An Expositor, Not a Corrector

Kevin DeYoung, in his book Taking God at His Word says

"Our Messiah sees himself as an expositor of Scripture, but never a corrector of Scripture. He fulfills it, but never falsifies it. He turns away wrong interpretations of Scripture, but insists there is nothing wrong with Scripture, down to the crossing of t’s and dotting of i’s."

A very good point and one we should imitate.

Praying for Peace

Tuesdays With Timothy  # 12 

1 Timothy 2:1-2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Paul entreats and exhorts Timothy, as he fights a good fight to pray. The man of God must be a man of prayer. If we look to the example of our Lord, we see what a great priority that He Himself placed upon prayer in His earthly ministry. Later, looking at the apostles, we see that they were given to the word and prayer (Acts 6:4) as the primary focus of their ministries. So must the man of God today devote himself to prayer. But this is not merely for pastors, but Timothy is to both apply this to himself and teach those he ministers to do likewise. All of God’s people need to be people of prayer.

Paul uses several words to describe prayer in this verse and each could have a shade of difference, but I believe the point is not so much to get bogged down on the differences but to realize that we are to pray for the good and betterment of others. I once spoke with a man who was railing against a particular politician in a very hateful manner and I reminded him that we are to pray for our leaders. His was response was that he did, and his prayers were more of the imprecatory sort. So Paul clears this up for us - the overarching thought here is we pray for the betterment of our neighbors. We pray for their needs, on their behalf, and being thankful for them or being thankful that God has providentially placed us together.

And the command is that we are to pray for all men. Not just the neighbors we like, or our church family, but our prayers should be for both saved and lost, sick and healthy, good and evil. Those that bless and those that curse. We should pray for all types of people without distinction. It is not possible to pray for all men without exception, which we will see soon enough, is important to note.

I find the next verse fascinating to consider. Paul was instructing Timothy to pray for the king and all in authority. Do we pray for every person who is in every type of official capacity all over the Earth? I don’t think that is possible to do either. I do believe we pray for those who have authority over us, and where ever you are when you read this, you should pray for those how have authority over you.

 How are we to pray for our rulers? The prayer was that the church would be able to live quiet, peaceable, godly, honest lives without persecution and government intrusion. God’s people are not to be rebels against authority. Jude characterizes the ungodly as those who dissident against authority. The line, of course, is drawn when we are compelled by authorities to go against God.  

We need to pray that the government would just leave us alone and allow us to live Christian lives. This doesn’t sell books and won’t get a lot of attention on the web. This won’t get the evangelical elite to hold conferences on this kind of life of peace and quiet. No, there has to be calls for boycotts or calls to extreme living, calls to build your platform and be heard. Paul tells us to pray so that we can live our lives as Christians. To work, and as a Christian, proclaim the glory of Christ. Raise your children, as Christians, and teach your kids about Christ. To be good neighbors, in the name of Christ for the glory of Christ, bless those that curse us and bless those we know and love.  To be able to quietly and peaceably, and honestly, live sacrificially for the good of others and glory of God. To be sure, that kind of living will draw enough attention of itself, and living that kind of life will draw persecution, but our hope is that God would turn the hearts of those in authority to see the benefit of having Christian citizens and allow us to do our work for Christ in peace.

The flip side to this is not that if the government is persecuting, all bets are off. Our living quiet peaceable lives do not hinge upon how the government treats us as any given point in history. We are to live as Christians no matter how bad it gets. The prayer is that God would turn the hearts of those in authority to allow God’s people to live as God’s people because those in authority over us don’t like that Christ is over all, which also includes them. 

Monday Verse - My goal is God Himself

Some of you may have seen that I tweeted out the Banner of Truth Black Friday e-book sale where you could pick up their titles for a mere $2 a piece. I picked up a couple, one of which was Sinclair Ferguson's book Discovering God's Will. I thought it could be an interesting title and his book In Christ Alone is awesome, so i pulled the trigger. In the book, I found this hymn, which is now today's Monday Verse.

My goal is God Himself
F. Brook

My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;
’Tis His to lead me there—not mine, but His—
At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.

So faith bounds forward to its goal in God,
And love can trust her Lord to lead her there;
Upheld by Him, my soul is following hard
Till God hath full fulfilled my deepest prayer.

No matter if the way be sometimes dark,
No matter though the cost be oft-times great,
He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark,
The way that leads to Him must needs be strait.

One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;
One thing I do, I press towards my Lord;
My God my glory here, from day to day,
And in the glory there my great Reward.

Monday Verse: Trust in God (“Courage, brother!”)

Faith is tested in the trial and the struggle. Samuel Rutherford said that "The Devil is but God's master fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons." No one likes the fight while it is going on, no one likes to see the evil day approach, but we live in an evil world. I first read this in a book written by JR Graves and he (as per usual) was embroiled in a controversy and he was encouraging Christian men to stand strong and fight the fight of faith.  Trust in God, and do the right. That is really all we can do and all we really should want to do. We have an eternity of peace and rest and only a short time in the battlefield. Let us go on, play the man, and do the right for the  glory of God. As John Knox once said,"a man with God is always in the majority." This is our battle cry brethren, and this, is your Monday Verse.



Trust in God (“Courage, brother!”)
By Norman Macleod (1812–1872)

COURAGE, brother! do not stumble,
  Though thy path is dark as night;
There’s a star to guide the humble:
  “Trust in God, and do the right.”

Let the road be long and dreary,      
  And its ending out of sight;
Foot it bravely, strong or weary;
  “Trust in God, and do the right.”

Perish “policy” and cunning,
  Perish all that fears the light!      
Whether losing, whether winning,
  “Trust in God, and do the right.”

Trust no forms of guilty passion,
  Fiends can look like angels bright;
Trust no custom, school, or fashion,      
  “Trust in God, and do the right.”

Trust no party, Church, or faction;
  Trust no leaders in the fight;
But, in every word and action,
  “Trust in God, and do the right.”      

Some will hate thee, some will love thee,
  Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man, and look above thee;
  “Trust in God, and do the right.”

Simple rule, and safest guiding;      
  Inward peace, and inward light;
Star upon our path abiding:
  “Trust in God, and do the right.”

Battle Ready

Tuesdays With Timothy #11

18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;  19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Even though God had given specific words of prophetic commendation concerning Timothy, these prophesies were to be both a comfort to him and a warning. God's sovereignty in no way takes away from man's responsibility and the fact that Timothy had a very unique calling did not take away from the responsibility he had to remain faithful to God in the work in which he was called.

This is the second charge to Timothy in the chapter. The first charge dealt with his public ministry and his preaching the true gospel while this second charge deals with his personal holiness as a man of God. One thing we will note through the book is the necessity of a pastor strive in the area of personal godliness. I never fully appreciated the famous words of Robert Murray M'Cheyne until recently when he said "The greatest need of my people is my personal holiness." How could that be? Why is personal holiness in the ministry of such great importance? It is important both for the church and the man because if the man is not faithful in his personal life, he is in danger of not being faithful in his service to others. If a man will allow his own soul to be thrust off course, imagine the danger to those who listen to his preaching.

There are three parts to this charge and a word of warning. The first part is concerning the war. Paul charges Timothy to lead a successful campaign in spiritual warfare. The ministry is war. It is a spiritual battle against invisible forces. There are battles from within. Battles without. Battles with men and battles with unseen spiritual forces. We wage a spiritual war - a battle of ideas and worldviews. It was Paul's hope that in the battle, Timothy would stand strong and not give up. Remember the prophecies, Timothy. Remember that God has called you into His service. Remember, Timothy, that you have not been called into a life of ease, but a life of war. The man of God is a war time, military man.

The second is holding faith. I do not believe that this is "holding to the faith, in a good conscience" but I think that this is the second of three charges. Paul is charging Timothy to faithfulness in the ministry. Paul has already charged Timothy to hold the doctrine with fidelity. Now, in his personal ministry, Timothy must hold faithful to his post. He is to be faithful in his duty and faithful in the discharging of the sacred mission of pastor. He is to hold in his possession the faithfulness of a servant of Christ. He cannot break but must hold the line in his service to the King.

The third, a good conscience. Timothy is to labor to have a good conscience towards God and man. You cannot do the work of a man of God for any other purpose than to bring glory to Christ. The man of God must stand faithful and strong in the work of the ministry and to do so without a guilty conscience. Can the man of God stand before the people of God and call them to follow or rebuke sin when he is plagued by a guilty conscience? No, he must strive to be like Paul and have a clean conscience before all men and God. What does this mean? It means saying you’re sorry when you have sinned. It means eating crow. It means confessing your faults first to your Lord and know that His precious blood has cleansed you from all unrighteousness and then confessing your faults to your people when you have sinned. Only a man with a clear conscience can stand in battle. The Accuser will use the guilty conscience like blackmail, to silence the man, to shame him into pulling punches in his preaching or even worse, to compromise Biblical truth.  A man must be able to stand before those who oppose firm and confident, not having anything to fear or nothing to hide. That is a powerful place to be. This is the high ground in the spiritual battle. There will be accusations, battles, strife’s, fights and all the rest of the ugliness of a continual gathering of sinners in a fallen world. If it happened with our Lord, can we expect anything less? Timothy was not going to be perfect (no one is) but he must be well sure that he is doing his job faithfully and not doing it with a guilty conscience, otherwise, he will not be able to discharge his duty in the war. A guilty conscience or the slightest compromise in faithfulness is the first step towards apostasy.

Some men, two in particular, had done the work of the ministry in such a way as to apostatize from the faith. Hymenaeus and Alexander put away, or thrust away, cast aside their good conscience. They drove away their faithfulness to the work and cast away their good conscience and became castaways themselves. These men, who evidently were ministers of the gospel, where at the helm guiding God's people through the storms of this life by the Word of God. But a little compromise here and a little hiding of the sin there, had thrown, not only their ministry off course, but their very faith to the point of uttering blasphemies against God and thrust from the protective care of the church to be sifted as wheat by the enemy. They were called to war a warfare. They were not faithful to the post and now they are trapped behind enemy lines, without armor, without protection, without backup - alone. How could men, who ministered with Paul, fall so low? One small little step at a time. Be forewarned, by brethren. Take heart and courage.

Monday Verse: The Sands of Time

The more I sing this hymn, the more I love it. I think it may be my favorite. It is so rich, so deep, so full of Christ.  Anne Ross Cousin adapted these lines from sections  of the letters of Samuel Rutherford  (1600-1661) that he wrote while in exile and persecuted as a non-conformist minister in Scotland. 

"In 1636 Rutherford published a book defending the doctrines of grace (Calvinism) against Armininism. This put him in conflict with the Church authorities, which were dominated by the English Episcopacy. He was called before the High Court, deprived of his ministerial office, and exiled to Aberdeen. This exile was a sore trial for the beloved pastor. He felt that being separated from his congregation was unbearable. However, because of his exile, we now have many of the letters he wrote to his flock, and so the evil of his banishment has been turned into a great blessing for the church worldwide."

Here is a nice rendition if you have never heard the tune.


The sands of time are sinking, the dawn of Heaven breaks;
The summer morn I’ve sighed for—the fair, sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark hath been the midnight, but dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

O Christ, He is the fountain, the deep, sweet well of love!
The streams of earth I’ve tasted more deep I’ll drink above:
There to an ocean fullness His mercy doth expand,
And glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

Oh! Well it is forever, Oh! well forevermore,
My nest hung in no forest of all this death doomed shore:
Yea, let the vain world vanish, as from the ship the strand,
While glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

There the Red Rose of Sharon unfolds its heartsome bloom
And fills the air of heaven with ravishing perfume:
Oh! To behold it blossom, while by its fragrance fanned
Where glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

The King there in His beauty, without a veil is seen:
It were a well spent journey, though seven deaths lay between:
The Lamb with His fair army, doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

Oft in yon sea beat prison My Lord and I held tryst,
For Anwoth was not heaven, and preaching was not Christ:
And aye, my murkiest storm cloud was by a rainbow spanned,
Caught from the glory dwelling in Immanuel’s land.

But that He built a Heaven of His surpassing love,
A little new Jerusalem, like to the one above,
“Lord take me over the water” hath been my loud demand,
Take me to my love’s own country, unto Immanuel’s land.

But flowers need nights cool darkness, the moonlight and the dew;
So Christ, from one who loved it, His shining oft withdrew:
And then, for cause of absence my troubled soul I scanned
But glory shadeless shineth in Immanuel’s land.

The little birds of Anwoth, I used to count them blessed,
Now, beside happier altars I go to build my nest:
Over these there broods no silence, no graves around them stand,
For glory, deathless, dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

Fair Anwoth by the Solway, to me thou still art dear,
Even from the verge of heaven, I drop for thee a tear.
Oh! If one soul from Anwoth meet me at God’s right hand,
My heaven will be two heavens, In Immanuel’s land.

I’ve wrestled on towards Heaven, against storm and wind and tide,
Now, like a weary traveler that leaneth on his guide,
Amid the shades of evening, while sinks life’s lingering sand,
I hail the glory dawning from Immanuel’s land.

Deep waters crossed life’s pathway, the hedge of thorns was sharp;
Now, these lie all behind me Oh! for a well tuned harp!
Oh! To join hallelujah with yon triumphant band,
Who sing where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

With mercy and with judgment my web of time He wove,
And aye, the dews of sorrow were lustered with His love;
I’ll bless the hand that guided, I’ll bless the heart that planned
When throned where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

Soon shall the cup of glory wash down earth’s bitterest woes,
Soon shall the desert briar break into Eden’s rose;
The curse shall change to blessing the name on earth that’s banned
Be graven on the white stone in Immanuel’s land.

O I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved’s mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner into His “house of wine.”
I stand upon His merit—I know no other stand,
Not even where glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

I shall sleep sound in Jesus, filled with His likeness rise,
To love and to adore Him, to see Him with these eyes:
’Tween me and resurrection but Paradise doth stand;
Then—then for glory dwelling in Immanuel’s land.

The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth but on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel’s land.

I have borne scorn and hatred, I have borne wrong and shame,
Earth’s proud ones have reproached me for Christ’s thrice blessed Name:
Where God His seal set fairest they’ve stamped the foulest brand,
But judgment shines like noonday in Immanuel’s land.

They’ve summoned me before them, but there I may not come,
My Lord says “Come up hither,” My Lord says “Welcome home!”
My King, at His white throne, my presence doth command
Where glory—glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land.

Like Reading it Twice Only More So

Instead of a verse today, I thought I would give you a reason that you should read these and perhpas commit some of these poems to memory. Over at the Oxford Dictionary Blog, I read this interesting tidbit.

But more often, listening to a poem once is really not listening to it at all. It’s only on a second reading that it comes to life. This is true on the page too, and most of us do reread poems as a matter of course. The first time we’re getting the hang of it, finding our bearings. We’re so busy getting to the destination that we don’t have time to look out the window. Once we’re confident about the poem we can relax in that alert, whole-hearted way that only happens when we really engage with verse. And in fact that often requires reading the poem aloud to ourselves. Because most poems, as we know, are sound as well as sense; music as much as meaning. Which is why poetry readings – recitals, as they’re sometimes called — should be the ideal place to encounter poems.
Incidentally, there’s a great piece on OxfordWords by Andrew Motion about the Poetry By Heart project, which proves that the better we know a poem, the more it changes, becoming bigger and more precise. Learning poems is like reading twice only more so. In fact it’s reading squared.

Once upon a time, I thought that the goal was to read as much as possible. To read much and to read quickly to get to the next book, but not all books are made for that. Poetry is not written to be skimmed and it is necessary to read several times, pause, think, reflect over what was written.

Doesn't the same principle apply to Scripture?

Honey-mouthed, Winsome Preaching

"Knowing, as he once said, that there is more grace in Christ than there is sin in us, he always sought in his preaching to win the hearts of his listeners to Christ. This, he believed, was the special duty of ministers: ‘they woo for Christ, and open the riches, beauty, honour, and all that is lovely in him.’ The result was preaching so winsome that struggling believers began to call him the ‘honey-mouthed’, the ‘sweet dropper’, and, apparently, hardened sinners deliberately avoided his sermons for fear he would convert them. One listener, Humphrey Mills, recorded his experience of Sibbes’s ministry, and it seems to have been typical:

'I was for three years together wounded for sins, and under a sense of my corruptions, which were many; and I followed sermons, pursuing the means, and was constant in duties and doing; looking for Heaven that way. And then I was so precise for outward formalities, that I censured all to be reprobates, that wore their hair anything long, and not short above their ears; or that wore great ruffs, and gorgets, or fashions, and follies. But yet I was distracted in my mind, wounded in conscience, and wept often and bitterly, and prayed earnestly, but yet had no comfort, till I heard that sweet saint… Doctor Sibbes, by whose means and ministry I was brought to peace and joy in my spirit. His sweet soul-melting Gospel-sermons won my heart and refreshed me much, for by him I saw and had much of God and was confident in Christ, and could overlook the world… my heart held firm and resolved and my desires all Heaven-ward."

Michal Reeves,  from the introduction of the Banner of Truth edition of Richard Sibbes work Josiah s Reformation

Planted by the Master

"THE GREAT MASTER GARDENER, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a wonderful providence, with his own hand, planted me here, where by his grace, in this part of his vineyard, I grow; and here I will abide till the great Master of the vineyard think fit to transplant me."

Samuel Rutherford -The Loveliness of Christ

The Bible Can be Understood

"It’s appropriate to admit that language can be used deceitfully and is subject to ambiguity. But if we are created in the image of God, then it stands to reason that we are fit conversation partners for the God who began the universe by speaking. Human language is a divinely created means whereby God, from the very beginning, intended to make himself and his ways known." 

Taking God at His Word by Kevin DeYoung

Prophecies -Tuesdays with Timothy #10

1 Timothy 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

Timothy had a lot of people pulling for him. He was well beloved by the brethren and there were high hopes for him and his future(Acts 16:2). He trained and traveled with the Apostle Paul and was prepared by the church before being sent out on his own. Timothy grew up in a context where he knew the Bible, was saved, and in the ministry at an early age. So he had a whole lot going for him by way of support and providence. There is something else in Timothy's calling that is interesting which is the prophesies that concerned his ministry.

There are two ways that the prophecies about Timothy are generally interpreted and it depends on what you do about the word prophecies as to the interpretation. I think there is some sentimentality to the reading of the prophecies of Timothy wanting to apply what happen with his ministry to pastors today. Since Timothy is a pastoral epistle, we have to determine if these prophecies were unique for him during the time of the particular sign gifts or if is something we as pastors today need to apply to ourselves. This is actually an important issue for the church in regards to the ordaining of elders and pastors. There are many good brothers who fall on both sides of the fence on this interpretation, and I plan on planting my feet firmly on the green pasture side in this post.

The word translated "prophecies" is defined by Thayer as "a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted, or revealing things hidden; esp. by foretelling future events".  Vine says it "signifies the speaking forth the mind and counsel of God." It is the telling forth of things that cannot naturally be known but only revealed by God. So far, so good.  But here is where things get sticky.

There is a broader sense of the word prophecy that can include declaring what God has already revealed in divine inspiration. A common phrase that is bandied about is having "a prophetic voice", usually in regards to the culture at large. If I were to preach about the coming judgment of God, I could speak in a "prophetic voice" by saying that judgment has come upon America and her only hope is repentance. This isn't seen in the newspapers but based upon the inspired Word of God in Romans 1. I did not receive direct revelation from God about the future of our nation, but I can speak inspired revelation and be authoritative in declaring God's judgment just as much as a minor prophet would have done. I can emphatically declare this country under God's judgment by speaking God's Word and doing so in the prophetic sense of "speaking the mind of God".  Prophecy in this context is declaring God's Word --the word was not given to the preacher prophetically, given from the inspired author.

What's the problem, you might ask? How can there even be a fence, let alone have two sides to come down on? Many well-respected men believe that Timothy's prophesies include the hopes and aspirations the church had for Timothy, predicting he would be a mighty man of God. This interpretation requires broadening the definition of the word to mean something other than what the word does actually mean.  But this interpretation does allow for the prophesies to be applied to men today at their ordination. This gives us two categories of prophecies. Tier 1 prophesy is fallible and is in the realm of predictions. Tier two prophesy is in the realm of infallibility like found in scripture.  But this creates an unheard of category of "fallible prophesy" in which the prophetic word may or may not be true. A fallible prophecy, in the Biblical sense, cannot exist. It's either from God or not. If it is from God, it cannot be wrong.

 I believe we must take the ministry of Timothy as unique and not lower the meaning of the word prophecies. Timothy was called and predicted to have a unique and profitable ministry. The tools that the apostle equips Timothy within these two epistles are not the tools of a unique office but that of the office of pastor. Paul and Barnabas also had prophetic calls to the ministry (Acts 13:2) so this was not something unheard of in early churches. God had given people a real prophetic word about Timothy. God actually gave them information about Timothy that could not be discerned from nature. These prophesies were real, but we are told they will cease (I Cor. 13:8).

This is also evidenced, I believe, in the fact that Paul instructs Timothy on how he is to ordain elders in the churches. There is no instruction in the pastoral epistles on waiting for the voice of prophecy to come to one prior to the laying on of hands. Nor is there instruction on how to act upon such prophesy, nor how to deal with the inevitable situation where one "desires the work" but has not received a prophetic call. Timothy's job was to train up men for the pastorate (2 Timothy 2:2) so that would be relevant information for him to have.

Let's not go further than the scripture goes. The fact that this was unique in the life of Timothy takes nothing away from the ministry today, nor does it take away the authority of the office of pastor today.  When the gift was given to Timothy, the prophecy was not preaching a message about the ministry before Timothy was ordained (1 Timothy 4:14). I don't claim to understand everything that happened with Timothy or to understand how he was prophesied and what the prophesy entailed. I do think it is a stretch to say that this prophecy was anything other than a true and real word from God about this particular man and his particular ministry.

Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666 By Anne Bradstreet

The poets expresses in words what we all feel, but can't express. The poet helps us to love or weep and the best poems help us give expression our feelings. One of the first poets of the American colonies was the Christian poet Anne Bradsteet. She immigrated with her husband and family, along with other Puritans in the 1600's to Massachusetts.

Douglas Wilson, in his book Beyond Stateliest Marble said:

"Calvinism’ is often mocked as an austere faith, fit only for ideologues. But in the instructed heart of Anne Bradstreet, and through her pen, we see the loveliness of her Calvinism, which is just a different way of saying the ‘loveliness of her Christian contentment."

and

"Calvinism’ is often mocked as an austere faith, fit only for ideologues. But in the instructed heart of Anne Bradstreet, and through her pen, we see the loveliness of her Calvinism, which is just a different way of saying the ‘loveliness of her Christian contentment."

I wonder where the Baptist poets are? Does that say something about the times we live in or does it say something about us? Today's poem was one she wrote about her house burning down and expresses what it means to suffer loss, but to suffer loss in this life with the expectation of eternity.


In silent night when rest I took,
For sorrow near I did not look,
I wakened was with thund’ring noise
And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.
That fearful sound of “fire” and “fire,”
Let no man know is my Desire.
I, starting up, the light did spy,
And to my God my heart did cry
To straighten me in my Distress
And not to leave me succourless.
Then, coming out, behold a space
The flame consume my dwelling place.
And when I could no longer look,
I blest His name that gave and took,
That laid my goods now in the dust.
Yea, so it was, and so ‘twas just.
It was his own, it was not mine,
Far be it that I should repine;
He might of all justly bereft
But yet sufficient for us left.
When by the ruins oft I past
My sorrowing eyes aside did cast
And here and there the places spy
Where oft I sate and long did lie.
Here stood that trunk, and there that chest,
There lay that store I counted best.
My pleasant things in ashes lie
And them behold no more shall I.
Under thy roof no guest shall sit,
Nor at thy Table eat a bit.
No pleasant talk shall ‘ere be told
Nor things recounted done of old.
No Candle e'er shall shine in Thee,
Nor bridegroom‘s voice e'er heard shall be.
In silence ever shalt thou lie,
Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.
Then straight I ‘gin my heart to chide,
And did thy wealth on earth abide?
Didst fix thy hope on mould'ring dust?
The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?
Raise up thy thoughts above the sky
That dunghill mists away may fly.
Thou hast a house on high erect
Frameed by that mighty Architect,
With glory richly furnished,
Stands permanent though this be fled.
It‘s purchased and paid for too
By Him who hath enough to do.
A price so vast as is unknown,
Yet by His gift is made thine own;
There‘s wealth enough, I need no more,
Farewell, my pelf, farewell, my store.
The world no longer let me love,
My hope and treasure lies above.

Monday Verse: Marshes of Glynn

I mentioned before that Jesse Stuart was an author from Greenup County, Kentucky where I was born and raised. He was our local, literary, legend.  When I was in middle school they constructed the Jesse Stuart Bridge that crossed the Ohio River and made life much easier for us to who journeyed across state lines.

In the process of time, I end up in Georgia. I went from running the hills to coastal Georgia where the biggest hill in 100 miles is the Sidney Lanier Bridge. For some reason, I never thought to ask "who was Sidney Lanier?"  I was perusing a collection of American Poets, I saw a poem called The Marshes of Glynn, which caught my eye because there is a church in Brunswick called Marshes of Glynn Baptist Church. Then I noticed its author - Sindey Lanier. Another bridge named after another local author and poet found in another county I live; which provides us another Monday Verse. Enjoy.


Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven
With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven
  Clamber the forks of the multiform boughs,--
                        Emerald twilights,--
                        Virginal shy lights,
Wrought of the leaves to allure to the whisper of vows,
When lovers pace timidly down through the green colonnades
Of the dim sweet woods, of the dear dark woods,
  Of the heavenly woods and glades,
That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach within
        The wide sea-marshes of Glynn;--
Beautiful glooms, soft dusks in the noon-day fire,--
Wildwood privacies, closets of lone desire,
Chamber from chamber parted with wavering arras of leaves,--
Cells for the passionate pleasure of prayer to the soul that grieves,
Pure with a sense of the passing of saints through the wood,
Cool for the dutiful weighing of ill with good;--
O braided dusks of the oak and woven shades of the vine,
While the riotous noon-day sun of the June-day long did shine
Ye held me fast in your heart and I held you fast in mine;
But now when the noon is no more, and riot is rest,
And the sun is a-wait at the ponderous gate of the West,
And the slant yellow beam down the wood-aisle doth seem
Like a lane into heaven that leads from a dream,--
Ay, now, when my soul all day hath drunken the soul of the oak,
And my heart is at ease from men, and the wearisome sound of the stroke
  Of the scythe of time and the trowel of trade is low,
  And belief overmasters doubt, and I know that I know,
  And my spirit is grown to a lordly great compass within,
That the length and the breadth and the sweep of the marshes of Glynn
Will work me no fear like the fear they have wrought me of yore
When length was fatigue, and when breadth was but bitterness sore,
And when terror and shrinking and dreary unnamable pain
Drew over me out of the merciless miles of the plain,--
Oh, now, unafraid, I am fain to face
  The vast sweet visage of space.
To the edge of the wood I am drawn, I am drawn,
Where the gray beach glimmering runs, as a belt of the dawn,
  For a mete and a mark
    To the forest-dark:--
                        So:
Affable live-oak, leaning low,--
Thus--with your favor--soft, with a reverent hand,
(Not lightly touching your person, Lord of the land!)
Bending your beauty aside, with a step I stand
On the firm-packed sand,
                        Free
By a world of marsh that borders a world of sea.
  Sinuous southward and sinuous northward the shimmering band
  Of the sand-beach fastens the fringe of the marsh to the folds of the land.
Inward and outward to northward and southward the beach-lines linger and curl
As a silver-wrought garment that clings to and follows
    the firm sweet limbs of a girl.
Vanishing, swerving, evermore curving again into sight,
Softly the sand-beach wavers away to a dim gray looping of light.
And what if behind me to westward the wall of the woods stands high?
The world lies east: how ample, the marsh and the sea and the sky!
A league and a league of marsh-grass, waist-high, broad in the blade,
Green, and all of a height, and unflecked with a light or a shade,
Stretch leisurely off, in a pleasant plain,
To the terminal blue of the main.
Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and the terminal sea?
  Somehow my soul seems suddenly free
From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin,
By the length and the breadth and the sweep of the marshes of Glynn.
Ye marshes, how candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free
Ye publish yourselves to the sky and offer yourselves to the sea!
Tolerant plains, that suffer the sea and the rains and the sun,
Ye spread and span like the catholic man who hath mightily won
God out of knowledge and good out of infinite pain
And sight out of blindness and purity out of a stain.
As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod,
Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God:
I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies
In the freedom that fills all the space ‘twixt the marsh and the skies:
By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod
I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God:
Oh, like to the greatness of God is the greatness within
The range of the marshes, the liberal marshes of Glynn.
And the sea lends large, as the marsh: lo, out of his plenty the sea
Pours fast: full soon the time of the flood-tide must be:
Look how the grace of the sea doth go
About and about through the intricate channels that flow
  Here and there,
                        Everywhere,
Till his waters have flooded the uttermost creeks and the low-lying lanes,
And the marsh is meshed with a million veins,
That like as with rosy and silvery essences flow
  In the rose-and-silver evening glow.
                        Farewell, my lord Sun!
The creeks overflow: a thousand rivulets run
‘Twixt the roots of the sod; the blades of the marsh-grass stir;
Passeth a hurrying sound of wings that westward whirr;
Passeth, and all is still; and the currents cease to run;
And the sea and the marsh are one.
How still the plains of the waters be!
The tide is in his ecstasy.
The tide is at his highest height:
                        And it is night.
And now from the Vast of the Lord will the waters of sleep
Roll in on the souls of men,
But who will reveal to our waking ken
The forms that swim and the shapes that creep
                        Under the waters of sleep?
And I would I could know what swimmeth below when the tide comes in
On the length and the breadth of the marvellous marshes of Glynn.

Amazing, Saving Grace

Tuesdays with Timothy  #9

14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

This is one of my favorite passages. Oh, what amazing grace that God would take a sinner, a blasphemer, a religious persecutor and saved him. To call a malicious, arrogant tyrant, who voraciously opposed Him, and then forgive him. But not only forgive him, but give him life and make him a joint-heir with Christ. This was truly exceeding abundant grace.  Not merely grace given, but grace given and overflowing. Grace is a gift we do not deserve and God gives it in an overflowing fashion. Taking into account Paul’s life and his great sin we see the greatness of God’s grace. We are saved by grace, through faith and Paul gives a personal testimony to this fact. There was a great love in the heart of Paul that flows from the love which is found in our union with Christ. No longer found in Adam, or found in his works, or found in the sect of the Pharisee; Paul was now found in Christ. 

This is a faithful saying, worthy and dependably - Jesus came to save sinners, of whom Paul says he is chief.  Paul knew it to be true experimentally because he had experienced the depth of sin and the heights of grace. The Bible declares it imperatively and I can tell you that I know it to be true and trustworthy. This saying is deserving of your receiving its truths. If there were ever anything worth believing, it is this, Christ Jesus came to save sinners. The value and truth of this saying makes it worthy of receiving. He came from Heaven, born of a virgin. He came of his own will and came with a purpose and a mission. It was not first to rule, or to destroy. Not even to judge and condemn. All this comes later. Jesus came to save sinners.  Big sinners, wretched sinners, young sinners, and old sinners. He came to lift up the poor in spirit and save the lost an undone. To seek and save the unworthy, the unloved, the undeserving. Christ came to save sinners and Paul rejoiced, because he was a sinner. Are you a sinner? Have you committed great crimes against God? Are you stained as scarlet with your wretchedness? Jesus came to save sinners. Paul rejoiced that he is now an example for all sinners, in that he acquired mercy.

Paul obtained, or received mercy. You don’t earn mercy and you don't deserve grace. Mercy, according to Thayer, is “to help the afflicted, to bring help to the wretched”. Mercy to the wretched, to the poor in spirit, to the destitute, and to the depraved. To bring salvation to the dying, mercy to the sinner, grace to the filthy, help to the hurting, and healing to the sick of soul. Perhaps one imagines they are too dirty to be saved or too ugly inside to be cleansed or perhaps too used to be loved and too shamed to be accepted. Well, Paul has some news for you, and this is actually why he told you he was so bad to start with; Paul is our pattern and example.  Are you a sinner? Have you committed great crimes against God?  God has given you a pattern to look to.  God has shown us what he does in saving a soul.  You are a sinner? So was Paul. Have you have rejected Christ? Have you have blasphemed?  So did Paul and God saved Paul. God forgave him and gave him life. God gave him repentance, faith, love and cleansed him and made him pure and clean that he can stand righteous before God, in Christ.  Not by works of righteousness because you can't wash yourself enough to clean your soul.  Not by being good, can’t be good enough to make up for the past. Not by turning your life around, because you are already guilty. But God offers full and free and forever salvation. Saved from your sins, saved from Hell and preserved to have a blessed eternity with Jesus Christ. The salvation is not in turning your life around, but faith in Christ, the substitute on the cross. Jesus took upon Him the sins of His people on the cross and there received the wrath of God due sinners. Christ paid for the sin of His people and laid down His life in my place. Christ victoriously rose for our justification and all who come to Him in faith receive forgiveness and pardon. Hear the words of the apostle himself in Acts 16:30-31 Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Trust in what Christ did as an atonement, a substationary sacrifice on the cross, by grace, be saved and live in peace forever with the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is true, and you ought to believe it!

Monday Verse: The Last Word of a Blue Bird (As told to a child)

Male Mountain Blue Bird. Source Wikipedia

Good Monday Morning. I hope you spent the Lord's day with the Lord's people, in the Lord's house. Our poem this week was suggested by a dear brother in Christ and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I did some reading about it and if you would like a little behind the scenes information on this poem, you might find THIS interesting as well.
 

The Last Word of a Blue Bird
(As told to a child)
by Robert Frost

As I went out a Crow
In a low voice said, "Oh,
I was looking for you.
How do you do?
I just came to tell you
To tell Lesley (will you?)
That her little Bluebird
Wanted me to bring word
That the north wind last night
That made the stars bright
And made ice on the trough
Almost made him cough
His tail feathers off.
He just had to fly!
But he sent her Good-by,
And said to be good,
And wear her red hood,
And look for the skunk tracks
In the snow with an ax-
And do everything!
And perhaps in the spring
He would come back and sing."

Book Review: Persuasive Preaching

Persuasive Preaching

A Biblical and Practical Guide to the Effective Use of Persuasion

By: R. Larry Overstreet

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1. Paul gave his life to preaching the gospel and calling men unto salvation and to follow Jesus Christ. He declared the truth and then he urged, and pleaded for men to obey. Persuasive Preaching is a book calling men who stand behind the pulpit to not just give information, but persuade men to believe and follow Jesus. What does this mean and what does this look like? This book attempts to give that answer. It is theology that forms the basis of our methodology and if the foundation of theology is off the methodology and practice will be as well. Before addressing the theology of the book, let me give you a brief overview.

The book is separated into four parts and in part one, Overstreet addresses the problems modern preachers face in trying to reach people with a post-modern view of the world. As Christians, we believe in ultimate truth in a society whose ultimate truth is, there is no truth. He hits the nail on the head here. Persuasive preaching faces an uphill battle in our society where people are raised to think they are the key of their own ultimate truth and reject outright any claim to absolute truth. Part two is not for everyone, and Overstreet lets us know this up front. This is a scholarly treatment, and unless you have a proficiency in Greek, you may not get a lot out this section. Overstreet offers Biblical support for persuasion in preaching and uses Paul’s preaching as an example of how the message should be declared with the desire that people believe what is being preached and act on that message. The third sections provides examples of how to put this information together in a sermon outline and provides different ways a sermon can be persuasive with both positive and negative examples. The last chapter, Overstreet tries to apply some application in the book dealing with what persuasive preaching looks like in action and covers the dangers of manipulation.

The prologue sets the tone with a story of how Mr. Overstreet was saved in a church that gave a closing invitation and laments that some churches do not continue in this practice. He closes the book with a plea for the public invitation. Theology matters.  Overstreet’s definition of persuasive preaching is “the process of preparing biblical, expository messages using a persuasive pattern, and presenting them through verbal and nonverbal communication means to autonomous individuals who can be convicted and /or taught by God’s Holy Spirit, in order to alter or strengthen their attitudes and beliefs toward God, His Word and other individuals, resulting in their lives being transformed into the image of Christ.”

Here lies my problem with the book. Who is autonomous? Who out there has an absolute autonomous free will? What Biblical texts are provided to prove this assertion? The underlying presupposition of the book is that man's will is autonomous and that he is free to choose with the ability to choose Christ on his own. With this view of man as a foundation for the book, the persuasion takes on a whole new meaning and the preachers goal and task takes on a whole new dynamic. This is why the insistence on the invitation is out of place in Biblical preaching. While he goes to the text to prove that Paul was persuasive in his preaching, the presupposition of autonomy leaves us with a pragmatic plea for the invitation, not a Biblical case for one. God the Holy Spirit is the one who makes preaching effectual, and when a person is born again, they will find the preaching persuasive, whether there was an invitation or not. So while there are many worthwhile points and good thoughts in the books, I did not agree with the premise, that men can be persuaded unto salvation or that a man dead in trespasses and sins and be persuaded to be born again by an effective delivery or style, or sadly, an invitation. Ironically, I was not persuaded.

Thanks to Cross Focused Reviews for the review copy of this book. 

Low Down and Dirty

Tuesdays with Timothy  #8

13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 

Paul never forgot what the Lord saved him from. But at the same time, I don't think he dwelt on his sin, but took his sin to Christ, who is faithful and just to forgive him his sins. He lists the sins of blasphemy, being a persecutor, and being injurious. Today I want to consider these three sins, and next time look at why he brings it up. 

He was a blasphemer, and that involves more that using God's name in a curse. It means to speak of God in terms of impious irreverence; to revile or speak reproachfully of God, according to Webster’s dictionary. At first consideration, this may strike you as as odd, Paul saying he was a blasphemer, considering his Jewish upbringing and that "touching the law, a Pharisee". How could one who spent his whole life trying to keep the law describe his former way of life as a blasphemer? Paul blasphemed Christ and his crime was multiplied by his knowledge of God's Word. Paul outwardly kept the law as a Pharisee, but this was the sin that Christ warned the Pharisees of committing with their blatant rejection of the works of Christ.  Paul preached that Jesus was an imposter, spoke irreverently of Christ and denied Christ was the Saviour and was the Christ. He also compelled others to blaspheme the truth, name, and character of the Lord Jesus. 

Paul may have also been guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit on account of his addendum "but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief". Sins of unbelief are still sins (Numbers 15:28-30) so he was not excusing his sin, but rather he was forgiven because he did it in unbelief. I believe that this was included to tell us that he also blasphemed the Holy Spirit, but in ignorance thus not committing the unpardonable sin.  Those who committed the unpardonable sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:22-32) attributed the work of the Holy Ghost to the Devil, but they did it purposefully, actually knowing the truth and blaspheming anyway. The Pharisees knew that Jesus was the Christ and knew that the work He did was of the Holy Spirit and proceeded  knowingly and willingly to blaspheme the true work of God. Paul blasphemed Christ, (and I believe the Holy Spirit), but he was ignorant of the truth. In his sinful zeal, he thought he was doing the right thing. He obtained mercy because he did it unregenerate ignorance while many of his friends committed the unpardonable sin. They did believe the claims that Jesus was who he said he was and with full understanding, blasphemed Christ and the Holy Spirit. 

Paul was also a persecutor. He imprisoned the saints (Acts 22:19). He hunted the saints (Galatians 1:13) For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. When he persecuted beyond measure, that means he hunted the church with incalculable and indescribable wrath. He wasted the church.  You have seen movies where the villains come into a town and kick in the doors, destroy the houses, burn the property etc. That is Saul of Tarsus when he found a church - he would ransack it. Acts 22:4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. He beat them (Acts 22:19) and put them to death. Men or women, it did not matter. He separated husbands and wives, father's and daughters - he was a terrorist, a religious zealot with a blank check to fulfill his desire to cause harm. 

He was injurious. This word is translated “despiteful” in the list of sins in Romans 1:29-30.  Not only did he sin, but was proud and insolent in his sin. Tyndale translated it as being a "tyrant". With a proud satisfaction as a boastful conqueror, or a wicked pirate, Paul persecuted mercilessly because he “knew” he was right . Paul was a religious man who had conviction. A man, who read, prayed, studied and believed in his religion with all his heart and in all sincerity. A sincerity that caused action; that compelled him to kill, imprison, beat, hunt and persecute those who did not believe as he did. Yes, Paul was a great sinner; but he  served a great Saviour.

Monday Verse: Birches

Birches
BY ROBERT FROST

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay
As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to fetch the cows—
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.
One by one he subdued his father's trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And not one but hung limp, not one was left
For him to conquer. He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise
To the top branches, climbing carefully
With the same pains you use to fill a cup
Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It's when I'm weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig's having lashed across it open.
I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

The Good Ole Days

"We frequently hear the question discussed as to which are the best times. Some are perpetually singing the praises of the "good old times;" though, if one reads the page of history, it does not appear that the old times deserve any very special praise, unless oppression, ignorance, persecution, and abundant suffering deserve to be the theme of song. It is the common habit of the fathers, with tears in their eyes, to say, "The former days were better than these," but we have the wisdom of Solomon on our side when we tell them they do not enquire wisely Concerning this. "Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this." (Ecclesiastes 7:10.)"

Charles Spurgeon from the sermon NOW

The Church as an Institution

BH Carroll notes the difference  between the church as an institution verses the institution exemplified in the local body.  This from his Interpretation of the English Bible, Ephesians 2.

"We now come to a very important thought. When Paul talks about the new man, and the church is said to be the bride made one with Christ, as Adam and Eve were made one, and when he talks about one commonwealth and one citizenship, and when he talks about them being one household, and being made into one temple, he is speaking of the church as an institution. God established a time institution. That institution is exemplified, becomes operative, in particular churches.

This thought is expressed in verse 21: "In whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord." That is to say, each particular congregation, particular church, is an expression of the church as an institution, and its only expression. For instance, a new state may provide for "trial by jury." There, "jury" is an institution, of which each particular jury is an expression. So the expression, "I will build my church," when that institution becomes operative, it is exemplified in a particular church. We must make the distinction in usage according to the laws of language between an institution in the abstract sense and its expression in every particular, concrete case. Speaking abstractly, we may say that the church is a temple. Speaking concretely, each particular church is a temple. Such usage of language is common. We never misunderstand its import in other matters. We never make the abstract sense a conglomeration. If we say abstractly "the husband is the head of the wife" we do not mean all husbands are blended into one big universal husband. But we mean that in every particular case the husband is the head of the wife. Just so in Ephesians 1:22; 2:12-20; 3:10, 21 the church as an institution is discussed under several figures. But always Ephesians 2:21-22 (revised text) shows what the institution is in its expression. It becomes operative in particular churches only. Later Ephesians 5:23-33 will discuss the glory church."

Book Review: The Foundation of Communion with God: The Trinitarian Piety of John Owen.

Introduced and Edited by: Ryan M. McGraw
Reformation Heritage Books

John Owen (1616 - 1683) was an English Nonconformist pastor, theologian, and scholar. He was also a prolific author and the Ryan McGraw has set out in the book The Foundation of Communion with God to not only wet your appetite, but give you an introduction to Owen and his writing style.If you have never read John Owen - buy this book. Owen can be intimidating and some of his works are difficult but this book shows you that it is worth the effort.

The Foundation of Communion with God is part of an ongoing series of books Profiles in Reformed Spirituality that takes selections of the writings of the Puritans and reformers with biographical sketches to introduce the reader to the author and his works with the hope that it will encourage further exploration. With this book and John Owen I can say: mission accomplished.

The book consists of three main sections. After a brief introduction and biographical sketch, we get to the readings. Section one deals with Knowing God as Triune. Section two deals with Heavenly-Mindedness and Apostasy, and the last section Covenant and Church. There are 41 separate readings but are very short, just a few long paragraphs each. But don't let their brevity fool you; they are deep and full of wonderful truths.

The two appendices close the book out with some helpful tips to reading Owen and some recommendation on where to proceed for those ready to pursue more of his writings.

Since each chapter is an excerpt from a larger published work, you don't have the flow of thought you would have if you were reading the original book itself. I think it would be helpful to use this as a devotional book to take it a chapter a day.

If you are unfamiliar with John Owen or thought that the Puritans are out of reach, or maybe you think that the old writers have nothing to say to us today, I would urge you to pick up this volume and sit at the feet of an old master and grow to love the depths and the riches of our Triune God.

John Owen on Christian Liberty

"Slaves take liberty from duty; children have liberty in duty. There is not a greater mistake in the world than that the liberty of sons in the house of God consists in this: they can perform duties or take the freedom to omit them; they can serve in the family of God (that is, they think they may if they will), and they can choose whether they will or no. This is a liberty stolen by slaves, not a liberty given by the Spirit unto sons.

The liberty of sons is in the inward spiritual freedom of their hearts, naturally and kindly going out in all the ways and worship of God. When they find themselves straitened and shut up in them, they wrestle with God for enlargement and are never contented with the doing of a duty, unless it be done as in Christ, with free, genuine, and enlarged hearts. The liberty that servants have is from duty; the liberty given to sons is in duty…. Where love is in any duty, it is complete in Christ.
The liberty of sons is in the inward spiritual freedom of their hearts, naturally and kindly going out in all the ways and worship of God. When they find themselves straitened and shut up in them, they wrestle with God for enlargement and are never contented with the doing of a duty, unless it be done as in Christ, with free, genuine, and enlarged hearts. The liberty that servants have is from duty; the liberty given to sons is in duty…. Where love is in any duty, it is complete in Christ."

John Owen, Communion with God

The Dead who are Living

From a sermon by S. Lewis Johnson "His Power and Our Salvation". 

"Many years ago...I read a story by a Scottish expositor. And he said that there was a graveyard in Ayrshire, one the counties of Scotland, where once a stranger was buried. It greatly distressed the people of that particular parish, so much so that they put a notice on the outside of the graveyard to this effect, this is what it read: "This graveyard is reserved exclusively for the dead who are living in this parish."

Now, that is what we have in this parish of the whole wide world. We have dead people. They're alive, just like Adam was alive, physically, after he had sinned, but nevertheless, he was spiritually dead. We are living in the parish, but we are dead, as we are born into this human race. The Apostle says, "We are dead in trespasses and sins" that’s the relationship we have to the Creator."