1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Is this the pattern of the "church" today, heaping up teachers that turn them aside to fables? Sadly, yes it is! I read this in my quiet time this morning and just thought I'd share!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Mr. Newton on Election
I got this from a lady that befriended me on facebook. I do not know her, except that through our common bond of Christ we have a lot in common. She is daily exhorting her friends and imparting scripture and quotes from godly men. This is a note she posted and therefore I am posting it! I loved it!
John Newton used to tell a story, and laugh at it, too, of a good woman who said, in order to prove the doctrine of election, "Ah! sir, the Lord must have loved me before I was born, or else He would not have seen anything in me to love afterwards." I am sure it is true in my case; I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am forced to accept that great Biblical doctrine. I recollect an Arminian brother telling me that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and could never find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he would have done so if it had been there, for he read the Word on his knees. I said to him, "I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to understand it. Pray, by all means, and the more, the better, but it is a piece of superstition to think there is anything in the posture in which a man puts himself for reading: and as to reading through the Bible twenty times without having found anything about the doctrine of election, the wonder is that you found anything at all: you must have galloped through it at such a rate that you were not likely to have any intelligible idea of the meaning of the Scriptures."
A quote from Spurgeon:
"Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it. To me, it is one of the sweetest and most blessed truths in the whole of revelation, and those who are afraid of it are so because they do not understand it. If they could but know that the Lord had chosen them, it would make their hearts dance for joy."
Praise God! As Newton so plainly put it, "I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love."
John Newton used to tell a story, and laugh at it, too, of a good woman who said, in order to prove the doctrine of election, "Ah! sir, the Lord must have loved me before I was born, or else He would not have seen anything in me to love afterwards." I am sure it is true in my case; I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am forced to accept that great Biblical doctrine. I recollect an Arminian brother telling me that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and could never find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he would have done so if it had been there, for he read the Word on his knees. I said to him, "I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to understand it. Pray, by all means, and the more, the better, but it is a piece of superstition to think there is anything in the posture in which a man puts himself for reading: and as to reading through the Bible twenty times without having found anything about the doctrine of election, the wonder is that you found anything at all: you must have galloped through it at such a rate that you were not likely to have any intelligible idea of the meaning of the Scriptures."
A quote from Spurgeon:
"Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it. To me, it is one of the sweetest and most blessed truths in the whole of revelation, and those who are afraid of it are so because they do not understand it. If they could but know that the Lord had chosen them, it would make their hearts dance for joy."
Praise God! As Newton so plainly put it, "I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love."
A Call for Discernment
I wanted to post a link to a sermon by John Macarthur that I recently listened to. It is the first of 3 parts. I am only posting the first part, as that is all I've listened to thus far. I am sharing this, because it basically summarizes why we must be so strong on doctrine. It explains why it's so important to know scripture and doctrine as Christians! It's something I used to think was only important for pastors to know, but have realized that many pastors today lack a basic understanding of theology. It's sad! Therefore, I am sharing the treasure I have found in this sermon! Please listen...it's only an hour. I have it on CD and listen in the car. I would love to hear what you think!
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/52-32
I apologize for being so absent on my blog recently. It has been a whirlwind of a month and I'm still not at the point where I have time to really sit down and impart to you what I've been reading. School will be out in 8 days and I think after that I'll have some time to share :) In the meantime, I'll update when I can!
Oh, and John Macarthur's sermons are now ALL free on his grace to you website! You can hear a sermon on just about any scripture....well, not all, but a lot! Enjoy!
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/52-32
I apologize for being so absent on my blog recently. It has been a whirlwind of a month and I'm still not at the point where I have time to really sit down and impart to you what I've been reading. School will be out in 8 days and I think after that I'll have some time to share :) In the meantime, I'll update when I can!
Oh, and John Macarthur's sermons are now ALL free on his grace to you website! You can hear a sermon on just about any scripture....well, not all, but a lot! Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I'm still here...
but I've been super busy! I just got back from Texas and with 18 days of school left I'm finding it hard to have the time to write on here. I will be finished with Repentance next week! It's been a long book, but very sobering and humbling! In small group we will be reading a new book the week after which I will probably post about then. I just wanted to let you readers know, if there are any, that I am still alive!
Any interesting reading you've been doing?
Any interesting reading you've been doing?
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