Cheap Grace

If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness." -C.H. SPURGEON

What Delights God...

Obedience--1 Samuel 15:22
Integrity--1 Chronicles 29:17
His Sons--Proverbs 3:12
Honesty--Proverbs 11:1
Blamlessness--Proverbs 11:20
Telling the truth--Proverbs 12:22
The prayer of the upright--Proverbs 15:8
Doing what is right and just--Proverbs 21:3
Kindness, justice and righteousness--Jeremiah 9:24
Mercy, acknowledgement of God--Hosea 6:6; Micah 7:18
Sacrificial monetary giving--Philippians 4:18
Taking care of one's family--1 Timothy 5:4
An undivided heart--2 Timothy 2:4
Faith--Hebrews 11:6
Doing good, sharing with others--Hebrews 13:16
Suffering for doing good--1 Peter 2:20
God does not delight in burnt offerings--Psalm 51:16
Not in the physical strength of a man--Psalm 147:10
Not in those controlled by the sinful nature--Romans 8:8
Not in those who pass judgement on one another--Romans 14:13-18

Purposeful Sin

When we become believers in Jesus Christ, we are justified by the work of God in the death and resurrection of Christ. Our sins are paid for and the righteous sinless life Christ lived is credited to us. We are sanctified by the Spirit of Christ during our remaining life on earth. This is progressive but not completed until we are with God (Phil 1:6). Because of the flesh, it is impossible to completely cease from our sinning (Rom 3:23, 1 John 1:8,9). However, we are called to be holy, as God is holy (Lev 11:44). Thus sanctification, being conformed to the image of Christ, is empowered by God but requires our cooperation.

Sin in our lives can be of two forms(Num 15:22-31): what I would call accidental sin and what I would call purposeful sin. Accidental sin would be sin done in ignorance (ie not knowing that an action is a violation against God) or sin done without forethought (eg hitting one's thumb with a hammer and uttering an expletive). Purposeful sin would be any sin done with forethought either in passive defiance (an example would be knowing God wants me to do something yet refusing to do it) or open or active defiance to God's will. Our inability to stop sinning because of the flesh pertains to accidental sin and continued purposeful sin in our lives is a manifestation of either blatant disobedience, ignorance or unbelief.

God cannot tolerate sin and hates evil. I have been convicted of late that I have rationalized my sin by categorizing it as less severe and therefore not important and allowable. Things like speeding, having an extra glass of wine, and giving too much importance to exercise and sleep have persisted in my life despite my knowledge of God's hatred for sin. What does this mean? If Christ is my Lord, I should be submitting to him in all things. I should not be persisting in purposeful sin. Sure, I will mess up at times, accidently, but Jesus wants all of me. Submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ requires a ruthless pursuit of holiness. We must be killing sin, or it will be killing us (John Owen, Mathew Henry. Rom 8:13). Tolerating purposeful sin in my life as at best a grievous insult to God and at worst a manifestation of unbelief. As James said, even the demons believe, but they don't acknowledge and submit to God as Lord (James 2:19).

The ultimate question posed by Jerry Bridges in The Pursuit of Holiness:

Will you decide to obery God in all areas of life, however insignificant the issue may be?



See also this post http://sm--blog.blogspot.com/2008/07/saving-faith.html

A Prayer

I have been praying through a "prayer schedule" I got from a friend. It has been a great blessing to me, and I think God is beginning to change me in the ways requested. He has a lot of work to do, but I am excited and enthusiastic regarding God and his love for me.

Basically, I have been praying daily the following four verses (IOUS):

Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from worthless things and give me life in your ways. Ps. 119:36,37

Open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things in your law. Ps. 119:18

Teach me your ways that I may walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. Ps. 90:14

Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love that I may rejoice and be glad all of my days. Ps. 86:11

Encouragement

Psalm 48:14:

For that is what God is like.
He is our God forever and ever,
and he will guide us until we die.

Psalm 46:1-3:

God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters

Psalm 43:5:

Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!

Psalm 47:1-2:

Come, everyone! Clap your hands!
Shout to God with joyful praise!
For the Lord Most High is awesome.
He is the great King of all the earth.

Time With God

It's easy for me to get angry at people for their actions. It's not something I am proud to admit. Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit of God and lacking patience says something about me. I have been tired and frustrated with work of late, feeling overwhelmed. Discontentment has been creeping into my attitude and coloring my life and relationships. The seeds of my perspective were sown more than a month ago when I started spending a lot less time with God. Slowly, since then, I have drifted more and more into the world and more and more into dissatisfaction. Funny how that happens. Like it says in Ecclesiastes, life (without God) is meaningless. But, in Christ, I have so much to be grateful for. The last two weeks I have been spending a lot more time in the morning and at night with God. And, I have found the joy, peace and satisfaction in him that can be found no where else. My impatience is beginning to wilt. My worldliness is waning. O Lord, that I may look to you all of my days for my satisfaction. May I turn my eyes away from worthless things. Give me an undivided heart for you that I may reverence your name in all things. Let me guard my time with you ruthlessly that I may not drift away.

Lord of All

Jesus must be Lord of all or he will not be Lord at all in our lives.

A.W. Pink

A Disciple

The words of Jesus regarding the prerequisites of being his disciple:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27

Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33

Psalm 73:23-26

Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

_____________________-

Father thank you!!

βίος

2 Timothy 2:4: No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.

Paul describes the believer as one who is a "soldier" for Christ. (Christ is our commanding officer). The soldier doesn't get involved in civilian affairs. He dedicates himself to the commands and wishes of his commander. So, what are civilian affairs? It's interesting that the greek word translated to civilian affairs is bios which means daily life or existence day to day. So, Paul is saying have a weak hold on the things of earthly life. Abandon all that is worldly for the wishes of Jesus. To allow Christ to be my Lord, I must hold loosely to all things temporal and spontaneously respond immediately to all Christ's directives.

I Believe in You

They ask me how I feel
And if my love is real
And how I know I'll make it through
And they, they look at me and frown
They'd like to drive me from this town
They don't want me around
'Cause I believe in you.

They show me to the door
They say don't come back no more
'Cause I don't be like they'd like me to
And I, I walk out on my own
A thousand miles from home
But I don't feel alone
'Cause I believe in you.

I believe in you even through the tears and the laughter
I believe in you even though we be apart
I believe in you even on the morning after
Oh, when the dawn is nearing
Oh, when the night is disappearing
Oh, this feeling is still here in my heart.

Don't let me drift too far
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed
And that which you've given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you.

I believe in you when winter turn to summer
I believe in you when white turn to black
I believe in you even though I be outnumbered
Oh, though the earth may shake me
Oh, though my friends forsake me
Oh, even that couldn't make me go back.

Don't let me change my heart
Keep me set apart
From all the plans they do pursue
And I, I don't mind the pain
Don't mind the driving rain
I know I will sustain
'Cause I believe in you.

I Believe in You, Bob Dylan

Saving Faith

Saving faith, then is the opposite of damning unbelief. Both issue from the heart: unbelief, from a heart that is alienated from God, which is in a state of rebellion against Him; saving faith, from a heart which is reconciled to Him and so has ceased to fight against Him. Thus, an essential element or ingredient in saving faith is a yielding to the authority of God, a submitting of myself to His rule. It is very much more than my understanding assenting and my will consenting to the fact that Christ is a Savior for sinners, and that He stands ready to receive all who trust in Him. To be received by Christ, I must not only come to Him renouncing all my own righteousness (Romans 10:3), as an empty-handed beggar (Matthew 19:21), but I must also forsake my self-will and rebellion against Him (Psalm 2:11,12; Proverbs 28:13). Should an insurrectionist and seditionist come to an earthly king seeking his sovereign favor and pardon, then, obviously, the very law of his coming to him for forgiveness, requires that he should come on his knees, laying aside his hostility. So it is with a sinner who really comes savingly to Christ for pardon; it is against the law of faith to do otherwise.

Saving faith is a genuine coming to Christ: Matthew 28; John 6:37, etc. But let us take care that we do not miss the clear and inevitable implication of this term. If I say, "I came to the U.S.A.," then I necessarily indicate that I left some other country to get here. Thus it is in "coming" to Christ: something has to be left. Coming to Christ not only involves the abandoning of every false object of confidence, but it also includes and entails the forsaking of all other competitors for my heart. "For ye were ‘as sheep going astray;’ but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" (1 Peter 2:25). And what is meant by "ye were (note the past tense—they are no longer so doing) as sheep going astray"? Isaiah 53:6 tells us: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." Ah, that is what must be forsaken before we can truly "come" to Christ—that course of self-will must be abandoned. The prodigal son could not come to his father while he remained in the far country.

Dear reader, if you are still following a course of self-pleasing, you are only deceiving yourself if you think you have come to Christ.
Nor is the brief definition which we have given above, of what it means to really "come" to Christ, any forced or novel one of our own. In his book, Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, John Bunyan wrote: "Coming to Christ is attended with an honest and sincere forsaking all for Him—(here he quotes Luke 14:26,27). By these and like expressions elsewhere, Christ describeth the true comer: he is one that casteth all behind his back. There are a great many pretended comers to Jesus Christ in the world. They are much like the man you read of in Matthew 21:30 that said to his father’s bidding, ‘I go sir, and went not.’ When Christ calls by His Gospel, they say, ‘I come, Sir,’ but they still abide by their pleasures and carnal delights." C.H. Spurgeon in his sermon on John 6:44 said, "Coming to Christ embraces in it repentance, self-abnegation, and faith in the Lord Jesus, and so sums within itself all those things which are the necessary attendants of those great steps of heart, such as the belief of the truth, earnest prayers to God, the submission of the soul to the precepts of His Gospel." In his sermon on John 6:37, he says, "To come to Christ signifies to turn from sin and to trust in Him. Coming to Christ is a leaving of all false confidences, a renouncing of all love to sin, and a looking to Jesus as the solitary pillar of our confidence and hope."

Saving faith consists of the complete surrender of my whole being and life to the claims of God upon me:
"But first gave their own selves to the Lord" (2 Corinthians 8:5).

It is the unreserved acceptance of Christ as my absolute Lord, bowing to His will and receiving His yoke. Possibly someone may object, Then why are Christians exhorted as they are in Romans 12:1? We answer, all such exhortations are simply a calling on them to continue as they began:
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).

Yes, mark it well, that Christ is "received" as LORD. O how far, far below the N.T. standard is this modern way of begging sinners to receive Christ as their own personal "Savior." If the reader will consult his concordance he will find that in every passage where the two titles are found together, it is always "Lord and Savior," and never vice versa: see Luke 1:46, 47; 2 Peter 1:11; 2:20; 3:18.

Until the ungodly are sensible of the exceeding sinfulness of their vile course of self-will and self-pleasing, until they are genuinely broken down and penitent over it before God, until they are willing to forsake the world for Christ, until they have resolved to come under His government—for such to depend upon Him for pardon and life is not faith, but blatant presumption; it is but to add insult to injury. And for one such to take His holy name upon his polluted lips and profess to be His follower, is the most terrible blasphemy, and comes perilously nigh to committing that sin for which there is no forgiveness. Alas, alas, that modern evangelism is encouraging and producing just such hideous and Christ-dishonoring monstrosities.

Saving faith is a believing on Christ with the heart:
"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness" (Romans 10:9,10).

There is no such thing as a saving faith in Christ where there is no real love for Him, and by "real love," we mean a love which is evidenced by obedience. Christ acknowledges none to be His friends save those who do whatsoever He commands them (John 15:14). As unbelief is a species of rebellion, so saving faith is a complete subjection to God: hence we read of "faith obedience" (Romans 16:26). Saving faith is to the soul what health is to the body: it is a mighty principle of operation, full of life, ever working, bringing forth fruit after its own kind.

From Studies on Saving Faith by A. W. Pink
http://www.reformed.org/books/pink/saving_faith/

Thoughts on Justification and Faith

I had a meeting at church this morning that was a discussion on the justification of believers by God through Christ's work in his death and resurrection. Believers are justified by faith. Our sins are paid for, and we are credited with Christ's righteousness...his sinlessness and his complete obedience and faithfulness. God sees us as his children, spotless like Jesus. An amazing thing. I am completely unworthy, as are all human beings. This justification occurs when we believe God, specifically what he says about the substitutionary atonement in Christ's life. Just as Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, so it is with the believer today (Genesis 15). This justification occurs at the ititial acceptance of Jesus as our savior and remains intact for eternity. It is not dependent on our actions. During this discussion, my thinking drifted to the ebb and flow of my faith over time. There are days I struggle and wonder if I really believe. This is very disturbing to me but frequently it is short lived, often replaced through the struggle with a fire in my belly for God. We talked about faith being manifested in our actions just as a 3 year old girl jumps from the pool side to her waiting father's arms, because she believes he will catch her. She is afraid but jumps anyway, because she has faith in her father. Actions relating to God in this way bring us assurance of our faith particularly if done in obedience to a command of God (John 14:21). As I thought about things, it became clear to me that concern over whether I have faith in God is actually a manifestation of having faith in God. In other words, I would not be concerned about my faith if I didn't believe because it wouldn't matter to me. Praise be to all mighty God for reassurance today and for his great gift of justification to those who believe what he says.

Spontaneity

If Jesus Christ is Lord of my life, I must be willing to change my plans at a moments notice for his glory. Anger or dissatisfaction with interuptions to my agenda are often manifestations of my lack of submission to the will of the God.

The Sifting of Peter

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." (Luke 22:31, Jesus speaking).

Observations:
1) To sift in this instance is to try. Peter being the wheat and Satan shaking the sieve trying to cause that which is false to drop through the screen and become lost. Satan's hope (I speculate) is to show Peter as an apostate or to render him ineffective.
2) Note that, similar to Job's case, Satan must ask God to sift Peter.
3) God in this case allows Peter to be tried by Satan. By inference then there maybe times when God allows us to be sifted.
4) Note Jesus's intercession on Peter's behalf. He in the same way intercedes for us who believe (Heb 7:25, Isa 53:12).
5) Peter in his first letter speaks of the testing of a believers faith (after experiencing Satan's trial.) 1 Peter 1:6,7: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Testing our faith can result in praise, glory and honor and strengthening of those around us.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

The below was written by the prophet Isaiah around 700 B.C. about the coming messiah Jesus.

Chapter 52
13 See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so will he sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Chapter 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous
servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Observations:
1) Jesus is revealed in the old testament.

2) Jesus is described as:
disfigured, marred, despised, rejected, suffering, a man of sorrows, stricken, smitten, afflicted, crushed, opressed, cut off, pierced, silent in suffering, exalted and satisfied. Not what we might expect.

3) The purpose of Jesus's coming to earth is revealed:
-sprinkle many nations
-take up our infirmities
-carry our sorrows
-heal our wounds
-bring us peace
-carry our iniquities
-be a guilt offering
-justify many
-bear the sin of many and make intercession for the transgressors.

Question:
What difference does this information make to you?


The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Is 53:1-54:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Elijah's Lament.

1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraida and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

The Lord Appears to Elijah
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”

a Or Elijah saw
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (1 Ki 19:1-18). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Observations:
1) A believer in God (Elijah) can become depressed about his situation on earth.
2) Elijah is frustrated with the lack of evidence of faith in those around him, the lack of evidence of fruit in his ministry and the persecution he is experiencing. We may experience the same frustration.
3) Physical hunger and fatigue exacerbated Elijah's frustration. We should note this.
4) Note God's response to Elijah. He first allows him to rest and to eat. He then reveals himself in a new way to Elijah and finally directs him to his future actions. God is so merciful. He doesn't get angry with Elijah. He doesn't reprimand him. He supplies his physical needs, reveals himself and then gets him thinking by asking him a question.

A bruised reed, he will not break. A smoldering wick, he will not snuff out.

2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15.

--do your best: spoudazo: to make effort; be diligent; endeavor, labor, study. This implies strenuous persistent action on our part.

--approved: dokimos: acceptable. We are acceptable before God because of the shed blood of Christ, the atonement for the sins of those who believe, but this implies we should strive in our own activity to please God. This means knowing and obeying His commands.

--workman: ergates: toiler, laborer, worker. One who is engaged in the activities God commands.

--correctly handles: rightly divides in KJV: othotomeo: make a straight cut; dissect. Not just reading the word but studying it, understanding it and applying it.

Observations:
1) We are to strive to please God. This is active and energy requiring.
2) We can only please God if we know what he commands and/or delights him.
3) Knowing the scripture is the only way we can understand what God delights in and commands.
4) Rightly dividing scripture requires us to know the scripture as a whole (as each passage should be interpreted in light of all the others) and requires close communion with God (as revelation from the Holy Spirit is necessary for understanding and application).

Resources.

"Many Christians estimate difficulties in light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt. All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on his power and presence being with them."
--Hudson Taylor

Restrictions.

Love God, and do what you want.
--Augustine