Author: Josh King

Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn As a Child (8)

Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare by John Newton

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare:
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He Himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay;
Therefore will not say thee nay.

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much;
None can ever ask too much.

With my burden I begin:
Lord, remove this load of sin;
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Set my conscience free from guilt;
Set my conscience free from guilt.

Lord, I come to Thee for rest,
Take possession of my breast;
There Thy blood bought right maintain,
And without a rival reign;
And without a rival reign.

As the image in the glass
Answers the beholder’s face;
Thus unto my heart appear,
Print Thine own resemblance there,
Print Thine own resemblance there.

While I am a pilgrim here,
Let Thy love my spirit cheer;
As my Guide, my Guard, my Friend,
Lead me to my journey’s end;
Lead me to my journey’s end.

Show me what I have to do,
Every hour my strength renew:
Let me live a life of faith,
Let me die Thy people’s death;
Let me die Thy people’s death.

The Doctor: No Autopilot for Turbulent Tribulation

We can glory in tribulations because our faith enables us to view them in such a way as to realize that, far from working against our hope, they actually promote it, and, indeed, further it.  In other words the reaction of the Christian to tribulations is not an automatic one.  It is not a case of ‘Come what may, I’m always happy’.  He is enabled to glory in them as the result of the application of his faith.  Because he is a man of faith he is able to do certain things.  Trials and tribulations come, and at first he is troubled, he is made unhappy.  But he does not stop at that; he proceeds to deal with them.  How does he do this?  The Apostle gives us the answer.  ‘Not only so but we glory in tribulations also.” How?  “Knowing”: it is because of something we know.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans, Volume 4, p. 66

Hebrews 13:7-16 & Vintage vs. Novel

Vintage does not mean dead, novel does.  Coca-Cola is classic, it is vintage; that is it is old, but has enduring value.  It has not aged.  Crystal Pepsi was novel and it died.  Novel often means faddish.

Jesus is vintage.  He is ancient, eternal, and immutable.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  This does not limit our exploration of the divine; rather it speaks to the infiniteness of that which is explored.  What must the magnitude of Jesus’ glory be if he is immutable, yet never monotonous or boring?

The dead teachers of the past heralded this Jesus (Hebrews 13:7).  In contrast the false teachers so perverted and distorted Him that their teaching was strange, and diverse (Hebrews 13:9).

The vintage Jesus will live on and prevail, for He is the living one.  The pseudo-novel Jesus will die, for He does not exist.

Spiritually, regarding Jesus, I hope to see you all driving a red ’52 Chevy rather than a modern hybrid with GPS, DVD player, and seat warmers.  Don’t fall prey to the new – it is faddish, it will die, and you will find the quality exceptionally less.

Parents, Polish The Sword

Your relation obligeth you to take care of their precious souls.  It is the soul [that] is the child, rather than the body; and therefore in Scripture put forth for the whole man. … The body is but the sheath; and if one should leave his sword with you to be kept safely for him, would you throw away the blade, and only preserve the scabbard?  – William Gurnall in The Christian in Complete Armour

How sad the lengths that parents go to today to preserve the scabbard?  They exhaust themselves to provide the best education, the nicest accommodations, and the best of gifts while the sword rusts.  What good is it if they gain the whole world but lose their souls (Matthew 16:26)?  Parents, polish the sword!

Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn As a Child (7)

Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat by John Newton

Approach, my soul, the mercy seat,
Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before His feet,
For none can perish there.

Thy promise is my only plea,
With this I venture nigh;
Thou callest burdened souls to Thee,
And such, O Lord, am I.

Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely pressed,
By war without and fears within,
I come to Thee for rest.

Be Thou my Shield and hiding Place,
That, sheltered by Thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him Thou hast died!

O wondrous love! to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead Thy gracious Name.

“Poor tempest-tossèd soul, be still;
My promised grace receive”;
’Tis Jesus speaks—I must, I will,
I can, I do believe.

The Doctor: Dangerous Doctrine

Regarding the doctrine of sola fide (justification by faith alone) ‘But’, you may say, ‘what a dangerous doctrine!’  Every doctrine is dangerous, and can be, and has been, abused.  – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans Volume 4, p. 22

Hebrews 13:1-6 & Orthodoxy to Orthopraxy

Don’t divorce the ethics of Hebrews 13:1-6 from the theology that has preceded it.  Orthodoxy fuels orthopraxy.  Orthopraxy flows from orthodoxy.  If my actions are not done in faith, they are sin (Romans 14:23).  Belief in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love for our brother come to us as a singular command (1 John 3:23).  I can gauge if I truly get doctrine by looking for the practical fruit of love for my brothers and hospitality toward strangers.  I can know if I have the proper motivations in loving my fellow man by seeking out the theological underpinnings that motivate it.

* * *

I am extremely romantic one night.  I have sent her away for a spa treatment all day (she loves the spa).  Surprisingly I pick her up at the spa with a gift she has been hinting at (no flowers, she hates it when I buy flowers).  I take her to her favorite restaurant, she can tell all my attention is on her, I have eyes for no other, no one else exists.  We go for a walk in the park afterwards.  Everything is perfect… I am saying the most poetic of compliments.  I am sincere, I am in love, yet she is repulsed.  Whenever I begin talk of her naturally curly hair (it’s straight), and her blue eyes (they are brown) the evening changes its hue.  All my right doing, however sincere, has been undone by wrong knowing.  When I call my precious Bethany by a foreign name, the name of an ex, all is lost.  Light has turned to darkness.

Orthopraxy is essential.  So is the orthodoxy it must flow from (Hebrews 11:6).

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.  – A.W. Tozer

Tolle Lege: The Sinfulness of Sin

1Readability (1-3):  2

Length:  284 pgs

Author:  Ralph Venning

This is not a book for everyone, but for those who have grown to love the depth and warmth of the Puritans I highly recommend it.  It’s not that the book is highly technical, nor is the language completely alien to ours (I think the Puritan Paperback version has been gently edited).  This book can require discipline simply because like most of the Puritans the extent of the treatment is so thorough that you may get lost in the subtle arguments.  However, if you are up to the challenge, this book is deeply soul nourishing.  I am always thankful for an author who can help me see the bane of my soul more clearly and inversely appreciate my Savior more truly.

…as God is holy, all holy, only holy, altogether holy, and always holy, so sin is sinful, all sinful, only sinful, altogether sinful, and always sinful (Genesis 6.5). In my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7.18). As in God there is no evil, so in sin there is no good. God is the chiefest of goods and sin is the chiefest of evils. As no good can be compared with God for goodness, so no evil can be compared with sin for evil.

In short, sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, the contempt of his love…

To comment on this briefly, it is as if sinners should say to God in the day of judgment, Lord have mercy upon us! Have mercy upon you! says God. No, I will have no mercy on you. There was a time when you might have had mercy without judgment, but now you will have judgment without mercy. Depart! Depart! If they should then beg and say, Lord, if we must depart, let it be from thy throne of judgment but not from thee. No, says the Lord, depart from me; depart from my presence in which is joy. Depart and go to Hell. Lord, they say, seeing we must be gone, bless us before we go so that thy blessing may be upon us. Oh no, says God, go with a curse; depart, ye cursed. Oh Lord, if we must go from thee, let us not go into the place of torment, but appoint some place, if not of pleasure, then of ease. No, depart into fire, burning and tormenting flames. Oh Lord, if into fire, let it be only for a little while; let the fire soon be out or us soon out of it, for who can dwell in everlasting burnings? No, neither you nor the fire shall know an end; be gone into everlasting fire. Lord, then let it be long before we go there. No, depart immediately; the sentence shall be immediately put in execution. Ah! Lord! let us at least have good company who will pity us though they cannot help us. No, you shall have none but tormenting devils; those whom you obeyed when they were tempters you shall be with as tormentors. What misery sin has brought on man! to bring him to hear this dreadful doom!

By this we see that no wicked man cares for sin’s wages. Surely that work cannot be good for which the wages are so bad that no man cares to receive them…

Sin promises like a God but pays like a devil.

To be merciful to sin is to be cruel to yourself…

The Doctor: Amazing Book-Keeping

The first step is that our sin is reckoned to Him.  The second step is that His righteousness is reckoned to us.  What an amazing piece of book-keeping!  What a tremendous manipulation of the accounts, if I may so put it.  We had no righteousness at all.  He has a perfect righteousness.  – D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Romans Vol. 3, p. 177