Monthly Archives: July 2020

Heaven is a World of Love

Posted on by
Reply

Jonathan Edwards, from “Heaven is a World of Love.”

“There are many principles contrary to love, that make this world like a tempestuous sea. Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jealousy, and kindred passions keep life on earth in a constant tumult, and make it a scene of confusion and uproar, where no quiet rest is to be enjoyed except in renouncing this world and looking to another.

“But oh! what rest is there in that world which the God of peace and love fills with his own gracious presence, and in which the Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams of his love;“where there is nothing to disturb or offend, and no being or object to be seen that is not surrounded with perfect amiableness and sweetness;

“where the saints shall find and enjoy all that they love, and so be perfectly satisfied;“where there is no enemy and no enmity; but perfect love in every heart and to every being;

“where there is perfect harmony among all the inhabitants, no one envying another, but everyone rejoicing in the happiness of every other;

“where all their love is humble and holy, and perfectly Christian, without the least carnality or impurity;

“where love is always mutual and reciprocated to the full; where there is no hypocrisy or dissembling, but perfect simplicity and sincerity;

“where there is no treachery, or unfaithfulness, or inconstancy, or jealousy in any form; where there is no clog or hindrance to the exercises or expressions of love, no imprudence or indecency in expressing it, and no influence of folly or indiscretion in any word or deed;

“where there is no separation wall, and no misunderstanding or strangeness, but full acquaintance and perfect intimacy in all;

“where there is no division through different opinions or interests, but where all in that glorious and loving society shall be most nearly and divinely related, and each shall belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each other in perfect prosperity and riches, and honor, without any sickness, or grief, or persecution, or sorrow, or any enemy to molest them, or any busybody to create jealousy or misunderstanding, or mar the perfect, and holy, and blessed peace that reigns in heaven!

“And all this in the garden of God — in the paradise of love, where everything is filled with love, and everything conspires to promote and kindle it, and keep up its flame, and nothing ever interrupts it, but everything has been fitted by an all-wise God for its full enjoyment under the greatest advantages forever!

And all, too, where the beauty of the beloved objects shall never fade, and love shall never grow weary nor decay, but the soul shall more and more rejoice in love forever!

“Oh! what tranquility will there be in such a world as this! And who can express the fullness and blessedness of this peace! What a calm is this! How sweet, and holy, and joyous! What a haven of rest to enter, after having passed through the storms and tempests of this world, in which pride, and selfishness, and envy, and malice, and scorn, and contempt, and contention, and vice, are as waves of a restless ocean, always rolling, and often dashed about in violence and fury! What a Canaan of rest to come to, after going through this waste and howling wilderness, full of snares, and pitfalls, and poisonous serpents, where no rest could be found!

“And oh! what joy will there be, springing up in the hearts of the saints, after they have passed through their wearisome pilgrimage, to be brought to such a paradise as this! Here is joy unspeakable indeed, and full of glory — joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, and divine in its perfection! Love is always a sweet principle; and especially divine love. This, even on earth, is a spring of sweetness; but in heaven it shall become a stream, a river, an ocean!

“All shall stand about the God of glory, who is the great fountain of love, opening, as it were, their very souls to be filled with those effusions of love that are poured forth from his fullness, just as the flowers on the earth, in the bright and joyous days of spring, open their bosoms to the sun, to be filled with his light and warmth, and to flourish in beauty and fragrancy under his cheering rays.

“Every saint in heaven is as a flower in that garden of God, and holy love is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all send forth, and with which they fill the bowers of that paradise above. Every soul there, is as a note in some concert of delightful music, that sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and all together blend in the most rapturous strains in praising God and the Lamb forever. And so all help each other, to their utmost, to express the love of the whole society to its glorious Father and Head, and to pour back love into the great fountain of love whence they are supplied and filled with love, and blessedness, and glory.

“And thus they will love, and reign in love, and in that godlike joy that is its blessed fruit, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath ever entered into the heart of man in this world to conceive; and thus in the full sunlight of the throne, enraptured with joys that are forever increasing, and yet forever full, they shall live and reign with God and Christ forever and ever!”

HT: Mike Riccardi

‘Grace’ According to Rome

Posted on by
Reply

Article: “Understanding the Roman Catholic ‘state of grace’” by Simon van Bruchem, pastor, All Nations Presbyterian Church, Perth, Western Australia. – original source here: https://writtenforourinstruction.com/understanding-the-roman-catholic-state-of-grace/

The word ‘grace’ is a simple word; it means getting something good that you don’t deserve. You experience grace when someone gives you a gift. Grace is not something you earnt or worked for; it was simply given to you by someone who loves and cares for you. The concept of grace is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

Yet words can sometimes mean entirely different things to different people. The word “grace”, when heard by someone who has grown up in the Roman Catholic Church, is understood to mean something entirely different, and rather more complicated, than when it is heard by someone used to the kind of definition I gave in the last paragraph.

In Roman Catholic doctrine, when Jesus died and rose again, he won a storehouse of grace for his people. This storehouse of grace is distributed to believers through the ministry of the priests. As you take part in the sacraments, you receive grace from the storehouse Jesus won.

Now, that’s quite different from the simple Biblical description of grace. That’s because this doctrine is not only derived from the Bible, but it is the result of various scholars and Popes over the centuries adding to the simple Biblical teaching.

Related to this ‘storehouse of grace’ idea is the concept of a ‘state of grace’. The Roman Catholic doctrine is that we are born sinful, but when we are baptised in the church, we have our sins washed away and enter into a state of grace. That means that if we were to die after being baptised, we would be OK with God. Baptism is not seen as permanently removing your sin, however. As you continue to sin, you can drop out of a state of grace and be under God’s judgement once more. You return to a state of grace by going to confession, doing whatever penance is necessary, and then regularly taking part in the mass. All of these are seen as sacraments; all of them are ways in which you receive grace from the storehouse Jesus won through the priests and the sacraments. Just before you die, ideally you would receive the last rites (seen as another sacrament) which would return you to a state of grace before you stand before God.

This means, in practice, that a committed Roman Catholic would need to attend mass consistently, regularly go to confession, and even then they might be worried that they are not in a state of grace. How much is enough? The result can be a sense of duty and religion and not a lot of joy in what Jesus has done. The focus shifts from what Jesus has done to all the sacraments and religious duty you have to do to be OK with God.

Grace should be simpler than that. Jesus died for your sins if you trust in Him. This is a gift you receive by the kindness of God (Eph 2:4). There is no middle man. You don’t need to take the sacraments to remain in a state of grace. It is all to do with what God has done for you in Jesus, not what you do through your religion. What Jesus won for us is applied to our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit, not a priest.

Understanding grace is a freeing thing. If we know that it is all about what God has done, and not what we do, that means we should be joyful. We should be confident about our status before God because it cannot be ruined by our lack of religion or our mistakes. We should want to be involved in church as a response to Jesus’ work, not to remain in God’s good books. Grace, rightly understood, will truly change your life.

The Purpose of the Law

Posted on by
Reply

Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones – (Romans Exposition, Chapters 3:20-4:24, pp 21-22):

The whole function of the Law is to define sin, to reveal its nature; and that is why we are without any excuse at all. The law is in our hearts; but that is not clear enough, so God made it explicit. He had defined it, He has underlined it, He has shown it plainly in the written Law give to the Jews.

. . . The Law was given to pinpoint sin, to define it, to bring it out of its hiding-place and to show its exceeding sinful character. . . Nothing so shows the exceeding sinfulness of sin as the Law itself does; and once a man has seen the real meaning of the Law he sees the foulness, the vileness of his own nature.

. . . The Law was never given to save man, but it was given as a “school-master” to bring him to the Savior. The whole object and purpose of the Law is to show man that he can never save himself. Once he has understood the Law and its spiritual meaning and content he knows that he cannot keep it. He is undone. . . What is the summary of the Law? It is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Has anyone done that and so kept the Law? No, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” That is what the Law says. It shows us our utter helplessness and hopelessness, and thereby it becomes “our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ,” the only One Who by the grace of God can save us, and deliver us, and reconcile us to God, and make us safe for all eternity. Paul glories in the Gospel which proclaims that “the just shall live by faith,” because “by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, because by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

New Testament Prayers for the Church

Posted on by
Reply

Eph. 1:15-23 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Eph. 3:16-19 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Phil. 1:9-11 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Col. 1:9-12 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

2 Thess. 1:11-12 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.