisp, taken from Supralapsarian.com)

Jesus the Christ is preached as Savior in many places, though indeed it may not be the true Jesus or the true Savior. But Jesus the Christ is not only Savior, but He is the very life of His people. Those who are truly converted are turned from being fully self-centered to being Christ-centered but growing in that as well. Our life is indeed hid with Christ in God, but the life of Christ in us is not hidden in the same way. It is true that unbelievers may mock and even persecute believers without realizing that the life of Christ is what they hate, but He is seen in some way. This is at the heart of the Gospel that Christ is our life. This is at the heart of Sanctification as Christ is our life. For the truly converted Christ is their everything and their all.

It is also true that if Christ is our life and He is life Himself who has the very power of life, then when our life on earth is ended, our true life is not at an end and can never come to an end. What we must see is that all of life is to be centered upon Christ, though what we must also see is that a life centered upon Christ is given Christ by grace alone and continues to live by that grace. The Lord Jesus Himself is our life and since He is centered upon the glory of God shining through Himself we will focus on that as well. When Christ is the life of a person then that person can be said to be a believer in Christ as that belief in Christ flows from the life of Christ in the soul.

The true believer should view him or herself as one who now lives by Christ and for Christ because it is the very life of Christ that is his or her life. The believer can now grow in confidence that s/he was loved from eternity past and will be loved for eternity future. The believer is now enabled to turn from sin not because of self-righteousness or legalistic ways, but out of love for Christ who lives in the soul and is the very life of the soul. This confidence/faith can be seen in Paul when he did not know how to choose between life or death because dying and going to Christ was far better. This speaks of a man who knew Christ because Christ had revealed Himself to Paul in the depths of his soul and he knew the joy of the Lord.

How the professing Church has fallen so far from Christ-centeredness. It is focused on programs, music, and all sorts of things to get people in the door and not offend them so that they will come back. But who is preaching Christ in His glory in our day? Where is the whole Christ being preached? Where is Christ the Mediator who as Mediator is Prophet, Priest, and King being proclaimed and heralded in our day? We may find a few preaching orthodox doctrine, but where is Christ being preached as the center of it all? Instead of Christ being preached, we find man being preached as his own prophet, his own priest, and certainly his own king. The idolatry of the modern pulpit seems to know no bounds as it wants to entertain men rather than have them meet Christ. The horrid idolatry of the modern pulpit wants to set man out in his free-will as his own partial savior rather than preach Christ who saves sinners by grace alone. It appears that Christ-ianity has been replaced with man-centeredness.

Posted in Christ Centeredness | Leave a Comment »

The Glory of God 39

November 4, 2015

An attribute of God must be determined from what He is within Himself rather than judged by our own standards. God is the standard of Himself and of all things.

Acts 17:22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. 23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.

The Scriptures show very clearly that God is self-sufficient and has absolutely no need and also that man is utterly insufficient and is full of needs. Fallen man, however, is blind to this and so thinks that he is sufficient for himself and that he can do things for God. It is an appalling switch from the truth to error and from reality to utter pretense. The hearts of men are full of self and pride and in that they think of themselves as far greater in terms of worth, ability, and morality than the facts warrant. In fact, apart from Christ man is less than nothing to God, has no ability to please God at all, and is utterly unable to do one thing out of love for God. God alone is self-sufficient and man has no sufficiency at all but what God gives man in Christ and by grace alone. Even the fall sets forth the self-sufficiency of God if we have eyes to see.

2 Timothy 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.

The description of men (from the passage above) shows men as those who think that they are sufficient in themselves rather than those who rely upon the self-sufficiency of God. Man, in his pride and presumption of self-sufficiency, loves himself and thinks that he has the power of love within him to love as he pleases. What he does not see, however, is that true love is far different than the love he has in himself. True love only comes from God and only those who are born of God and know God truly love (I John 4:7-8). In fact, though it is not wrong to think of man as full of self-love, in another very real sense those who are full of self-love are actually those who hate others and themselves as they do all that they do with enmity towards the true God.

Those who love themselves long to be sufficient and as such they will love money which they think of as giving them power and will make them independent of all others. It is so amazing to see that those without grace still hold to a form of godliness despite the fact that they are so opposite of the children of God. Christians are known by their love one for another, yet these people are unloving. Christians are to be known as lovers of holiness, yet these people are unholy. Christians are to be known as those who forgive each other and protect the name of each other, yet these people cannot be reconciled to others and are malicious gossips. Indeed they may have a form of godliness, but it is far from the truth of what godliness is. However, it is a godliness that they have worked upon on their own and it depends on them in their natural strength. It is a form of godliness because it does not depend upon the sufficiency of God and instead depends on the sufficiency of man.

Christians are to love what is good and to be faithful to God and all others, but those who have a godliness based on their own sufficiency hate what is truly good because it comes from the one and only true God and they hate true faithfulness because true faithfulness receives all from the sufficiency of God. Those with a form of godliness that relies upon themselves and their own sufficiency love pleasure rather than God because they are sufficient to do what pleases them rather than relying totally upon God for love to love Him. True believers live by grace alone (at least that is the ideal) and as such they live upon the self-sufficiency of God rather than anything found in them of anything that they can do. True godliness is really a true God-centeredness where men receive all from Him. True ungodliness is when men have an outward form of godliness but what they have is from self rather than the grace of God. The godly person lives by grace alone which is to say s/he lives upon the self-sufficiency of God and does not look to self for any sufficiency at all. It is, to put it simply, to live by free-grace which is God’s self-sufficiency found in Christ and in Christ alone.

Posted in The Glory of God | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »