Thursday, November 27, 2008

President Lincoln on Thanksgiving

Taken from Justin Taylor's blog. I found it quite encouraging. May God bless you, remind you of His graces, and encourage you to do good deeds this Thanksgiving.

President Lincoln, October 3, 1863, after acknowledging the positive blessings in America despite the terrible pain of the Civil War:

"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union."

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Mark Dever on the Gospel

Here is a short video of Mark Dever explaining the Gospel that I found to be very clear and concise. I pray it will be a blessing to your soul. Stay strong and God bless!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Not my righteousness!

Philippians 3:7-11

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake ofChrist. More than that, I count all thinsg to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

It's either your righteousness or Christ's righteousness. It's either my filthy rags or Christ's riches. Count your righteousness as rubbish, and cling to Christ's righteousness with your life. Stay strong and God bless!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

11-09-08 Sermon Review

The Compassion of Jesus for the Faithless
John 4:43-54

The Bible is full of people who had great faith. In Hebrews chapter 11, we see a list of many men who are exalted by God because of their faith. With such great heroes of faith, it is easy to think that God only cares for people of extraordinary faith. We quickly foget that the bible is full of examples of men with little faith. Christ actually called the disciples "You of little faith" quite a number of times. The text we will look at today shows how Jesus related to those with little faith. Contrary to what some of us might believe, Jesus showed much compassion to those with small faith. While being stern, He was gracious. While pointing out there weak faith, He cared for them.

We see this first in John's transition into the story of the royal official. John writes that Jesus, after spending time in Samaria, headed back to Galilee. The reason John gives for Jesus' decision is interesting. Jesus went because, "Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country." Jesus returned to Galilee because He was rejected in Galilee! We know from Luke 4 that the men in Jesus' hometown even tried to kill Him. But Jesus returned. Jesus was returning because His ministry was for the sick and not the healthy. His love for souls required Him to return to a spiritually bankrupt people. How compassionate, how caring, how loving, how patient is Jesus Christ?

But when Jesus arrived, He did not receive the sinister reception He received earlier. This tiem around, the people were "receiving Him." This is not to say that they "believed" in Him. Apparently, these men were now welcoming Jesus because "they were also at the feast." They had seen the things Jesus had done. They welcomed Him not for who He was but for what He can do. This is no great faith. This is elevating the gifts above the Giver. Yet, Jesus still remained with them. Not only this, Jesus still did a great ministry among them. After this general observation, John relates to us a more specific encounter that Jesus had.

John tells us of a royal official whose sons was in critical condition. The Greek emphasizes that the child's death was imminent (a literal translation might read "he was going to die"). The specific term to describe this royal official indicated that he probably was a part of Herod's court. Though certain specific personalities have been suggested, it is not enough to draw a definitive conclusion. It is safe to assume though that this man was fairly wealthy. This lead's me to believe that this man's son's disease was incurable and death was unavoidable. The royal official probably had the wealth to provide the finest medical treatment. It's most likely that he was turning to Jesus after these medical professionals were unable to help his son.

He was also most likely related to King Herod who attempted to kill the baby Jesus. In any case, this royal official coming to Jesus to ask for His help was a great sign of humility. Here was a wealthy, royal personality asking for mercy from a lowly carpenter. But what I want you to see is that this man had very little faith. Jesus points out his lack of faith as well as those who were nearby when He says, "Unless you people see signs, you simply will not believe." Jesus could definitely heal the official's son, and the man believed this. But why did Jesus say what He said? There was something more important than his son dying that the royal official missed - Jesus Christ. You see, faith in what Jesus Christ can do is not the kind of faith we need. We need faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. If this man truly had faith in Jesus Christ, he would be behaving differently. I believe this is why Jesus assumes the royal official's disbelief, even though he humbled himself and believed Jesus could heal.

After Jesus points this out, the royal official's mind is still on the urgency of his situation and shouts, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" At this point, if it were me, I would be shouting, "Don't you get it! Christ is the resurrection and the life! Believe in Him and death loses its sting!" If I were Jesus, I would probably deem this person unworthy of the blessing of healing. But we see the complete opposite. Jesus says, "Go; your son lives." Wow. Immediate confirmation that his son will not die. What more could the official have asked for? But still, this required that he trust in Jesus the person and in the power of His Word. This is the start of faith for this man. John writes that the official "believed the word." For the first time, the word "believe is employed to describe this man's faith.

When the royal official returns home, he is greeted with great news - his son is alive! The news gets even more startling when he hears that his child was getting better at the exact moment Jesus spoke the words, "Your son lives." This amazing fact made this man realize the authority of Christ's words. Once he realized that Jesus' words had the authority to heal his son, he realized that everything that Jesus claimed to be must also be true. At this amazing realization, true belief stirs up within Him and saving faith comes to his whole household.

Jesus was very gracious to the faithless. He was very patient, loving, and tender with them. But He always did point to Himself as the object of faith. His compassion for the faithless was revealed by His continual giving of Himself to them and His continual pressing of their need to put faith in Him. The answer for the faithless is Jesus. The faithless do not need more faith; they need more of Jesus. They need to take a close look at Jesus. They need to hear His word. When faithless souls draw near to Christ and behold His nail-pierced hands and the glory of His risen state, faith springs and trust in Christ for who He is swells up. If ou have little faith, come to Jesus who concerns Himself for the faithless, who gives Himself to those who have little faith that they may come to have great faith in Him and in Him alone. Stay strong and God bless!

Monday, November 17, 2008

A Unique People Living a Unique Life

Micah 4:5

"Though all the peoples walk each in the name of his god, as for us, we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever."

We live in a day when this verse needs to be conviction of our hearst. We live in a day when peoples are living and chasing after their own gods. Living as Christians among these people will mark us as peculiar, unique, different. They will question us; they will wonder why we do not join them in their lusts and desires. Christian, with all this pressure, how will you fight the temptation? It's interesting that we find this verse right after Micah explains the judgment of the nations. We need to remember that we are living before the great Judge who will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. But I doubt that the fear of judgment was the only motivation for Micah. I believe what drove Micah to live with this conviction was the hope of God's salvation and his vindication from God to the nations. "But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me" (Micah 7:7). Let us live then as a unique people living a unique life in a sin-driven world with God's salvation in view. Let us wait eagerly and expectantly for this hope as John encourages us, "And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:3). Stay strong in the Lord and God bless!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Thinking Biblically about Facebook

I found a link to this post by Justin Buzzard in which he discusses technology and the Christian life, specifically giving Facebook as an example. The post is his sermon notes from a message he gave. And though they are only lecture notes, I found them to be quite readable and insightful. He discusses 9 possible dangers about Facebook as well as 6 ways to make Facebook effective for the Christian walk. I'm sure it will be highly relevant to our Youth Group students. Stay strong and God bless!

Friday, November 14, 2008

11-02-08 Sermon Review

Thank God for the Reformation
Luke 24:13-35

This past Halloween, when many in America were celebrating what we call Halloween, a few of us decided to spend the time to celebrate what God was doing in a town called Wittenburg in Germany. 491 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenburg Cathedral. Most scholars mark this day as the beginning of what we know as the Reformation.

What is so great about the Reformation that I am willing to take a break this week and dedicate a sermon to reflect upon it? To say it simply, the Reformers paved the way for us to enjoy the truths and blessings that we know and experience today. The blessings we enjoy such as a bible in our hand, the teachings that confronted heresy that we now hold dearly, both were in some sense a product of God's work in the Reformation. The Reformation was also one of the greatest work of God to bring people to Himself that we know of in all of Church history. If we truly desire God to work again in our day, it would do us well to reflect upon the Reformation.

Before I get into the reason why I believe the Reformation was as powerful as it was, let's take a look at the events that led up to the Reformation. The time of the Reformers was all-together different from the present day. For centuries, the light of the Gospel was being ignored, put under a table. The Church had become nothing more than an organization whose top leaders were simply vying for power. 200 years before Martin Luther came around, the Avignon Papacy began. As Kings were rising to power, they were able to tax all the gold that was shipped out of their domain. This made the Kings rich, and the Catholic Church was getting less money by the day. Therefore, instead of going back to biblical theology, the rulers decided to compete for money. in 1378, Pope Gregory the 9th brought the papacy back to Rome where he soon died. This is where it gets really interesting. A group of bishops wanted to revitalize the Roman primacy, but soon realize they chosed the wrong man for the job. The other bishops at Avignon decided to set up their own Pope, and so began what we now know as the Great Schism. The Church at this time was more concerned about power rather than faithfulness to God and to Scripture.

Something else that started was Indulgences. As the Church was growing poorer, in some sense, they needed to employ something that would bring money back into their treasury. How sad that this money-driven mentality started such heresy as the indulgences that takes advantage of the biblically illiterate. Johan Tetzel would go around saying, "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!" They promised that their offering would shorten time in purgatory for themselves or for their loved ones who have gone before them. Not only was this bad theology, heresy to say the least, it was also exploitation! Salvation now become something to be bought rather than received from God.

Not only were the people being exploited, but they were also kept from handling Scripture for themselves. Only the priests were allowed to handle God's Word. The Bible was almost entirely in Latin at that time, and so the common people had no access to a Bible in their own language. When the light is kept under a table, it cannot brigthen the room. These times were dark times.

And that is why the Reformation was like a beam of light piercing this gloomy darkness, shedding warmth and clarity to poor souls who have never seen the bright noon sun. The Reformers were returning to biblical studies and were once again striving for biblical fidelity. John Calvin, Martin Luther, Balthasar Hubmaier are a few more notbale figures who were teaching the Bible to the people. When Calvin fled France and entered Geneva, he decided to start his own institute. On opening day, 900 students showed up. Luther, after being excommunicated by the Roman Church, hid and spent years translating the Bible into German. Balathasar Hubmaier would baptize 300 people in one year in one city and 1,200 in the region of Moravia. A return to Scripture sparked a revival. Many lost their lives. But many gained the salvation of their souls.

So a return to biblical teaching spearheaded this great revival. It was the commitment to biblical teaching that allowed these men to help lost souls. People were being freed from the yoke of tyranny and legalism, and were finding justification by faith alone as the Scripture teaches. The commitment to Scripture and to Scripture alone by the Reformers is summed up in Martin Luther's response at the Diet of Worms: "Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for each have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God… Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

Would it be safe to say that if the Reformation never happened, we would not have a copy of our own Bible today? If it was not the Reformation, I truly believe that God would have used another means by which He would have gotten His Word to His people. But the fact is this: God did use the Reformation to provide for His people for ages to come. If we truly see the Word of God as precious, the truths of the Scripture as precious, Christ as precious, than thank God for the Reformation.

This is my prayer, that God would raise up men as He did in the days of the Reformation who are committed to Scripture. I pray that God would bring sweeping revival in America, that He would free these lost souls from the yoke of materialism. I pray He accomplishes this by the clear teaching of His Word as He did in the Reformation. Stay strong and God bless!

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Fierceness of God's Wrath

Nahum 1:6

"Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up by Him."

How terrible would it be to stand before God. Verses like these should arouse thankfulness in our hearts. Jesus Christ stood before God's wrath in my place. He stood before God's indignation. He endured the burning of His anger. He was overwhelmed by God's fire and was broken up by Him. Now we stand before God, not before His indignation. We receive the gifts of His grace, not the burning of His anger. How magnificent is Christ and how great is Christ to have endured all this for me. Let us be thankful for mercy. Stay strong and God bless!

Friday, November 7, 2008

10-26-08 Sermon Review

Knowing God's Will pt. 2
John 4:34

In our last sermon, I talked about the importance of knowing God's Will of Command that is revealed, as John Piper would say it, "finally, decisively only in the Bible." But that raises a few more questions because God's Word does not address all of our issues specifically. For instance, the Bible says nothing about movies, sports, dating, etc. Most of the decisions we make are neither condemned or approved in Scripture (i.e. am I to drink orange juice this morning?). If the Bible is the only means through which we know God's will, how are we to make our decisions?

We need to be very careful, since we must not go beyond what God has written, but at the same time, need to be able to say "This is God's will for my life." This is why I believe Romans 12:2 is the most helpful and illuminating verse on this topic.

Transformation, no conformation. Paul writes "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Paul gives us two very helpful commands to guide us.

1. We are not to be conformed. Conformed means to be molded. We are like play-doh, and when we are squeeshed by a mold, we become what the mold intends us to be. Though it is very easy to say that the mold is the world, it is also very possible that the mold of this world is our religion. We make a list of do's and don't's, and we try to fill ourselves in that mold. We put upon ourselves the mold of legalism, and knowing God's will becomes simple conformity. But rather than giving us a list of commands, Paul stresses something totally different.

2. We are to be transformed. The word here is the word from which we get metamorphosis. You might recognize this word; it is used to describe the complete change of a caterpillar into a butterfly. It is a complete change in constitution. Rather than being molded, we are to become. Knowing God's will is not primarily about finding what to do, but rather about becoming who we are. Now how does this help at all?

Your actions are the overflow of your heart. John Piper makes the calim that 90% of all our decisions are not premeditated. That is a random number he thought of to stress the reality that we make decisions everyday that flow from our hearts rather than our minds. Jesus said, "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). All actions derive from the heart. But our hearts are depraved! How can God expect us to be something we are not? This is why Paul tells us to be renewed.

God's Word the means. Paul tells us the means through which we must be transformed: the renewing of the mind. Our hearts are radically depraved, but the Word of God can take this depraved heart, wash it, and sanctify it. Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them with truth; Your Word is truth." Therefore, in order to prove or know what God's will is in any given situation, we need to have the Word of God overflowing in our hearts. God's Word has life-transforming, mind-renewing power. We need to become men and women of God's Word. God doesn't give us clear directives in every single issue, but says His Word is enough to make you man wise enough to discern His will.

Five practical steps. I'll leave you with five practical steps that will help you become a wise Christian, and promote a godly approach to decision-making.

1. Seek God's will in everything, from big decisions to even little ones.
2. Spend much time in God's Word. There's no easy way out of this one.
3. Separate yourself from influences that are conforming you rather than transforming you (i.e. friends, internet, television, etc).
4. Surround yourself with godly men and women who will give you good counsel and point you to the Word.
5. Start applying clear biblical truths right away.

As you do these things, I pray you'll become wise in handling the Word for any given situation. In the areas that are not clearly black or white, I pray you'll be able to approach it with biblical wisdom. Stop stressing out about what you have to do, and start seeking who you are to be. Stay strong and God bless!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Morning After

Yesterday night, Barak Obama became President-elect of the United States of America, and in so doing, he made history. Surely, as his campaign has promoted, there will be many changes here in America. But this morning, I woke up and cherished a few things that will never change.

1. God's Sovereignty.
2. God's Commands.
3. God's Promises.
4. God's Faithfulness.
5. The sureness of our hope in Jesus Christ.

So let us take comfort in the fact that our hope is not based on our works, on the health of the stock market, or on a man that is elected once every four years, but on the person of Jesus Christ, Sovereign Lord over all. Let us await patiently until our King-Elect (chosen not by the people, but by God the Father) comes to reign . Until then, let us show honor to whom honor is due, so that we may live peaceful lives and complete the Great Commission (Romans 13:1-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-6).

Monday, November 3, 2008

Either work or believe.

Romans 4:4

"Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as favor, but what is due. But to he one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness"

There are only two ways to live this life. You may either work and earn your wages or you may depend solely on mercy and grace. If you work, you will get your due. God will not withhold from you your wages. But remember, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). If you depend solely on the grace of God, you will receive righteousness (justification). But remember, depending on God alone means admitting your total inability for good and completely submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we have two options before us: wages or credit. I know my life; I know what my wages are. Therefore, I am banking on God's grace; I will believe. What is your choice?