Soli Deo Gloria » Christian

Grace or Presumption?

Jay — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:27:15 +0000

“This is not a day of faith but of presumption. I ask you “Are you a Christian?” You start telling me what you’ve done. I didn’t ask what you’ve done. A Christian is a product of God’s grace. A Christian is the result of what God has done; He is always the giver and we are the receiver. There is no merit in receiving; you wouldn’t brag about receiving would you?

Preachers are telling people to accept Jesus as their Saviour and be saved. According to the Scriptures, that is not true. You have to surrender to Jesus as your Lord, and as your Lord He saves you by establishing His blessed rule in your life. We must give God the glory. Salvation is of the Lord. We are to say, “I am a Christian because God saved me. All I did was to benefit; He shed His blood to make atonement for my sins; He did all the giving, all I could do was to receive.” ~Rolf Barnard.

The Description of a Christian

Jay — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:59:56 +0000

“You want a simple definition of a Christian, a true Christian? He is one who glories, who boasts, who rejoices in Christ Jesus. His glory is not ambition, work, women, hobby, house, nor hunting trips. One dear old lady, whenever convenient, would bring the conversation around to her grandchildren. That was her glory. I’ve known folks that had collections of cars, tools, arrowheads, or even buttons. That is what made them stand out. For some, it is a weird hairstyle, a piece of clothing, or even their poverty. For some it is their church or their ministry. Folks must have something in which to glory, even if it is their sin, their shame, Philippians 3.19.

But the Christians glory in Christ Jesus – His person and His work. We boast of His eternal existence, His humble incarnation, His perfect life, His miraculous deeds, His substitutionary death, His powerful resurrection, His supreme exaltation, His effectual intercession, His sovereign reign, His second coming and righteous judgment. We boast of His incomparable love, His incomprehensible peace, His tender mercy, His incredible forgiveness, His great salvation, His majestic saints, His surpassing wisdom, and His blessed hope. It is the nature of a Christian to shun boasting in anything but the cross of Christ where his sin-guilt was put away, Galatians 6.14.

The Christian has seen that there is nothing else worthy in which to boast. All else is passing, is frail, is weak, is dust. All else is relative and next year someone else will do it better and then die. Kings die. Empires crumble, forgotten. But Christ Jesus lives and reigns. In the end, all will appear before Him and He will get the glory. We shout it from the housetops. Are you proud of Christ Jesus?” – Bob Jennings

HT: Puritan Fellowship

Divine Support

Jay — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:28:30 +0000

Thou art the blessed God,
Happy in Thyself, source of happiness in Thy creatures, my Maker, Benefactor, Proprietor, Upholder. Thou hast produced and sustained me, supported and indulged me, saved and kept me; Thou art in every situation able to meet my needs and miseries. May I live by Thee, live for Thee, never be satisfied with my Christian progress but as I resemble Christ; and may conformity to His principles, temper, and conduct grow hourly in my life.

Let Thy unexampled love constrain me into holy obedience, and render my duty my delight. If others deem my faith folly, my meekness infirmity, my zeal madness, my hope delusional, my actions hypocrisy, may I rejoice to suffer for Thy name.

Keep me walking steadfastly towards the country of everlasting delights, that paradise-land which is my true inheritance. Support me by the strength of heaven that I may never turn back, or desire false pleasures that wilt and disappear into nothing.

As I pursue my heavenly journey by Thy grace let me be known as a man with no aim but that of a burning desire for Thee, and the good and salvation of my fellow men.

From Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Christians and Yoga

Jay — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:06:05 +0000

by Jared Moore:

Everything Christians do, say, or think either reveals God’s glory or hides it. Whenever Christians speak of bringing glory to God, we must understand that we are not speaking of adding to God’s glory. God’s “glory bank” isn’t being constantly emptied and filled based on how His children daily live. His glory exists from eternity past and extends further than eternity future; and there is nothing that can change this; however Christians can reveal or hide His glory. There literally is nothing neutral in this life.

Yoga is no different. It too either reveals God’s glory or hides it; as does its participants. Concerning its pagan origins and theological implications, Al Mohler writes:

The bare fact is that yoga is a spiritual discipline by which the adherent is trained to use the body as a vehicle for achieving consciousness of the divine. Christians are called to look to Christ for all that we need and to obey Christ through obeying his Word. We are not called to escape the consciousness of this world by achieving an elevated state of consciousness, but to follow Christ in the way of faithfulness.

Attempting to escape the consciousness of this world, even for a moment, apart from the finished work of Christ, is trusting in a false gospel. It is an attempt to be divine, to achieve God’s consciousness apart from trusting in Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection. Christians must rather trust in Christ alone seeking to live in this sinful world while representing Him well. He has freed us from this world through His finished work; and will one day return and get us, ultimately freeing us from this worldthrough His finished work.

Yoga thus is still evil because it still possesses some of its origins. If these spiritual aspects are removed, then you are left with simply exercise; and I’m sure Mohler isnot against exercise. Mohler writes, “There is nothing wrong with physical exercise, and yoga positions in themselves are not the main issue.” So, if you’re exercising, don’t call it “Yoga,” unless the pagan spiritual aspects are still involved.

In conclusion, should Christians participate in Yoga? Absolutely not! Christians are free to exercise unto the glory of God; however, it is impossible for a Christian to reveal God’s glory through participating in Yoga. Thus, if you decide to participate in Yoga, you decide to hide God’s glory.

Reposted here by permission from Jared Moore.

The True Test of Discipleship

Jay — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:35:36 +0000

“The true test of discipleship is our witness to the world and not just the promises we make to God. Does our own discipleship pass this test? People make many promises when they are alone with God - promises about living a better life, spending more time in prayer, or giving more money to charity. But the real test of our discipleship is what we say and do when we are under pressure to take a stand for Christ. What do we say then?

Unless we speak up for what we believe, then we ourselves become the deniers of Christ. I deny Christ when I talk with my friends about being involved in church, but not about what it means to know Jesus. I deny Christ when there is so little that is distinctive about the way I live people at work or school do not even know that I’m a Christian. I deny Christ when I am so afraid about what people think that I shrink back from telling people the biblical truth about controversial issues like abortion, or homosexuality, or the unique claims of Jesus Christ as the world’s only Savior. I deny Christ when I say something a Christian shouldn’t say or do something a Christian shouldn’t do because I want to have fun or to be popular. But if I cannot speak up and say something for Jesus, then what kind of disciple am I anyway?”

- Philip Graham Ryken (From his reformed expositional commentary on Mark)

Choice Men

Jay — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:59:40 +0000

“I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).

This has long been the motto fixed before our eye upon the wall of our bedroom, and in many ways it has also been written on our heart. It is no mean thing to be chosen of God. God’s choice makes chosen men choice men. Better to be the elect of God than the elect of a whole nation. So eminent is this privilege, that whatever drawback may be joined to it we very joyfully accept it, even as the Jew ate the bitter herbs for the sake of the Paschal Lamb. We choose the furnace, since God chooses us in it. We are chosen as an afflicted people and not as a prosperous people, chosen not in the palace but in the furnace. In the furnace beauty is marred, fashion is destroyed, strength is melted, glory is consumed, and yet here eternal love reveals its secrets and declares its choice. So has it been in our case. In times of severest trial God has made to us our calling and election plain, and we have made it sure: then have we chosen the LORD to be our God, and He has shown that we are assuredly His chosen. Therefore, if today the furnace be heated seven times hotter, we will not dread it, for the glorious Son of God will walk with us amid the glowing coals.

- Charles Spurgeon

The Sunday Christian

Jay — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:14:09 +0000

“When the fear of people overcomes the fear of God, we are likely to deny the gospel. Unless we are willing to stand up for God at work on Monday, we are just pretending at church on Sunday.” – Philip Graham Ryken

A Loyal Soldier to Truth

Jay — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:42:46 +0000

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” – Martin Luther

Little Distinction…

Jay — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:37:59 +0000

“Most Christians in our culture live like everyone else. There is little distinction between our lives and the lives of the pagans down the street. We wear the same clothes, watch the same movies, read the same books, send our children to the same schools, and sign the same divorce decrees as everyone else. Furthermore, there ought to be a sign posted in every Christian bookstore that reads, “The views expressed in these books do not necessarily express the views of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” I’m not saying, don’t read Christian books. I’m just saying, read them with discernment.”

- Voddie Baucham

HT: Defending Contending

There is Enough in Him

Jay — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:38:25 +0000

This evening, while my wife is recuperating from surgery on her shoulder, I was doing a study on Exodus chapter 22. As I read through this chapter, I see the utmost care God takes to protect those who could easily be taken advantage of and the helpless. I see also the sobering reality that His law demands that all must answer to Him in both what they do maliciously as well as heedlessly. This of course draws me to rejoice in the grace and love of my Savior knowing that by His grace through faith I am clothed in the perfect righteousness of God. How humbling and how exhilarating. May the Word of God and His perfect Law cut us like a knife, piercing the heart and draw us more and more to the beauty, magnificence, mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His glorious cross-work.

While doing a search on Exodus 22:31, the last verse in that chapter, my good ol’ Bible software pulled up Matthew Henry’s great commentary entry. I paused at the last sentence of Henry’s entry and took a moment to reflect on the precious truth that “there is enough in Him to satisfy all the desires of our souls.” Oh how the world and our own flesh tempts us to temporary pleasures that pale in comparison to the infinite fountain of joy that is in Christ our All in all. May we see the lusts of the flesh as but dung compared to the infinite pleasure and joy found only in Christ our Savior, King and Prophet.

“Let these scriptures lead our souls to remember, that if the grace of God has indeed appeared to us, then it has taught us, and enabled us so to conduct ourselves by its holy power, that denying ungodliness and wordly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, Titus 2:12. And the grace of God teaches us, that as the Lord is our portion, there is enough in him to satisfy all the desires of our souls.” - Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Exodus Chapter 22

Father, I pray that my eyes be opened more and more to Your glory in the face of Your Son Jesus Christ. Help me to always remember that Your grace is sufficient and that I am called to be holy as You are holy. May I, through the power of Your precious Spirit, mortify the deeds of the flesh and always look to the sweet joys of walking in the Spirit. Grant me always to look to the cross of Christ and look upward to Your throne and see my Great High Priest living forever making intercession for me. Oh the joys of Christ. Forgive us of our foolish ways dear Lord and Father of mankind. May we always set our eyes and minds on things above and not on things of the earth. Amen.

soli Deo gloria!

Personal Holiness