If God wills, I will live and do this or that

If God wills I will live and do this or that. 

The decisive willing in all of my doing is God. To use an example, If God wills, I will eat breakfast tomorrow morning before I go to work or not. I want to have breakfast but the decisive willing, in eating my breakfast is God. This is why James rebukes the attitudes of those who presume that their will is sovereign. James says, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” James‬ ‭4:13-16‬ 

Prov 19:21 says “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” It is the Lord's will that stands and it always does. There is no situation where His sovereign will does not stand because nothing in this world is independent of Him. We all have our being in God. 

It is right to plan and to will because we are called to do this. But all of our plans and willing is always subject to if the Lord wills. This is the Christian way of life. the Christian knows this. It is not luck or chance for those things are nothing, but it all depends on God, so we pray. Let your will be done!

K.Oni 

What ills and troubles are currently in your life?

In all of my ills, how can I be so grieved as to want to curse God when I know that he works it all for my good. Like Habakkuk, in tears I say, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior." Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Habakkuk goes on to say, “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. ” Habakkuk‬ ‭3:19‬ ‭

You see the strength to overcome all of our ills and grieves and disappointment comes from the Lord. The grief is real, the decline is real, sometimes there will be no one to love us and our friends will cut us off from the fold, our lover will betray us, depression will hit us, our health will fail, we will fail others and ourselves, there is no minimizing this. It is real and raw and thus to survive it, God's strength is real and unshakeable. It makes us stand in the storm and enables us to endure the lashes that will lead us to Calvary and on that cross of pain we take our last breath, and because we have the strength of the Lord with us - we do not curse but say, Father forgive them and unto your hand, I commit my spirit.

What ills and troubles are currently in your life? Are anxiety and depression the crushing blows that attack you to misery? O, is it loneliness? Is it poverty? Is it rejection? Is it a past trauma? Is it a desire to have someone so close and they discard you? Is it a mother's disdain?  is it a debilitating illness? Is it a broken heart? Whatever it is, O, consider Job who was hit with the strongest blows from the devil, he was bashed and belted with all of the disorders of life except for death, and in all this, it is said of him, 'Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.' 

Dear friend, God is in control. Let His kindness in all of your ache bring you closer to him in repentance. Habakkuk declared when he envisioned the misery that may come that He will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. We will do well to adopt the same frame of mind. So, in all of our tears and groaning, we are joyful because God is in control. The host of hell will not rejoice over us in our misery saying look how despondent the children of God are, but as they watch us in our misery, their anger will increase a million fold because instead of complaining without hope, they see us rejoicing in the God who gives us strength. Our feet will be like a dancing deer!

K.Oni

I love God's Sovereignty.

 I would say perhaps the most comforting of doctrine for me is God's Sovereignty. This is always followed by God's love for me because whatever happens to me is under His control and He permits it all for my good. 

This is comforting because ultimately I go to God for all that happens to me and how can I be mad when his motives are pure towards me. If I am mad, I am furious at myself for falling into sins He has warned me to keep from. But when calamities befall me, especially injuries of the heart which are the worst of ills, I turn to God. 

I ask why and upon reflection I ask why not me. What did I ever deserve but the worst as I am the worst of sinners. I merit no happiness except the happiness to come because I am in Christ Jesus. And even this I did not have the right to. It was grace that kissed me in my bed of worthlessness. 

So when tribulation materializes upon me, I kiss the hands that permitted it. How can I be mad at the greenish-blue eyes that rejected me? How can I be discontent at my present stage in life which is beneath my expectations? How can I be unhinged by all of my failures, all of which I am sorry for. Tomorrow is a new day, a day of mercy guided by Sovereign hands.

So, I am ever comforted that my life is not directionless, even though I feel it is unindustrious, but it is guided by his grip who often dashes me against the quarry of agony. But my allotment is tamed compare to others. After all, I have not yet given my life in my struggle against sin. 

It will all work out for my good. This good is the good determined by the kindness of my God who loves me dearly and gave His Son for me. Therefore, at each turn of bruise and discomfort, especially the heart's wounds, I embrace Him and praise Him for he holds me and am gladful that I am in his hands rather than the evil hands of my enemies. 

K.Oni

A man with a cross on his back is going to die

One thing that was certain in the time of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that a man with a cross on his back was going to die. He was carrying his cross to be crucified. There is no escaping it unless in the last hour he was pardoned. But that is extraordinarily to happen. He was certainly going to die. Christ calls all of his disciples to carry their cross daily if they will follow him. That is all of Christ's disciples are to carry their cross daily on their backs. They are to crucify all of their wills and desires and submit to his will. Their life is forfeited and crucified and they are to live entirely upon him and in him. Notice that this is to be done daily. Each day his disciples are going to Golgotha to crucify their flesh. They are to kill themselves in order to live for Christ. And in doing this daily is the Christian most happy and satisfied but many I must say sadly neglect their cross and rather than carrying it on their backs have made it their delight. for if they were to put the cross on their backs then they would feel its heaviness and misery and immediately go on that hill to put it down so that they can be crucified on it. But many Christians these days do not feel the heaviness of their own crosses and think that Christ will carry it for them when he has done it once and for all already. if they are to be happy in their daily lives then this is a necessity to crucify their own flesh and sit humbly before the heavenly Christ and do his bidding with great joy.

K.Oni

The woman was deceived but not the man

It is said that the woman was deceived by the devil and not the man. This means that Adam knew exactly what the devil's game was. Unlike the woman, he wasn't convinced by the serpent's word but knew it to be wrong whereas the woman was taken in by it. But why did he eat it when he knew that the devil was lying. It could only be to join in with the woman and rather than being alone he joined in with her. Perhaps the devil knew this that if he would have given the man the fruit, then the man would have rejected it. Perhaps he had tried it before but Adam told him to get behind him, but he went to the woman, and the woman having been convinced then gave to the man who could not reject his beloved. How often it is that many are persuaded by friends to do that which they know is wrong. But what would have happened if only the woman ate the fruit and Adam rebuked her for it? Would Eve be banished and another created for Adam and man would have passed his trial. I know not. Or if the man was deceived and the woman rebuked Adam for eating the fruit? Would Adam be banished and Eve remain in paradise? Whatever would have happened in both of those situations, God's judgment would be entirely righteous and without fault. But it is so that they both fell together and partook in the disobedience by eating the fruit. One did not abstain so both were entirely guilty and the ages testify to their guilt in their sons and daughters.

K.Oni

Lust is a wicked thing

Jonathan Owen writes in the mortification of sin that “there are many ways through which sin diverts the mind from correctly understanding its guilt. Its foul vapors darken the mind so that its judgment is distorted.”

In this context Owen was talking about lust and he then goes on to use an example from scripture that speaks on sexual lust. He says,

“Solomon speaks of someone enticed by a lewd woman. He says he was “among the foolish ones;” he was “a young man without understanding.” And what was his folly about? “As a bird to the snare, he did not know his life was at stake.” 

Owen then goes on to talk about David. 

“The only way David could have remained ignorant for so long about the true extent of his atrocious sin, was “because his was corrupted time and again. It hindered him from taking a clear view of its ugliness and guilt in the mirror of the law. This made it necessary to send the prophet to awaken him. He silenced all the subterfuges and pretenses by his parable, so that David might completely grasp the guilt of what he had done. Treasoninghis is the proper consequence of lust in the heart. It darkens the mind so that it cannot rightly judge its guilt. There are many other ways in which it extenuates itself that I will not go into.”

Lust is a wicked thing. We ought to forsake it in its every form and kill it entirely. How sad that many men have forsaken their dreams for Christ because of lust. They were enticed to go into the immoral house when they should have kept their feet on the narrow road. And after coming out of the immoral house, they are weighed down with guilt in the deepness of their soul that they can no longer go all out for Christ because of their shame. And though they know that they are forgiven, yet in truth they have never forgiven themselves, so they settle for a safe Christianity and rather than lose it all for Christ as they once dreamt, they secure themselves in the comfort of their jobs and secular pursuit. 

The parts in quotation is from Mortification of Sin by John Owen.

K.Oni

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

Miscellanies 120 - He knows us

Is it not wonderful that the Lord takes time to know us? Not only does he have omniscience knowledge, that is to know everything there is to know without any effort or exertion, yet it is written in the psalms that He searches out our path and our lying down and is acquainted with all of our ways, Psalm 139.  There is a personal touch to this knowledge. It is not cold but warm, like a lover’s delight in knowing the ways of their beloved. He searches us and pursues to know our ways and not with a reluctant heart but a willing one. We know how sweet it is when we are besotted with a soul, and all we want is to know everything about them or for them to know everything about us. Indeed, I want to know when she lies down and when she rises, when she has coffee and when she gyms and what hour is her favorite in the day. In short, I would love to be acquainted with all of her ways because it brings me joy. Of course, many have used this kind of knowledge with evil intent, but it is not so with God. He searches out all of our ways individually so that he can lead each one uniquely. And we know that when someone takes the care in knowing us, especially the ones we love, that such knowledge is often too wonderful for us, that it is a delight and leads us to love them more. It is so with God, to think that He humbles Himself to know our ways should cause us to see his fatherly tenderly love and love him all the more.

K.Oni

When a famous person becomes a Christian

It is indeed interesting how great care is taken when a famous person who was a hedonist becomes a Christian, how cautious we are of their confession. The first response that we pronounce is one of doubt. Really? Have they really been saved? Or we say, well, time will tell if their confession is genuine or not.

It is indeed interesting how this great care is taking to ascertain whether their faith is genuine and thus we scrutinize their actions and magnify our eyes on them to search them thoroughly. But do we cast these inquisitive eyes on ourselves and on the regular guy who professes faith in our Sunday services? Are we first being diligent to confirm our calling and election? 2 Peter 1:10.

When that lady walks up the aisle of the church to give her life to Christ, are we first to doubt in our heart if her confession is genuine? Most likely not and we perhaps think nothing of it. But if we hear news of a famous person who has given their life to Christ, we are immediately suspicious. We ought to have a more balanced view and apply the same principle to each one, namely that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved and also that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Indeed not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom, but only those who have done the will of the Father.

Indeed we can be assured now of the certainty of our salvation, but time will also be a great revealer of those whose faith was genuine.

K.Oni

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

Should I get baptise?

Perhaps you are asking yourself this question right now? Or perhaps you know of someone who has been a Christian for a while but does not see the importance of being baptized? Or perhaps baptism is something you disagree with because you have been baptized before but when that happened, you never gave a believable profession of faith in Jesus. Before we get to the question should I get baptized, we must ask what is baptism?

The Greek word baptizo means to plunge something in water. We see this in Mark 1:5 were John was baptising people in the river Jordan. He was baptising them in the river and not by the river, which suggest that John was immersing people into the water and then they came up out of the water just as Jesus did when he was baptized by John in Mark 1:10. John’s baptism signifies a repentance from sin and pointing them to believe in the one who was to come, the messiah. John also confesses in Mark 1 that the messiah is mightier than he and he will baptise with the Holy Spirit. This was later fulfilled at Pentecost. But our focus in this article is the public display of baptism, namely when a person is plunged/immersed into water.

According to Smith’s Bible dictionary, Christian baptism signifies three things.

1.     It signifies a confession of faith in Christ

2.     A cleansing or washing of the soul from sin

3.     A death to sin and a new life in righteousness

If the three things above are true in regard to Christian baptism and you believe these things to be true, then the question of should I get baptise ought to be answered with an emphatic Yes.

In Matthew 28:19 we see that Jesus orders the apostles to baptise the disciples that they make. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” So, we can see that one of the hallmarks of a disciple is that they are baptised. Jesus considers baptism to be a very important thing and so should all Christians because Jesus commands it.

Have you put your faith in Jesus? If so then you should be baptised. There is no reason to delay. You ought to be like the Ethiopian eunuch, for when he was with Philip and “they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

What prevents you from being baptised today when you knew that you put your faith in Jesus? You have given a believable profession of faith. Do not delay and be a good disciple by obeying your master!

K.Oni