Fear Not

And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:  (18)  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. - Revelation 1:12-18

When John saw the glorified Christ, he fell at His feet as dead. It was too much, Christ was too glorious. The same John that was so near to Jesus at the Lord's Supper fell as dead at the sight of the Christ, wearing the garments of the Royal High Priest, who intercedes for us. Pause a moment and think about that. Consider the glory of Christ. The power, the majesty, the glory. And He is the one who intercedes. This Christ stooped down to where we are and shed His blood for us and now comes to us and says "fear not". Shinning brightness as the sun. White in holiness and majesty. Piercing eyes that can see into the furthest reaches of our soul. The omnipotent judgment the King of King's. It was too much for John.

It is this Christ who is in the midst of His churches, who holds His messengers in His hands. It this Christ who come to adore and honor and worship on the Lord's day. It is this Christ who is the center and the head of the church. If only we would hear and see. This epistle was given to the churches. If only we could realize who walks among us. This is the Head of the church. If only men who stood behind the pulpit could remember it is this Lord's Word that we handle. It is HIS message, not ours. It is this Christ whom we all must give an account, and how it should shake us to our very core that we stand up and tell people "thus saith the Lord." 

But Christ came to John and said "fear not." Don't be afraid John. You fall as dead, but I am He that died and lives for ever more. You need not fear me, for I rose again. Jesus touched John with that right hand of power. The right hand of honor. The right hand of blessing and inheritance. Even the right hand of fellowship. How can this be? For this same Christ stooped down to us, saved us, and ever lives to make intercession for us.

May God's churches remember this truth in God's house. May God's people remember this truth in seasons of doubt and despair. May we see, with eyes of faith, the glorious Christ who says to us "fear not.

An Extraordinary Saviour

An excerpt from the sermon at a baptismal service 12/15/13.

We get bogged down in the daily workings of life that we miss the wonderfully obvious, that this world, even in its broken state, is a pretty wild place. We are on a rock that is spinning 1,000 miles an hour hurling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour. That sun that we journey around every year, gives us heat and gives us light, in which trees turn into oxygen, in which we breathe out laughter at a nine month old learning experimentally about gravity. We see these things, but don’t see them.

This world and this life is wonderfully extraordinary and is all around us and we miss it staring at our phones, or becoming so preoccupied with things that don’t matter. Our problem is much deeper than not paying attention, though that is a big problem. Our problem goes all the way down into the core. Some of you listened to me preach this morning and heard a message of the gospel, and it was established in your heart. Some of you were daydreaming and haven’t the foggiest idea what I was preaching. Some of you listened and heard me, but did not hear what I was saying, you did not perceive the Words, you heard the concept, but did not perceive. Hearts have grown dull, and you have ears they can barely hear, and have closed your eyes; lest you should see with your eyes and hear with your ears and understand with your heart and turn from your sin unto the Saviour and be healed.

We are about to witness a baptism, and I wonder what you will see? When John Baptized, some saw a religious symbol, and nothing more. Some saw a wild man dunking people under the water, and nothing more. Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. But those who were truly saved and truly waiting for the coming of Messiah saw something more.

Baptism tells the story of such a miracle that goes unnoticed and forgotten, even by those people who have experienced it. Baptism paints a picture for those with eyes to see the most beautiful tale of love, heroism, and devotion the world will ever know. Baptism tells the story of death and sacrifice. Justice and mercy. Burial and repentance. Resurrection and newness of life. Baptism does not save, baptism speaks.

The miracle of regeneration, where a human spirit, that cannot live, is given life to really live for the first time is put on full display. The miracle of dead bodies coming out of their tombs and walking about. The miracle of new creations, new creatures having been born again and seen the kingdom of God. The story of a Man, who called a dead man from his grave, and that man answered and obeyed and hopped out of the tomb. The story of this Man who entered into the world, but was bigger than the world itself, and died at the hands of wicked men (though they did not take His life from Him) and He laid down His life voluntarily as a sacrifice to present sinners blameless before God. Whose dead body was made alive again and walked out of the tomb securing the death of death by the death of Christ.

You have heard this story, but have you really heard it? Have you really believed it? Has it been confirmed in your soul that Jesus died and rose again? Will you see a woman getting wet in the front of a church, or will you see a picture of Jesus dying and rising out of the tomb? Will you see a women getting wet, or will you see a woman who was made alive by grace? Who God has quickened from the dead, from death to life to the spiritually dead. A picture of the new birth, and walking in newness of life.

What will you see?

Will you see the gospel?

Will you see the working of Grace?

Will you believe what we will show you?

This is the gospel of grace. All have sinned and come short of the perfect standard that God has demanded from His creation. From birth, our hearts are bent and broken towards sinfulness. Even our best efforts are tainted by sin. We have fallen from God and are guilty having broken His commandments. We are a sinful people estranged from a Holy God and we have no way to fix what is broken. We can’t do better, we can’t repair the past. We are guilty before God and deserving to be punished and to go where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But listen to me, really listen because I want to tell you how awesome God is. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came into this Earth that He might seek and save those lost souls to whom the Father had given Him. He didn’t look for good people because there were not any good people. All were ruined and thrust into sin. But Jesus, born of a virgin, the Word made flesh, lived a life of perfection, obedient to every law of God. Jesus did what Adam could not do, He was born perfect and stayed that way. Never the slightest hint of sin from the Lord, a perfect man who lived for the purpose that when the fullness of time had arrived, He would offer Himself to God, a sacrifice for sins.

When the hour had come, Jesus was taken to Golgotha and nailed to a cross. The father had taken the sins of the elect and laid them on the sinless Saviour. The Son bore the wrath and the punishment and paid the penalty completely for the sins that we committed. When God’s wrath was satisfied, Jesus gave up the ghost.

After three days and three nights, Jesus rose from the dead, alive. Not a spirit, not a ghost, but bodily arose and walked about walking in newness of life. This is the good news, for if you repent of your sins, if you trust in what Jesus did, and trust that this testimony is true and cry out to God to save you knowing He is the only true and sufficient perfect Saviour, then you will have life and life eternal. By God’s grace, die to self, and are born again, raised to walk in newness of life, to follow your Lord and your Saviour, all the days of your life.

This is an extraordinary world. Only because we have an extraordinarily awesome Saviour.

I Go to Prepare a Place for You

A.W. Pink
"God never has, and never will, take His people into a place un-prepared for them. In Eden God first "planted a garden," and then placed Adam in it. It was the same with Israel when they entered Canaan: "Deuteronomy 6:10-11  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full." And what can we say of the grace manifested by the Lord of glory going to prepared a place for us? He will not entrust such a task to  the angels. Proof, indeed, is this that He loves us "unto the end."

A.W. Pink and the Impeccability of Christ

Picking back up where I left off I found this article by A.W. Pink article on the Impeccability of Christ.

"The constitution of Christ’s person proves His impeccability.  In Him were united (in a manner altogether incomprehensible to created intelligence) the Divine and the human natures. Now “God cannot be tempted with evil” (James 1:13); “it is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). And Christ was “God manifest in flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16);“Immanuel”—God with us (Matt. 1:23). Personality centered not in His humanity. Christ was a Divine person, who had been “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). Utterly impossible was it, then, for the God-man to sin. To affirm the contrary, is to be guilty of the most awful blasphemy. It is irreverent speculation to discuss what the human nature of Christ might have done if it had been alone. It never was alone; it never had a separate existence; from the first moment of  its being it was united to a Divine person."

The heart of the issue arrives from the definition of a man as well as Christ. Those that hold that Christ could have sinned, take their view of humanity from themselves, i.e. they are the standard of humanity. Since Christ was a man, He had to be like they are now in order to succor those who are tempted. But Christ was not born depraved, Christ was without sin, He was the perfect man. When the Word was made flesh, He was what humanity was to be, not what humanity has become. You and I are deformed, we are mutated and depraved. We are far from what true humanity is supposed to be. Jesus was fully man and fully God, He was not less man, nor was He less God, but the Godman. His perfection did not detract from His humanity. His impeccability did not detract from the attack of Satan.

We are so corrupted and tainted by sin, we cannot begin to conceive of sinless perfection. However, our imperfection and the knowledge of who we are should only cause us to bow in humble adoration to the truth of our Great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus the Lord.

Guaranteed Success!

Isaiah 42:1-4  
Last time we asked if the Old Testament saints would have believed what they read and had faith that Messiah would not fail. This time, Jonathan Edwards helps us to consider the same passage from God's perspective. Would Christ succeed in His mission? Was there a chance that He wouldn't?
Shall He? 

"If Christ had not kept the Father’s commandments, he could not have continued in His love. He would have been cast out of favor. Nevertheless, it was impossible that Christ should not continue in His Father’s love for He was entitled to such help and support from him as should be effectual to uphold him in obedience to His Father. Therefore through the perfect obedience of Christ, God remedied the weakness of the first covenant and guaranteed the success of the second covenant. What the law failed of, being weak through the flesh, Christ performed.”  Jonathan Edwards 

Shall He?

Isaiah 42:1-4  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.  He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

If I were a Hebrew living in exile in Babylon and was wondering if we would ever be delivered, and if I were looking for the Messiah and my hope was in God., and if I read Isaiah's message and believed it, I wonder if I thought the Messiah would fail? If I believed the message, how could I believe anything but exactly what it said?

There are a lot of "shalls" here. A lot of definitive statements that God said the Messiah WOULD do. In fact, it says that He SHALL NOT FAIL and not even fail, but be discouraged, or be crushed, or be broken. He will not be defeated. If I were a Hebrew, living in the Old Testament days reading the Bible, I would believe that the Christ not only WOULD not fail, but COULD not fail and i would have a lot of hope in the coming Saviour.

By God's grace, I would believe (as I do now) that the Christ is a perfect Saviour. I would have (and do) believe every word of Isaiah. When God said "He shall" I believe that He will - will not even the slightest chance of failure. I love the passages that point us to the Rock, the Anchor, the Stronghold of my soul - because He is a perfect Saviour, then and now and today and forever.

Stay tuned, there is more to come on this topic...

Doug 

Apples of Gold

The Infinite Merit of Christ by Craig Biehl

I am really enjoying The Infinite Merit of Christ by Craig Biehl. The subtitle is: The Glory of Christ's Obedience in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards. I usually do not enjoy reading a book that is roughly half quotes from another author[s] especially if hundreds of years separate the two writers. The vast difference in the use of languages are distracting to me. But Biehl has done a great job in writing that I do not find the frequent alternating paragraphs between him and Edwards distracting at all. I haven't read the book to recommend it, but I do love this quote from Biehl summarizing the first chapter.

"...Edwards defines the glory of God as the shining forth of His excellent perfections. Internally the glory of God is displayed and communicated among the persons of the Trinity in the Son reflecting the excellent perfections of the Father, in the Father viewing His own excellence in the perfections of the Son, and in the Father’s joy and love of those perfections by the Holy Spirit, the love between the persons of the Trinity. In the same manner, God accompli9shes His ultimate purpose to display and communicate His glory to His creatures in His glory displayed in the person and redeeming work of Christ, and in the giving of the Holy Spirit to believers by whom they love and rejoice in the excellence of the Son of the Father. Consequently, God’s ultimate purpose to glorify Himself is one and the same with His purpose to communicate His happiness to His creatures, the whole of which is accomplished in and through the person and redeeming work of Christ."

______________________________________________________________________

Douglas Newell IV

Family and Rest

Ruth 1:5-9 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother's house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

Ruth and her sister-in-law Orpah were in a really terrible situation. Their husbands and father-in-law had just died and were left alone to fend for themselves. Of course it was much different for women in these days and there just were not a whole lot of options for widows to provide for themselves without father or husband. Naomi, a Jewish woman, was going back to the land of Israel and back to her home country.

Naomi wanted her precious daughter-in-laws to have rest and peace in their lives and knowing that they would not have much hope in Israel, being Moabite, gentiles, she urged them to go back to their families and find husbands and rest in a family.

In those days, and even today, there is rest in family. For Ruth and Orpah, a family would have been provision and shelter for them so they would not be forced live on the kindness of others; if they were fortunate.

Even today, the family is a place of rest and love and peace and beauty. Men and women hope to have husbands and wives, and for most, the ideal life would someday include a family to come home to and night, a spouse to love and a place of rest from the stresses and worries of life. Yet it is not a place of eternal rest of the soul. Some Christian families are turning the family into and idol. They find rest and comfort in the family MORE than they do with God.

Proverbs 21:19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

Proverbs 21:9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

But is it not true that it is better to live in the house of an angry, brawling contentious woman that to be without Christ? Any measure of peace and rest that we might find in this world is tainted by sin and imperfect; yet in Christ Jesus our Lord there is perfect peace and rest for our souls.

Family is blessed and wonderful, and I love my family; but it cannot provide rest for my soul. Don’t make your family your god or an idol.

______________________________________________________________________


Douglas Newell IV

Quiz: Who said it?

“Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan; no one wants to claim it.”
a. George Bush
b. George Washington
c. John F. Kennedy

“Courage is being scared to death—and saddling up anyway.”
a. John Wayne
b. Theodore Roosevelt
c. Robert E. Lee

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
a. Robert Louis Stevenson
b. Jerry Seinfeld
c. William Shakespeare

“To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection , seems I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”

a. Billy Graham
b. Charles Darwin
c. Jerry Fallwell

“Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.”
a. Adolf Hitler
b. George Washington
a. The Apostle Paul

___________________________________________________________________
Keep scrolling for the answers below.











ANSWERS

“Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan; no one wants to claim it.”
c. John F. Kennedy

“Courage is being scared to death—and saddling up anyway.”
a. John Wayne

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
c. William Shakespeare

“To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection , seems I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”
b. Charles Darwin

“Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.”
a. Adolf Hitler


Surprised at any? How about Charles Darwin saying, “To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection seems I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.” I admit, that was not too shocking to me. God has shown man clearly that He exists. It is evident in creation. Isn’t it odd that one of the few, if not only times that humanist say not to believe or trust in your instincts and what feels to be right and true in your own heart is when they want people to deny what is evident from nature and their own hearts, that there is a God? Darwin was correct in stating that it was absurd in the highest degree to look at the design of the human body and say that it evolved. That is why the Bible says that “the fool has said in his heart there is no God." The Bible does not say the fool BELIEVES in his heart, but the fool (atheist) SAYS in his heart. The atheist lies to himself and tells himself that he doesn't believe what he knows to be true.

What about “Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong?” Again, that should not be shocking. In fact, that is the fruit of Darwinism. Only the strong survive, there is no judge but what we do and what we accomplish. “You can’t tell me what to do!”

The consequences of that are whatever stands in my way whatever I need for my success must be removed at all costs. The Bible tells us success is not the judge of right and wrong, but God is. There is a God, and He is the judge. God has given man His laws and they are the only standard of right and wrong. Man will be judged by His laws, not our feelings, our sincerity or how relatively good we were compared to others.

Man knows that God is true, but how can man know God? More importantly, how can God know us in love? Hebrews 1:1-3. God is revealed to us in Christ Jesus the Lord,God spoke to us in Jesus and in Jesus we see God, the Word, the Power of God, the Majesty of God, the mercy and love of God as Jesus died for undeserving sinners. God sent Jesus to Earth to be a substitute, to die in sacrificial love to meet the demands of God’s justice for sins, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and have faith that His blood was shed for your sins and be saved.



______________________________________________________________________



Douglas Newell IV

Lux lucet in tenebris

If you wonder what the symbol is that is on the header of the blog, here you go. Lux lucet in tenebris is Latin for “Light shining in darkness”. It was the motto for the Waldenses, the Anabaptists who lived and preached in Europe in the ninth century. I am a Baptist who holds to Baptist truths; I am a Christian and Jesus said that I am the light of the world, and so are you if saved by God’s marvelous grace. Also, if you have any books from Baptist Standard Bearer, then you will recognize the image.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. He tells us what a Christin is, not what a Christian should try to be. If you are a child of God, you ARE the light of the world. The world has no other source of light. Not in politics, not in art, not if philosophy and not in any other religion.

The Bible says a lot about light and darkness. I believe that darkness is shown in scripture to be sin, ignorance of truth, death, judgment, error, the unsaved, and the power of darkness in Satan. Darkness is the absence of light. God is light. Men love the darkness, love to be in sin and far, far from the holiness of God. John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Despite the horror and consequences of darkness; men love it. Ignorance is bliss for a season. Men love their false gods and false religions and would rather spend their time groping in the dark Egyptian night than to stand before the Holy God.

We are the light because we are in The Light, Jesus Christ the Lord. We cannont try to be the light but ARE the light because if we are truly Christians, we are in Christ. In a world of darkness, you Christian, are the light. You are the bright spot in this Earth, not the scourge. You are the answer to the problem, not the source of its troubles. Do not feel insignificant and helpless because you are the light of the world. Do not try to hide your usefulness but shine the grace of God in your life! Love God, love your neighbors, not to be seen, but because Jesus Christ died for your sins, and you have a home in Heaven because your sins are forgiven.

Christian, you are the light of the world. Jesus did not say that only Peter was the light of the world, or only the apostles were the light, but all his people, all Christians are the light of the world. Some men God raises up and have fame and far reaching ministries; but they are not the ONLY light of the world. Spurgeon was not the ONLY light of the world. A.W. Pink was not the ONLY light in the world. John MacArthur is not the only light in the world. YOU are the light of the world. Look what God said through Paul in Philippians 2:13-15 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. He did not say that HE was the only light because he was the apostle, but you church at Philipi, you shine as lights in this crook, perverse world, you are shining in the darkness of sin.


God is light (I John 1:5-7) and Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). We are Saved by the Light (Luke 1:79). The Lord is my light and my salvation (Psalm. 27:1). How is it that God is the light, and we are the light? We are the Light as we are brought into the Light (Christ). We are reflectors of the Light. For example, Christ is the sun, we are the moon. We shine forth the light that is in us. Christ IS the light, He is purity, He is holiness, He is salvation, the Way the Truth and the Life. By being His children, we reflect Christ in our lives.
How is it we can shine our light? We are the light, by living as Christians we shine our lights. One way we are light is we walk in the light. Ephesians 5:8;11 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Living a holy life is being light in the dark world; living like you are saved is shining our light. Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Giving the light or the gospel is shining our light in this sinful, wicked, dark world. II Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.


Christian, Lux lucet in tenebris.


______________________________________________________________________

Douglas Newell IV