The Love of God

This is an excerpt from a letter to a friend who asked a question of me concerning the love of God.

My friend: -- So if we agree that it is all for God glory and God is the focus. Just one more question?? Why did Jesus have tear for the Jewish nation when they rejected Him as there King (Messiah).  He know who God (maybe himself included, I do not know if it was the Father only) would save the remnant Jew.  was it his human nature or maybe his Godly nature to be sad for the lost???

Me: -- Great question! One that I am not sure I can come even close to answering. However, we have already established that God loved the world. But it is more to the point of your question that he loved the people whom He has chosen out of the world. We might as well begin with Adam and Even. How can we not but imagine that God loved the two of them since he made them? Would He venture to create living creatures that he hated? When Adam fell, this insulted God; it was an act on the part of man that offended against His holiness; but it was through God’s love for man that He had already provided for the means for his reconciliation. In this vein, the Old Testament history unwinds. God chooses out a people for his name; he brings them into a land that flowed with milk and honey; he provided for all their needs; he gave them his law; he revealed himself to them; he loved them, like he loves us, with an everlasting love. Over and over again his people rebelled against him; they slew the prophets sent unto them; they profaned the law of God and his sanctuary; they turned in their hearts to idols and rejected God. Yet he remained true to his own attributes, which meant that he never stopped loving them. In the New Testament, he condescends to come to them his people as a man—the man Christ Jesus. But they received him not. However, some did: Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Nicodemus, and great multitudes. His disciples loved him and there is not higher evidence of Christ’s love for his people than in his high priestly prayer for them in as recorded in John 17. Yes, this love was partly manifested through the human nature he took upon himself; but it began in his divine nature before the world began. It is both a mystery and plain fact that God loves his people. The underlying mystery is that, though his holiness demanded that he destroy this people, his love and his mercy and his wisdom, yea, all his attributes together conceived of a way to redeem his people—through the gospel of his dear son, which all began in the mind of the Father (Romans 1). He made the promise of the gospel in the Old Testament and kept it in the New, where we learn that, on top of so many intimations of in the Old, he had always meant for his gospel to apply to the Gentiles also, not just to the seed of Abraham. I suppose that in the final analysis, the only reason we can give in answer to why Jesus wept and why he so cared and groaned within himself over his people, in the face of all their opposition to Him, was that he loved them.

That will have to do. I would only be repeating myself if I tried to write more. Hope this has been a help. I enjoyed writing it; I hope you gain from reading.

"And of the joints and marrow"

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

- King James Bible "Authorized Version", Cambridge Edition

Real Prayer

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of
the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you,
They have their reward.
Matthew 6:5

Vs.

But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:6

The Law of the Offerings

I read this little book, by Andrew Jukes, almost 30 years ago. I remember it as, at the time, one of the most profound and spiritual books I had ever read. It made the Old Testament, particularly the Book of Leviticus, applicable to my daily life and walk as a Christian. It opened to the eyes of my understanding many an obscure passage. It made me hunger more and to be more thirsty for righteousness. It was a book I so treasured that I still have the same copy I read almost 30 years ago on my shelf today; and, as I was reading this morning from Leviticus, my thoughts went back to the book, and I pulled it down from the shelf to peruse its contents once again.

There is a decent review of the book here.

You can read this book online here and here.

My copy looks like the one pictured on the left. The note inside the front cover indicates that I purchased it in 1985, in El Paso. That was when we were stationed at the White Sands Missile Range. There was a bookstore in El Paso, an hour's drive away, that I used to visit every chance I got. I discovered Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' books there, too.

One of my memories associated with this book is being laughed at for reading it. There was a young man (about my own age, at the time, or perhaps a couple of years younger) at our church who had just recently graduated from Hyles-Anderson College. He was about to 'go into the ministry,' as they say, and, wanting to be an encouragement to him, I suggested that he read this book. I even offered to let him borrow my copy. But he laughed at me and as much as said that he no longer had any time for books. His unspoken meaning was that he had no time for books which were not recommended by Hyles-Anderson College, which was too bad. The young man fancied himself so smart, but he had no idea, not even a clue, what he was turning down. It couldn't be helped, but, consequently, I developed a rather low opinion of the young man, who I never saw again, and of Hyles-Anderson College. I did have occasion in later years to cross paths with others from the school, but my opinion of it, as a Christian institution, has never changed.

To that young man about to enter upon the ministry of enlightening others, Mr. Jukes might have said, as he had already spoken to me,

"The real secret of our difficulty is that we know so little, and, what is worse, we do not know our ignorance. And the natural pride of our hearts, which does not like to confess our ignorance, or to go through the deep searchings of should which attend learning and abiding in God's presence, excuses itself under the plea that thee things are not important, or, at least, non-essential." (1)

And again ...

"The low standard of truth in the church, making the possession of eternal life the end instead of the beginning of the Christian's course, has led many to think that if they have, or can at least obtain, this life, it is enough. But these are not God's thoughts." (2)

________________________
1.  p. 16.
2.  p. 17.

No Lesson is More Important for Us to Learn

George Müller 

A. T. Pierson's biography of George Müller is a messenger of God to my heart and soul. It is at the same time the Lord's rod and his staff, and it comforts me. It is teaching me things I should have already learned, or things that I have learned but neglected. Whichever is worse, that is the case I am in. But this little book is helping me. Take what I've just read this evening ...

" ... No lesson is more important for us to learn, yet how slow are we to learn it: that for the lack of habitual seasons set apart for devout meditation upon the Word of God and for prayer, nothing else will compensate. We are prone to think, for example, that converse with Christian brethren, and the general round of Christian activity, especially when we are much busied with preaching the Word and [with] visits to inquiring or needy souls, [that these] make up for the loss of aloneness with God in the secret place. We hurry to a public service with but a few minutes of private prayer, allowing precious time to be absorbed in social pleasures, restrained from withdrawing from others by a false delicacy, when to excuse ourselves for needful communion with God and his Word would have been perhaps the best witness possible to those whose company was holding us unduly! How often we rush from one public engagement to another without any proper interval for renewing our strength in waiting on the Lord, as though God cared more for the quantity than [for] the quality of our service!"

Lord, help me indeed to learn it.

Sometimes "Champion" is the Wrong Word

Champions?

So I'm looking over my blog, thinking of ways it could be improved (besides getting someone else to write it), and I notice a text box lower down on the right-hand side in which is a Bible quotation from the book of Romans. It's been there since I started this blog but I had forgotten that the text was hyperlinked. So I clicked on it and it took me to a page on the website of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Now, one never quite knows what one will find when clicking around on the Internet, especially with all the pop-up ads these days. So I wasn't too surprised to see an ad for Liberty University Online. What got me was Liberty's motto: 

"Training Champions for Christ Since 1971."

I'm sure Liberty is a fine school but, seriously, champions for Christ?

Have you ever read a New Testament epistle that began with something like, "Paul, a champion of Jesus Christ, unto ...?"

Me neither.

Did you know that "champion" is found in the scriptures only three times, and that each time it is a reference to a Philistine named Goliath?

I'm thinking maybe Liberty, if they are serious about their image as a 'Christian university,' could use a new PR person.

The "Bible Way to Heaven" vs. What the Scriptures Actually Say

Surfing churches' websites, invariably one finds something along the lines of 'how to get to heaven.' I don't know why, but so many of them make this so much more complicated than it really is. The following example is typical. I found it on the website of a church that professes to believe the Authorized Version of the Bible is the "infallible and inerrant" word of God, "the absolute final authority for all matters of faith and practice and for all matters of life" It goes like this ...

Joseph

C. H. Spurgeon

Just in the last two days I was reading the story of Joseph in the last several chapters of the first book of Moses, the book of Genesis. The following is from the latest of Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening."

"And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. - Genesis 42:8

"This morning our desires went forth for growth in our acquaintance with the Lord Jesus; it may be well tonight to consider a kindred topic, namely, our heavenly Joseph's knowledge of us. This was most blessedly perfect long before we had the slightest knowledge of him. "His eyes beheld our substance, yet being imperfect, and in his book all our members were written, when as yet there was none of them." Before we had a being in the world we had a being in his heart. When we were enemies to him, he knew us, our misery, our madness, and our wickedness. When we wept bitterly in despairing repentance, and viewed him only as a judge and a ruler, he viewed us as his brethren well beloved, and his bowels yearned towards us. He never mistook his chosen, but always beheld them as objects of his infinite affection. "The Lord knoweth them that are his," is as true of the prodigals who are feeding swine as of the children who sit at the table.

"But, alas! we knew not our royal Brother, and out of this ignorance grew a host of sins. We withheld our hearts from him, and allowed him no entrance to our love. We mistrusted him, and gave no credit to his words. We rebelled against him, and paid him no loving homage. The Sun of Righteousness shone forth, and we could not see him. Heaven came down to earth, and earth perceived it not. Let God be praised, those days are over with us; yet even now it is but little that we know of Jesus compared with what he knows of us. We have but begun to study him, but he knoweth us altogether. It is a blessed circumstance that the ignorance is not on his side, for then it would be a hopeless case for us. He will not say to us, "I never knew you," but he will confess our names in the day of his appearing, and meanwhile will manifest himself to us as he doth not unto the world.

"But, alas! we knew not our royal Brother, and out of this ignorance grew a host of sins. We withheld our hearts from him, and allowed him no entrance to our love. We mistrusted him, and gave no credit to his words. We rebelled against him, and paid him no loving homage. The Sun of Righteousness shone forth, and we could not see him. Heaven came down to earth, and earth perceived it not. Let God be praised, those days are over with us; yet even now it is but little that we know of Jesus compared with what he knows of us. We have but begun to study him, but he knoweth us altogether. It is a blessed circumstance that the ignorance is not on his side, for then it would be a hopeless case for us. He will not say to us, "I never knew you," but he will confess our names in the day of his appearing, and meanwhile will manifest himself to us as he doth not unto the world."

God has given us, in Joseph, one of the most detailed pictures of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in all of scripture. It is a fascinating story, especially so in light of what Jesus said to the Jews who sought to kill him ...

"Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John 5-45-47).

Words with Which to Begin the New Year

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” 

2 Corinthians 5:7

On James 1:19

Some years back, in a little church we were attending at the time, I learned something.  It was a Sunday evening service, typical of so many, and we came at length to the point in the service where it was time for the preaching.  A text was taken--Hebrews 5:8, if my notes are to be believed, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the tings which he suffered:"  But no sermon followed.  My, what an occasion it would have been to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ using that text as an opening.  But instead, it what had become a sad pattern over a stretch of weeks, the pastor asked each member of the congregation to give his or her own comments upon the verse.  And so we went around the room and heard this silly notion and that, this half opinion, and that educated guess.  We went home unedified.  We almost always went home that way.

Spurgeon's Defense of Calvinism

Mr. Spurgeon at his desk

I reproduce this in full for a couple of reasons. First, it is, for its length, the best written defense of the doctrines of grace I've ever read.  My second reason is that this is what I believe.

"The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again."—C. H. Spurgeon

Introduction to Deuteronomy

When was the last time you read Deuteronomy? In all the times you've read it, have you ever figured out what Deuteronomy means? Well, I looked it up, and it doesn't seem to me that very many people have ever figured out the meaning of the word or it's real significance in the Bible.