SPIRIT AND SUBSTANCE

The Word of God apart from the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ is intellectualism; the crucifixion of Christ apart from the Word of God is sensationalism. The former has no spirit; the latter has no substance.

-- Jon Cardwell

THE COMPLIMENT

The devil is in the compliment, the voice of approval, acceptance, satisfaction, comfort, convenience, the illusion of control; he entertains, thrills, subtly intrigues, interests, all leading to the relative good but never to the Best, all ending in the seemingly right but never quite not-wrong, all centering on self but never on Christ.

Al Hartman, A FB friend.

Matt Redman The Wonderful Cross

How Great Is Our God

NOT THE DRUDGERY

A holy self-denying, cross-bearing life, is not the drudgery of a slave, but the filial, loving obedience of a child; it springs from love to the person, and gratitude for the work of Jesus; and is the blessed effect of the spirit of adoption in the heart.

---Octavius Winslow

Worthy Is the LAMB by Hillsong with Lyrics

Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin [ worship video with lyrics ]

Blessed Be Your Name

SHORTLY

I entreat you to bethink yourself seriously what a vain world this is, and how shortly it will leave you to a cold grave, and to everlastng misery, if you have not a better treasure than it.

---Richard Baxter

EMPTY

"Faithful preaching will render the minister unpopular, and will 'empty' churches--not fill them."

-- A.W. Pink

UNCOMPROMISING

The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that whenever the Kingdom of God was concerned Jesus was absolutely uncompromising, even when He realized that for Him personally the alternative to compromise was crucifixion.

Ernest Fremont Tittle.

MOTHER OF JOY

Faith is a Mother of Joy. Without faith the soul shall be barren, and no joy will delivered. Anyone can be joyful in Zion, but God grants a joy in the caves. In this way it will be evidenced that the joy of the soul is not from the creation, but from the Creator. May we rejoice to KNOW HIM even in the fellowship of His sufferings.

Assumption

The Atheist assumes his mind is competent, but uses his own mind to make that deduction. So if an incompetent mind declares itself to be competent, then the soul recieves a validation from an invalid instrument and is thereby decieved. Yet the deception is not only from the invalid instrument, but from the individual himself who even began with such an assumption in the first place.

PARADOX

The Christian experiences a strange paradox throughout life: Extreme Contentment in Christ, yet Extreme Ambition for Christ.

LAUGHS

The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.

- Samuel Chadwick

SPIRIT-FILLED

"The church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is college trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles"

- Samuel Chadwick

(great point, yet this is not to be cannon powder for Charismatics though)

ADDICTION

Too many say they want to go "deeper" but are just feeding their knowledge addiction, not learning life transformation.

(Tim Brister posted a RT @edstetzer:)

BELONG HERE

"Were any of us asked seriously, what it is that troubles us, we must refer it to one of these heads:— either we want strength or power, vigour and life, in our obedience, in our walking with God; or we want peace, comfort, and consolation therein. Whatever it is that may befall a believer that doth not belong to one of these two heads, doth not deserve to be mentioned in the days of our complaints."

-John Owen

Police quiz Christian pensioner over gay beliefs

AT THE POINT

J.m. Vergara "At what point do you deal with sin? Not at the point of behavior—because then it’s too late—but at the point of desire."

---John MacArthur

INFINITE GRACE

The unchangeable method of God

(Matthew Mead, "The Almost Christian" 1661)

"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance." Luke 5:32. That is—such as see
themselves as sinners, and thereby in a lost condition.
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the
lost." Luke 19:10

God will have the soul truly sensible of the bitterness
of sin—before it shall taste the sweetness of mercy.
The plough of conviction must go deep, and make
deep furrows in the heart, before God will sow the
precious seed of grace there—so that it may have
depth of earth to grow in.

This is the unchangeable method of God in
bestowing grace—to begin with conviction of sin.
First to show man his sin—then his Savior;
first his danger—then his Redeemer;
first his wound—then his cure;
first his own vileness—then Christ's righteousness.

The sinner must see the worthlessness and vileness
of his own righteousness—before he can be saved by
Christ's righteousness. The Israelites are first stung
with the fiery serpents—and then the brazen serpent
is set up to heal them.

We must see the leprosy of our righteousness, and
be brought to cry out, "Unclean, unclean!" We must
mourn for Him whom we have pierced—and then
He sets open for us "a fountain to cleanse us from
all sin and impurity." Zechariah 12:10, 13:1.

Be convinced of the evil of sin—the filthy and heinous
nature of it. Sin is the greatest evil in the world—
it wrongs God;
it wounds Christ;
it grieves the Holy Spirit;
it damns a precious soul.
All other evils cannot be compared with this. Though
to DO sin is the worst work—yet to SEE sin is the best
sight! Sin discovered in its vileness—makes Christ to
be desired in His fullness!

Alas! it is Christ's infinite righteousness which
must atone for our sins—for it is an infinite God
whom we have sinned against!

If ever your sin is pardoned—it is Christ's infinite
mercy which must pardon it!

If ever you are reconciled to God—it is Christ's
infinite merit which must do it!

If ever your heart is changed—it is Christ's
infinite power which must effect it!

If ever your soul escapes hell, and is saved at last
—it is Christ's infinite grace which must save it!

MARCHING

When you were marching to hell!

(Thomas Watson, "The Mischief of Sin")

"Even though I was once a blasphemer and a
persecutor and a violent man, I was shown
mercy." 1 Timothy 1:13

Literally, "I was bemercied." Christians, why might not
you have been in the number of those who persist in
sinning? Because God has bemiracled you with mercy!

See what cause you have to admire the stupendous
goodness of God, who has wrought a change in you
—and checked you in your full career of sin!

Christians, you who are vessels of election—were by
nature as wicked as others—but God had compassion
on you and plucked you as brands out of the fire! He
stopped you in your course of sinning—when you
were marching to hell! He turned you back to
Him by sincere repentance. Oh, here is the banner
of love displayed over you!

Behold sovereign grace! Let your hearts melt in love
to God. Admire His royal bounty. Set the crown of all
your praises, upon the head of free grace! "By the
grace of God I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10

AN ABYSS

"When I look into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell. And yet it seems to me that my conviction of sin is exceedingly small and faint: it is enough to amaze me that I h...ave no more sense of my sin. I have greatly longed of late for a broken heart, and to lie low before God."

—Jonathan Edwards

GROWING CHILD

All believers do grow in grace. And this ye know is the difference between a painted child and a living child, and though he be but little and very weak, yet he grows bigger. But a child that is painted upon a wall grows not.

WILLIAM BRIDGE

THE CONCLUSION

"We have gone through many trials, but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion from our past experience is, that he who has been with us in six troubles, will not forsake us in the seventh.

C.H. Spurgeon

JEREMIAH 26

Jeremiah 26:8 (ESV)
And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, "You shall die!

HE SPOKE OF

The line Jesus took with the impressionable crowd was the exact opposite of much evangelism today. Instead of majoring in the benefits and blessings, the thrills and excitement, the adventure and advantages of being His disciples, He spoke more of the difficulties and dangers they would meet and the sacrifices that would be involved. He placed the cost being His disciple very high."

- J. Oswald Sanders

SHORT SERMONS

Surely if men’s hearts were right, short sermons would be enough.

- Charles Spurgeon

IT IS CERTAIN

Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.

John Calvin

PREPARE

Preparing the mind, and being sober-minded, will always result in humbling the heart, it is not a preparation that vaunts itself up.

LOATHED BY THE MAJORITY

"God’s sovereign election is the truth most loathed and reviled by the majority of those claiming to be believers. Let it be plainly announced that salvation originated not in the will of man, but in the will of God (see John 1:13; Rom. 9:16), t...hat were it not so none would or could be saved for as the result of the fall man has lost all desire and will unto that which is good (John 5:40; Rom. 3:11)—and that even the elect themselves have to be made willing (Ps. 110:3), and loud will be the cries of indignation raised against such teaching.

It is at this point the issue is drawn. Merit-mongers will not allow the supremacy of the divine will and the impotency unto good of the human will, consequently they who are the most bitter in denouncing election by the sovereign pleasure of God, are the warmest in crying up the freewill of fallen man."

" - A.W. Pink

PRECEDES

totally copied from: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/sproul01.html

Regeneration Precedes Faith
By R. C. Sproul

One of the most dramatic moments in my life for the shaping of my theology took place in a seminary classroom. One of my professors went to the blackboard and wrote these words in bold letters: "Regeneration Precedes Faith."

These words were a shock to my system. I had entered seminary believing that the key work of man to effect rebirth was faith. I thought that we first had to believe in Christ in order to be born again. I use the words in order here for a reason. I was thinking in terms of steps that must be taken in a certain sequence. I had put faith at the beginning. The order looked something like this:

"Faith - rebirth -justification."

I hadn’t thought that matter through very carefully. Nor had I listened carefully to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. I assumed that even though I was a sinner, a person born of the flesh and living in the flesh, I still had a little island of righteousness, a tiny deposit of spiritual power left within my soul to enable me to respond to the Gospel on my own. Perhaps I had been confused by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome, and many other branches of Christendom, had taught that regeneration is gracious; it cannot happen apart from the help of God.

No man has the power to raise himself from spiritual death. Divine assistance is necessary. This grace, according to Rome, comes in the form of what is called prevenient grace. "Prevenient" means that which comes from something else. Rome adds to this prevenient grace the requirement that we must "cooperate with it and assent to it" before it can take hold in our hearts.

This concept of cooperation is at best a half-truth. Yes, the faith we exercise is our faith. God does not do the believing for us. When I respond to Christ, it is my response, my faith, my trust that is being exercised. The issue, however, goes deeper. The question still remains: "Do I cooperate with God's grace before I am born again, or does the cooperation occur after?" Another way of asking this question is to ask if regeneration is monergistic or synergistic. Is it operative or cooperative? Is it effectual or dependent? Some of these words are theological terms that require further explanation.

A monergistic work is a work produced singly, by one person. The prefix mono means one. The word erg refers to a unit of work. Words like energy are built upon this root. A synergistic work is one that involves cooperation between two or more persons or things. The prefix syn -

means "together with." I labor this distinction for a reason. The debate between Rome and Luther hung on this single point. At issue was this: Is regeneration a monergistic work of God or a synergistic work that requires cooperation between man and God? When my professor wrote "Regeneration precedes faith" on the blackboard, he was clearly siding with the monergistic answer. After a person is regenerated, that person cooperates by exercising faith and trust. But the first step is the work of God and of God alone.

The reason we do not cooperate with regenerating grace before it acts upon us and in us is because we can- not. We cannot because we are spiritually dead. We can no more assist the Holy Spirit in the quickening of our souls to spiritual life than Lazarus could help Jesus raise him for the dead.

When I began to wrestle with the Professor's argument, I was surprised to learn that his strange-sounding teaching was not novel. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield - even the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas taught this doctrine. Thomas Aquinas is the Doctor Angelicus of the Roman Catholic Church. For centuries his theological teaching was accepted as official dogma by most Catholics. So he was the last person I expected to hold such a view of regeneration. Yet Aquinas insisted that regenerating grace is operative grace, not cooperative grace. Aquinas spoke of prevenient grace, but he spoke of a grace that comes before faith, which is regeneration.

These giants of Christian history derived their view from Holy Scripture. The key phrase in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians is this: "...even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved)" (Eph. 2:5). Here Paul locates the time when regeneration occurs. It takes place 'when we were dead.' With one thunderbolt of apostolic revelation all attempts to give the initiative in regeneration to man are smashed. Again, dead men do not cooperate with grace. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.

This says nothing different from what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Unless a man is born again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God. If we believe that faith precedes regeneration, then we set our thinking and therefore ourselves in direct opposition not only to giants of Christian history but also to the teaching of Paul and of our Lord Himself.

(from the book, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, Tyndale House, 1990

BAD PEACE

Two sorts of peace are more to be dreaded than all the troubles in the world: peace with sin, and peace in sin.

---Joseph Alleine

TEACH US HOW

“It is not recorded that His disciples ever said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us how to preach,’ but at least one of them was so struck with His prayers that he said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’”

—Spurgeon, Volume 56, Sermon #3181

THE THEOLOGIAN

Affliction is the Christian’s theologian

-Martin Luther