• My other Lenten Reflections
• My posts on Lent & the Resurrection
• True Calvinism is NOT . . .
• Bible Reading: Things To Look for in a Church: What We Find in Solomon's Temple, #2: God's Sovereignty in Salvation
• no glory to me, o my Savior ~ only because You chose to favor | a spiritual birthday celebration
• All of Your grace, All to Your glory (this day in 1982)
• "Salvation unto Us Has Come by God's free grace & favor"
• I am a leopard - Christ is a lion ~ The Resurrection Celebration
• we did not choose, He chose us, worthy the Lamb, solus Christus
• Wake up and tremble, rightly ascribe
• All ye who hear ... Lazarus, come forth! Lazarus, take heed!
• The Gospel: Penal substitution? Really? Yes, really!
• A little child shall lead us: Christ died for our sins (precious penal substitution)
• the priest shall make atonement
• the only true way of peace (Postcards from God in England)
• Letter 7 on assurance and fighting for joy (remember His love for us while we were sinners)
• Advent #2 WHY HAS JESUS COME? to give his life as a ransom for many
• 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
• Linger, linger, linger – so you might know God's love
• Lenten Reflections: "all that is talked about the sufferings of Jesus" (Joseph Hart)

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Work found at http://artbible.info./art/large/103.html / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

Ephesians 2:1  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9  not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

11  Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12  remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 3:7  Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8  To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9  and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10  so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11  This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12  in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

II Corinthians 3:12  Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13  not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14  But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15  Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.

16  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Hebrews 10:19  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21  and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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.

• Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
• five years ago ~ for your joy (AND an inheritance | Richard Sibbes & the Sealing of the Spirit)
• Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
• Advent #2 WHY HAS JESUS COME? to give his life as a ransom for many
• The Gospel: Penal substitution? Really? Yes, really!
• A little child shall lead us: Christ died for our sins (precious penal substitution)
• the priest shall make atonement
• out of the mouth of an atheist ~ the Christmas sermon you may not have heard
• O, leprous soul, hear Freedom's declaration
• First Week of Advent: The Most Scandalous Bailout Ever

• Phebe Bartlet – a child put in our midst ~ "Do you love Me?"
• "Happy are they who can say..." ~ J.C. Philpot | Letter 139 on assurance & fighting for joy
• postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck? (considering the glorious possibilities)
• 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)
• Naphtali News: God speaking to me about my failures & the one thing needful (a post on the Holy Spirit)
• As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
• Be a sanctuary to me, O Lord (Isaiah 8:14)
• "And Jacob was left alone" ~ Don't waste your loneliness
• Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
• Blessed Thirst in the Valley of Baca ~ Psalm 84

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.

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

Ezekiel 16:1  Again the word of the LORD came to me: 2  “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3  and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4  And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5  No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.

Ezekiel 16:6  “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7  I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.

8  “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. 9  Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10  I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. 11  And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 12  And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13  Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14  And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

Jeremiah 33:14  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15  In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

Isaiah 4:2  In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

Deuteronomy 7:6  “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7  It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8  but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

I Timothy 1:12  I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13  though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14  and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17  To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

• Beauty
• no glory to me, o my Savior ~ only because You chose to favor | a spiritual birthday celebration
• All of Your grace, All to Your glory (this day in 1982)
• "Salvation unto Us Has Come by God's free grace & favor"
• we did not choose, He chose us, worthy the Lamb, solus Christus
• Letter 7 on assurance and fighting for joy (remember His love for us while we were sinners)
• I am a leopard - Christ is a lion ~ The Resurrection Celebration
• All ye who hear ... Lazarus, come forth! Lazarus, take heed!
• Wake up and tremble, rightly ascribe
• Lenten Reflections: "all that is talked about the sufferings of Jesus" (Joseph Hart)
• Advent #2 WHY HAS JESUS COME? to give his life as a ransom for many
• O, How Shall the Ark of the LORD Come to Me? ~ A Hymn of Gospel Salvation ~ II Samuel 6

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.

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