Help us all O Lord

 Yesterday my church spoke on abortion and the evil of it. The statistics are staggering and how awful it is that we promote a culture of death while simultaneously promoting equality. The god of this world truly has blinded the minds of humanity so that they cannot see the light of Christ in the face of God. Life is a gift to be treasured and preserved and only forfeited when true justice has called it so. 

At the end of the sermon I prayed for every Christian women that has had an abortion (there are different reasons why people have an abortion)- I pray that you O Lord make them see the errors (some may not see this as an error as there may have been medical reasons why this had to be done. I do not speak to this although there may be guilt from it) of their ways if they haven’t yet seen it and may you heal them by his stripes (Jesus). May you set them free and make them know and feel the love of your goodness that their sins have been eternally forgiven. 

There are many reasons people have an abortion and some are very complicated. My part is to show compassion, to love, to pray, to serve and to fight the good fight of faith. May God lead us in all righteousness of which I fall far short. Men are also guilty, we as a community are guilty and only God can restore us all to love one another in a way that will see all evils dissolve from our midst. There is a kingdom to come and it is here. The fullness of it will come and there will be no more unrighteousness. 

One of my favourite quote by Ravi Zacharias

I did not make this image.

Lasting Forgiveness for the Members of the Church!

BY JOHN CALVIN

Lasting forgiveness for the members of the church!
Not only does the Lord through forgiveness of sins receive and adopt us once for all into the church, but through the same means he preserves and protects us there. For what would be the point of providing a pardon for us that was destined to be of no use? Every godly man is his own witness that the Lord's mercy, if it were granted only once, would be void and illusory, since each is quite aware throughout his life of the many infirmities that need God's mercy. And clearly not in vain does God promise this grace especially to those of his own household; not in vain does he order the same message of reconciliation daily to be brought to them.30x So, carrying, as we do, the traces of sin around with us throughout life, unless we are sustained by the Lord's constant grace in forgiving our sins, we shall scarcely abide one moment in the church. But the Lord has called his children to eternal salvation. Therefore, they ought to ponder that there is pardon ever ready for their sins. b(a)Consequently, we must firmly believe that by God's generosity, mediated by Christ's merit, through the sanctification of the Spirit, sins have been and are daily pardoned to us who have been received and engrafted into the body of the church.

22. The power of the keys
To impart to us this benefit, the keys of the church have been given. When Christ gave the command to the apostles and conferred upon them the power to forgive sins [Matt. 16:19; 18:18; John 20:23], he did not so much desire that the apostles absolve from sins those who might be converted from ungodliness to the faith of Christ, as that they should perpetually discharge this office among believers. Paul teaches this when he writes that the mission of reconciliation has been entrusted to the ministers of the church and that by it they are repeatedly to exhort the people to be reconciled to God in Christ's name [2 Cor. 5:18, 20]. Therefore, in the communion of saints, our sins are continually forgiven us by the ministry of the church itself when the presbyters or bishops to whom this office has been committed strengthen godly consciences by the gospel promises in the hope of pardon and forgiveness. This they do both publicly and privately as need requires. For very many, on account of their weakness, need personal consolation. And Paul mentions that not only in public preaching, but from house to house as well, he has attested his faith in Christ, and has individually admonished each man concerning the doctrine of salvation [Acts 20:20–21].

We should accordingly note three things here. First, however great the holiness in which God's children excel, they still—so long as they dwell in mortal bodies—remain unable to stand before God without forgiveness of sins. Secondly, this benefit so belongs to the church that we cannot enjoy it unless we abide in communion with the church. Thirdly, it is dispensed to us through the ministers and pastors of the church, either by the preaching of the gospel or by the administration of the sacraments; and herein chiefly stands out the power of the keys, which the Lord has conferred upon the society of believers. Accordingly, let each one of us count it his own duty to seek forgiveness of sins only where the Lord has placed it. Public reconciliation, which has to do with discipline, will be discussed in its place.

(Incidents illustrating forgiveness within the community of believers, 23–29)
23. All believers are to seek forgiveness of their sins
But since those delirious spirits of whom I have spoken are trying to snatch away from the church the sole anchor of salvation, we must fortify our consciences more strongly against such a pestilential opinion. Once the Novatianists stirred up the churches with this teaching,32 but our own age has certain Anabaptists (not very different from the Novatianists) who are lapsing into the same madness. For they feign that in baptism God's people are reborn into a pure and angelic life, unsullied by any carnal filth. But if after baptism anyone falls away, they leave him nothing but God's inexorable judgment. In short, to the sinner who has lapsed after he has received grace they hold out no hope of pardon. For they recognize no other forgiveness of sins than that by which they were first reborn.

Although no falsehood is more clearly refuted by Scripture, because these fellows find persons on whom to impose it (just as once Novatus had very many followers), let us briefly show how madly intent they are upon their own and others' destruction.

First, since at the Lord's command the saints daily repeat this prayer, "Forgive us our debts" [Matt. 6:12], they doubtless confess themselves debtors. And their petition is not in vain, for the Lord has laid down that they are to seek only what he will give them. Indeed, although the Father attests that he will hear every prayer, this absolution he has sealed with a special promise. What more do we wish? The Lord requires the saints to confess their sins—and that indeed continually throughout life; and he promises pardon. What boldness is it either to exempt them from sin, or, if they have stumbled, utterly to exclude them from grace? Whom, now, would he have us forgive seventy times seven? Is it not our brethren [Matt. 18:21–22]? For what purpose did he command this except that we should emulate his kindness? He therefore forgives not once or twice, but as often as men, stricken with the awareness of their transgressions, cry out to him.

24. God's abundant grace to sinful believers under the Old Covenant: the Law*
To begin with the very swaddling clothes of the church: the patriarchs had been circumcised, chosen to participate in the covenant, doubtless taught righteousness and integrity by their fathers' diligence—when they conspired to murder their brother [Gen. 37:18]. Here was a crime that even the most depraved thieves should have loathed. Softened at last by Judah's advice, they sold him [Gen. 37:28]; but this too was an unbearable cruelty. Simeon and Levi, illicitly avenging [their sister's defilement], an act condemned also by their father's judgment, raged against the Shechemites [Gen. 34:25]. Reuben fouled his father's bed with vilest lust [Gen. 35:22]. Judah, wanting to indulge in fornication, beyond the law of nature goes in to his son's wife [Gen. 38:16]. Yet far from being banished from the chosen people, these men were raised up as heads!

What about David? When he was chief administrator of justice, how wickedly did he open the way for his blind lust by the shedding of innocent blood [2 Sam. 11:4, 15]! He had already been reborn, and among the reborn was adorned with the Lord's excellent praises. Still, he committed that crime (horrible even among the Gentiles) and yet received pardon [2 Sam. 12:13].

And (not to tarry over individual examples) as often as promises of divine mercy are manifested in the Law and the Prophets toward the Israelites, so often does the Lord prove that he shows himself willing to forgive the offenses of his people! For what does Moses promise will take place when the people fallen into apostasy shall return to the Lord? "The Lord will lead you back from captivity, and will take pity on you, and will gather you from the people among whom you are scattered. If you were scattered to the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I shall gather you." [Deut. 30:3–4, cf. Vg.]

25. God's abundant grace to sinful believers under the Old Covenant: the Prophets†
But I do not want to begin a never-ending enumeration. For the prophets are full of promises of this kind, which offer mercy to a people though they be covered with infinite crimes. What graver iniquity is there than rebellion? For it is called divorce between God and the church; yet it is outstripped by God's goodness. "What man is there" (he says through Jeremiah) "who, if his wife prostitute her body to adulterers, can bear to return to her embrace? By your fornications all your ways are polluted, O Judah; the earth has been filled with your filthy loves. Return yet to me and I will receive you" [Jer. 3:1 p., cf. Vg.]. "Return, you who turn away, I shall not avert my face from you, for I am holy, and I will not be angry forever" [Jer. 3:12, Vg.]. Surely, there can be no other feeling in him who affirms that he does not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he be converted and live [Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11]. Accordingly, when Solomon dedicated the Temple, he intended it also to be used so that thereby the prayers offered to obtain pardon of sins might be answered. "If thy children," he said, "sin against thee—for there is no man who does not sin—and thou in anger deliverest them to their enemies … and they repent in their hearts … and turn again and make supplication unto thee in their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned and acted perversely,' and pray to thee toward their land, which thou gavest to their fathers, … and toward this holy Temple, … thou wilt hear their prayers … in heaven … and be appeased unto thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions that they have committed against thee" [1 Kings 8:46–50 p., cf. Vg.]. And not in vain has the Lord ordained in the law daily sacrifices for sins [Num. 28:3 ff.]. For if the Lord had not foreseen that his people would be continually burdened with diseases of sins, he would never have established this remedy.

26. God's abundant grace to sinful believers under the New Covenant†
Has this benefit been so taken away from believers by Christ's coming, in which the fullness of grace was revealed, in order that they dare not pray for pardon of sins and, if they have offended the Lord, that they may obtain no mercy? What else will this be but to say that Christ has come for the destruction, not the salvation, of his people, if God's kindness, which in the Old Testament had been unfailingly ready for the saints for the forgiveness of sins, is now said to be completely taken away? But if we have faith in the Scriptures—which expressly proclaim that in Christ the grace and gentleness of the Lord have fully appeared, the riches of his mercy have been poured out [Titus 1:9; 3:4; 2 Tim. 1:9], and the reconciliation of God and men fulfilled [2 Cor. 5:18 ff.]—let us not doubt that the Heavenly Father's clemency flows forth to us much more abundantly, rather than that it is cut off or curtailed.

And proofs of this are not lacking. Peter, who had heard that anyone not confessing Christ's name among men would be denied in the presence of the angels of God [Matt. 10:33; Mark 8:38], denied him thrice one night and not without cursing [Matt. 26:74]; yet he was not deprived of pardon [Luke 22:32; John 21:15 ff.]. Those who lived disorderly among the Thessalonians are chastised in such a way as to be invited to repentance [cf. 2 Thess. 3:14–15; also ch. 3:6]. Not even Simon the Magician is cast into despair, but is rather bidden to have good hope, when Peter urges him to take refuge in prayer [Acts 8:22].

27. God's abundant grace toward delinquent churches†
What of the fact that, while the most heinous sins have sometimes possessed entire churches, Paul has nevertheless gently freed them from these, rather than cursed their leaders? The defection of the Galatians was no slight transgression [Gal. 1:6; 3:1; 4:9]. The Corinthians were less excusable than they, for they abounded in more and not less heinous misdeeds. Still, neither were barred from the Lord's mercy. Indeed, the very ones who, in uncleanness, fornication, and licentiousness, had sinned more than the others are expressly invited to repentance [2 Cor. 12:21]. For the Lord's covenant remains, and shall remain forever inviolable, which he solemnly ratified with Christ, the true Solomon, and his members in these words: "If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they profane my righteousnesses … and keep not my commandments, … I will visit their transgressions with the rod, their iniquities with stripes. But my mercy will I not utterly take from him" [Ps. 89:30–33, RV, cf. Vg.]. Finally, by the very order of the Creed we are taught that continual grace for sins remains in Christ's church. For once the church has, so to speak, been established, forgiveness of sins is added to it.

28. Are only unconscious sins forgivable?
Certain men, somewhat more prudent, when they see the teachings of Novatus refuted by the great clarity of Scripture, do not deem every sin unpardonable, but only voluntary transgression of the law, into which one knowingly and willingly falls.35 Now those who speak thus allow pardon for no sin, except one that is an error of ignorance. But in the law the Lord commanded one sort of sacrifice to be offered to atone for the voluntary sins of believers [Lev. 6:1 ff.], another sort to redeem their acts of ignorance [Lev., ch. 4]. Consequently, what depravity it is not to grant any expiation for voluntary sin! I say that nothing is more apparent than that Christ's sacrifice is alone sufficient to forgive the voluntary sins of the saints inasmuch as the Lord has attested this by carnal sacrifices as seals.

Again, who can excuse David on grounds of ignorance when he clearly was so well versed in the law? Did not David, who daily punished adultery and murder in his subjects, know what great crimes they were [2 Sam., ch. 11]? Did murder of a brother seem a lawful thing to the patriarchs [Gen. 37:18 ff.]? Had the Corinthians profited so ill as to think lust, impurity, fornication, hatreds, and contentions pleasing to God [1 Cor., ch. 5]? Did Peter, so carefully warned, not know what an enormity it was to renounce his Master [Matt. 26:74]? Therefore, let us not by our unkindness bar the way to God's mercy, which manifests itself so generously.

29. The question of "second repentance" in the ancient church
Indeed, I am aware that the ancient writers interpreted the sins which are daily remitted to believers as rather slight errors, creeping in from weakness of the flesh; the solemn penitence then exacted for more heinous crimes, it seemed to them, should no more be repeated than baptism.36 We must not interpret this opinion to mean that they wished either to cast into despair those who have fallen away from their first repentance, or to make light those other errors as if they were small in God's sight. For the church fathers well knew that the saints often totter in unbelief, sometimes give vent to superfluous oaths, now and then flare into anger, indeed, even break out into open railing, and besides are troubled with other ills that the Lord thoroughly abominates. But these writers called them "slight errors" in order to distinguish them from public crimes, which with great scandal came under the church's cognizance. Moreover, they made pardon very difficult for those who had committed anything deserving churchly correction. This they did, not because they considered pardon for their sins hard to obtain before the Lord; rather, with this severity they intended to deter others from rashly plunging into iniquities that would merit their being cut off from the communion of the church. Albeit the Lord's Word, which here ought to be our sole rule, surely prescribes a greater moderation. For it teaches that disciplinary rigor is not to be pushed so far that that man for whom it ought to be chiefly concerned becomes overwhelmed with sorrow [2 Cor. 2:7]. This we have discussed more fully above.

-----

Source: Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin 

Fri, 12/06/2019 - 17:01 -- john_hendryx https://www.monergism.com/blog/lasting-forgiveness-members-church

Distinguishing God’s Will and His Precepts: A Brief Study of Calvin’s Biblical-theological Teaching

D. SCOTT MEADOWS 

John Calvin wrote that “God’s will is . . . the cause of all things, [which makes] his providence the determinative principle for all human plans and works, not only in order to display its force in the elect, who are ruled by the Holy Spirit, but also to compel the reprobate [i.e., the non-elect] to obedience” (Institutes I, xviii, 2, “How does God’s impulse come to pass in men?”).1

To refute his opponents, Calvin wrote, “It is easy to dispose of their first objection, that if nothing happens apart from God’s will, there are in him two contrary wills, because by his secret plan he decrees what he has openly forbidden by his law” (Institutes I, xviii, 3, “God’s will is a unity”). This complex argument may easily be misunderstood. The enemies of Calvin’s teaching about Providence believed that many things happen that actually are not God’s will. Calvin strongly objects to that notion. His opponents considered God’s law to be one aspect of God’s will, and, granting for sake of argument Calvin’s notion of God’s decree to be His will, they reasoned, “there are in him two contrary wills” (His law [commandments, precepts] and His decree), “because by his secret plan he decrees what he has openly forbidden by his law.” Now Calvin granted, along with his opponents, that if God’s law were thought of as His will, this would inescapably lead to the absurd conclusion of “two contrary wills” in God. Both Calvin and his opponents rejected this as a preposterous idea. Calvin’s ensuing argument was to deny that God’s law is His “will,” a term that should only be used formally of His decree.2

Calvin argues a little later, “God’s will is not at war with itself, nor does it change, nor does it pretend not to will what he wills. But even though his will is one and simple in him, it appears manifold to us because, on account of our mental incapacity, we do not grasp how in divers ways it wills and does not will something to take place.” Here Calvin strongly identified God’s “will” with His decree and nothing else. His commandments only appear to be His will to us because of our limited ability to understand God and His ways. To make things unmistakably clear, Calvin wrote, “when we do not grasp how God wills to take place what he forbids to be done, let us recall our mental incapacity.” This remark implicitly states Calvin’s deep conviction that God actually does will to happen what He forbids to be done by His law revealed to men. Not God’s law to men, but Providence (i.e., what actually happens according to His decree) is truly and literally the revelation of God’s will. This refutes the first objection of “two contrary wills” in God. It is only a figurative use of language to call God’s commandments His “will.” We cannot correctly and formally speak of God’s precepts as His will. God’s precepts are not God Himself. His precepts are revelatory in creation to teach us about God. On the other hand, God eternally willing is God, that is, God being Himself.

In this section of Institutes, a few other remarks are highly relevant to the subject of our attention. They confirm that we are not misunderstanding Calvin’s meaning. Opponents of Calvin’s doctrine of God’s decree, will, and Providence raised another objection. According to Calvin, they remonstrated, “If God not only uses the work of the ungodly, but also governs their plans and intentions, he is the author of all wickednesses; and therefore men are undeservedly damned if they carry out what God has decreed because they obey His will.” Again, it is clear that Calvin was actually asserting what they oppose, namely, that “God not only uses the work of the ungodly, but also governs their plans and intentions.” Calvin did not agree, however, that this makes God “the author of all wickedness.” Calvin explains why God remains without any blame, despite the sinning of His creatures under His perfect control, throughout this section of Institutes (Book I, Section xviii; your careful study of it in its entirety is highly recommended). Calvin would agree with his opponents that his doctrine would indeed be wrong if the conclusion they stated actually followed, namely, that “men are undeservedly damned if they carry out what God has decreed because they obey his will.” Calvin’s refutation of this is subtle. Men are not condemned for carrying out God’s will; they are condemned for violating His law, and, in this way, failing in their moral duty, even while they are unwittingly obeying His secret will in the eternal decree. Again, the mistake of Calvin’s opponents stems from confusing God’s will with His commandments. To quote Calvin, the problem in their reasoning is that “[God’s] will is wrongly confused with his precept: innumerable examples clearly show how utterly different these two are.” Calvin proceeds to give some examples from Scripture for proof of the point.

I deeply appreciate Calvin’s careful teaching here. God’s precepts are not His will. To speak of God’s “decretive will” (formally) alongside His “preceptive will” (figuratively) as if they were His will in the same sense is a grave mistake. When we think of God’s commandments as His will, literally, then pernicious theological consequences are bound to follow. Some imagine God willing opposite things within Himself and call it a mystery, but this is unscriptural, irrational, and less sound than Calvin and his opponents! A failure to appreciate the distinction between God’s will and His precepts, explained so well by Calvin, has led to great confusion, even among many identifying as Calvinists. Ω

—

1. Calvin, J. (2011). Institutes of the Christian Religion. (J. T. McNeill, Ed., F. L. Battles, Trans.) (Vol. 1, 1 p. 233). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.

2. See the helpful discussion of proper (formal) and improper (figurative) language by Charles J. Rennie 2 in Chapter One, “Analogy and the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility,” of Confessing the Impassible God: The Biblical, Classical, & Confessional Doctrine of Divine Impassibility (RBAP, Palmdale, CA, 2015).

This post was taken from: https://www.monergism.com/blog/distinguishing-god%E2%80%99s-will-and-his-precepts-brief-study-calvin%E2%80%99s-biblical-theological-teaching

The Resurrection of Jesus and the Early Church

Many of the first Christians genuinely believed they witnessed Christ's physical resurrection from the dead (over 500 of them - 1 Cor 15:1-8). Including some who initially opposed it like Paul. The writings of the New Testament took place in the same generation as when it took place (early). And many early followers of Jesus were willing to die, suffering torture and execution, for what they saw. This is not the kind of reaction we would expect from them if this historic event were a late-developing legend, nor if it were a fraud. It was widespread, early, unexpected and sincere.

If you have not done so, I would encourage you to read the gospels for yourselves with this in mind. Remember, they were not just willing to die for some philosophical or moral principle, but for the testimony of Jesus' resurrection.

Sat, 10/26/2019 - 19:31 -- john_hendryx  https://www.monergism.com/blog/resurrection-jesus-and-early-church

Dear Atheist Friends (and Other Skeptics)

DEAR ATHEIST FRIENDS,

If there is one thing I know for certain it is that I am not better than you. My purpose here is not to try to convince you that I am morally superior to you. Clearly, I am not. Neither am I the least bit interested in promoting my tribe. You are not our enemy. I am just like you. No, we are all, by nature, captives, blind beggars, and when God found me, He must have sought for the most vile creature he could find. And, in spite of me, He loosed my chains and opened my blind eyes to behold His glory. And I can testify that there is nothing more beautiful.

My purpose, when I challenge your atheism, materialism, or philosophical naturalism, is not to ridicule you, but because I deeply care about your welfare both now and for eternity. I do this by showing from your own words, that you hold an inconsistent, incoherent, irrational view that does not correspond to the real world we live in. That there is a conflict within you when you hold multiple contradictory beliefs at the same time, and for which you use a defense mechanism to suppress the reality of those contradictions. These may seem like fighting words to you, and if they do, it is only because I am fighting and pleading for your soul before God. I don't care at all to merely win an argument with you, but rather to bring another blind beggar to Christ so that he might open your eyes too.

I understand completely that Christianity sounds foolish to your ears. I know. The gospel is foolishness and a stumbling block to both Jews and Gentiles (1 Cor 1:23-24). But let me be a fool for Christ and ridiculed by you if there be but one of you whom God would have mercy, break the chains and, in Christ, set free from captivity.

taken from https://www.monergism.com/blog/dear-atheist-friends-and-other-skeptics

Sat, 10/05/2019 - 11:03 -- john_hendryx

Why does the Bible ask people to repent and believe if they are unable to respond?

QUESTION:

Why does the Bible ask people to repent and believe if they are unable to respond?

ANSWER:

That's an important question... As R. C. Sproul once said, "God is not going to negotiate His holiness to accomodate us".  As fallen creatures God does not lower the bar of his holiness  He still requires of us to obey his comands perfectly, even though we are morally incapable to do so. Our inability does not alleviate responsibility, including our responsibility to obey the command to believe. Fact is, fallen men are unable because they are unwilling. By nature they are hostile to Christ.

Perhaps think of it like a farmer planting crops. He casts seed after plowing up the fallow ground, but nothing will happen to the seed unless the blessing of rain come down from above. The seed is not sufficient to produce life by itself without the proper conditions. Likewise, we cast the seed of the gospel into the hearts of men, but unless the Holy Spirit plows up the fallow ground of their hearts and "germinate" the seed of the gospel, no fruit will come forth. We call men to repent and believe, but their hearts are willful and hard. Only the Holy Spirit can disarm the hostility and quicken them to life (John 6:63, 65). We plant and water but God causes the growth. (1 Cor 3:6) Only as the Spirit gives us a new heart do we see the truth, beauty and excellency of Christ in the gospel.

God calls all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel but they reject the message...but to those who are inwardly called through the message, salvation.

Paul said,

"we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." -1 Cor 1:23-24

Wed, 10/02/2019 - 13:09 -- john_hendryx

Taken from https://www.monergism.com/blog/why-does-bible-ask-people-repent-and-believe-if-they-are-unable-respond

Which is the fourth commandment?

The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

From The Westminster Shorter Catechism https://bpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/d-scatechism.pdf

18 Characteristics of Humble Souls

BY THOMAS BROOKS

[1.] Now the first property that I shall lay down of a humble soul is this: A humble soul under the highest spiritual discoveries, and under the greatest outward mercies, forgets not his former sinfulness and his former outward baseness.

PAUL had been taken up into the third heavens, and had glorious revelations and manifestations of God, 2 Cor. 12:1-4; he cries out, "I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious," 1 Tim. 1:13. Under the choicest discoveries, he remembers his former blasphemies. So Romans 7:23, "I see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." 

Continue to read:https://www.monergism.com/18-characteristics-humble-souls?fbclid=IwAR0tOrx_fX1udg7rMjr1Mf8V6JZObzy4_43bx4k9UU10yOhtCxepNC9NCuA

How Should Christians Handle Besetting Sins?

One of the great Christian classics is a devotional booklet written by Saint Thomas à Kempis called The Imitation of Christ. In that book he talks about the struggle that so many Christians have with habits that are sinful. He says that the struggle for sanctification is often so difficult and the victories that we achieve seem to be so few and far between, that even in the lives of the greatest saints, there were few who were able to overcome habitual patterns. We’re talking about people who overeat and have these kinds of temptations, not those who are enslaved to gross and heinous sin. Now Thomas à Kempis’s words are not sacred Scripture, but he gives us wisdom from the life of a great saint.

The author of Hebrews says that we are called to resist the sin that so easily besets us and that we are admonished and exhorted simply to try harder to overcome these sins. You say, How do we escape these pockets of sin that we have such great struggles with, that we have an honest and heartfelt desire not to commit? If the desire not to do it is really honest and penetrates the heart, we’re 90 percent home. In fact, we shouldn’t be locked into something. The reason we continue with these pockets of repeated sins is because we have a heartfelt desire to continue them, not because we have a heartfelt desire to stop them. I wonder how honest our commitment is to quit. There’s a tendency for us to kid ourselves about this anytime we embrace a pet sin. We need to face the fact that we commit the sin because we want to do that sin more than we want to obey Christ at that moment. That doesn’t mean that we have no desire to escape from it, but the level of our desire vacillates. It’s easy to go on a diet after a banquet; it’s hard to stay on a diet if you haven’t eaten all day. That’s what happens particularly with habitual sins that involve physical or sensual appetites. The ebb and flow of the desire is augmented and diminished. It increases and fades. Our resolve to repent is great when our appetites have been satiated, but when they’re not, we have a growing attraction to practice whatever the particular sins may be.

I think what we have to do is first of all be honest about the fact that we really have a conflict of interest between what we want to do and what God wants us to do. I think we have to feed our souls with the Word of God so that we can get what God wants us to do clear in our mind and then build a strong desire to obey.

FROM R.C. Sproul Jun 03, 2016 Category: Articles  

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/how-should-christians-handle-besetting-sins/

An honour for Oscar

I confess that I’ve always been a bit dubious about honouring saints. And not just on the kind of theological grounds that made such an impact at the Reformation. I suppose I’ve been rather suspicious of cults of personality too.

I object to the way that women have been honoured for virginity while men have been honoured more for being great teachers and theologians. And then there are all those saints like Valentine, whose stories get turned to all sorts of strange commercial ends. I’ve often insisted that ‘saints’ in the New Testament are always in the plural, that we are all saints (and sinners too) and that there’s no place in the Church for special titles and honours.

But, despite all that, on 23 May, I will be marking the day that Oscar Romero is honoured. I shall be cheering because here was someone who was not a great heroic self, but was someone who really did come to represent his people, and whose memory and inspiration still live in El Salvador.

I went to El Salvador, last year, and as I sat on the plane I remembered how Romero had inspired me as I was growing up. I remembered how we all mourned his death in 1980, when he was shot while presiding at Mass in the chapel of the modest hospital where he lived. I remembered the story of how we had been appointed as Archbishop because the government thought he would be ‘a safe pair of hands’, but that he proved to be a thorn in their side because he never stopped speaking up for the poor. He was a figure of the past.

But as I arrived in El Salvador I saw ‘Romero vive’ painted on countless walls. I saw his portrait, with his distinctive spectacles, represented in windows and wall paintings, his sayings turned into graffiti and his strength of conviction and hope embodied in priests and people. I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover that here was a man whose legacy lives on.

I met Victor, he works for a community group in one of the poorest urban areas of San Salvador. He was wearing a T-shirt with Oscar Romero’s picture on it. He was a gentle soul, facing enormous challenges, and he needed a hero. He said: “You may have forgotten the story of Oscar Romero, but for me, and for many of us here, his story is ours. …He suffered with the poor and left a legacy to his people. His struggle is our struggle.”

Victor had just written a letter to the Municipal Authority to protest about the way in which creation is being destroyed and degraded. And in this letter he quoted from a sermon that Romero preached  way back in 1979.

He said, in words that seem strangely contemporary; “You know that the air and water are being polluted, as is everything we touch and live with, and we go on corrupting the nature that we need. We don’t realize we have a commitment to God to take care of nature. To cut down a tree, to waste water when there is so much lack of it, to let buses poison our atmosphere with those noxious fumes from their exhausts, to burn rubbish haphazardly – all that concerns our partnership with God.”
 
Romero was ahead of his time in recovering again the significance of texts like Genesis 2:15, that points to our God-given vocation to care for the earth, not only to ‘till it’ but also to ‘keep it’.

Successive governments in El Salvador, and those in church authority too, did their best to wipe out Romero’s memory. Children in school were not taught about him for years afterwards, but now, he is being recognised at last as a prophetic voice, a martyr, a servant of the poor.

In a world like ours, where so many look only at the short term and think only of themselves or their own, when many ignore what is happening to those in poverty and to the beautiful creation of God, we should look to the example of those who point to a different way of being a human being, a profoundly Christian way.

Listen to Romero’s own words: “I don’t want to be an anti, against anybody. I simply want to be the builder of a great affirmation: the affirmation of God, who loves us and who wants to save us.”   Oscar A. Romero, The Violence of Love

Romero was a passionate and committed visionary and trusted in the power and love of God to save the world. Let’s do the same.  

Susan Durber is theology co-ordinator for Christian Aid and a United Reformed Church minister. 

On 17 June a day of climate action will see an expected 10,000 Christians gather in London to worship and to meet with MPs, urging the Government to focus on creation care over the next Parliament.
 

The Remedy for Paralyzed Sinners & Fallen Saints. Matthew 6:23

God did his most deadly work to destroy hopelessness and futility and provincial cowardice. He gave up his Son to torture and death. A perfect life, a perfect death, and the decisive work was done.

But there are millions who are numb to hope because of the God-belittling things they have done and how ugly they have become. They don't lift lofty arguments against God's Truth; they shrug and feel irretrievably outside. They don't defy God consciously; they default to cake and television. Except for the periodic rush of sex and sport and cinema, life yawns. There is no passion for significance. For many, no passion at all.

There is a Christian version of this paralysis. The decision has been made to trust Christ. The shoot of hope and joy has sprung up. The long battle against sin has begun. But the defeats are many, and the plant begins to wither. One sees only clouds and gathering darkness. The problem is not perplexing doctrine or evolutionary assaults or threats of persecution. The problem is falling down too many times. Gradually the fatal feeling creeps in: the fight is futile; it isn't worth it.

Along with this hopelessness and futility, especially since 9/11, provincial cowardice captures many Christian minds. They fear that it may sound conceited to call every people group in the world to trust Christ or perish. It seems too global. Too sweeping. Too universal. To say it takes their breath away. And, worse, it brings down the wrath of the tolerant. What could be more arrogant than to think that the infinite variety of need in all the cultural groups of the world could be met by a single Savior!

It is astonishing that the biblical gospel of justification by faith alone answers these three human failures: the hopelessness of unbelievers, the feeling of futility from falling down, and the fear of making global claims for Christ.

To the numb and listless sinner, feeling beyond all hope of godliness, the Bible says, "To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness" (Romans 4:5). God justifies the "ungodly." This truth is meant to break the back of hopelessness.

The connection between the sinner and the Savior is trust, not improvement of behavior. That comes later. It's this order that gives hope. "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Romans 3:28). The basis of this wild and wonderful hope (the ungodly justified) is "Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4, literal translation). Through faith alone God counts the ungodly as righteous because of Christ. "For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Let all who are paralyzed by the weight of sin and the powerlessness to change turn in here.

To the fallen saint, who knows the darkness is self-inflicted and feels the futility of looking for hope from a frowning Judge, the Bible gives a shocking example of gutsy guilt. It pictures God's failed prophet beneath a righteous frown, bearing his chastisement with broken-hearted boldness. "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light" (Micah 7:8-9). This is courageous contrition. Gutsy guilt. The saint has fallen. The darkness of God's indignation is on him. He does not blow it off, but waits. And he throws in the face of his accuser the confidence that his indignant Judge will plead his cause and execute justice for (not against) him. This is the application of justification to the fallen saint. Broken-hearted, gutsy guilt.

For the squeamish fellow afraid of making global claims for Christ, the biblical teaching on justification explodes his little world. It says: the deepest problem to be solved is the same for every human being, because every human is a descendant of Adam. And the problem to be solved is that "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners." "One trespass led to condemnation for all men." The only solution to this universal condemnation is a "second Adam" who provides "the free gift of righteousness" to all who hear the gospel and believe (Romans 5:17-19). Therefore Christ, the second Adam, the giver of righteousness, is the only global Savior.

Embrace as your treasure the gift of justification. There is no part of your life where it is not immeasurably precious.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org

Home-grown terrorism?

With the rapid rise and advance of ISIL in Northern Iraq and Syria, and the recent resurgence of radical groups in Libya, the Church has been grasping for ways to respond.
 
This week the new director of Britain’s surveillance agency, GCHQ, accused big US technology companies of denial, claiming they are becoming “control networks of choice” for terrorists.
 
It seems to me that British Christians often feel hamstrung in their capacity to offer tangible resistance to radical groups, despite knowing such groups are aggressively recruiting using the social media networks that run through our own country.
 
One London church community faces the reality of terrorism locally. London vicar and Westminster Theological College lecturer, Azariah France-Williams, leads a church that sits on the council estate that harboured the 21 July 2005 bombers and recently saw the arrest of four men on suspicion of plotting terrorism. 
 
The vicar recently met a family with a 7-year-old son, who fear he may be targeted as he gets older. They worry he is vulnerable to being groomed and indoctrinated. They want to move out of the estate.
 
Others want to put it behind them and embrace the 'keep calm and carry on' mentality, but a number of people who once enjoyed polite conversation with the arrested men say they now have a lens of suspicion on everyone, unsure of who can be trusted.
 
The estate has many disaffected young people. The absence of fathers is a factor blamed by some for the behaviour of these young men. Those on the estate who might be well-placed to be a father-figure tend to be wary or even afraid of the youth most in need their support.
 
It seems terrorist groups know they can lever Western military action to both recruit and harden people's resolve against Western powers. In today's technologically connected world, there is a distinct lack of boundaries.
 
Azariah says he’s seen the same resentment a Muslim Iraqi might feel in Mosul mirrored by a Muslim counterpart on his estate. He warns that young people’s access to inflammatory material and the ability to network with like-minded peers is dangerous when combined with economic factors.
 
The would-be bomber sees his dad disrespected and his mum working round the clock. They switch allegiance, wanting a different path. Their own gang on the estate becomes too small, so an international tribe is necessary to fuel and fund their new nomadic status as they exist within, but not of, the world of the estate.
 
Some Christians believe the Church needs to engage with this issue of home-grown terrorism by resisting Islam, or at least radical Islam. But Azariah doesn’t see the issues in his neighbourhood in those terms.

As a trustee of the local community centre, he was supportive of Muslim Eid prayers being held there because it brings families together. Eid provided a rare opportunity for these young men to spend time with mature elders who can help them construct a healthier personal narrative – one that supports citizenship and creative, positive protest for the issues they face.
 
St Francis Church on the estate is part of Citizens UK, which engages in deep listening to all aspects of the community. This listening is transformed into positive action. The church has a range of community building initiatives that centre around family, creative arts and space for different people to meet.

Isaiah 11:6 gives us the vision of the wolves and lambs, leopards and goats, and calves and lion lying down next to each other. Powerful predators alongside the weaker victims. This may be a place for the Church, refusing to alienate but rather ‘lying down’ next to these young people who have the potential of becoming the predator.
 
Some might call Isaiah 11’s vision of new creation escapist or even utopian. It doesn’t deal practically with problems on the ground. But we have to remember that Isaiah proposed that vision during one of Judah’s darkest hours, when the aggressors of the world were at the door.

Perhaps envisioning and seeing new alternatives is where the Church is — or should be — best equipped. It seems intrinsic to a worldview based on hope, and to a faith that claims to be good news. Maybe envisioning alternatives locally — with neighbourhood children and parents — can be a powerful witness in a world constantly clanging with alarm bells and security warnings. As all radical groups know, an alternative vision of reality can really mobilise.
 
Matt Lynch is dean of studies at Westminster Theological Centre

Pardon for the Greatest Sinner

“For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.”
—Psalm 25:11

Doctrine: If we truly come to God for mercy, the greatness of our sin will be no impediment to pardon...The following things are needful in order that we truly come to God for mercy:

That we should see our misery and be sensible of our need of mercy. They who are not sensible of their misery cannot truly look to God for mercy, for it is the very notion of divine mercy that it is the goodness and grace of God to the miserable. Without misery in the object, there can be no exercise of mercy. To suppose mercy without supposing misery or pity without calamity is a contradiction. Therefore, men cannot look upon themselves as proper objects of mercy, unless they first know themselves to be miserable. So, unless this be the case, it is impossible that they should come to God for mercy. They must be sensible that they are the children of wrath, that the Law is against them, and that they are exposed to the curse of it: that the wrath of God abideth on them and that He is angry with them every day while they are under the guilt of sin. They must be sensible that it is a very dreadful thing to be the object of the wrath of God, that it is a very awful thing to have Him for their enemy, and that they cannot bear His wrath. They must be sensible that the guilt of sin makes them miserable creatures, whatever temporal enjoyments they have; that they can be no other than miserable, undone creatures, so long as God is angry with them; that they are without strengthand must perish, and that eternally, unless God help them. They must see that their case is utterly desperate, for any thing that any one else can do for them; that they hang over the pit of eternal misery; and that they must necessarily drop into it, if God have not mercy on them...

1. The mercy of God is as sufficient for the pardon of the greatest sins, as for the least, because His mercy is infinite. That which is infinite is as much above what is great as it is above what is small. Thus, God being infinitely great, He is as much above kings as He is above beggars. He is as much above the highest angel, as He is above the meanest worm. One infinite measure doth not come any nearer to the extent of what is infinite than another. So the mercy of God being infinite, it must be as sufficient for the pardon of all sin as of one...

2. That the satisfaction of Christ is as sufficient for the removal of the greatest guilt as the least: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1Jo 1:7). “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Act 13:39). All the sins of those who truly come to God for mercy, let them be what they will, are satisfied for, if God be true Who tells us so. And if they be satisfied for, surely it is not incredible, that God should be ready to pardon them. So that Christ having fully satisfied for all sin, or havingwrought out a satisfaction that is sufficient for all, it is now no way inconsistent with the glory of the divine attributes to pardon the greatest sins of those who in a right manner come unto Him for it. God may now pardon the greatest sinners without any prejudice to the honor of His holiness. The holiness of God will not suffer Him to give the least countenance to sin, but inclines Him to give propertestimonies of His hatred of it. But Christ having satisfied for sin, God can now love the sinner and give no countenance at all to sin, however great a sinner he may have been. It was a sufficient testimony of God’s abhorrence of sin that He poured out His wrath on His own dear Son, when He took the guilt of it upon Himself. Nothing can more show God’s abhorrence of sin than this...

God may, through Christ, pardon the greatest sinner without any prejudice to the honor of His majesty. The honor of the divine majesty indeed requires satisfaction, but the sufferings of Christ fully repair the injury. Let the contempt be ever so great, yet if so honorable a person as Christ undertakes to be a Mediator for the offender and suffers so much for him, it fully repairs the injurydone to the Majesty of heaven and earth. The sufferings of Christ fully satisfy justice. The justice of God, as the supreme Governor and Judge of the world, requires the punishment of sin. The supreme Judge must judge the world according to a rule of justice...The Law is no impediment in the way of the pardon of the greatest sin, if men do but truly come to God for mercy: for Christ hath fulfilled the Law, He hath borne the curse of it, in His sufferings. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal 3:13).

3. Christ will not refuse to save the greatest sinners, who in a right manner come to God for mercy; for this is His work. It is His business to be a Savior of sinners; it is the work upon which He came into the world; and therefore He will not object to it. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mat 9:13). Sin is the very evil which He came into the world to remedy: therefore, He will not object to any man that he is very sinful. The more sinful he is, the more need of Christ. The sinfulness of man was the reason of Christ’s coming into the world...The physician will not make it an objection against healing a man who applies to him that he stands in great need of his

help...

4. Herein doth the glory of grace by the redemption of Christ much consist, viz., in its sufficiency for the pardon of the greatest sinners. The whole [plan] of the way of salvation is for this end: to glorify the free grace of God. God had it on His heart from all eternity to glorify this attribute; and therefore it is, that the device of saving sinners by Christ was conceived. The greatness of divine grace appears very much in this: that God by Christ saves the greatest offenders. The greater the guilt of any sinner is the more glorious and wonderful is the grace manifested in his pardon: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20)...The Redeemer is glorified, in that He proves sufficient to redeem those who are exceeding sinful, in that His blood proves sufficient to wash away the greatest guilt, in that He is able to save men to the uttermost, and in that He redeems even from the greatest misery. It is the honor of Christ to save the greatest sinners when they come to Him, as it is the honor of a physician that he cures the most desperate diseases or wounds. Therefore, no doubt, Christ will be willing to save the greatest sinners, if they come to Him. For He will not be backward to glorify Himself and to commend the value and virtue of His own blood. Seeing He hath so laid out Himself to redeem sinners, He will not be unwilling to show that He is able to redeem to the uttermost...If you see not the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of Him. The way to be accepted is to come—not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but—on the mere encouragement of Christ’s worthiness and God’s mercy.

From “Great Guilt No Obstacle to the Pardon of the Returning Sinner” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust. http://www.monergism.com/pardon-greatest-sinner