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How Christ Rescues His People

08 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in 1 Peter, Biblical Counseling, Hope, Prayer, Preaching, Psalms, Quotations

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(Rough Draft Notes for Lesson on 1 Peter 2:4 — Christ as our Rock)

–As you come to him, a living stone

1 Peter 2:4

In Pilgrim’s Progress, the devil Apollyon stops Christian as he descends into the Valley of Humiliation. Among the taunts, and threats and temptations, he says to Christian — Your Lord never saves anyone out of my hand, but I have saved many from him.  Your Lord has never come out of his place to save anyone from me.

 

In one way that is brutally true — the best lies are always true. You know that is true. You know that the wicked prosper. You know that the godly are ruined.

 

First Point: God does not rescue us from trials.

 

When Job’s friends torment him and call him to repentance — falsely claiming God punishes only the wicked, Job answers:

 

7 Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

8 Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.

9 Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.

10 Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.

11 They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance.

12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.

14 They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

 

Job 21:7-15.  Both the Bible and experience prove this point a thousand times over.

 

Worse still –God does not merely let the wicked prosper, he also turns the righteous over to trouble and trial. In fact, we know, as we read Job, that God has unleashed the Devil against Job!  To be a Christian is to be ruined. Listen to the Psalmist’s words:

 

22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!

24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.

26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

 

Psalm 44:22-26.  In Romans 8:26, Paul quotes verse 22 and applies it to us — We are sheep for the slaughter. In fact, we are killed for the Lord’s sake.  Our brothers and sisters throughout the world suffer vicious physical violence and loss for being Christians — and God does not stop it.

 

But it is worse still — and here is where we personally know it to be true. God commands our suffering in some very real ways. We will just walk through 1 Peter and consider the order of his topics:

 

2:12: We will be slandered.

2:13-17: We will be subjected to a wicked government.

2:18-21: You will be in workplace situations where someone else will hurt you – perhaps even physically.

3:1-7: You will be in a bad marriage – as either a husband or wife.

3:13-17: You will be harmed for doing good

4:4: Your friends and family will mock you.

4:8-11: Your life with other Christians will result in bruises and knocks.

4:12 You will be tried by fire.

4:14: You will be insulted.

4:19: You will suffer.

5:7: You will have anxiety

5:8: The Devil will try to destroy you.

 

Now, such problems might be bearable if you could do something to try and avoid the pain. But instead, Peter commands us to live through it – even though it costs us our lives.

 

In chapter 2, verse 21 Peter writes that we were “called” to suffer.  In fact, Peter uses a word that describes God choosing us for salvation, and God choosing Jesus as the cornerstone (2:6).  So, we could say, God chose us to suffer.  In 3:17, that it might even be “better” to suffer for doing right.

 

So God does not merely permit the evil to come to us – God chooses the evil for us – and he chooses us to suffer.

 

Peter tells the servant to be subject to his own master and to endure beatings. Peter tells the wife to show her husband a gentle and quiet spirit, to be respectful to her own husband – even if he does not obey the word.  Peter tells husbands to live with their wives in an understanding way – even if she is not gentle or respectful.   Peter tells us all to be hopeful – hopeful ! – even if we suffer for righteousness sake.

 

God chooses suffering for those he loves. This true lies at the very heart of the Gospel.  In Isaiah 53:10 the prophet speaks of Jesus on the cross:

 

Yet is was the will of the Lord to crush him;

He has put him to grief;

 

And it is the will of God that we suffer with Christ:

 

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:16-17.

 

But he goes onto write, “For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

 

Philippians 1:29:

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe but suffer for his sake

 

You think that such suffering means going away as a missionary and being beaten in an Iranian jail – as a brother and pastor is this day. Yes, it may be that, but it is also suffering as the Lord has called us to suffer in our own lives in the private sorrows and difficulties of everyday life – the exact same places in which Peter calls us to endure suffering: work, home, family.

 

In fact, I think that it may actually be harder to endure suffering in our work, home and family than suffering from evil governments and criminals. We expect governments and criminals to be evil – but we expect our family to be safe.

 

When we suffer in our homes, it does not really seem like Jesus is at issue. No one has thrown us into a dungeon because of the name of Jesus. But Jesus really is at stake – and that is Peter’s point:

 

But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4:13

 

Peter has been addressing private, domestic suffering – and yet he calls it “Christ’s sufferings.”

 

It is the suffering of Christ because it is the suffering for Christ.  The way that you respond to your employer, your employees, your fellow workers, your husband, your wife, your children, your parents, your in-laws, your neighbors, the police officer who stops you for a ticket; the way you respond to sickness, death, financial troubles – all these private trials are trials which involve Christ, personally.

 

Think about Apollyon for a moment: When you are suffering a private, domestic trial with work, home, family, government, Apollyon stands across your path. You are descending into the valley of humiliation – you are Christian. 

 

When your life begins to overwhelm you, Apollyon stands in the middle of your path and says,

 

“Jesus has never delivered anyone from my power. Jesus will not deliver you. You will be destroyed by this – “

 

and here you put in the name of your present distress. And I know you have them. I have spoken to many of you about these things recently. I know you have them, because I have them right now —

 

So put the name of your personal trial in this place – and think: I have heard Apollyon stand across my path and tell me, Jesus will not deliver me from this trouble.

 

And now ask yourself the question,

 

What do you do? Be very careful in how you answer this question. It is not what should you do, but what do you do? Anger, depression, fear, pride, covetousness, moralism, money, fantasy, immorality, violence, slander, what is it?

 

That is your rock.  That is your stronghold. That is the place in which you think that you will be safe from the trial.

 

That is your roach motel.

 

You know a roach motel: It is a trap which looks to the roach like a place to eat and rest. But really it is a trap – the roach cannot escape, even though the roach went into the trap thinking it was safe.

 

When you run to any sin to escape your trial, you are checking into a roach motel. It might take a while before you realize that it is a trap. But it is a trap.

 

Here is my second point: God Always Rescues His People

 

The Lord always delivers his people. I want to show you this from Psalm 31:

 

TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID. 1 In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! 2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! 3 For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; 4 you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Psalm 31:title–3 (ESV)

 

Now, if you are in the midst of a trial, then you read this and think – not exactly true. It is one of things which sound true – but I have not been delivered.  You read it with crossed fingers.

 

When you hear someone read to you 1 Corinthians 10:13, and hear the words, “way of escape” – you think that way of escape means that the trial will go away.

 

When you read Psalm 64:7 that the Lord “shoots arrows” at David’s enemies, you think – maybe for David, but not for me. Or Psalm 68:1, “God shall arise; his enemies shall be scattered” – okay, maybe on the last day, but not this afternoon before I can leave work.

 

Let us be honest – it really does seem that a sinful retreat to stop our suffering is really the only honest and right thing to do.  When someone is hurting me, hurting them so they will stop honestly looks like the best plan. Running to my rock looks like it will work, because it stops the pain and gives me an immediate escape.

 

And it makes sense because God really isn’t going to rescue me and all the stuff about being rescued is just words.

 

So, I want you to look back at Psalm 31. We read through verse 4, but I want to read to you verse 5:

 

Into your hand I commit my spirit;

You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

 

There are the words of Jesus on the cross as he died:

 

Then Jesus calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father into your hands I commit me spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46

 

Think of how strange that would have sounded to the persecutors who surrounded Jesus. They would have known the context. They would have known that Jesus was quoting from a Psalm that praised the Lord for being a stronghold, a rock, a fortress.

 

But Jesus had suffered and died. Jesus had lost. Apollyon was right: The Lord did not rescue anyone.

 

But that is not the entire story. We know God declared Jesus to be the Son of God with power – when Jesus resurrected from the dead (Rom. 1:4).  And we know that Jesus will come with grace, and praise, honor and glory (1 Peter. 1:13 & 8).

 

Yes, you say – but what about today! What about this afternoon?

 

And so let us put a point on our problem: You will all admit that God will rescue us in the future. Your complaint is that God will take too long.

 

Third Point: God is right now rescuing his people

 

It sometimes happens that when a lifeguard rescues a drowning person, the one being rescued fights with the lifeguard. When we begin to drown, we panic, we lose our wits, we don’t know what is safe and what is deadly.  When trial, temptation, and sin get a hold of us, we panic. We forget what is dangerous and what is safe. We hurt and we will do anything to make our pain go away.

 

The devil shows up with an immediate escape – and he lies.

 

Think carefully about our problem: Our problem is sin – it is not our circumstance. Our circumstance is merely an instance of sin.

 

Our problem is not what the other person is doing to us – our real danger comes from the sin which lurks in our heart.  The other person or the circumstance is merely a temptation which draws out the sin already lurking in our hearts.

 

I want to draw out a different means of escape:

 

My real danger comes from my own heart. Nothing in all creation can hurt me:

 

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:4–7 (ESV)

 

Sin panics us and screws up our attention. It draws us to fear that which we should not fear and to forget him whom we should not forget.

 

Think about it: What we need is grace and mercy.

 

We obtain grace and mercy by means of faith – faith is the channel through which God’s goodness flows.

 

We are in a trial, our first panicked reaction is to run away and trust ourselves – this will entail sin.

 

Our first reaction should be to respond to the trial by seeking rescue in the Lord – we should respond with faith and should plead in prayer.  Listen:

 

The only way to be really happy in such a world as this, is to ever casting all our cares on God. It is trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad. If they will tell their troubles to God, he will enable them to bear them as easily as Samson did the gates of Gaza. If they are resolved to keep them to themselves, they will one day find that the very grasshopper is a burden.

 

There is a friend ever waiting to help us, if we will unbosom to him our sorrow-a friend who pitied the poor and sick and sorrowful, when he was upon earth-a friend who knows the heart of man, for he lived thirty-three years as a man among us-a friend who can weep with the weepers, for he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief-a friend who is able to help us, for there never was earthly pain he could not cure. That friend is Jesus Christ. The way to be happy is to be always opening our hearts to him. Oh that we were all like that poor Christian slave who only answered when threatened and punished, “I must tell the Lord.” (J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer)

 

This is exactly Peter’s advice – and I want you to note that Peter also gives the reason that we do not obey as we should – pride:

 

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6–7 (ESV)

 

We don’t pray and seek help as we should because of pride.

 

What we do not remember is that our place of weakness, our place of need does mean that we have gone far away from God when we are in need. Our distress is meant to drive us to God. Our weakness brings us very near to God:

 

17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

 

Psalm 34:17-19. It is the one who is brokenhearted, it is the one crushed in spirit that draws near The Lord. When you see your trouble, do not, The Lord has forgotten me!  Rather think, in my sorrow and distress, I have drawn near The Lord.  Here, in this place I will find the rock of my salvation.  When you come to this place, then is the time to call out:

3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.

6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

 

Psalm 3:3-6.

 

Here is the final point: Our rescue is not in being delivered from the trial – as if the rescue were simply a matter of escape. Our real rescue is being delivered through the trial.

 

The Lord was not rescued from death – he was rescued through death. Jesus died – but then death died. The Lord rescues us in the same way.

 

The Lord is not going to deliver you from all trials, and he may not deliver you from this particular trial – your boss may never change, your home may never change, your in-laws may never change.  But if God does not change your circumstance, then you must know that God will give you the grace to bear the trial. But you must seek that grace with unbending faith, unwavering prayer.

 

This is the truth which our God’s people have always. Such as Paul who prayed to be delivered from a trial:

 

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

2 Corinthians 12:8-10.

 

God may have just permitted the trial to wear on for so long so that you continue to seek him. God may have given you the trial to transform you.  And, Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you in this trial. You see, our God seeks something far greater than immediate ease.  You have been created for The Lord himself.  And nothing less than him will do.

 

This leads us to our next point – how we actually go about practically seeking the Lord in trials. How do we turn the devil’s work into worship? How can I practically experience the comfort of The Lord, as Paul who writes:

 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

 

2 Corinthians 12:3-4.

 

How do we obtain the “joy unspeakable” spoken of Peter? That is the next point in the text – and that is for next week.

Not a greater enemy

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized, William Romaine

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“The glory of the incarnate God, and his infinite sufficiency to save, have not a- greater enemy than a legal spirit, and therefore I have enlarged upon this point, that believers might be convinced from the word of God that they are saved from the law. They will never live comfortably till they see the law dead and buried, and then willingly give up themselves to be espoused to Christ, who will make them free indeed”

William Romaine “Treatise upon the life of faith.” Thomas T. Stiles.

Brief Directions Unto a Godly Life, Chapter One

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Church History, Discipleship, Paul Baynes, Puritan

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CHAPTER ONE:  A Godly Life Begins With Saving Faith

            Human misery grows out of sin (even though some may seek to deny that truth). God has provided a salvation: the ransom of Christ. Therefore, our primary concern must be to obtain that ransom. After noting the obstacles, Baynes sets out what it means to exercise saving faith. He explains the marks of true faith & the nature of assurance.[1]

 

            All Our Trouble Proceeds From Sin

            Sure it is, that it was not thus with mankind in the beginning as now it is.

            God created man happy, ye mutable [subject to change, able to change]; but Satan by deceit did cast him [Adam] from that happy condition; whereby besides the loss of that felicity, he was plunged into extreme misery, which consists in two things.

            First, in sin.

            Second, the curse following upon it.

            First, sin is not only that first transgression of Adam whereby we are all guilty, but also that infection of soul and body arising from the former. Hence it is that the understanding is filled with blindness; the conscience wounded, seared and defiled; the memory forgetting good things, or not remembering anything right.

            The will captive, of no strength to good but only to evil; the affections altogether disordered. The cogitations about heavenly matters are error, falsehood, and lies. The wishes and desires of the heart are earthly and fleshly. The outward behavior is nothing else but a giving up of the members of the body as instruments of sin.

            The curse makes them subject in this life for his use of the creatures to dearth, famine, etc. For his body, to sickness and other pains.

            In his sense for his friends to like calamities; in his soul to vile affections, to blindness, hardness of heart, desperation, madness, etc. And both body and soul to endless and easeless  torture in the world to come.

 

            But Not Everyone Agrees

            Objection[2]: All are not in this case or estate.

            Answer: All are subject by nature to the same wrath of God. They which feel it not, that case is no better, but rather worse than the other.

 

            The Only Remedy to Sin is the Work of Christ

            The only sufficient remedy for the saving of man is to satisfy God’s justice, which by sin is violated. His justice is satisfied by suffering the punishment due to the sin and by present keeping of the Law. Therefore it is not to be sought for ourselves, nor in any other creature. It being appointed by the Father, was undertaken and wrought by Christ, and sealed in men’s hearts by the Holy Ghost.

 

            How Does One Obtain the Redemption of Christ?

            Objection: How did Christ’s redemption become ours; I answer:

            Answer: God the Father of his infinite love gave him freely to us, with all his whole work of redemption. The divine mystery is brought to light by the gospel. The use whereof is to manifest that righteousness in Christ, whereby the law is fully satisfied, and salvation attained.

            The remedy of the tidings of it is received only by faith, which faith is so to give credit to God’s Word, revealing this mercy and truth of God: and by these, the Holy Ghost enlightening him to conceive, drawing him to believe, and so uniting came to Christ.

            The knowledge of the former things is not sufficient for him that will come to happiness: but this knowledge works[3].

            First, he is drawn by the secret work of the Spirit of God, to be persuaded that the doctrine taught does concern him. He has wisdom given to him to apply general things particularly to himself: Colossians 1:9. First, the preaching of the law and the threatened curses of it; whereby he sees himself guilty before God of eternal punishment and wrath.[4]

            Secondly, the Lord directs him to enter into further consideration with himself, of it about his present estate, and counsels what to do in this extremity — and that not lightly, but seriously, as a matter of life and death. Jeremiah 8:6; Luke 7:15.

            Thirdly, from the former consultation, he comes to this resolution, that he will not return to his old ways, but in all humility and meekness and brokenness of heart say with Paul; Lord what will you do I do?

            Fourthly, by this means he comes to an unfeigned desire of forgiveness, which always proceeds from a found hope that God will be entreated of him.

            This hungering after mercy and longing after Christ is very earnest and fervent, though in some with more timorousness than in others. This makes the gospel to be glad tidings and the          feet of them that bring it to be beautiful to him.

            Fifthly, with earnest, humble, and particular confession of his sins, he pours out prayers to God for the pardon of them in Christ.

            Sixthly, he having found out this pearl, prizes it as it is worth: and therefore sells all that he has, and bids farewell to his sweetest delights for the attaining of it; which affection is not for a moment, but is written as it were with the point of the diamond, never to be razed out again.

            Seventhly, then he comes to apply the gospel to himself as before he did the law, and seals up his salvation in his heart, reasoning from those gracious promises which God has made to such as he.

            Thus by often and deep weighing the truth, unchangeableness and perpetuity of the promises, he comes at length to be settled in faith. This faith unites him to Christ, and brings it to happiness. And it is wrought inwardly by the Spirit, while men obey God’s ordinance in the hearing of the Word, the outward means of salvation.

 

            The Visible Signs of Saving Faith

            Now the marks of faith to be seen in the believer by himself or others are:

            1. If he strives against doubting, Judge 6:17.

            2. If not feeling faith, he complains bitterly of the lack of it.

            3. If he seeks fervently to be settled in believing.

            4. If he desires to search out this sin which may possibly hinder him and endeavor expel it.

            The main cause why so many do lack of faith is the devil’s bewitching and blinding of men. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. Wherein man’s fault is that he opens his ears, and gives credit to Satan’s deceitful suggestions.

 

            Obstacles to Saving Faith

            For the preventing therefore of this danger, the Lord has given watchmen to warn the people of the peril. The reason therefore why men do not avoid it, is either in the minister — that he does not warn them a right – or else in the people, that they do not receive it.

            In the Ministers:

            1. If they teach not at all.

            2. If they teach seldom.

            3. If they teach, but not plainly to the capacity of the hearer.

            4. If by catechizing they do not teach the grounds of faith in right and good order.

            5. If they be not ready by private conference to satisfy their doubts.[5]

            6. If they have not a Christian care of giving good example by a holy and blameless life.

            Ministers must consider their duty laid forth:

            First, by titles as watchmen, laborers (Matthew 9:37); salt and light (Matthew 5:13-14); shepherds (Job 21:15); good scribes (Matthew 13); stewards (first Corinthians 4:1); nurses (1Thessalonians 2:7).

            Secondly, in Commandments (Acts 20:28; 2 Timothy 4:2). For their better encouragements, they must consider:

            1.The honor vouchsafed to them, to be God’s ambassadors.

            2. The comfort of this labor.

            3. The good that they may do.

            4. The great reward prepared for them, Daniel 12:3.

The lets [hindrances, obstacles] that are the people:

            1. If they esteem lightly of the gospel, preferring other things before it.

            2. If they imagine that an impossible thing to get assurance of salvation in this life.

            3. If they think it but not impossible, yet not anyway necessary.

            4. If they think it both possible and necessary, but to hard to come by.

            5. If they be careless and ignorant.

            6. If for fear of losing other pleasures, they forbear to seek after this.

            7. If they presume of their faith, living still in their sins.

            8. If there were never thorough brokenness of heart prepared to receive the gospel.

            9. If for fear of not continuing, they will not begin.

            10. If they do work upon themselves, but to deal slightly with it.

            11. If they content themselves with sudden flashes but sooner out and do not seek to be settled.

 

            An Occasional Desire to Avoid Hell is not Saving Faith

            A naked and bare desire of salvation now and then stirred up in a man is not to believe.

            First, true desire cannot be satisfied without it, and therefore gives not over [does not stop] till it obtain it.

            Secondly, it makes high account of it, as a book precious faith; and the valuing of it according to the worthiness of it: he seeks willingly and readily: he settles his heart upon the promises of God. He meditates on God’s Commandments, that he should believe: by these means he comes to be settled. Which done, he must beware of all occasions that may unsettled. Again, especially that he did not give too much place to fleshly reasons of carnal bout things, nor hearken to evil suggestions.

 

            Fear and Assurance

            Because the children of God after they have believed are often drawn from their hold, and cause to be suspected themselves, and to so fall into much fear in doubting but they are none of the Lord’s, they must therefore learn to strengthen themselves thus:

            1. They must know that in God there is no shadow of change, and therefore it is their weakness to entertain such thoughts, Psalm 77:13. For he ought not to cast away his confidence, Hebrews 10:35.

            2. He may persuade himself that he laborers after, and going to rest his weary heart on the promises of God, shall never be holy for Satan, though sometimes destitute of feeling.

            Question: Now if any ask, Why does God suffers children to fall to such fears? It is this:

            Answer:  Lest by a sudden absolute change, they should become secure or presumptuous.

            3. They must know that the root of our comfort is not in the strength of our Christian life, but of the free grace of God in Christ. And therefore, the weakness there and ought not to bring us into doubting of our salvation. It may be weak, but it shall never be extinguished; for he that his newborn can never die.

            4. They must call to mind that they may it be yet children, subject to many diseases, and some of those, such as may take away sense of life. Which moves move us not to despair, but to seek with all diligence for the cure of them: whereas if any object:

            Objection: Many of the faithful are brought to that pass, that being persuaded that they are reprobates, or near onto desperation; they have a sense of God’s wrath, and are in great anguish of conscience: how shall they stay themselves in this estate?

Answer: 

            1. They may be assured of this, they are not without hope of mercy, because they have not sinned against the Holy Ghost; for they have not bullishly set themselves against the truth of God, they have not willfully persecuted against their conscience, but to love the same desire to be partakers of it.

            2. They must learn to know from whom this delusion comes, even from Satan who labors either to wring their hope from them, or else to weary their lives with heaviness and discomfort. This he attempts:

            First, by spiritual suggestion, he being a spirit, and helped also with long experience which he has had of this trade, and therefore fit. He [is] also full of malice, and of unsearchable subtlety, with exceeding strength, and therefore ready thus to trouble us. Thus he incites us sins, not only which by nature we love, but even to those which we have no inclination onto. And when he has thus fastened upon many a man, than he labors to dim his knowledge and understanding, that he may laid no hold on any truth to comfort them, or make benefit of any promise.

            Secondly, [Satan deludes] by outward objects [difficulties] and occasions forcibly persuading to sin. Now because these things proceed rather from Satan than from themselves, there is no cause why they should be discouraged[6].

            Thirdly, they must call to mind that God calls and encourages us to trust and believe in him; and therefore it must needs to please him that they are removed from their faith, to give place to the spirit of error.

 

            One Should Not Judge Saving Faith on the Ground of “Feelings”

            Objection: And now if they feel not the sweet taste of God’s grace?

Answer:

            1. Yet they must not measure themselves by that they presently feel, when the soul has lost her feelings; but by the time passed, when they were free from temptation.

            2. The fruits of their faith are often evident the eye of others, when they themselves cannot see them.

            3. They must be acquainted with the ways of God, who often does hide himself for season, but they may with more earnest desire seek for his wonted [customary] grace, and with more joyful to support praise him when they’ve obtained it again. And if this hinder them because

 

            A True Believer is not a Perfect Christian

            Objection: They cannot live as God’s children do, or as he requires; they are to be encouraged here with, that

            Answer: There plants which take not their full perfection it wants, but little by little with daily watering addressing: and that patience and consistency with a resolute minds to bear God’s trial, will bring a good and in all temptation.

 

 

            Not Every Evidence Proves True Saving Faith

            That every Christian may see his estate to be good, actually profitable to consider how far an unbeliever may go; and so whether he hath gone further.

            1. The unbeliever may be terrified with the sins, his conscience terrified by the spirit of bondage, Matthew 27:3.

            2. He may be pensive after sin committed, 1 Kings 21:7.

            3. He may find joy and delight in the gospel, and of the exercises of religion, Matthew 13:20.

            4. He may have a taste of the life to come with Balaam.

            5. He may reference the ministers and obey them in many things as Herod did, and it never be sealed up to eternal life. Many that have made great glorious shows and seem to have been very forward, have after either in prosperity waxed wanton, or an affliction weary. Many which have shined as lights first season have fallen away even before trouble came. Many have had great grief of mind, and so seem onto themselves to have repented; but yet have deceived themselves, because they never furnish themselves with true faith, a pure heart, a good conscience, change of their life to the love of God; their hearts are not upright, nor will they deal plainly with the Lord. But if we would not lose all or labor, we must go further than any unrepentant person could go; we must never cease to we have more humility, sincerity and truth of heart, and certain marks the testimony of our salvation.

            They [those who have truly repented] will hear the gospel diligently: but we must lay our estate [measure the state of our faith] with it, and receive the print of it upon our hearts and lives, and be cast into the mold of it, and so find the power of salvation.

            They will refrain from, themselves, and drive out of their families many sins[7].

            But we must willingly be reformed and what part of our life soever we can’t be justly challenged: and not blemish or profession in anything.

 

            Distinguishing Marks of Saving Faith

            Although the love of God in Christ, the work of the Spirit applying [it: the love and work of Christ], and faith apprehending [it], be the chief cause of our conversion, [] they are not so easily felt by us[8] – [even though] they are sure and infallible grounds of themselves of salvation. therefore it is necessary to add some other of facts or other properties of true faith, to accompany the love of God, and of Christ Jesus in us; and other works or fruits of the Holy Ghost by the gospel, which may more clearly be perceived discerned in faith and self; and were clearly testified that where the speed, there shall that be found also.

            The first inseparable companion of faith is joy and comfort, glorious and unspeakable, Acts 8:39.

            But it will be said

            Objection: Some true believers are even sad and sorrowful.

            Answer: Indeed they mourn and groan for a while after that which may make them merry forever: and in this morning they are blessed. Matthew 5:4. Their estate [is] far to be preferred before the laughter of the ungodly which is but madness [Ecclesiastes 2:2].

            1. The child of God being converted cannot but admire this change of the state and even be astonished at the love and mercy of God: for what should move him to bestow such happiness upon so unworthy a creature, Job 14:22, Psalms 116:8, 139:34.

            2. This holy and reverent admiration must not be only at our first conversion, but ought every day to be renewed in the Lord, who does every day pardon our sins (Psalms 118:8) and does also uphold us in our confidence and integrity.

            3. The true believer feeling the love of God to be shed abroad in his heart, has also with in him unfeigned love Kindle towards God, Psalm 116:1; Luke 7:47. Which love of God must [over]shadow the love of all other things whatsoever.

            4. He cannot but have his heart enlarged into thankfulness, and praise God even in afflictions themselves, Psalm 116:12.

            5. There is begotten a holy and earnest desire to have more communion with God; even to enjoy his blessed presence and to see his glory, 2 Corinthians 5:1.

            6. The former grace makes him to forsake this world, to become a stranger and pilgrim, and so to have no more to do with this world than he needs must. Not that he leave the necessary duties to forsake his calling, but that he is not so tied to these things, but that he could willingly leave them, and so being ready to die, is made fit to live.

            7. He cannot but lament and be ashamed of his former unkindness to God, and is ready to be revenge of himself for it.

            8. It cannot be, but knowing out of what misery he hath escaped, unto what happiness he has attained, he pity others that already are as he was, and wish and labor to make them as he is. One means whereof is edifying conference, Proverbs 10:21.

 

 

            How to Persevere in Faith

            If any has tasted of that happiness which comes by a true faith and does therefore desire to keep the same, here is the losing of it, he must for his confirmation:

            1. Nourish with himself daily [with a] high estimation [] his grace. He must think it is chief happiness and  most precious treasure [that he ever set his] heart [] upon. [He must fear ever losing that grace.][9]

            2. He must both by prayer daily and oft beg of God, and also seriously meditate on the gracious promises of God in nature, truth, perpetuity. For want [lack] of this calling to mind of [these] things, you need to let slip out of their minds those grounds of faith by which sometimes they have found comfort.

            3. He must help himself by ordinary and reverent hearing the glad tidings of salvation preached unto them; as also by the holy use of the sacraments.

            4. He must carefully retain a viewing of his sins by right examination; the sight of them will keep him from taking offense of the cross of Christ, make the tartness and hardness and bitterness of his sins will make Christ’s death most sweet and pleasant onto him.

            5. He must labor to settle himself even by the experience which he himself had found of God is goodness towards him, and is working in him.

            6. He may confirm himself even by the example of others, who [though] weak, have become strong, and of such as he is; [who] have become such as he desires to be.  By these means God’s children come to have a holy acquaintance with God, and to know his will toward them: the Lord disposing even their weakness onto their good, that they may by their falls be humbled, and God by their of holding may be glorified.

            One special thing is always to begin the day with deep consideration of God, his gracious favor towards us; which if we do not, little can be looked for in the day, but either unsavory lightness, and so to be deceived; or unprofitable care, so to be disquieted.

 

            There are Three Degrees of Subjective Assurance[10]

            By that which has been said before, it is to be observed, that although true faith be in substance one and the same; yet there are three degrees of it, it is plain.

            1. First is the weakest and least measure, when there is a yet no assurance in the believer, and yet inseparable fruits, and infallible tokens of it.

            2. The degree is when some assurances wrought in the believer at some time, but very weak; and is often to seek and wanting, and recovered again by entering into due consideration of his estate, and of the truth of God who has promised it.

            3. The third is the highest degree of it, though more strong in better settled in some than others; and this has assurance accompanying it for the most part usually unless  the believer do[es] quench the Spirit in himself: or the Lord (to show him that he stands by grace) does leave him to himself for his own glory, and the better establishing of him afterwards.

[1] All biblical counseling must proceed in this manner. Since the goal of biblical counseling is not primarily the remediation of some immediate trouble (such as a bad marriage), but rather growth in Christlikeness (although growth in Christlikeness will have the secondary effect of improving one’s marriage), the first step must be saving faith. Thus, the emphasis in biblical counseling on evangelism – or, as Jay Adams calls it, “pre-counseling” – is an emphasis which goes back at least to the Puritans.

[2] Throughout his work – as was typical of Puritan preaching – Baynes responds to potential objections. William Perkins called this “clearing the text”.  You may see this same point in Spurgeon’s sermons: Yet, rather than state it as an “objection” Spurgeon will begin with the words, “Someone may say” (or something like that).

[3] We need more than historical knowledge to come to a saving faith.

[4] A common element of Puritan preaching was to preach the law plainly and surely to bring conviction and establish the need for salvation. A discussion of this may be found in William Guthrie’s The Christian’s Great Interest.

[5] Pastoral ministry must match public preaching with private counsel.

[6] John Bunyan describes this state in Pilgrim’s Progress.

[7] They will personally refrain from many sins. And, they will also see that some sins are removed from their own families.

[8] The work of the Holy Spirit in one’s life is often not immediately understood or experienced as the work of the Spirit. To see this matter developed at more length, see the discussion in The Christian’s Great Interest.

[9] This paragraph is an evidence of the occasionally careless editing of the text.

[10] “Subjective” assurance is the assurance felt by the believer. Assurance is also objective and may be based upon the promises of God.

The Consolation and Comfort of the Gospel

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Preaching, Uncategorized, William Romaine

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William Romaine, in A Treatise on the Life of Faith, set out the consolation and comfort of the believer from the Gospel:

“1. All men having broken the law, and being under the curse of it, Christ was made under the law, that the law might reach him as the surety of his people; accordingly,
2. By his obedience to the precepts, and by his suffering the penalties of the law, he redeemed them who were under the law; so that,
3. They are no longer in bondage to it, but are made free, and have received the adoption of sons; and,
4. They have the spirit of liberty sent into their hearts to witness to them, that Christ fulfilled the law for them; and,
5. That the Father loves them, as his dear children, and they love him and serve him without fear, calling him Abba, Father;
6. Wherefore they are no longer servants in bondage to any one, but are made free indeed, being now the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus- And,
7. If sons, then heirs of Gods, and free to inherit whatever he has promised to give his children in earth and heaven.”

Excerpt From: Romaine, William. “Treatise upon the life of faith.”

Hope Which Overcomes Here and Now

04 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Ecclesiastes, Edward Polhill, Hebrews, Hope, Puritan, Uncategorized

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Years ago, I read Island by Aldous Huxley which recounted a man shipwrecked on an imaginary island — Huxley’s Utopia (no-place) — on which birds words would call out, “Here and now, boys! Here and now.” At the time, being in college and easily amazed at the dopiest ideas, I thought Huxley quite brilliant.

The trouble with such a thought is that it is hopeless.

Hope necessarily orients one to the future. “For who hopes for what one sees?” (Romans 8:24). Now, it would be right to now longer hope when the perfect has come — but — and this is the great mistake I made in reading Huxley — the island of his story does exist. Like Thomas Moore’s Utopia, it is no place.

I was taken in by a novel of a place that did not — could not — exist.

I may live in the present — indeed I must. And I may love in the present. And, I will suffer in the present. But must I be bound in the present?

The oppressor’s greatest taunt is that the present will never change. Oppression demands the present, it lives on the present, it denies that the present will ever change. The trouble with the false messiahs and politicians and hucksters is that offer something which they cannot deliver: something beyond the present.

Death stands unalterably before us: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Between us and death there will often be pleasure and even joy — but they are made sick with the absolute knowledge they will be destroyed. Indeed, it is an unanswerable mystery how joy can be found anywhere within the space of death.

Did Huxley think an absurd denial of the future with his “Here and now” would somehow ward off sorrow?

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11. What can we do in the face of such a reality?

Certainly not “here and now.” Jim Morrison got that point right:

Five to one baby, one in five
No one here gets out alive.

No, the only exit is hope. But what would an exit be — it would necessarily be an exit from the entire aeon.

The Christward hope is that Jesus has overcome death — that his has undone the thief that makes a mockery of life. And, as a Christian, I must hang all my hope upon that point:

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19.

But Paul continues:

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Now there is a basis for hope because there has been an escape, or rather a rescue:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 1:3-5. I need not trust a here and now of no-place. Huxley gave me nothing to counter suffering. Christ has given me a means to overcome through suffering.

Here, Edward Polhill helps. For he notes that the sufferings of now cannot overcome hope:

Hope assures us, that the good things of the world to come do incomparably exceed the things of this world. If the things of this world were the better, no man would leave better for worse: nay, if they were but equal, no man would part with that in possession for that in expectation: but hope assures us that the good things of the world to come do far transcend those that are in this world. The mansions in glory are better than the houses of clay; the incorruptible inheritance exceeds a fading one; eternal life is much more precious than temporal; the crowns of immortality above outshine all the titles of honor here below;

Now one may deny that such hope is real — but that claim hangs upon the resurrection. And I dare say that the resurrection is a matter which can well stand the weight.

Polhill continues: not only does the substantial hope of something more overcome present suffering, “Hope assures our interest in the things of the world to come”. The salvation of The Lord does not hang upon our merit, but upon our hope — our faith for what God will do. Life is the gift of God, given to those who will receive it.

It takes not unreal work, no hocus pocus. It is a real, substantial thing. Thus hope which overcomes our suffering is a real, substantial thing. Hebrews calls it an “anchor” of the soul:

17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:17-20.

Now, one lovely effect of hope is that it transforms the one who hopes. The one who hopes becomes conformed to the object of hope. When I wedding day approached, my life became shaped by the coming wedding, because I hoped for that day. The hope of the Lord’s return conforms and transforms those who hope:

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 John 3:1-3. Or as Paul writes:

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Titus 2:11-15. It is interesting how Paul ends the proclamation. In fact suffering will end in hope for the believer:

3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5. And hope works with patience to overcome present suffering:

Faith adheres to the promise, hope waits for the good things promised; both strengthen in a day of trial. It is the very nature of divine hope to wait for the good things to come: when the sun of prosperity shines, it waits in a way of obedience; “Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation, and do thy commandments,” saith David, (Ps. 119:166). He waited in a way of obedience to God’s commands. And when the storm of persecution comes, it waits in a way of patience. Hence the apostle speaks of the patience of hope, (1 Thess. 1:3). That hope, which in prosperity waited in a way of obedience, will in adversity wait in a way of patience: hope would have the christian to be always waiting for the upper world; but when the cross comes, it presseth upon him more vehemently, and will speak after this manner to him; What, hast thou waited for the great reward in heaven in duties and ordinances, and wilt thou not wait for it in sufferings, too? Heaven is the same still, and sufferings are not worthy to be compared with it: do but suffer a little, and thou shalt be there.

Edward Pohill, A Preparation for Suffering in an Evil Day, 347.

We are prone to think

02 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in George Muller, Meditation, Memorization, Ministry, Prayer, Service

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On April 20th Mr. Muller left for Bristol. On the journey he was dumb, having no liberty in speaking for Christ or even in giving away tracts, and this led him to reflect. He saw that the so-called ‘ work of the Lord’ had tempted him to substitute action for meditation and communion. He had neglected that ‘still hour’ with God which supplies to spiritual life alike its breath and its bread. No lesson is more important for us to learn, yet how slow are we to learn it: that for the lack of habitual seasons set apart for devout meditation upon the word of God and for prayer, nothing else will compensate.

We are prone to think, for example, that converse with Christian brethren, and the general round of Christian activity, especially when we are much busied with preaching the Word and visits to inquiring or needy souls, make up for the loss of aloneness with God in the secret place. We hurry to a public service with but a few minutes of private prayer, allowing precious time to be absorbed in social pleasures, restrained from withdrawing from others by a false delicacy, when to excuse ourselves for needful communion with God and his word would have been perhaps the best witness possible to those whose company was holding us unduly! How often we rush from one public engagement to another without any proper interval for renewing our strength in waiting on the Lord, as though God cared more for the quantity than the quality of our service!

****

Here then we have a threefold witness to the secret of true prosperity and unmingled blessing: devout meditation and reflection upon the Scriptures, which are at once a book of law, a river of life, and a mirror of self— fitted to convey the will of God, the life of God, and the transforming power of God. That believer makes a fatal mistake who for any cause neglects the prayerful study of the word of God. To read God’s holy book, by it search one’s self, and turn it into prayer and so into holy living, is the one great secret of growth in grace and godliness. The worker for God must first be a worker with God: he must have power with God and must prevail with Him in prayer, if he is to have power with men and prevail with men in preaching or in any form of witnessing and serving. At all costs, let us make sure of that highest preparation for our work—the preparation of our own souls; and for this we must take time to be alone with His word and His Spirit, that we may truly meet God, and understand His will.

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.”

And this you shall have freely,

02 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Luke, Uncategorized, William Romaine

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It is a peculiar thing: faith to salvation hinges upon need of salvation. “Lost” is the only title which makes one fit to be saved. We easily think that we must be “good enough” for the salvation of Christ: but we can never be “good enough”. Indeed, to think oneself “good enough” and to try to be “good enough” both make us unfit for salvation.

Salvation is a gift, not a wage. God gives salvation only to the weak and needy:

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:29-32.

William Romaine explains:

And this you shall have freely, without any merit, or work of the law: for this righteousness comes wholly by grace, and is for you a sinner, as such, and is to justify you from the condemnation of the law, to turn its curses into blessings, and its threatened punishment into happiness. And this it can do for you perfectly and everlastingly, so that being found in this righteousness, there is no grace promised in time, or glory in eternity, but it shall be yours.
The Lord God promises them to you in the fullest and freest manner, to you without any exception or limitation, being a sinner, and ungodly, though one of the vilest and basest, yet to you, as such, is the word of this salvation sent.

And it is all yours in the comfortable enjoyment of it, through believing.

You are to bring nothing to recommend yourself, but

“I am a sinner, and my right and title to a finished salvation is clear from the warrant of God’s word” — if you believe with your heart in the righteousness of Christ.

The divine command is, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ: the promise is,

whosoever believes in him,
shall not perish,
shall receive remission of sins,
shall be justified from all things,
shall have everlasting life.

Why then do you lean to works [that is, why do you trust in personal ability to be perfect], since salvation is by faith?

Why do you disquiet yourself about attaining the righteousness of the law [why are anxious about being perfect], and thereby suffer the law to disturb the peace of your conscience, since you have a far better righteousness, which ought to reign there [the righteousness of Christ can calm your conscience if you receive by faith] even the righteousness of faith ?

[But what about me? I am a believer, but my faith is not very strong? I falter and stumble. I am not good enough to continue to receive from Christ.]

You have as good a title to [right to] Christ and his righteousness as the strongest believer in the world; because your right comes from the soundness of faith [if your faith is real, it does not matter how “strong” it is] apprehending [taking hold of] Christ, and not, as your legal spirit [our natural tendency to seek self-justification]
would tell you, from the degree or measure of it.

Only remember, how highly you dishonor the infinite love and free salvation of Jesus, and how much you rob your own soul of its peace, and of its growth in-grace, by your weak and little faith. Think upon these things, and entreat the author and finisher of your faith to strengthen it in your soul. [Your weak faith does not keep you from salvation, but it does keep you peace. When you see the loss of peace, you should ask God to strengthen your faith and give you peace and assurance.]

William Romaine, A Treatise Upon the Life of Faith, 1809 [slightly modernized].

George Muller’s Journal

28 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by in George Muller, Ministry, Prayer, Submission, Uncategorized

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Arthur Pierson summarized the lessons presented by George Muller’s extensive ministry journal as follows:

1. An experience of frequent and at times prolonged financial straits.
The money in hand for personal needs, and for the needs of hundreds and thousands of orphans, and for the various branches of the work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, was often reduced to a single pound, or even penny, and sometimes to nothing. There was therefore a necessity for constant waiting on God, looking to Him directly for all supplies. For months, if not years, together, and at several periods in the work, supplies were furnished only from month to month, week to week, day to day, hour to hour! Faith was thus kept in lively exercise and under perpetual training.

2. An experience of the unchanging faithfulness of the Father-God.
The straits were long and trying, but never was there one case of failure to receive help; never a meal-time without at least a frugal meal, never a want or a crisis unmet by divine supply and support. Mr. Muller said to the writer: “Not once, or five times, or five hundred times, but thousands of times in these threescore years, have we had in hand not enough for one more meal, either in food or in funds; but not once has God failed us; not once have we or the orphans gone hungry or lacked any good thing.” From 1838 to 1844 was a period of peculiar and prolonged straits, yet when the time of need actually came the supply was always given, though often
at the last moment.

3. An experience of the working of God upon the minds, hearts, and consciences of contributors to the work.
It will amply repay one to plod, step by step, over these thousands of pages, if only to trace the hand of God touching the springs of human action all over the world in ways of His own, and at times of great need, and adjusting the amount and the exact day and hour of the supply, to the existing want. Literally from the earth’s ends, men, women, and children who had never seen Mr. Muller and could have known nothing of the pressure at the time, have been led at the exact crisis of affairs to send aid in the very sum or form most needful. In countless cases, while he was on his knees asking, the answer has come in such close correspondence with the request as to shut out chance as an explanation, and compel belief in a prayer-hearing God.

4. An experience of habitual hanging upon the unseen God and nothing else.
The reports, issued annually to acquaint the public with the history and progress of the work, and give an account of stewardship to the many donors who had a right to a report—these made no direct appeal for aid. At one time, and that of great need, Mr. Muller felt led to withhold the usual annual statement, lest some might construe the account of work already done as an appeal for aid in work yet to be done, and thus detract detract from the glory of the Great Provider.* The Living God alone was and is the Patron of these institutions; and not even the wisest and wealthiest, the noblest and the most influential of human beings, has ever been looked to as their dependence.

5. An experience of conscientious care in accepting and using gifts.
Here is a pattern for all who act as stewards for God. Whenever there was any ground of misgiving as to the propriety or expediency of receiving what was offered, it was declined, however pressing the need, unless or until all such objectionable features no more existed. If the party contributing was known to dishonour lawful debts, so that the money was righteously due to others; if the gift was encumbered and embarrassed by restrictions that “hindered its free use for God; if it was designated for endowment purposes or as a provision for Mr. Muller’s old age, or for the future of the institutions; or if there was any evidence or suspicion that the donation was given grudgingly, reluctantly, or for self-glory, it was promptly declined and returned. In some cases, even where large amounts were involved, parties were urged to wait until more prayer and deliberation made clear that they were acting under divine leading.

6. An experience of extreme caution lest there should be even a careless betrayal of the fact of pressing need, to the outside public.
The helpers in the institutions were allowed to come into such close fellowship and to have such knowledge of the exact state of the work as aids not only in common labours, but in common prayers and self-denials. Without such acquaintance they could not serve, pray, nor sacrifice intelligently. But these associates were most solemnly and repeatedly charged never to reveal to those without, not even in the most serious crises, any want whatsoever of the work. The one and only resort was ever to be the God who hears the cry of the needy; and the greater the exigency, the greater the caution lest there should even seem to be a looking away from divine to human help.

7. An experience of growing boldness of faith in asking and trusting for great things.
As faith was exercised it was energized, so that it became as easy and natural to ask confidently for a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand pounds, as once it had been for a pound or a penny. After confidence in God had been strengthened through discipline, and God had been proven faithful, it required no more venture to cast himself on God for provision for two thousand children and an annual outlay of at least twenty-five thousand pounds for them than in the earlier periods of the work to look to Him to care for twenty homeless orphans at a cost of two hundred and fifty pounds a year. Only by using faith are we kept from practically losing it, and, on the contrary, to use faith is to lose the unbelief that hinders God’s mighty acts.

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol”

How we should understand true Christian ministry

28 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by in George Muller, Ministry, Submission, Uncategorized

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Pierson notes that Muller’s journal is titled, “The Lord’s Dealings with George Muller”. He explains that Christianity ministry – even of the most eminent apostles – was always a question of the The Lord did the man for other men and women — not a matter of what Peter or Paul did alone. True Christianity ministry must be a matter of God working in us, through us, upon us — but never a matter of us working independently of The Lord. Indeed a life of faith must be a life of dependence; the minister is only an instrument of the Lord’s work:

The meaning of such repeated phraseology cannot be mistaken. God is here presented as the one agent or actor, and even the most conspicuous apostles, like Paul and Peter, as only His instruments. No twenty verses in the word of God contain more emphatic and repeated lessons on man’s insufficiency and nothingness, and God’s all-sufficiency and almightiness. It was God that wrought upon man through man. It was He who chose Peter to be His mouthpiece, He whose key unlocked shut doors, He who visited the nations, who turned sinners into saints, who was even then taking out a people for His name, purifying hearts and bearing them witness; it was He and He alone who did all these wondrous things, and according to His knowledge and plan of what He would do, from the beginning. We are not reading so much the Acts of the Apostles as the acts of God through the apostles. Was it not this very passage in this inspired book that suggested, perhaps, the name of this journal: “The Lord’s dealings with George Miiller”?

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.”

All of our work must be a work of faith — and faith is a matter of dependence.

The Crook in the Lot (Revised).2

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Obedience, Preaching, Thomas Boston

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The first entry can be found here:

https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/the-crook-in-the-lot-revised-1/

Why Does God Make Crooks?

            First, to test our state to see whether we are in the faith or not?

5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 2 Corinthians 13:5–9 (ESV)

An example of such a trial of faith may be seen in Job’s life. Satan denies that Job is what he seems. Job’s friends then accuse Job of hypocrisy. Or in the matter of the Israelites in the wilderness: God left in need and want to try their faith – at which they grumbled. But Joshua and Caleb persevered in trial.

The rich young ruler came to Jesus and sought the key to eternal life, at which point Jesus uncovered the hypocrisy of his life:

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:17–22 (ESV)

The young man would not submit to the crook of God at that point. He was his own master in the end. Would not agree to God’s determination but rather sought his desires.

            Second, to wean us from this world and seek the happiness of the age to come. 

            When Hamlet realizes that he must revenge his father’s death and thus bring his own life into jeopardy, Hamlet turns on his love Ophelia to send her away. He brings pain into her life to drive her to a better life.

            In the same way, God will lay crooks across our lot to drive us off from a sinful love of this world. Our hearts are so prone to make idols of comforts and seek an endless life in a land of death, that God will lay crooks upon that we may see the foolishness of our grasping.  Pain in this life can wake us to the reality of this age and force us to seek a true and lasting happiness.

            This is the great theme of the first six chapters of Ecclesiastes: there is nothing truly satisfying to be had here. Even when Solomon had gained the whole world he had realized he had nothing:

11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. 12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Ecclesiastes 2:11–12 (ESV)

Thus, the pain of the crook contains its blessing.

The Prodigal Son, when he could drink deeply of the pleasures he could buy had no thoughts of home. Only when pain began to invade his life did he “come to himself” (Luke 15:17).

            We are built to seek rest and happiness, yet in foolishness and sloth we easily seek permanent rest in temporary things. God lays a crook across rest and the straight path of comfort we sought becomes twisted and painful. Like a thorn in our pillow, it pricks us to consciousness and we seek a better rest. Thus, God uses the crook to set us off on the errand of seeking him.

            The pain of the crook is one of the great mercies God shows those who are his.

            Third, the crook brings us to see our sin: the sting awakes us to conviction.  This is a great theme of the prophet:

12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “ ‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. Jeremiah 3:12–13 (ESV)

It is the realization of the Psalmist:

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Psalm 119:67 (ESV)

Sin contains its own poison, and often as we continue in unrepentant sin we feel the sting and corruption of sin:

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Psalm 32:3–5 (ESV)

There is a point here which must be made clear: Sin is of such great evil that any suffering is better than any sin. Our Lord in love remained obedient to the Father’s will and suffered death – but the Lord would not in the least instance sin. This is not to say that sorrow, suffering, trial and tribulation are small things – rather the comparison magnifies the evil of sin. 

            Fourth, God may bring the crook as the punishment for sin.

            This is of two sorts. God may simply bring a judgment upon a sin. For example, David sinned in the matter of Uriah and Uriah’s wife. Although God forgave David’s sin – that is, David was not damned for his fault – correction came:

9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 2 Samuel 12:9–10 (ESV)

God sent punishment upon nations:

3 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.Amos 1:3–5 (ESV)

            A second way in which sin brings punishment is that consequence is often inherent in sin:

17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:17–19 (ESV)

This principle of sowing and reaping, sowing sin and reaping the consequneces of sin run throughout Proverbs:

1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. 2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. 3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. 4 A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. 5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. 6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. 7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. Proverbs 10:1–7 (ESV)

As the Lord warns through the prophet Jeremiah:

Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts. Jeremiah 2:19 (ESV)

            Fifth, God lays crooks across our lot to bar us from sin.  It is the sorry fact that people have been ruined by wealth.  Access to money leaves us free to our own devices; while a tighter budget may keep us from indulging in some sin.  There are many people who can thank the crook in their lot for keeping them from sin. Sin always seeks opportunity. It was the devil who left Jesus until an opportune time (Luke 4:13). The Lord may act to keep a man from evil, “that he may turn aside from his deed” (Job 33:17). Such preventing grace is a great good to the Christian – though crossing flesh may be painful for the moment.

            Hazael could not kill until he was king (2 Kings 10:12). David did not lust after Uriah’s wife until he gained ease and was at rest as king (2 Samuel 11:1-2).  Ease and comfort make way for sin.  We make think our crook of labor all of trouble – but it may very well protect us from sin:

It was the speech of Mr Greenham, sometimes a famous and painful preacher of this nation, that when the devil tempted a poor soul, she came to him for advice how she might resist the temptation, and he gave her this answer: ‘Never be idle, but be always well employed, for in my own experience I have found it. When the devil came to tempt me, I told him that I was not at leisure to hearken to his temptations, and by this means I resisted all his assaults.’ Idleness is the hour of temptation, and an idle person is the devil’s tennis-ball, tossed by him at his pleasure.

‘He that labours,’ said the old hermit, ‘is tempted but by one devil, but he that is idle is assaulted by all.’

 

 

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 2, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 278.

            Sixth, a crook may expose the sin which lay hidden in our heart.  A temptation does not put sin into the heart; rather a temptation or trial merely draws sin out of the heart.  A temptation punctures the heart and lets the corruption within pour out. Thus, a crook may expose the sin we harbor:

1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Deuteronomy 8:1–2 (ESV)

We do not know impatience, until our desire is delayed. We do not know our anger until our will is denied. 

            Consider Moses: the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3), also harbored a strike of pride and anger which was only exposed when the people again demanded water from him (Numbers 20:13; Psalm 106:32-33).

            Now such crossing is a positive good to the believer, for sin being exposed can be repented of. David complains, “Who can know his errors? Declare me innocent of hidden faults”(Psalm 19:12).  Often pride covers a mass of sin which cowers unexposed until a suitable season. Such a mass of sin poisons our heart, though we do not see it distinctly. Therefore, exposure of such sin does us much good – if only in the humility which it brings to us.

            Seventh, the crook in our lot gives us grounds to exercise the grace of God.  There are many graces which we cannot exercise until faced with trials. We cannot exercise our faith until we must wait upon the Lord. We cannot exercise patience, until we do not receive that for which we hope. We cannot bear with one another until live with those who fail.

            This was a thing true of our Lord:

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Hebrews 2:10 (ESV)

Now if this is true of our Lord, it must be true of us:

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:16–17 (ESV)

The crook in our lot, the suffering we face does us good. Not for the suffering itself, but for the end it obtains:

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:3–5 (ESV)

In fact, such trials will not merely do us good for the present, but eternal good:

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ., 1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)