Unbelief and Blessing

In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!"  

Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. 

Psalm 31:22

 The Lord must endure a great deal of unbelief from us.  We are often so alarmed by the things of this life that we say, or at least think, "I am cut off from God's sight!"  A slight turn in providence, a little trouble in life, a loss of spiritual enjoyment on our part, or the fall to some pet sin and we are ready to proclaim that we are lost, that God has lost His patience with us and that our sin has evidently become to much for His grace.  Thankfully, God has pity on us, recognizing that we are merely dust, easily blown about by the winds of trouble.  So when our doubtful, despairing plea for mercy rises to His throne, He hears it as though it were delivered in the full confidence of perfect faith and, in His time, comes to our aid, proving once again that all His promises can be believed at all times. 

With shamefacedness, all we who profess to believe must profess after this manner "Lord, I believe: help Thou my unbelief."  I have heard many a preacher blame their inability to work miracles on the lack of faith in those who wanted the miracles.  Our Lord is not so restricted.  He rescues those whose faith is so weak so as to be unable to keep them from the despairing cry of the Psalmist. 

My blessings have been too great and my faith too weak to allow me to think that the strength of my faith determines the greatness of my blessings.  I am rather forced to conclude that the greatness of my blessings is determined by the greatness of the God who gives them; and the certainty of my salvation does not change with the wavering of my faith, but is as unchangeable as the God who worked my salvation. 

It is a shame that God's people can prove to be so weak in faith, but it is a great glory to God that He is so strong in salvation despite the weakness of our faith.  

The Offense and Power of the Gospel

Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. “Galatians 5.11

It would be an utter waste of time to try to remove the offense of the cross from gospel preaching.  The message of the cross is offensive to the flesh, so the only way to remove that offense is to remove the cross.  It would be good for all of us to try to remove from ourselves any offense arising from our methods, conduct or personality;  but, if we are to be any glory to Christ or any good whatsoever to those who hear us, we must, with all plainness and diligence, declare the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ in a way that not only does not hide its offence, but actually accents its offense.  Those things about our Lord and His cross which are most offensive to the flesh are the very things most helpful to the sinner:  man's total depravity and inability to do anything pleasing to God; God's sovereign disposition of His grace according to His will in election and predestination; Christ's effective and particular redemption of God's elect, and the Holy Spirit's sovereign, omnipotent call of God's elect, which call never fails.  Yes, we could gain more hearers if we allowed for a little of man's righteousness, will, and works to enter into he scheme of the gospel.  But it would prove our undoing and the destruction of our hearers.  The fact is, the glory and power of the cross lie in its offense.

Blesséd be the Name of the Lord

The Lord gave; the Lord has taken away; 

blesséd be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21)

 A man's best utterances often com in times of deep distress and trouble.  So it was with Job:  he had it all; then he lost it all: not just the material things of this world, but also his family and health.  I suppose that Job was as miserable as a man can get.  But in that hour, he declared three of the basic truths of life which, if a person knows them and lives by them, he is a wise person:

 First, The LORD gave:  Whatever I have in possessions, family, health - and certainly whatever I have in grace - is a gift of the Lord.  My home, pantry and automobile are the Lord's gifts.  My wife and children ‑ all from His bounty.  My good health ‑ a favored gift.  So with faith, righteousness, and eternal life.

 Second, If I ever lose these things, it is by the work of the same LORD.  What He gives in spiritual matters is never recalled, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.  But, concerning the things of my natural life, let me remember that since they were given to me by God, He has the right to recall them at any moment. And further, let me learn that if He recalls some natural blessing, I may diminish the pain of the loss by realizing that the taking away was accomplished by the same loving Father that gave, so it must be for my good.

          

Third, whether giving or taking away, the LORD is blesséd.  Let us not be like the pagans who judge the value of their gods by their temporal happiness.  Jehovah is worthy of worship at all times and in all circumstances.  He is as glorious when I am sad as when I am happy.  He is as blesséd when I lose as when I gain.  Blesséd be the name of the LORD!

Pride and Despair Killed By Grace

Where is boasting then?  It is excluded!  (Romans 3:27)

 
What would you think if someone said to you, "I have been so good today, I'm just certain that I am a child of God."  I'm sure you would be shocked by such a statement and might well wonder if, indeed, such a one were a child of God. The self‑righteousness of such a statement would be revolting to any believer.  Why then, do we often think, "I have been so bad today, I wonder if I am really a child of God."  Since we do not believe that it is by our righteousness we stand, why do we believe that by our lack of it we shall fall?  Sin cannot help but grieve the child of God, BUT IT NEVER NEED BE AN OCCASION OF DOUBT!  Those who, by grace, have learned the meaning of, "Where then is boasting?  It is excluded!" can go on to say, "Where then is despair?  It is, likewise, excluded!"  The same grace that excludes boasting in our righteousness also excludes despair over sin.  When you fall, grieve for it, for sin is a grievous thing.  But, if your hope is in the Living God and His Son, Christ Jesus, never think for a moment that a failure in your righteousness has brought you once again into condemnation.  Your acceptance before God does not rest one iota upon your righteousness, so any failure in the same can have no affect on that acceptance.  No, if you are accepted at all, you are "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6) and His righteousness never fails!

A Personal Need for Sovereign Grace

It is an amazing thing, to me, that people are so opposed to the doctrine of the gospel that declares man to be absolutely depraved and God to be absolutely sovereign.  Those who oppose such doctrine would do well to consider the alternative. 

If the gospel is not for the "Totally Depraved," then it must be that I am required to produce at least some of my own righteousness before God ‑ a thing I know by experience is impossible for me.

If my salvation did not come about by the sovereign, electing will of God, then my salvation is left up to my will which I know to be a perverse and changing thing. 

If my redemption was not utterly secured by Jesus Christ in such a fashion that His work cannot fail to save me, then I am left with the job of redeeming myself; a redemption which is far too high a price for me to pay. 

If my knowledge of the gospel and faith in Christ are not by the omnipotent, and therefore, irresistible work of the Spirit of God, then I am left with the job of teaching myself and generating my own faith, a task which I tried and at which I utterly failed for a long time. 

If my preservation and perseverance in the faith are not by the continual love of God for me, the continual, effectual intercession of Christ in my behalf, and the unlimited patience and power of the Holy Spirit to create and maintain life in me, then I am on my own from now until I reach heaven and I know myself too weak for such a long and strenuous march. 

In short, if my salvation is not by the sovereign grace of God, then it is up to me.  And that means that if my salvation is not by the sovereign grace of God, I will not be saved.  It is a head‑shaking amazement to me that men demand the right to damn themselves if they choose to do so.  Rather, let me magnify the sovereign, free, omnipotent grace of God that saved this depraved sinner and may I continually exult in the gospel of Isaiah (52:7) which says, "Your God reigns!" 


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Praise the Lord

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. 

(Psalm 103:2)

One of the best ways to begin or end a day is by a conscious remembering of all God’s benefits. Those who know the Lord are prone to suffering in this world so it can become very easy for us to complain.  The absence of some of the blessings we see others enjoying can make us forgetful of what blessings God has poured out on us.  So the Psalmist says, "forget not all His benefits."  Then he goes on to list some of God’s great blessings to us who fear Him: 

1.) God forgives of all our iniquities.  One could easily bear all the suffering of a thousand lives for that one blessing alone!  Imagine in your mind the enormous mass of your sin in all its great wickedness.  See God the judge take His seat to pass judgment on you.  Then hear Him say, “All is forgiven; this one’s sins and iniquities I will never recall again.”  Already our resentment over some worldling’s blessings is falling away, is it not!  But, this is just the beginning - there is more! 

2.) God heals all our diseases. Even in this life we experience God’s healing grace, but someday, we shall be altogether delivered from sickness and death.  One experienced saint was about to undergo heart surgery.  When his pastor came to visit him, he said, "I shall soon be better or all the way well."  As it turns out, that dear brother was made all the way well, and is now with the Lord.  His surgeon might have made him better than he was, but God chose to make him all the way well.  For some years, God will let doctors make us better; but someday, God will make us all the way well.

3.) God redeems our souls from destruction.  You and I know very little of what God’s wrath is like.  In fact, I suppose only those in hell know what God’s wrath is.  There is only one other who knows, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore God’s wrath for God’s people.  Because Christ was forsaken and experienced the wrath of God, all of us who are in Him shall never experience it. 

4.)  God crowns us with His loving-kindness and mercy.  The word translated “crowned” also means “encircle” or “surround.”  The crown of glory on the believer is God’s loving-kindness and mercy; and not only does it crown our heads, it encircles and surrounds us so that we are protected from all eternal harm. 

5.) God gives His people full satisfaction.  The world rushes after its glories, and no matter how much it receives, it is never satisfied.  But every believer shall be satisfied with Christ, and shall someday be satisfied IN Christ.  When the worlding dies, he loses all of His blessings.  When the believer dies, He receives the full measure of His heart’s deepest longings.

6.) God does not deal with us according to our sins.  Is that not a relief!  If God were to deal with you in justice, where would you be? 

7.) God pities us.  His eye toward us is not full of the wrath of a judge, but the pity, understanding, and compassion of a father. 

With such blessings, how can we complain?  With such abundance of goods, how can we ever consider ourselves anything less than the most blessed of all people in the world?  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

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It Shall Be Well With Them

Say to the righteous, "It shall be well with them." Isaiah 3:10

 

There are none righteous in themselves, but there is a multitude of whom it can be said, "They believed God and it was credited to them for righteousness."  To them, and only to them does this blessed comfort go, "It shall be well with them."  

It shall be well with them at all times.  Day or night, any season, work or play, it shall be well with them.  

It shall be well with them in all circumstances.  It may not always be pleasant, but it shall always be well.  It is as well with them upon their death bed as upon the familiar pillow of their bed room.  Whether they travel by land, sea or air, it shall be well with them.  In war time as well as peace time, it shall be well with them.  It shall be well with them regardless of their weaknesses and failures.  Is today a day of seeming victory and advancement in the things of God?  It shall be well with them.  Is today a day of seeming defeat and retreat in those same matters: it shall still be well with them! 

It shall be well with them no matter how it is with anyone else. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. (Psalm 91:7)  

But most of all, say to the righteous - those sinners who trust the Lord Jesus, that in that day when God shall unleash the pent‑up fury of Divine wrath on this world and the inhabitants thereof, when God shall judge this entire world by Jesus Christ, when many an outwardly righteous man along with the obviously wicked and perverse of this world shall be bound hand and foot and cast into the lake of fire ‑ that in that day, it shall be well with them!

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Holy Spirit Anointing

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor...(Isaiah 61:1)

This has always been the one undeniable mark of the Holy Spirit's presence.  The Spirit of God can enable a man to do many things, but, in every case of the Holy Spirit's anointing of a man, the preaching of the good news, the gospel, is found.  May the Spirit give us this anointing! 

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The Way of Eternal Life

And a Highway will be there, it will be called "The Way of Holiness," The unclean will not journey on it, it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it...But, only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
(Isaiah 35:8-10)

Jesus answered, "I am the Way."
(John 14:6)

It is a pity the many believe that Christ is the way to the Father as a door is the way into another room. The word translated "way" is commonly translated "road." The way to the Father does not just begin with Christ, but THE WHOLE WAY IS CHRIST. All of the spiritual travels of the believer are on the "Christ-way." It is sometimes a mountain-way, sometimes a valley-way; it is sometimes a bright-way, it is sometimes a dark-way: but it is always the "Christ-way." 

Thomas Manton once said, "Who would not go to heaven when Christ is the way?" Let us not act as though the way to glory is not glorious itself. We are on the "Christ-way," a beautifully scenic road to glory. I can understand why many a religious person is sour and grumpy: he is traveling a heavily congested roadway of rush-hour religionists - hurry here, rush there, try to pass this fellow, cut off that fellow, "honk, honk," "screech," all the way to hell. 

But the Christ-way: it is certainly not congested, there is no rush-hour traffic, and there is beautiful scenery around every bend. Acceptance on one side, righteousness on the other; bright sunshine blessings on every hill-top, cool mercy-streams in every valley. And how gracious the other drivers are! If you have a flat tire, they do not honk their disapproval that you are blocking traffic - they get out and help fix it. There are no thieves to fear, every hitch-hiker is safe. There are no policemen for there are no law-breakers. There are plenty of way-stations at which the traveler may stop, there to fellowship with other travelers, and refresh himself with free food and drink. A glorious road to a glorious destination! 

It is all too easy for us to dwell on the troubles of this life and bemoan the condition of God's church. But the fact is, brothers, this is Immanuel's land,! Let us be happy. Slow down; enjoy the trip. We shall arrive at our destination at the appointed time. Let us, for now, delight ourselves in the glories of the Way.

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A Word to You

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2.39

A Reformed believer looking at this text might seize on the line, “And to your children,” and try to make a case for covenant theology and infant baptism. A modern-day fundamentalist might see “and to them that are far off,” and promote some missionary endeavor. A Calvinist would likely point out the line, “even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” to show the sovereignty of God’s grace in the promise. 

But I ask you, have you looked at the first part? “The promise is unto you.” It is of no importance what God has said to others until you have submitted to what God has said to you. The promise is to you. What have you done with it? Have you repented and been baptized according to the promise? Do not move one word further into the text until the part about you is settled. Do not allow Satan to occupy your mind with questions about others until the question about you has been answered. 

Here is a promise to you. Does not your heart rejoice that God has made a promise to you? Can you not see how gracious He is to promise the forgiveness of sin on such simple terms? Can you refuse such a promise in any point? Will you refuse to repent in the face of such mercy? Will you ignore the simple directive to be baptized when it comes from One so ready to forgive all your offenses against Him?

I wonder: If Christ Himself were to appear to you and say, “So and so, repent and be baptized in My name for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” would you then refuse? Well, He has not appeared to you, but He has recorded His word in the Bible and you have now seen and heard it. The promise is to you. What will you do with it?

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A Simple Gospel

If God has called "not many wise," why does it seem that so many preachers design their messages to appeal to the wise? Is it not the height of foolishness to preach with such “wisdom" that those for whom the gospel was intended cannot understand it? But note how God explains His gospel. While men write volumes to explain salvation, God says, "Look unto Me." While men seek to expound the gospel with high-sounding words and phrases, God speaks with one-syllable words like "come," "seek," and "flee." The most complicated word that God uses in telling us how to gain salvation is "believe." One of the greatest glories of the gospel is its simplicity. Therefore, let us always seek to declare the gospel in simple words and simple sentences.

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Weary - Not Weary

“….they shall run and not be weary.” Isaiah 40.31

I confess that I am weary of some things. I am weary of the ease with which sin can find a home in my thoughts and deeds. I am weary of the difficulty with which I meet virtually every time I try to pray or focus on the things of Christ. I am weary that I fret so much and trust so little.
 
But I am not weary of Christ or of hearing of Him. I am not weary of the message of His grace – either to hear it or to preach it. I am not weary of meeting with others of God’s people to worship with them. I am not weary of singing the “songs of Zion.”

I press on, not because I am good but because Christ is good, and I can find no rest or satisfaction until I am in His presence, beholding His glory, being conformed to His image. Weariness of this life strengthens us to press on to lay hold of the next life. We run but are not thus made weary; we are made strong.

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Good Preaching and Good Preachers

No one ever spoke the way this man does.  ~John 7.46

There never was a preacher like the Lord Jesus Christ. No other preacher had His understanding of God or of man. No other preacher had the capacity to reach the heart like our Lord did. Even those who did not like what Christ said were compelled to acknowledge that His message and authority were utterly unique and beyond refutation.

Never had a man spoken like Christ until the time of Christ and no one has spoken like Him since. He was and remains utterly unique in His preaching ministry for He was and is utterly unique in His Person. He is God in human flesh, so we should not be surprised that no one else is able to match what He has done.

Christ is no longer among us as He was in His days on the earth. There is nowhere we can go to hear Him preach. We are restricted to hearing sinful men preach. The world counts the gospel to be foolishness but it is by the preaching of that very “foolishness” that God has determined to save them that believe. Furthermore, He has chosen to send unremarkable men to preach that “foolish” message. Moreover, God often inflicts great fleshly weaknesses on those he sends to preach which seem to make them even LESS qualified to do the work they were sent to do. Paul spoke of this as a “thorn in the flesh”.

It would appear that God has stacked the deck against Himself in His choice of message and messengers. But He has done this for a reason: whenever any good comes from the gospel ministry, there can be no question that this good did not arise out of anything of natural power or wisdom. When people are moved to faith through the preaching of the gospel it is undeniably a work of God and not man.

When we pick favorites among preachers or believe that the work of God in us was actually accomplished by the one who preached the gospel to us, we are doubtless going to experience some disappointment. Whenever we go to worship and listen to preaching, we must open our spiritual ears to hear the voice of the One who spoke like no man before or since was able to speak. If we become enamored of a preacher and go to hear him, it is likely we will be disappointed. If we listen for The Preacher, Jesus Christ, we will likely be blessed.

Years ago I heard a story told concerning one of the “great” preachers of the past (I cannot remember which preacher it was, maybe Spurgeon). I do not remember all the details clearly, but it went something like this: 

A man with a hungry soul attended a worship service and was very impressed with the preaching he heard. He determined to come back and hear the preacher again and returned for the evening service. He was very disappointed. The preaching seemed lack-luster and his soul unsatisfied. He spoke to the preacher about it. The preacher asked Him, “Why did you come this morning?”

The man replied, “My soul was hungry and I wanted a word from the Lord.”

“And why did you come this evening?”

“Why sir, I was so blessed this morning I was determined to hear you again.”

“I believe that on both occasions you got what you came for. This morning you came to hear from the Lord, and you did hear from Him and you were blessed. This evening you came to hear me, and you did hear me, and you were disappointed. I am not at all surprised.”

May we always come to hear FROM THE LORD and not from the preacher!

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