Author Archives: Dan C.

The God of All Comfort

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Certainly the chief significance of Paul’s description of God, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, is in the context of suffering for the name of Christ whom he preached unceasingly, as well as the similar suffering of the saints in the church at Corinth. There is, in these few verses, a picture of suffering for the name of Christ, the experiencing of the comfort that only God can bestow upon his children, and the sense of God’s sovereignty over even the ‘not so comfortable’ circumstances of suffering saints, in order that they (we) might be able to credibly minister to others in similar circumstances.

The Apostle Paul sees his afflictions and persecutions being for the express purpose of the comfort of other suffering saints, as he experiences the comfort of God and because of that experience, being able to comfort the believers in Corinth.

Can we not extend the cycle of suffering, finding comfort, and comforting others ‘with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God’, to the ordinary ‘stuff of life’ that we endure as believers in a fallen world? Personally, I think that Paul has delivered a serious blow to the thought (and sometimes taught) notion that as believers we somehow deserve ‘special’ treatment in this life.

In these verses, Paul does not specifically describe the impact of our going through all the ‘stuff of life’ on the unbelieving world around us, but it cannot be denied. As believers we are able to, and ought to, go through the adversities of life quite differently than even the most ‘positive’ of unbelievers with whom we live, work, and breathe. ‘How’ we go through the same adverse circumstances of life speaks volumes and is at times one of the greatest ‘wordless’ expressions of the gospel of grace we possess. Those wordless expressions are used of God as He arranges ‘divine appointments’ in which we have the great privilege of adding the ‘words’ of the Gospel, as God draws those for whom the Son died to the foot of the Cross, culminating in much rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents!

So take heart, brothers and sisters, knowing that God is indeed sovereign over the affairs of our lives, both the good and not so good, and that God’s purposes in all of them will stand for eternity!

Wisdom from J.I. Packer

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“All devices for exerting psychological pressure in order to precipitate ‘decisions’ must be eschewed, as being in truth presumptuous attempts to intrude into the province of the Holy Ghost. Such pressures may even be harmful for while they may produce the outward form of ‘decision,’ they cannot bring about regeneration and a change of heart, and when the ‘decisions’ wear off those who registered them will be found ‘gospel-hardened’ and antagonistic.” -A Quest for Godliness, JI Packer

Found that at a friend’s blog and had to share it!

God, my Maker, who giveth songs in the night. – Job 35:10

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“Any man can sing in the day. When the cup is full, man draws inspiration from it. When wealth rolls in abundance around him, any man can praise the God who gives a plenteous harvest or sends home a loaded argosy. It is easy enough for an Aeolian harp to whisper music when the winds blow-the difficulty is for music to swell forth when no wind is stirring. It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is skilful who sings when there is not a ray of light to read by-who sings from his heart. No man can make a song in the night of himself; he may attempt it, but he will find that a song in the night must be divinely inspired. Let all things go well, I can weave songs, fashioning them wherever I go out of the flowers that grow upon my path; but put me in a desert, where no green thing grows, and wherewith shall I frame a hymn of praise to God? How shall a mortal man make a crown for the Lord where no jewels are? Let but this voice be clear, and this body full of health, and I can sing God’s praise: silence my tongue, lay me upon the bed of languishing, and how shall I then chant God’s high praises, unless He Himself give me the song? No, it is not in man’s power to sing when all is adverse, unless an altar-coal shall touch his lip. It was a divine song, which Habakkuk sang, when in the night he said, “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Then, since our Maker gives songs in the night, let us wait upon Him for the music. O Thou chief musician, let us not remain songless because affliction is upon us, but tune Thou our lips to the melody of thanksgiving.” – Charles Spurgeon

Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms

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[The translation is from H.C. Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church (1903), based on Luther’s Opera Latina (Frankfurt, 1865-73]

Background.  In 1520, Pope Leo X issued a bull of excommunication against Luther.  He directed the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation to execute it.  Charles V, however, was reluctant to take this step.  Only 21 years old at the time, Charles had only at great expense and with much diplomacy managed to get himself elected Emperor in 1519.  He was reluctant to alienate the German princes, many of whom were already suspicious enough of the consolidation of Habsburg power. 

A number of these — and most importantly, Luther’s own powerful sovereign, the Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony — insisted that German subjects be tried only before a German body.  Since the Imperial Diet was then in session at Worms, Luther was summoned to appear before it for examination.  Frederick insisted that Luther be granted a safe-conduct pass guaranteeing that he would not be seized if he were to appear.  The Emperor agreed.  Luther then set out from Wittenberg, passing through city after city where he was received with acclaim and celebration.

The papal representatives at the Diet were acting under instructions from the Pope not to allow the occasion to degenerate into a debate, but to put the accused firmly on the defensive.  On the first day of his appearance, Luther was asked whether he acknowledged authorship of a list of his works which had been determined to be in error.  He did.  He was then asked whether he was willing to recant the errors contained in them.  Unwilling to answer “on the fly,” Luther asked for 24 hours in which to deliberate his response.  The request was granted. 

On the following day the examination reconvened, in the presence of the Emperor and the assembled princes and nobles of the Empire.  The interrogator was Dr. Ecken, an official in the administration of the Archbishop of Trier.  Luther did not compose his remarks for reading from a manuscript, but spoke impromptu.  Nor was any official transcript made of the transaction.  Accordingly, what transpired has had to be reconstructed.  The account that follows was composed by Luther himself, not long afterwards.  Bear in mind that he relates the scene in the third person, speaking in the first-person only when he quotes from memory what he said there.  [Additional accounts have been published, based on the recollection of some of the persons in attendance.]

_________________Luther’s account_____________________

Dr. Ecken:

. . . Do you wish to defend the books which are recognized as your work? Or to retract anything contained in them? . .

Luther: 

Most Serene Lord Emperor, Most Illustrious Princes, Most Gracious Lords . . . I beseech you to grant a gracious hearing to my plea, which, I trust, will be a plea of justice and truth; and if through my inexperience I neglect to give to any their proper titles or in any way offend against the etiquette of the court in my manners or behavior, be kind enough to forgive me, I beg, since I am a man who has spent his life not in courts but in the cells of a monastery; a man who can say of himself only this, that to this day I have thought and written in simplicity of heart, solely with a view to the glory of God and the pure instruction of Christ’s faithful people. . . .

. . . Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships: I ask you to observe that my books are not all of the same kind.

There are some in which I have dealt with piety in faith and morals with such simplicity and so agreeably with the Gospels that my adversaries themselves are compelled to admit them useful, harmless, and clearly worth reading by a Christian. Even the Bull, harsh and cruel though it is, makes some of my books harmless, although it condemns them also, by a judgment downright monstrous. If I should begin to recant here, what, I beseech you, would I be doing but condemning alone among mortals, that truth which is admitted by friends and foes alike, in an unaided struggle against universal consent?

The second kind consists in those writings leveled against the papacy and the doctrine of the papists, as against those who by their wicked doctrines and precedents have laid waste Christendom by doing harm to the souls and the bodies of men. No one can either deny or conceal this, for universal experience and world-wide grievances are witnesses to the fact that through the Pope’s laws and through man-made teachings the consciences of the faithful have been most pitifully ensnared, troubled, and racked in torment, and also that their goods and possessions have been devoured (especially amongst this famous German nation) by unbelievable tyranny, and are to this day being devoured without end in shameful fashion; and that thought they themselves by their own laws take care to provide that the Pope’s laws and doctrines which are contrary to the Gospel or the teachings of the Fathers are to be considered as erroneous and reprobate. If then I recant these, the only effect will be to add strength to such tyranny, to open not the windows but the main doors to such blasphemy, which will thereupon stalk farther and more widely than it has hitherto dared. . . .

The third kind consists of those books which I have written against private individuals, so-called; against those, that is, who have exerted themselves in defense of the Roman tyranny and to the overthrow of that piety which I have taught. I confess that I have been more harsh against them than befits my religious vows and my profession. For I do not make myself out to be any kind of saint, nor am I now contending about my conduct but about Christian doctrine. But it is not in my power to recant them, because that recantation would give that tyranny and blasphemy and occasion to lord it over those whom I defend and to rage against God’s people more violently than ever.

However, since I am a man and not God, I cannot provide my writings with any other defense than that which my Lord Jesus Christ provided for His teaching. When He had been interrogated concerning His teaching before Annas and had received a buffet from a servant, He said: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.” If the Lord Himself, who knew that He could not err, did not refuse to listen to witness against His teaching, even from a worthless slave, how much more ought I, scum that I am, capable of naught but error, to seek and to wait for any who may wish to bear witness against my teaching.

And so, through the mercy of God, I ask Your Imperial Majesty, and Your Illustrious Lordships, or anyone of any degree, to defeat them by the writings of the Prophets or by the Gospels; for I shall be most ready, if I be better instructed, to recant any error, and I shall be the first in casting my writings into the fire. . . .

Thereupon the Orator of the Empire, in a tone of upbraiding, said that his [Luther’s] answer was not to the point, and that there should be no calling into question of matters on which condemnations and decisions had before been passed by Councils. He was being asked for a plain reply, without subtlety or sophistry, to this question: Was he prepared to recant, or no?

Luther then replied:

Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convicted [convinced] of error by the testimony of Scripture or (since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of Pope or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves) by manifest reasoning, I stand convicted [convinced] by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s word, I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us.

On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me.

Amen.

An Introduction to The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther

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De Servo Arbitrio

(On the Bondage of the Will)

Abridged

1525

A.D.Martin Luther

The Significance of the Issue

It is not irreligious, wasteful, or superficial, but essentially healthy and necessary, for a Christian to know whether or not his will has anything to do in matters pertaining to salvation. Indeed, let me tell you, this is the hinge on which our discussion turns, the crucial issue between us; our aim is, simply, to investigate what ability “free will” has, in what respect it is the subject of divine action and how it stands related to the grace of God. If we know nothing of these things, we shall know nothing whatsoever of Christianity, and shall be in worse than the heathen! He who does not admit this should acknowledge that he is not a Christian; and he who ridicules or derides it should realize that he is the greatest enemy of Christianity. For if I am ignorant in the nature, extent and limits of what I can and must do in relationship to God, I shall be equally ignorant and uncertain of the nature, extent and limits of what God can and will do in me – though God, in fact, works everything in everyone. Now, if I am ignorant of the works and powers of God, I am ignorant of God himself; and if I do not know God, I cannot worship, praise, give thanks or serve Him, for I do not know how much I should attribute to myself and how much to Him. We need, therefore, to have in mind a clear-cut distinction between God’s power and ours, and God’s work and ours, if we would live a godly life.

__________________________

First published in 1525, Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will is acknowledged by theologians as one of the great masterpieces of the Reformation. It is Luther response to Desiderius Erasmus’ Diatribe on Free Will, written in his direct and unique style, combining deep spirituality with humor. Luther writes powerfully about man’s depravity and God’s sovereignty. The crucial issue for Luther concerned what ability free will has, and to what degree it is subject to God’s sovereignty. For Luther, this key issue of free will is directly connected to God’s plan of salvation. Is man able to save himself, or is his salvation entirely a work of divine grace? This work is vital to understanding the primary doctrines of the Reformation and will long remain among the great theological classics of Christian history.If you have not read this great work, and if you are interested in the true nature of man’s natural will, the remainder of an abridged version can be found here. The complete work is available for audio download here.

Failure and Success-The Scramble for Popularity

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A.W. Tozer

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”–Matthew 5:11-12

Popular Judaism slew the prophets and crucified Christ. Popular Christianity killed the Reformers, jailed the Quakers and drove John Wesley into the streets. When it comes to religion, the crowds are always wrong. At any time there are a few who see, and the rest are blinded. To stand by the truth of God against the current religious vogue is always unpopular and may be downright dangerous….

Christianity’s scramble for popularity today is an unconscious acknowledgment of spiritual decline. Her eager fawning at the feet of the world’s great is a grief to the Holy Spirit and an embarrassment to the sons of God. The lick-spittle attitude of popular Christian leaders toward the world’s celebrities would make such men as Elijah or George Fox sick to the stomach….

Lot was a popular believer. He sat in the gates of Sodom. But when trouble struck, he had to send quick for Abraham to get him out of the jam. And where did they find Abraham? Out on the hillside, far away from the fashionable crowds. It has always been so. For every Elijah there have always been 400 popular prophets of Baal. For every Noah there is always a vast multitude who will not believe it is going to rain.

We are sent to bless the world, but never are we told to compromise with it.

The Next Chapter After the Last, 20-21.

“Lord, give me the spirit of Elijah; give me the faith of Noah.

Deliver me from the scramble for popularity and strengthen me to serve alone, oblivious to the roar of the crowds. Amen.”

For WHOM, and for WHAT Did Christ Die?

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by James Smith

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” – Rom 5:6-10

For WHOM did Christ die?

Christ died for the ungodly. Such was my character by nature, for I had not one spark of godliness in me. I was a stranger to the power of godliness. If Jesus died for the ungodly—then why not for me?

Christ died for sinners. Such as were entirely sinful, whose natures were depraved, whose conduct was perverse and wicked. For sinners, who had nothing to recommend them to his notice, or to warrant them to expect any blessing from his hands. If Jesus died for sinners—then why not for me? I am a sinner, a poor miserable sinner. No one ever needed a Savior more. No one ever deserved a Savior less. But as a physician gets fame and honor, by healing desperate cases—may not Jesus get honor by saving me?

Christ died for enemies. Such as were opposed to him, whose hearts were enmity against him, who never thought well of him, or had any desire to be under an obligation to him; nor ever would, if their hearts were not changed by a divine power. Awful to say—but I was an enemy to God, and showed my enmity by wicked works! I never loved him. I had no wish to know him. I dreaded him—because he was holy. I wished there was no God—except he were one that would tolerate and sanction sin; one that would be ruled by my depraved principles and passions. How awful it is to look back, and see what we have been, what we have done, what we have said, what we have been afraid to say—but have thought!

No one knows what is in a man’s heart, but himself. No one knows what is working in a man’s bosom, but himself. How fearful would be the exposure of one’s thoughts! But what can be worse than to be the enemies of the God of love? Such were all of us! Such was I—and yet if Jesus died for the enemies of God, for his own enemies—then why not for me? Yes, though I was ungodly, a sinner, an enemy of God and his Christ; yet as Jesus died for the ungodly, for sinners, for enemies, I will believe that he died for me.

For WHAT did Christ die?

To make an atonement for them. To satisfy the claims which divine justice had upon sinners. To meet all the demands of the righteous and immutable law of God. He allowed them to be placed to his account, To be imputed to his person, so that he became responsible for them. Therefore, he bore them, or the desert of them in his own body on the tree. He put them away by the sacrifice of himself. I would therefore look upon Jesus—as standing in my place, as suffering my desert, as expiating my iniquity, as meeting all the claims which law and justice could make upon me.

Christ died for our sins.

Precious Savior! I do bless your dear and adorable name for becoming my surety, for offering yourself a sacrifice for my sins, and for working out and bringing in a perfect and everlasting righteousness to clothe my soul.

To deliver us from the power of the god of this world, from the spirit of this world, and from its fearful doom. Satan possessed us and wrought in us; the customs of the world controlled us; and we were doomed to suffer with the world. But Jesus loved us, pitied us, and determined to deliver us. He therefore died for us, to remove all legal difficulties out of the way. He procured the Holy Spirit to quicken, teach, sanctify, and emancipate us.

Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world.

Therefore, though IN the world, we are not OF the world—for Jesus died to deliver us from it, raise us above it, and make us useful to it.

His death removed every obstacle, opened a new and living way, and brings down the Holy Spirit into our hearts. So that now we come to God as sinners—as sinners to be pardoned, justified, accepted, protected, preserved, and supplied. By and bye, we shall come to God as saints, as saints to be acknowledged, approved, crowned, and glorified.

Christ died to bring us to God.

Such was the design of the death of Jesus. O, Savior! but for your life and death, I must Lave perished in my sins! I must have been condemned with the world! I never, never would have come to God, until dragged before him to receive an awful sentence from him! I owe everything to you! I trace every good thing I have or expect—to your cross! Without you, I would be the vilest of men, the most wretched being in God’s vast creation! But with you I have hope, I have confidence, I have comfort, I have a prospect of everlasting glory! Blessed be your holy and glorious name forever! I will bless you while I live, and praise your name forever and ever.

I know I have come to God as a poor sinner, and though at times I can only sigh and groan before his throne of grace; yet, if you had not died for me, if you had not pitied me, if you had not sent your Holy Spirit to me—I had never, never come at all. No, I feel confident I never would. If you had not died for my sins, to deliver me from this present evil world, and to bring me to God, I had this day been as I once was, far off from God by wicked works—and had remained so forever. Therefore, I rejoice in your death, glory in your cross, and bless most heartily your dear and adorable name!

____________________________________________________

James Smith (1802-1862) was a predecessor of Charles Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel in London until 1848. Early on, Read his personal testimony.

The Sovereignty of God Over His Creation

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“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. – Isa 46:8-11

Albert Barnes’ Notes:

Isa 46:10

Declaring the end from the beginning – Foretelling accurately the course of future events. This is an argument to which God often appeals in proof that he is the only true God (see Isa_41:22-23; Isa_43:12; Isa_44:26).

My counsel shall stand – My purpose, my design, my will. The phrase ‘shall stand’ means that it shall be stable, settled, fixed, established. This proves:

1. That God has a purpose or plan in regard to human affairs. If he had not, he could not predict future events, since a contingent event cannot be foreknown and predicted; that is, it cannot be foretold that an event shall certainly occur in one way, when by the very supposition of its being contingent it may happen either that way, or some other way, or not at all.

2. That God’s plan will not be frustrated. He has power enough to secure the execution of his designs, and he will exert that power in order that all his plans may be accomplished. We may observe, also, that it is a matter of unspeakable joy that God has a plan, and that it will be executed. For

(1) If there were no plan in relation to human things, the mind could find no rest. If there was no evidence that One Mind presided over human affairs; that an infinitely wise plan had been formed, and that all things had been adjusted so as best to secure the ultimate accomplishment of that plan, everything would have the appearance of chaos, and the mind must be filled with doubts and distractions. But our anxieties vanish in regard to the apparent irregularities and disorders of the universe, when we feel that all things are under the direction of an Infinite Mind, and will be made to accomplish his plans, and further his great designs.

(2) If his plans were not accomplished, there would be occasion of equal doubt and dismay. If there was any power that could defeat the purposes of God; if there was any stubbornness of matter, or any inflexible perverseness in the nature of mind; if there were any unexpected and unforeseen extraneous causes that could interpose to thwart his plans, then the mind must be full of agitation and distress. But the moment it can fasten on the conviction that God has formed a plan that embraces all things, and that all things which occur will be in some way made tributary to that plan, that moment the mind can be calm in resignation to his holy will.

And I will do all my pleasure – I will accomplish all my wish, or effect all my desire. The word rendered here ‘pleasure’ (חפץ chepēts) means properly delight or pleasure 1Sa_15:22; Psa_1:2; Psa_16:3; Ecc_5:4; Ecc_12:10; then desire, wish, will Job_31:16; and then business, cause, affairs Isa_53:10. Here it means that God would accomplish everything which was to him an object of desire; everything which he wished, or willed. And why should he not? Who has power to hinder or prevent him Rom_9:19? And why should not we rejoice that he will do all that is pleasing to him? What better evidence have we that it is desirable that anything should be done, than that it is agreeable, or pleasing to God? What better security can we have that it is right, than that he wills it? What more substantial and permanent ground of rejoicing is there in regard to anything, than that it is such as God prefers, loves, and wills?

______________________________________________________________

Albert Barnes was born in Rome, New York on December 1, 1798. He graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, in 1820, and from Princeton Theological Seminary, in 1823.

Barnes was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian church in Morristown, NJ, in 1825. He was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 1830-67, where he resigned and was made pastor emeritus.