Soli Deo Gloria

“Man of Sorrows!” what a name, For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die; “It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King, All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing: Hallelujah! What a Savior!

P.P. Bliss from his great hymn, Hallelujah, What a Savior!

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My wife sent me this video this morning about this elephant seal who literally cuddles with a woman on a beach. It’s one of the most amazing things I have seen in a while. Several things run through my mind when I watch this video. One is how amazing our great God is and being in awe of His creation. The heavens and the earth and all creation declares the glory of God indeed!

I am also reminded though that because of sin and because of man’s fall and rebellion Scripture tells us that all of creation groans in anticipation of Christ’s return when all things will be made new. (Romans 8:22) This truth from Scripture is precisely why seeing a clip like this makes us take attention. This kind of response from a wild animal is indeed a rarity.

Viewing this short video clip it made me wonder what life was like in Eden when Adam and Eve were with the animals and there was no fear. Do you wonder if they had experiences like this woman had with this wild animal – an animal that by all understanding should run from humanity in fear? This I believe is another way God gives us a small glimpse of what He has provided in Christ Jesus and thus points us to the necessity and grace of Christ Jesus.

Salvation and the cross of Jesus Christ is like a diamond with an infinite number of facets. Each time you begin to be in awe of the cross of Christ that diamond keeps turning with infinite facets of glory – each illustrating a new and awesome truth. One of those facets is that through the cross there will be a day at His Second Advent where Eden is restored and all things are made new. God in His infinite wisdom and grace continues to give humanity a small taste of heaven and the unfathomable riches in Christ Jesus through events like what we’re watching in this video.

Let us be reminded though that all creation groans because sin has separated us from God and His wrath rightly rests on all. Sin has marred all creation and that is evidenced by the rarity of this wild animal’s lack of fear with this woman. God’s wrath and love are simultaneously displayed at the cross of Jesus Christ showing us that Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life. Our conscience bears witness against us that we have sinned against the one true infinite, holy God and His wrath justly rests on all outside of Christ. It is only through Christ that our sin is expiated and propitiated and where God’s righteousness can be credited to us in the most glorious transaction in all of creation. (2 Corinthians 5:21). Cry out to the Lord and ask Him to grant you true repentance and faith and embrace the One true God – Christ Jesus the Lord and Savior.

Soli Deo Gloria.

The Gospel

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen”

Hebrews 13:20-21

Scripture

O MY SAVIOR, I thank Thee from the depths of my being for Thy wondrous grace and love in bearing my sin in Thine own body on the tree. May Thy cross be to me as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs, as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty, as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith. By Thy cross crucify my every sin, use it to increase my intimacy with thyself, make it a ground of all my comfort, the liveliness of all my duties, the sum of all Thy gospel promises, the comfort of all my afflictions, the vigor of my love, thankfulness, graces, the very essence of my religion, and by it give me that rest without rest, the rest of ceaseless praise.

OH MY LORD AND SAVIOR, Thou hast also appointed a cross for me to take up and carry, a cross before Thou givest me a crown. Thou hast appointed it to be my portion, but self-love hates it, carnal reason is unreconciled to it, without the grace of patience I cannot bear it, walk with it, profit by it. Oh blessed cross, what mercies dost thou bring with thee. Thou art only esteemed hateful by my rebel will, heavy because I shirk thy load. Teach me, gracious Lord and Savior, that with my cross Thou sends promised grace so that I may bear it patiently, that my cross is Thy yoke which is easy, and Thy burden which is light.

From Valley of Vision – A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Devotional

O LORD GOD,
Thou art my protecting arm, fortress, refuge, shield, buckler. Fight for me and my foes must flee; uphold me and I cannot fall; strengthen me and I stand unmoved, unmoveable; equip me and I shall receive no wound; stand by me and Satan will depart; anoint my lips with a song of salvation and I shall shout Thy victory; give me abhorrence of all evil; as a vile monster that defies Thy laws, casts off Thy yoke, defiles my nature, spreads misery.

Teach me to look to Jesus on His cross and so to know sin’s loathsomeness in Thy sight. There is no pardon but through Thy Son’s death, no cleansing but in His precious blood, no atonement but His to expiate evil. Show me the shame, the agony, the bruises of incarnate God, that I may read boundless guilt in the boundless price; may I discern the deadly viper in its real malignity, tear it with holy indignation from my breast, resolutely turn fro its every snare, refuse to hold polluting dalliance with it.

Bless the Lord Jesus, at Thy cross may I be taught the awful miseries from which I am saved, ponder what the word ‘lost’ implies, see the fires of eternal destruction; then may I cling more closely to Thy broken self, adhere to Thee with firmer faith, be devoted to Thee with total being, detest sin as strongly as Thy love to me is strong, and may holiness be the atmosphere in which I live.

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Devotional, The Gospel

“… and behold, a voice out of heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

Oh the grace of our God! Not only did God demonstrate His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ came and died for us but even here at the baptism of our sin Substitute God graciously offer words of grace and comfort to the ears that will hear. I agree with Martin Luther that these words of Scripture and the spoken words of God from heaven were not for the benefit of Christ. Christ needed no encouragement of His sonship – that has been a reality for all eternity and forever will be. There is no doubt that these glorious words are for those who heard and for us today to remind us and assure us of glorious truths.

God is pleased in Himself. Only His righteousness can satisfy His holy requirements. Because of His perfect holiness, anything less than His righteousness demands punishment for it falls short of the His glory. Perfect righteousness is the requirement for God – nothing less. Oh to hear the sweet words from heaven that there in that water is God in the flesh – very God in whom the Father is well pleased. There is no spot or blemish in Jesus Christ.

To be married with Christ – to be found in Him through repentance and faith allows our hearts to hear the same words from the Father. That through the miracle of regeneration and adoption into the kingdom through Christ we are seen by God as having His absolute perfect righteousness. A true believer can also share in the heavenly herald of “in whom I am well pleased” because of that glorious union with Christ. The believer becomes and will always be well pleasing to the Father only because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. For “He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf so that we may have the righteousness of God in Him”. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Oh to rejoice in the doctrinal truths of Scripture! Do we truly take the time to simply meditate on the glorious truth that “God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son”? A world that hates God and covered with sin. And when we come to the reality that one sin against God is infinitely worse than all worldly tragedies combined the magnitude of Christ choosing to come to save His bride is astounding. Isn’t it time we truly put amazing back into grace?

May we rejoice that in Christ we are safe and secure. The cross is truly the “double cure” as the hymn writer sings. Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension not only save us from the penalty of sin, which is God’s wrath and eternal damnation but also from the power of sin – a changed life being progressively sanctified to be made more and more into the image of the very One who saved us. Because of Christ, and all because of Christ God is well pleased. There is peace between God and those who trust in Christ only because of the atoning propitiating death and perfect merit of the Lamb who was worthy to be slain.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Devotional, Scripture, The Gospel

Contrary to the popular teachings of prosperity preachers rampant on tv, radio and the bookshelves of most “christian” bookstores, here is John MacDuff (1818 – 1895) writing on true, Biblical prosperity from his sermon The Rainbow in the Clouds. May the Lord open our eyes to the true teachings of Holy Scripture and may we be granted discernment in what we allow to enter our minds, eyes and ears in most of so called “christian” teaching today…

“The Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” Psalm 35:27
What is “prosperity?” Is it threads of life weaved into a bright outcome? a full cup? ample riches? worldly applause? an unbroken circle? No, these are often a snare; received without gratitude; dimming the soul to its nobler destinies. Often spiritually it rather means God taking us by the hand into the lowly Valleys of Humiliation; leading us as He did his servant Job of old; out of his sheep, oxen, camels, health, wealth, children; in order that we may be brought before Him in the dust, and say, “Blessed be His holy name!”
Yes! The very reverse of what is known in the world as Prosperity (generally) forms the background on which the Rainbow of Promise is seen. God smiles on us through these rainbows and teardrops of sorrows! He loves us too well. He has too great an interest in our spiritual welfare to permit us to live on in what is misnamed “Prosperity.” When He sees duties languidly performed, or coldly neglected; the heart deadened, and love to Himself congealed by the absorbing power of the present world, He puts a thorn in our nest to drive us to the wing, and prevent our being grovelers forever!

I may not be able now to understand the mystery of these dealings. I may be asking through the tears, “Why this unkind arrest on my earthly happiness? Why so premature a lopping of my boughs of promise? Such a speedy withering of my most cherished gourd?” The answer is plain. It is your soul’s prosperity He has in view. Believe it, your true Ebenezers will yet be raised close by your Zarephaths (the place of furnace).

His afflictions are no arbitrary appointments. There is righteous necessity in all He does. As He lays His chastening hand upon you, and leads you by ways you know not, and which you never would have chosen. He whispers the gentle accents in your ear, “Beloved I wish above all things that you would prosper, and be in health.”

Rest in the quiet consciousness that all is well. Murmur at nothing which brings you nearer His own loving Presence. Be thankful for your very cares, because you can confidently cast them all upon Him. He has your temporal and eternal “prosperity” too much at heart to appoint one superfluous pang, one needless stroke. Commit therefore, all that concerns you to His keeping, and leave it there.

Daily Walk, Devotional

O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

Psalm 95

Scripture

“Be sure to get some Christian friend whom thou mayst trust about others to be thy faithful monitor. O that man hath a great help for maintaining the power of godliness, that has an open-hearted friend that dare speak his heart to him! A stander-by sees more sometimes, by a man, than the actor can do by himself, and is more fit to judge of his actions than he of his own. Sometimes self-love blinds us in our own cause, that we see not ourselves so bad as we are; and sometimes we are over-suspicious of the worst by ourselves, which makes us appear to ourselves worse than we are. Now that thou mayst not deprive thyself of so great help from thy friend, be sure to keep thy heart ready with meekness to receive, yea, with thankfulness, to embrace a reproof from his mouth. Those that cannot bear plain dealing hurt with themselves most; for by this they seldom hear the truth.”

- William Gurnall (The Christian in Complete Armour)

Daily Walk, The Church

Instead of being set apart to God, many so-called Christians have become too comfortable in our society. They’re willing to serve the Lord in their own way, but not if it costs them too much time or energy or if it conflicts with a favorite television program. They prefer to indulge in worldly pleasures to please themselves rather than give of themselves to please the Lord. Saint Augustine wrote, “Two cities have been formed by two loves; the earthy by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord.” Many, sad to say, reside in the earthly city of self-love.

- John MacArthur from Standing Strong pg. 85

Daily Walk, The Church, The Gospel

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-24)

One of the most glorious doxologies in all of Scripture, Jude ends the epistle on false teachers and the call to sound doctrine with a glorious closing doxology on the glory of God.

This doxology reminds us that there is nothing within ourselves that prevents us from falling into error except the grace and power of God in the indwelling gift and pledge of the Holy Spirit of God.

Jude focuses on God – all to Him! It is because of God and Him alone that we persevere , that our eyes are open to the glorious truths of Scripture all to His glory in the face of Christ Jesus. Only by His Spirit are we kept from stumbling – we owe all to Him! Only He, through His righteousness applied to us in Christ, can He allow us to stand before Him holy and blameless. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Soli Deo Gloria! To God alone be the glory! To the only God – the Triune God of all creation by His glory in the face of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. To Him alone be all glory, all majesty, all honor, all dominion, and all authority!

This doxology in Jude reminds me of the Gloria Patris…

“Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
 As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.”

Soli Deo Gloria

Scripture

When sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with folks I often hear, “I’ll get right with God when I am older, or when I am on my death bed.” My heart cringes to hear such words of disdain towards God. Our young and bold minds and hearts think that we are immortal and will live forever. However, we know all too well that life is a vapor and both the young and the old die – often unexpectedly. Scripture tells us that today is the day of salvation. It is a call to not put off turning to Christ in repentance and faith.

It would be rare to hear an unbeliever never catch themselves telling Satan when tempted, “not today, let me put this sin off until later in life”, yet they tell God to stand aside all the time. It’s a true indication of the heart of man. A heart that is evil and stony. It is why the gospel is such great news. For it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. (Rom. 1:16)

Thomas Watson, one of the great Puritans, penned in his excellent book, “The Beatitudes” the following on the folly of so called death bed repentance. I agree with his evaluation…

To put off our solemn turning to God till old age, or sickness, is high imprudence, because these late acts of devotion are for the most part dissembled and spurious. Though true morning for sin be never too late, yet late mourning is seldom true. That repentance is seldom true-hearted which is gray-headed. It is disputable whether these autumn tears are not shed more out of fear of hell than love to God. The mariner in a storm throws his goods overboard, not but that he loves them, but he us afraid they will sink the ship. When men fall to weeping-work late and would cast their sins overboard, it is for the most part only for fear lest they should sink the ship and drown in hell. It is a great question whether the sick-bed penitent does not mourn because he can keep his sins no longer. All which considered may make men take heed of running their souls upon such a desperate hazard as to put all their work for heaven upon the last hour.”

If you have been living this way, thinking that you will either have the opportunity to repent and trust in Christ in your old age or that you are the captain of your life and know what tomorrow holds I urge you to take great heed of the seriousness of the condition of your soul. God’s wrath rightly abides on all outside of Jesus Christ. Cry out to God and ask Him to grant you true faith and repentance – for today is the day of salvation.

Soli Deo Gloria

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