salvation

  • Advent # 8: WHY HAS JESUS COME? "so that [we] might be WITH HIM" ~ Mark 3:14

    I Peter 3:18
    For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God...

    Mark 3:13-15
    And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.
    And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be WITH HIM
    and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons...

    In the midst of myriad preparations
    Have you missed the blessèd consummation?

    Cookie baking, choir practices
    Bellies stuffed, but hearts are restless

    Trimmed the tree, hung the greens
    But have you glimpsed the Savior's sheen?

    Aromas swirling, rising, lifting, fireplace crackling
    Have you heard the voice of the newborn King?

    Christmas parties, ladies' teas
    Have you felt the Spirit's breeze?

    Advent programs, pageants, nativity scenes
    Your calendars bloated, your souls are lean

    Lists were made, the presents all bought
    But was The Unspeakable Gift sought?

    Gift exchanges, shopping madness
    Is that heaven's joy and gladness?

    Hear your Bridegroom's sweet plea and lamentation:
    "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten

    "Open to Me, take My yoke, find My rest,
    Lay your weary head upon My breast.

    "Precious blood for thee I freely shed
    To bring My bride to My Marriage Bed

    "Deliver you from the power of darkness
    Carry you safely across the great gulf fixed

    "To lavish upon you ev'ry spiritual pleasure
    O! sister, made alive, seated with Me together

    "In the heavenlies:  Satisfaction! Full Delight!
    Behold your Bridegroom! Love's Pure Light!

    "My fair one! Rise up! Open to me!
    Flame of Jehovah burns ardently!

    "Awake, My love, forfeit not the consummation:
    For I have desired thee before world's foundation!"

    I Peter 1:14-21
    As obedient children,
    do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
    but as he who called you is holy,
    you also be holy in all your conduct,
    since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

    And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds,
    conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
    knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers,
    not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
    but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

    He was foreknown before the foundation of the world
    but was made manifest in the last times for your sake,
    who through him are believers in God,
    who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
    so that your faith and hope are in God.

    James 4:4-10
    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.
    Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says,
    “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

    But he gives more grace.
    Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

    Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
    Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
    Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
    Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
    Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

    Deuteronomy 10:15-16
    Yet the LORD set his heart in love
    on your fathers
    and chose their offspring after them,
    you above all peoples,
    as you are this day.
    Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart,
    and be no longer stubborn.

    His bride's rightful response:

    Isaiah 63:15-19
    Look down from heaven and see,
    from your holy and beautiful habitation.
    Where are your zeal and your might?
    The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
    are held back from me.
    For you are our Father,
    though Abraham does not know us,
    and Israel does not acknowledge us;
    you, O LORD, are our Father,
    our Redeemer from of old is your name.
    O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways
    and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
    Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes of your heritage.
    Your holy people held possession for a little while;
    our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
    We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
    like those who are not called by your name.

    Song of Solomon 8:6-7
    Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as a seal upon your arm,
    for love is strong as death,
    jealousy is fierce as the grave.
    Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very flame of the LORD.
    Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
    If a man offered for love
    all the wealth of his house,
    he would be utterly despised.

    the Bridegroom's strong assurance:

    Zechariah 1:13-14
    And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.
    So the angel who talked with me said to me,
    ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts:
    I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.’

    From Dafydd Morris' second address to the 2007 Reformation and Revival Fellowship Conference, "Why Should Jesus Send His Spirit? Part 2 - Song of Solomon 4:12-5:1 ~ starting at around the 16:00 point (emphasis mine):
       And so, from the stress placed on fellowship in Scripture and communion, we gather that there must be something in that for the Lord Jesus Christ. Because look how keen the Bridegroom is for fellowship. He comes courting, doesn't He? And He's so ardent in His courting. Courting that lukewarm Church at Laodicea. We're amazed at that, aren't we? The way that He still desired strongly to come in and to sup and to have communion. There's so much that was unattractive about that Church –– not seeing its own need at all:  awful, awful self-sufficiency and complacency. Yet the Bridegroom comes knocking [*knocking on podium*], and His voice is heard and calls, and He desires to come in, to sup and to dine!

       And we've got that of course, in the Song. We have Solomon as a type of Christ, saying to the Shulamite, a type of believer – the Church, "Let Me see thy countenance," He says. "Let Me hear thy voice!" Now, that's ardent courtship isn't it? Warm love. Passion. That's what it is.

       And, the Lord Jesus Christ in the days of His flesh chose His disciples for His fellowship, His communion, for His friendship, that they would be WITH HIM. That's why He chose them. Something very basic. Mark 3 and verse 14:  "So that they would be WITH HIM.
     
       And our Lord seems to relish that companionship. We find it very difficult to believe. We know what the disciples were, they were slow and unbelieving, at times not catching on to what He was speaking about, misunderstanding Him, and all of that. And then we find it difficult to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ should ardently want their company, don't we? And we find the same with ourselves, don't we? We have a glimpse – we know what we are, in part, anyway, and we have difficulty taking on board that the Lord Jesus Christ  should ardently desire to be with us. But He did desire the company of those disciples: "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place," He said. "Come on and rest awhile. I want to be with you. I want to speak to you." And it was a sorrow to Him to contemplate losing that fellowship:  "Will ye also go away?"

       So, if we come back to the central thesis in these addresses, that it is in the Lord's own interest to pour out of His Spirit, how is the Lord Jesus Christ going to get the company He wants, the companionship, the fellowship of His bride, if He does not pour out the Holy Spirit so that there is the matchmaking?

    * * *

    Psalm 85:4-6 (KJV)
    Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
    Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
    Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?


    O! Lord Jesus, pour out of Your Spirit!     Make Your face to shine upon us again, as in the ancient days, that Your people might ardently desire to be WITH YOU. Teach us to savor, relish and treasure our companionship and fellowship WITH YOU, that we might rejoice in You!

    "Alleluia! And for his marriage feast prepare, for ye must go and meet him there."

    ~ from "Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying" by Philipp Nicolai, 1599, tr. by Catherine Winkworth, 1858, 1863, emphasis mine

    HT for the reference to Mark 3:13 from Dafydd Morris' message "Why Should Jesus Send His Spirit? Part 2," available at http://www.reformationandrevival.org/pastconferenceaddresses.html

    Related posts...

    my other Advent posts on "Why Has Jesus Come?" ...

    other related posts:

    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. Emphasis mine.

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

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

  • the 6th sola: "The Price of salvation is the Prize of salvation" ~ John Piper

    the 6th sola: "The Price of salvation is the Prize of salvation ~ John Piper | Letter 153 on assurance & fighting for joy...

    On January 1, 2013, John Piper, having served at Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis) since 1980, will be transitioning from Pastor for Preaching and Vision to Associate Pastor (see here). As many of you know, Dr. Piper is one of those whose preaching and teaching God has used in powerful ways in my life (please see the links at the end of this post).

    This fall Dr. Piper began preaching a series of sermons on theological trademarks of Bethlehem Baptist Church (though not just of Bethlehem Baptist, but of the Church as a whole). I'd recommend your watching/listening to all of them, for they provide a wonderful summary of essential Biblical doctrines.

    This past weekend, in his sermon "God in Christ: the Price and the Prize of the Gospel," Piper preached on Romans 5:1-11. I'm including the video of that sermon here today because I know that despite the fact that I was saved in 1982, for years and years I missed the truth that

    THE PRICE OF SALVATION IS THE PRIZE OF SALVATION...

    And my prayer is that as you listen to Dr. Piper, the Holy Spirit might begin to open the eyes of your heart to the truth that the five Solas:

    sola Scriptura ~ Scripture alone
    sola fide ~ By faith alone
    sola gratia ~ Through grace alone
    solus Christus ~ On the basis of Christ alone
    soli Deo gloria ~ For the glory of God alone

    are all leading to the "sixth sola":

    "Full and final joy in God alone"

    "that's where it's all going... Psalm 16:11 in Your presence there is fullness of joy, God, at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Whom have I in heaven but You, and on earth there is nothing I desire besides You. My flesh, my heart may fail, but You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. That's where the Gospel's going:  for the enjoyment of that, nothing less... nothing beyond. He is the Prize of the Solas." ~ John Piper

    (Please note:  you can find Piper's prepared sermon text (as well as download audio and/or video of the sermon) at the site above, but I'd remind you that the printed text is only a jumping off point for Piper, so I'd encourage you to watch (or listen) to the entire sermon!)

    Last week, on the 30th anniversary of my new birth, I reflected on my journey in the Christian life in my post "I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word),"  I likened myself to John Newton, who wrote these words in retrospect regarding his initial understanding of Christianity and the Christian life:

    I had no apprehension of ... the hidden life of a Christian, as it consists in communion with God by Jesus Christ...

    I cannot consider myself to have been a believer, (in the full sense of the word,) till a considerable time afterwards.

    As I look out at Christians today, I see many, many of you who were in that very same position as John Newton and myself:  so many of you don't have any "apprehension of the hidden life of a Christian," that "it consists in communion with God in Jesus Christ." Very few of you understand that the Price of our salvation is the Prize of our salvation, i.e. - that the Gospel has been intentionally and lovingly and gloriously and graciously designed by God so we might experience full and final joy in God alone, that God's desire for us is to have living fellowship with Him just like the Psalmists: that we might know Him as our perfect portion and be fully satisfied with and wholly delight in God in Christ. Or, as Isaac Watts put it:

    Religion never was designed,
    To make our pleasures less.

    As you come to know the Price of your salvation is the Prize of your salvation, it is only then that you will begin to understand that the Christian religion was not designed by God to deprive us or to rob us of pleasure but to the contrary:  God planned out salvation in Jesus Christ with an eye to magnify and multiply our pleasures because there is no true and lasting happiness, pleasure, gladness or joy apart from knowing Him and dwelling in His presence, and He in us. God's only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, rendered Himself an offering for sin in our place so we might be brought to God and experience in God Himself all-surpassing satisfaction and exceeding Joy!

    Psalm 16:11: You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

    Psalm 63:5  My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
    6  when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
    7  for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

    (I challenge you to do a study through the Psalms to see how often the Psalmists write (sing!) of God Himself fully satisfying them.)

    Isaiah 55:1  “Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
    and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
    Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
    2  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
    Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
    3  Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;
    and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    my steadfast, sure love for David.

    Matthew 5:6  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

    John 6:27  Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28  Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29  Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30  So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31  Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32  Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34  They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

    35  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

    For those of you who are already Christians, I certainly hope all of you could tell me the facts about the price of your salvation, i.e. - you could tell me that Jesus Christ was fully God, and He humbled Himself and became incarnate, He lived a perfect life on this earth, and then He suffered and died for our sins on the cross, was buried and resurrected on the third day, and He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father until He comes again in glory, at which time we will be forever with Him. And I hope you could tell me about Jesus' atoning work on the cross, the necessity of the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins, and the imputation of our sin to Christ and of Christ's righteousness to us, that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone to the glory of God alone... and so on... but my challenge to you today is this:

    Jesus was sent to reconcile us to God so we might rejoice in God (Romans 5:6-11). The Good Shepherd came to bring sinners like us who were alienated from God's presence back into the presence of God...

    I Peter 3:18  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God...


    – so we might experience fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore there. This is Jesus' desire for you, and for each and every one of His sheep.

    John 10:10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.


    Have you tasted and seen God in Jesus Christ as the prize of your salvation, so you know and value and enjoy and treasure and exult in Jesus Christ as your perfect portion and all-satisfying pleasure? Can you truthfully say along with David that you have entered into an experiential knowledge of fullness of joy in God's presence and pleasures forevermore at His right hand?

    If you only know Him as the price of your salvation, but you've never tasted and seen Him as the prize of your salvation, would you ask God's Holy Spirit to enlighten the eyes of your understanding, so you might diligently seek Him and begin to apprehend and enjoy that hidden life of a Christian – communion with God by Jesus Christ?

    Jeremiah 29:13  You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart...

    For those of you who are not Christians, you may have been sold (and then bought) the lie that Christianity is a religion to make men miserable, but that is so very, very far from the truth! If you hear Jesus Christ calling to you today, if you are hungering and thirsting, repent that your sins might be blotted out, trust in Christ's all-sufficient sacrifice for sin and receive His perfect righteousness, so you might enter without guilt or shame into God's glorious presence, where you might be filled to overflowing with the all-surpassing pleasure that God alone provides in Himself.

    Revelation 22:17  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.”
    And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
    "You have made us for Yourself, Oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." ~ Augustine


    From Desiring God, God-centered resources from John Piper:

    Who is John Piper?
    Desiring God Resource Page (includes links to Piper's sermons, articles and much more)
    John Piper's Biographical Messages
    Desiring God Blog
    Desiring God online books (free downloadable PDFs & ebooks)


    More on John Piper:

    John Piper's writing leave (& his impact on me)
    Thank you, John Piper
    Happy Birthday, John Piper ~ reflections on year-ends, aging, fruit bearing & Christian hedonism
    Kingdom-Obsessed People Don't Retire
    my holy ambition
    adopting God's purpose for the nations is for your joy & His glory (Letter 76 on joy)
    blogging to build up the ruined Church of God
    Get gnawing, put your nose down in the Book to feed the white-hot flame of God's gift
    "Saving faith is wanting Jesus" ~ Are you loving His appearing or this present world?


    More on knowing and enjoying God in Christ as our Prize:

    my other "Letters on Assurance and Fighting for Joy" including:

    five years ago ~ for your joy (AND an inheritance | Richard Sibbes & the Sealing of the Spirit) ~ Letter 136
    Lenten Reflections: Why did Jesus die? ACCESS! | Letter 140 on assurance & fighting for joy
    Dancing & Skipping with Mrs. Durham | Letter 147 on fighting for joy
    Martin Luther: "The Spirit ... renders the heart glad & free, as the law demands" | letter 151
    "An unknown joy pervaded him" ~ "Such is the character of the Reformation" | letter 152

    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
    The Father's Inheritance (Eleven days' journey ~ A lamentation & an exhortation)
    birthday reflection: "the great & glorious possibilities" ~ "Now therefore, give me this mountain"
    "I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)"
    don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)
    The flags unfurled ... Christ's eternal banner | Lloyd-Jones ~ a third type of assurance
    The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it..." | the Father's assurance
    Finding pleasure in Him
    Moderation in pursuing God? An answer from Jonathan Edwards
    Moderation in pursuing God? An answer from George Whitefield
    How's your spiritual appetite? (Jonathan Edwards)
    "The inestimable Benefits of Christ's Death, inferred from the excellency of his Person"
    a little child set in our midst leads us into the New Year
    this earthly manna ~ the Christian hedonist's plea

    Other profitable preachers...

    Lloyd-Jones 30 years later ~ Thank you, Dr. Lloyd-Jones for preparing the way
    Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Biography & Series Links
    Profitable Preaching ~ Kenneth Stewart: "And your soul will be a damp squib..."

    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.

  • "What It Is to Make Light of Christ" ~ Richard Baxter

    In commemoration of Richard Baxter's (1615-1691) 397th birthday, here are some excerpts from the first portion of his book, "The Causes and Danger Of slighting CHRIST and his GOSPEL:  Or, Eternal Salvation made light of by Multitudes, to whom it is freely offered."

    Matthew 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2  The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

    Matthew xxii. 5-.
    But they made light of it.

    CHAP. I.

    What It Is to Make Light of Christ.

    . . .

    That which carnal Hearers make light of, includes in it, Christ himself, and the Blessings, which he bestows.—Concerning Christ himself, the Gospel declares his Person and Nature, and the great Things he has done and suffered for Men, his redeeming us from the Wrath of God by his Blood, and purchasing a Grant of Salvation for us. The same Gospel makes an Offer of Christ to Sinners, that if they will accept him on his easy and reasonable Terms, he will be their Saviour, the Physician of their Souls, their Head, and their Husband.—the Blessings which Christ bestows upon Sinners, are the Pardon of all their past Sins, and Deliverance from the Wrath of God, and a sure Way of obtaining Pardon for all the Sins they shall commit hereafter, provided they obey sincerely, and turn not again to the Rebellion of their unregenerate State. They shall have the Holy Spirit to be their Guide and Sanctifier, to dwell in their Souls, to help them against their spiritual Enemies, and conform them more and more to a divine Likeness, to heal their spiritual Diseases, and bring them back to God. They shall, also have a right to everlasting Glory, when this Life is ended, and their Bodies shall be raised up to partake of it at the great Day. Besides these, they shall have many excellent Priviledges and Means, abundant Preservation and Provision in their Way, and the Foretaste of their future Joy. All these Blessings the Gospel offers to them that will accept of Christ on his reasonable Terms. For this is the Record, that God hath given to us eternal Life; and this Life is in his Son. He that hath the Son, hath Life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not Life [I John 5:11-12].

         The Sin of making light of Christ and Salvation appears in the following Instances.

    1. When Men take no great Heed to what the Gospel declares, as if it was not a certain Truth, or else was a Matter that little concerned them, or as if God had not written it for them.

    2. When the Gospel does not affect Men, or go to their Hearts; but tho’ they seem to attend to what is said, yet they are not awakened by it from their Security, nor doth it in any Measure excite such holy Emotions in their Souls, as Things of such everlasting Consequence ought to do. We tell Men what Christ hath done and suffered for their Souls, and it scarce moves them. We tell them of keen and cutting Truths, but Nothing will pierce them. We can make them hear, but cannot make them feel. Our Words stop in the Porch of their Ears and Fancies, but enter not into their inward Parts. It is as if we spake to Men that have not Hearts. Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For the Heart of this People is waxed gross, and their Ears are dull of hearing, and their Eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their Eyes, and hear with their Ears, and understand with their Heart, and should be converted, and Christ should heal them [~ Matthew 13:15, Acts 28:27; see also Isaiah 6:9-10].

    3. Men make light of Christ, when they have no high Esteem for him and Salvation by him, but whatsoever they may say with their Tongues, or may speculatively believe, yet in their serious and practical Thoughts they have a higher Esteem for the Things of this World, than they have for Christ and the Salvation he hath purchased. It is despising Christ, to account his Doctrine but a Question of Words and Names, like Gallio; or a Superstition of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive, like Festus; or to ask the Preachers of the Gospel, as the Athenians did, What will this Babler say? [Acts 18:12-17; 25:13-27; 17:16-21]

    Men make light of Christ, when being informed of the Truths of the Gospel, on what Terms Christ and his Blessings may be had, how it is the Will of God they should believe and accept the Offer, and how he commands them to do it upon Pain of Damnation; and yet they will not consent, unless they could have Christ on Terms of their own. They will not part with their Portion in this World, nor lay down their Pleasures, Profits, and Honours at the Feet of Jesus, to be content to take only so much of them back, as is consistent with his Will and Interest, but think it a hard saying, to be resolved to forsake all for Christ. ’Tis a high Contempt Of Christ and everlasting Life, when Men might have their Part in him, if they would; but they will not, unless they may keep the World too, and are resolved to please their Flesh, whatever be the Consequence.

    It is also a making light of Christ and Salvation, when Men will promise fair, and profess their Willingness, to have Christ upon his own Terms, and to forsake all for him; but they nevertheless cleave to the World, and to their sinful Courses, nor will suffer their Practice to be changed by all that Christ hath done or said.—This is the Sin of making light of Christ and Salvation.

    CHAP. II.

    Thy Christ is made so light of.

    IT may seem a Wonder that ever Men, who have the Use of their Reason, should be so foolish as to make light of Things of infinite Importance. But the Causes are such as these—

    1. Some Men understand not the Meaning of the Words in which the Gospel is expressed; and how can they value what they do not understand? Tho’ we speak to them as plainly as we can, yet they have so estranged themselves from God, and the Concerns of their Souls, that they know not what we say. It is with them as if God in just Judgment had said, With stammering Lips and another Tongue will I speak to this People [Isaiah 28:11].

    2. Some understand the Words we speak, but not the Matter, because they are carnal. For the natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God, for they are Foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. [I Cor. 2:14] The Things of the Spirit are not well known by bare Report, but by spiritual Taste, which none have but those that are taught by the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the Things that are freely given to us of God. [I Cor. 2:12].

    3. Carnal Minds apprehend not a Suitableness in these spiritual and heavenly Things, and therefore set light by them. Tell them of everlasting Glory, and they hear you, as if you, as if you was persuading them to go and play with the Sun. The Affairs of another World are out of their Element, and therefore they have no more Delight in them, than a Fish would have in the pleasantest Meadow, or a Swine in a Jewel. They that are after the Spirit, may mind the Things of the Spirit; but they that are after the Flesh, do mind the Things of the Flesh. [Romans 8:5]. . . .

     7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

    11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

    13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

    My friend, are you making light of Christ?

    Do you have a higher esteem for the things of this world than for Christ and the salvation He purchased?

    Have you made your fair promises and professed your willingness to Him ––
    and yet all the while continued to cleave to the World, and to your sinful Courses?

    Do you delight in Christ –– or do you consider Him as a fish would the pleasantest meadow and a swine a jewel?

     

    Source: Richard Baxter's "The Causes and Danger Of slighting CHRIST and his GOSPEL:  Or, Eternal Salvation made light of by Multitudes, to whom it is freely offered," 1763 edition, abridged by Benjamin Fawcett. Accessed 11.12.12 from <http://www.ccel.org/ccel/baxter/causes.html>. I added the Scripture references in brackets, as well as the surrounding Scripture text from Matthew 22:1-14.

    Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teachings_of_Jesus_29_of_40._the_man_without_a_wedding_garment._Jan_Luyken_etching._Bowyer_Bible.gif - Author Phillip Medhurst, Photo by Harry Kossuth. Copyleft: This is a free work, you can copy, distribute, and modify it under the terms of the Free Art License - http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en

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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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