Joseph Caryl, 1647
“But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf” Job 8:5-6
Sinner
A Humble Man
From a letter by William Romaine (1714-1795).
A humble man can come to no harm; he will be ever trusting in the Lord, because he finds nothing in himself to trust in, while he gives great glory to God by trusting much in Him. God gives him great grace, and this is to keep alive an abiding sense of what he is in himself: to show him his ignorance and helplessness, to open to him daily more of the mystery of iniquity, to reveal to him the stirrings of corruption, which others feel not, and make him sensible of these, even in duties and ordinances, that he may loath himself and his very best works. These are the fruits of true grace, and he who is under the teachings of the Holy Spirit will abound in them. The more God does in the heart, the more He humbles it. The great design of His grace—is to bring the proud sinner low, and then to keep him low.
Sin’s Presence
Arthur Pink
February, 1948
There are two sides to a Christian’s life: a light side—and a dark one; an elevating side—and a depressing one. His experience is neither all joy—nor all grief; but a commingling of both. It was so with the apostle Paul: “As sorrowful—yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). When a person is regenerated, he is not there and then taken to heaven—but he is given both a pledge and a foretaste of it. Nor is sin then eradicated from his being, though its dominion over him is broken. It is indwelling corruption which casts its dark shadow over his joy!
God Has Unlimited Power
John MacArthur From Strength for Today Grace to You
“Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory
and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that
is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O
Lord, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all.”
– 1 Chronicles 29:11
God has unlimited power and ultimate control over everything.
Comforter
Believer Encouragements
Taken from CH Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, 12 February, Evening
“He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” – John 14:16
The Actions of One Who Forgives
Philemon 8-18
John MacArthur at Grace to You
This morning in our study of God’s Word together we return to the letter of Paul to Philemon, the epistle to Philemon. This brief epistle of 25 short verses, one chapter, is a living lesson on forgiveness. And this is our third out of four looks at this little epistle and we again this morning will sit at the feet of Paul and learn how to forgive. You remember the first three verses gave us the introduction. Then verses 4-7 showed us the characteristics of someone who forgives. And now in verses 8 through 18 we come to the action of forgiveness itself. We’re going to be looking at the very issue of forgiveness.
Know Thy Enemy
Know Thy Enemy
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Are you ready to kill?
That’s a stark question, and it demands qualification, but killing is a regular part of the Christian life. There’s an aspect of being a Christian that’s downright violent.
You see, God commands us to hunt down and kill all remaining sin—to terminate it with extreme prejudice. Want proof? Here’s what Paul said in Romans 8:
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. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (vv. 12-14)
Modern Reformation
The Pelagian Captivity of the Church
R. C. Sproul
Shortly after the Reformation began, in the first few years after Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg, he issued some short booklets on a variety of subjects. One of the most provocative was titled The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. In this book Luther was looking back to that period of Old Testament history when Jerusalem was destroyed by the invading armies of Babylon and the elite of the people were carried off into captivity. Luther in the sixteenth century took the image of the historic Babylonian captivity and reapplied it to his era and talked about the new Babylonian captivity of the Church. He was speaking of Rome as the modern Babylon that held the Gospel hostage with its rejection of the biblical understanding of justification. You can understand how fierce the controversy was, how polemical this title would be in that period by saying that the Church had not simply erred or strayed, but had fallen-that it’s actually now Babylonian; it is now in pagan captivity.
Matthew 6:9-13 (King James Version)
Matthew 6:9-13 (King James Version)
9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Matteus 6:9-13
9 Só moet julle dan bid: Onse Vader wat in die hemele is, laat u Naam geheilig word;
10 laat u koninkryk kom; laat u wil geskied, soos in die hemel net so ook op die aarde;
11 gee ons vandag ons daaglikse brood;
12 en vergeef ons ons skulde, soos ons ook ons skuldenaars vergewe;
13 en lei ons nie in versoeking nie, maar verlos ons van die Bose. Want aan U behoort die koninkryk en die krag en die heerlikheid tot in ewigheid. Amen.
For the Love of His Truth 