devil

  • "That could have been me!" ~ a contraceptive advocate

    I was brought to tears, I pointed at the t.v. screen and cried out,

    "That could have been me!"

    I had subscribed to Ms. Magazine not long after it came out in 1971.

    My senior year of high school I missed my period, and not long afterwards, I drove out of town to the nearest Planned Parenthood.

    But I couldn't get an abortion in state because my parents would have had to be notified.

    Along with my boyfriend, an out-of-state trip was planned – under the guise of a college visit.

    The night before we were scheduled to take that trip, my grandmother asked if I were pregnant (a mystery as to why she asked me that, except the good hand of God was upon my unborn child and me!), and my family offered support whatever I ended up choosing.

    Not long afterwards, she and I visited an ob/gyn, and I can't explain this, except once again it was the grace of God protecting my unborn daughter and myself through the words of that doctor, since I ended up opting to have the baby out of fear of the pain of the abortion procedure!

    Several months later, after a not-so-fun time of extended labor, I held my daughter and looked at her, and wondered how I could ever have aborted her.

    A few years later I moved to Madison (a.k.a. - "78 square miles surrounded by reality") and ended up joining the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.).

    I signed up to be part of the Reproductive Rights Task Force.

    One of the things we did was to sit in the student union and write letters to Congressmen and Senators to "Keep Abortion Legal."

    I also wore a coat hanger necklace, the reminder of "Never Again" to back-alley abortions that had allegedly killed thousands of women.

    I even went to the N.O.W. National Convention that fall.
    (That was the road trip I was on, the night I was praying to God, which I described in my testimony here.)

    Then by the grace of God, I was saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Not long afterwards, I went to a monthly N.O.W. meeting and explained I'd become a Christian. I told the women there I didn't know if I could remain involved with the group.

    I continued reading the Bible and soon realized I couldn't continue to support abortion rights as I had.

    My friends, the world remains in darkness, under the rule of the god of the world, the evil one.

    As Christians, let's never forget that:

    ... we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

    And let's pray that Sandra Fluke and other women like her would have their eyes opened as God graciously opened mine.

     II Corinthians 4:4  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

    Here's a little video introduction to Trip Lee's song, "Beautiful Life," followed by the song itself.

    Trip Lee on "Beautiful Life" from Desiring God on Vimeo.

    Psalm 127:3  Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

     [Disclaimer: This is NOT a political statement, but a spiritual one.]

    Related:

    the least of these
    I sought ... yet You kept seeking me (Your plans can never be aborted)

    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.

  • Are you sitting in the midst of the ephah? ~ Zechariah 5

    Zechariah 5:1  Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. 2  And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. 3  Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. 4  I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

    5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. 6  And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. 7  And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. 8  And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. 9  Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. 10  Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? 11  And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. (KJV)

    The following is an excerpt from Lecture VI. of Ralph Wardlaw's "Lectures on the Prophecies of Zechariah" (Second Edition 1869, ed. by The Rev. J. S. Wardlaw; (Stoke-on-Trent: Tentmaker Publications, reprinted 2002 & 2007), 114-188, 121-122 (italics original, boldface mine).

     "An ephah."

    This was a common Jewish measure, the same as a "bath;" containing ten "homers," or about an English bushel. . . .

    1. Who, or what, is represented by the woman? — . . . There is nothing else that can well be supposed to be represented by the symbol, but the Jewish people — the nation of Israel, — the ancient Church of God — " the daughter of Zion." I acquiesce, then, in this interpretation; which is the one most commonly received. . .

    2. But why is this woman represented as seated in an ephah? — As to what the ephah is, there exists of course no difficulty. But to the question just put. Why in an ephah? . . . I am disposed, then, to understand the ephah as the apt emblem of traffic, or merchandise. It was one of the most common measures in use among the Jews. In proof of this it may be noticed, that it is selected as the representative of measures in general. . . The ephah, then, is a sufficiently appropriate symbol of the merchandise, or business, of this world; and the woman seated in the ephah, of the Jewish people immersed in worldliness.

    This worldliness — this eager thirst after earthly things —  mingled with a large amount of dishonesty and deceit in their acquisition, was a ground of divine complaint and expostulation by the prophets, previously to the captivity. Their idolatries might then be the chief theme of censure and remonstrance; but it was far from being the only one. . . [Wardlaw references Amos viii. 4 — 6.] . . .

    We have further to notice, that the same worldly disposition had manifested itself after the return from the captivity, as well as before. [Wardlaw references Neh. xiii. 10, 15 — 18.] . . . Here is the very same evil. There was now no idolatry: but there was still "the love of this present world," setting aside the commands of God and the obligations of godliness. And the same spirit is complained of by Jehovah, through the prophet Haggai (see Hag. i. 3-11; and chap. ii. 10-14). And, although by the remonstrances of Nehemiah and Ezra, and Haggai and Zechariah, this worldly propensity had been so far corrected, that they had set to in greater earnest to the building of the temple, yet still there was a large amount of it. . . Though there was no direct defection to idolatry, — the world had full possession of them; they abode in the "ephah." . . .

    3. The ephah was covered: the heavy lid of lead was carefully put down upon the mouth of it. This appears a sufficiently significant emblem of the impossibility of escape from the execution of God's merited judgments. The woman is shut up securely in the ephah, when it is about to be borne away. So the Jewish people, considered conditionally as retaining their character, should be carried away in their worldliness. There would be no escape, and no power to rescue. As the very "ephah," the instrument of their merchandise and wealth, is represented as becoming the means of confinement; so does the earthliness, the worldly-mindedness, the ambition and covetousness, of the Jewish people, shut them up to retributive vengeance. It was a species of idolatry — spiritual idolatry; alienating their hearts from God ; making them devotees of mammon. With equal truth might it be said of this as of idolatry — "This is wickedness." It is, I conceive, too readily and confidently taken for granted, that this can mean nothing else than idolatry. Worldliness is ungodliness; and ungodliness is "wickedness." You will have seen that I agree with those who interpret the carrying away of the ephah from the land of Judah of the then future and more lasting banishment of Israel from that land, if, through the power of worldliness they persisted in their unbelief and rebellion against Jehovah and his Anointed. . .

    Worldliness is the ruin of thousands and tens of thousands. It is not at all necessary to insure a man's perdition, that he either "steal" or "swear falsely." A man may be a thorough worldling, without the practice of these or any gross iniquities. Whatever shuts God out from His place in the heart as the object of fear and love, and from His place in the conscience as the authoritative regulator of the life, — that, be it what it may, is the ruin of the man. In the parable of the marriage feast, the men who declined the invitation, and "went away to their farms and to their merchandise," are not charged with any selfish and fraudulent dealing in the management of their farms or the prosecution of their merchandise. What was their sin? WORLDLINESS. They preferred the world to God. They declined the blessings of the Gospel for something more to their taste. Instead of "seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," they "neglected the great salvation." They chose the world and the things of the world — no matter in how innocent a form — even the sweets of domestic life itself — to God and the things of God. And in the enjoyment of these, as their chosen portion, they "had their reward." Thus it was of old; thus it is still. Let no man deceive himself by fancying it necessary to his forfeiture of the blessings of God's salvation, that he give himself up to the practice of dishonesty and of open vice. If his heart is in the world, with the world he must have his portion. If he is "in the Ephah," he must be carried away with it.

    And let Christians be on their guard against "the love of this present world." It is an insinuating and perilous principle. In proportion as it gains upon the heart, it tends to enfeeble the energies, and deaden the sensibilities, of the divine life in the soul. God will not have a divided heart. "YE CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MAMMON."

    Are you currently sitting in the midst of the ephah?
    Are you declining the blessing of the Gospel for something more to your taste?
    Are you preferring the world and the things of the world to God?
    Are you choosing the world and the things of the world to God and the things of God?

    The Hebrew word translated "sitteth" in verse 7 is  yashab, which means to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry:--(make to) abide(-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell(-ing), ease self, endure, establish, X fail, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit(-ant), make to keep (house), lurking, X marry(-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set(- tle), (down-)sit(-down, still, -ting down, -ting (place) -uate), take, tarry. ~ From Strong's Concordance

    Implied there, this is more than just a quick stop, so Wardlaw's use of the word "abode" is definitely appropriate. And it ought to give us great pause, since these things are written to us as an example: – each and every one of us is prone to sitting in, abiding in, dwelling in, settling in, tarrying in the ephah.

    And, as Wardlaw alluded, this sitting in the midst of the ephah can be a subtle thing. Remember: the devil himself specializes in subtlety – he is crafty and scheming, he is a liar and the father of lies – he manifests himself as an angel of light. Good and innocent desires can be twisted and corrupted, our hearts can be divided, and our affections can lapse – and before we know it, we find ourselves in the sad and sorry position of the Ephesian Church, to whom Jesus gave this rebuke:

    But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

    Remember this: you may possibly be fooling others by putting on a good show, and you may even be fooling yourself, but Jesus Himself knows each of our hearts:

    Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

    Let's consider those gifts of work, marriage, and family, to which Wardlaw alluded as he spoke of the parable of the great supper.

    Luke 14:15  When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16  But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17  And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18  But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19  And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20  And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21  So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22  And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23  And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24  For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

    Now, don't get me wrong –– there's nothing wrong with work, and there's nothing wrong with marriage and family –– except when our affections for those things keep us away from the great supper and prevent us from tasting and savoring and enjoying and being satisfied at the banquet of the Lord Jesus Christ! In that case, that's a pathetic, frightful, and downright deadly exchange –– similar to Esau's selling the birthright for a bowl of stew! For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.

    God Himself gave Adam and Eve work to do before the fall. And certainly the gifts of marriage and parenthood are high and holy callings. But how many Christians become sinfully obsessed with career and finances? How many become sinfully obsessed with getting married and having children? How many get into that ephah and then sit there –– and languish there –– mesmerized, consumed, and controlled by worldliness – unholy thoughts and selfish ambitions revolving around career, marriage, and family –– to the exclusion of Christ? Remember this: the LORD our God is a consuming fire and He is jealous; His name is jealous (Deut. 4:24, Ex. 34:14).

    Days slip away into weeks, and weeks slip away into months, and months slip away into years . . . and what have you done all that time? Have you supped with Christ? Have you savored your Bridegroom? There you are: abiding in the midst of the ephah –– instead of abiding in Christ. Sitting in the midst of the ephah and oblivious to the free gift of God:  the heavenly banquet set before you. Your heart has been hardening, your ears are closing to Christ's knocking at the door –– all because you are too consumed, captivated, and enamored by the worldly to smell the aroma of the celestial feast and to hear His call. All the while, the Father was proclaiming: "All that I have is yours!" – and the only begotten Son was pleading: "Would that you knew the things that made for your peace. O, come and take up My yoke! Come and eat! Come and drink!" –– but you would not! And there you sit in the midst of the ephah year after year, after year, perhaps even gaining the world, but your heart hardening, and your soul growing ever more worldly, sicker, and increasingly unsatisfied.

    In I Samuel 8, the Israelites showed their desires were worldly as they rejected God as their King, and as they lusted after and demanded from God a king LIKE ALL THE NATIONS. Let us take heed, lest we fall, for the very same thing can all too quickly happen to any of us...

    Now give me a career LIKE ALL THE NATIONS.
    Now give me possessions LIKE ALL THE NATIONS.
    Now give me property LIKE ALL THE NATIONS.
    Now give me a portfolio LIKE ALL THE NATIONS.
    Now give me a husband (wife) LIKE ALL THE NATIONS.
    Now give me a child (children) LIKE ALL THE NATIONS.

    Know this:  much as God did give the Israelites a king in answer to their request at that time, and much as God did give the Israelites meat in answer to their request –– and quail came out their nostrils and it became loathesome to them (Numbers 11) –– you may indeed get what you are asking for . . .  but at what cost? At the loss of enjoyment of Jesus Christ in this life – and perhaps even at the loss of your very own soul for eternity.

    As you continue to sit in the ephah, as you continue to eat and drink of the world, you are robbing yourself! You are depriving yourself of the True Bread and the Living Water – and in the process you will continue to become hungrier and thirstier and emptier; you will wither as you become more and more discontent, more and more restless, and less and less satisfied.

    Proverbs 27:20  (KJV) Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

    Ezekiel 16:28  You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29  You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

    The only true contentment, genuine happiness, pure joy, and full satisfaction is found outside the ephah – in the courts of the LORD:

    Psalm 36
    7  How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
    8  They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

    Psalm 65
    4  Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
    to dwell in your courts!
    We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    the holiness of your temple!

    Can any of us continue to sit in the midst of the ephah – to be immersed in worldliness – and rightly claim to have fellowship with God?

    I John 1:5  This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

    I John 2:5  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

    James 4:4  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

    Psalm 5
    4  For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
    evil may not dwell with you.
    5  The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
    you hate all evildoers.

    Malachi 1:13a (KJV)  Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:

    II Corinthians 6:14  Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15  What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16  What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;  as God said,

    “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
    17  Therefore go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord,
    and touch no unclean thing;
    then I will welcome you,
    18  and I will be a father to you,
    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
    says the Lord Almighty.”


    7:1  Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

    One reason the apostle John wrote the book of First John was to exhort God's people to examine themselves, to call them to repentance, to call them to confess their sins, to call them out of darkness, out of lies, out of wickedness, out of unrighteousness, out of worldliness – out of the ephah – so they might once again enter into and experience the all-surpassing joy of fellowship with God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and all the saints:

    I John 1:1  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2  the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4  And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

    5  This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

    2:1  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3  And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4  Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5  but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

    Are you abiding in the midst of the ephah?
    Does the world or does Christ currently have full possession of you?
    Are you preferring the world to God, are you continuing to decline Christ's request to sup with you?
    Have you ever tasted and seen that He is good?

    Christian, show yourself to be born of incorruptible seed, show yourself to be Christ's bride, show yourself to be sons and daughters of the Holy One of Israel! Linger no more in the ephah! Leap forth from the ephah! Tarry no more in the ephah! If you are Christ's, He has made you a new creation with new desires –– a mind, heart, and soul that are no longer pleased or satisfied with earthly offerings or worldly fare. Show yourself to be His new creation with transformed desires and high affections, spring up with quickened footsteps, arise from out from the midst of the ephah. Don't presume upon God's grace, don't think you can rest or recline in the ephah a single moment longer. The Son of Man is coming as a thief in the night, the time at which all worldliness and all worldly joys will be consumed:

    Isaiah 24
    7  The wine mourns,
    the vine languishes,
    all the merry-hearted sigh.
    8  The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
    the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
    the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
    9  No more do they drink wine with singing;
    strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
    10  The wasted city is broken down;
    every house is shut up so that none can enter.
    11  There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
    all joy has grown dark;
    the gladness of the earth is banished.
    12  Desolation is left in the city;
    the gates are battered into ruins.
    13  For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
    among the nations,
    as when an olive tree is beaten,
    as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

    All who sit in the midst of the ephah, all who abide in wickedness at the end of the age will be taken away to outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the worm will not die and the fire is not quenched.

    "If his heart is in the world, with the world he must have his portion.
    If he is "in the Ephah," he must be carried away with it."

    Text of Wardlaw's Commentary is available here: http://archive.org/stream/lecturesonprophe00ward/lecturesonprophe00ward_djvu.txt

    Related:

    Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
    occupy ~ do you seek your own – or the things of Christ? does His Spirit occupy?
    Finding pleasure in Him
    Letter 18 on assurance and fighting for joy (my testimony of joy)
    Letter 25 on assurance and fighting for joy (a strong craving ≠ His joy)
    Half a heart, half a heart (How long? If the LORD is God, follow Him)
    If you knew the gift of God... (John 4:1-15)
    don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)
    Happy Birthday, John Piper ~ reflections on year-ends, aging, fruit bearing & Christian hedonism
    Naphtali News: Songs about "What *I* Want," part 5: If the Curly Fry Doesn't "Satisfy," What Does?
    Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
    Is your ambition holy? / What are you living for? (Louis Paul Lehman) | The Christian's Aim
    Be not an Esau (Genesis 25:29-34, Hebrews 12:15-17)
    Are you wasting your life living like all the other nations? Ezekiel 25:8
    Profitable Preaching ~ Kenneth Stewart: "And your soul will be a damp squib..."
    As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
    Sin is determined. Are you? (Judges 1:27-36)
    Don't Waste Your Singleness | Single one ... be single-eyed
    to My seeking unmarried child (letter 40 on assurance & fighting for joy)
    my dear single sister in Christ: Christ & Christ alone for your joy (Letter 62 on joy)
    wives, your husband is not your Husband | letter 77 on assurance & joy
    the lover's inquiry | letter 114 on fighting for joy
    200 years ago ... Adoniram & Ann Judson ~ Don't waste YOUR marriage
    Don't Waste Your Singleness | Single one ... be single-eyed
    Flame of Jehovah! Jealousy's Love
    Why read Christian biography? To help us examine our love for God.
    Have you forgotten? Will you REMEMBER and REPENT?
    God, Love & Cookies ~ Have you abandoned your first Love? (Revelation 2:4)
    my notes on Tim Keller's talk on idols @ The Gospel Coalition Conference
    tangled
    Dearest idol, how can I find rest?
    Fourth Sunday of Advent: Are you preparing Him room?
    Written for our example

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

    Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated 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.

    Photo credits:

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hunt,_William_Homan_-_The_Light_of_the_World_-_1853-54.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 /
    {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Family-House-1969.jpg / by David Ball

     

  • Profitable Preaching ~ Kenneth Stewart: "And your soul will be a damp squib..."

    I've previously blogged about a couple preachers who have had a huge impact on my life:  the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Piper (for more info., please see the links at the end of this post). Because there is a lot of harmful teaching and preaching running rampant, we need to be on constant guard and to test all things. But let's remember, there is nothing new under the sun. The very same thing was happening in the days of the early Church – hence all the warnings in the New Testament for us to guard the Gospel and to be rightly rooted in doctrine, and so on. The devil is constantly prowling; he is seeking to steal, kill, and destroy, and one of his most insidious means of doing so is through deceitful preaching within the visible church. He doesn't come in with a pitchfork and horns, but he comes as an angel of light, taking the truth of God's Word and subtly twisting it, with the intent that we might not enter into and enjoy the life abundantly that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, came to give to His sheep. Remember: Satan is Christ's adversary and the adversary of all who are Christ's. The devil is a wily schemer, and he is a murderer and a liar and the father of lies. The apostle Paul warned us that fierce wolves would rise up within the church, and they would not spare the flock (see Acts 20:29-30). We must take heed to our souls, and we must remember if we are taking garbage in, garbage will inevitably come out! GIGO! Our eternal souls are at stake! Doctrine is not optional, or a throw-away, it is vital to our soul's well-being! We only have so many hours in a day, and we must be wise in what we read, watch, and listen to. We should be seeking to feed our souls with profitable preaching. Throughout the book of Jeremiah, there was a continued lamentation and rebuke that Israel had gone after that worthless things which did not profit (e.g. - Jer. 2:8, 7:8, 12:13, 14:14, 16:19, 23:32), and because of her turning away from the Word of the LORD, Israel ended up in exile for 70 years in Babylon.

    Both Dr. Lloyd-Jones and Dr. Piper (as well as all the preachers and teachers I'm drawn to, and whom I recommend to others) preach a felt Christ. Dr. Lloyd-Jones' preaching was spoken of as "logic on fire." These men preach of an experiential/experimental religion (please see here for more on that). By experimental religion I mean religion of the sort where, as God's Holy Spirit sovereignly moves, the doctrines of the Bible are imparted in power to the soul, such as what happened to the disciples on the Emmaus road: "Did not our heart burn within us... ?" Or, consider David's description about the Word of God in this way: that it was sweeter than honey and the honeycomb! There are certain times, as God's sovereign Spirit blows, when religion becomes more than notion, as Joseph Hart penned:

    True religion's more than notion,
    Something must be known and felt.

    These men also both preach from a Reformed perspective, i.e. - Calvinism, or the doctrines of grace, or TULIP (see here). In Calvinism there is a high view of God: the glory and majesty and holiness and sovereignty and beauty of God is emphasized, and along with it, the total depravity and inability of men. Consequently, the most excellent glory of God's love, mercy, and grace in providing salvation – from beginning to ending (foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified! ~ Romans 8:29-30) – to helpless, hopeless, dead, powerless, vile, and worthless sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ is most wonderfully displayed and highly exalted.


    Salvation is of the LORD.
    (Jonah 2:9)

    Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
    But to Your name give glory,
    because of Your mercy,
    And because of Your truth.
    (Psalm 115:1)

    Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

    For who has known the mind of the LORD?
    Or who has become His counselor?
    Or who has first given to Him
    And it shall be repaid to him?

    For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things,
    to whom be glory forever. Amen.
    (Romans 11:33-36)

    For those of you who aren't familiar with Calvinism, in  "A Defense of Calvinism," Charles Spurgeon wrote:

    I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor.

    "If ever it should come to pass,
    That sheep of Christ might fall away,
    My fickle, feeble soul, alas!
    Would fall a thousand times a day."

    I've mentioned this to a couple of my friends here – @AmyDoo and @stephensmustang – that for quite a while now, I've been wanting to give you a list of some of the preachers to whom I've been listening (Ah! the iPod – it's a beautiful thing!) – and now, having set forth some of what I value in preaching, tonight I'd like to introduce you to the preaching of Kenneth Stewart, currently the pastor at Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church in Glasgow, Scotland.

    The following is an excerpt from the latter part of Kenneth Stewart's sermon "Gains and Losses (2)" <http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=319121440382> on Philippians 3:7.

    7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

    God saved Saul of Tarsus, as he calls himself a chief of sinners. He did that just to show that can be yours too. Yours! That can be your experience. This man was what? Somewhere in his thirties perhaps... but his life was turned upside-down for God, and so can yours be.

    Will you not start to live like that, friend? Will you not confess your brokenness and your sin and your hopelessness and helplessness, and come to Christ – that this new life may begin in yourself too. He finds a righteousness.

    But the righteousness isn't all he finds. He finds a life as well. He doesn't just get a ticket to heaven – he gets a new type of life to live. That's the point of justification after all. That's the point of being put legally right.... Once we're put legally right, everything else can be sorted out.

    The whole purpose of our justification is that sanctification can begin. We start to know God. We just start – and we go on – to know Him better. After all, he says, first of all in verse 9, he wants to be found. This is a reference, I think, to the judgment seat. He wants to be found there, not having his own righteousness, no – which is from the law – but that which is from faith in Christ – the righteousness which is from God by faith.

    "That I may know Him," he says. "I don't just want to be set free by Him, I want to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."

    What's he's saying there?

    Well, Christ isn't just giving him an inheritance, He's giving him a new life.

    What is eternal life? Well, Jesus answers that question in John 17, verse 5: It's to know God, to know the Father, to know the Son – through the Spirit. That is life. That's when life begins. They say life begins at 40, or whatever. It begins when you know God. When you call Him your father in heaven. When a relationship is struck between your Creator and you. That's when life starts. Anything else you live, friend, I don't care how racy it is, how adventurous it is, how exciting it is, it's not life!

    Life begins when you know your Creator, and you enter into a relationship with Him. Anything less than that is not life at all.

    That I may know Him. He says, "Yes, that's what I want. . .

    What is it to mean to know? Well, to know is not just to know intellectually, but to know in the heart. He wants to know Christ as a person. He wants to know more and more of who Christ is and what He has done for him. A righteousness and a life.

    And you'll notice that he describes that especially in verse 10 in these terms:  knowing Christ consists in knowing the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.

    That I may know Him. "Yes," he says, "that's what I want."  You know that's what I want too. I hope I want it enough. I hope I want it as passionately as Paul wanted it: to know Christ. Do you? Do you want to know Christ better, deeper? If you do, you'll want to know the power of His resurrection. What is that?

    Well, simply the power He gives by virtue of His resurrection. It doesn't mean the power that actually raised Him from the dead, but the power He possesses as the resurrected Lord, a power that He sends into your life by the Holy Spirit. It doesn't feel like electricity. It doesn't crackle like that. It's not that kind of power. It's not that kind of dynamism. It's a spiritual power, it's a spiritual power that carries with it all things needful for life and godliness (Second Peter, chapter 1). That's what you want. In other words, you want what He gives you in terms of knowledge, understanding, judgment, peace, love, joy, discernment. You want that kind of spiritual power coursing through your spiritual veins. You want that. The power of His resurrection. It's a way of saying that God has so much to give. That Christ has so much to give you. He can give you so much of that love for others. So much of that compassion for a fallen world. So much desire to make a difference. He can give you so much love that you will overflow with that love, and so much joy and peace. You want it!

    I want to know that Christ, and I want to know that resurrection power in me, filling me through His Holy Spirit . Yes, he says, that's what I want to know. I want to know that Christ, and I want to know Him with that fullness.

    Some of you tonight want this, not because you've never had it, but because you've tasted some of it. And when you taste a bit of it, and you remember what the taste is like, you really want it. Sometimes in our foolishness, we do forget it. But just like life, you know, sometimes a smell takes you back. Sometimes just a word takes you back. Sometimes something is said and done, and you'll remember, "Yes, yes, that's what a Christ-centered life was like."

    Where have you left that behind, friend?

    Where? When? Why?

    For what husks did you exchange it?

    For what rubbish did you let it go?

    What was it amongst the things that you cast away ages ago, what was it that you suddenly rediscovered and polished down and was so worth it?

    Do you remember the day when every magazine was trash, every newspaper was a waste of time?

    Is it not something of that you need back, and something of that I need back too?

    Aw, it's all right to come out with the arguments that says these things are lawful. Ahhh... You can be killed off by lawful things. Your life can be destroyed by a multitude of lawful things.

    Do you understand that? The cake remains the same size. There are 24 hours in day. You cram it up with as much lawful stuff as you like, and you've got nothing left for Christ. Not a thing. And your soul will be a damp squib, and you'll do next to nothing for the Lord. But what you could do – if you started to be a bit more severe on yourself like that.

    And it's not as though it's torture. That's no hair shirt. No! That's no hair shirt, and that's no whip, and that's no lash. Because you'll discover that to give yourself back to Christ will bring you the joy and the love and peace and the exhilaration  and the sense of accomplishing something for Himself. That' s life. That's life: that I may know Him, he says, and the power of His resurrection - pray for that power, and he says, the fellowship of HIs sufferings, I want that too.

    Now, to be honest, I've wrestled with this expression quite often, "I want to know the fellowship of His sufferings." But after thinking about it, I still feel what I've essentially always felt about it. It's just means that there is a special fellowship with Christ, even in the midst of suffering. There's always fellowship with Christ, but in suffering for Him, He'll see to it that you'll get it too. In fact, He'll see that you'll don't just get it also, you'll get it especially in the midst of sufferings. Don't be afraid of them. Walk into them for Christ's sake, and you'll be lifted up in the midst of them.

    From the Christians who suffered in the Roman catacombs, in the amphitheaters, right down to the Christians who have suffered in China recently, and elsewhere, across the Muslim world; right through the martyrs of the Reformation, and Scotland itself, you'll discover that if you suffer for Christ, He won't be far away from you. Paul says, "I want that," he says. "I don't choose suffering, I'm not gonna to walk into them," he says, "but I've discovered that in the midst of them, there's a sweetness in the presence of Christ."

    . . .

    Get Christ, friend. Get Christ for your soul, because nothing's to be compared with Him.

    squib -  a small firework that burns with a hissing sound before exploding.

    damp squib (plural damp squibs)

    A firework that fails to go off, due to wetting.
    (idiomatic, by extension) Anything that doesn’t work properly, or fails to come up to expectations.

    Origin of the phrase "damp squib"

    While most modern squibs used by professionals are insulated from moisture, older uninsulated squibs needed to be kept dry in order to ignite, thus a "damp squib" was literally one that failed to perform because it got wet. Often misheard as "damp squid", the phrase "damp squib" has since come into general use to mean anything that fails to meet expectations. The word "squib" has come to take on a similar meaning even when used alone, as a synonym for dud.


    Does the Lord Jesus Christ consider your soul a damp squib?

    Matthew 5

    13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

    14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

    Luke 14

    34 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

    More about life and life abundantly through the Lord Jesus Christ:
    Second Sunday after Christmas: Is your religion true religion? (Henry Scougal)
    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
    "Who wants candles when he has the sun?" ~ Edward Payson | letter 124 on assurance & joy
    What is a nominal Christian?
    update w/ excerpt: Lloyd-Jones' sermons on the role of experience in Christianity
    The flags unfurled ... Christ's eternal banner | Lloyd-Jones ~ a third type of assurance
    The Father's Inheritance (Eleven days' journey ~ A lamentation & an exhortation)
    Is your ambition holy? / What are you living for? (Louis Paul Lehman) / The Christian's Aim
    postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
    Resurrection Day: Don't Waste Your Life (Lecrae) | Whose Life is it anyhow?
    the infinite significance of the eternal Kingdom
    "Call to Me and I will answer you" (thoughts on holy ambition)
    Are You Working on the Wall? (redemption, spiritual gifts, the glory of God, joy & holy ambition)
    Are you robbing God? Where is God telling you to "Rise and go!" for the joy of others?
    adopting God's purpose for the nations is for your joy & His glory (Letter 76 on joy)
    Are you wasting your life living like all the other nations? Ezekiel 25:8
    every brand snatched is a brand dispatched ~ Reflections on 9/11, Redemption & God's Mission


    More about Kenneth Stewart:

    You can access Kenneth Stewart's sermons from Glasgow RP Church via sermonaudio through <http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=glasgowrpcs>, and other sermons from other churches here <http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?SpeakerOnly=true&currSection=sermonsspeaker&Keyword=Kenneth^Stewart>. You can also access Kenneth Stewart's sermons from Dowanvale Free Presbyterian Church here: <http://www.dowanvale.org/index.php/sermon-date/> (you'll have to page back).

    More about Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

    More about John Piper:

    More about my credo for blogging and doctrine...

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

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Prodigal_Son_tending_the_Swine.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

    Information about squib and damp squib found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squib_(explosive)  / CC BY-SA 3.0

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Box_of_squibs.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0     / Public Domain

naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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