REFLECTIONS

Which voice to hear and obey?

“In almost every generation there are both true voices and false. How can one discern between the two?

The question cannot be comprehensively answered by referring to only one passage. For instance Deuteronomy 13 provides one framework that should be carefully thought through, but it is not the only one. Here in Ezekiel 13 the matter is cast not so much as a set of points to help the righteous discern between true prophet and false, but a denunciation of all that is false. In doing so God provides a partial profile of false prophets.

(1) False prophets speak out of their own spirit, out of their own imaginations. They may think they have something form the Lord, but they do not. “Their visions are false and their divinations a lie” (13:6). This is not so much a principle that the onlooker can use, as a warning to the false prophets themselves. False prophets may deceive other people, they never deceive God. And it is to God that we will one day have to give an account (13:8-9).

(2) They do not deal with fundamental issues of sin, corruption, injustice, and covenantal faithfulness. To use the metaphor of a walled city, instead of repairing the ‘wall’ they merely cover it with whitewash, so that it looks sturdy enough to the casual observer even though it is hopelessly compromised. “You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand form in the battle on the day of the Lord” (13:5), Ezekiel writes. A good storm strips away the whitewash and discloses the horrible weakness. The false prophets deal in omens and end-times fancies and promises of revival, but they do not declare the holiness of God and the odiousness of sin; they fail to bring people to repentance, faith and obedience.

(3) They are more interested in auguries, telling personal fortunes, serving as ‘prophetic’ personal hope-spinners, than in conveying the word of the Lord. They are not really serious people-except for their seriousness when it comes to getting paid (13:17-19).

(4) One of the larger effects they have is to discourage the genuine people of God. Too many false voices in a culture and many people become confused, disheartened, disoriented. Instead of maintaining a moral standard that reinforces righteousness, builds character, and encourages godliness, these people pronounce their curses and taboos on people God Himself has not condemned, and exonerate the wicked so that they do not turn from their evil ways and so save their lives (13:20-23).

Where in our culture do these characteristics thrive? Where do they thrive in the professing church?”

-D.A. Carson Theologian and Professor  1946-

REFLECTIONS

The Word of Faith

“Romans 10:9-10

What is the word of faith? We have the tenor of it, v.9, 10. What is promised to us? Thou shalt be saved. It is salvation that the gospel exhibits and tenders which Christ is the author of, a Savior to the uttermost.

Upon what terms? Two things are required as conditions of salvation:

(1) Confessing the Lord Jesus-openly professing relation to Him and dependence on Him, standing by Him in all weathers. Our Lord Jesus lays a great stress upon this confessing Him before men; see Matthew 10:32, 33. 

(2) Believing in the heart that God raised Him from the dead. The profession of faith with the mouth, if there is not a power of it in the heart, is but a mockery; especially concerning His resurrection, which is the fundamental article of the Christian faith.

This is further illustrated, v. 10, and the order inverted, because there must first be faith in the heart before there can be an acceptable confession with the mouth. It is with the heart that man believeth, which implies more than an assent of understanding, and takes in the consent of the will. This is unto righteousness. There is the righteousness of justification and the righteousness of sanctification. Faith is to both.

It is with the mouth that confession is made-confession to God in prayer and praise, confession to men by owning the ways of God before others. And this is said to be unto salvation, because it is the performance of the condition of that promise. So that we must have here a brief summary of the terms of salvation, that we must give up, to god, our souls and bodies-our souls in believing with the heart, and our bodies in confessing with the mouth.”

-Matthew Henry from A Closer Walk With God  Daily Readings From Matthew Henry by Marshall Pickering  Daybreak Books  Grand Rapids, MI  1987  Page 225

REFLECTIONS

Bearing All With Resignation To God’s Will

“We must bear our daily afflictions with submission to His will; we are bid to expect trouble in the flesh, something or other happens every day that grieves us, something in our relations, something in our callings, events concerning ourselves, our families or friends, that are matter of sorrow: perhaps we have every day some bodily pain or sickness: or, some cross and disappointment in our affairs; now in these we must wait upon God. Christ requires it of all His disciples, that they take up their cross daily (Matt 16:24). We must not willfully pluck the cross down upon us, but we must take it up when God lays it in our way, and not go a step out of the way of duty either to it, or to miss it. It is not enough to bear the cross, but we must take it up, we must accommodate ourselves to it, and acquiesce in the will of God in it. Not, this is an evil, and I must bear it, because I cannot help it; but this is an evil, and I will bear it, because it is the will of God.

We must see every affliction allotted us by our heavenly Father, and in it we must eye His correcting hand, and therefore must wait on Him to know the cause wherefore He contends with us, what the fault is for which we are in this affliction chastened: what the distemper is to be by this affliction cured, that we may answer God’s end in afflicting us, and so we may be made partakers of His holiness. We must attend the motions of providence, keep our eye upon our Father when he frowns, that we may discover what His mind is, and what the obedience is we are to learn, by the things that we suffer. We must wait upon God for support under our burdens; must put ourselves into, and stay ourselves upon the everlasting arms, which are laid under the children of God to sustain them, when the rod of God is upon them. And Him we must attend for deliverance; must not seek to extricate ourselves by any sinful indirect methods, nor look to creatures for relief, but still wait on the Lord, until that He have mercy on us; well content to bear the burden until God ease us of it, and ease us in mercy (Psa. 123:2). If the affliction be lengthened out, yet we must wait upon the Lord, even when He hides His face (Isa. 8:17), hoping it is but in a little wrath, and for a small moment (Isa. 54:7, 8).”

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“We must expect the tidings and events of every day, with a cheerful and entire resignation to the divine providence. While we are in this world, we are still expecting, hoping well, fearing ill: we know not what a day or a night, or an hour will bring forth (Prov. 27:1), but it is big with something, and we are too apt to spend our thoughts in vain about things future, which happens quite differently from what we imagines. Now in all our prospects we must wait upon God. Are we in hope of good tidings, a good issue? Let us wait on God as the giver of the good we hope for, and be ready to take it from His hand; and to meet Him with suitable affections then when he is coming toward us in a way of mercy. Whatever good we hope for, it is God alone, and His wisdom, power, and goodness that we must hope in. And therefore our hopes must be humble and modest, and regulated by His will; what God has promised us, we may with assurance promise ourselves, and no more. If thus we wait on God in our hopes, should the hope be deferred, it would not make the heart sick, no not if it should be disappointed, for the God we wait on, will over-rule all for the best; but when the desire comes, in prosecution of which we have thus waited on god, we may see it coming from His love, and it will be a tree of life (Prov. 13:12).”

-Matthew Henry from A Method For Prayer  Expositor, Commentator, Minister  1662-1714; Published by Christian Focus Publications  Scotland  2007

REFLECTIONS

Desire for God and His Cause

“SOVEREIGN GOD,

Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart,

 and I appeal to Thee with greatest freedom

 to set up Thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns;

Glorify Thyself and I shall rejoice,

 for to bring honor to Thy name is my sole desire.

I adore Thee that Thy art God,

 and long that others should know it, feel it,

 and rejoice in it.

O that all men might love and praise Thee,

 that Thou mightiest have glory from the intelligent world!

Let sinners be brought to thee for Thy dear name!

To the eye of reason everything respecting the conversion of others

 is as dark as midnight,

But Thou can cause great things;

 the cause is Thine,

 and it is to Thy glory that men should be saved.

Lord, use as Thou wilt;

 do with me what Thou wilt;

 but, O, promote Thy cause,

 let Thy kingdom come,

 let Thy blessed interest be advanced in this world!

O do bring in great numbers to Jesus!

 let me see that glorious day,

 and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls;

 let me be willing to die to that end;

 and while I live let me labor for Thee

 to the utmost of my strength,

 spending time profitably in this work,

 both in health and in weakness.

It is Thy cause and kingdom I for, not my own.

O answer Thou my request!”

-A Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision  Published by The Banner of Truth Trust  Carlisle, PA  2002 Page 177

REFLECTIONS

Revelation 4:1

“Notice the elder’s words of adoration: they said, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power, v. 11. They do not say, ‘We give Thee glory, and honor, and power’; for what can any creature pretend to give unto God? But they say, Thou art worthy to receive glory. In this they tacitly acknowledge that God is far all blessing and praise. He was worthy to receive glory, but they were not worthy to praise, nor be able to do it according to His infinite excellence.

We have the ground and reason of their adoration, which is threefold:

(1) He is the Creator of all things, the first cause; and none but the Creator of all things should be adored; no made thing can be the object of religious worship.

(2) He is the preserver of all things, and His preservation is a continual creation; they are created still by the sustaining power of God. All beings but God are dependent upon the will and power of God, and no dependent being must be set up as an object of religious worship. It is the best part of dependent beings to be worshippers, not to be worshipped.

(3) He is the final cause of all things: For Thy pleasure they are and were created. It was His will and pleasure to create all things; He was not put upon it by the will of another; there is no such thing as a subordinate creator that acts under and by the will and power of another. As God made all things at His pleasure, so he made them for His pleasure, to deal with them as He pleases and to glorify Himself by them one way or another.”

-Matthew Henry  Expositor, Commentator, Minister 1662-1714

REFLECTIONS

The Fools Says There Is No God

“AUGUST 11

1 Samuel 1; Romans 1; Jeremiah 39; Psalms 13-14

‘A friend of mine once gave a university evangelistic address under the title, “Atheists Are Fools and Agnostics Are Cowards.” Needless to say, he drew a considerable crowd, even if the crowd was pretty hostile. Whether or not this was the tactically wise thing to do in that setting may, I suppose, be debated. What should not be debated is that my friend was being faithful to Scripture: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1). Indeed, if anything, the text of Scripture is stronger than the English suggests. The word rendered “fool” is in Hebrew a term of moral opprobrium suggesting perversity, churlish and aggressive perversity. Paul certainly understood the point: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22). After all, “what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them” (Rom. 1:19); and “since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind” (Rom. 1:28). The Bible’s view is that in the last analysis atheism is less the product of misguided searching, a kind of intellectual mistake, than a defiant and stubborn rebellion.            

‘The fact that atheism is not widely seen that way is itself an index of our depravity. In fact, the best-informed atheists commonly acknowledge the connection between morality and belief, between immorality and unbelief. There is a famous passage in Huxley that acknowledges that one of the driving forces behind atheistic naturalism is the desire to tear away any sort of moral condemnation of otherwise condemned behavior. In a passage scarcely less famous, Michel Foucault, one of the theoreticians behind postmodernism, frankly acknowledges that it became important for him to destroy traditional notions of truth and morality because he wished to justify his own sexual conduct. A few years ago, Foucault died of AIDS.

‘We must not misapply this text. Within the framework of their own presuppositions, there are many honest atheists. But the framework itself is wrong. That framework is never established by a single individual. It is built piece by piece until certain beliefs are culturally possible, then probable, then almost inevitable—and each generation, each individual, has contributed to this massive rebellion, this lust for autonomy that refuses to recognize the rights of our Maker and our obligations to him. Atheism becomes not simply an individual choice but a social degeneracy. The ultimate result is the sweeping condemnation of Psalm 14:2-3. Compare Romans 3:10-18: sin is not merely ubiquitous but universal, and results in massive social damage (Psalm 14:4-6). At the end of the day, there is no help but in the Lord (14:7).’"

From, For the Love of God; Volume Two, D. A. Carson (Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois; 1998)