J.C. Ryle on Christian Happiness

/ Andrew / 1 Comment

lesly-juarez-220845-unsplash

“The only way to be really happy, in such a world as this is to be ever casting all our cares on God. It is the trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad … There is a friend ever waiting to help us, if we will only unbosom to Him our sorrow, – a friend who pitied the poor, the sick, and sorrowful, when He was upon earth, – a friend who knows the heart of a man, for He lived thirty-three years amongst 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.”

(J.C. Ryle, Practical Religion, p.81)

 

Robert M’Cheyne’s Advice to Pastors

/ Andrew / Leave a comment

 

jared-erondu-21325-unsplash

“Use your health while you have it, my dear friend and brother. Do not cast away peculiar opportunities that may never come again. You know not when your last Sabbath with your people may come. Speak for eternity. Above all things, cultivate your own spirit. A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear, and your heart full of God’s Spirit, is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin … Remember it is God, and not man, that must have the glory. It is not much speaking, but much faith, that is needed…”

(Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Memoirs & Remains, p.93)

Haddon Robinson on Reading

/ Andrew / 1 Comment

Beloved preacher and Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Haddon Robinson writes on the importance of reading for ministers of the gospel:

Among the last words Paul wrote were in a letter to his young friend Timothy. “When you come,” he asked, “bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments” (2 Timothy 4:13). The apostle was an old man facing death at the hands of the emperor. He was chained in a drafty dungeon in the city of Rome. He needed his cloak to keep the chill off his bones, but he needed his books and parchments to keep the rust off his mind.

Charles Spurgeon took a lead from these words when he observed, “Even an apostle must read. He is inspired and yet he wants books. He has seen the Lord and yet he wants books…. He has been caught up in the third heaven, and he had heard things which it is unlawful for a man to utter, yet he wants books. He had written a major part of the New Testament and yet he wants books.” Paul had no more sermons to prepare and no more books or letters to write, but he needed to keep on reading. Even though life was running out on him, Paul needed books.

Ministers must read. We are required to read not as a luxury but as a necessity. We cannot go it alone. Our study of the Bible is enriched by the insights of scholars who have studied particular sections of the Bible more than we have. Only the lazy or stupid ignore the use of commentaries in their preparation. But we should also open our minds to wider vistas through reading books that are not sermon direct.

Working ministers cannot make this broader reading a top priority, but it can be done. Determine to read 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Do that for 50 weeks, and you will have read 125 hours in a year. If you read 30 pages an hour, you will have read over 3,750 pages a year. If you keep up that pace for ten years, you will have read more than 150 books of 250 pages. If those books were well chosen, you could become an authority in any field. As the venerable adage puts it: “Constancy surprises the world by its conquests.”

If you have a book in your hand, you are never alone, and reading enables you to have continued education without having to pay tuition.

Easter Reading: Fifty Reasons Christ Came to Die

/ Andrew / Leave a comment

Each year during Easter week, I try to intentionally carve out space for extra reading, thinking, meditating and praying about what Jesus accomplished for us through His death and resurrection. While I try to think well during these times, my primary goal is to stir up stronger feelings and affections. Even as the Scriptures instructs us to:

In a sense, I want to be wrecked again by the high price Christ paid to atone for my sins and to overflow with love for and faith in our Savior.

This year, I’ve been reading through John Piper’s short book Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Piper offers 50 biblical reasons why Jesus died for us. This Easter, take time to meditate on all Christ accomplished for you through His death and resurrection. May a deeper knowledge, faith and love be yours in Christ Jesus.

Christ Suffered and Died…

  1. To Absorb the Wrath of God
  2. To Please His Heavenly Father
  3. To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected
  4. To Achieve His Own Resurrection From the Dead
  5. To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners
  6. To Show His Own Love for Us
  7. To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us
  8. To Become a Ransom for Many
  9. For the Forgiveness of Our Sins
  10. To Provide the Basis for Our Justification
  11. To Complete the Obedience That Becomes Our Righteousness
  12. To Take Away Our Condemnation
  13. To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis of Salvation
  14. To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful
  15. To Make Us Holy, Blameless and Perfect
  16. To Give Us a Clear Conscience
  17. To Obtain for Us All Things That Are Good for Us
  18. To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness
  19. To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him
  20. To Deliver Us From the Present Evil Age
  21. To Reconcile Us to God
  22. To Bring Us to God
  23. So That We Might Belong to Him
  24. To Give Us Confident Access to the Holiest Place
  25. To Become for Us the Place Where We Meet God
  26. To Bring the Old Testament Priesthood to an End
  27. To Become a Sympathetic and Helpful Priest
  28. To Free Us From the Futility of Our Ancestry
  29. To Free Us From the Slavery of Sin
  30. That We Might Die to Sin and Live to Righteousness
  31. So That We Would Die to the Law and Bear Fruit for God
  32. To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves
  33. To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting
  34. To Enable Us to Live by Faith in Him
  35. To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning
  36. To Create a People Passionate for Good Works
  37. To Call Us to Follow His Example of Lowliness
  38. To Create a Band of Crucified Followers
  39. To Free Us from Bondage to the Fear of Death
  40. So That We Would Be With Him Immediately After Death
  41. To Secure Our Resurrection From the Dead
  42. To Disarm the Rulers and Authorities
  43. To Unleash the Power of God in the Gospel
  44. To Destroy the Hostility Between Races
  45. To Ransom People From Every Tribe and Language
  46. To Gather All His Sheep From Around the World
  47. To Rescue Us From Final Judgment
  48. To Gain His Joy and Ours
  49. So That He Would Be Crowned With Glory and Honor
  50. To Show That the Worst Evil Is Meant by God for Good

Source: 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper

J.I. Packer: The Cross and the Destiny of Those Who Reject God

/ Andrew / 1 Comment
kristopher-roller-499300-unsplash

J.I. Packer writes these sobering words of those who reject God:

Universalists suppose that the class of people mentioned in this heading will ultimately have no members, but the Bible indicates otherwise. Decisions made in this life will have eternal consequences. “Do not be deceived” (as you would be if you listened to the universalists), “God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Gal 6:7). Those who in this life reject God will forever be rejected by God. Universalism is the doctrine that, among others, Judas will be saved, but Jesus did not think he would. “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born” (Mk 14:21) How could Jesus have spoken those last words if he had expected Judas finally to be saved?

Some, then face an eternity of rejectedness. How can we understand what they will bring on themselves? We cannot, of course, form an adequate notion of hell, any more than we can of heaven, and no doubt it is good for us that this is so; but perhaps the clearest notion we can form is that derived from contemplating the cross.

On the cross, God judged our sins in the person of his Son, and Jesus endured the retributive comeback of our wrongdoing. Look at the cross, therefore, and you see what form God’s judicial reaction to human sin will finally take. What form is that? In a word, withdrawal and deprivation of good. On the cross Jesus lost all the good that he had before: all sense of his Father’s presence and love, all sense of physical, mental and spiritual well-being, all enjoyment of God and of created things, all ease and solace of friendship, were taken from him, and in their place was nothing but loneliness, pain, a killing sense of human malice and callousness, and a horror of great spiritual darkness.

The physical pain, though great (for crucifixion remains the cruelest form of judicial execution that the world has ever known), was yet only a small part of the story; Jesus’ chief sufferings were mental and spiritual, and what was packed into less than four hundred minutes was an eternity of agony – agony such that each minute was an eternity in itself, as mental sufferers know that individual minutes can be.

So, too, those who reject God face the prospect of losing all good, and the best way to form an idea of eternal death is to dwell on this thought. In ordinary life, we never notice how much good we enjoy through God’s common grace till it is taken from us. We never value health, or steady circumstances, or friendship and respect from others, as we should till we have lost them. Calvary shows that under the final judgment of God nothing that one has valued, or could value, nothing that one can call good, remains to one. It is a terrible thought, but the reality, we may be sure, is more terrible yet. “It would be better for him if he had not been born.” God help us learn this lesson, which the spectacle of propitiation through penal substitution on the cross teaches so clearly; and may each of us be found in Christ, our sins covered by his blood, at the last.

(J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pp. 194-195)

Two Ways to Appear Before the Judgment Seat of Christ

/ Andrew / Leave a comment

oliver-roos-571292-unsplash

The following excerpt is taken from A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life by Joel Beeke and Mark Jones. In Chapter 49, “Thomas Manton on the Judgment according to Works,” the authors summarize Manton’s excellent comparison of the two states people will be in at the final judgment.

As judge, Christ will be a TERROR to those who have…

(1) despised God’s kingdom (Luke 19:27)

(2) refused God’s grace (Psalm 81:11)

(3) despised God’s benefits (Heb. 2:3)

(4) abused His grace and turned to lasciviousness (Jude 4)

(5) broken His commandments (John 15:10)

(6) questioned the truth of God’s promises (2 Peter 3-4)

(7) perverted God’s ordinances (Matthew 24:48-51)

Christ as judge will be a COMFORT to those who have:

(1) believed Christ’s doctrine (John 11:25)

(2) loved Christ (Ephesians 6:24; 1 Corinthians 16:22)

(3) warred against Christ’s enemies, the devil, the world, and the flesh (Revelation 3:21)

(4) obeyed His commandments (1 John 2:28)

Believers will be comforted because the judge is their friend, their brother, their high priest, and the one who died for their sins.

The Innkeeper: A Christmas Poem by John Piper

/ Andrew / Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2021-12-12 at 7.52.13 AM

A powerful reading by John Piper of his Christmas poem, The Innkeeper. Reading it might make a great Christmas tradition for your family.

J.C. Ryle: Watch and Pray

/ Andrew / 2 Comments

I’ve often pondered what Christ meant when he called us to be watchful. What is the difference between the Christian who is watching and the Christian who isn’t watching? I’ve found great help from J.C. Ryle. Over a hundred years ago, he provided great wisdom on how to watch and keep ourselves in a state of readiness for Christ’s return.

Here are Ryle’s words in their entirety:

I exhort you to watch against everything which might interfere with a readiness for Christ’s appearing. Search your own hearts. Find out the things which most frequently interrupt your communion with Christ, and cause fogs to rise between you and the sun. Mark these things, and know them, and against them ever watch and be on your guard.

Watch against SIN of every kind and description. Think not to say of any sin whatever, “Ah! that is one of the things that I shall never do.” I tell you there is no possible sin too abominable, for the very best of us all to commit! Remember David and Uriah. The spirit may be sometimes very willing — but the flesh is always very weak. You are yet in the body. Watch and pray!

Watch against doubts and unbelief as to the complete acceptance of your soul, if you are a believer in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus finished the work He came to do — do not tell Him that He did not. The Lord Jesus paid your debts in full — do not tell Him that you think He left you to pay part. The Lord Jesus promises eternal life to every sinner that comes to Him — do not tell Him, even while you are coming, that you think He lies. Alas, for our unbelief! In Christ you are like Noah in the ark, and Lot in Zoar — nothing can harm you. The earth may be burned up with fire at the Lord’s appearing — but not a hair of your head shall perish. Doubt it not. Pray for more faith. Watch and pray!

Watch against inconsistency of walk — and conformity to the world. Watch against sins of temper and of tongue. These are the kind of things that grieve the Spirit of God, and make His witness within us faint and low. Watch and pray!

Watch against the leaven of false doctrine. Remember that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light. Remember that bad money is never marked bad — or else it would never pass. Be very jealous for the whole truth as it is in Jesus. Do not put up with a grain of error — merely for the sake of a pound of truth. Do not tolerate a little false doctrine — one bit more than you would a little sin. Oh, reader, remember this caution! Watch and pray!

Watch against slothfulness about the Bible and private prayer. There is nothing so spiritual, but we may at last do it formally. Most backslidings begin in the closet. When a tree is snapped in two by a high wind, we generally find there had been some long hidden decay. Oh, watch and pray!

Watch against bitterness and uncharitableness towards others. A little love is more valuable than many gifts. Be eagle-eyed in seeing the good that is in your brethren — and dim-sighted as the mole about the evil. Let your memory be a strong-box for their graces — but a sieve for their faults. Watch and pray!

Watch against pride and self-conceit. Peter said at first, “Though all men deny You — yet I never will.” And presently he fell. Pride is the high road to a fall. Watch and pray!

Watch against the sins of Galatia, Ephesus, and Laodicea. Believers may run well for a season, then lose their first love, and then become lukewarm. Watch and pray!

Watch not least against the sin of Jehu. A man may have great zeal to all appearance — and yet have very bad motives. It is a much easier thing to oppose Antichrist — than to follow Christ. It is one thing to protest against error — it is quite another thing to love the truth. So watch and pray!

Oh, my believing readers, let us all watch more than we have done! Let us watch more every year that we live. Let us watch, that we may not be surprised when the Lord appears.

Let us watch for the world’s sake. We are the books they chiefly read. They mark our ways, far more than we think. Let us aim to be plainly-written epistles of Christ!

Let us watch for our own sakes. As our walk is — so will be our peace. As our conformity to Christ’s mind — so will be our sense of Christ’s atoning blood. If a man will not walk in the full light of the sun, how can he expect to be warm?

And, above all, let us watch for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake. Let us live as if His glory was concerned in our behavior. Let us live as if every slip and fall was a reflection on the honor of our King. Let us live as if every allowed sin, was . . .
one more thorn in His head,
one more nail in His feet,
one more spear in His side!

Oh, let us exercise a godly jealousy over thoughts, words, and actions — over motives, manners, and walk! Never, never let us fear being too strict. Never, never let us think we can watch too much. 

(Are You Ready for the End of Time? J.C. Ryle)

On the night our Lord was betrayed, He asked his disciples three times to watch and pray and each time they fell asleep (Matt. 26). And consequently, they weren’t ready for what was coming upon them. They failed Christ in His greatest hour of need.

Likewise, Jesus calls us to “stay awake” and watch for His return. Let this be a mark of true Christians in our time, that we are watchful and prayerful. May the Lord find us finishing the work He’s given us to do with hearts burning, “Come Lord Jesus!”

Spurgeon: Ready for the Return of Christ

/ Andrew / 2 Comments

C.H. Spurgeon describes how two groups of people will expereince the return of Christ.

But who can endure the day of his coming . . . ?  (Malachi 3:2)

Christ’s first coming was without external pomp or display of power, and yet in truth there were few who could endure its test. Herod and all Jerusalem with him were stirred at the news of the wondrous birth. Those who supposed themselves to be waiting for Him showed the fallacy of their professions by rejecting Him when He came. His life on earth was like a winnowing fan that sifted the great heap of religious profession, and only a few could survive the process. But what will His second coming be? What sinner can endure to think of it? “He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked” (Isaiah 11:4). In Gethsemane when He said to the soldiers, “I am he,” they fell backward. What will happen to His enemies when He will reveal Himself more fully as the “I Am”? His death shook earth and darkened heaven. What will be the dreadful splendor of that day when as the living Savior He will summon the living and the dead before Him? O that the terrors of the Lord would persuade men to forsake their sins and kiss the Son in case He is angry! Though a lamb, He is still the lion of the tribe of Judah, tearing the prey in pieces; and though He does not break the bruised reed, yet He will break His enemies with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. None of His foes shall stand before the tempest of His wrath or hide themselves from the sweeping hail of His indignation. But His beloved blood-washed people look for His appearing with joy; in this living hope they live without fear. To them He sits as a refiner even now, and when He has tested them they shall come forth as gold. Let us examine ourselves this morning and make our calling and election sure, so that the coming of the Lord may not be the cause of fearful expectations. O for grace to discard all hypocrisy, and to be found of Him sincere and without rebuke on the day of His appearing.

(Morning by Morning, Spurgeon, 10/15)

J.C. Ryle on Growing in Holiness

/ Andrew / 1 Comment

ben-white-128608-unsplash

“A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. He will not only live the life of faith in Him, and draw from Him all his daily peace and strength, but he will also labour to have the mind that was in Him, and to be “conformed to His image.” (Rom. 8:29). It will be his aim to bear with and forgive others, even as Christ forgave us – to be unselfish, even as Christ pleased not Himself – to walk in love, even as Christ loved us – to be lowly minded and humble, even as Christ made Himself of no reputation and humbled Himself. He will remember that Christ was a faithful witness for the truth – that He came not to do His own will – that it was His meat and drink to do His Father’s will – that He would continually deny Himself in order to minister to others – that He was meek and patient under undeserved insults – that He thought more of godly poor men than of kings – that He was full of love and compassion to sinners – that He was bold and uncompromising in denouncing sin – that He sought not the praise of men, when He might have had it – that He went about doing good – that He was separate from worldly people – that He continued instant in prayer – that He would not let even His nearest relations stand in His way when God’s work was to be done. These things a holy man will try to remember. By them he will endeavour to shape his course in life. He will lay to heart the saying of John, “He that saith he abideth in Christ ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6); and the saying of Peter, that “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps.” (1 Peter 2:21). Happy is he who has learned to make Christ his “all,” both for salvation and example! Much time would be saved, and much sin prevented, if men would oftener ask themselves the question, ‘What would Christ have said and done, if He were in my place?'”

(J.C. Ryle, Holiness)