by HARVEYOPP | Apr 23, 2014 | Tim Challies
It is one of the Bible’s many sweet and powerful promises: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). The question is, though, how do we do this? In very practical ways, how do we resist the devil? Thomas Brooks, in his book “Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices”, offers a list of ten ways the Christian can resist Satan’s temptations.
1. Be Ruled by the Word. Make the Word of God your rule and authority and live in obedience to all it says. It will keep you walking straight and guard you from all manner of temptation. “When men throw off the Word, then God throws off them, and then Satan takes them by the hand, and leads them into snares at his pleasure.”
2. Beware of Grieving the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives the Christian the ability to discern Satan’s temptations and to see his hand in and behind life’s circumstances. If you grieve the Spirit, you drive off the one whose ministry involves guarding you against Satan’s attacks.
3. Labor for Wisdom. There is a great difference between knowledge and wisdom, between accumulating facts and applying Scripture to those facts so they become wisdom. It is not the Christian with the most knowledge, but the Christian with the most wisdom, who is equipped to battle Satan’s temptations.
4. Resist the First Stirring of Temptation. It is safe to resist temptation and dangerous to dabble in it. “He that will play with Satan’s bait, will quickly be taken with Satan’s hook.” God promises that we can resist temptation, not that we can resist sin once we have begun to dabble in that temptation.
5. Labor to Be Filled With the Spirit. The Spirit is a Spirit of light and power. The Spirit’s light shines bright against the darkness of sin and his power is sufficient to overcome all evil and temptation. When it comes to fighting Satan’s temptations, it is better to have a heart filled with the Spirit than a head filled with facts.
6. Keep Humble. A humble heart would rather lie in the dust than rise to prominence by sinful means; it would prefer to lose everything than to sin and be left with a guilty conscience. The humble person is neither drawn in by what Satan offers, nor terrified by his threats.
7. Be Constantly on Guard. A secure soul is a soul in a position to be led astray and ensnared. “That soul that will not watch against temptations will certainly fall before the power of temptations.” Satan strengthens his assaults when the soul grows drowsy and careless. So be constantly on guard. “Watchfulness is nothing else but the soul running up and down, to and fro, busy everywhere; it is the heart busied and employed with diligent observation of what comes from within us, and of what comes from without us and into us.”
8. Continue Communing With God. It is as you join in communion with God that he gives you strength to resist Satan’s attacks. “A soul high in communion with God may be tempted, but will not easily be conquered. Such a soul will fight it out to the death.” Take full advantage of God’s means of grace.
9. Do Not Engage Satan In Your Own Strength. You need to draw the power, and even the desire, to resist sin from Jesus Christ and you need to do this every day. “Certainly that soul that engages against any old or new temptation without new strength, new influences from on high, will fall before the power of new temptation.” Commune with God, be on guard, be humble—do all of these things! But do not rely on them in the battle; instead, rely on Christ.
10. Pray Constantly. “Prayer is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God and a scourge to the devil.” So pray and pray constantly. Tell God of your own inability to detect and respond to temptation; tell him that you are utterly dependent upon his grace; tell God that Christ’s blood has been applied to you; tell God that you are his child; ask God to deliver you from temptation for the glory of his name.
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 23, 2014 | RC Sproul Jr.
There is no greater personal issue than our relationship with the living God. There are no greater stakes imaginable than the difference between eternal torment and eternal bliss. As such it is no wonder that so many struggle with issues of assurance of salvation. I cannot, of course cover the gamut of the issues in a brief piece, but can give some basic principles that I pray will help.
1. No one is allowed, save the Lamb, to look into the Book of Life, but there is no need to. Too often, especially in Reformed circles, the concern is expressed this way, “How can I know if I’m elect?” As a Reformed theologian let me clearly affirm that all the elect will be saved, and only the elect will be saved. But I will still ask, “Why would you want to know that?” We don’t believe in justification by election. If you stand before the judgment throne and God asks, “Why should I welcome you into My kingdom?” and you reply, “Because my name is in Your book” your name quite likely isn’t in His book. The issue isn’t the secret things of God, but what He has revealed.
2. Your obedience is not the bedrock of your assurance. Given the remains of sin within us it can be profoundly difficult to give a clear measure of our own spiritual growth. In fact I have been known to argue that the better we get the worse we seem to ourselves. That is, as we grow in grace we grow in our capacity to see our own sin more deeply, which the devil delights to use to discourage us. It is Christ’s obedience that secures for us our eternity.
3. Your obedience is a part of your assurance. Be careful, especially when trying to help others, not to simply assume that all those struggling with assurance need to be assured. If you are living a lifestyle of unrepentant gross and heinous sin, you would do well to doubt your assurance. The center of the obedience I would call you to look for, however, would be here—believers are those who repent and believe.
4. Repenting is neither more nor less than crying out to God in Christ, “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner.” Believing is rejoicing in the faithfulness of His promise, that as we so repent, we go home justified. It is not the depth and power of your repentance that earns God’s favor. None of us repent as deeply as we ought, and so must ever repent for the weakness of our repentance. But Jesus came to save sinners.
5. If you fear you have committed the unpardonable sin, you almost certainly haven’t. Those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit do not have the Spirit in them to convict them for blaspheming the Spirit. If you find yourself obsessing over this question, it is almost certain that you obsess over other things and may be suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. If so, then you struggle with this fear, remind yourself a. that the fear is a good sign and b. Jesus died for sinners, including those struggling with OCD.
Bonus Point
Remember also that you are not called to answer this question alone. The elders of your church are called to judge the credibility of the professions of those under their care. They, of course, can and do err. But if they are concerned for your soul, you ought to be as well. If they are delighted to receive you as a brother, be a brother and receive them back with joy.
Bonus Bonus Point
One great theologian ministers to those suffering a lack of assurance by asking these questions—Do you love the Lord with all your heart, mind soul and strength? And when they answer, “no” he asks, “Do you love the Lord as you ought?” And when they answer, “no” he asks, “Do you love Him at all?” He’s a wise man.
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 22, 2014 | Scott Henry
“Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins…” (Galatians 1:3)
Grace sums up everything that makes it possible to be in a covenant of peace with God (Isa. 54:10). And true grace and peace can only come from God since grace implies that all men are dead in trespasses and sins, and nothing can possibly make us acceptable to a holy God except His mercy, which comes by way of His grace through the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Christ is the fountain from which the grace of God flows to unworthy sinners. God’s grace is the only reason sinners are saved from the guilt, penalty and consequences of their sin. Because God is gracious, loving, merciful and just, Jesus Christ came into this world and took upon Himself the nature of man and “gave himself for our sins.” He was pleased to lay down His life in order to redeem a multitude of sinners and deliver them from the wrath of God.
Oh, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! God’s grace moves the sinner out of the sphere of darkness, death, rebellion and judgment, and into the realm of light, life, righteousness and blessing. Grace imputes the righteous merits of Jesus Christ to the sinner’s account so that he may be declared holy and righteous by God. God’s grace elects unworthy sinners to redemption in Christ; grace regenerates the sinner’s soul making the sinner a saint; grace creates faith in the sinner’s heart; grace rescues the sinner from the realm of damnation and brings him into the realm of salvation; grace adopts the sinner as a child of God; grace brings us into union with Christ; grace washes away the sinner’s sin in Christ’s blood and makes him white as snow; grace grants the redeemed sinner to share in Christ’s inheritance; grace brings us into peace with God; grace sustains, preserves, protects, and defends the redeemed sinner; grace conforms redeemed sinners into Christ’s image; grace justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies redeemed sinners; grace makes unworthy sinners the sheep of Christ’s pasture, the people of His hand; grace removes our condemnation and promises no separation from God’s love … Yes, Christ is God’s grace to unworthy sinners like you and me …
“Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt … Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within … Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin!”
Have you received the grace of God? Has Christ translated you out of the realm of darkness into the realm of His marvelous light making you the object of God’s love and favor? If so, there’s only one appropriate response … PRAISE! God saves us, beloved, “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:6). Bend the knee and let your thanksgiving arise to the throne of God’s grace … this day and always!
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 18, 2014 | Scott Henry
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Good Friday is a day when believers remember the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a day we remember how Christ became a curse on the cross for all those given to Him by the Father in order that through His sin-atoning work they might receive the blessing of God. On Good Friday we remember how Jesus suffered during His whole life on earth, and how He endured the reproach of sinful men and suffered the physical torture of being beaten and nailed to the cross. But the greatest of His suffering was when Jesus was forsaken by His Father! On the cross, Jesus Christ experienced the inexpressible anguish, pains, and terror of eternal death in order that those who would believe in Him might receive everlasting life. That’s the truth behind Christ’s cry on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). It was at this time that Christ became a curse for sinners (Galatians 3:13) and was cast out by the Father for every sinful thought, word and deed of all He came to redeem. 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The Day of Atonement described in the Old Testament foreshadows, in great detail, the substitutionary work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus, Aaron the High Priest was commanded by God to bring two goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Aaron then cast lots for the goats: one for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. The goat on which the Lord’s lot fell was presented before the Lord as a sin offering and its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat as a symbol of cleansing from sins. But the other goat was presented alive before the Lord to make atonement upon it. Aaron would place his hands upon the head of the goat and confess all the sins of Israel upon its head, symbolically imputing the sins of Israel to the scapegoat. The scapegoat was then sent into an uninhabited land symbolically bearing the sins of Israel upon it. The significance of the ceremony was twofold: the first goat signified the cleansing of all the sins of God’s people, and the second goat, the scapegoat, signified the truth that all the sins of the people were cast away from them and would never return. The truth behind this Old Testament ceremony is that it foreshadowed the work of Jesus Christ on behalf of His people. Jesus was both the sin offering who cleansed His people with His blood, and the scapegoat upon whom the sins of His people were imputed.
On the cross, Jesus was the One banished far into the uninhabited wilderness in order to redeem His people from their sins. That’s why Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and it’s also for this reason that believers can have the blessed assurance that their sins are cast as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against them again (Psalm 103:12). Why? Because on a Friday afternoon, over 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ became our sin offering and our scapegoat in order that God’s wrath might be turned away from us and we become favorable in God’s sight. That’s the truth we embrace as we remember the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, on Good Friday. Is your trust in Jesus as the only One who could ever wash away your sins by His atoning work? Scripture is very clear; “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
by HARVEYOPP | Apr 17, 2014 | Scott Henry
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Our Lord Jesus was forsaken by God in the utter darkness of eternal Hell in our place. It was necessary in order that we might be adopted as the children of God, and be privileged to call God, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). On the cross, Christ was disinherited so that believers might become heirs of God (Romans 8:17) and citizens of His Kingdom. Christ passed through eternal Hell on the cross, suffered the infinite wrath of God against sin, and emerged from the darkness of death in order that sinners might be saved from the guilt and penalty of their sins by trusting in Jesus. The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 17, tells us that “By the power of His Godhead He might bear in His manhood the burden of God’s wrath, and so obtain for and restore to us righteousness and life.”
Christ entered completely into the wages of our sins and suffered what every chosen sinner deserved. Jesus suffered the second death, which is eternal damnation, yet He ever lives to make intercession for the saints (Heb. 7:25). He suffered all of this so that His sheep would never be made to suffer eternal death … so that they would never be made to shout the cry of eternal death, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!” What manner of love is this, dear Christian, that Christ would drink the cup of God’s eternal wrath to the bitter dregs, in our place, so that we might be called the children of the living God? (1 John 3:1)
The Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, laid down His life for us, His sheep (John 10), so that we might dwell safely with Him for eternity. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a multitude of wretched sinners from every tribe, tongue and nation of this world! Have you praised your Savior Jesus today for redeeming you from eternal damnation and destruction?
“Let us love and sing and wonder, let us praise the Savior’s name; He has hushed the law’s loud thunder, He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame! He has washed us with His blood, He has brought us nigh to God.” (John Newton)
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