Tried With Fire

Now all my heart's desire Is to abide In him, my Saviour dear, In him to hide, My shield and buckler he, Covering and protecting me; From Satan's darts I'll be Safe at his side. (Emmanuel T. Sibomana) "How do you know God is really for you? Where should you look for proof that God is for you? Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life has been unbroken happiness? Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life has been one of ecstatic joy? There is only one irrefutable answer to these questions. It cannot be found in our circumstances. It lies only in the provision that God has made for us in Jesus Christ. This is the whole point of Paul's question in verse 32 ( Romans 8:32 ). We can be sure that God is for us because this God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to the cross for us all. If this is true, Paul affirms, we can be confident He will give us...

Not for my righteousness For I have none, But for his mercy's sake, Jesus, God's Son, Suffered on Calvary's tree -  Crucified with thieves was he -  Great was his grace to me, His wayward one. (Emmanuel T. Sibomana) "The two charges leveled against Jesus were blasphemy (that he had made Himself equal with God) and treason (that He had rejected lawfully constituted authority). Why were these two charges so significant? It was because these are the charges each of us faces before the judgment seat of God. In that court, I am guilty of blasphemy, because I have made myself rather than God the center of the universe. I am also guilty of treason, since I have sought to overturn His lawfully and graciously constituted authority over my life. Blasphemy and treason were also the crimes of Adam. These are the age-old crimes of which every one of us - old and young, rich and poor, wise and simple, famous and infamous - stands accused. We are on the same...

My God has chosen me,  Though one of nought, To sit beside my King In heaven's court. Hear what my Lord has done O, the love that made him run To meet his erring son! This has God wrought. (Emmanuel T. Sibomana) "Until you have come to the end of the journey home to faith in Jesus Christ, it is likely that all you expect deep down from Christ is punishment. But when the prodigal makes the journey, he discovers a family party. The Gospels contain a number of references to celebrations and parties. This is wonderfully expressive of Jesus' view of what it means to belong to the kingdom of God, to the fellowship of His people, and to the church that He was beginning to build. We are invited to a celebration. Yes, there is another side to the Christian life, and it is expressed here - deep sorrow for sin, repentance, and costly grace. But joy in forgiveness is always there. The Christian life may appear from the outside to be a very sober way. It is, ...

O how the grace of God Amazes me! It loosed me from my bonds And set me free! What made it happen so? His own will, this much I know, Set me, as now I show, At liberty by Emmanuel T. Sibomana "How, then, does Christ set us free? John had answered that question earlier, in the most famous verse in his Gospel. This God, this Father, so loved the world, this world in its sinfulness and bondage, that He sent His only Son into it. He had only one Son, but He sent Him to die on a cross in order to save everyone who believes in Him (John 3:16). The Son would be "lifted up" - lifted up on a cross exposed in public shame, hanging between heaven and earth, under the judgement of God against our sins - so that those who believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 12:32, 3:16). Jesus Christ is able to set us free because He has dealt with the sin that enslaves us. We can never atone for our own sin. We can never break its power. We...

From the parable of the prodigal son, Luke 15:11-32: "Count the sons. One left home and returned. A second stayed at home, but remained far away. Where is the third son? The third son is the Son who is telling the story. He is the Son who was at home with His Father but came to the far country. If we miss Him, we miss the meaning of the parable. For the characters in it - however real to life they may be - are imaginary. Jesus, however, is not. He is the One who, through costly grace and great humiliation, provides the way for prodigal sons to be welcomed home. This is what the story is really all about. As He told it, Jesus was talking to both prodigal sons and elder brothers, and inviting them to come to Him, to trust in Him, and to experience the joy of being His... It is natural enough - and right - to ask: Where am I in this story? Do you see yourself? Are you the prodigal or the elder brother? But it is even more important to ask: Do you see Jesus as your Sav...

Congratulations to Melissa, winner of By Grace Alone by Sinclair Ferguson!!!! Thanks to all who entered. More giveaways to come, Lord willing.

This month's giveaway is By Grace Alone by Sinclair B. Ferguson.  From the preface: "Being amazed by God's grace is a sign of spiritual vitality. It is a litmus test of how firm and real is our grasp of the Christian gospel and how close is our walk with Jesus Christ. The growing Christian finds that the grace of God astonishes and amazes." Based on the stanzas of the hymn, "O How the Grace of God Amazes Me" by Emmanuel T. Sibomana, this book tells of the wonders of the grace of God as seen in the gospel. Here are some excerpts from each chapter: 1. My Chains Fell Off 2. Unconditional Love 3. At God's Expense 4. The Great Exchange 5. Guaranteed Security 6. Delivered From Evil 7. True Freedom To enter the giveaway, use the form below. (US addresses only please.) The providential winner will be drawn on June 20 at noon EDT. Thanks for entering! The giveaway is closed.

Come now, the whole of me, Eyes, ears, and voice. Join me, creation all, With joyful noise; Praise him who broke the chain Holding me in sins' domain And set me free again! Sing and rejoice! God says: "Dear child, don't you understand what I have done in drawing you to faith in my Son, the Lord Jesus?  In Him you have died to the old life and been raised to the new life.  You have died to sin - it no longer has dominion over you.  Count on it!  Count yourself to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." You are now in a position to refuse to let sin reign in your mortal body and make you obey its evil desires (Rom. 6:12).  You are able to resist the pressure you still feel from indwelling sin.  You can say: "I know you are there; I feel your influence and sense your presence, but I am no longer under your authority.  Therefore, I am not going to let you reign.  By God's grace, I have been delivered from your dominion, and I am determine...

Lord Jesus, hear my prayer, Your grace impart; When evil thoughts arise Through Satan's art, O, drive them all away And do you, from day to day, Keep me beneath your sway, King of my heart. You cannot rely on your experiences to prove the love of God.  They may indeed give you evidence of it.  But when you are in the dark, those things may seem to mock you. All of us at times find ourselves faced with these two great questions.  They are far from trivial.  They are the most important questions in the world: "What is God really like?" and "Where can I find help?" The answer to both questions is found in a single word: Jesus. If you are in the dark, whether inside the kingdom of Christ or outside the kingdom of Christ, this is where you need to go first: to Jesus the Savior, who died for us on the cross. Trust in Him.  He foils Satan's arts. By Grace Alone , Sinclair Ferguson, Reformation Trust, page 99.

Now all my heart's desire Is to abide In him, my Saviour dear, In him to hide, My shield and buckler he, Covering and protecting me; From Satan's darts I'll be Safe at his side. How do you know God is really for you? Where should you look for proof that God is for you?  Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life has been unbroken happiness?  Does it lie in the fact that your Christian life has been one of ecstatic joy? There is only one irrefutable answer to these questions.  It cannot be found in our circumstances.  It lies only in the provision that God has made for us in Jesus Christ. This is the whole point of Paul's question in verse 32 ( Romans 8:32 ).  We can be sure that God is for us because this God, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to the cross for us all. If this is true, Paul affirms, we can be confident He will give us everything we need. This is the only way we can...

And when I think of how, At Calvary, He bore sin's penalty Instead of me, Amazed, I wonder why He, the sinless One, should die For one so vile as I; My Saviour he! When God made His covenant with Abraham, He moved as a light between the two parallel lines of slain animals (Gen. 15). God said, symbolically, to Abraham, "If it costs Me My existence to bring this covenant promise of blessing to pass, I will pay that price." This is the heart of the gospel.  That is the reason why God became man.  That is the meaning of Jesus' life and ministry. That is the significance of the cross.  The arrow of God's judgment against our sin penetrated the heart of God Himself on Calvary.  As he brought His covenant pledge to fulfillment, God Himself took our guilt and and its judgment.  The cross says: "I am bearing the penalty of your guilt Myself, and I will set you free from its bondage and its power." The exchange on the cross of Calvary is the fundamental exchange...

Not for my righteousness For I have none, But for his mercy's sake, Jesus, God's Son, Suffered on Calvary's tree -  Crucified with thieves was he -  Great was his grace to me, His wayward one. The two charges leveled against Jesus were blasphemy (that he had made Himself equal with God) and  treason (that He had rejected lawfully constituted authority). Why were these two charges so significant?  It was because these are the charges each of us faces before the judgment seat of God. In that court, I am guilty of blasphemy, because I have made myself rather than God the center of the universe. I am also guilty of treason, since I have sought to overturn His lawfully and graciously constituted authority over my life. Blasphemy and treason were also the crimes of Adam.  These are the age-old crimes of which every one of us - old and young, rich and poor, wise and simple, famous and infamous - stands accused.  We are on the same charge sheet.  We are all ...

My God has chosen me,  Though one of nought, To sit beside my King In heaven's court. Hear what my Lord has done O, the love that made him run To meet his erring son! This has God wrought. Until you have come to the end of the journey home to faith in Jesus Christ, it is likely that all you expect deep down from Christ is punishment.  But when the prodigal makes the journey, he discovers a family party.   The Gospels contain a number of references to celebrations and parties.  This is wonderfully expressive of Jesus' view of what it means to belong to the kingdom of God, to the fellowship of His people, and to the church that He was beginning to build.  We are invited to a celebration.  Yes, there is another side to the Christian life, and it is expressed here - deep sorrow for sin, repentance, and costly grace.  But joy in forgiveness is always there. The Christian life may appear form the outside to be a very sober way.  It is, in many respects...

(I stayed up quite late Christmas Eve so I could finish this book.   By Grace Alone is a warm, doctrinally rich book that clearly explains the facets of the grace of God as seen in the Gospel.  Dr. Ferguson's inspiration is a hymn, O How the Grace of God Amazes Me , written by Emmanuel T. Sibomana, an African pastor.  There was so much here that encouraged my soul.  Therefore, I'll be posting a brief excerpt from the 7 chapters, each based on a stanza of this hymn.) O how the grace of God Amazes me! It loosed me from my bonds And set me free! What made it happen so? His own will, this much I know, Set me, as now I show, At liberty How, then, does Christ set us free? John had answered that question earlier, in the most famous verse in his Gospel.  This God, this Father, so loved the world, this world in its sinfulness and bondage, that He sent His only Son into it.  He had only one Son, but He sent Him to die on a cross in order to save everyone who beli...