Monthly Archives: July 2011

Miscellaneous Quotes (19)

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“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” – A.W. Tozer

“Envy may be defined, or to the happiness of others considered as compared with their own. The thing to which envious persons are opposed is the comparative relation between that state of honor or happiness which others have, or may have, and their own state.” – Jonathan Edwards, sermon 5 in Charity and Its Fruits, in Works, Yale ed., 8:219

“Salvation is not verified by a past act, but by present fruitfulness.” – John MacArthur

“Grace puts its hand on the boasting mouth, and shuts it once for all.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays.” – John Owen

“Doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites; but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ’s sheep. The preacher’s job is to proclaim the faith, not to provide entertainment for unbelievers–in other words, to feed the sheep rather than amuse the goats” – J. I. Packer, A Quest For Godliness.

“Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting-place of all the waters in the world, so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet.” – John Flavel

“The issue is not why does God punish sin, but why does He permit the ongoing human rebellion? What prince, what king, what ruler would display so much patience with a continually rebellious populace? …We forget rather quickly that God’s patience is designed to lead us to repentance, to give us time to be redeemed…The supreme folly is that we think we will get away with our revolt.” – R.C. Sproul

“We are all by nature separate and far off from God. Sin, like a great barrier-wall, rises between us and our Maker. The sense of guilt makes us afraid of Him. The sense of His holiness keeps us at a distance from Him. Born with a heart at enmity with God, we become more and more alienated from Him, by practice, the longer we live. The very first questions in religion that must be answered, are these–”How can I draw near to God? How can I be justified? How can a sinner like me be reconciled to my Maker?” The Lord Jesus Christ has provided an answer to these mighty questions. By His sacrifice for us on the cross, He has opened a way through the great barrier, and provided pardon and peace for sinners.” – J.C. Ryle
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The Shepherd’s Responsibilities

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One of the many reasons God calls each individual Christian to be part of a local Church is so that they are properly shepherded. God has ordained that each of His sheep is cared for and nourished and although outside ministries can supplement a believer’s spiritual intake, speaking to elders from the city of Ephesus said, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

It is interesting that the Greek word ???????? (poimaino) is here translated as “care for” in the ESV while other translations use the word “feed.” A better translation would be “shepherd.”

Local Church elders are given the task of shepherding the sheep which means taking responsibility for the total well being and welfare of each sheep under their care. “Shepherd the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

There are four main tasks for a shepherd.

(1) Feeding – Providing a safe place for sheep to eat healthy food

“The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” – Psalm 23

“Doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites; but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ’s sheep. The preacher’s job is to proclaim the faith, not to provide entertainment for unbelievers – in other words, to feed the sheep rather than amuse the goats” – J. I. Packer, A Quest For Godliness.

(2) Shearing

Shearing is generally carried out in the spring, so sheep don’t become overheated in the summer. A long fleece is likely to become dirty and drag along the ground, increasing the possibility of flystrike.

A bulky fleece decreases the mobility of sheep.

In hot weather, sheep with too much wool are extremely susceptible to heat stress!!

Shearing keeps stained wool and mud-contaminated wool separate from new fleece growth.

Shearing can be stressful for sheep and it therefore requires skill to shorn efficiently and quickly, without causing harm to sheep or shearer.

Because newly shorn sheep become colder faster, its important to place them in paddocks with windbreaks and plenty of pasture.

The best time to apply louse and flystrike prevention treatments is right after shearing.

Providing sheep with coats or covers are a good option on small farms when the weather is cold or wet.

(3) Dipping

This task might appear cruel to outsiders who have no knowledge of shepherding, but it is an act of love and care, ridding the sheep of harmful bacteria and insects that would inevitably, over time, cause great harm to the sheep. Sheep dip is a liquid formulation of insecticide and fungicide which shepherds use to protect their sheep from infestation against external parasites such as itch mite (Psorobia ovis), blow-fly, ticks and lice.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16, 17

(4) Defending the sheep against attack from wolves
The Apostle Paul was very much aware of this danger and constantly warned the Ephesian elders of this:

Acts 20:29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.

The Hardening of Pharoah’s Heart

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The Hardening of Pharaoh and the Hope of the World
(Sermon by John Piper, © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org)

Exodus 9:8-17
And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians.

12 But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses. 13 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.

How shall we know God? How shall we know what God is like and how we are to think about him? When I ask myself this question, one response comes crashing into my mind with overwhelming certitude: human opinion counts for nothing. What you feel about the way God should be and what I feel about the way God should be counts for nothing. If someone rises up and makes a pronouncement about what they can believe and can’t believe about God, that is as significant in determining what is true about God as the creaking of a window in the wind. Human opinion counts for nothing in defining God.

How than shall we know him? For it is very crucial that we know him. If he is there, nothing in the universe matters more than he does. If he is there, he is like the thunder clap and we are like the scratch on a faint recording. If he is there, he is like the sun shining in full strength and we are like dust-mote floating in the morning beam of bedroom light. If he is there, he is absolute and we are utterly dependent.

But now I am risking putting my opinions forward, which don’t matter at all. How shall we know him? We will know him by his own initiative to reveal himself. This he did most clearly and powerfully in sending his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Then he said that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide his apostles into all truth so that the truth of Christ and the Father would be preserved and displayed in the inspired Word of Scripture (John 16:13). The effect of this promise was that the apostles could say, “We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:13).

Drawing Upon the Old Testament
But the apostles and their associates who preserved the truth of Christ for us in their gospels and letters were led by the Spirit in them to immerse themselves in the Old Testament as well as the teachings of Jesus. “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1). As the Spirit led the apostles into all truth, he did so by leading them to a true and deep understanding of what God had done and said in the Old Testament.

This is what we see all through the book of Romans, especially in chapter 9 where we have been since November 3. In Romans 9:4-5 he deals with “the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises, the patriarch” – all of which he sees in the Old Testament. In verses 6-12 he deals with Isaac and Ishmael and Jacob and Esau from Genesis. In verse 13 he refers to Malachi 1:2-3, “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.” In verse 15 he quotes Exodus 33:19 (“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion”), and builds his argument for the justice of God on it. And then in verse 17 he quotes Exodus 9:16 and concludes from it in verse 18, “So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”

So if we ask, How can we know God? God’s answer is: I reveal myself to you mainly in my Son Jesus Christ, and through his inspired apostles in the New Testament, who take us back to the earlier revelation of God in history and show us that all of divine revelation is of one piece. The God of the Exodus is the God of Romans. The God who dealt with Pharaoh is the God who deals with us.

So Paul roots his teaching about the sovereignty of God and the freedom of God and unconditional election in the Old Testament at every point in Romans 9. He is eager for us to see that New Testament revelation of God is one with Old Testament revelation of God. Continue reading →