Saturday, June 10, 2006
From 'Sinners in the hands of an angry God' by Jonathan Edwards
Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Prov. xx. 2. "The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul." The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke xii. 4, 5. "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."
2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in Isaiah lix. 18. "According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isaiah lxvi. 15. "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and wifh his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in many other places. So, Rev. xix. 15, we read of "the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God," the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!
Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezek. viii. 18. "Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them." Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only "laugh and mock," Prov. i. 25, 26, &c.
Related Tags: Jonathan Edwards, wrath, God, wrath of God, unregenerate, mercy, grace, justice
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2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in Isaiah lix. 18. "According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries." So Isaiah lxvi. 15. "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and wifh his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in many other places. So, Rev. xix. 15, we read of "the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God," the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!
Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezek. viii. 18. "Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them." Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only "laugh and mock," Prov. i. 25, 26, &c.
Related Tags: Jonathan Edwards, wrath, God, wrath of God, unregenerate, mercy, grace, justice
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Thursday, June 08, 2006
From 'The Acceptable Sacrifice' by John Bunyan
1. Take heed that you choke not those convictions that at present do break your hearts, by labouring to put those things out of your minds which were the cause of such convictions; but rather nourish and cherish those things in a deep and sober remembrance of them. Think, therefore, with thyself thus, What was it that at first did wound my heart? And let that still be there, until, by the grace of God, and the redeeming blood of Christ, it is removed.
2. Shun vain company. The keeping of vain company has stifled many a conviction, killed many a desire, and made many a soul fall into hell, that once was hot in looking after heaven. A companion that is not profitable to the soul, is hurtful. ‘He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be
destroyed’ (Prov 13:20).
3. Take heed of idle talk, that thou neither hear nor join with it. ‘Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge’ (Prov 14:7). ‘Evil communications corrupt good manners. And a fool’s lips are the snare of his soul.’ Wherefore take heed of these things (Prov 18:7; 1 Cor
15:33).
4. Beware of the least motion to sin, that it be not countenanced, lest the countenancing of that makes way for a bigger. David’s eye took his heart, and so his heart nourishing the thought, made way for the woman’s company,
the act of adultery, and bloody murder. Take heed, therefore, brethren, ‘lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin’ (Heb 3:12,13). And remember, that he that will rend the block, puts the thin end of the wedge first thereto, and so, by driving does his work.
5. Take heed of evil examples among the godly; learn of no man to do that which the
word of God forbids. Sometimes Satan makes use of a good man’s bad ways, to spoil and
harden the heart of them that come after. Peter’s false doing had like to have spoiled Barnabas, yea, and several others more. Wherefore take heed of men, of good men’s ways, and measure both theirs and thine own by no other rule but the holy Word of God (Gal 2:11-13).
6. Take heed of unbelief, or atheistical thoughts; make no question of the truth and
reality of heavenly things: for know unbelief is the worst of evils; nor can the heart be tender that nourisheth or gives place unto it. ‘Take heed, therefore, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God’ (Heb 3:12). These cautions are necessary to be observed with all diligence, of
all them that would, when their heart is made tender, keep it so. And now to come,
p. 90-91
Bunyan gave great advice on how to keep the heart tender. You need to be careful about the people you keep company with. What you talk about will make an impact on how you live.
Related Tags: John Bunyan, grace of God, redeeming blood of Christ, vain company, idle talk, unbelief
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2. Shun vain company. The keeping of vain company has stifled many a conviction, killed many a desire, and made many a soul fall into hell, that once was hot in looking after heaven. A companion that is not profitable to the soul, is hurtful. ‘He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be
destroyed’ (Prov 13:20).
3. Take heed of idle talk, that thou neither hear nor join with it. ‘Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge’ (Prov 14:7). ‘Evil communications corrupt good manners. And a fool’s lips are the snare of his soul.’ Wherefore take heed of these things (Prov 18:7; 1 Cor
15:33).
4. Beware of the least motion to sin, that it be not countenanced, lest the countenancing of that makes way for a bigger. David’s eye took his heart, and so his heart nourishing the thought, made way for the woman’s company,
the act of adultery, and bloody murder. Take heed, therefore, brethren, ‘lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin’ (Heb 3:12,13). And remember, that he that will rend the block, puts the thin end of the wedge first thereto, and so, by driving does his work.
5. Take heed of evil examples among the godly; learn of no man to do that which the
word of God forbids. Sometimes Satan makes use of a good man’s bad ways, to spoil and
harden the heart of them that come after. Peter’s false doing had like to have spoiled Barnabas, yea, and several others more. Wherefore take heed of men, of good men’s ways, and measure both theirs and thine own by no other rule but the holy Word of God (Gal 2:11-13).
6. Take heed of unbelief, or atheistical thoughts; make no question of the truth and
reality of heavenly things: for know unbelief is the worst of evils; nor can the heart be tender that nourisheth or gives place unto it. ‘Take heed, therefore, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God’ (Heb 3:12). These cautions are necessary to be observed with all diligence, of
all them that would, when their heart is made tender, keep it so. And now to come,
p. 90-91
Bunyan gave great advice on how to keep the heart tender. You need to be careful about the people you keep company with. What you talk about will make an impact on how you live.
Related Tags: John Bunyan, grace of God, redeeming blood of Christ, vain company, idle talk, unbelief
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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
from The existance and attributes of God by Stephen Charnock
God knows all the evils and sins of creatures. (1.) God knows all sin. This follows upon the other. If he knows all the actions and thoughts of creatures, he knows also all the sinfulness in those acts and thoughts. This Zophar infers from God's punishing men. (Job 11:11); for he knows vain man, he sees his wickedness also; he knows every man, and sees the wickedness of every man; he looks down from heaven, and beholds not only the filthy persons, but what is filthy in them (Psalm 14:2), all the nations in the world, and every man of every nation; none of their iniquity is hid from his eyes; he searches all Jerusalem with candles (Jeremiah 16:17). God follows sinners step by step with his eye, and will not leave searching out till he hath taken them; a metaphor taken from one that searches all chinks with a candle, that nothing can be hidden from him. He knows distinctly in all the parts of it, how an adulterer rises out of his bed to commint uncleanness, what contrivances he had, what steps he took, every circumstance in the whole progress; not only evil in the bulk, but every one of the blacker sponts upon it, which may most agrgravate it. If he did not know wvil, how could he permit it, order it, punish it, or pardon it? Doth he permit he know not what? order to his own holy ends what he is ignorant of? punish or pardon that which he is uncertain whether it be a crime or no? "Cleanse me," saith David, "from my secret faults" (Psalm 19:12), secret in regard to others, secret in regard of himself; how could God cleanse him from that wherof he was ignorant? He knows sins before they are committed, much more when they are in act; he forknew the idolarty and apostacy of the Jews; what gods they would serve, in what measure they would provoke him, and violate his covenant (Deutronomy 31:20,21); he knew Judus' sin long before Judus' actual existance, foretelling it in the Psalms; and Christ predicts it before he acted it. He sees sins future in his own permitting will; he sees sins present in his own supporting act.
p. 427-428
God has complete knowledge of His creation. He does not need to wait and see what happens.
Related Tags: God, sin, sinners, foreknew, idolatry, apostacy, Judus
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p. 427-428
God has complete knowledge of His creation. He does not need to wait and see what happens.
Related Tags: God, sin, sinners, foreknew, idolatry, apostacy, Judus
Continue reading!
Monday, June 05, 2006
From 'Spiritual Refining' by Anthony Burgess
Although external obedience and outward actions of piety are not to be rested on, yet this external obedience is necessary.
First, because outward actions are a complement and a perfection of the inward habits of grace; God hath put all the internal habits of grace in the heart, that they might produce external operations in our lives, and when they do so, they attain their ultimate perfection. Aristotle placed happiness in the actions of the soul, not in habits and faculties, because they are not the most excellent: It is not therefore enough for a man to please himself with contemplative good affections, but he also to demostrate his grace in the powerful operations thereof.
Secondly, outward acts of obedience are necessary because the commands of God do expecially oblige to these. Thus thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and this is his commandment to believe on him: Howsoever therefore that actions are not sufficent, unless they flow from supernatural principles within, and an inward rectitude of the frame of the heart; yet the commands of God do bind to these, as those whereby God is most glorified, it being not the having of a thing so much as the exercising of it, which makes us acceptable to him that employeth us therein.
p. 91
Related Tags: Anthony Burgess, grace, salvation, obedience
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First, because outward actions are a complement and a perfection of the inward habits of grace; God hath put all the internal habits of grace in the heart, that they might produce external operations in our lives, and when they do so, they attain their ultimate perfection. Aristotle placed happiness in the actions of the soul, not in habits and faculties, because they are not the most excellent: It is not therefore enough for a man to please himself with contemplative good affections, but he also to demostrate his grace in the powerful operations thereof.
Secondly, outward acts of obedience are necessary because the commands of God do expecially oblige to these. Thus thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and this is his commandment to believe on him: Howsoever therefore that actions are not sufficent, unless they flow from supernatural principles within, and an inward rectitude of the frame of the heart; yet the commands of God do bind to these, as those whereby God is most glorified, it being not the having of a thing so much as the exercising of it, which makes us acceptable to him that employeth us therein.
p. 91
Related Tags: Anthony Burgess, grace, salvation, obedience
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