WORLDLY SAINTS...being salt and light in a pagan society

Let us press on then, beloved, to see how the Lord gave Paul clear instruction for young Titus facing a difficult culture and society on the island of Crete. The Apostle Paul answers the Evangelical Co-Belligerent dilemma completely in Titus 3:1-8. Four key things he instructs Christians learning to live in a pagan society: 1. recognize your duty; 2. remember your depravity; 3. rejoice in your deliverance; and 4. render good deeds.

1. Recognize Your Duty
Paul says in Titus 3:1-2, Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.

Notice here that the Apostle is calling for believers on this very troubled and immoral island of Crete to honor those in authority over them. Listen to how he describes their culture: “who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:11-16).

Their culture was full of false teachers propagating philosophies for money—destroying families; they were liars, evil beasts (in other words, slaves of depraved instincts) and lazy gluttons. They turned aside from the truth of God’s Word to myths and the commandments of men; their minds and conscience were defiled (tested, tried and found useless); they deny the Lord by their evil deeds; are detestable and disobedient—worthless of any good work. Even a form of “terrorism” was present; pagan gods abounded; evil was rampant in the streets; and sexual immorality was unbridled. This was a very corrupt and morally destitute place.

What does Paul offer as a solution to Crete’s unrestrained lasciviousness? Picket them? Boycott them? Try to bring a surface cultural spiritual morality through the political powers that be? No. He encourages Titus to do the unthinkable: evangelize! Bring them the transforming power of the gospel (Titus 2:11-13); call them back to sound doctrine refuting those who contradict (Titus 1:9); and live the transformed life in the marketplace of paganism (Titus 3:1-8). No political legislation could turn back the tide of moral decay; no governmental body would change the human heart and make it pure; no co-belligerent rally around even the most noble of social causes could add one drop of righteousness to please God and regenerate sinful mankind to new life—to moral rightness. Paul would never stoop to such trivial means as these in the struggle for the soul. He only took the spiritual weapons of prayer, the Word, the gospel, and the testimony of righteousness lived out by genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In short, only through life conversion through Christ Jesus the Lord can there be any real morality whether you reside on Crete, in Corinth, under Nero, in Washington D.C., in Wheaton, in Nashville or even in Colorado Springs. The new life in Christ evidenced by a new way of living is the “salt and light” that impacts our communities and brings glory to God (Matthew 5:13-20).

the Biblical imperative
Paul desires Titus, “[his] true child in the common faith”, to “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1); “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:7-8); to be dedicated to “the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness” (Titus 1:1b); and that he “would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you” (Titus 1:5).

And how does this transformed life manifest itself? Paul begins precisely at the crossroads of where church and culture find themselves today—in the arena of government—living under God’s appointed authority (Romans 13:1-2).

The Apostle Paul begins by saying, be subject to rulers, to authorities. He is speaking here of magistrates; governments and its leadership. He is encouraging submission to the governing authorities as a sign of their salvation (Titus 2:11-13). They were in danger of forgetting their duty, though knowing it. They were prone to disregard what is a basic principle in Christianity—submission. And here the Apostle says to be submissive to the powers that be—and even if those authorities are ungodly (cp, 1 Peter 2:11-17). Cretans were marked by what Diodorus Siculus calls a “riotous insubordination”—not a comfortable or easy place to live for the Lord. The Christian was not to be identified as being insubordinate to those whom God had sovereignly placed in society to restrain evil and keep societal order—but to be known for being submissive.

The fruit of that submissive will manifested itself by being obedient, ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to peaceable, gentle and showing consideration to all men. He is describing the fruit of real regeneration in how they are to live their lives in a culture that is adverse to the gospel and to Christ. All of these qualities are in direct response to the political authorities over them. Be obedient to them—that is, in all that is not contrary to the Word of God; ready for every good deed, willingly, in response to the magistrates, the governing laws and all that is good—beneficial in society; to malign no one – not speaking evil of others, especially of those in authority over you is prohibited. Peaceable, not a brawler, quarrelsome, not attacking others or being contentious; but in stark contrast be peaceable (not being a political agitator, (cp, 1 Peter 4:15). Showing consideration to all men, in acts, if at all possible, the opposite of passionate severity—demonstrating meekness (having a small opinion of self and a high esteem of God); and this to all people as a witness of the gospel of grace. There is no “selective consideration” in Christianity; it applies to all people equally (cp, Matthew 5:40-48).

One of the ways that submissiveness manifested itself was through being gentle. The word gentle here is very powerful. At face value, people may construe this to mean a soft, introverted, quiet, shy demeanor that is sheepishly easy going. However, that is not the case. Instead, it has a profound meaning, that by God’s grace, should characterize every believer in the Lord. It means: to submit to maltreatment, hardship, persecution; knowing that God is sovereignly in control of your situation; doing acts of kindness to your accusers; free from revenge, malice and retribution. It carries with it the idea of the complete personality of the individual brought into submission to Christ so that you are not demanding your own rights out of desire to get even through retaliation, but to stay in the provocation until the breach is mended. Wow! I don’t know about you, but I surely haven’t even begun to arrive at that quality in my life. No wonder the Apostle Paul says in 2 Cor. 10:1, “…I am mindful of the meekness and gentleness of Christ…” This is my daily prayer for my life—Lord make me a “gentle” man. And this can only be accomplished by God’s grace (cp, Titus 2:12). Living this way in society will make impact for the gospel and the cause of the Lord. Not co-belligerence—but Christlikeness!

2. Remember Your Depravity
What is the motivating factor to surrender your rights, trust in God’s sovereignty purposes and plans, living free from revenge and being able to submit to ungodly governmental authority? Because we were once foolish ourselves.

When unsaved people mistreat or take advantage of us; or are engaged in all kinds of acts of lasciviousness, that should not drive us to disdain or criticize them, but to show empathy for them. Why? Because “we were once foolish ourselves.” Listen to how Paul describes any believer in the Lord before coming to salvation in Christ: we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

We cannot minimize this beloved. This was you and I before we met the Lord. This is our testimony. We were foolish (thoughtless, wicked, living without God), disobedient (to law, to parents, to civil authority, to God), deceived (by the enemy Satan, by false teachers, by our own hearts, by the flattery of others), lustful (indulging corrupt passions and propensities—slaves to…), malicious (in evil intent), envious (displeasure of the prosperity or happiness of others), hateful and hating (our conduct was worthy of the hatred of others; with no real brotherly love or true affection of others).

This is a hopeless condition that all have; worthy only of inheriting hell itself for all eternity (Romans 3:10-18; Ephesians 2:1-3). The Apostle Paul also described the sinfulness of sinful mankind in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 as made up of fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and swindlers. In Galatians chapter 5 he describes human fallenness as engaging itself in immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like that. And to the Ephesians he gives this description, they are futile in their minds, darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, ignorant, hard of heart, callous, sensual, practicing every kind of impurity with greediness.

And in Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul sums up the depraved life we are all conceived into (Psalm 51:5) by saying, “they walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience. They are driven by the lusts of their flesh, the desires of the flesh and of the mind and are by nature the children of wrath.” That is a description of man before he is rescued, before he is saved. I was born in a wonderful Christian family and raised in a very religious town—Wheaton, Il. But even with that evangelical pedigree, I had known a more hellish iniquity than any prostitute that ever walked the evening boulevards; I had a worse sin issue than any heroine addict ever dreamed of having; and I was more trapped in sin than any alcoholic could imagine. What was my transgression against the Lord? I was full of self-righteous religious pride! It’s the worse of all sins, isn’t it? It’s the cocaine of the church; we sell, snort it, and call it “normal” Christianity. It took a profound work of God’s grace to save this wretched man; religion numbed my sin sick soul to the wrathful condition I was truly in. Don’t minimize this. There are millions of people in churches all over America in the same state I was—they are what Matthew Mead calls, “the almost Christian.” They come to church, but have never come to Christ. They love religious things, but have not taken up their cross, denied themselves and followed the Lord. They give Sunday to God, but Monday through Saturday is “their” time. Almost Christians…

Paul completely shatters the notion that good works are sufficient enough to produce salvation for anyone. In order for us to be saved we had to be regenerated, invaded by the grace of our Lord, granted saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No Pope could redeem us; no prayer to Mary could help us; no purgatory could cleanse us; no Treasury of Merit could make us righteous; no mass could propitiate our sin; no saint could pray for us or us to them; no priest could absolve us of our sins (mortal or venial). We were hardened in the clay of our rebellion against a holy God. We were enslaved with various lusts, terribly lost. This is how the Lord found you; this is how He found me.

Therefore, shouldn’t this produce empathy in our lives for those that don’t know Christ? We shouldn’t display attitudes towards unsaved people which are full of self-righteous religious pride; spiritual arrogance; or a Pharisaic condescending manner of “I am glad I am not like that sinner…” This is sadly, though maybe unwitting, the attitude that pervades much of ECBers and especially the tone of FOTF’s attitude toward those they challenge in the marketplace—homosexuals, politicians, abortionists, etc. We should rightly ask the sobering question of FOTF, “How would you all be living if you didn’t know the Lord?” The Apostle Paul gives us sobering words about the unregenerate: “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness” (Romans 6:20). Did you hear that? Unsaved people are free in regards to righteousness before coming to Christ. We should not be accusing an unbelieving world for acting like an unbelieving world; but we should be concerned when Christians are living like an unbelieving world when claiming to know Christ (1 Corinthians 5). That is why church discipline is invaluable for dealing with unrepentant sin and guarding the purity of the church (Matthew 18:15-20; Galatians 6:1-3).

If we have tasted and drank deeply of His grace (1 Peter 2:3) isn’t the natural inclination of our hearts to share that good news with another so that they can be free from their sins and know the sure forgiveness of a living God for eternity rather then condemn them for being faithful to their depravity?

3. Rejoice in Your Deliverance
This is praise and worship to the Lord for the great salvation He has wrought for us. Paul says here, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is one of the richest passages of our great salvation we have in Christ Jesus our Lord found anywhere in all of Scripture. Notice the banner of our salvation surmised in three key words: He saved us… This again is cause for great humility. We couldn’t save ourselves not [even] on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. Our best works, our best religious works are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) sufficient only to damn us to hell, but save us? Never! This is the nail in the coffin of Romanism—of any good works/human achievement system of obtaining favor with God. All our good works, even religious ones, are nothing but rubbish, human excrement compared to knowing Christ Jesus as Lord of our lives by grace through faith alone (cp, Phil. 3:1-8). We were only saved according to His mercy (not our works); by the washing and renewing of the Holy Spirit (not by our merits plus grace or our works plus faith); through Jesus Christ our Savior (not through a surrogate Christ in the Roman Church; or Mary; or Papal infallibility); justified by His grace (not through infused righteousness of works, but through the imputed righteousness of Christ alone) made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (not through the suffering in purgatory to be purged of our sins and then maybe one day will be made good enough to enter glory). We have hope beloved, eternal hope, in the Lord alone!

4. Render Good Deeds
What is the Christian’s responsibility in a pagan society? How are we to live? What does the Lord require of His people? Paul doesn’t say, “Organize, boycott, picket and petition against sinful, immoral, cultural moorings. Make sure you politically align yourselves with the right conservative constituency so that you can create a good and pure social goodness for your fellow man to ward off the wayward indulgences of a liberal society.” Nonsense! Here is what the Apostle calls, a “trustworthy statement”: This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. The trustworthy statement is what has been stated in verses 4-7—the great doctrine concerning our salvation. Paul is saying that it is the highest of importance; entirely worthy of belief; and is God’s gratuitous gift to us. This is what the Holy Spirit places as a priority to what should occupy our speech; our emphasis in message is the gospel of Christ. Concerning these things I want you to speak confidently… This is what the gospel produces and what we are to declare with confidence—that it leads people to holy living. No wonder he commands us all to be careful to engage in good deeds. Good deeds is all that is holy, true, honest, upright and good—the fruit of regeneration in our sanctification. We are to render works concomitant with our salvation. This is good and profitable for men. Is there anything sweeter, more joyous or hopeful to the ears of sinful man than forgiveness and peace before a holy righteous God is possible through our Lord Jesus Christ?

Jesus Is the Answer
This is how we are to live in a pagan society. Not in prideful arrogance, battling the powers that be to insure our religious rights or produce the veneer of morality absent of Christ; but in submissiveness to all authorities for they are ministers of God. We are not to live in prideful self-righteousness forgetting the depth of depravity we have been saved from. The world does not need to hear our scorn over their immorality or wayward living. They need to hear the good news of the gospel of grace; they need to hear of Christ and Him crucified; they need to hear of repentance from sin and eternal life through faith in Christ alone. And lastly, as we rejoice in our deliverance from sin, we should always remember that it was He who saved us and not we ourselves. Again, this should give us a burden to call others to salvation—not to a political civil cultural form of Pharisaic righteous morality.

Political reform, Evangelical Co-Belligerence, moral rightness, culture of life is nothing but the crumbs off the “rich man’s c0-belligerent” table to the hurting Lazarus’s of this world. They can offer no hope, no peace, no promise of life, no genuine morality, no impact on society. It is the message of pubescent believers who are either ashamed of the gospel; who’ve lost their confidence in the gospel; or have an integrated view of “culture plus Christ” that is unbiblical at its core values.

The secret longing of all God’s creatures is how to have peace with God; and the great work of the church is to bring that “good news” of the gospel to all, urging all men everywhere to repent from their sin and turn to Christ to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. God is sovereign over all earthly governments beloved. May we each dedicate ourselves afresh to do the work of the gospel and in doing so you will love our neighbor as our Lord Jesus Christ has intended.

As the Day draws near,
Steve
2 Cor. 4:5-7

HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM READING YOUR BIBLE...by Thomas Watson

I think that getting the most out of studying and reading the Bible is a subject always near to God's people. This was David's prayer in Psalm 119:18 when he said, "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law." Not content with just surface knowledge, the once shepherd boy knew that God must draw the veil from his eyes so that he could behold the vast treasures of His Word.

As Spurgeon says,

"The prayer implies a conscious darkness, a dimness of spiritual vision, a powerlessness to remove that defect, and a full assurance that God can remove it. It shows also that the writer knew that there were vast treasures in the word which he had not yet fully seen, marvels which he had not yet beheld, mysteries which he had scarcely believed. The Scriptures teem with marvels; the Bible is wonder land; it not only relates miracles, but it is itself a world of wonders. Yet what are these to closed eyes? And what man can open his own eyes, since he is born blind? God himself must reveal revelation to each heart. Scripture needs opening, but not one half so much as our eyes do: the veil is not on the book, but on our hearts. What perfect precepts, what precious promises, what priceless privileges are neglected by us because we wander among them like blind men among the beauties of nature, and they are to us as a landscape shrouded in darkness!"

Thomas Watson gives some very practical steps to get the most out of our time in God's Word each day. It has been a strength to my own heart--I trust it will be with yours as well.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Steve
Psalm 110:54

Biographical Note THOMAS WATSON (c.1620-1686), was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was noted for remarkably hard study. In 1646 he was commenced a sixteen year pastorate at St. Stephen's Walbrook. In 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love's plot to recall Charles II. He was released on 30th June,1652, and was formally reinstated vicar of St. Stephen's Walbrook. He obtained great fame and popularity as preacher until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Notwithstanding the rigor of the acts against dissenters, Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately as he found opportunity. Upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license for the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health gave way, and he retired to Barnston in Essex, where he died suddenly while praying in secret. He was buried on 28th July , 1686.


1. Remove hindrances. (a) remove the love of every sin (b) remove the distracting concerns of this world, especially covetousness [Matt. 13:22] (c) Don't make jokes with and out of Scripture.

2. Prepare your heart. [1 Sam. 7:3] Do this by: (a) collecting your thoughts (b) purging unclean affections and desires (c) not coming to it rashly or carelessly.

3. Read it with reverence, considering that each line is God speaking directly to you (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Psalm 19:7-11).

4. Read the books of the Bible in order.

5. Get a true understanding of Scripture. [Ps. 119:73] This is best achieved by comparing relevant parts of Scripture with each other.

6. Read with seriousness. [Deut. 32:47] The Christian life is to be taken seriously since it requires striving [Luke 13:24] and not falling short [Heb. 4:1].

7. Persevere in remembering what you read. [Ps. 119:52] Don't let it be stolen from you [Matt. 13:4,19]. If it doesn't stay in your memory it is unlikely to be much benefit to you.

8. Meditate on what you read. [Ps. 119:15] The Hebrew word for meditate' means to be intense in the mind'. Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless. It means to stir the affections, to be warmed by the fire of meditation [Ps. 39:3].

9. Read with a humble heart. Acknowledge that you are unworthy that God should reveal himself to you [James 4:6]

10. Believe it all to be God's Holy Word. [2 Tim 3:16] We know that no sinner could have written it because of the way it describes sin. No saint could blaspheme God by pretending his own Word was God's. No angel could have written it for the same reason. [Heb 4:2]

11. Prize the Bible highly. [Ps. 119:72] It is your lifeline; you were born by it [James 1:18] you need to grow by it [1 Pet 2:2] [cf. Job 23:12].

12. Love the Bible ardently [Ps. 119:159].

13. Come to read it with an honest heart. [Luke 8:15] (a) Willing to know the entire and complete will of God (b) reading in order to be changed and made better by it [John 17:17].

14. Apply to yourself everything that you read, take every word as spoken to yourself. Its condemnation of sins as the condemnation of your own sin; the duty that it requires as the duty God would require from you [2 Kings 22:11].

15. Pay close attention to the commands of the Word as much as the promises. Think of how you need direction just as much as you need comfort (Psalm 119:9-11).

16. Don't get carried away with the minor details, rather make sure to pay closest attention to the great things [Hosea 8:12].

17. Compare yourself with the Word. How do you compare? Is your heart something of a transcript of it, or not? (James 1:21-25)

18. Pay special attention to those passages that speak to your individual, particular and present situation. e.g. (a) Affliction -- [Heb. 12:7, Isaiah 27:9, John 16:20, 2 Cor 4:17. (b) Sense of Christ's presence and smile withdrawn -- [Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 57:16, Ps. 97:11] (c) Sin -- [Gal 5:24, James 1:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Prov 7:10&22-23, Prov 22:14] (d) Unbelief -- [Isaiah 26:3, 2 Sam 22:31, John 3:15, 1 John 5:10, John 3:36]

19. Pay special attention to the examples and lives of people in the Bible as living sermons. (a) Punishments [Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Num 25:3-4&9, 1 Kings 14:9-10, Acts 5:5,10, 1 Cor 10:11, Jude 7] (b) mercies and deliverances [Daniel, Jeremiah, the 3 youths in the fiery furnace]

20. Don't stop reading the Bible until you find your heart warmed. [Ps 119:93] Let it not only inform you but also inflame you [Jer 23:29, Luke 24:32].

21. Put into practice what you read [Ps 119:66, Ps 119:105, Deut 17:19].

22. Christ is for us Prophet, Priest and King. Make use of His office as a Prophet [Rev 5:5, John 8:12, Ps 119:102-103]. Get Christ not only to open the Scriptures up to you, but to open up your mind and understanding [Luke 24:45]

23. Make sure to put yourself under a true ministry of the Word, faithfully and thoroughly expounding the Word [Prov 8:34] be earnest and eager in waiting on it.

24. Pray that you will profit from reading [Isaiah 48:17, Ps 119:18, Nehemiah 9:20].

Natural obstacles You may still be able to profit from reading even though:

1. You don't seem to profit as much as others do. Remember the different yields [Matt 13:8] though the yield isn't as much as others it is still a true and fruitful yield.

2. You may feel slow of understanding [Luke 9:45, Heb 5:11].

3. Your memory is bad (a) remember you are still able to have a good heart despite this (b) you may still remember the most important things even if you cannot remember everything, be encouraged by John 14:26.

GOD'S GREAT GOLDEN CHAIN...our unshakable hope of salvation in Christ Jesus the Lord

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" -Romans 8:29-30.

This is one of the most profound and assuring promises in all of Scripture. It is commonly referred to as, "The Golden Chain of Salvation." It is a chain of five eternal links: God foreknew; God predestined; God called; God justified; and God glorified. Every aspect of our salvation is all and only of Him. No room for man's self-glory here; no room for a hint of human praise; no room for boasting in ourselves. This is the great work of the Lord alone in our salvation. Past, present and future hope secured for us in Christ Jesus. So therefore, we joyfully say with the apostle Paul, "if God be for us, who can be against us? For it is God who justifies..." (Rom. 8:31f).

1.) God foreknew: foreknowing (and/or foreknowledge) does not mean here to know about future events in advance--even though God does know all things. That is in keeping with Him being omniscient. He knows all things, in all times (past, present and future), concerning all His creatures and creation. Nothing is hidden from His sight and He, contrary to the heresy of The Open Theists, is not "presently learning" nor stunted in His knowing (Psalm 139).

Foreknew/foreknowledge, however, is never used in terms of knowing about future events, times or actions (omniscience). "Foreknowledge is a predetermined relationship in the knowledge of God. God brought the salvation relationship into existence by decreeing it into existence ahead of time" (MacArthur Study Bible, 1 Peter 1:2). God foreknew us by setting His electing love in pre-establishing an intimate relationship with those that He has sovereignly chosen in Christ before the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4-6; 1 Peter 1:1-2). It is, I believe, only used in regards to God's electing love of His people and not, as some suggest, a "knowing ahead of time of events and actions." God knew us, had established relationship with us in times past eternal. He foreknew us. The antithesis of this is what the Lord said in Matthew 7:23, "depart from, I've never known you." Those are the most frightening words in Scripture, aren't they?

Foreknowledge was also used pertaining to Christ. Peter says, "He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake" (1 Peter 1:20). Christ was foreknown in the eternal Trinitarian relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There was intimacy of relationship within the Trinity before anything that was made was made. The promise for us is that He foreknew us before the world was made... What God established in eternity, He brought about in time in our salvation through Christ our Lord.

John Murray says: "

Even if it were granted that `foreknew' means the foresight of faith, the biblical doctrine of sovereign election is not thereby eliminated or disproven. For it is certainly true that God foresees faith; he foresees all that comes to pass. The question would then simply be: whence proceeds this faith, which God foresees? And the only biblical answer is that the faith which God foresees is the faith he himself creates (cf. John 3:3-8; 6:44, 45, 65; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; 2 Peter 1:2). Hence his eternal foresight of faith is preconditioned by his decree to generate this faith in those whom he foresees as believing."

The late Dr. James M. Boice summarizes that:

"foreknowledge means that salvation has its origin in the mind or eternal counsels of God, not in man. It focuses our attention on the distinguishing love of God, according to which some persons are elected to be conformed to the character of Jesus Christ, which is what Paul has already been saying."

2.) God predestined: It means to determine a person's destiny beforehand. To be "pre" - before; "destined" - appointed. God in His sovereign electing love has predestined us, marked out beforehand, our eternal destiny. Again, what comfort this brings to the discouraged believer in the Lord in our daily sanctification in Christ. It tells us that, God, having fixed his distinguishing love upon us (foreknew), he next appointed us "to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." And what is that destiny for the people of God? To be made like Jesus Christ--"conformed to the image of His Son." That is why beloved, "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

3.) God called: James Boice in his excellent commentary on Romans says,

"The next step in this golden chain of five links is what theologians call effectual calling. It is important to use the adjective effectual at this point, because there are two different kinds of calling referred to in the Bible, and it is easy to get confused about them.

One kind of calling is external, general, and universal. It is an open invitation to all persons to repent of sin, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved. It is what Jesus was speaking of when he said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Or again, when he said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37). The problem with this type of call is that, left to themselves, no men or women ever respond positively. They hear the call, but they turn away, preferring their own ways to God. That is why Jesus also said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. .." (John 6:44).

The other kind of call is internal, specific, and effectual. That is, it not only issues the invitation, it also provides the ability or willingness to respond positively. It is God's drawing to himself or bringing to spiritual life the one who without that call would remain spiritually dead and far from him.

There is no greater illustration of this than Jesus' calling of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, who had died four days before. Lazarus in his grave is a picture of every human being in his or her natural state: dead in body and soul, bound with graveclothes, lying in a tomb, sealed with some great stone. Let's call to him, "Lazarus, Lazarus. Come forth, Lazarus. We want you back. We miss you. If you will just get up out of that tomb and return to us, you'll find that we are all anxious to have you back. No one here is going to put any obstructions in your way."

What? Won't Lazarus come? Doesn't he want to be with us?

The problem is that Lazarus does not have the ability to come back. The call is given, but he cannot come.

Ah, but let Jesus take his place before the tomb. Let Jesus call out, "Lazarus, come forth," and the case is quite different. The words are the same, but now the call is no mere invitation. It is an effectual calling. For the same God who originally called the creation out of nothing is now calling life out of death, and his call is heard. Lazarus, though he has been dead four days, hears Jesus and obeys his Master's voice.

That is how God calls those whom he has foreknown and predestined to salvation."

4.) God justified: Here is the great Reformation truth of the gospel, justified by faith alone. It means that the Sovereign Judge of the universe declares us “not guilty” by grace through faith through our Lord Jesus Christ (Roms. 5:1). We are no longer under the wrath of God, no longer the enemy of God. We have become His children and are now the objects of His love and mercy and no longer estranged by His enmity. But being justified is not just a declaration; but also a reality for the Christian. We have been clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ. As Dr. MacArthur so wonderfully says, "Christ was treated on the cross as if He lived your life, so that we might treated as if we lived His life." He was clothed with our sin, though sinless; and we are clothed with His perfect righteousness, though sinful. Our sin imputed to Him; His righteousness imputed to us (Roms. 5:21). This is the great doctrine of imputation in our justification.

"Those whom, God effectually calls he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God" – WCF Ch 11

“Justification is a judicial act of God, in which He declares, on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that all the claims of the law are satisfied with respect to the sinner” (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 513).

"The phrase in ipso (in him) I have preferred to retain, rather than render it per ipsum (by him,) because it has in my opinion more expressiveness and force. For we are enriched in Christ, inasmuch as we are members of his body, and are engrafted into him: nay more, being made one with him, he makes us share with him in every thing that he has received from the Father." (John Calvin Commentary on 1 Cor 1:5

"This calling is an act of the grace of God in Christ by which he calls men dead in sin and lost in Adam through the preaching of the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, to union with Christ and to salvation obtained in him." - Francis Turretin

5.) God glorified: Notice that Paul says this in the past tense. Our future glorification is already secured and perfected in Christ in eternity future. He knew us, determined our destiny to be like Christ, called us, justified us, and now the fifth link in the chain of our salvation... He glorified us. What hope, what promise of eternal life in and with Christ! Paul wrote in Philippians, "I always pray with joy ... being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:4, 6). God began the "good work" by foreknowledge, predestination, calling, and justification. And we can know that He will carry it on until the day we will be like Jesus Christ, being glorified.

No wonder Jude proclaims with absolute confidence: "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen" (Jude 24-25).

What a fitting doxology for us today. Here it is beloved: have you gone through a time of trial and brokenness lately? Has your world been shaken--turned upside down by tragedy? Have you been through a divorce, death of a family member or suffered the loss of a child? Maybe you've lost a job or been fired for living honorable for the Lord? Who can bear the weight of such overwhelming pain on their own? But friend in Christ... here is our hope. The golden chain holds you fast. "Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you;" "He will never leave nor forsake you;" and that "nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Rejoice in the Lord and find your hope, security, significance, rest, worth, and purpose only in Him. He is everything we need!

this has been an encore presentation

THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MEN...by J.C. RYLE

by J.C. Ryle

Another danger to young men is the LOVE OF PLEASURE.

Youth is the time when our passions are strongest--and like unruly children, cry most loudly for indulgence. Youth is the time when we have generally our most health and strength: death seems far away, and to enjoy ourselves in this life seems to be everything. Youth is the time when most people have few earthly cares or anxieties to take up their attention. And all these things help to make young men think of nothing except pleasure. "I serve lusts and pleasures:" that is the true answer many a young man should give, if asked, "Whose Servant are you?"



Young men, time would not permit me to tell you all the fruits this love of pleasure produces, and all the ways in which it may do you harm. Why should I speak of carousing, partying, drinking, gambling, movie-going, dancing, and the like? There are few to be found who don't know something of these things by bitter experience. And these are only instances. All things that give a feeling of excitement for the time--all things that drown thought, and keep the mind in a constant whirl--all things that please the senses and delight the flesh--these are the sort of things that have mighty power at your time of life, and they owe their power to the love of pleasure. Be on your guard. Do not be like those of whom Paul speaks, "Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:4).

Remember what I say: if you would cling to earthly pleasures--these are the things which murder souls. There is no surer way to get a seared conscience and a hard heart towards the things of God, than to give way to the desires of the flesh and mind. It seems like nothing at first, but it tells in the long run.



Consider what Peter says: "Abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul" (1 Peter 2:11). They destroy the soul's peace, break down its strength, lead it into captivity, and make it a slave.



Consider what Paul says: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed" (Colossians 3:5). "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:24). Once the body was a perfect home for a soul--now it is all corrupt and disordered, and needs constant watching. It is a burden to the soul--not a helper; a hindrance--not an assistance. It may become a useful servant, but it is always a bad master.



Consider, again, the words of Paul: "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Romans 13:14). "These," says Leighton, "are the words, the very reading of which gave Augustine a great conviction of heart, causing an immoral young man to be turned into a faithful servant of Jesus Christ." Young men, I wish this might be the case with all of you.



Remember, again, if you cling to earthly pleasures, they will all be unsatisfying, empty, and pointless. Like the locusts of the vision in Revelation, they seem to have crowns on their heads: but like the same locusts, you will find they have stings--real stings--in their tails. All that glitters is not gold. All that tastes sweet is not good. All that pleases for a while is not real pleasure.



Go and take your fill of earthly pleasures if you will--you will never find your heart satisfied with them. There will always be a voice within, crying, like the leech in Proverbs 30:15, "Give! Give!" There is an empty place there, which nothing but God can fill. You will find, as Solomon did by experience, that earthly pleasures are but a meaningless show--promising contentment but bringing a dissatisfaction of spirit--gold plated caskets, exquisite to look at on the outside, but full of ashes and corruption within. Be wise in your youth. Write the word "poison" on all earthly pleasures. The most lawful of them must be used in moderation. All of them are soul- destroying if you give them your heart. Pleasure, must first have the guarantee that it is not sinful--then it is to be enjoyed in moderation.



And I will not shrink from warning all young men to remember the seventh commandment; to beware of adultery and sexual immorality, of all impurity of every kind. I fear that we don't very often speak on this part of God's law. But when I see how prophets and Apostles have dealt with this subject, when I observe the open way in which the Reformers of our own Church denounced it, when I see the number of young men who walk in the wicked footsteps of Reuben, and Hophni, and Phinehas, and Amnon, I for one cannot, with a good conscience, hold my peace. The world becomes more wicked because of our failure to teach and preach on this commandment. For my own part, I feel it would be false and unscriptural delicacy, in addressing men, not to speak of that which is preeminently the "young man's sin."



The violation of the seventh commandment is the sin above all others, that, as Hosea says, "takes away the understanding" (Hosea 4:11). It is the sin that leaves deeper scars upon the soul than any other sin that a man can commit. It is a sin that destroys thousands of young men in every age, and has even overthrown a few of the saints of God in the past. Samson and David are fearful proofs. It is the sin that man dares to smile at, and smoothes over using the terms: thrills, love, uncontrollable passions, and natural desires. But it is the sin that the devil rejoices over, for he is the "unclean spirit;" and it is the sin that God abhors, and declares He "will judge" (Hebrews 13:4).

Young men, "Flee immorality" (1 Corinthians 6:18) if you love life. "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient" (Ephesians 5:6). Flee from the opportunity of it--from the company of those who might draw you into it--from the places where you might be tempted to do it. Read what our Lord says about it in Matthew 5:28, "I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Be like the holy servant Job: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl" (Job 31:1). Flee from talking about it. It is one of the things that ought not even be hinted about in conversation. You cannot even touch black grease without getting your hands dirty. Flee from the thoughts of it; resist them, destroy them, pray against them--make any sacrifice rather than give way to them. Imagination is the hotbed where this sin is too often hatched. Guard your thoughts, and there will be little fear about your actions.



Consider the caution I have been giving. If you forget everything else, do not let this be forgotten.

THE BARRIER TO REFORMATION...cherishing iniquity in our heart

"If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened to my prayer." -Psalm 66:18

To begin with... a silent prayer

"O Lord, what evil have we not done? Or if there is evil that we have not done, what evil is there that we have not spoken? If there is any that we have not spoken, what evil is there that we have not thought to do? But you, O Lord, are good. You are merciful. You saw how deep we were sunk in death, and it was your power that drained dry the well of corruption in the depths of our hearts. All that You have asked of us was to deny our own wills and accept yours. Forgive us for every failure to do so and help us to follow You in every way and always, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." [Adapted from Augustine's Confessions, IX, x]

To cherish sin means to hold it dearly in our hearts; to love it; to embrace it; to treasure it.

We all have PhD's in rationalizing our sin don't we? We have all graduated with high honors in its schooling and it comes naturally to us all. But like David, until we can say, "against You and You alone have I sinned" we will not be broken of it. Sin may hurt others and ourselves, but all sin ultimately is an afront to and against God Himself.

The hypocrite when caught in a sin may say, "wash my garments and make them clean" - make me presentable again; just clean up my outward appearance, etc. But the one who is truly broken, contrite and repentant over their sin will humbly say before a holy God, "Lord wash me, make me clean, forgive me and restore me to the joy of my salvation." No excuses; no self-justification; no spin; no blaming Mom and Dad or others; no therapeutic diversions. Just alone before God owning our sin, confessing it to Him holding nothing back; then turning from it in repentance, and by His sanctifying grace continue to live in obedience to His Word.

The Sinfulness of Sin
Sin strikes at God and says,

“I don’t care what You said, I’ll do what I want.” It is God’s would be murderer. Sin would un-God God if it could. Sin defiles the conscience. Sin is irrational and forfeits blessing. Sin is painful—it hurts. Sin is damning. Sin is degrading it mares the image of God and man. Like Samson, it cuts the locks of purity and leaves men morally weak. Sin poisons the springs of love and turns beauty in leprosy. Sin defeats the mind, the heart, the will, the affections and it has made a whole world of people—all of mankind—children wrath by nature; objects of God’s wrath. Sin brings man under the domination of Satan and his sick sin system, which he controls. Man and the world is a slave to sin, open rebellion and defiance to God and a slave to Satan."

Jonathan Edwards reflecting on this says these powerful words:

"Sin is naturally exceeding dear to us; to part with it is compared to plucking out our right eyes. Men may refrain from wonted ways of sin for a little while, and may deny their lusts in a partial degree, with less difficulty; but it is heart-rending work, finally to part with all sin, and to give our dearest lusts a bill of divorce, utterly to send them away. But this we must do, if we would follow those that are truly turning to God: yea, we must not only forsake sin, but must, in a sense, forsake all the world, Luke 14:33 'Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.'"

Pastor Ralph Venning (1662, St. Olave's Church in Southwark, England)
says,

"Sin is a cheat, a lie, and therefore lurks privily and puts on false names and colors; for if it were to appear like itself--as sooner or later will do to all, either for conversion or confusion--it would frighten men into dying fits, as it did the Apostle, and when they come to themselves they would abhor and hate it, as Paul and the Prodigal did. Men would never be so hardy in sinning but that sin hardens them by deceiving them; so the writer of Hebrews says, 'Take heed lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin' (Hebrews 3:13). Sin uses all manner of arts, methods and devices to attract us and inveigle us. It uses many tricks on us and has all the knacks of deceiving and cheating us. So I may with truth say that sin has not learnt but taught all the deceits dissimulations, flatteries and false diplomacies that are found in courts; the stratagems of war; the sophisms and fallacies of the schools; the frauds of tradesmen, whether in city or county; the tricks of cheaters and jugglers, the ambushes of thieves, the pretensions of false friends, the various methods of false teachers--these and every other kind of cheat and deception in the world, sin teaches and practices upon us all to make us sin."

That is why beloved, Proverbs 28:13 so convictingly says, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." What man uncovers (or confesses), God will by His grace covers (forgiveness); but what man covers up, God will uncover.

My favorite Puritan divine, Thomas Watson, says, "Knowledge without repentance will be but a torch to light men to hell."

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" -Titus 2:11-12

35 Reasons Not To Sin
by Jim Elliff

1. Because a little sin leads to more sin.
2. Because my sin invites the discipline of God.
3. Because the time spent in sin is forever wasted.
4. Because my sin never pleases but always grieves God who loves me.
5. Because my sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.
6. Because in time my sin always brings heaviness to my heart.
7. Because I am doing what I do not have to do.
8. Because my sin always makes me less than what I could be.
9. Because others, including my family, suffer consequences due to my sin.
10. Because my sin saddens the godly.
11. Because my sin makes the enemies of God rejoice.
12. Because sin deceives me into believing I have gained when in reality I have lost.
13. Because sin may keep me from qualifying for spiritual leadership.
14. Because the supposed benefits of my sin will never outweigh the consequences of disobedience.
15. Because repenting of my sin is such a painful process, yet I must repent.
16. Because sin is a very brief pleasure for an eternal loss.
17. Because my sin may influence others to sin.
18. Because my sin may keep others from knowing Christ.
19. Because sin makes light of the cross, upon which Christ died for the very purpose of taking away my sin.
20. Because it is impossible to sin and follow the Spirit at the same time.
21. Because God chooses not to respect the prayers of those who cherish their sin.
22. Because sin steals my reputation and robs me of my testimony.
23. Because others once more earnest than I have been destroyed by just such sins.
24. Because the inhabitants of heaven and hell would all testify to the foolishness of this sin.
25. Because sin and guilt may harm both mind and body.
26. Because sins mixed with service make the things of God tasteless.
27. Because suffering for sin has no joy or reward, though suffering for righteousness has both.
28. Because my sin is adultery with the world.
29. Because, though forgiven, I will review this very sin at the Judgment Seat where loss and gain of eternal rewards are applied.
30. Because I can never really know ahead of time just how severe the discipline for my sin might be.
31. Because my sin may be an indication of a lost condition.
32. Because to sin is not to love Christ.
33. Because my unwillingness to reject this sin now grants it an authority over me greater than I wish to believe.
34. Because sin glorifies God only in His judgment of it and His turning of it to good use, never because it is worth anything on it's own.
35. Because I promised God he would be Lord of my life.

Love the Lord Jesus Christ with an unfeigned, undivided superlative love...

"There is no love but a superlative love that is any ways suitable to the transcendent sufferings of dear Jesus. Oh, love him above your lusts, love him above your relations, love him above the world, love him above all your outward contentment’s and enjoyments; yea, love him above your very lives; for thus the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, primitive Christians, and the martyrs of old, have loved our Lord Jesus Christ with an overtopping love." -Thomas Brooks

1 John 2:1-2 says, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

"When your repentance is more notorious than your sin--then it is genuine." -C.H. Spurgeon

How to Live in Victory Over Sin
In a spirit of prayerful submission to the Lord and by His sustaining grace, may each of us long to honor the Lord with a holy life each day.

• Recognize your Transgression
• Repent of your Sin
• Rely on God
• Reverence Christ as Lord
• Read His Word
• Renew your Mind
• Remain in godly Relationships, and
  
• Rejoice and walk in the Holy Spirit

BE SLOW LIKE GOD...learning to be like Him each day

My friend, Justin Taylor, at Between Two Worlds has an excellent heart-stirring, though-provoking, humility-building piece on his blog. I know that I was convicted by its simple truths and trust you will be greatly ministered by it as well. This is a great way to start the week...

In the shadow of the cross,
Campi

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children."

-Ephesians 5:1

God is:

Exodus 34:6
"The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.'"

Numbers 14:18
"The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation."

Nehemiah 9:17
"You are a God ready to forgive,gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them."

Psalm 86:15
"But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."

Psalm 103:8, Psalm 145:8
"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

Psalm 145:8
"The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

Joel 2:13
"Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster."

Jonah 4:2
"That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster."

Nahum 1:3
"The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet."

Therefore:

Proverbs 14:29
"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly."

Proverbs 15:18
"A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention."

Proverbs 16:32
"Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."

Proverbs 19:11
"Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense."

James 1:19
"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger."

HT: JT

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF REGENERATION...be diligent to make your calling and election sure

2 Peter 1:3-11

The Source and Standard
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

-The Christian life is all of grace, all of God, all by His divine power. He has called us not to ourselves to simply do our best, but to "His own glory and excellence." Amazing transformation... once sinners hopelessly and helplessly cut off from hope in this world, but now He has granted to us all things pertaining to life and godliness through Jesus Christ our Lord.

-This is based upon one essential thing: "His precious and magnificent promises." It is the result of these promises that we have been made heirs with Christ (partakers of the divine nature) AND we have escaped the corruption in this world and the penalty of sin. Beloved, that is reason enough to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. 

The Supplement

5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

-Here is the gracelife of every believer in Jesus. This is the growth of grace in our lives. We haven't arrived at these things nor have we achieved these things by our own initiatives or efforts. This is what Tozer would call "the pursuit of holiness." And that pursuit is one of grace- equipped to do so by His divine power in our lives. Adding to our faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love is not a human effort in securing our salvation for that is found in Christ alone. It is not the root of our salvation, but the fruit of it. And spiritual fruit can only be produced by the Holy Spirit working in us to do so. 

-What Peter is saying in these verses "be like Jesus." Make Him your aim Christian and ask Him daily to conform you to Himself by grace through faith in Him.

The Struggle

8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 

-This is where we live. New creations incarcerated in unredeemed flesh. There is our struggle and daily battle. The very things we want to do, we don't do; and the very things we don't want to do, we do. With Paul we say, "O wretched man am I." And it is for that reason we are in desperate need daily of His sanctifying grace... aren't we? We must guard against spiritual nearsightedness; and we must guard against spiritual amnesia. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling...

The Surety

10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-But here is the hope. If these things are evident in our lives through grace by the divine power which is in Christ Jesus alone for His people, we will never fall; and we have the confidence through that which He has richly provided an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-Here is the encouragement to you: trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ in your salvation. His divine power is at work in and through you in regeneration. His grace is also a sanctifying grace. Stand in that grace each day. The seven characteristics of our new life in Him may we see in our lives through obedience to His Word. There is a real struggle in our lives each day - but God is greater! Amen? As we pray for the Lord to be evident in our lives, that we would be neither unfruitful nor unproductive, blind or forgetting of all He has done for us in salvation, may we then press on with confidence with surety, fully assured that He who began a good work in us will complete it. 

DO NOT SPEAK EVIL AGAINST EACH OTHER BRETHREN...by A.W. Pink

"Do not speak evil against each other, brethren." 

-James 4:11a

by Arthur Pink

"That which is here forbidden, is the saying of anything, be it true or false, to the harm of another. God requires that our words should be governed by "the law of kindness" (Proverbs 31:26), and anything which would hurt or injure the reputation of another, is to be rigidly shunned. Whenever I cannot speak well of my brother or sister, I must say nothing at all. To speak evil of others, proceeds from ill will or malice--desiring that they should be made odious in the esteem of others.

It is devilish to take delight in exposing the faults of fellow-Christians, and stirring up prejudice and bitter feelings against them (Rev. 12:10). God requires that our words should agree with love--as well as with truth. Since Christians are brethren, the last thing they should be guilty of is defaming one another!

Except where the glory of God plainly requires it, and the good of that person demands it--we must refrain from all evil speaking of others. If we are duly occupied with and humbled over our own many faults--we shall have neither time nor inclination to dwell upon or publish those of others! If we properly heed the exhortation of Philippians 4:8, we shall cultivate the habit of admiring the graces in our brethren--instead of being like filthy flies, settling on their sores!"

I'LL NEVER BE IN A BEAUTY PAGEANT...they're too biased against 54 year old white males who carry 40 pound spare tires

I admit it, I have the perfect face for radio. I'll never be in a beauty pageant. It's not my calling. 

Not unless they create one where Chris Farley look-a-likes can enter; where wearing Under Armour attire isn't prohibited; and where I can show up in my favorite golf shoes sporting a fine Arturo Fuente Premium Hemingway Short Story, in bermudas.

In all seriousness, I'm not familiar with that world one bit--what they go through, the physical and time demands, the pressures and the politics of it all. For a Christian to be in that arena day in and day out must place many challenging hurdles in their path that I assume they would struggle with in their walk with the Lord.

This brings me to the Miss California media chaos that has been happening for the past three weeks or so. This gal is not only taking dramatic hits from the liberal gay media, but also from some of the hard right Christian conservative community as well. Needless to say, she needs our prayers.

A brother in the Lord asked some very good questions on another blog that I answered this morning. The blogging host gave me permission to reprint those questions and my responses here. I hope they will encourage you in how to pray for and have some compassion for the spotlight that Carrie Prejean finds herself in today. My heart goes out to her.

Here are the questions:

1. Why is the Christian media so quick to proclaim and prop up a poster child as a model of faith? Why does Liberty university have her as a guest?

2. When the christian sub culture rushes to proclaim the next Christian hero and they are exposed as Miss California was, it just gives more cause to non-believers to believe that Christians are all a bunch of hypocrites. This is an offense to the gospel. 

My responses:
Good questions my brother. I would answer them this way:

1. No one I know is holding Miss California up as a model of faith. People are thankful for her bold and costly convictions in support of traditional marriage.

2. Liberty University has championed family values for many years - it is easy to understand why they would want her to come and speak to other young people on marriage being defined as between one man and one woman.

3. Again, the Christian sub-culture didn't rush off and proclaim anyone as a new Christian hero - that's just media hyperbole from some Christian conservatives I know. But many in the Christian and conservative communities have appreciated her words on this one issue. That's all.

4. Christians are hypocritical brother - me and you included. The best of men are men at best. Miss California is not an offense to the gospel and does no harm to the gospel. Unless you have a weak gospel, an impotent Savior, and a pragmatic view of faith. Which I don't think you do... do you? (In times like these it really does help to be a Calvinist.)

The gospel is eternal and strong. It is unshakable and can withstand anyone's failings. The gospel endured Peter denying Christ openly with cursings and swearings; the gospel endured young Timothy's cowardess; the gospel endured Thomas's doubtings; the gospel endured Paul's brazen attitude toward John Mark; the gospel endured Luther's vulgarity; the gospel endured David's murderous actions and adultery; the gospel endured Abraham's lying and incest; the gospel endured Adam and Eve's earth-shattering disobedience in the garden; the gospel endured my sin and yours brother. AND the gospel endures Miss California's issues as well. IOW, we are all great sinners beloved, but praise be to God that He is a greater Savior!

5. Lastly, there are Christians who are models. They are faced with many challenges that you and I will never face. They need our prayers, discipleship, encouragement, loving rebukes and grace-based corrections. They don't need us to publicly becry them, label them, and humiliate them. They need us to be truly Christian towards them.

Does Miss California have some things to own in all of this? Of course she does. But not at the hands of other believers who have made her their new media self-righteous punching bag. My goodness, it's as if we are hearing daily from other believers take pride in loudly declaring in the temple, "thank God I'm not like her - a sinner."

She models swimsuits - oh the horror of it all. She wore a bikini in a pageant - the unpardonable sin. She had breast augmentation done to enhance her appearance - what fall from grace. Listen, are there any women criticizing her who use make up, color their hair, go to a salon to have their hair styled. been to a tanning bed, ever have their teeth whitened, get regular manicures or pedicures, have their eyebrows plucked, shave their legs or underarms, wear bras, etc. to enhance their appearance? Then may I plead with you to show this young gal a bit of compassion and charity. Pray for her. Pray the Lord sends her way some mature, godly, nonlegalistic women who can love and disciple her in the Word of God. Pray for her pastors that they will come along side, encourage her, minister to her, and disciple her.

Grace saves; grace sanctifies; and one day grace will glorify. In the meantime, none of us are to assume the role of Holy Spirit for another. Fulfill the law of Christ. Bear one another's burdens. Love covers a multitude of sins. It doesn't broadcast them or uses them as blogging fodder.

I humbly come to the Christian media and as a brother in need of grace everyday would kindly ask you to cease the public outcry against this gal. By her own confession of Jesus Christ being her Lord and Savior, she is our sister in the Lord - let's all treat her as such.

I'm not trying to be lugubrious, but if people want a punching bag, punch me. I deserve nothing less than to inherit an eternal hell clothed in the rags of my own righteousness; and I am grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ that He saved me from Himself and forgave all my sins, their guilt and penalty; and took the wrath which burned against me and them. So really, if you can't resist - go ahead and punch me. Taking a few shots may just be the very thing I need today to further my own sanctification. But please, I beg you... leave her alone.

His unworthy servant in His unfailing love,
Steve

GRACE WORKS...the joy and struggle of growing each day in Jesus

For by grace you have been saved through faith. 

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 

not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.

-Ephesians 2:8-10

It is hard to live by grace. 

Grace robs us of our own glory and our desire to take credit for things only God can do. It steals from us the longing for control of our own destinies and lives and therefore strips us of casting unbiblical, unwarranted, hasty judgments against others. Grace fosters humility, creates unquestioned dependency, and grants us assurance and hope.

Grace causes us to have unfettered worship in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthens us each day in our service and endeavors for Him. It produces love for the brethren - ALL the brethren - not just those in our own theological/doctrinal camp. Grace produces patience, gentleness, forbearance, forgiveness and makes manifest in our lives the fruit of the Spirit and the law of Christ.

It causes us to love God and hate sin; to love our enemies, our neighbors, our church, our co-workers, our families, and the One Triune God. It is our daily teacher in the school of holiness and ultimately will see its instruction complete when we are home with Jesus in glorification.

IOW, grace... works. 

It is not passive - it is active. It is not a silent bystander, but the unmistakable voice of the Savior. It is not a one time remembrance in salvation, but our daily companion in sanctification. This is not cheap grace - it is costly, paid with the currency of heaven that only flows from our Lord's veins. Grace marks the intimacy and life with our spouses; it is the fuel of our prayers; and the source of all ministry. It as the Apostle Paul states, "we stand in grace."

The Disposition of Grace

"A Christian should not be sour, crabbed, and irritable in his temper for nothing almost tends so much to injure the cause of religion as a temper always chafed; a brow morose and stern; an eye that is severe and unkind, and a disposition to find fault with everything. And yet it is to be regretted that there are many persons, who make no pretensions to piety, who far surpass many professors of religion in the virtue here commended. A sour and crabbed temper in a professor of religion will undo all the good that he attempts to do." -Albert Barnes, NT Commentary, Phil. 4:8

A prayer for grace:

"Lord, teach us to live by grace, to love by grace, to confront by grace, to endure trials by grace, to not repay evil with evil by grace, to risk the rough waters someone else is going through to see them made whole by grace, to challenge by grace, to restore by grace, to walk by grace, to talk by grace, to worship by grace, to serve others by grace, to blog by grace, and govern all ministry by grace. And may all this be done according to Your Word, to Your glory, and in the power of Your Spirit. For Jesus' sake... Amen."

UNWORTHY SERVANTS; OUR RICHES IN GLORY...grace-filled humility and eyes fixed on our eternal home

"For me to live is Christ; and die is gain." 

-Phil. 1:21

"Not only the worst of my sins, but the best of my duties speak me a child of Adam." -WILLIAM BEVERIDGE

Luke 17:10 "So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

"That which cannot quiet the heart in a storm, cannot entitle a man to blessedness; earthly things accumulated, cannot rock the troubled heart quiet, therefore cannot make one blessed. When Saul was sore distressed, could all the jewels of his crown comfort him? 'They shall cast their silver in the streets...their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord.' (Ezek. 7:19)" -THOMAS WATSON

1 Timothy 6:6 "Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

GOD'S WORD - A BLAZING FLAMBEAU...by C.H. Spurgeon

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." -Psalm 119:105

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. We are walkers through the city of this world, and we are often called to go out into its darkness; let us never venture there without the light giving word, lest we slip with our feet. Each man should use the word of God personally, practically, and habitually, that he may see his way and see what lies in it. When darkness settles down upon all around me, the word of the Lord, like a flaming torch, reveals my way. Having no fixed lamps in eastern towns, in old time each passenger carried a lantern with him that he might not fall into the open sewer, or stumble over the heaps of ordure which defiled the road. This is a true picture of our path through this dark world: we should not know the way, or how to walk in it, if Scripture, like a blazing flambeau, did not reveal it. One of the most practical benefits of Holy Writ is guidance in the acts of daily life: it is not sent to astound us with its brilliance, but to guide us by its instruction. It is true the head needs illumination, but even more the feet need direction, else head and feet may both fall into a ditch. Happy is the man who personally appropriates God's word, and practically uses it as his comfort and counsellor, -- a lamp to his own feet.

And a light unto my path. It is a lamp by night, a light by day, and a delight at all times. David guided his own steps by it, and also saw the difficulties of his road by its beams. He who walks in darkness is sure, sooner or later, to stumble; while he who walks by the light of day, or by the lamp of night, stumbleth not, but keeps his uprightness. Ignorance is painful upon practical subjects; it breeds indecision and suspense, and these are uncomfortable: the word of God, by imparting heavenly knowledge, leads to decision, and when that is followed by determined resolution, as in this case, it brings with it great restfulness of heart. This verse converses with God in adoring and yet familiar tones. Have we not something of like tenor to address to our heavenly Father? Note how like this verse is to the first verse of the first octave, and the first of the second and other octaves. The seconds also are often in unison. (Source: Spurgeon - The Treasury of David)