The resurrection is God’s “Amen” to Jesus’ loud cry: “It is finished,” and therefore the guarantee that by Jesus’ death the believer has indeed been reconciled to God and made righteous (J.A. Schep).
Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Zondervan Pictorial Bible Encyclopedia, www.zondervan.com, 1975, vol. 5, p. 83.
[In heaven] the crucifixion, an obvious result of evil and injustice, will not have been passed over and overcome; it will actually be featured – an object of eternal wonder and devotion (William Dyrness).
Taken from Christian Apologetics in a World Community by William Dyrness. Copyright(c) 1983. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515, p. 163. www.ivpress.com.
God’s love for his glory motivates his wrath against sin (Joseph Scheumann).
Five Truth About the Wrath of God, Copyright 2014, Used by permission. www.DesiringGod.org.
If it is not superhuman authority that speaks to us here, it is surely superhuman arrogance (Griffith Thomas).
Christianity is Christ, 1949, p. 26.
A satisfactory religion must satisfy. But satisfy what and why? The Greek mysteries satisfied the emotions; brute force can satisfy the will; but Christianity satisfies the intellect because it is true, and truth is the only everlasting satisfaction (Gordon Haddon Clark).
The message preached in some of the largest churches in the world has changed. A new gospel is being taught today. This new gospel is perplexing – it omits Jesus and neglects the cross. Instead of promising Christ, this gospel promises health and wealth, and offers advice such as: declare to yourself that everything that you touch will prosper, for, in the words of a leading prosperity gospel preacher, “There is a miracle in your mouth.” According to this new gospel, if believers repeat positive confessions, focus their thoughts, and generate enough faith, God will release blessings upon their lives (David Jones and Russel Woodbridge).
Taken from Health, Wealth and Happiness Copyright 2011, by David Jones and Russel Woodbridge, Published by Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI. p. 14-15. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.
James Sire defines [naturalism] with the following propositions: 1. Matter exists eternally and is all there is. God does not exist. 2. The cosmos exists as a uniformity of natural cause and effect in a closed system. 3. Human beings are complex “machines”; personality is an interrelation of chemical and physical properties we do not yet fully understand. 4. Death is the extinction of personality and individuality. 5. History is a linear stream of events linked by cause and effect but without an overarching purpose. 6. Ethics is related only to human beings (James Sire).
The Universe Next Door, second edition, InterVarsity, 1988, p. 61-83. Taken from The Universe Next Door by James Sire. Copyright(c) 1988. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515, p. 13. www.ivpress.com.
Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century revivalist, sat down at age 17 and penned 21 resolutions by which he would live his life. He added to this list until, by his death, he had 70 resolutions. He put at the top of his list: “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions… Remember to read over these resolutions once a week.” Edwards didn’t casually make New Year’s resolutions with an expectation of eventually breaking them. Each week he did a self-check. He regularly summed up how he was doing and sought God’s help in the process.
Preaching Today, Christianity Online Connection.
If the inevitable processes of natural selection continue to bring about improvement in life forms on earth through survival of the fittest, then why should we hinder this process by caring for those who are weak or less able to defend themselves? Should we not rather allow them to die without reproducing so that we might move toward a new, higher form of humanity, even a “master race?” In fact, Marx, Nietzsche, and Hitler all justified war on these grounds (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 138.
If human beings are continually evolving for the better, then the wisdom of earlier generations (and particularly of earlier religious beliefs) is not likely to be as valuable as modern thought (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 138.
The doctrine of concurrence affirms that God directs, and works through, the distinctive properties of each created thing, so that these things themselves bring about the results that we see. In this way it is possible to affirm that in one sense events are fully (100 percent) caused by God and fully (100 percent) caused by the creature as well. However, divine and creaturely causes work in different ways. The divine cause of each event works as an invisible, behind-the-scenes, directing cause and therefore could be called the “primary cause” that plans and initiates everything that happens. But the created thing brings about actions in ways consistent with the creature’s own properties [which God unchangeably gave and sustains], ways that can often be described by us or by professional scientists who carefully observe the processes. These creaturely factors and properties can therefore be called the “secondary” causes of everything that happens, even though they are the causes that are evident to us by observation (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 145.
[Original sin] does not refer to Adam’s first sin, but to the guilt and tendency to sin with which we are born. It is “original” in that it comes from Adam, and it is also original in that we have it from the beginning of our existence as persons, but it is still our sin, not Adam’s sin, that is meant (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999.
In general, we may say that some sins have more harmful consequences than others if they bring more dishonor to God or if they cause more harm to ourselves, to others, or to the church. Moreover, those sins that are done willfully, repeatedly, and knowingly, with a calloused heart, are more displeasing to God than those that are done out of ignorance and are not repeated, or are done with a mixture of good and impure motives and are followed by remorse and repentance (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 219-220.
In approaching this question, it is best first to read the passages of Scripture that most directly address it. We can begin by looking at several passages that affirm that God did, indeed, cause evil events to come about and evil deeds to be done. But we must remember that in all these passages it is very clear that Scripture nowhere shows God as directly doing anything evil but rather as bringing about evil deeds through the willing actions of moral creatures (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 147.
A doctrine is what the whole Bible teaches us today about some particular topic. This definition is directly related to…systematic theology, since it shows that a “doctrine” is simply the result of the process of doing systematic theology with regard to one particular topic (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 20.
Our ultimate conviction that the words of the Bible are God’s words comes only when the Holy Spirit speaks in and through the words of the Bible to our hearts and gives us an inner assurance that these are the words of our Creator speaking to us… Those who are Christ’s sheep hear the words of their great Shepherd as they read the words of Scripture, and they are convinced that these words are in fact the words of their Lord… They hear their Creator’s voice speaking to them in the words of Scripture and realize that the book they are reading is unlike any other book (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999.
We must therefore affirm both that God has no succession of moments in His own being and sees all history equally vividly, and that in His creation He sees the progress of events over time and acts differently at different points of in time; in short, He is the Lord who created time and who rules over it and uses it for His own purposes. God can act in time because He is Lord of time (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999.
God’s whole being is present in every part of space, or at every point in space, it is also necessary to say that God cannot be contained by any space, no matter how large (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999.
If in fact life was not created by God, and if human beings in particular are not created by God or responsible to Him, but are simply the result of random occurrences in the universe, then of what significance is human life? We are merely the product of matter plus time plus chance, and so to think that we have any eternal importance, or really any importance at all in the face of an immense universe, is simply to delude ourselves. Honest reflection on this notion should lead people to a profound sense of despair (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 137-138.
If all of life can be explained by evolutionary theory apart from God, and if there is no God who created us (or at least if we cannot know anything about Him with certainty), then there is no supreme Judge to hold us morally accountable. Therefore there are no moral absolutes in human life, and people’s moral ideas are only subjective preferences, good for them perhaps but not to be imposed on others. In fact, in such a case the only thing forbidden is to say that one knows that certain things are right and certain things are wrong (Wayne Grudem and Jeff Purswell).
Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, www.zonderan.com, 1999, p. 138.
Every well minded family by singing can make themselves a little church. And every church make themselves a little heaven (Nathaniel Holmes).
Gospel Music, or the Singing of David’s Psalms, 1644, p. 12
The more we worship God in secret, the fitter shall we be for family worship, and the more we worship God in our families, the fitter shall we be for public worship (John Angier).
Help to Better Hearts for Better Times.
From what I see in the Bible, God is far more concerned with first fixing our hearts than he is with fixing other things in our lives. Same sex attraction included. Yes, it’s true that God hates homosexuality. But more than that, He hates that our hearts are opposed to Him and that we long to live our lives separated from Him. God’s foremost desire is that we would come to Him through Christ to receive new hearts that love and adore Him. In fact, nothing can even begin to be done as far as the untangling of our sexualities until we receive new hearts that love and adore God. How do I know that? Because Romans 1 says that the whole reason homosexual desire even exists is due to our rejection of God’s loving rule and authority over our lives. Homosexual desire – and all other sinful desire – exists in the hearts of people because worship of God doesn’t (Matt Moore).
For Years I Pleaded With God To Make Me Straight, So Why Did My Prayers Go Unanswered? January 26, 2015.
God made us to be in relationship with others, but your most important relationship is with Him. In human relationships you get a taste of the happiness, meaning, and fulfillment that ultimately are only to be found, in their fullest form, in Him. So don’t let yourself be fooled into believing that a romantic relationship will be the most satisfying experience of your life. Instead, thank God for the tastes that you have had that remind you of what His love is like, and ask Him to give you a desire for a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him. Trust Him with your hopes for a relationship and ask for His wisdom and guidance when you enter into one. Most of all, ask Him to fill you with His Spirit so you can continue growing in your ability to love others (William Smith).
Who Should I Date? New Growth Press, 2009, p. 5-6. Used by Permission.
Few women realize what great service they are doing for mankind and for the kingdom of Christ when they provide a shelter for the family and good mothering – the foundation on which all else is built. A mother builds something far more magnificent than any cathedral – the dwelling place for an immortal soul (both her child’s fleshly tabernacle and his earthly abode). No professional pursuit so uniquely combines the most menial tasks with the most meaningful opportunities. It is hard to locate an aging mother who believes she made a mistake of pouring her life into her children, and it would certainly be more difficult to find a child to testify that his mother loved him and poured herself into his life to his detriment and demise. Homemaking – being a full-time wife and mother – is not a destructive drought of usefulness but an overflowing oasis of opportunity; it is not a dreary call to contain one’s talents and skills but a brilliant catalyst to channel creativity and energies into meaningful work; it is not a rope for binding one’s productivity in the marketplace, but reins for guiding one’s posterity in the home; it is not oppressive restraint of intellectual prowess for the community, but a release of wise instruction to your own household; it is not the bitter assignment of inferiority to your person, but the bright assurance of the ingenuity of God’s plan for complementarity of the sexes, especially as worked out in God’s plan for marriage; it is neither limitation of gifts available nor stinginess in distributing the benefits of those gifts, but rather the multiplication of a mother’s legacy to the generations to come and the generous bestowal of all God meant a mother to give to those He entrusted to her care (Dorothy Patterson).
However one chooses to interpret Revelation 3:20, it must not be thought that the sinner possesses the power to open his own heart to Christ. Only God can do this (John 6:44; Acts 16:14; James 1:18). Although God’s sovereignty in salvation does not negate our responsibility to proclaim the Gospel to all men, we must never suggest to people that the power to convert their hearts lies within them (Psalm 110:3; Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 2:24-26) (Darryl Erkel).
Errors of the Invitation System.
The opening chapters of the Bible show us what man’s nature is, by teaching us that he is created in the image of God, which is to say that he is neither a god, as the myths made him out to be, nor a product of nature, as the evolutionists saw him, but that he transcends nature and at the same time is transcended by God (Jean Danielou).
Integrity is like the weather: Everybody talks about it but nobody knows what to do about it (Stephen Carter).
Although you may be able to “control” young children, the key word for teenagers is “influence.” Here are five words that describe different ways you can influence teens. 1. Teach – provide them with new information or help them understand another facet of life. 2. Encourage – remind them of the benefits of moving in the right direction. 3. Entreat – earnestly ask them to act in a mature, responsible, and wise way. 4. Admonish – warn, caution, or advise them by anticipating possible negative consequences. 5. Persuade – use relationship, incentives, and natural consequences to motivate them to make wise choices (Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller).
Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes, In You and Your Kids, National Center for Biblical Parenting, 76 Hopatcong Drive, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, www.biblicalparenting.org, 1-800.771.8334, email [email protected].
Church discipline is neither popular nor a common practice in the church, and this is to be regretted. Its absence indicates that people have lost sight of the love and tenderness that is always to be behind it and of its necessity if those who err are to be restored (Derek Prime and Alistair Begg).
On Being a Pastor, Moody Press, 2004, p. 228. Get this book!
In the whole range of history there is no more striking contrast than that of the Apostolic churches with the heathenism around them. They had shortcomings enough, it is true, and divisions and scandals not a few, for even apostolic times were no golden age of purity and primitive simplicity. Yet we can see that their fullness of life, and hope, and promise for the future, were a new sort of power in the world. Within their own limits they had solved almost by the way the social problem which baffled Rome, and baffles Europe still. They had lifted woman to her rightful place, restored the dignity of labor, abolished beggary, and drawn the sting of slavery. The secret of the revolution is that the selfishness of race and class were forgotten in the Supper of the Lord, and a new basis for society found in love of the visible image of God in men for whom Christ died (Henry Gwatkin).
Early Church History to A.D. 312, P. 1909.
Men may reform, but they cannot regenerate themselves. Men may give up their crimes and their vices, but they cannot, by their own strength, give up their sins. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? No. Can the leopard eliminate his spots? Regeneration is the great change which God works in the soul when He brings it into life, when He raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. It is the change wrought when the love of the world is changed into the love of God; when pride is dethroned and humility enthroned; when passion is changed into meekness; when hatred, envy, and malice are changed into a sincere and tender love for all mankind. It is the change whereby the earthly, sensual, devilish mind is turned into the mind that was in Christ. The new birth is not the old nature altered, reformed, or reinvigorated, but a being born from above (Robert Lee).
Baptist Cameos.
1. The altar call is simply and completely absent from the pages of the New Testament.
2. The altar call is historically absent until the 19th century, and its use at that time (via Charles Finney) was directly based upon bad theology and a man-centered, manipulative methodology.
3. The altar call very easily confuses the physical act of “coming forward” with the spiritual act of “coming to Christ.” These two can happen simultaneously, but too often people believe that coming to Christ is going forward (and vice-versa).
4. The altar call can easily deceive people about the reality of their spiritual state and the biblical basis for assurance. The Bible never offers us assurance on the ground that we “went forward.”
5. The altar call partially replaces baptism as the means of public profession of faith.
6. The altar call can mislead us to think that salvation (or any official response to God’s Word) happens primarily on Sundays, only at the end of the service, and only “up front.”
7. The altar call can confuse people regarding “sacred” things and “sacred” places, as the name “altar call” suggests.
8. The altar call is not sensitive to our cautious and relational age where most people come to faith over a period of time and often with the interaction of a good friend.
9. The altar call is often seen as “the most important part of the service”, and this de-emphasizes the truly more important parts of corporate worship which God has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing).
10. God is glorified to powerfully bless the things He has prescribed (preaching, prayer, fellowship, singing), not the things we have invented. We should always be leery of adding to God’s prescriptions for His corporate worship (Ryan Kelly).
Desert Springs Church, Sermon, Used by Permission.
Religion which is begun in hypocrisy will certainly end in apostasy (William Spurstowe).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 153.
The cure for backsliding is found in the abiding love and mercy of God who remains faithful to His promises of grace in Christ Jesus, whose righteousness and salvation is apprehended through true faith and repentance (Mark Karlberg).
O let us never forget; that the wonderful things contained in the divine law can neither be discovered nor relished by the “natural man,” whose powers of perception and enjoyment are limited in their range to the objects of time and sense. It is the divine Spirit alone who can lighten the darkness of our sinful state, and who can enable us to perceive the glory, the harmony, and moral loveliness which everywhere shine forth in the pages of revealed truth (John Morison).
It is as impossible to understand the Scriptures without the Spirit’s help as it is to read a sundial without the sun (Derek Prime and Alistair Begg).
On Being a Pastor, Moody Press, 2004, p. 78. Get this book!
All study of the Scriptures is fruitless without divine illumination. “There must be Spirit in me as there is Spirit in the Scriptures, before I can see anything,” remarked the sixteenth-century Puritan Richard Sibbes (Derek Prime and Alistair Begg).
On Being a Pastor, Moody Press, 2004, p. 121. Get this book!
There is a difference of viewpoint between the Christian and the nonChristian, between the man who has been renewed by the Spirit of God and the man who has not. That difference in viewpoint has a vital bearing upon the question of the clarity of the Scriptures. The spiritual man has, through his regeneration, a basis for comprehension which the natural man lacks. Given equal mental gifts and powers, therefore, the spiritual man has a key, as it were, which the other lacks to unlock the meaning of biblical statements (Paul Woolley).
The Relevancy of Scripture in The Infallible Word, edited by N.B. Stonehouse and Paul Woolley, P&R, 1978, p. 201-202, Used by Permission.
Do you really believe your faith? Do you believe this that I am telling you? Do you believe a day is coming, when you will stand before the throne of God, and the angels will whisper together and say, “How like Christ he is!” That is not easy to believe. And yet not to believe it is blasphemy. For that, not less than that, is what Christ promises (A.J. Gossip).
From the Edge of the Ground, Charles Scribner’s Sons, n.d., p. 12.
Jesus loved the enthusiast, the man who knew what side he was on and threw himself whole-heartedly into the struggle. He liked energetic action, as in the men who climbed the roof and broke a way through for their paralyzed friend, or in Zacchaeus who forgot his dignity and swarmed up a tree. He loved the generous giver. All four Gospels quote His saying, “He who loves life loses it; he who spends keeps.” It sums up His attitude to life. He praised the man who banged on the door till he got an answer; He wanted men to show that kind of determination in the affairs of religion. He praised the widow who badgered the unjust judge into doing justice. He did not like playing for safety or burying one’s talent. It is the peace-makers rather than the peace-keepers whom He blesses. Goodness is a positive active loyalty (Hugh Martin).
The Seven Letters: Christ’s Message to His Church, 1956. p. 107.
The gospel does not say, “There is a Savior, if you wish to be saved;” but, “Sir, you have no right to go to hell — you cannot go there without trampling on the Son of God” (John Duncan).
There is a great difference between realizing, “On that Cross He was crucified for me,” and “On that Cross I am crucified with Him.” The one aspect brings us deliverance from sin’s condemnation, the other from sin’s power (John Mantle).
What is the most important Book in the universe? The Bible. Which book within the Bible is the most important? Romans. Which chapter in Romans is the most important? Chapter 3. Which paragraph in Romans 3 is the most important? Verses 21-26. Which verse in that paragraph is the most important? Verse 25. Which word in verse 25 is the most important? “Propitiation” (Murray Harris).
Faculty Devotional at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
“Saved Alone” was the message that Horatio Spafford received from his wife after the ship sank that was taking her and their four children to England in November, 1873. After reuniting with his grieving wife at sea, the boat came near the area where his children had drowned. It is speculated that at that time he wrote the words (contained in his famous hymn) that vividly described his own grief and faith: “When sorrows like sea billows roll – Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul” (Phyllis LaPeau).
How to Rejoice in any Situation, Zondervan, 1991, p. 11.
Evangelism is communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ with the immediate intent of converting the hearer to faith in Christ, and with the ultimate intent of instructing the convert in the Word of God so that he can become a mature believer (Michael Cocoris).
Evangelism, A Biblical Approach, Moody, 1984, p. 14.
To read the Bible and not to meditate was seen as an unfruitful exercise: better to read one chapter and meditate afterward then to read several chapters and not to meditate. Likewise to meditate and not to pray was like preparing to run a race and never leaving the starting line. The three duties of reading Scripture, meditation, and prayer belonged together, and though each could be done occasionally on its own, as formal duties to God they were best done together (Peter Toon).
From Mind to Heart: Christian Meditation Today, Baker Book House, 1987, p. 93.
No preacher in the New Testament ever preached this to sinners! Search the Word for yourself to see! This giving mere “mental assent” to the facts of the gospel is not what the Bible calls “believing to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). The Christ of Scripture is LORD, and He must be received and bowed to as LORD: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus THE LORD, so walk ye in Him” (Col. 2:6). When Paul wrote to true believers in his day he knew nothing of those who had made “first-time decisions” for Christ, but still needed to make “second and third decisions” to follow Christ (William Bell).
Modern Evangelism Unmasked.
Approval junkies live as hostages to other people’s opinions and judgments regarding their thoughts, motives, feelings, or behaviors. Approval seekers look good; they have to… But people-pleasing isn’t godly, nor is it healthy. Appeasers usually end up feeling used, unappreciated, and driven to become all things to all people in order to maintain their image and receive continued approval. They appear giving but in fact they are enslaved to their insatiable need to be admired (Nancy Groom).
Copied from Bondage to Bonding: Escaping Codependency, Embracing Biblical Love copyright 1991, p. 35, Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com, All rights reserved.
In Jesus are riches – if you are poor; Honor – if you are despised; Friendship – if you are forsaken; Help – if you are injured; Mercy – if you are miserable; Joy – if you are disconsolate; Protection – if you are in danger; Deliverance – if you are a captive; Life – if you are mortal; and all things – if you have nothing at all (James Meikle).
The Law’s demands are inward, touching motive and desire, and are not concerned solely with outward action (Ernest Keven).
The Grace of Law, Baker, 1976, p. 63.
Verily, they may preach even to paleness and faintness, until the bellows are burnt, until their lungs and vitals are consumed, and their hearers will never be the better; not one sinner will be converted until God is graciously pleased, by the efficacious working of His Spirit, to add His blessing to their labors and make His Word, in the mouth of the preacher, sharper than any two-edged sword in the heart of the hearer. All will be in vain, to no saving purpose, until God is pleased to give the increase. And in order to do this, God looks for their prayers to come up to His ears. A praying minister is in the way to have a successful ministry (John Shaw).
The Character of a Pastor According to God’s Heart Considered, Soli Deo Gloria, 1992, p. 10.
Behind every good biblical preacher is much hard labor in preparation (1 Tim 5:17; 2 Tim 2:15). However, only prayer can assure that his work is not wasted and that his message will spiritually impact the hearers. As the biblical preacher interweaves prayer with his preparation, he should focus on certain petitions:
1. That he will receive God’s message…in spiritual as well as mental comprehension (1 Cor. 2:9-16).
2. That God’s message will first grip his own heart in strong conviction (1 Thes. 1:5).
3. That he will clearly and correctly convey God’s message in the power of the Spirit in effective communication (1 Thes. 1:5).
4. That the Spirit will use the message to produce proper response and change, spiritual transformation (2 Cor. 3:18).
5. That the whole process and finished product will accomplish God’s purpose in glorification of God through Christ (1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Pet 4:11) (Henry Holloman).
Personal Letter from Henry Holloman quoted in: The Priority of Prayer in Preaching by James Rosscup, The Master’s Journal, Spring 1991, p. 39.
The Word, then, is the storehouse of all instruction. Look not for any new diverse doctrine to be taught thee by affliction, which is not in the Word. For, in truth, herein stands our teaching by affliction, that it fits and prepares us for the Word, by breaking and sub-dividing the stubbornness of our hearts, and making them pliable, and capable of the impression of the Word (Daniel Dyke).
Quoted by C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Baker, 1984, v. 4, p. 306.
God calls us to put our complaining to death, and to put on thanksgiving and gratitude as our garment and cologne (Jeff Hutchinson).
Uncommon Belief, Tabletalk, Nov. 2004, p. 55, Used by Permission.
Most do not consider that solemn oaths in a court of justice, or on other proper occasions, are wrong, provided they are taken with due reverence. Others, however, such as Quakers, take this verse in its most literal sense and will not swear any type of oath. But all oaths taken without necessity, or in common conversation, must be sinful, as well as all those expressions that are appeals to God, though persons think thereby to evade the guilt of swearing. Evil men and women are not bound by oaths; the godly have no need of them (J.M. Freeman).
J.M. Freeman and H.J. Chadwick, Manners and Customs of the Bible, Whitaker House, 1996. All quotations taken from books published by Whitaker House are used with permission of the publisher. Whitaker House books are available at Christian bookstores ev
If we only knew how bad we are, we would welcome chastening because this is God’s way of getting rid of sin and its habits. But chastening is resented because we cannot believe that we have done anything worthy of it (John Sanderson).
The Fruit of the Spirit, Zondervan, 1972, p. 71.
No one whose senses have been exercised to know good or evil can but grieve over the sight of zealous souls seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit while they are living in a state of moral carelessness and borderline sin. Whoever would be indwelt by the Spirit must judge his life for any hidden iniquities. He must expel from his heart everything that is out of accord with the character of God as revealed by the Holy Scriptures… There can be no tolerance of evil, no laughing off the things that God hates (D.J. Fant).
People’s lives are beaten down enough. They don’t need more of it from the pulpit (Richard Ganz).
Preaching Grace
We never, therefore, move on from the cross of Christ, only to a more profound understanding of the cross(David Prior).
Taken from “Message of 1 Corinthians: Life in the Local Church.” Copyright (c) 1985, p. 51, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com.
The punishment was meted out for such crimes as treason, desertion in the face of the enemy, robbery, piracy, assassination, sedition, etc. It continued in vogue in the Roman Empire till the day of Constantine, when it was abolished as an insult to Christianity. Among the Romans crucifixion was preceded by scourging, undoubtedly to hasten impending death. The victim then bore his own cross, or at least the upright beam, to the place of execution. This in itself proves that the structure was less ponderous than is commonly supposed. When he was tied to the cross nothing further was done and he was left to die from starvation. If he was nailed to the cross, at least in Judea, a stupefying drink was given him to deaden the agony. The number of nails used seems to have been indeterminate. A tablet, on which the feet rested or on which the body was partly supported, seems to have been a part of the cross to keep the wounds from tearing through the transfixed members (Iren., Adv. haer., ii.42). The suffering of death by crucifixion was intense, especially in hot climates. Severe local inflammation, coupled with an insignificant bleeding of the jagged wounds, produced traumatic fever, which was aggravated the exposure to the heat of the sun, the strained of the body and insufferable thirst. The swelled about the rough nails and the torn lacerated tendons and nerves caused excruciating agony. The arteries of the head and stomach were surcharged with blood and a terrific throbbing headache ensued. The mind was confused and filled with anxiety and dread foreboding. The victim of crucifixion literally died a thousand deaths. Tetanus not rarely supervened and the rigors of the attending convulsions would tear at the wounds and add to the burden of pain, till at last the bodily forces were exhausted and the victim sank to unconsciousness and death. The sufferings were so frightful that “even among the raging passions of war pity was sometimes excited” (BJ, V, xi, 1). The length of this agony was wholly determined by the constitution of the victim, but death rarely ensued before thirty-six hours had elapsed. Instances are on record of victims of the cross who survived their terrible injuries when taken down from the cross after many hours of suspension (Josephus, Vita, 75). Death was sometimes hastened by breaking the legs of the victims and by a hard blow delivered under the armpit before crucifixion. Crura fracta was a well-known Roman term (Cicero Phil. xiii.12). The sudden death of Christ evidently was a matter of astonishment (Mark 15:44). The peculiar symptoms mentioned by John (19:34) would seem to point to a rupture of the heart, of which the Savior died, independent of the cross itself, or perhaps hastened by its agony (Henry Dosker).
International Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1915, Public Domain.
The business of the preacher is to stick to the passage chosen and to set forth exclusively what it has to say or suggest, so that the ideas expressed and the principles enunciated during the course of the sermon plainly come out of the written Word of God, and have its authority for their support rather than just the opinion or the enthusiasm of their human expositor (Alan Stibbs).
Expounding God’s Word, Inter-Varsity Press, 1960, p. 17.
The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God’s people – strengthened by preaching and sacrament – go out of the church door into the world to be the church. We don’t go to church, we are the church (Ernest Southcott).
Because marriage comes from God above and not from man or beast below, it involves moral, not merely physical problems. A sin against the commandment of purity is a sin against God, not simply the outraging of convention, the thoughtlessness of youth, the evidence of bad taste. The Savior tells us that, when God’s children are joined in wedlock, they are united by God, and beneath the evident strength and courage and love that this divine direction promises there is a penetrating, ominous warning. Those who tamper with God’s institution have lighted the fuse to the explosive of retributive justice. Marriage is so holy that of all social sins its violation invokes the most appalling consequences. Sodom and Gomorrah were burned out of existence because of the vile disregard of the holiness of marriage. David’s rule over Israel was blackened by his marital follies and by the royal lust that forgot God and dedicated itself to raging passion. The Hebrew people dropped out of the family of nations largely because of the vicious practices associated with Balaam worship (Walter Maier).
For Better, Not for Worse, St. Louis: Concordia, 1935, p. 83.
Any blessing which is bestowed by the Father upon His undeserving children must be considered to be an act of grace. We fail to appreciate the mercy of the Lord if we think that by our doing something we have forced (or even coerced) God to grant that blessing which we have asked for (David Smith).
Fasting: A Neglected Discipline, Christian Literature Crusade, 1954, p. 44.
An unbridled tongue is the chariot of the devil, wherein he rides in triumph… The course of an unruly tongue is to proceed from evil to worse, to begin with foolishness, and go on with bitterness, and to end in mischief and madness (Ecclesiastes 10:13) (Edward Reyner).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 296.
How to Turn a Disagreement into a Feud:
1. Be sure to develop and maintain a healthy fear of conflict, letting your own feelings build up so you are in an explosive frame of mind.
2. If you must state your concerns, be as vague and general as possible. Then the other person cannot do anything practical to change the situation.
3. Assume you know all the facts and you are totally right. The use of a clinching Bible verse is helpful. Speak prophetically for truth and justice; do most of the talking.
4. With a touch of defiance, announce your willingness to talk with anyone who wishes to discuss the problem with you. But do not take steps to initiate such conversation.
5. Latch tenaciously onto whatever evidence you can find that shows the other person is merely jealous of you.
6. Judge the motivation of the other party on any previous experience that showed failure or unkindness. Keep track of any angry words.
7. If the discussion should, alas, become serious, view the issue as a win/lose struggle. Avoid possible solutions and go for total victory and unconditional surrender. Don’t get too many options on the table.
8. Pass the buck! If you are about to get cornered into a solution, indicate you are without power to settle; you need your partner, spouse, bank, whatever (Ron Kraybill).
Quoted in Tell it to the Church, Lynn Buzzard, David C. Cook, 1982, p. 23.
Peacemakers carry about with them an atmosphere in which quarrels die a natural death (Roddy Archibald).
When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die (Addison Leitch).
Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological arguments, but out of love (Roland Allen).
I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light (John Falconer).
Nowhere in the New Testament do any of the Greek words translated “fellowship” imply fun times. Rather, they talk of, for example, “The fellowship of the ministering to the saints” (2 Cor. 8:4) as sacrificial service and financial aid (see for example, 1 Tim. 6:18). Elsewhere, Paul was thankful for the Philippian believers’ “fellowship in the gospel” (Phil. 1:5), for he knew that “inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers (same word as fellowship) of my grace” (Phil. 1:7). This sort of fellowship may even bring persecution. We are to emulate Christ’s humility and self-sacrificial love (Phil. 2:5-8) through the “fellowship of the Spirit” (Phil. 2:1). In some way known only partially to us, we have the privilege of knowing “the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Phil. 3:10), and even the communion (i.e. fellowship) of the blood…and body of Christ” (1 Cor. 10:16) (J.D. Morris).
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Mt. 6:9). This petition condemns much more than profane language. Whenever we introduce the Divine name in our speech uselessly and triflingly – when we employ it to turn a sentence, or give emphasis to a statement, or point to an anecdote – when we make the Divine Word the subject-matter of jokes, punning on solemn truths of Revelation, and quoting Scripture with ludicrous adaptations to provoke mirth. And even when we take this great name on our lips in worship without any endeavor to feel the homage it demands, we violate the spirit of this prayer (Newman Hall).
Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer.
The will of God – nothing less, nothing more, nothing else (Fredrick Marsh).
The Pharisees were desperately determined to not break the laws of God. Consequently they devised a system to keep them from even coming close to angering God. They contrived a “fence” of Pharisaic rules that, if man would keep them, would guarantee a safe distance between himself and the laws of God… The “fence” or “hedge” laws accumulated into hundreds over the years and were passed around orally. Soon it became apparent that they were far from optional. These laws became every inch as important as the scriptural laws and in some instances far more crucial (William Coleman).
The Pharisees Guide to Total Holiness, Bethany House Publishers, 1977, p. 8-9.
It is very rare for the spirituality of a group of Christians to exceed that of its leaders (John Benton).
Quoted in: Reformation and Revival Journal, v. 13, n. 3, p. 77.
There is the pride of being “radical” or the pride of being “realistic.”
There is the pride of being able to “spot a sinner” or the pride of being able to “notice the hurting.”
There is the pride of doing “only what you want to do” or the pride of doing “whatever needs doing.”
There is the pride at being “unbiased” or the pride of being “loyal.”
There is the pride of being “perfectly honest” or the pride of being able to “get along with people.”
There is the pride at being “on top of an issue” or the pride of having an “open mind.”
There is the pride at all one has “acquired” or the pride over all one has “sacrificed.”
There is the pride over “how great our church is” or the pride of “knowing exactly what’s going wrong.”
There is the pride of being a “victorious Christian” or the pride of being one who “struggles with God.”
There is the pride that says “I can stand tall” or the pride that says “I’m willing to get on my knees.”
There is the pride that says “our church is growing” or the pride that says “we’re staying faithful.”
Pride comes in many forms but has only one end: destruction (Dick Rasanen).
Leadership, v. 7, n. 3.
Recently I read again of a woman who simply decided one day to make such a commitment to pray, and my conscience was pricked. But I knew myself well enough to know that something other than resolve was being called for. I began to pray about praying. I expressed to God my frustrated longings, my jaded sense of caution about trying again, my sense of failure over working at being more disciplined and regular. I discovered something surprising happening from such simple praying: I was drawn into the presence of One who had, far more than I did, the power to keep me close. I found my focus subtly shifting away from my efforts to God’s, from rigor to grace, from rigidity to relationship. I soon realized that this was happening regularly. I was praying much more. I became less worried about the mechanics and methods, and in turn I was more motivated. And God so cares for us, I realized anew, that He Himself helps us pray. When we “do not know what we ought to pray for… the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom. 8:26) (Timothy Jones).
What Can I Say? Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1990, p. 28.
America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive (John Gardner).
A vision gives life and if there is no vision, the seeds of death are being sown and it is just a matter of time until death will prevail.
From Effective Church Leadership by Harris W. Lee copyright © 1990 Augsburg Publishing House.
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never had a family or owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had – His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as this “One Solitary Life” (James Francis).
The Greatest Man in History… Jesus; Had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He did not live in a castle, yet they called Him Lord, He ruled no nations, yet they called Him King, He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today (Lyle C Rollings III, 2008).
God has removed the sting of death for each believer. I should save my sorrow for those without Christ and seek to win them (Larry Clark).
All Word and no Spirit, we dry up; all Spirit and no Word, we blow up; both Word and Spirit, we grow up (David Watson).
I Believe in the Church, Eerdmans, 1979. www.eerdmans.com.
Pause, then, and contemplate. The eternal Son of God, Creator of the universe, worshiped and adored by angels and archangels, has offered Himself in your place. He has offered Himself freely, willingly, and gladly, to endure the judgment that your sin deserves, and to endure it in a holy way – saying the perfect “yea and Amen!” to the holiness of the judgment, which your corrupt heart could never have said. As far as atoning for your sins is concerned, the only thing you owe God is endless gratitude (Nick Needham).
Obedience Unto Death, Tabletalk, April 2004, p. 14, Used by Permission.
We live in a post-vocational age. Without any theology of vocation we lapse into debilitating alternatives: fatalism (doing what is required by “the forces” and “the powers”); luck (which denies purposefulness in life and reduces our life to a bundle of accidents); karma (which ties performance to future rewards); nihilism (which denies that there is any good end to which the travail of history might lead); and, the most common alternative today, self-actualization (in which we invent the meaning and purpose of our lives, making us magicians). In contrast the biblical doctrine of vocation proposes that the whole of our lives finds meaning in relation to the sweet summons of a good God (Paul Stevens).
The Other Six Days: Vocation, Word, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1999, p. 72.
I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, all the friends I want to see. Our time is too short for pettiness, angry words, wounded feelings, crushed souls. Perhaps the measure of life is not in its length, but in its love (John Burroughs).
It is a good thing to possess an accurate theology, but it is unsatisfactory unless that good theology also possesses us (Charles Mitton).
To repent is to accuse and condemn ourselves; to charge upon ourselves the desert of hell; to take part with God against ourselves, and to justify Him in all that He does against us; to be ashamed and confounded for our sins; to have them ever in our eyes and at all times upon our hearts that we may be in daily sorrow for them; to part with our right hands and eyes, that is, with those pleasurable sins which have been as dear to us as our lives, so as never to have more to do with them, and to hate them, so as to destroy them as things which by nature we are wholly disinclined to. For we naturally love and think well of ourselves, hide our deformities, lessen and excuse our faults, indulge ourselves in the things that please us, are mad upon our lusts, and follow them, though to our own destruction (Francis Fuller).
So few believe in common grace, because the human heart will not admit that a world without common grace is what we deserve (Jeff Hutchinson).
Uncommon Belief, Tabletalk, Nov. 2004, p. 54, Used by Permission.
The Christian faith is unchangeable, which is not to say that men and women of every generation do not need to find it, experience it, and live it; but it does mean that every new doctrine that arises, even though its legitimacy may be plausible asserted, is a false doctrine. All claims to convey some additional revelation to that which has been given by God in this body of truth are false claims and must be rejected (George Lawlor).
Translation and Exposition of the Epistle of Jude, P&R, 1972, p. 45. Used by Permission.
In times of revival, God manifests His glorious presence in the midst of His people. The awesome sense of His holiness produces overwhelming conviction of sinfulness, leading to deep repentance. The greater measure of the Spirit rejuvenates an authentic church; everywhere there is bountiful praise and worship, hunger for truth, and whole-hearted service to God, overflowing into powerful evangelization of the world (Lowell Yoder).
The Need for Revival, Revival Commentary, v. 1, n. 2, p. 2.
Christian civility does not commit us to a relativistic perspective. Being civil doesn’t mean that we cannot criticize what goes on around us. Civility doesn’t require us to approve of what other people believe and do. It is one thing to insist that other people have the right to express their basic convictions; it is another thing to say that they are right in doing so. Civility requires us to live by the first of these principles. But it does not commit us to the second formula. To say that all beliefs and values deserve to be treated as if they were on a par is to endorse relativism – a perspective that is incompatible with Christian faith and practice. Christian civility does not mean refusing to make judgments about what is good and true. For one thing, it really isn’t possible to be completely nonjudgmental. Even telling someone else that she is being judgmental is a rather judgmental thing to do (Richard Mouw)!
Uncommon Decency, IVP, 1992, p. 20-21.
It is admitted universally that the payment of tithes or the tenths of possessions for sacred purposes did not find a place within the Christian Church during the age covered by the apostles and their immediate successors (J.R. Willis).
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, ed. J. Hastings, Scribner’s, 1916-1918, “Tithes.”
Paul held the demonic rulers responsible for Christ’s death. He assumes that these powers of Satan were working behind the scenes to control the course of events during the Passion Week. It was not a part of Paul’s purpose to explain exactly how these demonic rulers operated. At the very least we can imagine they were intimately involved by exerting their devious influence in and through Judas, Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas, and by inciting the mob. Demonic victory over God’s plan by putting Christ to death failed. The powers did not apprehend the full extent of God’s wisdom – how the Father would use the death of Christ to atone for sin, raise Him victoriously from the dead and create the church. Least of all did they envisage their own defeat (Clinton Arnold)!
Taken from: Powers of Darkness, ©1992, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com. p. 104.
Nothing fails quite so totally as success without God (Vic Pentz).
Leadership, v. 10, n. 4.
It is fashionable to follow the view of some psychologists that the self is a bundle of needs and that personal growth is the business of progressively meeting these needs. Many Christians go along with such beliefs… One mark of the almost total success of this new morality is that the Christian church, traditionally keen on mortifying the desires of the flesh, on crucifying the needs of the self in pursuit of Christ’s likeness, has eagerly adopted the language of needs for itself. We now hear that Jesus will meet your every need, as though He were some kind of Divine psychiatrist or Divine detergent and as though God were simply to serve us (Tony Walter).
Taken from Need: The New Religion by Tony Walker, 1985, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com preface, p. 5.
[If a deceased infant] were sent to hell on no other account than that of original sin, there would be a good reason to the divine mind for the judgment, but the child’s mind would be a perfect blank as to the reason of its suffering. Under such circumstances, it would know suffering, but it would have no understanding of the reason for its suffering. It could not tell its neighbor – it could not tell itself – why it was so awfully smitten; and consequently the whole meaning and significance of its sufferings, being to it a conscious enigma, the very essence of penalty would be absent, and justice would be disappointed of its vindication. Such an infant could feel that it was in hell, but it could not explain, to its own conscience, why it was there (R.A. Webb).
The Theology of Infant Salvation, 1907.