Misplaced Faith

“There is always a danger that when we begin to see fruit in our lives, we’ll subtly begin to rely on that fruit for our salvation, instead of on Christ. Guard against that temptation, Christian. Realize that the fruit you bear is merely that — the fruit of a tree already made good by God’s grace in Christ. To rely on your own Christian fruit to secure God’s favor is ultimately to shift your faith from Jesus to yourself. And that is no salvation at all.”

- Greg Gilbert, What Is the Gospel?

Love in the Truth

HT / Z

How Not To Listen To Sermons

John Newton:

“As a hearer, you have a right to try all doctrines by the word of God; and it is your duty so to do. Faithful ministers will remind you of this: they will not wish to hold you in an implicit and blind obedience to what they say, upon their own authority, nor desire that you should follow them farther than they have the Scripture for their warrant. They would not be lords over your conscience, but helpers of your joy. Prize this Gospel liberty, which sets you free from the doctrines and commandments of men; but do not abuse it to the purposes of pride and self.”

Then Newton explains how not to listen to sermons:

“There are hearers who make themselves, and not the Scripture, the standard of their judgment. They attend not so much to be instructed, as to pass their sentence. To them, the pulpit is the bar at which the minister stands to take his trial before them; a bar at which few escape censure, from judges at once so severe and inconsistent.”

Excellent balance.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Sean Crowe via Tony Reinke

Quotable 9

"It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote about Brian McLaren and got in trouble. Reflecting on seeing him speak at a nearby church, I suggested that he appears to love Jesus but hate God. Based on immediate and furious reaction, I quickly retracted that statement. I should not have done so. I believed it then and I believe it now. And if it was true then, how much more true is it upon the release of his latest tome A New Kind of Christianity. In this book we finally see where McLaren’s journey has taken him; it has taken him into outright, rank, unapologetic apostasy. He hates God. Period." ~ Tim Challies

WOW! If you thought that was something, you can read the full article. I can almost picture Challies tearing his clothes as he finished reading!

For the record - I agree with Tim.

Love in the Truth.

"God With Us"

Preaching on Isaiah 7:14, C. H. Spurgeon closed with this flourish:

“God with us.” It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it; the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it. Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, “God with us,” back he falls, confounded and confused. “God with us” is the laborer’s strength; how could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor, if that one word were taken away? “God with us” is the sufferer’s comfort, the balm of his woe, the alleviation of his misery, the sleep which God gives to his beloved, their rest after exertion and toil. “God with us” is eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky.

You just gotta love Spurgeon!

HT/Ray Ortlund

Love in the Truth.

Quotable 8

"Sin turns all God's grace into wantonness; it is the dare of his justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, and the contempt of his love."

"The gospel of grace and salvation is above all doctrines the most dangerous, if it be received in word only by graceless men; if it be not attended with a sensible need of a Saviour, and bring them to him. For such men as have only the notion of it, are of all men most miserable; for by reason of their knowing more than heathens, this shall only be their final portion, that they shall have greater stripes."

"Nothing hinders a soul from coming to Christ, than a vain love of the world; and till a soul is freed from it, it can never have a true love for God."

The quotes are all taken from The Works of John Bunyan, volume 1.

Love in the Truth.

A Great Answer!

I don't know if you follow football at all. And by football, I don't mean soccer - which I love (Go Liverpool) - I mean NFL - the good stuff (the CFL doesn't really count)! I am a big fan of NFL footaball and the Miami Dolphins in particular, but I am also a big Kurt Warner fan. His story is quite remarkable. But why am I a fan? Well, everytime he gets a chance to speak about his faith in Christ he does just that. He was recently asked a good question and his answer was great! Here's the question and answer for you:

"Kurt, as a professional football player, what aspect of your vocational calling gives you the most joy in life? What is it about the 'job of football' that you love the most?"

His answered came instantly and unequivocally:

"Without question, the greatest joy about my calling as a professional football player is seeing the barriers it breaks-down in giving me the opportunity to talk about Jesus."

He elaborated on this by noting how all the privilege and all the status and all the fame simply serves to give him access to people and places to talk about the Lord that he otherwise would not have had. In essence he made it clear that, to him, the job is an amazing platform from which he gets to steward his main joy in life--telling people about the Jesus.

I wonder how many Christians would give the same answer if we were in Kurt Warner's shoes? I wonder how many of us would give that answer now? What's your answer?

Love in the Truth.

Quotable 6

Dan Phillips what are your thoughts on the US electing "the one" to be president?

"Obama is the triumph of postmodernism. America elected a hollow image, a human projection-screen, prepped and served by our media. They gave arguably the most powerful office in the world to a man with no accomplishments, no preparation, and no qualifications. Worse, they elected a faux-Christian who sat under a viciously racist, marxist ministry for 20 years, who embraces abortion in every form and wants to crush liberty under totalitarian governmental control.

Otherwise, no opinion."

But how do you really feel Dan; I mean deep down inside? LOL!

I gotta say - I loved that answer. Like him or not, Dan always tells it like it is. And I for one, like him!

Love in the Truth.