1-29-08 Owen reading

There is more glory given to God by coming to Christ in believing, than in keeping the whole law; inasmuch as he has more eminently manifested the holy properties of his nature in the way of salvation by Christ, than in the giving of the law.  – John Owen in The Glory of Christ

I could have used this quote when going through Galatians. Even if I could approach God through the law by perfectly keeping it, it would not glorify or endear his heart as much as if I would latch onto Christ for my only righteousness.

Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn as a Child (3)

A Mighty Fortress is Our God
By Martin Luther

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Isaiah 9:1-7 & Seeing Clearly

It’s about Jesus, it’s always about Jesus, its only about Jesus, its solely about Jesus, and we are Jesus people living in the wake of Jesus’ death and resurrection and so for us it is about Christ, it is only about Christ, it is always about Christ.  – Mark Driscoll, in a sermon titled Examining Two Enemies of the Gospel

Seeing is a blessing. I have never had to wear glasses; I have always had perfect vision, although I anticipate that this will not always be the case. If I had to give up a sense it would not be sight. Loosing touch or felling would be kind of cool, you could have people beat up your foot like Mr. Deeds. Smell, it could be a blessing in many ways to loose your sense of smell, especially if my allergies would be banished with it. If I lost the sense of taste I am sure I would eat much healthier than I do now. Hearing would be painful to part with, but not as much as sight.

We have seen Jesus. We dwelt in darkness, but we have seen Jesus. Isaiah got a glimpse and looked forward. We look backwards and forwards, but we look at and towards Jesus. What has been alluded to throughout Isaiah is now made clear to us because we stand on this side of the cross.

Take some time to praise God for your spiritual eyesight. So many are blind. So many will never see the glorious light of the gospel of Christ. You have seen the most wonderful sight by the eye of faith and are promised that what is now of faith will one day be made sight. After thanking Him, take some time to read Is. 9:1-7 and behold, meditate, and worship the Christ.

The revelation made of Christ in the blessed Gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, more filled with rays of Divine wisdom and goodness, than the whole creation, and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or apprehend. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion. This therefore deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them. For if our future blessedness shall consist in living where He is, and beholding of His glory; what better preparation can there be for it, than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory, in the revelation that is made in the Gospel unto this very end, that by a view of it we may be gradually transformed into the same glory.  – John Owen  in The Glory of Christ

Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn As a Child (2)

God Moves in a Mysterious Way
By William Cowper

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Hymns I’m Angry I Didn’t Learn as a Child (1)

And Can It Be that I Should Gain
By Charles Wesley

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain-
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

‘Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace-
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray-
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Isaiah 8:11-22 & Judge Dredd

In case you haven’t watched a horrible movie in a while and are longing to waste 96 minutes of your life might I suggest the 1995 flop Judge Dredd. Thankfully Stallone has since realized that he has all the film material he will ever need within the Rambo and Rocky franchises, bring on the sequels. To save yourself the pain, Stallone plays a perfect, genetically engineered crime fighter who must combat his twin gone wrong, the ultimate criminal. Basically he shoots all the bad guys and says a bunch of corny one liners such as “I am the law! Put down your weapons and prepare to be judged.” In the end I am left with no dread for Judge Dread. Aquaman could likely beat up Judge Dredd. That is the ultimate cut down in the world of superheroes.We dread a lot of things in America:

Credit card bills
Report cards
Bank statements
Driving an unreliable car
Leaving the house to an undesirable work place
Coming home to an unhappy spouse
Giving blood

God tells Isaiah to let Him be his dread. Do we dread God? When the high Priest came before God on the Day of Atonement with the bells ringing around his ankle as signs of life I think he did so with a smattering of dread. God is not requesting that we live in a state of fear, looking around our shoulder expecting to be zapped at any moment. I think He simply wants to be taken seriously. His threats are not empty, His promises are sure, and his gospel is that precious. Do we think God corny, unthreatening, and goofy like Stallone when He threatens?

How much time do we spend worrying about:

How we might be failing God
Unconfused sin
Discovering the sin we are blind to that is still in our lives
Insincere worship
Unsanctified affections
Hardness of heart
Lack of devotion

in proportion to the stress over the credit card bill?

But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  – Isaiah 8:13

A Gift For You, a Gift For Me?

I ran across this quote in R. Kent Hughes commentary on Hebrews.  It is from Lewis Bayly’s Practice of Piety, a book which I found out greatly influenced John Bunyan and was the book to have along with Pilgrims Progress and Foxes Book of Martyrs.  Unfortunately the book is no longer in print…but there is one used copy on sale at Amazon for just over $400 just in case you wanted to buy it for me!

Soule. Lord, why, wouldest Thou be taken, when Thou mightest have escaped Thine enemies?

Christ. That thy spiritual enemies should not take thee, and cast thee into the prison of utter darkness.

Soule. Lord, wherefore wouldest Thou be bound?

Christ. That I might loose the cordes of thine iniquities.

Soule. Lord, wherefore wouldest Thou be lift up upon a Crosse?

Christ. That I might lift thee up with Me to heaven.

Soule. Lord, wherefore were Thy hands and feet nayled to the Crosse?

Christ. To enlarge thy hands to doe the works of righteousness and to set thy feete at libertie, to walke in the wayes of peace.

Soule. Lord, why wouldest Thou have Thine arms nayled abroad?

Christ. That I might embrace thee more lovingly, My sweet soule.

Soule.Lord, wherefore was Thy side opened with a speare?

Christ.That thou mightest have a way to come near to My heart.

Isaiah 6 & Seraph

Seraph was the guardian of The Oracle in the Matrix. He could pretty much beat up anybody he wanted to in one on one combat. It would be pretty safe to conclude that if someone came along that Seraph couldn’t beat up, you should run too.

The seraphim stood above God’s throne in Isaiah’s vision. They had six wings. They used two to cover their face and two to cover their feet as a position of humility before Yahweh. Seraphim means “burning ones”. So her are these angelic beings, burning ones, but when before God, they assume a position of humility and sing his praise. Angels could beat us up. If burning ones assume a position of humility and praise before the thrice holy God, shouldn’t we?

Addendum:  I ran accross this great quote from Tozer and had to share:

Yet we must not compare the being of God with any other as we just now compared the mountain with the child. We must not think of God as highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to angel to cherub to God. This would be to grant God eminence, even pre-eminence, but that is not enough; we must grant Him transcendence in the fullest meaning of that word. Forever God stands apart, in light unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite. The caterpillar and the archangel, though far removed from each other in the scale of created things, are nevertheless one in that they are alike created. They both belong in the category of that-which-is-not-God and are separated from God by infinitude itself.  – A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy

Bible Reading Plans

In Sunday school we were talking about various plans to read through the scripture. Some people opted for the verse a day plan. This must be because they are so spiritual that they see the depths of every verse like few people do. i found varying results for the number of verses in the bible but it ranges from 31,102 to 31,174. Lets just round it off to a nice 31,000. Divide that by 365 days and you get 84.931 years. So it will take you approximately 85 years to read through the scriptures on the verse a day plan.

Conclusions:

1) This is not beyond the scope of human life as some suggested this plan would take thousands of years.

2) it is too late for anyone in our class to begin this plan so you better start looking for another.

Might I suggest the “intense plan”. It is said that the bible can be read aloud in 70 hours. So just take three days off from work, fast, get a big tub of water and a straw and read. After three days you will be done for the year; probably not with the bible, but for life. So maybe its not about quantity – one verse isn’t enough, and the whole bible at one sitting might be a bit too much. Maybe we should shoot for quality instead.