Steadfast Love in Forgiveness

Blessed is the one whose transgression are forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,

and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah

Therefore let everyone who is godly

offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;

surely in the rush of great waters,

they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me;

you preserve me from trouble;

you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

which must be curbed with bit and bridle,

or it will not stay near you.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.

Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous,

and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

be great

i remember a time in my life when i wanted to be remembered. i wanted to live a great life and do something incredible and be remembered for my greatness. it was absolutely selfish of me because i wanted to be remembered for me, for being Sarah not for living for the glory of God. Thankfully God has been merciful and taken that silly idea out of my heart and replaced it with wanting to live for him. To lose my life for his sake rather than gaining the world and losing my soul.

I am still reading through the 5 points of calvinism and came across another wonderful quote in the appendix called "the practical importance of predestination" by loraine boettner. It has much to do with God's sovereignty but also with making our lives count for the glory of God:
"When a person sees himself as one of the Lord's chosen and knows that every one of his acts has an eternal significance, he realizes more clearly how serious life is, and he is fired with a new determination tomake his life count for great things." I can't make my life count for anything, there is nothing that i can do that people will remember for forever and ever and ever and if i lived for myself what a waste that would be. But when i give my life to let God use for his purposes and trust that he is sovereign that opens up so many doors for God to do whatever brings him most glory. i can only pray that i will be open to where the lord guides and directs, no matter what the circumstance. and i definitely hope that my glory doesn't ever get in the way of that. don't be great for you, be great for God

Grace and Peace
sarah B.

O Lord of hosts, to Thee I cry

O Lord of hosts, to Thee I cry,
Our fathers’ God, to Thee;
Let my petition reach Thine ear,
My prayer accepted be.
O God our Shield, look Thou on us,
Reveal Thyself in grace,
And let Thine own anointed one
Behold Thee face to face.

A single day within Thy courts,
Where I Thy beauty see,
Is better than a thousand days,
My God, apart from Thee.
A lowly station in Thy house
Were dearer to my heart
Than in the tents of wickedness
To claim the chiefest part.

A Sun and Shield is God, the Lord,
To lighten and defend;
The Lord to such as look to Him
Will grace and glory send.
To those that walk in righteousness
No good will He deny.
O Lord of hosts, how blest are they
Who on Thy grace rely!

Carry Them Forever

To you, O LORD, I call;

my rock, be not deaf to me,

lest, if you be silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit.

Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to you for help,

when I lift up my hands

toward your most holy sanctuary.

Do not drag me off with the wicked,

with the workers of evil,

who speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is in their hearts.

Give to them according to their work

and according to the evil of their deeds;

give to them according to the work of their hands;

render them their due reward.

Because they do not regard the works of the LORD

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

Blessed be the LORD!

For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

The LORD is the strength of his people;

he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!

Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

-Psalm 28

5 Reasons I Love Hymns

1. "Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die."

2. "My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;"

3. "And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"

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

5. "Here is love, vast as the ocean
Lovingkindness as the flood
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom
Shed for us His precious blood
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
Throughout Heav'n's eternal days"

Had I not joined a church that sings mostly hymns I would not have learned many of these precious words. I thank God for the many hymn writers of the past who expressed so beautifully truths which make my heart sing. My favorite thing about a good hymn is that much of the stirring of my emotions is done by the lyrics rather than the music.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

thankfull

Its easy to get caught up in the daily grind and take things for granted. Sometimes i get so focused trying to get in a routine that when i get in one i forget to enjoy the small things in life. If i stop and think about it, i have A LOT to be thankful for number one being salvation and number two my sweet husband, but what about the breath that fills my lungs and that i get another day to live ( and hopefully live to the glory of God), or the fact that the sun actually came up. There's alot to be thankful for just in the fact that the order of the universe is still orderly and God is faithfull to keep it that way. anyways i know this is short and im sorry im not posting until after lunch, but what are you thankfull for?

grace and peace
sarah B.

Almost Thursday

I attended a wedding one time where one of the men who gave a speech started by saying that he loves to google stuff before he gives a speech or advice. For this post I thought I would try this method by “googling“ “the perfect woman“. Unfortunately the results wern’t very helpful or useful toward what I’m hoping to say.
Its almost Thursday July 15th which is the day we celebrate my wife Sarah’s birthday(because its her birthday). I want to take the time today to tell about the way God has blessed me with this woman.
Proverbs 31:10-31 since I was a young teen was what I was always told to seek in a wife. It seemed a bit strange to look for a girl that “is like merchant ships; She brings her food from afar”. I now know that this means the ability to shop at walmart while staying in budget. But seriously I’ve discovered that over the last year and (caugh) months that though my wife is a great cook (too good), a bright studier, great with money, beautiful, and a hard worker. The qualities that stick out the most that I never knew the weight of is her desire to read the word, theology books, and literally has the truth on her lips as well as speaking the truth constantly.
Just this week I realized that the only requests that she has asked of me in the last couple of months have simply been to spend a little bit more time together and to have a few more theological conversations. I think I can handle that. I pray that my wife never loses the love that she has for Christ and the cross.

She’s a blessing, my better half, and I hope you’ll wish her a happy 25 years of living.

So Shall Your God Rejoice Over You

Some thoughts from James Smith. I thought this was great.

"As the bridegroom rejoices over his bride--so shall your God rejoice over you!" Isaiah 62:5

That God should save a sinner at all--is a surprising display of unmerited grace! But that He should bring that sinner into the closest possible relation to Himself, and rejoice over him--is indeed most astonishing! And yet it is most true! For our Maker becomes our Husband! And as the bridegroom rejoices over his bride--so our God rejoices over us!

He set His heart upon us!

He encircled us with His infinite love!

He determined to raise us to His glorious throne!

He purposed to make us one with Himself!

He sent His only begotten Son to redeem us!

He sent His Holy Spirit to regenerate us!

He intends to raise us from the dead, perfect in holiness, and robed with immortality!

He will present us before His glorious presence with exceeding joy!

"He will rejoice over us with singing!" What exquisite joy will this impart! Jehovah singing with joy over His ransomed and restored creatures, as though their salvation could increase or perfect His happiness!

Let us meditate on this glorious fact, and prepare for the stupendous event!

"Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" Revelation 19:9

"Come, I will show you the bride--the wife of the Lamb!" Revelation 21:9

An Infinite Sacrifice for an Infinite Crime

I tend to think that a person who has never question some aspects of their beliefs doesn’t have a very good understanding of their beliefs. This applies to faith, politics, business philosophies, etc… By that I am not saying that a person should doubt everything they believe, thus becoming a skeptic. I am saying that we should ask questions and be honest about things that we don’t understand very easily.

For example, last week Jonathan B. posted on the incommunicable attributes of God. I for one have often thought of the concept of eternity and it hurts to think about. I mean, I can’t imagine not existing because I’ve never done that before, but something about always existing is impossible for my brain to comprehend.

If we don’t ask ourselves and others these questions how will we ever “be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us” (see 1 Peter 3:15)?

One of the questions that I had to think through and study long and hard was how the chronologically short-lived suffering of Jesus could atone for my sin which is deserving of eternity in hell. There isn’t a category in my brain for peculiar justice that immediately makes me understand God’s ways in redemption.

Could it be true, as Shai Linne says, that “forever will I tell in 3 hours Christ suffered more than any sinner ever would in hell”?

Because I asked the question, put in the time, I feel confident that “there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5)

My answer to this question is that finite punishment cannot satisfy the demands of an infinite sentence. Allow me to explain:

I. Why is Hell Eternal?

1. The honorability of the offended party increases the magnitude of the crime, the magnitude of the crime increases the level of punishment.

Is there a difference between the punishment for lying to an infant and lying to the President? Absolutely there is. Because we sin against the Holy God of the universe we deserve to be punished for an infinite crime, namely, cosmic treason.

2. There is no biblical evidence of the sinful nature being reversed when a person goes to hell.

We tend to assume that people repent in hell but it seems that their hearts are still hardened toward God (example, Luke 16:19-31 the rich man still sees himself as greater than Lazarus). Therefore, there is no reason to believe that cosmic treason ceases to be committed in Hell. A person cannot fulfill their sentence if they don’t stop committing punishable crime.

3. There is no biblical reason to assume that we can bear the full wrath of God.

This is where I believe many who believe in annihilationism get it wrong. They assume that a finite number of years (even in the millions) will eventually lead to a person bearing the full weight of the wrath of God for their sin. Even forgetting the first two points I just made, do we really believe we have that capacity? We can’t even look at God in the face without going blind, how will we bear His wrath sufficient to save ourselves?

II. How is the Suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Sufficient to Save us from Eternal Punishment?

1. The value of the sacrifice (Christ) is equal to the value of the offended party (God).

It’s not easy to get my mind around this. In the same way that my crime against God is worthy of greater punishment than a crime against a person, Christ’s sufferings are worth more than my sufferings. Christ’s value makes him the sufficient savior for my sins, and not for mine only…(see 1 John 2:2)

2. Because Christ’s death purchased righteous standing before God, and eventual glorification for the saints, our crime against God has a stopping point.

Though we sin as Christians (more than we realize), and that sin can only be atoned for by Christ, we will eventually be given a new nature in which we will not sin. Therefore Christ’s infinite sacrifice atones for a finite number of sins.

3. There is every biblical reason to believe that Christ did bear the full wrath of God.

From the garden where he felt the weight of the cup of God’s wrath (see Luke 22:42), to his cry “it is finished” (John 19:30) Jesus suffered through what we are fully incapable of bearing, the wrath of God.

For these reasons and more we can be certain that Christ is the fully sufficient savior for the sins of mankind.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

The Wonder of the Cross

We sang this song in youth group on wednesday. It is one of my favorites and I wanted to post the lyrics, because they share the story of the gospel.


O precious sight, my Savior stands
Dying for me with outstretched hands
O precious sight, I love to gaze
Remembering salvation's day
Remembering salvation's day

Though my eyes linger on this scene
May passing time and years not steal
The power with which it impacts me
The freshness of it's mystery
The freshness of it's mystery

Chorus:
May I never lose the wonder
The wonder of the cross
May I see it like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost
Undone by mercy and left speechless
Watching wide eyed at the cost
May I never lose the wonder
The wonder of the cross

Behold the God - Man crucified
The perfect sinless sacrifice
As blood ran down those nails and wood
History was split in two
Yes, History was split in two

Behold the empty wooden tree
His body gone, alive and free
We sing with everlasting joy
For sin and death have been destroyed
Yes sin and death have been destroyed

My Lord i did not choose you

Unconditional election and limited atonement are difficult concepts to grasp. just when our human, finite minds think we've got it's back to square one and going over basic principles of who God is, who we are, the cross, and how we are dead in sins and can't nor wouldn't have chosen grace even if it bit us in the butt. It is only by Gods grace that we believe in Christ and we believe in christ by election.

I've been reading through The Five Points of Calvinism by David Steele, Curtis Thomas, and Lance Quinn and one of the appendix's is A Defense of Calvinism by Charles Spurgeon. There is one part that i keep going back to because it is so clear and rich and just good. Please enjoy this.

"John Newton used to tell a whimsical story, and laugh at it, too, of a good woman who said, in order to prove the doctrine of election, ' Ah! sir, the Lord must have loved me before i was born, or else He would not have seen anything in me to love afterwards.' I am sure it is true in my case; I believe the doctrine of election, because i am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before i was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unkown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love."

Praise God that he loves us just because and not for anything that we could do, for surely we are only capable of sin without Him.

Grace and Peace
sarah B.

No Comprende

Today I was reading some of my good buddy Wayne Grudem (and by good buddy I mean I enjoy reading his stuff and he seems to enjoy writing). The topic was on the Incommunicable attributes of God. It got me thinking about some of the things that we mention all the time that are not only indescribable but are typically unfathomable. One of the topics was time. Time is impossible to comprehend when you bring in the element that God is outside of time. There was no beginning nor will there be an end to God. Obviously I’m not the only person who has thought through time as it relates in eternity. But it does make history books seem like the snap of a finger in relation to the grandness of God. Back to the future suddenly has lost some excitement in the plot line. Even right now my mind is melting tying to type this.
The Unchangeableness of God was also difficult to think through. Psalm 102:25-27 was helpful here but just the fact that God never changes is weird to think through. This is defined as: God is unchanging in His being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.

I recommend reading this chapter by My buddy http://books.google.ca/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false but more than anything I’m curious to know some things that are mind meltingly hard to grasp in relation to the attributes of God.

God is Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
--1 John 4:7-9


God is love, and He has poured out His love upon the world in an amazing way. The Gospel shows us that God's love for the world is so strong that He came and died for the sins of the world! Sacrificial love is what brought deadness into life. And now (it should be no surprise) our perfect Father calls His children to be imitators of Him. His desire is that we walk in love (Ephesians 5:1-2). We are liberated so that we can be copy cats of God. We are given new life so that we can love. We are graced with freedom so that we can lay down our lives for our brothers. God calls His family to operate in a framework where love is our constant, consuming, joyous pursuit. We are called by God to love in such a way that baffles those who are not in Christ. Yes, they ought to know that we are Christians not by how smart we are, not by how well we can argue, not by how sinfully judgmental we are, but by our love!

Does this mean that we should love those that we disagree with?


Yes.


What if they are Christians but they don't line up with our theology like we think they should? Should we look down upon them? Should we mock their beliefs or interpretations of the Scriptures? Should we make their ideas or their concerns the butt of our jokes? Do we spend more time trying to defend our particular denomination or branch of theology than we do trying to creatively and affectionately serve our brothers and sisters? If so...why? Who are we really helping?


I believe that love ought to be the defining motive and mark in all of our interactions with those in the family of God. I think that friendly, helpful, and passionate debate is a wonderful thing; but if done without love, what is it really being done for? In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 we see some amazing thoughts. Paul writes to the believers in Corinth that if someone has prophetic powers, understands all mysteries, has all knowledge, or has a mountain-moving faith, but doesn't have love, that person is nothing. This is crazy! If you win the debate, but you don't have love, you are nothing. If you understand everything there is to ponder but you don't have love...you are nothing! It goes on to say that even if we give up everything to the point of giving up our body to be burned but don't have love, we are nothing. Romans chapter 12 also tells us that our love should be genuine as we seek to pour out brotherly affection. In fact we are instructed to "outdo one another in showing honor"!


In the book of Colossians we also see a huge emphasis on loving others. It commands the chosen ones of God to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Paul continues on to say, "Above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Colossians 3). Love for the family of God is absolutely not a side issue in the Christian life. Any theology that fails to put love front and center ought to be abandoned for the truth of God's Word. This is not some sort of thought that is trying to diminish the necessity or the importance of sound doctrine, rather, it is a sort of thought that is trying to flesh out the precious doctrines of the Bible into day-to-day living! I have heard it said, and I believe rightly, that "love is truth with legs on it". Biblical theology rightly understood ought to result in a greater love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.


These are not easy commands or concepts, but God continually shows His love towards repenters in forgiveness when we fail. I am so thankful that He continues to forgive when I don't love how I ought to. May it be our prayer that He strengthens us with supernatural love so that we might pursue this privilege and command to love all the more. What a beautiful way of living the Lord calls His children to.

God's Long-Steadfastness

Tonight at 2:22, Aaron Wilson taught on the parable of the weeds and the grain. To read this passage, click here.

After he read the passage, he asked us a question: Why are there still evil people in the world/church?

The passage does say that those evil people will be destroyed, and we see it many other places in the bible as well.

Jeremiah 33:15-16 says,

"In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.'"

So we know that "in those days", those whom Jesus has credited as righteous will be forgiven and will live with God forever, and those who rejected Christ will be judged and punished. But why would God let the weeds grow up with the wheat? Why wouldn't He just pull them up and destroy them now?

Matthew 13:28b-29 - "So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.'"

God would rather permit the weeds to grow and live for awhile than to uproot the wheat. If God had decided to pull up those weeds four years ago, He would have pulled me up and thrown me straight into hell where I deserved to go. There are other people who look like weeds, but God will work in their lives and they will grow to be wheat. That is why the wicked are still here and sometimes seem to prosper. God is gracious and steadfast to those who are still enslaved to their sin, because He wants to save them.

Don't be discouraged by the wickedness of the world, but rather thank God for His steadfastness towards those that will be saved and those who have been saved. Sometimes the wicked seem to thrive, but we know that in the end times, only those who have been gifted with Christ's righteousness will live. The wicked will be judged, but God is a loving merciful God who desires to save.

Thank you, God, for your steadfastness shown to me and all you have saved. Lord, you hold back your judgement to save sinners like us and for that you should receive our unending praise. Help us to be humbled by this, Lord, and to show others the steadfastness and mercy you showed us. Let us proclaim the good news that you allowed us to hear to others while You still hold back your holy wrath. Comfort those who are persecuted, because you will destroy all evil and will restore righteousness in the world to come. Amen

the truth about man

Confession: for a very short time in my life i really really liked communism/socialism. the idea of people working together and taking care of everyone's needs and looking out for the greater good was just so wonderful to me. i was even tossing around the idea of living in a commune minus all the drugs and different sexual partners. But God in his sovereignty had me take a comparative economics class for my degree where we learned about different communist nations and different capitalist nations. And even better was just learning the ideals and where these two very different systems came from. I remember sitting in class and looking at the basic structures of communism and as i read "man is inherentely good and will work for the good of his fellow man" i knew that was wrong. All i could think was yeah "Romans says the complete opposite and im go with God on this one not Karl Marx."

i don't mean to start any kind of political discussion but rather write abou tour depravity and that man is not inherently good. Were not, lets face it we are evil fallen people capable of all kinds of sin if given the opportunity. We couldn't even choose God if we wanted to because we are dead in our trespasses and the uncircumsision of our flesh (colossians 2:13). If something is dead can it choose anything at all? No, therefore we certainly cant choose what is righteous and true. Our nature is sin thats why there is evil in the world because it is post genesis 3.

As bad as this is, our depravity, there is still hope that we have in christ. He rescued us from our fallen state and has paid the price for our sin and though we will still struggle with our flesh, we are reconciled to God and able, by the holy spirit, to be changed from the inside out and be more like christ.

anyone who says that man isn't inherently evil needs a reality check i would suggest either turning on the news to look at stories of who is killing who, or just watching children play. Both will prove that man is selfish and seeks his own desires when not ransomed to christ.

grace and peace
sarah B.