Acknowlege Your Nakedness

John Stott:

"But we cannot escape the embarrassment of standing stark naked before God. It is no use our trying to cover up like Adam and Eve in the garden. Our attempts at self-justification are as ineffectual as their fig-leaves. We have to acknowledge our nakedness, see the divine substitute wearing our filthy rags instead of us, and allow him to clothe us with his own righteousness." The Cross of Christ, 162-163

We are all naked under our clothes; literally, as well as, the metaphorical self-righteousness we put on everyday. The only way to have your spiritual shame covered is not to make-up your own clothes, but take the clothes of another. God in Jesus Christ has taken away the naked shame of sinners who trust Him, and clothed them with the perfect righteousness of Christ. Admit your naked and helpless before God and by faith throw yourself on Jesus Christ, and not only will you will never be ashamed but you can stand unashamed before God as His friend, because the clothes you now wear are the clothes of God's Son.

The Importance of a Right Doctrine of Saving Faith

The American Puritan Revivalist, Jonathan Edwards:

"Therefore, doubtless, saving faith, whatsoever that be, is the grand condition of an interest in Christ, and his great salvation. And if it be so, of what vast importance is it, that we should have right notions of what it is! For certainly no one thing whatever, nothing in religion, is of greater importance, that that which teaches us how we may be saved. If salvation itself be of infinite importance, then it is of equal importance that we do not mistake the terms of it; and if this be of infinite importance, then that doctrine that teaches that to be the term, that is not so, but very diverse, is infinitely dangerous. What we want a revelation from God for chiefly, is to teach us the terms of his favour, and the way of salvation. And that which the revelation God has given us in the Bible teaches to be the way, is faith in Christ. Therefore, that doctrine that teaches something else to be saving faith, that is eseentially another thing, teaches entirely another way of salvation...Therefore he who teaches something else to be that faith, which is essentially diverse from what the gospel of Christ teaches, he teaches another gospel; and he does in effect teach another religion than the religion of Christ...Such doctrine as I have opposed, must be destructive and damning, i.e. directly tending to man's damnation; leading such as embrace it, to rest in something essentially different from the grand condition of salvation. And therefore I would advise you, as you would have any regard to your own soul's salvation, and to the salvation of your posterity, to beware of such doctrine as this." (emphasis added).

"Remarks on Important Theological Controversies", from The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 2, 595-596.

The Gospel is Good News not Good Advice

Late 1800's professor and pastor, James Denney:

"The proclamation of the finished work of Christ is not good advice; it is good news, good news that means immeasurable joy for those who welcome it, irreparable loss for those who reject it and infinite and urgent responsibility for all. The man who has this to preach has a gospel about which he ought to be in dead earnest. Just because there is nothing which concentrates in the same way the judgment and the mercy of God, there is nothing which has the same power to evoke seriousness and passion in the preacher." The Death of Christ, 173.

An Encouragement to Vomit More Often

The Puritan, Thomas Brooks:

"Repentance is the vomit of the soul; and of all physic, none so difficult and hard as it is to vomit." Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, 63.

I need to vomit more often. So do you.

Truth Necessitates Application

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

"...a real and true understanding of the truth always does lead to application. So that if a man does not apply the truth, his real trouble is that he has not understood it. For if a man is gripped by a truth and sees what it means and what it implies, of necessity he must apply it."

"How and Why the Christian Puts on the New Man", Darkness and Light, 201.

Hammer the New Man into Yourself

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

"The whole matter of putting on the new man is in essence the application of truth to ourselves. It is the most important thing that one can ever discover in the Christian life. The real secret of Christian living is to discover the art of talking to yourself. We must talk to ourselves, we must preach to ourselves, and we must take truth and apply it to ourselves, and keep on doing so. That is the putting on of the new man. We have to hammer away at ourselves until we have really convinced ourselves. In other words, this is not something that you wait for passively. If you wait until you feel like the new man it will probably never happen. We must be active in this. There is no greater snare in the Christian life than to entertain the idea of waiting until we feel better, and of then putting on the new man. On the contrary, we have got to go on telling ourselves the new man is already in us. In his Epistle to the Romans the Apostle Paul says, 'Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God' (6:11)." Darkness and Light, An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17, 191-192

Strengthened by the Might of the Glory of God

Paul writes in Colossians 1:11:

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,"

Paul prays that the believers would be strengthened with power in accord with the glorious might of God. It's easy to pass over quickly the prayers of Paul because the sentences seem to go on and on, but one when one reads to quickly one misses the punch. This phrase, "according to his glorious might," indeed carries a seriously weighty wallop.

Douglas Moo comments:

"Paul further emphasizes the extent of God's empowering, as well as making explicit its source, with the next description: according to his glorious might...The translations are almost unanimous in using the adjective "glorious" to qualify this divine might...But one might wonder if this interpretation gives appropriate value to the very significant word "glory." This word occurs frequently in Scripture as a very basic characterization of God, signifying his "weighty," overwhelming presence. The English "glorious" is too easily cast loose from this God-focused meaning (as when we speak of a "glorious sunset"). It might, then, be preferable to take the genitive as possessive: the strength that God supplies his people is in accordance with (and is the expression of) his own intrinsic glory." The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, 98.

Paul isn't praying for some casual power to be at work within the believer. He knows that "glory" is no word to be just tossed around. He is asking God to supply his people with such weighty and glorious power that accords with God's own glory. Paul the vigilant proclaimer of God's glory is not afraid to pray that an expression of that glory be imparted to the sons of God.

Paul wants the Colossian believers to know He is praying for them to be empowered by God Himself. In fact, we learn later in Colossians, that God indwells the believer: "To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (1:27). God does not take His own glory lightly (because He does everything for His glory) and the empowerment God gives is energized by His own divine might.

May you be strengthened with the might carrying the force and weight of the very glory of God.

A Remedy for Boredom with God

AW Tozer, speaking to students of Wheaton College, in 1954:

"The great doctrines of the Bible are not timely. When a man comes up to me and says, “Mr. Tozer, that was a timely sermon,” I take it as a doubtful compliment, for the truths of God are not timely (that is, geared into time). The truths of God are eternal. They rise above time, and they were as true when Adam was in the garden as they will be true in the millennium or in the ages that follow.

There are certain great truths: God, God’s creating us, our response and relation to God, human sin, human redemption, the incarnation, the indwelling Christ, the union of the soul with the Triune God. All these are great, eternal truths, true under all kinds of conditions, among all people everywhere and in every age in the world, no less true and no more true because they are absolutely true. Indeed, we will never be where we should be until these become to us the source of thrill. The entertainment of great spiritual concepts will lift us like a song until, brooding upon the great ideas of the Triune God and all He means to us, will thrill us like a stimulant from within.

We will never be where we ought to be until we go back to those old paths and learn to find God. We will cease to be bored with God. We will cease to make His redemptive plan merely an escape from hell and put the thought of hell and all that way behind us in the dim disappearing past. Instead, we will center our affections upon God and Christ, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, and become specialists and experts in the realm of the spiritual life.

It is amazing how little outside stimulus we need if we have that inward stimulus. It is amazing how much God will meet our needs. It will not be God and something else. It will be God everything. And then, wisely, we will gear into our times, and we will gear into the gadgets around us, and we will gear into the needs of others, and in a moment we will become as practical as overshoes and as alert to the needs of the world around us as the most keen sociologist. Nevertheless, at the same time our great anchor will be God above. And if at any moment we should be cut off from our environment so that we did not have the stimulation and comfort of what the world provides, we would still be perfectly restful, for God would be enough."

"Is God Enough", Tozer Speaks to Students, in Quick Verse 6.0, Works of AW Tozer (CDROM)

Daily Sinning Cleansed by One Act of Mercy

Late 19th century Professor James Denney:

"There is one other characteristic of the atonement which ought to be reflected in gospel preaching as determined by it, and which may for want of a better word be described as its finality. Christ died for sins once for all, and the man who believes in Christ and in His death has his relation to God once for all determined not by sin but by the atonement. The sin for which a Christian has daily to seek forgiveness is not sin which annuls his acceptance with God and casts him back into the position of one who has never had the assurance of the pardoning mercy of God in Christ. On the contrary, the assurance ought to be the permanent element in his life. The forgiveness of sins has to be received again and again as sin emerges into act. But when the soul closes with Christ the propitiation, the assurance of God's love is laid at the foundation of its being once for all...

There will inevitably be in the Christian life experiences of sinning and of being forgiven, of falling and of being renewed. But the grace which forgives and restores is not some new thing, nor is it conditioned in some new way. It is not dependent upon penitence, or works, or merit of ours. It is the same absolutely free grace which meets us at the cross. From first to last, it is the blood of Jesus, God's Son, which cleanses from sin. The daily pardon, the daily cleansing, are but the daily virtue of that one all-embracing act of mercy in which, while we were yet sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son."

The Death of Christ, 162

Righteousness Cannot Be Mixed

Apostle Paul:

"For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

Robert Traill:

"If a man trusts to his own righteousness, he rejects Christ's; if he trusts to Christ's righteousness, he rejects his own." Justification Vindicated, 70.

The Most Damning Sin

17th century Scottish Presbyterian Robert Traill:

"...unbelief is the most provoking to God and the most damning to man of all sins." Justification Vindicated, 28.

This means that whatever horrendous sin that you have committed that haunts you is not close to the damning sin of not believing what God has done in Jesus. Jesus came to die for sinners that are haunted by their sins.

What must you do then? Quit sinning? No, first, believe in Jesus and you will be saved.

The most damning sin is removed, not by ceasing to sin, but by trusting Jesus who saves sinners. Faith in the Savior brings the favor of God and eternal life.

Christianity is About Everything

Anthony Hoekema:

"Being a citizen of the kingdom, therefore, means that we should see all of life and all of reality in the light of the goal of the redemption of the cosmos. This implies, as Abraham Kuyper once said, that there is not a thumb-breadth of the universe about which Christ does not say, 'It is mine.' This implies a Christian philosophy of history: all of history must be seen as the working out of God's eternal purpose. This kingdom vision includes a Christian philosophy of culture: art and science reflect the glory of God and are therefore to be pursued for his praise. It also includes a Christian view of vocation: all callings are from God, and all that we do in everyday life is to be done to God's praise, whther this be study, teaching, preaching, business, industry, or housework." The Bible and the Future, 54.

This means that everything matters. Christianity is not about one corner of spirituality in your life at the exclusion of the other things you do and are. The work of Jesus has implications upon everything, that is, every-single-thing. If all is to be be done for the glory of God, which the Bible declares that it so clearly is (1 Cor. 10:31), than every part of life becomes packed with meaning, becuase every part of life becomes an event of worship.

How to Come to Jesus

Jonathan Edwards:

"If ever you truly come to Christ, you must see that there is enough in him for your pardon, though you be no better than you are. If you see not the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of him. The way to be accepted is to come--not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but--on the mere encouragement of Christ's worthiness, and God's mercy." "Pardon for the Greatest of Sinners," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, 113.

What Holy People Think About Themselves

JI Packer:

"Holy people glory, not in their holiness, but in Christ's cross; for the holiest of saint is never more than a justified sinner and never sees himself in any other way." Keep in Step with the Spirit, 105

The Imagination of New American Religions is the Same

Mary Farrell Bednarowski closes out her survey of new American religions (Mormonism, New Age, Theosophy, Christian Science, Scientology, and the Unification "church") in this way:

"Altogether the new religions claim in various ways that to admit sinful actions and intentions without going so far as to admit a sinful nature is an acknowledgment more in keeping with the human task on earth and with human experience than to claim helplessnes in the face of sin and total dependence on God's mercy for deliverance...For the new religions, as we have seen, the denial of original sin or, in the case of Unificationism, at least the helplessness associated with it becomes a means to affirm human freedom and even human necessity--if we need God, God also needs us. And it has led to that universally strong insistence noted in chapter three that we must save ourselves and the planet, and, perhaps, even God...In regard to the grace-works polarity, there is almost no tension at all. 'Works' and responsibiliy will save us." New Religions and the Theological Imagination in America, 138-139.

The imagination of new American religions is pretty much the same 'ole thing of most religions. The theological imagination, not only of America, but of humanity always invents self-help religion.

The beauty and uniqueness of authentic Christianity is that Jesus came to save sinners. Works and responsibility will not save humanity. God does not need us, yet He chose to reveal Himself and enter into the world incarnated in the flesh in the person of Jesus and die on the cross for sinners who cannot help themselves. Jesus died for the ungodly. He did not come to call the righteous but sinners. Total dependence upon the mercy of Jesus is the faith apart from works that brings salvation. There is no other name under heaven by which humanity can be saved.

This is good news for bad people.

God Humiliated and Defeated Satan at the Cross of Jesus

Colossians 2:15:

"God disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Jesus."

Thomas Schreiner:

"Christ's work on the cross not only broke the power of sin but also spelled the defeat of evil and demonic powers....[God] publicly exposed them and humiliated them....The triumphal procession was a ceremonial parade through the streets of Rome in which some captive leaders and their wares were displayed. The march concluded with the execution of those conquered...The powers have lost their authority due to the cross of Christ. They have been stripped, humiliated, and led to execution. They no longer exercise any control over those in Christ. In context Christ's triumph over evil powers is linked with forgiveness of sins, indicating that in receiving the forgiveness of sins believers have received everything that they need." New Testament Theology, 271.

Ungodly Godliness

JI Packer:

"Modern Christians tend to make satisfaction their religion. We show much more concern for self-fulfillment than for pleasing our God. Typical of Christianity today, at any rate in the English-speaking world, is its massive rash of how-to books for believers, directing us to more successful relationships, more joy in sex, becoming more of a person, realizing our possiblities, getting more excitement each day, reducing our weight, improving our diet, managing our money, licking our families into happier shape, and whatnot. For people whose prime passion is to glorify God, these are doubtless legitimate concerns; but the how-to books regularly explore them in a self-absorbed way that treats our enjoyment of life rather than the glory of God as the center of interest. Granted, they spread a thin layer of Bible teaching over the mixture of popular psychology and common sense they offer, but their overall approach clearly reflects the narcissism--'selfism' or 'me-ism' as it is sometimes called--that is the way of the world in the modern West.

Now self-absorption, however religious in its cast of mind, is the opposite of holiness. Holiness means godliness, and godliness is rooted in God centeredness, and those who think of God as existing for their benefit rather than of themselves as existing for his praise do not qualify as holy men and women. Thier mind-set has to be described in very different terms. It is an ungodly sort of godliness that has self at its center." Keep in Step with the Spirit, 97-98.

Charles Spurgeon on Asaph's 73rd Psalm

The other day I posted a blog regarding Asaph's 73rd Psalm, and Charles Spurgeon, in his Treasury of David, came alongside to further illuminate:

Verse 12: “Look! See! Consider! Here is the standing enigma! The crux of Providence! The stumbling-block of faith! Here are the unjust rewarded and indulged, and that not for a day or an hour, but in perpetuity. From their youth up the men, who deserve perdition, revel in prosperity. They deserve to be hung in chains, and chains are hung about their necks; they are worthy to be chased from the world and yet the world becomes all their own. Poor purblind sense cries, Behold this! Wonder, and be amazed, and make this square with providential justice, if you can…both wealth and health are their dowry. No bad debts and bankruptcies weight them down, but robbery and usury pile up their substance. Money runs to money, gold pieces fly in flocks; the rich grow richer, the proud grow prouder. Lord, how is this?”

Verse 13: “Poor Asaph! He questions the value of holiness when its wages are paid in the coin of affliction."

Verse 18: “The Psalmist’s sorrow had culminated, not in the fact that the ungodly prospered, but that God had arranged it so: had it happened by mere chance, he would have wondered, but could not have complained; but how the arranger of all things could so dispense his temporal favours, was the vexatious question. Here, to meet the case, he sees that the divine hand purposely placed these men in prosperous and eminent circumstances, not with the intent to bless them but the very reverse…the same hand which led them up to their Tarpeian rock, hurled them down from it.”

Verse 25: "Thus, then, [The Psalmist] turns away from the glitter which fascinated him to the true gold which was his real treasure. He felt that his God was much better to him than all the wealth, health, honour, and peace, which he had so much envied in the worldling…He bade all things else go, that he might be filled with his God."

The Hidden Floodlight

JI Packer:

"[The Spirit] is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Saviour.

It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder, on Jesus, who stands facing us. The Spirit's message to us is never, 'Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me,' but always, 'Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him, and hear his word; go to him; and have life; get to know him, and taste his gift of joy and peace.' The Spirit we might say, is the matchmaker, the celestial marriage broker, whose role it is to bring us and Christ together and ensure that we stay together." Keep In Step With the Spirit, 66.

The Bible is a Book of Lament

Christopher Wright:

"In the Bible, which we believe is God's Word, such that what we find in it is what God wished to be there, there is plenty of lament, protest, anger, and baffled questions. The point we should notice (possibly to our surprise) is that it is all hurled at God, not by his enemies but by those who loved and trusted him most. It seems, indeed, that it is precisely those who have the closest relationship with God who feel most at liberty to pour out their pain and protest to God--without fear of reproach. Lament is not only allowed in the Bible; it is modeled for us in abundance...

It surely cannot be accidental that in the divinely inspired book of Psalms there are more psalms of lament and anguish than of joy and thanksgiving...

I feel that the language of lament is seriously neglected in the church. Many Christians seem to fell that somehow it can't be right to complain to God in the context of corporate worship when we should all feel happy. There is an implicit pressure to stifle our real feelings because we are urged, by pious merchants of emotional denial, that we ought to have 'faith' (as if the moaning psalmists didn't). So we end up giving external voice to pretended emotions we do not really feel, while hiding the real emotions we are struggling with deep inside...

But our suffering friends in the Bible didn't choose that way. They simply cry out in pain and protest against God--precisely because they know God. Their protest is born out of the jarring contrast between what they know and what they see...

Lament is the voice of that pain, whether for oneself, for one's people, or simply for the mountain of suffering of humanity and creation itself. Lament is the voice of faith struggling to live with unanswered questions and unexplained suffering." The God I Don't Understand, 50-53