(Letter 157 on assurance and fighting for joy...)

For over three years now I've been writing on assurance and fighting for joy, beginning with this post. And I continue to write about it because the gift of assurance and joy which God makes available to all believers in Christ through the Holy Spirit makes all the difference in how we live our Christian lives day in and day out.

When faced with trials and temptations, when the world mocks us, when we begin to question our circumstances, when the devil insinuates doubts into our minds, are we as Christians fully persuaded, do we know Him whom we have believed, are we able to stand steadfast in the faith at any and all times? Do we have living water bubbling up and bursting forth from our hearts, testifying to the work of the Holy Spirit in us, who fills us with full assurance of faith and joy and peace in believing ~ like the Shulamite woman and the apostle Paul?

When circumstances around you come crushing in, when all your plans are upended, and all your hopes are dashed... in each and every one of your so-called "prison-places" . . .

• . . . are you able to sing with Paul and Silas?

Acts 15:24  Having received this order, he [the jailer] put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them...

Philippians 1:12  I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel...

Romans 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

• . . . do you profess God Himself to be your perfect portion, exceeding Joy, and great reward –– and do you continue to make the Lord God your refuge even though it seems Providence is frowning upon you.

Psalm 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26  My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27  For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28  But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

• . . . do you continue to bless the Lord for the privilege of being His child while traveling in this world as a pilgrim? Do you continue to trust Him and His ways for you, resting in His love and enjoying fellowship with Him, even in this Valley of Baca –– the thirsty and tear-laden land?

Psalm 84:5  Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6  As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
7  They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8  O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9  Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
10  For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12  O LORD of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!

• . . . is your every thought, word and deed acceptable in God's sight? Does your every thought, word and deed reflect that you are living as more than a conqueror through Him who loved you?

Romans 8:37  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• . . . are you able to rejoice in the Lord –– always? When the enemy comes flooding in, have you found the Spirit of God holding up a standard, has He brought you to the Beloved's banqueting house, that you know His banner over you to be love, with the peace of God coming to envelop your soul and guard your heart and mind?

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In other words, what I'm asking you is this:  Have you begun to know and to drink of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Living Water, through God's gift of the Holy Spirit, so living waters come flowing out of your heart, even in those "prison-places," even in the driest and thirstiest land?

Psalms 63:1: O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

John 17:3  And THIS is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 7:37  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to ME and drink. 38  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39  Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke about three types of assurance we as Christians can have. I most recently blogged about those three types of assurance in my post Three Years Later: Dancing & Skipping with Mrs. Durham | Letter 147 on fighting for joy:

In his book, "Joy Unspeakable," Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote about three types of assurance that are available to the Christian (I blogged about that here and here, and I would encourage you to read both those posts.)  As way of quick summary, the first two types of assurance are based on: 1) deductions we make from the Bible, and 2) examination of our lives. Now here's The Doctor explaining the third type of assurance:

But there is a third type of assurance, which is the highest, the most absolute and glorious, and which differs essentially from the other two. How? Like this. You notice, in the first two types of assurance, that what we are doing is to draw deductions, as we read the Scriptures, perhaps. We arrive at the assurance by a process of reading, understanding, self-examination or self-analysis. It is a deduction that we draw from the premises given; and it is right and true. But the glory of this third and highest form of assurance is that it is neither anything we do, nor any deduction that we draw, but an assurance that is given to us by the blessed Spirit himself.

ADOPTION: THE HIGHEST PRIVILEGE (J.I. PACKER)

Over the past few months, our Sunday School class has been watching David Platt's video sermons series on Galatians. In his sermon "Free as Sons" on Galatians 3:26 - 4:7 . . .

Galatians 3:26  for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

4:1  I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2  but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3  In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

. . . Platt read an excerpt from J.I. Packer's "Knowing God" on adoption. I was able to locate a portion of the book that included that excerpt here, but today I'd like to bring you the fuller context of that quotation. As you read Packer's words below, I plead with you to examine yourself and your life and your experience of and your relationship to the living God in light of the Scripture, and to ask God to show you what Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ML-J) called "the great and glorious possibilities" of the Christian life, so you might begin to ask, seek, and knock!

Luke 11:13  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Have you experienced the blessedness of adoption that is available to all the saints? Do you have the Spirit of the Son crying out within you, "Abba! Father!"? Do you see yourself as a son of God –– or do you see yourself as a slave? Are you living day in and day out like the older son in the parable of the prodigal son (can we call that living?); in other words, have you never experientially/experimentally known how great the Father's love is for you, and that all your heavenly Father has is already yours?

I John 3:1  See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

Luke 15:31  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours...'

Are you falling back into fear –– or has the love of God been shed abroad in your heart? Have you ever really known the Spirit Himself bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God? Have you received directly from the Holy Spirit that blessed assurance –– that Jesus IS yours (along with the Shulamite woman and Fanny Crosby)?

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we've just finished celebrating yet another Christmas, but have you missed out once again on entering into the ultimate Christmas celebration? –– A celebration that goes above and beyond that first type of assurance, i.e. - above and beyond our professing: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so" ... to that third type of assurance (which is always rooted in and flows from the Biblical truths and doctrine), i.e. -  the Holy Spirit directly imparting to your soul the sense of the love of God which empowers you to proclaim with absolute certainty and authority:  "You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart!" –– that assurance which ML-J calls the highest, the most absolute and glorious. My brothers and sisters in Christ, God sent forth His Son into the world so that all the children of God (including you!) might not only know they are justified in the eyes of God, but also know what J.I. Packer calls "the highest privilege the gospel offers":  adoption as sons!

Galatians 4:4  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7  So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Romans 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Now, here's J.I. Packer writing on the blessedness of our adoption as sons:

Adoption: The Highest Privilege

Our first point about adoption is that it is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification. This may cause raising of eyebrows, for justification is the gift of God on which since Luther evangelicals have laid the greatest stress, and we are accustomed to say, almost without thinking, that free justification is God’s supreme blessing to us sinners. Nonetheless, careful thought will show the truth of the statement we have just made.

That justification—by which we mean God's forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future—is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God’s judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable, and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers us before it offers us anything else. The first gospel sermons to be preached, those recorded in Acts, lead up to the promise of forgiveness of sins to all who repent and receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord (see Acts 2:38; 3:19; 10:43; 13:38-39; compare 5:31; 17:30-31; 20:21; 22:16; 26:18; Lk 24:47).

In Romans, Paul’s fullest exposition of his gospel—“the clearest gospel of all,” to Luther's mind—justification through the cross of Christ is expounded first (chaps. 1—5), and made basic to everything else. Regularly Paul speaks of righteousness, remission of sins, and justification as the first and immediate consequence for us of Jesus' death (Rom 3:22-26; 2 Cor 5:18-21; Gal 3:13-14; Eph 1:7; and so on). And as justification is the primary blessing, so it is the fundamental blessing, in the sense that everything else in our salvation assumes it, and rests on it—adoption included.

   But this is not to say that justification is the highest blessing of the gospel. Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves. Some textbooks on Christian doctrine—Berkhof's, for instance—treat adoption as a mere subsection of justification, but this is inadequate. The two ideas are distinct, and adoption is the more exalted. Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law, and viewing God as judge. In justification, God declares of penitent believers that they are not, and never will be, liable to the death that their sins deserve, because Jesus Christ, their substitute and sacrifice, tasted death in their place on the cross.

This free gift of acquittal and peace, won for us at the cost of Calvary, is wonderful enough, in all conscience—but justification does not of itself imply any intimate or deep relationship with God the judge. In idea, at any rate, you could have the reality of justification without any close fellowship with God resulting.

But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater.

The point has never been better put than in the following extract from The Doctrine of Justification, by James Buchanan:

According to the Scriptures, pardon, acceptance, and adoption, are distinct privileges, the one rising above the other in the order in which they have been stated . . . while the first two properly belong to (the sinner's) justification, as being both founded on the same relation––that of a Ruler and Subject––the third is radically distinct from them, as being founded on a nearer, more tender, and more endearing relation––that between a Father and his Son. . . . . There is a manifest difference between the position of a servant and a friend–– and also between that of a servant and a son. . . . A closer and dearer intimacy than that of a master and servant is said to subsist between Christ and His people. "Henceforth I call you not servants:  for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth:  but I have called you friends" (John 15:15); and a still closer and dearer relation is said to exist in consequence of adoption; for "Thou art no more a servant, but a son, and an heir of God through Christ" (Galatians 4:7). The privilege of adoption presupposes pardon and acceptance, but is higher than either; for, "To as many as received Him, to them gave he power"––not inward strength, but authority, right, or privilege––"to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12). This is a higher privilege than of Justification, as being founded on a closer and more endearing relation––"Behold! what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God." (I John 3:1) (pp. 276-77)

We do not fully feel the wonder of the passage from death to life which takes place in the new birth till we see it as a transition, not simply out of condemnation into acceptance, but out of bondage and destitution into the "safety, certainty, and enjoyment" of the family of God. This is view of the great chance which Paul sets out in Galatians 4:1-7, contrasting his readers' previous life of slavish legalism and superstition in religion (vv. 3, 5, 8) with their present knowledge of their Creator as their Father (v. 6) and their pledged benefactor (v. 7). This, says Paul, is where your faith in Christ has brought you; you have received "the adoption of sons" (v. 5 KJV); "you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir" (v. 7 RSV).

When Charles Wesley found Christ on Whitsunday in 1738, his experience overflowed into some marvelous verses ("The Wesleys' Conversion Hymn," Methodist Hymn Book, # 361) in which the transition from slavery to sonship is the main theme.

Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?

O how shall I the goodness tell,
Father, which Thou to me hast showed?
That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should be called a child of God,
Should know, should feel my sins forgiven,
Blessed with this antepast of heaven!

Three days later, Charles tells us in his diary, brother John burst in with "a troop of our friends" to announce that he too was now a believer, and "we sang the hymn with great joy." Had you been there, could you sincerely have joined in? Can you make Wesley's words your own? If you are truly a child of God and "the Spirit of his Son" is in you, Wesley's words have already drawn an echo from your heart; and if they have left you cold, I do not know how you can imagine that you are a Christian at all.

One more thing must be added to show how great is the blessing of adoption––namely, this:  it is a blessing that abides. Social experts drum into us these days that the family unit needs to be stable and secure, and that any unsteadiness in the parent-child relationship takes its toll in strain, neurosis and arrested development in the child himself. The depressions, randomnesses and immaturities that mark the children of broken homes are known to us all. But things are not like that in God's family. There you have absolute stability and security; the parent is entirely wise and good, and the child's position is permanently assured. The very concept of adoption is itself a proof and guarantee of the preservation of the saints, for only bad fathers throw their children out of the family, even under provocation; and God is not a bad father, but a good one. When one sees depression, randomness and immaturity in Christians one cannot but wonder whether they have learned the health-giving habit of dwelling on the abiding security of true children of God.

~ from:  J.I. Packer's "Knowing God" (Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press), Sons of God (Chapter 19), 206-209

Related posts:

Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
Advent # 8: WHY HAS JESUS COME? "so that [we] might be WITH HIM" ~ Mark 3:14

Lenten Reflections: Why did Jesus die? ACCESS! | Letter 140 on assurance & fighting for joy
Happy Father's Day: "Only the child cries, 'Abba, Father'"
learning to run without fear
Reflections on my Dad on his 107th birthday* (Letter 33 on assurance & fighting for joy)
"Abba! Father!"
Mrs. Turner & Charles Wesley's Pentecost | letter 142 on assurance & fighting for joy

Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
The flags unfurled ... Christ's eternal banner | Lloyd-Jones ~ a third type of assurance - letter 118
The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it..." | the Father's assurance
update w/ excerpt: Lloyd-Jones' sermons on the role of experience in Christianity
five years ago ~ for your joy (AND an inheritance | Richard Sibbes & the Sealing of the Spirit)
birthday reflection: "the great & glorious possibilities" ~ "Now therefore, give me this mountain"

Our Twisted View of God
All things (even bad things) work together for good...
end of the year ... in the midst of heartache
rejoicing in the often unwanted but necessary gift

Scripture quotations from J.I. Packer, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Other Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis mine.

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antepast. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antepast (accessed: December 25, 2012).

    In the latter years of Elias’s life, there was a noticeable withdrawal of the powerful operations of the Spirit from the land in general. Writing in 1837, he says, "The light, power, and authority, formerly experienced under the preaching of the word, are not known in these days! The ministry neither alarms, terrifies, nor disturbs the thousands of ungodly persons who sit under it . . . No experimental, thoughtful Christian, can deny but that God has withdrawn Himself from us, as to the particular operations of His Spirit, and its especial manifestations of His Sovereign grace." The explanation Elias gives of this declension illustrates his doctrinal position, and his consciousness that the preservation of the favour of God depended upon their maintenance of the Word in its purity. He believed that nothing so ruined churches or dishonoured God as erroneous teaching:  "It is an awful thing to misrepresent God and His mind in His holy word!" "The Lord," he wrote, "hath favoured us, poor Methodists, with the glorious truths of the gospel in their perfection. Alas! Errors surround us, and Satan, changing himself into an angel of light, sets these pernicious evils before us, as great truths!" These evils, as the following quotation from his diary shows, were the appearance of Arminian errors in Wales in the nineteenth century. "The connexion" (that is, the church, which arose in Wales in the eighteenth century awakening) "was not called Calvinistic Methodists at first, as there was not a body of the Arminian Methodists in the country." But when the Wesleyans came amongst us, it was necessary to add the word Calvinistic, to show the difference. There were, before this, union and concord, in the great things of the gospel, amongst the different denominations of Christians in Wales. The Independents agreed fully with the Methodists in the doctrines of grace. They used to acknowledge the Westminster Catechism, as containing the substance of their doctrine.... All from the least to the greatest, preached very clearly and plainly. The chief subjects of their discourses were these: the fall and total corruption of man; his miserable state under the curse, and the just indignation of God; his total inability to deliver and save himself; free salvation, by the sovereign grace and love of God...." It was a departure from these truths that caused his deep concern. "The great depth of the fall, and the total depravity of man, and his awful misery, are not exhibited in many sermons in scriptural language; it is not plainly declared that all the human race are by nature, 'the children of wrath,'-that none can save himself––that no one deserves to be rescued, and that none will come to Christ to have life. There are but few ministers that fully show that salvation springs entirely out of the sovereign grace of God."

    The Arminian teaching was that Christ has purchased redemption for all, but that the effectual application of that redemption is limited and determined by the will of man. To Elias such teaching involved a denial of the completeness of Christ’s work and offices, it led to an underestimation of the effects of the fall upon man, and therefore to correspondingly low views of the necessity of the Spirit’s Almighty work in conversion. "I do not know," he writes, "how those that deny the total corruption of the human nature, and that salvation as to its plan, its performance, its application, is of grace only, can be considered as faithful ministers... Unsound and slight thoughts of the work of the Holy Spirit are entertained by many in these days, and he is grieved thereby. Is there not a want of perceiving the corruption, obstinacy, and spiritual deadness of man, and the consequent necessity of the Almighty Spirit to enlighten and overcome him? He opens the eyes of the blind; subduing the disobedient, making them willing in the day of His power; yea, He even raises up the spiritually dead! It is entirely the work of the Holy Ghost to apply to us the free and gracious salvation, planned by the Father in eternity, and executed by the Son in time. Nothing of ours is wanted to complete it... Man, under the fall, is as incapable to apply salvation to himself, as to plan and to accomplish it."

     No one saw the dangers which threatened the visible church from these errors more clearly than Elias. Towards the end of his life he writes, "It is a dark night on the church, the depth of winter, when she is sleepy and ready to die.

It is still more awful, if while they are asleep they should think themselves awake, and imagine that they see the sun at midnight!... The watchmen are not very alert and observant. The multitude of enemies that surround the castle walls, bear deceitful colours; not many of the watchmen know them! They are for opening the gates to many a hostile regiment! Oh let it never be said of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, 'Their watchmen are blind.'" He knew of no remedy for such a situation save a restoration of the truth in its purity. "If people are anxious for the favor of God’s presence, as the early fathers in the connexion were blessed with, let them take care that they be of the same principles, under the guidance of the same Spirit.... When the Spirit is more fully poured on people, those precious pillars of truth will be raised up out of their dusty holes; then the things of God shall be spoken in 'words taught by the Holy Ghost,' and the corrupt reasonings of men will be silenced by the strong light of divine truth. May the Lord restore a pure lip to the ministers, and may the old paths be sought, where the road is good, and may we walk in it; there is no danger there."

~ Source:  Iain H. Murray's "John Elias (1774-1841)," included as a Biographical Introduction to "The Experimental Knowledge of Christ and Additional Sermons of John Elias (1774-1841)," ed. by Joel R. Beeke; trans. by Owen Milton (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2006), 10-12. Murray's article was original published in The Banner of Truth, no. 5 (1955), 5-14, and can be found on The Banner of Truth Trust website here: http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/articles/article_detail.php?940. (Italics original, boldface mine.)

I Samuel 2:6  The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7  The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8  He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them. 9  He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 10  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.

Deuteronomy 32:39  See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

• C.H. Spurgeon's "A Defense of Calvinism"
• John Piper's sermons on unconditional election in Romans 9:6-13, Romans 9:14-18, and Romans 9:23-24, which can be found here:  http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/by-series/romans-the-greatest-letter-ever-written.html?page=2
• John Piper's sermon "I Will Be Gracious to Whom I Will Be Gracious" (Exodus 33:12-19)
  
• John Piper's sermon Faith: Unique & Fruitful Effect of the New Birth
  
• John Piper on the sovereignty of God and human responsibility
• John Piper's article, "Summary of the Sovereignty of God in Salvation"

For more on Welsh Calvinistic Methodism, please visit:  http://www.misterrichardson.com/calvinistic.html

Related posts:

• Silent Night - Not! ~ "Prayer also will be made for Him continually" ... day and night
• "Brother, we are only half awake" ~ Legh Richmond
• Are you storming heaven – or are you sleeping?

• true Calvinism is not
• I can't keep walking on eggshells here (more on Revelife, Calvinism, the Body of Christ and self
• Letter 7 on assurance and fighting for joy (remember His love for us while we were sinners)
• we did not choose, He chose us, worthy the Lamb, solus Christus
• no glory to me, o my Savior ~ only because You chose to favor | a spiritual birthday celebration
• Outcast vine, faithless bride ~ What beauty? What did you see?
• Why preach the Gospel? # 1: Bad men need Good News!
• Why preach the Gospel? # 2: Dead men need Life!

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Photo credits:

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Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_Spitzweg_022.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

In my last post, Silent Night ~ Not! ... , I challenged you to be offering up prayer for the Lord continually, as the Psalmist (and the Lord Himself) directs:

In that post I also mentioned the desire God has been giving me to be praying for reformation and revival in the Church. As the Church herself is reformed and revived, the Psalmist's prayer comes to fuller and fuller fruition:

As Christians, we are all poor, needy, and helpless sinners who were redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, so we might know the Father and the Son whom He sent (John 17:3); and in turn, that we might sent out into all the earth so lost souls from every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation would come to know Him (Rev. 5:9-10)... that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord would indeed fill the earth as the waters cover the seas (Habakkuk 2:14; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:47). (Where don't the waters cover the seas?)

Many of you may be wondering what reformation and revival looks like, and why in the world I'm praying for these things, and why I am encouraging you to be praying along with me.

We too easily become accustomed to and comfortable with the Church as we have always known her ("we've always done things that way"), and what we think she should be, rather than seeking the face of God through the Bible and prayer, so we might begin to understand what God intends for us to be. All too often, we've been placated and pacified with a culture of religious mediocrity.

Much like the Church at Laodicea, we are full of ourselves, rather than full of the Spirit. Why? Because we don't see our need of Him. We get along quite fine with our own resources, working out of the flesh, keeping busy, busy, busy with all our programs and activities –– all the while we are oblivious to the fact that we are grieving the Holy Spirit of God, and for all intents and purposes we are shutting Him out of the Church. A.W. Tozer once said something to this effect:  if the Holy Spirit were to leave the Church, 95% of the activity would continue on as usual.

Are we taking time to taste, see, and savor our Bridegroom? Are we so busy that we don't hear Him knocking and hearing His strong desire to sup with us? So many of us are blinded to what Martyn Lloyd-Jones called "the great and glorious possibilities of the Christian life" (see here & here).

We look at our own lives and the Church, and we think that in comparison with the world around us, we are doing fairly well. And, well, I suppose many of us might rightly say we are. But how are we doing in comparison with the New Testament Church as we read of her in the book of Acts? How are we doing in comparison with the Church in times of revival? How are we doing in comparison to Jesus' words that those who believe on Him would do greater works than He had done?

We are thankful that Jesus, the Son of God, became incarnate, that He came in the flesh just over 2000 years ago, and we certainly look forward to His second coming, but few Christians today have any understanding that we are in desperate need of the Lord Himself to come again in the meantime, an advent of a different sort: – to pour out His Holy Spirit to revive His Church again. God has graciously done that very thing on certain blessed occasions throughout Church history, a repetition of what happened on the Day of Pentecost.

As I've mentioned previously (e.g.- see here & here) one of the most refreshing tonics to short-sightedness, myopia, lethargy, lukewarmness, and complacency in the Christian life is to read Christian biography and Church history, particularly accounts of past revivals.

In that vein, I present to you today a letter which Jonathan Edwards wrote to a minister in Boston on this date in 1743. In it, Edwards gives us a glimpse of what it looks like when God rends the heavens and comes down (Isaiah 64): a time when God arose and awakened (Psalm 44, Isaiah 51:9) and stretched out His hand (Psalm 138:7-8) for the sake of His holy name in New England almost 300 years ago.

Edwards' words below provide us a little window into what reformation and revival in the Church looks like, and they will also give you a little more insight into why I'm praying for reformation and revival. (The excerpt is from Chapter X of Edwards' Works, Vol. 1; I'd also encourage you to read the entire chapter, as well as Chapters VI, VII, VIII and IX.)

As you read Edwards' report of some of the wonderful work of God during the latter days of the First Great Awakening, I am praying that God might be pleased to send down His baptizing, holy fire into your soul, so you might have a clearer view of the current condition, that you might be sparked to make prayer for Christ continually, to plead day and night until the LORD rends the heavens and comes down again in reviving power as he did in New England:  that the LORD might shine once again upon His people (Psalm 80) in this 21st century as He did in the 18th century, that the Kingdom of Heaven would suffer violence, and there would be appearance of a glorious progress of the work of God. Perhaps a year from now we might be able to joyfully report to one another that the LORD has done great things for us (Psalm 126), that our mouths would be filled with laughter and our tongues with singing:  that He has signally blessed us as He did the people of New England! Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Revive Your work in the midst of the years! Let the whole earth be filled with Your glory!

“Northampton, Dec.12, 1743.
Rev. and Dear Sir,

Ever since the great work of God that was wrought here about nine years ago, there has been a great abiding alteration in this town in many respects. There has been vastly more religion kept up in the town, among all sorts of persons, in religious exercises and in common conversation than used to be before. There has remained a more general seriousness and decency in attending the public worship. There has been a very great alteration among the youth of the town with respect to reveling, frolicking, profane and unclean conversation, and lewd songs. Instances of fornication have been very rare. There has also been a great alteration among both old and young with respect to tavern haunting. I suppose the town has been in no measure so free of vice in these respects for any long time together for this sixty years as it has been this nine years past.

There has also been an evident alteration with respect to a charitable spirit to the poor (though I think with regard to this in this town, as the land in general, come far short of Gospel rules). And though after that great work nine years ago there has been a very lamentable decay of religious affections and the engagedness of people's spirit in religion, yet many societies for prayer and social religion were all along kept up; and there were some few instances of awakening and deep concern about the doings of another world, even in the most dead time.

In the year 1740, in the spring, before Mr. Whitefield came to this town, there was a visible alteration. There was more seriousness and religious conversation, especially among young people; those things that were of ill tendency among them were more forborne. And it was a more frequent thing for persons to visit their minister upon soul accounts; and in some particular persons there appeared a great alteration about that time. And thus it continued till Mr. Whitefield came to town, which was about the middle of October following. He preached here four sermons in the meeting-house (besides a private lecture at my house)-one on Friday, another on Saturday, and two upon the Sabbath. The congregation was extraordinarily melted by every sermon; almost the whole assembly being in tears for a great part of sermon time. Mr. Whitefield's sermons were suitable to the circumstances of the town, containing just reproofs of our backslidings, and, in a most moving and affecting manner, making use of our great profession and great mercies as arguments with us to return to God, from whom we had departed.

Immediately after this, the minds of the people in general appeared more engaged in religion, showing a greater forwardness to make religion the subject of their conversation, and to meet frequently together for religious purposes, and to embrace all opportunities to hear the Word preached. The revival at first appeared chiefly among professors and those that had entertained the hope that they were in a state of grace, to whom Mr. Whitefield chiefly addressed himself. But in a very short time there appeared an awakening and deep concern among some young persons that looked upon themselves as in a Christless state; and there were some hopeful appearances of conversion; and some professors were greatly revived.

In about a month or six weeks, there was a great alteration in the town, both as to the revivals of professors and awakenings of others. By the middle of December, a very considerable work of God appeared among those that were very young; and the revival of religion continued to increase; so that in the spring an engagedness of spirit about things of religion was become very general among young people and children, and religious subjects almost wholly took up their conversation when they were together.

In the month of May 1741, a sermon was preached to a company at a private house. Near the conclusion of the exercise, one or two persons that were professors were so greatly affected with a sense of the greatness and glory of divine things, and the infinite importance of the things of eternity, that they were not able to conceal it; the affection of their minds overcoming their strength, and having a very visible effect on their bodies. When the exercise was over, the young people that were present removed into the other room for religious conference; and particularly that they might have opportunity to inquire of those that were thus affected what apprehensions they had, and what things they were that thus deeply impressed their minds. And there soon appeared a very great effect of their conversation; the affection was quickly propagated through the room; many of the young people and children that were professors appeared to be overcome with a sense of the greatness and glory of divine things, and with admiration, love, joy and praise, and compassion to others that looked upon themselves as in a state of nature. And many others at the same time were overcome with distress about their sinful and miserable state and condition; so that the whole room was full of nothing but outcries, faintings, and suchlike.

Others soon heard of it, in several parts of the town, and came to them; and what they saw and heard there was greatly affecting to them; so that many of them were overpowered in like manner. And it continued thus for some hours, the time spent in prayer, singing, counseling, and conferring. There seemed to be a consequent happy effect of that meeting to several particular persons, and in the state of religion in the town in general. After this were meetings from time to time attended with like appearances.

But a little after it, at the conclusion of the public exercise on the Sabbath, I appointed the children that were under sixteen years of age to go from the meetinghouse to a neighbor house, that I there might further enforce what they had heard in public, and might give in some counsels proper for their age. The children were there very generally and greatly affected with the warnings and counsels that were given them, and many exceedingly overcome; and the room was filled with cries. And when they were dismissed, they, almost all of them, went home crying aloud through the streets, to all parts of the town. The like appearances attended several such meetings of children that were appointed.

But their affections appeared by what followed to be of a very different nature; in many they appeared to be indeed but childish affections, and in a day or two would leave them as they were before. Others were deeply impressed; their convictions took fast hold of them and abode by them. And there were some that from one meeting to another seemed extraordinarily affected for some time, to but little purpose, their affections presently vanishing, from time to time; but yet afterward were seized with abiding convictions, and their affections became durable.

About the middle of the summer, I called together the young people that were communicants, from sixteen to twenty-six years of age, to my house; which proved to be a most happy meeting. Many seemed to be very greatly and most agreeably affected with those views which excited humility, self-condemnation, self-abhorrence, love, and joy; many fainted under these affections. We had several meetings that summer of young people attended with like appearances. It was about that time that there first began to be cryings out in the meetinghouse; which several times occasioned many of the congregation to stay in the house after the public exercise was over, to confer with those who seemed to be overcome with religious convictions and affection which was found to tend much to the propagation of their impressions, with lasting effect upon many, conference being at these times commonly joined with prayer and singing. In the summer and fall, the children in various parts of the town had religious meetings by themselves for prayer, sometimes joined with fasting; wherein many of them seemed to be greatly and properly affected, and I hope some of them savingly wrought upon.

The months of August and September were the most remarkable of any this year, for appearances of conviction and conversion of sinners, and great revivings, quickenings, and comforts of professors, and for extraordinary external effects of these things. It was a very frequent thing to see a houseful of outcries, faintings, convulsions, and suchlike, both with distress and also with admiration and joy. It was not the manner here to hold meetings all night, as in some places, nor was it common to continue them until very late in the night; but it was pretty often so that there were some that were so affected, and their bodies so overcome, that they could not go home, but were obliged to stay all night at the house where they were. There was no difference that I know of here, with regard to the extraordinary effects, in meetings in night and in the daytime. The meetings which these effects appeared in the evening being commonly begun, and their extraordinary effects, in the day, and continued in the evening; and some meetings have been very remarkable for such extraordinary effects that were both begun and finished in the daytime.

There was an appearance of a glorious progress of the work of God upon the hearts of sinners in conviction and conversion this summer and fall; and great numbers. I think we have reason to hope, were brought savingly home to Christ. But this was remarkable, the work of God in His influences of this nature seemed to be almost wholly upon a new generation; those that were not come to years of discretion an that wonderful season nine years ago, children, or those that were then children. Others that had enjoyed that former glorious opportunity without any appearance of saving benefit seemed now to be almost wholly passed over and let alone. But now we had the most wonderful work among children that ever was in Northampton. The former great outpouring of the spirit was remarkable for influences upon the minds of children, beyond all that had ever been before; but this far exceeded that.

Indeed, as to influences on the minds of professors, this work was by no means confined to a new generation. Many of all ages partook of it; but, yet, in this respect, it was more general on those that were of the younger sort. Many that had formerly been wrought upon, that in the times of our declension had fallen into decays, and had in a great measure left God and gone after the world, now passed under a very remarkable new work of the spirit of God, as if they had been the subjects of a second conversion. They were first led into the wilderness, and had a work of conviction, having much greater convictions of the sin of both nature and practice than ever before (though with some new circumstances, and something new in the kind of conviction) in some with great distress, beyond what they had felt before their first conversion.

Under these convictions they were excited to strive for salvation, and the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence from some of them in a far more remarkable manner than before. And after great convictions and humblings and agonizings with God, they had Christ discovered to them anew, as an All-sufficient Savior, and in the glories of His grace, and in a far more clear manner than before; and with greater humility, self-emptiness, and brokenness of heart, and a purer and higher joy, and greater desires after holiness of life, but with greater self-diffidence and distrust of their treacherous hearts.

One circumstance wherein this work differed from that which had been in the town five or six years before was that conversions were frequently wrought more sensibly and visibly; the impressions stronger and more manifest by external effects of them; and the progress of the spirit of God in conviction, from step to step, more apparent; and the transition from one state to another more sensible and plain; so that it might, in many instances, be as it were seen by bystanders. The preceding season had been very remarkable on this account beyond what had been before; but this more remarkable than that. And in this season these apparent or visible conversions (if I may so call them) were more frequently in the presence of others, at religious meetings, where the appearances of what was wrought on the heart fell under public observation. . . .

In the beginning of the summer 1742, there seemed to be some abatement of the liveliness of people's affections in religion; but yet many were often in a great height of them. And in the fall and winter following, there were at times extraordinary appearances. But in the general, people's engagedness in religion and the liveliness of their affections have been on the decline; and some of the young people, especially, have shamefully lost their liveliness and vigor in religion, and much of the seriousness and solemnity of their spirits. But there are many that walk as becomes saints; and, to this day, there are a considerable number in the town that seem to be near to God, and maintain much of the life of religion, and enjoy many of the sensible tokens and fruits of His gracious presence.

With respect to the late season of revival of religion among us for three or four years past, it has been observable that in the former part of it, in the years 1740 and 1741, the work seemed to be much more pure, having less of a corrupt mixture, than in the former great outpouring of the spirit in 1735 and 1736. Persons seemed to be sensible of their former errors, and had learned more of their own hearts, and experience had taught them more of the tendency and consequences of things. They were now better guarded, and their affections were not only greater but attended with greater solemnity, and greater humility and self-distrust, and greater engagedness after holy living and perseverance; and there were fewer errors in conduct.

But in the latter part of it, in the year 1742, it was otherwise. The work continued more pure, till we were infected from abroad. Our people, hearing and some of them seeing the work in other places where there was a greater visible commotion than here, and the outward appearances were more extraordinary, were ready to think that the work in those places far excelled what was among us; and their eyes were dazzled with the high profession and great show that some made who came hither from other places.

That those people went so far beyond them in raptures and violent emotions of the affections and a vehement zeal, and what they called boldness for Christ, our people were ready to think was owing to their far greater attainments in grace and intimacy with Heaven. They looked little in their own eyes in comparison of them, and were ready to submit themselves to them, and yield themselves up to their conduct, taking it for granted that everything was right that they said and did. These things. had a strange influence on the people, gave many of them a deep and unhappy tincture, that it was a hard and long labor to deliver them from and which some them are not fully delivered from to this day.

The effects and consequences of things among us plainly shows the following things, viz.: that the degree of grace is no means to be judged of by the degree of joy, or the degree of zeal; and that indeed we cannot at all determine by these things who are gracious and who are not; and that it as not the degree of religious affections but the nature of them that is chiefly to be looked at. Some that have had very great raptures of joy, and have been extraordinarily filled (as the vulgar phrase is), and have had their bodies overcome, and that very often have manifested far less of the temper of Christians in their conduct since than some others that have been still and have made no great outward show. But then again there are many others that have extraordinary joys and emotions of mind, with frequent great effects on their bodies, that behave themselves steadfastly as humble, amiable, eminent Christians

'Tis evident that there may be great religious affections that may, in show and; appearance, imitate gracious affections, and have the same effects on their bodies, but are far from having the same effect in the temper of their minds and course of their lives. And likewise there is nothing more manifest by what appears among us than that the goodness of persons' state is not chiefly to be judged of by any exactness of steps and method of experiences in what is supposed to be the first conversion; but that we must judge more by the spirit that breathes, the effect wrought on the temper of the soul, in the time of the work, and remaining afterward.

Though there have been very few instances among professors among us of what is ordinarily called scandalous sin known to me, yet the temper that some of them show and the behavior they have been of, together with some things in the kind and circumstances of their experiences, make me much afraid lest there be a considerable number that have woefully deceived themselves. Though, on the other hand, there is a great number whose temper and conversation as such as justly confirms the charity of others toward them; and not a few in whose disposition and walk there are amiable appearances of eminent grace. And notwithstanding all the corrupt mixtures that have been in the late work here, there are not only many blessed fruits of it in particular persons that yet remain, but some good effects of it upon the town in general.

A party spirit has more ceased. I suppose there has been less appearance these three or four years past of that division of the town into two parties, that has long been our bane, than has been these thirty years. And the people have apparently had much more caution and a greater guard on their spirit and their tongues to avoid contention and unchristian heats in town meetings and on other occasions. And 'tis a thing greatly to be rejoiced in, that the people very lately have come to an agreement and final issue with respect to their grand controversy relating to their common lands; which has been above any other particular thing a source of mutual prejudices, jealousies, and debates for fifteen or sixteen years past.

The people are also generally of late in some respects considerably altered and meliorated in their notions of religion, particularly they seem to be much more sensible of the danger of resting in old experiences, or what they were subjects of at their supposed first conversion; and to be more fully convinced of the necessity of forgetting the things that are behind and pressing forward, and maintaining earnest labor, watchfulness, and prayerfulness as long as they live.

I am, Rev. Sir,
Your friend and brother,
Jonathan Edwards”

(Source: Jonathan Edwards' Works I, Chapter X ~ http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works1.i.x.html)

Related:

• Revival resources, etc.
• More revival resources: opportunity and eyes to see the ruins, a burden from God
• The Day of Pentecost ... the first of a series (Martyn Lloyd-Jones on revival)
• Bible Reading: Acts – Some Questions the Church Should Be Asking
• Naphtali News: the Ministry of the Word & Prayer (see the second portion on prayer)
• Here I stand & from here I cast (devoted to prayer & the ministry of the Word)
• Are you storming heaven – or are you sleeping?
• Prayer & Revival in Ireland (R.A. Torrey) & Livingstone in Africa: Are we in our closets?
• Reformation Rebels: Are you willing to be a rebel for the sake of the Church?
• Postcards from England: "the fog is lifting on My Church"
• postcards from England: "The Burden for Revival" (ML-J)
• postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
• 492 years later: You say you want a reformation? (my theses and a call to prayer)
• the lost treasures of Christianity & the call to pray for revival (Bible reading: Ezra 1)
• many will come and deceive - will you do whatever it takes?
• Do we care more for manatees than for His flock?
• adopting God's purpose for the nations is for your joy & His glory (Letter 76 on joy)

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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