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Category Archives: Love

Richard Sibbes, Sermon on Canticle 5.2(c)

12 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Love, Puritan, Richard Sibbes, Song of Solomon, Uncategorized

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Canticles, perseverance, Richard Sibbes, Song of Solomon

The next two observations on the text by Sibbes considers the persistence of the Christian life being grounded in the love of God. The first observation, which derives from the imagery of waking and sleeping, is that while the Christian may stumble, the Christian will never completely fall:

 Obs.1. ‘My heart waketh.’ God’s children never totally fall from grace.

First, he looks to an image in Isaiah 6:13:

Though they sleep, yet their heart is awake. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the church and children of God, Isa. 6:13, saith, ‘It shall be as a tree, as an oak whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves.’ Though you see neither fruit nor leaves, yet there is life in the root, ‘the seed remains in them.’

The imagery of Isaiah applies most directly to Israel as a whole. Sibbes notes the context, “speaking of the church and children of God” (here, “church” is being used to refer to the people of God prior to the New Covenant). Thus, he is not misusing the text exegetically but rather using the image as illustrative.

Sibbes next  applies the principle to an individual, Peter. (In making a reference the book of First Peter, I am surprised that Sibbes did not also reference 1 Peter. 1:23). Peter denied Jesus on the night of his arrest and trial, and Peter did not utterly fall away (as did Judas, who would not born of a “living hope”):

There is alway a seed remaining. It is an immortal seed that we are begotten by. Peter, when he denied his Master, was like an oak that was weather-beaten; yet there was life still in the root, 1 Pet. 1:3,Mat. 26:32, seq.For, questionless, Peter loved Christ from his heart. Sometimes a Christian may be in such a poor case, as the spiritual life runneth all to the heart, and the outward man is left destitute;

Sibbes then draws an analogy to a city ravaged in war:

as in wars, when the enemy hath conquered the field, the people run into the city, and if they be beaten out of the city, they run into the castle. The grace of God sometimes fails in the outward action, in the field, when yet it retireth to the heart, in which fort it is impregnable. ‘My heart waketh.’

Sibbes then applies the principle more directly to the issue, the outward failure and inward perseverance

When the outward man sleeps, and there are weak, dull performances, and perhaps actions amiss, too, yet notwithstanding ‘the heart waketh.’ As we see in a swoon or great scars, the blood, spirits, and life, though they leave the face and hands, &c., yet they are in the heart.

We have been wounded and appear dead, but our life has not yet left:

It is said in the Scripture of Eutychus, ‘His life is in him still,’ though he seemed to be dead, Acts 20:9. As Christ said of Lazarus, John 11:4, so a man may say of a Christian in his worst state, His life is in him still; he is not dead, but sleeps; ‘his heart waketh.’

This doctrine is contested. There are some who would say that one who falls has “lost his salvation”. There have been questions throughout the church among those who spoke of losing one’s salvation as to whether salvation could ever be regained; or even whether the regained salvation could merit heaven or only a purgatory. Sibbes anticipates that objection and contends this doctrine is consistent with Scripture:

 Obs.2. This is a sound doctrine and comfortable, agreeable to Scripture and the experience of God’s people. We must not lose it, therefore, but make use of it against the time of temptation. There are some pulses that discover life in the sickest man, so are there some breathings and spiritual motions of heart that will comfort in such times.

Those who speak of a lost salvation, put the continuance of salvation in human effort. Sibbes rightly places the provision and maintenance of salvation not in the human recipient but in the God who gives salvation:

These two never fail on God’s part, his love, which is unchangeable, and his grace, a fruit of his love; and two on our part, the impression of that love, and the gracious work of the new creature. ‘Christ never dies,’ saith the apostle, Heb. 7:25. As he never dies in himself, after his resurrection, so he never dies in his children. There is always spiritual life.

Sibbes then goes to the “use” of the doctrine. By the way, this insistent reference to the “use” of a doctrine was a hallmark of Puritan preaching. It demonstrates that the purpose of doctrine is not for some hypothetical future theology exam, but rather for living. This particular doctrine brings “comfort”. The doctrine provides a comfort because the our unfailing relationship with God is not based upon us but upon God: God engenders this love which provokes love in us; and love never fails:

This is a secret of God’s sanctuary, only belonging to God’s people. Others have nothing to do with it. They shall ever love God, and God will ever love them. The apostle, 1 Cor. 13:8, saith, ‘Love never fails.’ Gifts, you know, shall be abolished, because the manner of knowing we now use shall cease. ‘We see through a glass,’ &c., ‘but love abideth,’ 1 Cor. 13:12. Doth our love to God abide for ever, and doth not his love to us, whence it cometh? Ours is but a reflection of God’s love.

The sense of the love of Christ

20 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Love, Richard Sibbes, Uncategorized

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Christ's Love, love, Richard Sibbes

The sense of the love of Christ is sweeter than wine;

it banisheth fears, and sorrow, and care.

-Richard Sibbes

What proves one a Christian?

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Love, Quotations, Uncategorized

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love

 

Glorious gifts make no man a Christian,

but it is love that makes and proves him such.

-Wolf Starke

Edwards, Heaven is a World of Love

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Jonathan Edwards, Love, Uncategorized

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Heaven is a World of Love, Jonathan Edwards, love

Jonathan Edwards Heaven is a World of Love:

There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and incomprehensible, and mutual, and eternal love. There dwells God the Father, who is the father of mercies, and so the father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son to die for it. There dwells Christ, the Lamb of God, the prince of peace and of love, who so loved the world that he shed his blood, and poured out his soul unto death for men. There dwells the great Mediator, through whom all the divine love is expressed toward men, and by whom the fruits of that love have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all God’s people. There dwells Christ in both his natures, the human and the divine, sitting on the same throne with the Father. And there dwells the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out, and is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven. There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love — this eternal Three in One — is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love! Again, I would consider heaven, with regard,

 

 

Born of Imperishable Seed

21 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Lectures, Love, Preaching, Sermons, Uncategorized

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1 Peter, 1 Peter1:22-25, born again, FOTS, Imperishable Seed, Lectures, love one another, Sermons

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1 Peter 1:22–25 (ESV)

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

25  but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Here is the issue: How does being born of imperishable seed, support the command to love one another?

https://memoirandremains.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/fots11-11-2012.mp3

 

How Hard it is to Love One Another

29 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Biblical Counseling, Love

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1 Peter, 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 1:22, love, love one another

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1 Peter 1:20–25 (ESV)

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for

“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

25  but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

https://memoirandremains.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/fots10-14-2012.mp3

Love for One Another is Holiness

25 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 John, God the Father, Love

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1 John, 1 John 3, FOTS, God the Father, Holiness as Love, love, one-another

Holiness is not an abstract set of behaviors; it is love for God and love for one another. Holiness from the Father, who is the fountain of love:

1 John 3:16 (ESV)

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

https://memoirandremains.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/fots08-19-2012.mp3

 

How We Learn to Not Love the World

22 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 John, 1 Peter, Love, Mortification

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1 John 2:15-17, 1 Peter, Biblical Counseling, Fellowship, love, one-another

1 John 2:15–17 (ESV)

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Learning how to not love the world:

https://memoirandremains.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/fots07-29-2012.mp3

The Church as the Family of God

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Francis Schaeffer, John, Love, Sanctification

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1 Peter 4:3-4, 1 Peter 4:8-11, Christopher W. Morgan, Display of God, Ephesians 4:1-6, Fellowship of Faith, Francis Schaeffer, images of the church, James W. Thompso, John 13:34-35, love, Love of God, Luke 12:51-53, Mark of a Christian, one-another, Sanctification, The Church According to Paul, The Community of Jesus, The Family of God, Tim Chester, Total Church, Unity

Some rough draft notes on a lecture on the image of the church as a family.

The Church as the Family of God has two elements:

  1. It displays God visibly – particularly the love of God.
  2. It effects of the love of God.

1.  The Display of the Love of God

The Church is a witnessing community.

The Church exists to display the glory of God.

In The Community of Jesus, “The Church and God’s Glory”, Christopher W. Morgan notes five ways in which the Church displays God’s glory:

  1. Our salvation glorifies God by displaying the inexhaustible nature of his grace throughout the age to come.
  2. The very existence as the church glorifies God by displaying his wisdom.
  3. Our unity glorifies God by displaying his oneness.
  4. Our love glorifies God by displaying his love.
  5. Our holiness glorifies God by displaying his holiness. (232-233).

Interestingly it is household of God, the family of God imagery which Scripture uses to underscore and display God’s glory.

Continue reading →

There we are most of all sinning

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Love, Thomas Goodwin

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forgiveness, love, mercy, Puritan, The Heart of Christ in Heaven, Thomas Goodwin

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And by the way, so God often orders it, that at when he is in hand with the greatest mercies for us, and bringing about our greatest good, there we are most of all sinning against him; which he does, to magnify his love the more.

Thomas Goodwin,  “The Heart of Christ in Heaven Unto Sinners on Earth”

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