On January 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows:
It has been said by someone that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self–content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. . . .
But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. . . . The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.
These words, spoken over a century ago by C. H. Spurgeon (at that time, incredibly, only twenty years old) were true then, and they are true now. They make a fitting preface to a series of studies on the nature and character of God.
Who Needs Theology?
“But wait a minute,” says someone, “tell me this. Is our journey really necessary? In Spurgeon’s day, we know, people found theology interesting, but I find it boring. Why need anyone take time off today for the kind of study you propose? Surely a layperson, at any rate, can get on without it? After all, this is the twentieth century, not the nineteenth!”
A fair question!—but there is, I think, a convincing answer to it. The questioner clearly assumes that a study of the nature and character of God will be impractical and irrelevant for life. In fact, however, it is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.
Recognizing, then, that the study of God is worthwhile, we prepare to start. But where shall we start from?
Clearly, we can only start from where we are. That, however, means setting out in a storm, for the doctrine of God is a storm center today. The so–called debate about God, with its startling slogans—“our image of God must go”; “God is dead”; “we can sing the creed, but we can’t say it”—is raging all around us. We are told that “God–talk,” as Christians have historically practiced it, is a refined sort of nonsense, and knowledge about God is strictly a nonentity. Types of teaching which profess such knowledge are written off as outmoded—“Calvinism,” “fundamentalism,” “Protestant scholasticism,” “the old orthodoxy.” What are we to do? If we postpone our journey till the storm dies down, we may never get started at all.
My proposal is this. You will know how Bunyan’s pilgrim, when called back by his wife and children from the journey on which he was setting out, “put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, Life, Life, Eternal Life.” I ask you for the moment to stop your ears to those who tell you there is no road to knowledge about God, and come a little way with me and see. After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and anyone who is actually following a recognized road will not be too worried if he hears nontravelers telling each other that no such road exists.
Storm or no storm, then, we are going to start. But how do we plot our course?
Five basic truths, five foundation principles of the knowledge about God which Christians have, will determine our course throughout. They are as follows:
1. God has spoken to man, and the Bible is his Word, given to us to make us wise unto salvation.
2. God is Lord and King over his world; he rules all things for his own glory, displaying his perfections in all that he does, in order that men and angels may worship and adore him.
3. God is Savior, active in sovereign love through the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue believers from the guilt and power of sin, to adopt them as his children and to bless them accordingly.
4. God is triune; there are within the Godhead three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and the work of salvation is one in which all three act together, the Father purposing redemption, the Son securing it and the Spirit applying it.
5. Godliness means responding to God’s revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission and service. Life must be seen and lived in the light of God’s Word. This, and nothing else, is true religion.
In the light of these general and basic truths, we are now going to examine in detail what the Bible shows us of the nature and character of the God of whom we have been speaking. We are in the position of travelers who, after surveying a great mountain from afar, traveling around it, and observing how it dominates the landscape and determines the features of the surrounding countryside, now approach it directly, with the intention of climbing it.
Excerpt from Knowing God by J.I.Packer
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Indwelling Spirit of God
'The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you' Romans 8:11 NLT
I love that Scripture!God Himself lives in the born again Christian. Man, if that doesn't get your horn honking, you may still be dead in your trespasses. Or, you may have lost focus on what really matters. Folks, this is a passing stage of His plan. Don't get 'hung up' on this world and it's ways. We aren't 'obligated' to do what our flesh tells us to do. Christians can actually have joy in a bad situation. Remember Paul singing praises to God while he was imprisoned? He had his eyes and heart set on what really matters, and it wasn't this world.
Think for a moment about the reality of being indwelt by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Allow this Scripture to impact your life! More importantly, if you have not experienced the reality of this Scripture take a moment to pray, seeking God to make this Scripture real to you. Stay focused and run the race with endurance.
I love that Scripture!God Himself lives in the born again Christian. Man, if that doesn't get your horn honking, you may still be dead in your trespasses. Or, you may have lost focus on what really matters. Folks, this is a passing stage of His plan. Don't get 'hung up' on this world and it's ways. We aren't 'obligated' to do what our flesh tells us to do. Christians can actually have joy in a bad situation. Remember Paul singing praises to God while he was imprisoned? He had his eyes and heart set on what really matters, and it wasn't this world.
Think for a moment about the reality of being indwelt by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Allow this Scripture to impact your life! More importantly, if you have not experienced the reality of this Scripture take a moment to pray, seeking God to make this Scripture real to you. Stay focused and run the race with endurance.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
What Happens When A Person Is Born Again
Colossians 2:13-15
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
a. And you, being dead: This is the place of every person before they are raised with Him through faith in the working of God as Paul described in Colossians 2:12. Before we have new life, we are dead. Before a person comes to new life in Jesus, they are not a sick man who needs a doctor; they are dead people who need a Savior.
b. Being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh: Before we have new life in Jesus, we are dead in our trespasses. A trespass is a specific kind of sin: overstepping a boundary. We are dead because we overstep God's boundaries in our sin and rebellion.
c. He has made alive together with Him: We can't make ourselves alive, but God can make us alive together with Jesus. We can never be made alive apart from Jesus.
i. The new birth (made alive) and cleansing (forgiven you all) go together as features of the New Covenant, as prophesied by the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and the New Testament (John 3:5).
ii. Having forgiven us is the ancient Greek word charizomai - a verb form of the ancient Greek word charis (grace). We are forgiven by grace.
d. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us: The handwriting of requirements has in mind a list of our crimes or moral debt before God, a debt no imperfect person can completely pay. But it can be taken out of the way, by payment from a perfect man, Jesus Christ.
i. What a glorious picture! My "rap sheet" or "debit ledger" is settled forever, because Jesus nailed it to the cross.
ii. Martin Luther told once how Satan laid heavy condemnation on him because of his sins. Luther told Satan to list them all, and even reminded him of some he had forgotten. Then he told Satan to write across the whole list "paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ," and Luther rejoiced in the payment Jesus made.
iii. Having nailed it to the cross: We must keep that list up on the cross. We get into trouble when we take that list down from the cross and carry it around. We forget that it was all settled at the cross.
e. Having disarmed principalities and powers: Another aspect of Jesus' work on the cross is that He disarmed principalities and powers. These ranks of hostile angelic beings (Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12) don't have the same weapons to use against Christians that they have against those who are not in Jesus.
i. Against the believer, what weapons do demonic spirits have? They are disarmed, except for their ability to deceive and to create fear. These are effective "weapons" that aren't tangible weapons at all.
ii. Demonic spirits only have power towards us that we grant them by believing their lies. The weapons are in our hands, not theirs. We will one-day see how afraid they were of us.
iii. Perhaps Satan, for a moment, thought that he had won at the cross. But Hell's greatest "victory" was turned into a defeat that disarmed every spiritual enemy who fights against those living under the light and power of the cross. The public spectacle of defeated demonic spirits makes their defeat all the more humiliating.
commentary by David Guzik
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
a. And you, being dead: This is the place of every person before they are raised with Him through faith in the working of God as Paul described in Colossians 2:12. Before we have new life, we are dead. Before a person comes to new life in Jesus, they are not a sick man who needs a doctor; they are dead people who need a Savior.
b. Being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh: Before we have new life in Jesus, we are dead in our trespasses. A trespass is a specific kind of sin: overstepping a boundary. We are dead because we overstep God's boundaries in our sin and rebellion.
c. He has made alive together with Him: We can't make ourselves alive, but God can make us alive together with Jesus. We can never be made alive apart from Jesus.
i. The new birth (made alive) and cleansing (forgiven you all) go together as features of the New Covenant, as prophesied by the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and the New Testament (John 3:5).
ii. Having forgiven us is the ancient Greek word charizomai - a verb form of the ancient Greek word charis (grace). We are forgiven by grace.
d. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us: The handwriting of requirements has in mind a list of our crimes or moral debt before God, a debt no imperfect person can completely pay. But it can be taken out of the way, by payment from a perfect man, Jesus Christ.
i. What a glorious picture! My "rap sheet" or "debit ledger" is settled forever, because Jesus nailed it to the cross.
ii. Martin Luther told once how Satan laid heavy condemnation on him because of his sins. Luther told Satan to list them all, and even reminded him of some he had forgotten. Then he told Satan to write across the whole list "paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ," and Luther rejoiced in the payment Jesus made.
iii. Having nailed it to the cross: We must keep that list up on the cross. We get into trouble when we take that list down from the cross and carry it around. We forget that it was all settled at the cross.
e. Having disarmed principalities and powers: Another aspect of Jesus' work on the cross is that He disarmed principalities and powers. These ranks of hostile angelic beings (Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12) don't have the same weapons to use against Christians that they have against those who are not in Jesus.
i. Against the believer, what weapons do demonic spirits have? They are disarmed, except for their ability to deceive and to create fear. These are effective "weapons" that aren't tangible weapons at all.
ii. Demonic spirits only have power towards us that we grant them by believing their lies. The weapons are in our hands, not theirs. We will one-day see how afraid they were of us.
iii. Perhaps Satan, for a moment, thought that he had won at the cross. But Hell's greatest "victory" was turned into a defeat that disarmed every spiritual enemy who fights against those living under the light and power of the cross. The public spectacle of defeated demonic spirits makes their defeat all the more humiliating.
commentary by David Guzik
As Unto The Lord
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people Colossians 3:23
Focusing on who you work for will bring tremendous results. For example, I am in management and have 12 employees in my department. 11 employees are very unhappy and, honestly, spend alot of their time and energy not being productive. One of my employees has the reputation throughout the company as one of the best. He is hard working and does not complain. What is the difference in the employees? One is a Christian who works as unto the Lord, the others work for man.
When someone looks to a company for fulfillment, there is going to be disappointment. Our company is made up of imperfect individuals who, literally should never be in a position of making anyone else happy or content. It simply doesn't work that way. When one is born again and looks to God for everything, then that person can throw themselves completely into whatever task is at hand because the task is no longer menial, something that you have to do in order to get your paycheck. It is an opportunity to serve Him, develop Christ like character and to rejoice in the Lord. You are governed by His Spirit rather than ruled by flesh; yours and your employer's.
Work unto the Lord
Focusing on who you work for will bring tremendous results. For example, I am in management and have 12 employees in my department. 11 employees are very unhappy and, honestly, spend alot of their time and energy not being productive. One of my employees has the reputation throughout the company as one of the best. He is hard working and does not complain. What is the difference in the employees? One is a Christian who works as unto the Lord, the others work for man.
When someone looks to a company for fulfillment, there is going to be disappointment. Our company is made up of imperfect individuals who, literally should never be in a position of making anyone else happy or content. It simply doesn't work that way. When one is born again and looks to God for everything, then that person can throw themselves completely into whatever task is at hand because the task is no longer menial, something that you have to do in order to get your paycheck. It is an opportunity to serve Him, develop Christ like character and to rejoice in the Lord. You are governed by His Spirit rather than ruled by flesh; yours and your employer's.
Work unto the Lord
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Dishonoring of God in Popular Spiritual Warfare Teaching
"The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all." (Psalm 103:19)
"[A]nd He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation" (Acts 17:26).
"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." (Romans 13:1)
Many popular teachers question God's sovereign rule over His own creation. Their unbiblical scenario goes like this: God made Adam the ruler of the world; Adam committed "treason" and turned the rightful dominion of the earth over to Satan; and Christ's atonement was to regain this lost dominion. According to this theology, however, Christ turned the rulership of the world over to the church when He ascended into heaven. The church consequently lost it back to Satan by ignorance, unbelief, and dis-unity. Now in these last days supposed prophets and apostles are being raised up to take control over the Satanic forces in the heavenlies and Christianize the world. This happens as the church takes cities through binding and casting down the spiritual forces of darkness that rule over them. Many dominion spiritual warfare teachers embrace this scheme, though differing on some details.
The "dominion" scenario and its underlying theological premises are unbiblical. We shall consider the various claims of this teaching point by point and compare them with the teachings of the Bible. Quotations of popular teachers who espouse various new spiritual warfare teachings will be given to show how widespread these ideas have become.
Adam Gave World Rulership to Satan?
Read article
"[A]nd He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation" (Acts 17:26).
"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." (Romans 13:1)
Many popular teachers question God's sovereign rule over His own creation. Their unbiblical scenario goes like this: God made Adam the ruler of the world; Adam committed "treason" and turned the rightful dominion of the earth over to Satan; and Christ's atonement was to regain this lost dominion. According to this theology, however, Christ turned the rulership of the world over to the church when He ascended into heaven. The church consequently lost it back to Satan by ignorance, unbelief, and dis-unity. Now in these last days supposed prophets and apostles are being raised up to take control over the Satanic forces in the heavenlies and Christianize the world. This happens as the church takes cities through binding and casting down the spiritual forces of darkness that rule over them. Many dominion spiritual warfare teachers embrace this scheme, though differing on some details.
The "dominion" scenario and its underlying theological premises are unbiblical. We shall consider the various claims of this teaching point by point and compare them with the teachings of the Bible. Quotations of popular teachers who espouse various new spiritual warfare teachings will be given to show how widespread these ideas have become.
Adam Gave World Rulership to Satan?
Read article
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