Saturday, December 29, 2007

John Bunyan on sin.

Sayings of John Bunyan on sin:
Sin is the great block and bar to our happiness, the Procurer of all miseries to man, both here and hereafter. Take away sin, and nothing can hurt us; for death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, is the wages of it.

Sin, and man for sin, is the object of the wrath of God. How dreadful, therefore, must his case be who continues in sin! For who can bear or grapple with the wrath of God?

No sin against God can be little, because it is against the great God of heaven and earth; but if the sinner can find out a little god, it may be easy to find out little sins.

Sin turns all God's grace into wantonness; it is the dare of his justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, and the contempt of his love.

Take heed of giving thyself liberty of committing one sin, for that will lead thee to another; till, by an ill custom, it become natural.

To begin a sin, is to lay a foundation for a continuance; this continuance is the mother of custom, and impudence at last the issue.

The death of Christ giveth us the best discovery of ourselves, in what condition we were, in that nothing could help us but that; and the most clear discovery of the dreadful nature of our sins.

For if sin be so dreadful a thing as to wring the heart of the Son of God, how shall a poor wretched sinner be able to bear it?

Friday, December 28, 2007

The Battle Must Be On.....

As Christians united to Christ and engrafted in Him we are engaged in a war. We must war against the flesh, sin, Satan, and the world. These are terrible enemies and will stop at nothing to destroy the vital communion we have with our Triune God. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is desperately wicked and Proverbs 4:23 states that we must keep the heart with all diligence for from it flow the issues of life. John Flavel, the Presbyterian Puritan, in connecting these two vital truths says, ""The heart of man is the worst part before it be regenerate, and the best afterwards: it is the seat of principles, and the fountain of actions" (Works, 5, 423). The four enemies mentioned above have their most powerful influence through the heart of man. It must be kept like one would keep all enemies out of a castle. How does your castle compare to the requirements of God's word?
Indeed, this battle would look quite impossible if we did not have the gift of the Holy Spirit from the ascended and reigning Christ to assist us. Christopher Love is quite right when he states, "A single man can as soon destroy a whole army of men with his own hand as subdue one sin by his own power," (pg 7, The Mortified Christian). We must be good soldiers in the army of God. What do these soldiers look like? They do not speak in tongues, they do heal the sick, or slay people in the Spirit. John Owen is helpful for a description of a soldier in God's army. "To labor to be acquainted with the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, and occasions of its success (i.e. of sin) is the beginning of this warfare. So do men deal with enemies" Works, 6, 31).
One of the best means to fight these enemies is to constantly keep in your thoughts Him who is so precious to the saving and preserving of your soul:t the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of William Gurnall are helpful, "And thus Jesus Christ (when you are being tempted), whom Satan thought to bring out of the soul's favour and liking, comes in the end to sit higher and surer in the saint's affections than ever" (pg 109, The Christian In Complete Armour).

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Be a Precionist

We live in a culture of indifference. We live in a world that loves to walk the easy path, the path that is not careful, circumspect, or sober. The great Puritan Richard Rogers was once told he lives a life that is too precise. He responded with, "I serve a precise God."
Commenting on the fall of Adam and Eve Calvin says they called into question the veracity of God's testimony. By doing so they (and we in Adam) died. There is a way that leads to life and a way that leads to death. We must seek to be sober-minded and live a self-controlled life that requires being precise. We must fear God and keep His commandments. His commandments are precise but they lead to peace and life.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Dr. John Calvin on God's Kindness

"The acknowledgment of God’s kindness is a sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor; yea, it is a more acceptable service than all sacrifices. God is continually heaping innumerable benefits upon men. Their ingratitude, therefore, is intolerable, if they fail to exercise themselves in celebrating those benefits." Commentray on Genesis 24:52

Monday, October 29, 2007

Advice from the Puritan William Bates for Scriptural Meditation

Use these rules for Meditating on the truth's of God's Word:
1. Labor to have your heart cleansed from the guilt of sin.
2. Labor for a pure heart. The former rule respected the guilt of sin, this the defilement.
3. Treasure up in your souls a stock of spiritual truths.
4. Sobriety in the use of all worldly things.
5. Labor for fervent love for spiritual things.
Works of Bates ,Volume 3

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Take The Preached Word Seriously

What is that makes one sermon different from another? What is that seems to grab your attention in such a way that you cannot walk away from a sermon without saying, "God has truly spoken to me through His preached and proclaimed Word today?" Do the following words of Calvin from his Commentary on 2 Timothy 3:1-2 ring true for the preaching you are sitting under?
"Here, as in a very weighty matter, Paul adds a solemn charge, exhibiting to Timothy, God as the avenger, and Christ as the judge, if he shall cease to discharge his office of teaching. And, indeed, in like manner as God showed by an inestimable pledge, when he spared not his only-begotten Son, how great is the care which he has for the Church, so he will not suffer to remain unpunished the negligence of pastors, through whom souls, which he hath redeemed at so costly a price, perish or are exposed as a prey."
I should say to Rev. David Murray, Rev. Ray Lanning, Rev. Roy Blackwood, and Seminarian Nathan Eshelman (along with the many other faithful ministers of the Word and Sacraments) thank you for taking this verse seriously in your lifetime and calling. We serve a truly awesome God.

Richard Alleine's Advice on Why we Ought to Ponder Our Path

There are four reasons why we ought to ponder our path:
1. God ponders them. Isaiah 26:7
2. The devil ponders them. Luke 22:31
3. Wicked men, our enemies ponder them. Psalm 64
4. Our way may be right in our own eyes for lack of consideration, when yet upon consideration, it may appear to be the way of death. Proverbs 14:12

Dr. John Calvin on the Word of God

"Here, then, is the sovereign power with which pastors of the church , by whatever name they be called, ought to be endowed. That is that they may dare boldly do all things by God's Word; may compel worldly power, glory, wisdom, and exaltation to yield to and obey his majesty; supported by His power, may command all from the highest even to the last; may build up Christ's household and cast down Satan's , may feed the sheep and drive away the wolves; may instruct and support the teachable; may accuse, rebuke, and subdue the rebellious and stubborn: may bind and loose, finally, if need be, may launch thunderbolts and lightnings; but do all things in God's Word" Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.8.9

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Love to Christ

"The life of Christianity consists very much in our love to Christ" Puritan Thomas Vincent
John 17:20-26
Ephesians 5:1-7
Colossians 3

Wisdom from the Puritan Thomas Brooks

"A holy reliance, a holy resting, a holy staying of thy soul upon the promises , makes the promises thy own; yea, it makes all the good, and all the sweet, and all the happiness and blessedness that is wrapped up in the promises thine" Works, Volume 3, page 255.