Tried With Fire

12. Q. According to God's righteous judgment we deserve punishment both in this world and forever after: How then can we escape punishment and return to God's favor? A. God requires that His justice be satisfied. Therefore the claims of His justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or another. 13. Q. Can we pay this debt ourselves? A. Certainly not. Actually, we increase our guilt every day. 14. Q. Can another creature - any at all - pay this debt for us? A. No. To begin with, God will not punish another creature for what a human is guilty of. Besides, no mere creature can bear the weight of God's eternal anger against sin and release others from it. 15. Q. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then? A. One who is truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God. "God's justice means that we deserve punishment now and later. It is impossible for God to lie. It is impo...

It is easy to see how superstition, with its false glosses, mocks God, while it tries to please him. Usually fastening merely on things on which he has declared he sets no value, it either contemptuously overlooks, or even undisguisedly rejects, the things which he expressly enjoins, or in which we are assured that he takes pleasure. Those, therefore, who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore their own delirious facies; indeed, they would never dare so to trifle with God, had they not previously fashioned him after their own childish conceits. Hence that vague and wandering opinion of Deity is declared by an apostle to be ignorance of God: "How be it, then, when ye know not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods." And he elsewhere declares, that the Ephesians were "without God" (Eph. 2:12) at the time when they wandered without any correct knowledge of him. It makes little difference, at least in this respect, whether you hold ...

I miss The Far Side...

This week's list... Cooler weather and warm soup . Listening to the Carolina wrens .  I smile whenever I hear them, because these little birds have such a bold song. Relearning and redeeming my thought process as I read the Word. New life in the church. We've had a recent baby boom in the church, and it's not over yet! There have been two infant dedications which moved me to tears. It was a blessing to see the parents desire to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. and to see the church commit to pray for these young souls and their parents. An exciting year ahead in the church - plurality of elders, new families joining, and strengthening ties in the Lord as we serve together. There were no slick ad campaigns or programs to draw people in, but God has been growing this little church in His way and His time. Soli Deo Gloria!

" I'm glad I'm a nobody because I'm less likely to be tempted by something I know I will never have." This was a statement from my daughter while we were discussing celebrity culture in the church and recent events in evangelicalism. I think she's right. The lure of visibility and popularity is so strong. Plus it's easier to gain notice nowadays with thousands being reached by the click of a mouse. But with success comes potential grave danger. We're all prone to pride and/or idolatry, which fuels this fire. The celebrity begins to feel that he is above any criticism or correction because numbers become the proof, not fidelity to the word of God. This is exacerbated by the fan base. Their hero or heroine may become infallible in their eyes, though they would be hard pressed to admit it. Therefore, any valid criticism will be received with a deaf ear, because deep down its a reflection on their own spirituality. Thank God, Jesus said that He will ...

More info here What 3 books would you choose for your church library? Would you rather look for books by author or subject? Neat links: 50 Unique and Unconventional Bookshelves 10 Very Cool Libraries

In this book. Paul David Tripp deals honestly with the unrealistic expectations we bring to marriage and how to face reality armed with the gospel. This is not a book about behavior modification - such as do (fill in the blank) to get the desired change in your spouse and you'll have a new marriage in a week. Rather Tripp sees the goal of marriage bigger than marriage itself -  our sanctification and holiness. Sanctificaion is probably not the first thing that comes to mind for most couples. In the glow of early marital bliss, one doesn't view one's spouse as a person still battling indwelling sin, let alone have a correct assessment of one's self. But it's only a matter of time before these struggles (yes, even as believers!) manifest themselves. However, being brought face-to-face with our condition is nothing less than the grace of God. He has orchestrated every conflict as a means to rescue us from self-absorption and personal kingdom building. God's goa...

9. Q. But doesn't God do us an injustice by requiring in His law what we are unable to do? A. No, God created humans with the ability to keep the law. They, however, tempted by the devil, in reckless disobedience, robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts. 10. Q. Will God permit such disobedience and rebelling to go unpunished? A. Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge He punishes them now and in eternity. He has declared: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." 11. Q. But isn't God also merciful? A. God is certainly merciful, but He is also just. His justice demands that sin committed against His supreme majesty be punished with the supreme penalty - eternal punishment of body and soul. "To summarize, then: God has the right to judge us, now and in eternity for two reasons: (1) we have broken the...

All men of sound judgment will therefore hold, that a sense of deity is indelibly engraved on the human heart. And that this belief is naturally engendered in all, and thoroughly fixed as it were in our very bones, is strikingly attested by the contumacy of the wicked, who, though they struggle furiously, are unable to extricate themselves from the fear of God. For the world (as will be shortly seen) labors as much as it can to shake off all knowledge of God, and corrupts his worship in innumerable ways. I only say, that, when the stupid hardness of heart, which the wicked eagerly court as a means of despising God, becomes enfeebled, the sense of deity, which of all things they wished most to be extinguished, is still in vigor, and now and then breaks forth. Whence we infer, that this is not a doctrine which is first learned at school, but one as to which every man is, from the womb, his own master; one which nature herself allows no individual to forget, though many, with all the...

Presidency, n . The greased pig in the field game of American politics. President, n . The leading figure in a small group of men of whom - and of whom only - it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President. Vote, n . The instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country. From The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?), The University of Georgia Press. And finally...

This week's list... 8 hours of sound sleep last night. My daughter aced her driver's permit test yesterday. Years ago, I assumed that her dad would teach her to drive, but given the change in circumstance, I'll have the honors.  I'm thankful that neither of us needs to be stressed-out over the process, because there's Someone else on whom we can rely.  Grace can extend even to parallel parking. The opportunity to help out with the church library. It's a small collection, but it doesn't matter because it's a chance to work with books! Women's Bible study on Ephesians. We met for the first time in about a month, and it was so good to dig into the word together. Going verse by verse through Mark on Sundays. I'm thankful that God didn't just send us a good moral example, but He sent us a Savior.

The winner of Josiah's Reformation is: Pauline Congratulations!!!! Thanks to everyone who entered. Stay tuned for more giveaways, God willing.

My friend, Becky, has written a thought-provoking post  regarding our phobias to certain words like religion , contemplate , and meditate , to name a few.  These words have been wrested from their original meaning, in some cases, and have become part of the vocabulary of questionable teaching. But rather than making a point to use them correctly, their usage or lack of can become a litmus test for a person's theology. This post hit a nerve, because l freely admit to strong gut reactions with certain words and phrases. Words have power and consequences, and my reception to them is anything but neutral. I  bring my own assumptions as to why the writer/speaker would use a certain word. I also bring a boatload of associations based on past experiences, even if I desire to respond based on what the Word says alone. So what to do?  How do I disarm the gut reaction? Here are few things that came to mind: - Make the point of digging a little deeper to fi...

To celebrate his 200th post, Michael at Made Free is giving away 2 copies of Christ and Hm Crucified by Jon Cardwell. Here is a review by Michael and another review by the InkSlinger. There's still time to enter the giveaway for Josiah's Reformation . The providential winner will be chosen on Wednesday at noon. Get a free PDF  version of Bloodlines by John Piper. A free audio version of the classic, Knowing God by J.I. Packer, is available  this month at  Christian Audio . Our church, Grace Baptist Chapel , is holding its annual theology conference on The Theology of Missions, Feb. 17-19. The speaker will be Dr. David Sills who is a former missionary, evangelist, and church planter in Ecuador and now on the faculty of SBTS. There will be a session Friday evening with dinner provided, 2 sessions on Saturday including breakfast, and 2 sessions Sunday morning. If you're interested, please feel free to attend.

Listening to this album and praising the triune God...

" 6. Q. Did God create people so wicked and perverse? A. No. God created them good and in His own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love Him with all their hearts, and live with Him in eternal happiness for His praise and glory. 7. Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from? A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners - corrupt from conception on. 8. Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined towards all evil? A. Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God. "The Catechism makes it clear that we are not just imitators of our first parents, sinning like Adam and Eve. We are born with a warped nature, tainted with inherent and inherited corruption from conception on. We absolutely must get this right if we are to make sense of the Catechism and...

[T]he pious mind does not devise for itself any kind of God, but looks alone at the one true God; nor does it feign for him any character it pleases, but is contented to have him in the character in which he manifests himself, always guarding, with the utmost diligence, against transgressing his will, and wandering, with daring presumption, from the right path. He by whom God is thus known, perceiving how he governs all things, confides in him as his guardian, and protector, and casts himself entirely upon his faithfulness - perceiving him to be the source of every blessing, if he is in any strait or feels any want, he instantly recurs to his protection and trusts to his aid - persuaded that he is good and merciful, he reclines upon him with sure confidence, and doubts not that, in the divine clemency, a remedy will be provided for his every time of need - acknowledging him as his Father and his Lord, he considers himself bound to have respect to his authority in all thing...

Slang, n . The grunt of the human hog ( Pignoramus intolerabilis ) with an audible memory. The speech of one who utters with his tongue what he thinks with his ear, and feels the pride of a creator in accomplishing the feat of a parrot. A means (under Providence) of setting up as a wit without a capital of sense. Novel, n . The short story padded. Pie, n . An advance agent of the reaper whose name is Indigestion. Man, n . An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiples with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada. Pedigree, n. The known part of the route from an arboreal ancestor with a swim bladder to an urban descendent with a cigarette. Adage, n . Boned wisdom for weak teeth. (Thanks to the InkSlinger 's recommendation, I borrowed a copy of The Unabridged Devil'...

Thanks, Holly!

This week's list: Listening to the rain and not worrying about water coming in the house. Two sliding doors in the sun room had leaking seals. If it rained any reasonable amount, the water would run from the track under the door jamb and into the house. New doors were installed this week, and nary a drop came in with last night's rain. I'm very thankful for a contractor, a brother-in Christ, who I can trust. Consistent days. I'm getting up earlier which gives me more time to read the Word and a more productive day overall. An unexpected change in visitation where my daughter will be home for 3 week-ends in a row. Small group tonight. We were off during the holidays, and I missed our times of fellowship. I'm looking forward to our discussion on the Gospel of Mark. God is sovereign over everything. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! This gives me immeasurable comfort.

The book for this month's giveaway is Josiah's Reformation by Richard Sibbes. This was originally written in 1629 and contains 4 sermons based on 2 Chronicles 34:26-28 . These are: 1. The Tender Heart 2. The Art of Self-Humbling 3. The Art of Mourning 4. The Saint's Refreshing  Sibbes endeavors to teach the reader how a tender heart is wrought, how it may be preserved and maintained, and how it may be discerned from the contrary. This tenderness of heart will manifest itself in humility and genuine mourning for sin. The last chapter concludes with the final privilege of a believer - "his last days are his best; and 'though weeping be in the evening, yet joy comes in the morning'; though he do begin in darkness, yet he ends in light." To enter the giveaway, please fill out the form below.. (U.S. addresses only please.) The providential winner will be drawn at noon EST on January 18. The giveaway is now cloesd.

I'm about two-thirds through What Did You Expect? by Paul Tripp. It's been a very good read but oft-times painful as it's like reading the coroner's report on my marriage. He systematically dismantles the unrealistic expectations we bring into marriage with examples that are closer to home than I would like. Looking back, we had a pretty meager understanding of the gospel.  We were pathetically blind to the indwelling sin that remained in our lives. Hence we had the notion that I'm different;  he's different . God was doing something  special  in our relationship so somehow we were exempt from the normal failings of self absorption which plagued everyone else. We had done courtship "right" so the reward was a happy marriage. It was to be the happiest place on earth, like Disney World but spiritual of course, where the process of sanctification magically happened by some mystical hand waving of the Holy Spirit without effort, pain, and tears. Ri...

3. Q. How do you come to know your misery? A. The law of God tells me. 4. Q. What does God's law require of us? A. Christ teaches us this in the summary in Matthew 22 - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandments. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 5. Q. Can you live up to all this perfectly? A. No. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor. "The first thing we need in order to experience the comfort of the gospel is to be made uncomfortable with our sin. The comfort of the gospel doesn't skirt around the issue of sin, or ignore it like positive thinking preachers and self-help gurus. It looks sin square in the eye, acknowledges it, and deals with it. While people tell us to stop focusing on sin and to lighten up because we aren't ...

Calvin on self-estimation: [S]ince we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if it were most pure: just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white... Thus, too, it happens in estimating our spiritual qualities. So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness and wisd...

ht: Daily Bunny

Quince blossoms For the first Thankful Thursday of 2012: ~ The days are getting longer bit by bit. ~ My daughter is back home. ~ We've been watching our friends' 6 cats for 2 weeks. That's right 6 - 1 momma and 5 nearly full grown kittens. For all their mischief, it's been great fun. God is so creative that He didn't just make The Generic Cat and however million clones of the same, but they look different, have different personalities, etc. A side effect is it makes me thankful that my bunnies are no where near as energetic as these kittens. ~ The opportunity to attend the 2012 Ligonier National Conference on The Christian Mind.  I'm very excited about the topics on worldview, education, science and natural revelation and so very grateful for the chance to go. ~ That God's love is not dependent on my performance - good or bad, but solely based on His kindness to a sinner. ~ Forgiveness even for my besetting sin. I'm thankful God...

For the last several years, I've limited my reading to mostly theology. As far as listening, I've had a steady stream of sermons and doctrinally-rich Christian music. The primary reason: I was so starved for solid teaching that I needed to be fed. I read everything I could get my hands on. If I had a spare moment, I was in a book. A secondary reason: it was "safe". Given my circumstances, an unoccupied mind would gravitate to fear and worry. It also wasn't wise to stir up emotions that were easily triggered and needed time to heal. But as valuable as it has been, I don't think I can keep up the pace. Maybe I'm getting older. Maybe I'm finally learning that God is sovereign over the timing of when the doctrines of grace found me, so I don't have to make up for lost decades by trying to drink from a fire hose, as as one fellow blogger puts it, I need to be faithful to read the Word more than books about the Word, so I'll be using  this plan  ...

My daughter is back home after being away for a week. Even though we talked every day, in person is much better. I'm grateful for someone to share my struggles and prayer concerns. I'm also glad we can be silly together about jackalopes and levitical dietary laws. I'm thankful she left this statement in the Florida sand...

We meet to part, but part to meet When earthly labors are complete, To join in yet more blest employ, In an eternal world of joy. This is the last stanza of the Southern Seminary hymn . Pastor Ryan quoted this in his sermon yesterday on 1 Thess. 4: 13-18 , a text that is typically used at funerals.  But when we consider life, we don't know what our days may hold. This past year, there have been those who didn't expect to lose family or friends.  This coming year, we may say farewell (at least in this life) to loved ones, friends, or this may be the year God calls us to glory.  But though we may part for now, we have the hope of meeting again. God will keep us safe in Christ , whether we go in advance or are alive when Christ returns.   "Therefore, encourage one another with these words." Even so come, Lord Jesus! Listen to the sermon  here . The changes of God's children are for the better. Death to them is but a gathe...

1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? A. That I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death - to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him. 2. Q. What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort? A. Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are; second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance. Comfort does not mean Christ makes all the bad things go away. Comfort, as Ursinus puts it, "results from a certain process of reasoning, in which ...