Cultivating a Godly Marriage Part 1: "The Meaning of Marriage"

This week, I plan to provide some blog posts relating to the topic of cultivating a godly marriage.

Part 1: the meaning of marriage

Marriage points to something much bigger than a husband and a wife. Even the best marriage in the world, with all the joys and blessings that exist with it, serves to direct the focus to something greater. The Bible declares that God created marriage for Himself — to display Himself gloriously, beautifully, attractively, and delightfully.

The meaning of marriage is quite simple: God. God created earthly marriage to reflect His marriage to His people. God’s covenant-keeping marriage with His elect people flows entirely from His grace and results exclusively for His glory.

So then, in what follows, I will simplify the above paragraph by highlighting a number of essential factors.

First, marriage is about GOD.
Marriage exists because God created it. God designed and fashioned marriage to suit His sovereign purposes and His supreme plan. Marriage, thus, is about God and His magnification, and His radiance, and His preeminence, and His power. Marriage cannot be divorced from God. Even non-Christians who have married other non-Christians have embarked upon a divinely-instituted relationship, that has divinely-glorious purposes. The creator of marriage is God. Since He created the institution of marriage, every earthly marriage should be pointing to God and His glory. Marriage, by definition, is a covenantal relationship. The permanent, lifelong, unending, faithful stipulations in a marriage relationship portray who God is. Of course this is to be so since God created marriage to display His marvelous glory and His relational supremacy.

Second, marriage is about the GOSPEL.
The very first institution that God ever made was marriage. Before work came about, before money, finances, sex, communication, friendships, prestige and prominence, or any other organization or mission, God created and instituted and designed marriage. Marriage, by God’s definition, consists of one man leaving his father and his mother and clinging to one woman and they, thus, cleave to one another and become one flesh (cf. Genesis 2:24). The language contained in this account implies covenantal overtones. After all, God does declare in the Bible that marriage, by definition, is a covenant (Malachi 2:14; Proverbs 2:17). Later on in biblical revelation, the Spirit guided the Apostle Paul to write that earthly marriage is a “mystery” — but this mystery is fully revealed in the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32). These clear statements in Ephesians reveal that, since the very beginning of time (before the first marriage was even ratified), every marriage has served to represent and display the heavenly marriage of Christ and His bride, the Church. Thus, earthly marriages point to the divine marriage. The way a husband loves his wife must point to the way that Christ has loved the Church. The love that Christ displayed for His elect bride must serve as the model for how every Christian man must sacrificially love his precious wife. And the way a wife submits to her husband must point to the way that the Church submits to Jesus Christ — in everything. Jesus, as the Creator of the Church is in fact the very Head of the Church (that is, Christ is her authority). The joyful and heartfelt submission and obedience that true believers render to Jesus Christ should serve as the model for every wife to humbly, heartfully, and worshipfully submit to her own husband in everything. After all, God created marriage to present the gospel visibly. In God’s mind, marriage exists as the visible theater upon which the glorious gospel of redemption is seen by all onlookers.

Third, marriage is about GRACE.
God lavishes grace upon His people (Ephesians 1:7-8). So it must be in the spiritual realm as well. Every Christian must willingly and lavishly and unreservedly pour out grace to others. The gospel that saves is a gospel of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). No person in the world can get to heaven without divine grace (2 Timothy 1:9). Since earthly marriage pictures the heavenly marriage, and since the heavenly marriage is glittered brilliantly with grace, so every marriage must also manifest a lavish outflow of grace. A marriage between a man and a woman without grace defiles and poisons the picture of the gospel. The saving relationship between Christ and His bride not only began with grace (Ephesians 2:5) but the believer lives sustained by God’s grace (2 Timothy 2:1) and the believer’s life will culminate in eternal glory all as a result of God’s grace (1 Peter 5:10). Marriage partners, then, should constantly grant grace to one another. Grace is needed because humans sin. That which makes the gospel overwhelmingly delightful is that it is built on God’s wondrous grace. And so it should be in every marriage. What makes every marriage attractive — and what makes every husband extremely attractive to his wife and that which makes the wife supremely glorious to her husband — is the full, lavish, free, and unrestrained outflow of grace to each other. This wonderfully depicts the gospel. Thus, we could say that marriage is about grace since the gospel is about grace.

Fourth, marriage is about GLORY.
When Moses constructed the Tabernacle, that earthly tent where Yahweh dwelt among His people, the glory of the LORD filled it so completely that Moses could not even enter the building (Exodus 40:35). If the glory of the Lord filled an earthly building, how much more does the glory of the Lord fill His specially elect people who have the Spirit of glory dwelling within them (1 Peter 4:14; 1 Corinthians 3:16). God dwells in each of His children (Ephesians 1:13-14) and he guarantees their eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:10).  And if the divine relationship between God and His people is like this, how much more ought the marriage relationship (which God created to point to this heavenly relationship) point to this glory. For the Christian, glory is promised to yet come (Romans 8:17-21). For every marriage relationship, the husband and the wife should strive to love one another and to sanctify one another with aggressive passion, with Spirit-endowed grace, and with exuberant delight until that final day when we stand before God in glory (Ephesians 5:26-27). God’s gospel results in His glory (Romans 11:36). And so it is with marriage, it serves to radiate the glory of God (Song of Solomon 7:6; Colossians 1:16).

It should be said, in conclusion, that the meaning of marriage is the glory of God, resulting from the grace of God, striving to represent the gospel of God. Only to the degree that God’s people enjoy Him and savor Him can they enjoy and savor the real meaning of marriage. This must drive us daily and constantly to the Word of God. Let God’s Word fill and saturate our hearts, our minds, and our lives.

A Word-filled marriage is a small snapshot of the delights of Heaven—a living portrait of the perfect love of Jesus (John Barnett).


[At the end of this blog series, I'll compile the posts together into an eBook available for download.]

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Conversations.

From Spurgeon:

Do you often hear the salutation addressed to you by your brother Christian, "Friend, how doth thy soul prosper?" When we step into each other's houses, do we begin to talk concerning the cause and truth of God? Do you think that God would now stoop from heaven to listen to the conversation of his church, as once he did, when it was said, "The Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name?" I solemnly declare, as the result of thorough, and, I trust, impartial observation, that the conversation of Christians, while it can not be condemned on the score of morality, must almost invariably be condemned on the score of Christianity. We talk too little about our Lord and Master.

From his sermon from Habakkuk 3 on Spiritual Revival: The Want of the Church

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The Distinctives of Christ Fellowship Bible Church | A New Course

Beginning this Sunday at CFBC, we will teach through many of the Distinctives of the Church.

Join us at 4pm during the Family Bible Hour. The audios & handouts can be found here.


OUTLINE OF TOPICS:

1. EXPOSITORY PREACHING

2. DISCIPLESHIP

3. PRAYER

4. CHURCH DISCIPLINE

5. BIBLICAL COUNSELING

6. HOMOSEXUALITY

7. ELDER/SHEPHERD LEADERSHIP

8. MALE LEADERSHIP in the HOME (biblical husbanding & fathering/complementarianism)

9. FAMILY WORSHIP

10. BIBLICAL CREATIONISM (6 24-hour days)

11. THE AWFUL MAJESTY OF GOD

12. AGGRESSIVE & ZEALOUS SANCTIFICATION

13. FUTURISTIC PREMILLENNIALISM

14. THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE

15. CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

16. THE IMPORTANCE OF BELIEVER'S BAPTISM

17. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LORD'S TABLE

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Rise Mightily Against the First Sight of Sin!

John Owen counsels us:

Rise mightily against the first sight of sin. Do not allow it to gain the smallest ground. Do not say, 'Thus far I shall go, and no farther.' If you allow it one step, it will take another. It is impossible to fix boundaries for sin! It is like water in a channel. If it ever breaks out, it will flow on through the breach. it is easier to sop it in the beginning than after it has begun to run.

James teaches that sin is progressive (James 1:14-15). Do you find corruption beginning to entangle your thoughts? Rise up with all of your strength against it, as if it had already started to overcome you. Consider what an unclean thought desires. It desires to have you immerse yourself in folly and filth.

If you do not in this way attack temptation, you will not win the battle. If sin gains ground in your affections so that you delight in it, your understanding will also come to think little of it.

(John Owen, Mortification of Sin, [Banner of Truth, 2004], 85-86).

Romans 8:12-13 — So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

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The Kind of Man a Faithful Pastor/Elder Must Be

The Kind of Man a Faithful Pastor/Elder Must Be
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church


1. A PARDONED MAN
The man must be saved. God’s grace must have pardoned him and atoned for his sins. The wrath of God must have been propitiated in and through the work of Jesus Christ on his behalf. He must enjoy the grace of God in salvation, bathe in the riches of Christ as his treasure, and strive to walk humbly and purely before God as he continues in the grace of God and in the mercy Lord Jesus Christ through the strength of the Holy Spirit.


2. A PRAYERFUL MAN
A faithful church leader must commune with God in regular, frequent, and private prayer. A shepherd must seek and savor opportunities to quiet himself with God. To be alone with God excited this godly shepherd. To be diligent in prayer is to confess private sins, to adore the greatness of God, to meditate and marvel at the glory of the gospel, to thank God for His undeserved blessings, and to take hold of God in begging for supernatural strength and Spirit-endowed power in the ministry.


3. A PREOCCUPIED MAN
A shepherd has one preoccupation, namely, caring for his sheep. Nothing else concerns him; nothing else conflicts him; nothing else distracts him. To shepherd God’s flock requires that the man of God be preoccupied with God’s flock. Yet the motivation to care for God’s flock grows from a robust and rock-solid drive for God’s glory. The preoccupation for God’s glory drives the shepherd to occupy his mind, time, talents, efforts, and resources to serve His flock.


4. A PRIORITIZED MAN 
God’s shepherd must carefully prioritize his time. He cannot lazily sit back and allow the sheep to suffer. He cannot allow distractions to remove him from his foremost calling. He must prioritize his time and ensure that he carries out the few essentials rather than the dozens of profitable tasks. If one busies himself with many helpful items and yet ignores the meeting with God in prayer, the studying of the Scriptures, and the personal shepherding of God’s flock, then he most certainly has misplaced priorities.


5. A PURE MAN
Pursue purity! This counsel that Paul gave to young Timothy must resonate with every man serving in the ministry of the Lord. Purity is preeminent. God loves to use pure vessels for His glory and His purposes. God cannot bless false shepherds, impure leaders and unholy elders. To pursue purity should be regular, constant, zealous, persistent, and delightful. Men must guard their eyes and their hearts. Men who serve Christ and serve His sheep must ensure that all impurities — and even the ‘appearances of evil’ — find no place in their lives. No man of God can protect himself too much from defilement. 


6. A PREACHING MAN 
A faithful pastor must be one who fits the qualification of being ‘able to teach’. He must be an able man with the Word of God. He must know the Scriptures. He must give himself diligently to working through the Bible and the Bible must work itself through him. He must know the Word and be competent to instruct with the Word. He must hold to sound teaching and refute all those who contradict. Faithful shepherds preach the gospel! Biblical elders can instruct and guard and protect sound, healthy, strong doctrine. The elders must give themselves unquestionably to the Word of God with more frequency and regularity than they do to sports, to news, to headlines, and to other hobbies. The Word must captivate this man. The care for, protection of, instruction of, and guarding of the flock should ever rest on the shepherd’s soul.


7. A POINTING MAN 
A faithful and diligent undershepherd will always point to the Chief Shepherd. Jesus presented Himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His own sheep. He knows His own and He calls them by name. A godly pastor will ever point the sheep to the ultimate Shepherd for their sustenance, joy, satisfaction, and salvation! He points with tenacity and with ever-present pathos to the glory of God revealed in the face of Christ! Just like the Spirit of God who points believers to Christ, so all God’s shepherds must point all believers to the beauty of Christ. Christ’s shepherds should always have, as it were, a finger pointing to the text of Scripture and with the other hand, a finger pointing upwards to the risen and exalted Christ! Point to Him!

“Take heed to thyself. Your own soul is your first and greatest care. You know a sound body alone can work with power; much more a healthy soul. Keep a clear conscience through the blood of the Lamb. Keep up close communion with God. Study likeness to Him in all things. Read the Bible for your own growth first, then for your people. Expound much; it is through the truth that souls are to be sanctified, not through essays upon the truth. Be easy of access, apt to teach, and the Lord teach you and bless you in all you do and say. You will not find many companions. Be the more with God. My dear people are anxiously waiting for you. The prayerful are praying for you. Be of good courage; there remaineth much of the land to be possessed. Be not dismayed, for Christ shall be with thee to deliver thee.”
                                           — Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Download the pdf article here.

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Hermeneutics — Interpret the Bible Rightly | a 12-part course at cfbc

Here is the 12-part series on Hermeneutics: the art and science of rightly interpreting the Bible. This was recently taught at Christ Fellowship Bible Church (in St Louis, Missouri).

1. Part 1: Hermeneutics: how to interpret the Bible | download
2. Part 2: Hermeneutics: the power & purpose of God's Word | download
3. Part 3: Hermeneutics: truths about the Bible and defining important terms | download
4. Part 4: Hermeneutics: observing the text | download
5. Part 5: Hermeneutics: interpreting the text, interpret normally and contextually | download
6. Part 6: Hermeneutics: interpret in view of culture, history, and literary genre | download
7. Part 7: Hermeneutics: understanding the analogy of Scripture | download
8. Part 8: Hermeneutics: interpreting parables and proverbs | download
9. Part 9: Hermeneutics: interpreting poetry and figures of speech | download
10. Part 10: Hermeneutics: interpreting symbols and types | download
11. Part 11: Hermeneutics: interpreting prophecy and the use of the Old Testament in the New | download
12. Part 12: Hermeneutics: applying the text | download

The goal of this 12-part study is simple: to equip God's people who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit to glory God & enjoy Christ's gospel by rightly interpreting the Word of God so as to understand the authorial intent of the text and then to apply it to life so as to produce conformity to Christ.

Note: all the pdf handouts for each individual session can be found at the media page here.

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The Coming Millennial Kingdom

What will the coming kingdom on earth be like? It will be earthly, global, peaceful, filled with righteousness, and the LORD will reign with glory from Zion.

Here are a few resources that may help as you read Scripture and grow in hope for this future kingdom on earth when Christ will rule over the nations.

Psalm 72 — Handout with Outline and Supports for Premillennialism (=Future, Earthly, 1,000 Kingdom)

A chart showing the order of events — futuristic premillennialism

The importance of premillennialism, by Norman Geisler

Premillennialism, by Richard Mayhue

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How Do You Prepare for Worship? Some Thoughts by JI Packer

How Do You Prepare for Worship? Some thoughts on the subject
From J.I. Packer

"But still one question remains. ... How can we, cold-hearted and formal as we so often are -- to our shame -- in church services, advance closer to the Puritan ideals? The Puritans would have met our question by asking us another. How do we prepare for worship?

Here, perhaps, is our own chief weakness. The Puritans inculcated specific preparation for worship -- not merely for the Lord's Supper, but for all services -- as a regular part of the Christian's inner discipline of prayer and communion with God. Says the Westminster Directory: "When the congregation is to meet for public worship, the people (having before prepared their hearts thereunto) ought all to come...." But we neglect to prepare our hearts; for, as the Puritans would have been the first to tell us, thirty seconds of private prayer upon taking our seat in the church building is not time enough in which to do it. It is here that we need to take ourselves in hand. What we need at the present time to deepen our worship is not new liturgical forms or formulae, nor new hymns and tunes, but more preparatory "heart-work" before we use the old ones. There is nothing wrong with new hymns, tunes, and worship styles -- there may be very good reasons for them -- but without "heart-work" they will not make our worship more fruitful and God-honoring; they will only strengthen the syndrome that C.S. Lewis called "the liturgical fidgets." "Heart-works" must have priority or spiritually our worship will get nowhere. So I close with an admonition from George Swinnock on preparation for the service of the Lord's Day, which for all its seeming quaintedness is, I think, a word in season for very many of us:

"Prepare to meet thy God, O Christian! Betake thyself to thy chamber on the Saturday night, confess and bewail thine unfaithfulness under the ordinances of God; ashamed and condemn thyself for thy sins, entreat God to prepare they heart for, and assist it in, thy religious performances; spend some time in consideration of the infinite majesty, holiness, jealously, and goodness, of that God, with whom thouart to have to do in sacred duties; ponder the weight and importance of his holy ordinances...; meditate on the shortness of the time thou hast to enjoy Sabbaths in; and continue musing...till the fire burneth; thou canst not think the good thou mayest gain by such forethoughts, how pleasant and profitable a Lord's day would be to thee after such a preparation. The oven of thine heart thus baked in, as it were overnight, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise. If thou wouldst thus leave thy heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst find it with him in the Lord's Day morning."

[From J.I. Packer's A Quest For Godliness]

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Growing Older in Age & Serving the LORD

From James Montgomery Boice:

I suppose there are some people who in their old age only look back to the past and are often quite unhappy as they do. They think of what they have had and lost or what they wish they could have had an never did. The present does not mean much to them except as a basis for complaining about their multiplying aches and pains, and they are afraid to look forward. They are afraid of dying.

David's approach to old age was not like this. For not only did he look to the past to remember God's goodness and faithfulness to him over the many long years of his life, he also looked to the future in terms of the work yet remaining to be done. He knew that if God had left him in life and had not yet taken him home to be with him in glory, it was because there was work to do. This work was testifying to the coming generations about God.

Psalm 71:17-19  — 17 O God, You have taught me from my youth, And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.  18 And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come.  19 For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You?

(Boice, Psalms Volume 2, 597).

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Why God Is Just in the Condemning of Sinners

For at least 3 reasons, God is justified in His condemnation of sinners...

1) God is justified because all men, through their lineage from Adam, share in the guilt of original sin and in the moral and spiritual depravity it produces (Rom 5:17-18).

2) God is justified in condemning sinners because every person is born with an evil nature (Eph 2:3).

3) God is justified in condemning sinners because of the evil deeds their depraved natures inevitably produce (Rom 2:6-8).

Because of sin, the unregenerate have no future to look forward to except eternal damnation in hell.

Because our God is infinite in power and love, 'We confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?'' (Heb 13:6). Because our God is infinite in power and love, we can say with David, 'When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you' (Ps 56:3) and, 'In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety' (Ps 4:8). Because our God is infinite in power and love, we can say with Moses, 'The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms' (Deut 33:27). Because our God is infinite in power and love, we can say with the writer of Hebrews, 'This hope we have as an anchor for the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast.'

(From John MacArthur, Romans 1-8, 396-97, 518)

Remember: this divine condemnation upon all men leads man to despair in and of himself and to trust in the only hope of salvation that God has made available — salvation in Jesus Christ and in His substitutionary work at Calvary (2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13)!

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Warning! Don't Let Your Blessings Turn Into God's Curses On You!

Psalm 69:22-23   22 May their table before them become a snare; And when they are in peace, may it become a trap.  23 May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their loins shake continually.

Romans 11:9-10   9  And David says, "LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM.  10 "LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT, AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER."

In reading the context of both Psalm 69 and Romans 11, we see that Paul intentionally and quite deliberately used Psalm 69 with respect for the context of the psalm at large to enhance his argument upon the unbelieving Jews in Romans 11.


Here is a fitting word of application by James Montgomery Boice:

"Here is where Psalm 69:22-23 and Paul's use of these verses in Romans come home forcefully to us. If individual Jews, who were a chosen nation, missed salvation because of their rejection of Christ and if, as a result, the blessings of God that had been given to them bcame a curse for these people, then it is entirely possible (and indeed probable) that many sitting in the evangelical churches of America today are also missing salvation because of their failure to trust Jesus in a personal way and that their blessings have become curses too" (Psalms vol.2, p.580-81).

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Minister of God — Guard Your Own Soul!

 ‘The whole state of your own soul before God must be the first point to be considered; for if you yourself are not in a truly spiritual state of mind, and actually living upon the truths which you preach or read to others, you will officiate to very little purpose.’

--Charles Simeon

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A Description of the Believer's Entrance into Heaven

From Isaac Ambrose (1600's):

Christ welcomes them into his glorious presence. If the father could receive his prodigal but repenting son with hugs and kisses, how will Christ now receive His saints, when they come as a bride to the solemnization of the marriage? His very heart springs (as I may say) at the sight of His Bride! No sooner [does] He see her and salute her, but He welcomes her with such words as these: “O my love, my dove, my fair one—come now and enjoy thy Husband! Many a thought I have had of thee: before I made the world, I spent my infinite eternal thoughts on thy salvation. When the world began, I gave thee a promise that I would betroth thee unto me in righteousness, in judgment, in loving kindness, in mercy, and in faithfulness (Hos 2:19-20). 

[For thy sake I] was incarnate, lived, died, rose again, and ascended. And since My ascension, [I] have been interceding for thee and making ready the bride-chamber, where thou and I must live forever and ever. Now I come hither into the clouds to meet thee more than half the way. My meaning is to take thee by the hand and to bring thee to My Father. Now do I take thee for My own—O My sister, My spouse, thou art as dear to Me as My own dear heart! Come, see into My bosom, and see here love written in the golden letters of free grace. Come near, for I must have thee with Me…Sometimes thy sins have made a wall of partition between Me and thee. Sometimes I withdrew and was gone; I hid Myself beyond the curtains. And for a time, thou hast lain hid in the closet of the grave. But now we will never part more: Indeed, I will bring thee to My Father, and I will say to Him, ‘Father, behold! Here [is] My spouse that I have carried unto Myself.’ In the meantime, welcome to thy Jesus. I have purchased thee with My blood, I have paid dear for thee, and now I will wear thee as a crown and ornament forever.”

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Saving Faith | An Illustration by Spurgeon

I bet when Spurgeon preached this, the people sat on the edge of their seats (with even a few laughs throughout)...

Faith is something like this. There is a story told of a captain of a man-of-war, whose son—a young lad—was very fond of running up the rigging of the ship; and one time, running after a monkey, he ran up the mast, till at last he got on to the maintruck. Now, the maintruck, you are aware, is like a large round table put on to the mast, so that when the boy was on the maintruck there was plenty of room for him; but the difficulty was—to use the best explanation I can—that he could not reach the mast that was under the table; he was not tall enough to get down from this maintruck, reach the mast, and so descend. There he was on the maintruck; he managed to get up there, somehow or other, but down he never could get. His father saw that, and he looked up in horror; what was he to do? In a few moments his son would fall down, and be dashed to pieces! 

He was clinging to the main-truck with all his might, but in a little time he would fall down on the deck, and there he would be a mangled corpse. The captain called for a speaking trumpet; he put it to his mouth, and shouted, "Boy, the next time the ship lurches, throw yourself into the sea." It was, in truth, his only way of escape; he might be picked up out of the sea, but he could not be rescued if he fell on the deck. The poor boy looked down on the sea; it was a long way; he could not bear the idea of throwing himself into the roaring current beneath him; he thought it looked angry and dangerous. How could he cast himself down into it? So he clung to the main-truck with all his might, though there was no doubt that he must soon let go and perish. The father called for a gun, and pointing it up at him, said, "Boy, the next time the ship lurches, throw yourself into the sea, or I'll shoot you!" He knew his father would keep his word; the ship lurched on one side, over went the boy splash into the sea, and out went brawny arms after him; the sailors rescued him, and brought him on deck. Now, we, like the boy, are in a position of extra-ordinary danger, by nature, which neither you nor I can possibly escape of ourselves. 

Unfortunately, we have got some good works of our own, like that maintruck, and we cling to them so fondly, that we never will give them up. Christ knows that unless we do give them up, we shall be dashed to pieces at the last, for that rotten trust must ruin us. He, therefore, says, "Sinner, let go thine own trust, and drop into the sea of my love." We look down, and say, "Can I be saved by trusting in God? He looks as if he were angry with me, and I could not trust him." Ah, will not mercy's tender cry persuade you?—"He that believeth shall be saved." Must the weapon of destruction be pointed directly at you? Must you hear the dreadful threat—"He that believeth not shall be damned?" It is with you now as with that boy—your position is one of imminent peril in itself, and your slighting the Father's counsel is a matter of more terrible alarm, it makes peril more perilous. 

You must do it, or else you perish! Let go your hold! That is faith when the poor sinner lets go his hold, drops down, and so is saved; and the very thing which looks as if it would destroy him, is the means of his being saved. Oh! believe on Christ, poor sinners; believe on Christ. Ye who know your guilt and misery come, cast yourselves upon him; come, and trust my Master, and as he lives, before whom I stand, you shall never trust him in vain; but you shall find yourselves forgiven, and go your way rejoicing in Christ Jesus.

Source, Spurgeon's Sermon on Justification by Faith

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How to glorify God (learning from Psalm 66)

How To Glorify God
Learning from Psalm 66
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Psalm 66:2 tells God’s people to “sing the glory of His Name” and to “make His praise glorious.” So how does one glorify God? What can this psalm teach as far as “glorifying God”? I would like to look at Psalm 66 and provide 10 ways that believers can glorify God.

1. Loud and Triumphant Jubilation in God.
The opening verses of the psalm demand loud shouts and triumphant trumpet blasts extolling God. The command extends to all the earth beckoning all to loudly worship God.

2. Singing and Rejoicing in the Great Worth of God’s Name.
All must sing the glory of God’s Name. God’s Name is manifested in His character, in His person, in His deeds, in His ways and works. The psalm pleads for perpetual praise of God’s honor!

3. Longing for the Day when Every Knee Will Bow Before Him.
The Bible prophesies that every knee will bow before God (Isa 45:23; Phil 2:10) and that every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord (Phil 2:11). This certainly will happen. All men will bow before God’s throne. Rebels will be forced to bow; God’s children will gladly bow. All will bow low.

4. Reflecting on the Past Works of God.
Remembering the past gives fuel for rejoicing in the present. God’s faithfulness to past generations gives weight to the certainty of God’s faithfulness to us now. Reflect and remember.

5. Resting and Finding Comfort in God’s Kingship.
Never has there been a moment when God has not ruled and reigned as the heavenly King. God’s glorious sovereignty and powerful kingship allows God’s people to rest and have comfort in Him and in His power.

6. Enduring Through Hardships With Hope, Perseverance, and Trust.
Even when God afflicts and brings the hammerblow into believer’s lives, God’s children rest confident in God’s Fatherly hand. God’s people endure every furnace of fire, billow of trouble and hardship with trust in the Father.

7. Fulfilling the Unconquerable Commitment to Worship and Thank God.
The Old Testament worshipers brought sacrifices so as to be forgiven. They obediently fulfilled vows to bring the animals. No sacrifice was too great. So God’s people today come to Christ, our Atonement, and worship Him only.

8. Telling What God Has Done for Your Soul.
“Let me tell of what God has done for my soul!” the psalmist heralds. God’s people must tell out, proclaim loudly, and boast in the cross of Christ and magnify God for what He has done for the magnification of His holy Name.

9. Fighting for Purity and Winning the Battle in the Heart.
The spiritual life is fought primarily in the heart. It is predominantly an inward, internal, invisible war. Every child of God hates his sin and refuses to give sin a hidden, cherished, beloved place in his heart. Fight for purity in the heart.

10. Praying with Confident Earnestness & God-centered Gladness.
Prayer fortifies the believer and prompts worship and joy. It excellerates piety.Pray with earnestness and anticipation.

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Radical Depravity Heralded — Have You Heard This Kind of Preaching Lately?

From James Smith:

The entire mass of human nature became depraved, polluted, rotten to the heart's core; so depraved, so polluted, so rotten, that nothing could effect a change but the omnipotent energy of the omnipotent God. There is that in depravity in every form, that defies the touch of any one but the Infinite; that refuses to succumb to anything but to Omnipotence itself. 

The heart of man is foul as the heart of Satan; the nature of man is foul as the nature of Satan; and the sin of man is worse than the sin of Satan. Satan, the great archangel, that fell from heaven, did a tremendous deed when he set mind in opposition to Deity; but man set not merely mind, but matter with mind, in opposition to the eternal God. God could once look upon the world and say, "Though mind is in rebellion, matter is not in opposition;" but after the fall of man, mind and matter alike were corrupt, were depraved, were in opposition to the Eternal. 

Every man's heart steams with enmity against God; every man's spirit rises in rebellion against God; and, as you have heard tonight, the verdict of every man's conscience in its fallen state is, "No God, no God;" and if the Eternal could be voted out of existence by the suffrages of his fallen creatures, every hand would be up, every heart would give its verdict, and every voice would vote for the annihilation of the Most High. 

The will of man strong, the will of man stern, the will of man determined, and opposed to the will of God, will yield to nothing but that which is superior to itself; it laughs at authority, it turns with disgust from holiness, it refuses to listen to invitation, and, in this state, man—universal man, is found.

[BUT] Christ came into our world. He came and, as ye have heard, assumed humanity, and united it with Deity. The two natures constituted the one person of the glorious Mediator; that glorious Mediator stood the representative of his people; that Mediator stood the Surety of his family; that Mediator stood the Substitute of the multitude of his fallen ones. That Mediator came to be the sacrifice to which sin was to be transferred, by which sin was to expiated and removed out of the way, that God's mercy might freely flow, and from the sinner's conscience, that he might have peace and joy.

Read the rest here.

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Effectual Calling, Irresistible Grace — God's Work in Calling

From R.C. Sproul:

In the administration of redemption, though all three persons of the Godhead are co-equal in being, glory, and eternality, there is nevertheless an economic subordination that takes place. The Son comes to do the will of the Father. His task is to satisfy the demands of God’s justice and righteousness. His meat and His drink is to do the will of the Father. He speaks with authority, but it is an authority not His own. Rather, it is an authority delegated to Him by the Father.

His perfect obedience is both active and passive. Actively, He kept every jot and tittle of the Law. In that endeavor, He was perfectly successful. He is more than sinless. To be sinless is to be free from all fault, taint, or blemish. It is to be innocent of guilt. But the Son is more than innocent. He is righteous. He achieves perfect merit. He fulfills the details of the covenant by which God promised the reward of blessing to those who achieved obedience. It is the fruit of Christ’s active obedience that is the ground of our justification and the righteousness that is imputed to us by faith.

In His passive obedience, like the silent lamb at the slaughter, the Son acquiesces to the dreadful punishment of the curse of God. He drinks the cup of the bitterness of God’s wrath to its dregs.
In His active and passive obedience, the Son accomplishes our redemption objectively. Yet, for that redemption to avail for us, it must be appropriated subjectively. Faith is required as the necessary instrument for us to receive the benefits of Christ’s accomplished work of redemption.

The subjective appropriation of the work of the Son is accomplished by the application of that redemption by the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who regenerates us. In that regeneration, He generates the faith in us that is necessary for our appropriation of the work of Christ.

That application via regeneration and faith is not a joint venture between the sinner and the Spirit. The Spirit does not regenerate those who believe. No, He regenerates the unbelieving sinner unto faith. He quickens to spiritual life those who are dead in sin. He changes the recalcitrant heart of the sinner, making the unwilling willing to come to Christ. He makes the indisposed disposed to Him, the disinclined fully inclined. Our salvation is entirely of God — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Soli Deo Gloria.

(From: RC Sproul, "Can These Bones Live? The Effective Calling of the Holy Spirit," Tabletalk, 28, no. 7 [July 2004]).

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Preach Christ, O Brethren!

“Of all I would wish to say this is the sum; my brethren, preach CHRIST, always and evermore. He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our one great, all-comprehending theme. The world needs still to be told of its Saviour, and of the way to reach him . . . If with the zeal of the Methodists we can preach the doctrine of the Puritans a great future is before us . . . the fuel of Whitefield will cause a burning which shall set the forests of error on fire, and warm the very soul of this cold earth. We are not called to proclaim philosophy and metaphysics, but the simple gospel.

Man’s fall, his need of a new birth, forgiveness through atonement, and salvation as the result of faith, these are our battle-axe and weapons of war. We have enough to do to learn and teach these great truths, and accursed be that learning which shall divert us from our mission . . . More and more am I jealous lest any views upon prophecy, church government, politics, or even systematic theology, should withdraw one of us from glorifying in the cross of Christ. Salvation is a theme for which I would fain enlist every holy tongue . . . O that Christ crucified were the universal burden of men of God.”

—C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures To My Students, p 79.

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Babies Are Murdered Here | The Film

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Jesus: Savior from Sin!

A.W. Pink:

"The nature of Christ's salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness."

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