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Monthly Archives: April 2013
The Bible’s Sweeping Story Line
Quote from Tim Keller’s Chapter in “The Scriptures Testify About Me”:
If there is one Old Testament passage that the New Testament invites us to read in a Christ-centered way as a paradigm of Christ’s salvation, it’s the exodus.
I’ll never forget nearly forty years ago sitting in R. C. Sproul’s living room in Stahlstown, Pennsylvania. Alec Motyer, a British Old Testament scholar I had never heard of, was visiting. I was on the floor with a bunch of other college and seminary students, and Sproul said to Motyer, “Tell us about the connection between the Old and New Testaments.” Motyer replied something like this:
Think about it. Think of what an Israelite would say on the way to Canaan after passing through the Red Sea. If you asked an Israelite, “Who are you?” he might reply, “I was in a foreign land under the sentence of death and in bondage, but I took shelter under the blood of the lamb. And our mediator led us out, and we crossed over. Now we’re on our way to the Promised Land, though we’re not there yet. But he has given us his law to make us a community, and he has given us a tabernacle because we must live by grace and forgiveness. And he is present in our midst, and he will stay with us until we arrive home.
Then Motyer added, “That’s exactly what a Christian says—almost word for word.” And my twenty-three-year-old self thought, “Huh.”
What can we learn from the Red Sea crossing about Jesus and our salvation? Three lessons: salvation is about getting out, but it’s about
what we’re getting out of: bondage with layers;
how we’re getting out of it: crossing over by grace;
why we can get out of it: the Mediator.That’s how the story of the exodus connects with the rest of the Bible. We would not make these connections without the rest of the Bible, but the connections are clear when we look at the Bible’s sweeping story line.
Quotes on Encouragement
“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” ~Booker T. Washington
“I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, healing who did not do better work and put forth a greater effort under a spirit of approval then under a spirit of criticism.” ~Charles Schwab
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to him his own.” ~Benjamin Disraeli
“You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.” ~Zig Ziglar
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” ~Mother Teresa
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ~Mark Twain
“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” ~William Arthur Ward
“There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else.” ~George M. Adams
“Treat a man as he appears to be and you make him worse. But treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be, and you make him what he should be.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“An automobile goes nowhere efficiently unless it has a quick, hot spark to ignite things, to set the cogs of the machine in motion. So I try to make every player on my team feel he’s the spark keeping our machine in motion.” ~Coach Knute Rockne
“How do you identify someone who needs encouragement? That person is breathing.” ~Truett Cathy
“You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.” ~Dale Carnegie
Talk to Yourself
Psalm 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. 
Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in this psalm] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.’
… This self of ours has got to be handled. Do not listen to him; turn on him; speak to him; condemn him; upbraid him; exhort him; encourage him; remind him of what you know, instead of listening placidly to him and allowing him to drag you down and depress you. For that is what he will always do if you allow him to be in control. The devil takes hold of self and uses it in order to depress us. We must stand up as this man did and say, ‘Why art thou cast down? Why are thou disquieted within me? Stop being so! Hope though in God, for I shall yet praise Him.’
– Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression p. 20, 21
Wouldn’t that be something?
“Your priorities are so messed up Ray, I think without religion, world peace could be possible; wouldn’t that be something?” Andrew Molina
They tried world peace without religion through atheistic communism. It resulted in the slaughter of an estimated 110,000,000 people. The North Korean regime is atheistic, and they are a continual threat to world peace, while religious extremists in the Middle East want to blow Israel off the map. The history of humanity is soaked in the blood of those who have been killed in the name of religion and in the name of atheism. So it’s clear that the problem is deeper than atheism or religion. The unexposed root of the problem is sinful human nature that branches out into religion and politics to carry out evil agendas. Human nature is so stubborn, proud, and rebellious that we can hardly agree with each other about anything. I’m sure you would disagree with that. – Ray Comfort
Six Teaching Videos Defending Divine Election
As a supplement to the “Twelve What Abouts – Answering Common Objections Concerning God’s Sovereignty in Election” book, here’s some video teaching I put together (now all in one place).
(1) The first session is on John chapter 6, here’s a 27 minute teaching I did on Divine election and how it relates to evangelism, as well as what is referred to as the Golden Chain of Redemption.
Twelve What Abouts – Session Two from Runway Productions on Vimeo.
(3) Romans 9 stands like Mount Everest – a majestic, spectacular, lofty and immutable testimony to God’s supremacy and sovereignty in salvation. Here’s a 36 minute video teaching I did on the chapter:
Twelve What Abouts – Session Three from Runway Productions on Vimeo.
(4) Many Christians reject the biblical doctrine of God’s sovereignty in election because of traditions associated with the love of God and what amounts to a pagan concept of the human will, as I seek to explain in this 20 minute video teaching:
Twelve What Abouts – Session Four from Runway Productions on Vimeo.
(5) A biblical study of foreknowledge and the grace of God:
Twelve What Abouts – Session Five from Runway Productions on Vimeo.
(6) The three texts most often raised as objections to the Biblical doctrine of Divine election, namely John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9 and Matt 23:37:
Twelve What Abouts – Session Six from Runway Productions on Vimeo.
Friday Round Up
(1) The resources in this week’s the Mystery of the Trinity series and the Christian Evidences teaching series, all found here.
Miscellaneous Quotes (71)
“The measure of biblical truth that we have grasped is not determined by the size of our heads, but the breadth of our hearts.” – Paul Washer
“I believe the highest purpose of the preacher is to faithfully exposit Scripture to his hearers. Herein lies the power of God in His church. We must not look to trendy gimmicks, manipulative methods, or shallow entertainment, but in the proclamation of biblical truth.” – Steven Lawson
“The first and often the only person to be healed by forgiveness is the person who does the forgiveness… When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner that we set free was us!” – Lewis Smedes
“No one in the history of the world has been more inclusive of repentant sinners than Jesus and no one has been more intolerant of sin.” – Kevin DeYoung
“Christians are not divided between those who have creeds and confessions and those who do not; rather, they are divided between those who have public creeds and confessions that are written down and exist as public documents, subject to public scrutiny, evaluation, and critique, and those who have private creeds and confessions that are often improvised, unwritten, and thus not open to public scrutiny, not susceptible to evaluation and, crucially and ironically, not, therefore, subject to testing by Scripture to see whether they are true.” – Carl Trueman, The Creedal Imperative
“When we come to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, do we realize that it was the greatest manifestation of the energy of the strength of God’s might that the world has ever known?… From the moment God puts His hand upon a man and brings him to the new birth and new life, He continues to exert this power in him… If we are to understand this power which is working in us we must see it as it is illustrated in what God has done in Christ, in the power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. What a display of power that was!” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Ephesians – God’s Ultimate Purpose)
“I pray it will never be said of me ‘He stood up for what he believed in’ but ‘He bowed down before Whom he believed in.'” – R. C. Sproul, Jr
“God’s sovereign will toward His elect is irreversible and irrevocable.” – Steven Lawson
“No unborn baby has ever had the right to choose or deny its own destruction.” – R.C. Sproul
“God’s Word is a record of prayer; of praying men and their achievements, of the Divine warrant of prayer and of the encouragement given to those who pray. No o…ne can read the instances, commands, examples, multiform statements which concern themselves with prayer, without realizing that the cause of God, and the success of His work in this world is committed to prayer; that praying men have been God’s vice-regents on earth; that prayerless men have never been used of Him.” – E. M. Bounds
“The most determinative factor in your life you is what comes into your mind when you think about God. Everything flows from this one truth.” – Steve Lawson
“God, through the gospel and by the Holy Spirit, sends out this general call to the whole world, but He calls certain people in particular, and no man is a Christian unless he is called in this special sense. They are people in whom the Word of God has been made effective; it has come to them in power, it has come as a command which they find to be irresistible, and they readily respond to it with the whole of their being.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones
In his last moments, Martin Luther was asked by his friend Justus Jonas, “Do you want to die standing firm on Christ and the doctrine you have taught?” He answered emphatically, “Yes!” Luther’s last words were: “We are beggars. This is true.”
“Christ is not ‘mighty to save’ those who repent, but is mighty to make men repent.” – C. H. Spurgeon
“True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue.” – Martin Luther
“Doctrine divides…but doctrine also unites. It binds together the hearts of God’s people who celebrate the truth of God together.” – R.C. Sproul
“Christ died not in order to make God love us, but because He did love His people. Calvary is the supreme demonstration of Divine love. Whenever you are tempted to doubt the love of God, Christian reader, go back to Calvary.” – A. W. Pink
“Those whom God has chosen to salvation by Christ, are those whom God specially loves in this world. They are the jewels among mankind. He cares more for them than for kings on their thrones, if kings are not converted. He hears their prayers. He orders all the events of nations and the issues of wars for their good, and their sanctification. He keeps them by His Spirit. He allows neither man nor devil to pluck them out of His hand. Whatever tribulation comes on the world, God’s elect are safe. May we never rest until we know that we are of this blessed number! There breathes not the man or woman who can prove that he is not one. The promises of the Gospel are open to all. May we give diligence to make our calling and election sure! God’s elect are a people who cry unto Him night and day. When Paul saw the faith, and hope, and love of the Thessalonians, then he knew ‘their election of God.'” (1 Thess. 1:4; Luke 18:7.) – J.C. Ryle
“If Christ is not first with you, Christ is nothing to you.” C. H. Spurgeon
“Most Christians salute the sovereignty of God but believe in the sovereignty of man.” – R.C. Sproul
“The farmer does not sift his wheat because he dislikes it, but just the opposite; he sifts it because it is precious. And thou, child of God, thy trials and changes, and constant catastrophes, and afflictions, are no proofs of want of affection on the part of the Most High, but the very contrary.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“Without the gospel, a gathering of people, though they claim otherwise, cannot be an authentic church.” – R.C. Sproul
“This doctrine (justification) is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour.” – Martin Luther
“There has been no such thing as freedom since Adam fell. Adam was free. Not a single child of Adam has ever been free… Man’s will has been bound ever since the fall of Adam. By nature man is not free to choose God.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans – Assurance)
“He who as Son of God had made the Law with his Father put Himself under it in order to redeem us.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Romans – Assurance)
“Aristotle did not invent logic any more than Columbus invented America.” – R.C. Sproul
“A sight of His death – if it is a true sight – is the death of all love of sin.” – C. H. Spurgeon
“The only works of righteousness that serve to justify a sinner are the works of Christ.” – R.C. Sproul
“In fact, there is no worship of God that is better than the hearing of a sermon.” – C. H. Spurgeon
“It is possible to be so active in the service of Christ as to forget to love him.” – P.T Forsyth
The Larger Point
Holmes and Watson went on a camping trip. After an excessive amount of liquid refreshment they were sound asleep, but woke up in the middle of the night.
Holmes turns to Watson and says, “Watson, look up, what do you see?”
Watson says, “I see stars and stars and more stars.”
Holmes says, “What does that tell you Watson?”
“Well Holmes, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially, billions of planets.
Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is not Leo.
Horologically, it tells me that its about a quarter to three in the morning.
Meterologically, it tells me that tomorrow will probably be a beautiful day.
Theologically, it tells me that there’s a vast universe and we are just a tiny part of the whole.
“Why Holmes, what does it tell you?”
Holmes says, “Watson, you idiot! Somebody has stolen our tent!”
THE LESSON: You can be very profound in an answer and miss the larger point.
Friday Round Up
(1) For some reason, Jehovah’s Witnesses go to great lengths to try to say that Jesus was not crucified on a cross but impailed on a stake, with one nail going through both hands that were held above His head. However, if that was the case, in speaking of the hands of Christ, Thomas, who was all too aware of the facts concerning the death of Christ, would have used the singular word “nail” and not the plural “nails” in this text in John 20:25:
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see IN HIS HANDS THE MARK OF THE NAILS, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
I believe there are two reasons why the JW’s speak so much on this. They want to try to show that Christians get it wrong on the most basic of issues (and therefore show how superior their knowledge is) as well as they see the two beamed cross as a symbol of idolatry. This article sheds much light: http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/cross-or-stake.php
(2) 4 Truths about Hell
(3) The resources in this week’s Friday Ligonier $5 sale are very well worth considering. Especially recommended are R. C. Sproul’s DVD series on Psalm 51, By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me book by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, The Five Dilemmas of Calvinism book by Craig Brown, and The Promise Keeper: God of the Covenants teaching series, all found here
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