'and the Lord's bondservant must
1. not strive but
2. be kind to all
3. able to teach
4. patient when wronged
5. with gentleness
6. correcting those who are in opposition (to) ..the truth..
i live in a fallen world where it seems that truth is hated and lies abound. i have a choice. do i flow downstream with the lies that surround me or do i continually, painfully 'row' upstream against them, first by living truth in my own life and then by encouraging others to do so too? most people seem to have chosen the broad (easy) way. it seems that few have chosen to even attempt to 'row' against lies. have any but Jesus of nazareth done it consistently in every situation? if so, i would think that their number would have to be extremely small for i have never met one..i have read of some who seemed to but how can one examine any one life through the pages of a book...or in person for that matter?
Jesus said, 'STRIVE (agonidzO, the greek word we get our word, agonize, from)...so Jesus said, 'AGONIZE to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able'. (luke
agonize - to suffer extreme anguish or pain; to put forth great effort
13.24) if i even attempt to correct and destroy a lie in my own, usually unseen by the human eye, life, i find agony, it is crucifixion of self. if i attempt to correct a lie in someone else's life, i find it is agony, it is crucifixion of self. so far i am finding that the former calls for a genuine asking of the Lord that He would reveal my true heart wickedness.. in every area of my life, inside and out, by wrestling in prayer over what He reveals until a genuine heart change is experienced. it sometimes seems an interminably long, painful and, at times, horrible reality.
how do i go about the latter? to do it properly i read here 6 things i must do/be. only God can produce these genuinely in the human heart. only by seriously seeking for His illumination, His repeated forgiveness and restoration of my soul when again and again i swoon, near death and Destruction because of my grievous sins, in the end experiencing the miraculous transforming power of His grace as He mysteriously moves me to hunger and thirst for His righteousness..in me..and through me...for how can i help another to a place i've never been myself. if i ever do/be the following six things it will be the grace of God...oh may this be my consciousness at any given moment that i am what i am by the grace of God alone.
1. i must NEVER strive... WAR or battle another WITH my WORDS. every word i speak must be employed to the end that there will be a change of mind and heart with the result that the lie is replaced with the truth. words must be sparsely employed. on the other hand,as with any change from lie to truth within my own life, many secret words to God must be said.
2. i must always BE KIND. some time ago, when i looked at this word as it occurs in I corinthians 13, trying to understand better what love is all about i came up with the idea that kindness is 'being helpful, making oneself useful to someone'. this time i looked at it a bit more and what once seemed possible to do now became absolutely undoable. isn't that so true? i am trying to live the life of God in my own power! impossible. His law only shows me that it is impossible for me to do. all this doing/being stuff must be done by Christ doing/being through me..is that not right? (how exactly does that happen, i wonder, and pray and wait...) so here are the results of my word study this morning of 'kind'. as i read and thought about the meanings i felt on the one hand that i couldn't do them, but on the other hand i recognized Christ shining in them, Jesus as i may be beginning to know Him. i list what the dictionary says about 'kind' below..its etymology, its synonyms.
to be kind is to be
*FAVORABLE - kind, propitious,friendly, affectionate;palliative, tender, averse to censure; conducive to,contributing to, tending to promote (in this context)... 'love'?
a. PROPITIOUS - is disposed to be gracious, merciful; ready to forgive sins and bestow blessings..i'm not at all like this but i know someone who is.
b. FRIEND - is on good terms with another
c. AFFECTIONATE - has a bent of heart towards; desire toward
(affect- from latin ad (to come near, approach) + facio (to make); to act upon; move to passion; tend to by natural affinity/disposition; love or regard with fondness
-FOND (OF)- (chaucer, fonne- a fool; scottish, fon- to play the fool; irish, fonn- delight, desire, a longing which signifies, to diminish, impair mental powers, make foolish, make destitute of reason) much pleased; loving ardently; relishing highly
d. PALLIATIVE - acts as a cloak for, cover with excuse; serves to extenuate negatives (make thin, lean; lessen) by excuses or favorable representation; mitigating (lessen in force, intensity), alleviating (relieve, assuage) bad
e. TENDER - soft, delicate in texture or consistence, easily injured; yielding easily to force or pressure; fragile; easily broken, divided, compressed or injured; frail, thin, fine, slender;of weak or delicate; characterized by, exhibiting or expressing delicacy of feeling or susceptibility to the gentle emotions; constitution.
f. AVERSE TO CENSURE - does not like to pass judgment on, criticize or condemn another person
g. CONDUCIVE TO.......LOVE?
*.ATTRACTIVE - draw to by moral influence
3. i must know the bible experimentally. that is, i must not only be very familiar with its contents, but be intimately connected with its author, not only carrying everything in my life to Him and being reluctant to leave His word, but consecrated to showing my love to Him by keeping His commandments and ready to share Him wherever, whenever....in other words i must have come to be APT TO TEACH.
4. i must be PATIENT WHEN WRONGED. the word here is aneksikakon. moulton has 'bearing evil without resentment'.; strong has 'enduring evil'; liddell lists its classical cognates: the word- 'enduring pain', its verb- 'to be long suffering', its noun- 'forbearance'; lenski renders it here, 'putting up with what is bad'.
5. i must correct with GENTLENESS, praotAs.
trench, in his 'synonyms of the new testament' has a section where he speaks of this word and its synonym, epiAkAe in which he writes,
'tapAvophrosUnA (tap) (note: this word literally means 'lowly + mind', the word for 'humility' in the new testament) and epiAkAa (ep) (note: this article is mostly about this word and perspective is further gained as to word meaning by comparing it with tap and pra), though joined together by clement of rome, are in their meanings too far apart to be fit subjects of synonymous discrimination; but praotAs (pra) (note: this is the word translated 'gentleness'. this is a bit linguistically deep but i think its excellencies are such that, even if a few are gotten, can significantly help us understand just with what spirit we are to correct a person who is in need of truth), which stands between, holds on to both. the attempt has just been made to seize its points of contact with tap. without going over this ground anew, we may consider the relations to ep in which it stands.
the mere existence of such a word as ep is itself a signal evidence of the high development of ethics among the greeks. (no latin word exactly and adequately renders it; 'clementia' sets forth one side of it, 'aequitas' another, and perhaps 'modestia'
(by which the vulgate translates it, Ii corinthians 10.1) a third; but the word is wanting which should set forth all these excellencies reconciled in a single and a higher one.)
it expresses exactly that moderation which recognizes the impossibility cleaving to all formal law, of anticipating and providing for all cases that will emerge, and present themselves to it for decision; which, with this, recognizes the danger that ever waits upon the assertion of legal rights, lest they should be pushed into moral wrongs, lest the 'summum jus' should in practice prove the 'summa injuria'' which, therefore, urges not its own right to the uttermost, but, going back in part or in the whole from these, rectifies and redresses the injustices of justice. it is thus more truly just than strict justice would have been...aristotle....sets the akribodikIos, the man who stands up for the last tittle of his leagal rights, over against the ep...this aspect of EP, namely that it IS A GOING BACK FROM THE LETTER OF RIGHT FOR THE BETTER PRESERVING OF THE SPIRIT, must never be lost sight of.
THE ARCHETYPE AND PATTERN OF THIS GRACE IS FOUND IN GOD. all His goings back from the strictness of his rights as against men; all his allowance of their imperfect righeousness, and giving of a value to that which, rigorously estimated, would have none; ALL HIS REFUSALS TO EXACT EXTREMENPENALTIES (psalm 85.5) ALL HIS KEEPING IN MIND WHEREOF WE ARE MADE, AND MEASURING HIS DEALINGS WITH US THEREBY; all of these we may contemplate as ep upon His part; even as they demand in return the same, one toward another, upon ours. peter, when himself restored, must strengthen his brethren (luke 22.32). the greatly forgiven servant in the parable (matthew 28.23), having known the ep of his lord and king, is justly expected to shew the same to his fellow servant. the word is often joined with phlanthrOpia..AmerotAs..aveksikakia and often with praotAs...
the distinction between pra and ep...aquinas too has a fine and subtle discussion on the relations of likeness and difference between the graces which these words severally denote..among other marks of difference he especially presses these two: the first that in 'clementia' (=ep) there is always the condescension of the superior to an inferior, while in 'mansuetudo' (pra) nothing of the kind is necessarily implied...and the second, that which has been already urtged, that the one grace is more passive, the other more active, or at least that the seat of the pra is in the inner spirit, while the ep must needs embody itself in outward acts.
it is instructive to note how little of one mind our various translators from wiclif downward have been as to the words which should best reproduce epiAkAa and epiAkAs for the english reader...the first has been rendered in all these ways:
meekness, courtesy, clemency, softeness, modesty, gentleness, patience, patient mind, moderation.
the second has been rendered:
temperate, soft, gentle, modest, patient, mild, courteous.
'gentle' and 'gentleness', on the whole, commend themselves as the best; but the fact remains, which also in a reat measure excuses so much vacillation here, namely, that we have no words in english which are full equivalents of the greek. the sense of equity and fairness which is in them so strong is more or less wanting in all which we offer in exchange.
6. finally, i must CORRECT every person (?!) who in any way (?!!) is living contrary to Truth. (if this is not true, who among all the ones who constantly in one way or another are living contrary to Truth do i correct and who do i say nothing to?
the word here is pIdeUO. lenski renders this EDUCATE. pIs- child; the verbal ending -eUO denotes a state. the verb then literally means 'to be together with a child" ...if i relate to truth breakers in this way the Lord may grant them a change of mind that leads to the doing of truth.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
4.22.2012 BRADWARDINE: IS IT 'I FOUND HIM' OR 'HE FOUND ME'?
this is taken from 'john wycliffe and his english precursors' by gotthard lechler 1878
robert grossetete, bishop of lincoln, henry bracton, william occam, richard of armagh and thomas bradwardine are briefly discussed in order to put john wycliffe in context as he appears on the english religious scene. they were, each in his own way, contributory to wycliffe. we pick up bradwardine as he goes to oxford as a student and enters merton college
'it was at this period, also, that an incident occurred to him which gave a decisive turn to his inner life and which we fortunately learn from his own pen. his narrative is as follows: -"i was at one time, while still a student of philosophy, a vain fool, far from the true knowledge of God, and held captive in opposing error. from time to time i heard theologians treating of the questions of grace and free will, and the party of pelagius appeared to me to have the best of the argument. for i rarely heard anything said of grace in the lectures of the philosophers, except in an ambiguous sense; but every day i heard them teach that we are the masters of our own free acts and that it stands in our own power to do either good or evil, to be either virtuous or vicious and such like. and when i heard now and then in church a passage read from the apostle which exalted grace and humbled free-will, -such, ie. as that word in romans 9, 'so then it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in god that showeth mercy', and other like places, - i had no liking for such teaching, for towards grace i was still unthankful. i believed also with the manicheans, that the apostle, being a man, might possibly err from the path of truth in any point of doctrine. but afterwards, and before i had become a student of theology, the truth before mentioned struck upon me like a beam of grace, and it seemed to me as if i beheld in the distance, under a transparent image of truth, the grace of God as it is PREVENIENT both in time and
prevenient - coming before, antecedent; anticipatory
and nature to all good deeds - that is to say, the gracious will of God which precedently wills, that, he who merits salvation shall be saved, and precedently works this merit of it in him, God in truth being in all movements the primary Mover. wherefore, also, i give thanks to him who has freely given me this grace."
from this interesting testimony from his own lips, it appears that bradwardine, while still a student, and even before he had begun the regular study of theology, had experienced a spiritual awakening which brought him off from the pelagian way of thinking and led him to the conviction that the grace of God is prevenient to all God-pleasing action, instead of being acquired by such action preceding. this awakening had evidently occurred in connection with such utterances of st. paul as that in romans 9.16, which had suddenly struck upon the young men's soul with a clear light and arresting force, insomuch that from that day forward the all-determining power of grace became the central truth of his christian thinking...\
brad's theological views are exhibited in a systematic form in ..'of the cause of God', for the author has the consciousness of appearing like an advocate in defence of God's honour, in standing forward to oppose pelagianism and to exalt the agency of God's free and unmerited grace in the conversion and salvation of man. he by no means conceals from himself that in so doing he is swimming against the current of prevailing opinion, for it is his own remark that 'the doctrine is held by many either that the free will of man is of itself sufficient for the obtaining of salvation; or if they confess the need of grace, that still grace may be merited by the power of the free will, so that grace no longer appears to be something undeserved by men, but something meritoriously acquired. almost the whole world, he says, has run after pelagius and fallen into error. but brad does not allow himself to be disheartened by this state of things. he knows for certain that one man, if the lord is with him, will be able to chase a thousand foes, yea to put twelve thousand to flight (I Samuel 18.7)
this joyful courage in conflict, this devout confidence of victory in pleading the cause of God's grace as the only source of salvation, cannot fail to remind us of the reformers, who were essentially heralds of the same grace and opposers of the delusion that salvation can be earned by human merit. the method, it is true, which the scholastic divine followed was different from theirs, owing to the peculiar character of mediaeval culture. the reformers went to work theologically, brad philosophically, he gives as his reason for adopting this method, that the later pelagians had asserted that pelagius had been overcome purely by church authority and by theological proofs, but in a philosophical and rational way it had never been possible to confute him. brad's design, therefore, is to make use mainly of philosophical arguments and authorities. in regard to authorities he adheres so closely to his declared design, that he gives more space to the sayings of philosophers, old and new, and attaches more stress to them, than he does to his own independent reasonings. however, he also elucidates the question theologically, namely by arguments of scripture and appeals to the Fathers and the Scholastics, with the view, as he says himself, of showing the right sense of many passages of holy scripture and the Fathers, which had often been misunderstood and perverted by the pelagians of ancient and later times.
but the spirit which animates him is worthy of all recognition. he is filled with a moral pathos-a lofty earnestness of christian piety, which cannot fail to make the deepest impression.
in proof of this, i point to the fervent prayer with which brad, towards the close of the work..invokes the redeemer thus -
'Good Master-Thou, my only Master-my Master and Lord, Thou, who from my youth up, when i gave myself to this work by Thy impulse, hast taught me up to this day all that i have ever learned of the truth, and all that, as Thy pen, i have ever written of it,-send down upon me, also now, of Thy great goodness, Thy light, so that Thou who hast led me into the profoundest of depths mayest also lead up to the mountain height of this inaccessible truth. Thou who hast brought me into this great and wide sea, bring me also into the haven. Thou who hast conducted me into this wide and pathless desert, Thou my Gide, and Way, and End, lead me also unto the end. show me, i pray Thee, Thou most learned of all teachers, show to Thy little child, who knows no outlet from the difficulty, how to solve the knot of Thy word so hardly knit...but now i thank Thee, serenest Lord, that to him who asketh, Thou hast given; to him that seeketh, Thou hast shown the way; and to him that knocketh, Thou hast opened the door of piety, the door of clearness, the door of truth. for now when Thou liftest the light of Thy countenance upon Thy servant, i believe i see the right understanding of Thy Word...
his drift is to exhibit grace as a free and unmerited gift of God and to strike down every imagination of human merit in the work of conversion. it is for this reason that he controverts in particular the favourite dogma of the Scholastics that man can qualify himself to receive grace, in other words, that he can deserve grace, if not to the strict extent of full worthiness, still in the sense of meetness and suitableness. to acquire merit before God, brad holds to be impossible for man in any sense whatsoever. he who affirms the contrary turns God, in effect, into a poor trafficker; for he who receives grace on the footing of any kind of merit, has purchased the grace and not received it as a free gift.
brad sets out, in fact, as pointed out above, from his own experience-from actual life-and he keeps actual experience ever in his eye. and in regard to the authorities for the doctrine of unmerited grace to whom he cares most to appeal, he is thoroughly alive to the fact that it was by their own living experience that they too were brought to the knowledge of that grace. the apostle paul, for example, was 'a chosen vessel of grace', inasmuch as, at a time when he was not thinking of good works at all, nor was even standing aloof from deeds of wickedness; at a time when he was thirsting for christian blood and was even persecuting the Lord Himself, suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him, and the grace of Jesus Christ at the same instant preveniently laid hold upon him. he speaks of the apostle as emphatically a child of grace, who, in gratitude for the same, makes devout and honourably mention of this grace-his mother=in almost all his epistles, vindicating her claims, particularly in his epistle to the Romans, where he makes grace the subfect of a large and acute investigation which fills the epistle almost from beginning to end. and quite in a similar spirit he remarks upon augustine that, 'like the apostle, he was at first an unbeliever, a blasphemer, and an enemy of the grace of Jesus Christ, but after the same grace had converted him with like suddenness, he became, after the apostle's example, an extoller, a magnificent and mighty champion of grace'. and like the apostle paul, like augustine the great church father of the west, thomas bradwardine too became, by the light from heaven which shone upon him in his youth, an extoller and champion of the grace of God, in opposition to the pelagian and self righteous spirit which prevailed in his time.
it was by no means his intention, indeed, in so doing, to place himself in antagonism to the church of rome. on the contrary, he declares expressly his steadfast belief in the doctrinal authority of the Church. he submits his writings to her judgment; it is for her to determine what is orthodox in the questions which he has investigated; he wishes with all his heart to have her support where he does battle with the enemies of God; where he errs, to have her correction; where his is in the right, to have her confirmation. but still, in the last resort, he consoles himself with the help of God, who forsakes no one who is a defender of his cause.
when i was 8 i feared i would die and go to hell and prayed and asked Jesus into my heart. no life and gave up religion. when i was 20 i knew i was a sinner and deserved to go to hell and set myself to obey romans 6.11 and regard myself as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. no life so became a pharisee.
this is taken from 'john wycliffe and his english precursors' by gotthard lechler 1878
robert grossetete, bishop of lincoln, henry bracton, william occam, richard of armagh and thomas bradwardine are briefly discussed in order to put john wycliffe in context as he appears on the english religious scene. they were, each in his own way, contributory to wycliffe. we pick up bradwardine as he goes to oxford as a student and enters merton college
'it was at this period, also, that an incident occurred to him which gave a decisive turn to his inner life and which we fortunately learn from his own pen. his narrative is as follows: -"i was at one time, while still a student of philosophy, a vain fool, far from the true knowledge of God, and held captive in opposing error. from time to time i heard theologians treating of the questions of grace and free will, and the party of pelagius appeared to me to have the best of the argument. for i rarely heard anything said of grace in the lectures of the philosophers, except in an ambiguous sense; but every day i heard them teach that we are the masters of our own free acts and that it stands in our own power to do either good or evil, to be either virtuous or vicious and such like. and when i heard now and then in church a passage read from the apostle which exalted grace and humbled free-will, -such, ie. as that word in romans 9, 'so then it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in god that showeth mercy', and other like places, - i had no liking for such teaching, for towards grace i was still unthankful. i believed also with the manicheans, that the apostle, being a man, might possibly err from the path of truth in any point of doctrine. but afterwards, and before i had become a student of theology, the truth before mentioned struck upon me like a beam of grace, and it seemed to me as if i beheld in the distance, under a transparent image of truth, the grace of God as it is PREVENIENT both in time and
prevenient - coming before, antecedent; anticipatory
and nature to all good deeds - that is to say, the gracious will of God which precedently wills, that, he who merits salvation shall be saved, and precedently works this merit of it in him, God in truth being in all movements the primary Mover. wherefore, also, i give thanks to him who has freely given me this grace."
from this interesting testimony from his own lips, it appears that bradwardine, while still a student, and even before he had begun the regular study of theology, had experienced a spiritual awakening which brought him off from the pelagian way of thinking and led him to the conviction that the grace of God is prevenient to all God-pleasing action, instead of being acquired by such action preceding. this awakening had evidently occurred in connection with such utterances of st. paul as that in romans 9.16, which had suddenly struck upon the young men's soul with a clear light and arresting force, insomuch that from that day forward the all-determining power of grace became the central truth of his christian thinking...\
brad's theological views are exhibited in a systematic form in ..'of the cause of God', for the author has the consciousness of appearing like an advocate in defence of God's honour, in standing forward to oppose pelagianism and to exalt the agency of God's free and unmerited grace in the conversion and salvation of man. he by no means conceals from himself that in so doing he is swimming against the current of prevailing opinion, for it is his own remark that 'the doctrine is held by many either that the free will of man is of itself sufficient for the obtaining of salvation; or if they confess the need of grace, that still grace may be merited by the power of the free will, so that grace no longer appears to be something undeserved by men, but something meritoriously acquired. almost the whole world, he says, has run after pelagius and fallen into error. but brad does not allow himself to be disheartened by this state of things. he knows for certain that one man, if the lord is with him, will be able to chase a thousand foes, yea to put twelve thousand to flight (I Samuel 18.7)
this joyful courage in conflict, this devout confidence of victory in pleading the cause of God's grace as the only source of salvation, cannot fail to remind us of the reformers, who were essentially heralds of the same grace and opposers of the delusion that salvation can be earned by human merit. the method, it is true, which the scholastic divine followed was different from theirs, owing to the peculiar character of mediaeval culture. the reformers went to work theologically, brad philosophically, he gives as his reason for adopting this method, that the later pelagians had asserted that pelagius had been overcome purely by church authority and by theological proofs, but in a philosophical and rational way it had never been possible to confute him. brad's design, therefore, is to make use mainly of philosophical arguments and authorities. in regard to authorities he adheres so closely to his declared design, that he gives more space to the sayings of philosophers, old and new, and attaches more stress to them, than he does to his own independent reasonings. however, he also elucidates the question theologically, namely by arguments of scripture and appeals to the Fathers and the Scholastics, with the view, as he says himself, of showing the right sense of many passages of holy scripture and the Fathers, which had often been misunderstood and perverted by the pelagians of ancient and later times.
but the spirit which animates him is worthy of all recognition. he is filled with a moral pathos-a lofty earnestness of christian piety, which cannot fail to make the deepest impression.
in proof of this, i point to the fervent prayer with which brad, towards the close of the work..invokes the redeemer thus -
'Good Master-Thou, my only Master-my Master and Lord, Thou, who from my youth up, when i gave myself to this work by Thy impulse, hast taught me up to this day all that i have ever learned of the truth, and all that, as Thy pen, i have ever written of it,-send down upon me, also now, of Thy great goodness, Thy light, so that Thou who hast led me into the profoundest of depths mayest also lead up to the mountain height of this inaccessible truth. Thou who hast brought me into this great and wide sea, bring me also into the haven. Thou who hast conducted me into this wide and pathless desert, Thou my Gide, and Way, and End, lead me also unto the end. show me, i pray Thee, Thou most learned of all teachers, show to Thy little child, who knows no outlet from the difficulty, how to solve the knot of Thy word so hardly knit...but now i thank Thee, serenest Lord, that to him who asketh, Thou hast given; to him that seeketh, Thou hast shown the way; and to him that knocketh, Thou hast opened the door of piety, the door of clearness, the door of truth. for now when Thou liftest the light of Thy countenance upon Thy servant, i believe i see the right understanding of Thy Word...
his drift is to exhibit grace as a free and unmerited gift of God and to strike down every imagination of human merit in the work of conversion. it is for this reason that he controverts in particular the favourite dogma of the Scholastics that man can qualify himself to receive grace, in other words, that he can deserve grace, if not to the strict extent of full worthiness, still in the sense of meetness and suitableness. to acquire merit before God, brad holds to be impossible for man in any sense whatsoever. he who affirms the contrary turns God, in effect, into a poor trafficker; for he who receives grace on the footing of any kind of merit, has purchased the grace and not received it as a free gift.
brad sets out, in fact, as pointed out above, from his own experience-from actual life-and he keeps actual experience ever in his eye. and in regard to the authorities for the doctrine of unmerited grace to whom he cares most to appeal, he is thoroughly alive to the fact that it was by their own living experience that they too were brought to the knowledge of that grace. the apostle paul, for example, was 'a chosen vessel of grace', inasmuch as, at a time when he was not thinking of good works at all, nor was even standing aloof from deeds of wickedness; at a time when he was thirsting for christian blood and was even persecuting the Lord Himself, suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him, and the grace of Jesus Christ at the same instant preveniently laid hold upon him. he speaks of the apostle as emphatically a child of grace, who, in gratitude for the same, makes devout and honourably mention of this grace-his mother=in almost all his epistles, vindicating her claims, particularly in his epistle to the Romans, where he makes grace the subfect of a large and acute investigation which fills the epistle almost from beginning to end. and quite in a similar spirit he remarks upon augustine that, 'like the apostle, he was at first an unbeliever, a blasphemer, and an enemy of the grace of Jesus Christ, but after the same grace had converted him with like suddenness, he became, after the apostle's example, an extoller, a magnificent and mighty champion of grace'. and like the apostle paul, like augustine the great church father of the west, thomas bradwardine too became, by the light from heaven which shone upon him in his youth, an extoller and champion of the grace of God, in opposition to the pelagian and self righteous spirit which prevailed in his time.
it was by no means his intention, indeed, in so doing, to place himself in antagonism to the church of rome. on the contrary, he declares expressly his steadfast belief in the doctrinal authority of the Church. he submits his writings to her judgment; it is for her to determine what is orthodox in the questions which he has investigated; he wishes with all his heart to have her support where he does battle with the enemies of God; where he errs, to have her correction; where his is in the right, to have her confirmation. but still, in the last resort, he consoles himself with the help of God, who forsakes no one who is a defender of his cause.
when i was 8 i feared i would die and go to hell and prayed and asked Jesus into my heart. no life and gave up religion. when i was 20 i knew i was a sinner and deserved to go to hell and set myself to obey romans 6.11 and regard myself as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. no life so became a pharisee.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
4.21.2012 PSALM 19.12-3
the sin through ignorance (one that necessitated a special sacrifice under the law..'if any one sins through ignorance') is the same that david prays against (here)..these (secret faults) are not sins of omission, but acts committed by a person, when at the time, he did not suppose that what he did was sin. although he did the thing deliberately, yet he did not perceive the sin of it. so deceitful is sin, we may be committing that abominable thing which cast angels into an immediate and an eternal hell, and yet at the moment be totally unaware! want of knowledge of the truth and too little tenderness of conscience hide it from us. hardness of heart and a corrupt nature cause us to sin unperceived. but here again the form of the Son of Man appears! Jehovah, God of israel, institutes sacrifice for sins of ignorance and thereby discovers the same compassionate and considerate heart that appears in our High Priest, 'who can have compassion on the ignorant'! hebrews 5.2 amidst the types of this tabernacle, we recognize the presence of Jesus - it is His voice that shakes the curtains and speaks in the ear of moses, 'if a soul shall sin through ignorance!' the same yesterday, today and forever! andrew a. bonar in 'commentary on leviticus', chap.4,5.2
our corruptions have made us such combustible matter, that there is scarce a dart thrown at us in vain: when satan tempts us, it is but like the casting of fire into tinder, that presently catcheth: our hearts kindle upon the least spark that falls; as a vessel that is brimful of water, upon the least jog, runs over. were we but true to ourselves, though the devil might knock by his temptations, yet he could never burst open the everlasting doors of our hearts by force or violence: but, alas! we ourselves are not all of one heart and one mind: satan hath got a strong party within us, that, as soon as he knocks, opens to him, and entertains him. and hence it is, that many times, small temptations and very petty occasions draw forth great corruptions: as a vessel, that is full of new liquor, upon the least vent given, works over into foam and froth; so truly, our hearts, almost upon every slight and trivial temptation, make that inbred corruption that lodgeth there, swell and boil and run over into abundance of scum and filth in our lives and conversations. - ezekiel hopkins
sins are many times hid from the godly man's eye, though he commits them, because he is not diligent and accurate in making a search of himself, and in an impartial studying of his own ways. if any sin be hid, as saul was behind the stuff, or as rahab had hid the spies, unless a man be very careful to search, he shall think no sin is there where it is. hence it is that the scripture doth so often command that duty of searching and trying, of examining and communing with our hearts. now what need were there of this duty, but that it is supposed many secret and subtle lusts lie lurking in our hearts, which we take no notice of? if then the godly would find out their hidden lusts, know the sins they not yet know, they must more impartially judge themselves; they must take time to survey and examine themselves; they must not in an overly and slight manner, but really and industriously look up and down as they would search for thieves; and they must again and again look into this dark corner, and that dark corner of their hearts, as the woman sought for the lost groat. this self-scrutiny, and self-judging, this winnowing and sifting of ourselves, is the only way to see what is chaff and what is wheat, what is mere refuse and what is enduring. - anthony burgess
sin is of a growing and advancing nature. from weakness to willfulness, from ignorance to presumption, is its ordinary course and progress. the cloud that elijah's man saw, was at first no bigger than a hand's breadth, and it threatened no such thing as a general tempest; but yet, at last, it overspread the face of the whole heavens; so truly, a sin that at first ariseth in the soul but as a small mist, and is scarcely discernible; yet, if it be not scattered by the breath of prayer, it will at length overspread the whole life and become most tempestuous and raging. and therefore, david, as one experienced in the deceitfulness of sin, doth thus digest and methodise his prayer; first against secret and lesser sins; and then against the more gross and notorious; as knowing the one proceeds and issues from the other: Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults; and this will be a most effectual means to preserve and keep thy servant from presumptuous sins. -ezekiel hopkins
v12-3 - that there is a difference betwixt infirmities and presumptuous sins is not to be denied; it is expressly in the holy scripture. papists say that the man who doth a mortal sin is not in the state of grace; but for venials, a man may commit (in their divinity) who can tell how many of them, and yet be in Christ for all that!
divinity - a science of divine things; which unfolds the character of God; His laws and moral government; the duties of men and the way of salvation.
i hope there is no such meaning in any of our divines as to tie up men's consciences, to hang on such a distinction of sins; since it is beyond the wit of man to set down a distinct point between mortal and venial sins. now when it is an impossible matter punctually to set down to the understanding of man which is, and which is not a venial sin, they must pardon me fro giving the least way to such divinity as must needs leave the conscience of a man in a maze and labyrinth. i find that the nature of infirmities doth so depend upon circumstances, that that is an infirmity in one man which is a gross sin in another; and some men plead for themselves that the things they do are but infirmities. he that will sin, and when he hath done will say - not to comfort his soul against satan, but - to flatter himself in his sin, that it is but an infirmity; for aught i know, he may go to hell for his infirmities. besides, if that be good divinity, that a man who is in the state of grace may do infirmities, but not commit gross sins, then i would i could see a man that would undertake to find us out some rule out of the word, by which a sinner may find by his sin, when he is in Christ and when out of Christ; at what degrees of sinning - where lies the mathematical point and stop - that a man may say, 'thus far may i go and yet be in grace; but if i step a step farther, then i am none of Christ's'. we all know that sins have their latitude; and for a man to hang his conscience on such a distinction as hath no rule to define where the difference lies, is not safe divinity. the conscience on the rack will not be laid and said with forms and quiddities (the quality that makes a thing what it is. the essential nature of a thing). the best and nearest way to quiet the heart of man is to say, that be the sin a sin of infirmity when we strive and strive but yield at last; or of precipitancy, when we be taken in haste, as he was who said in his haste, 'all men are liars'; or, a mere gross sin in the matter: ay, say it be a presumptuous sin, yet if we allow it not, it hinders not but we are in Christ, though we do with reluctancy act and commit it. and i say that we do resist it if we do not allow it. for let us not go about to deny that a godly man during his being a godly man may possibly commit gross and presumptuous sins; and for infirmities, if we allow them and like them that we know to be sins, then we do not resist them; and such a man who allows himself in one is guilty of all, and is none of Christ's as yet. be the sin what it will, james makes no distinction; and , where the law distinguisheth not, we must not distinguish. i speak not of doing a sin, but allowing; for a man may do it and yet allow it not; as in paul, 'that which i would not, that i do;' (romans 7.15-6) and he that allows not sin doth resist it. therefore, a man may resist it, hate it and yet do it. all the difference that i know is this:
1. that a man may live after his conversion all his days, and yet never fall into a gross sin. by gross here it means presumptuous sins also. so david saith not 'cleanse', but KEEP BACK thy servant from presumptuous sins'. we may, then, be kept from them. i speak not that all are, but some be; and, therefore, in itself all might be.
2. for lesser sins, 'secret faults,' we cannot live without them - they are of daily and almost hourly incursion; but yet we must be cleansed from them..daily get your pardon; there is a pardon, of course, for them; they do not usually distract and plague the conscience, but yet we must not see them and allow them; if we do our case is to be pitied, we are none of Christ's as yet.
3. great staring sins a man cannot usually and commonly practise them, but he shall allow them. so psalm 19.13, ' keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me', implying that except we be kept back from them they will have dominion over us. it follows, 'then shall i be upright'; so that the man in whom gross or presumptuous sin or sins have no dominion, he is an upright man. - richard capel
v.12-3 - the psalmist was sensible of sin's force and power; he was weary of sin's dominion; he cries unto God to deliver him from the reign of all the sins he knew; and those sins which were secret and concealed from his view, he begs that he might be convinced of them and thoroughly cleansed from them. THE LORD CAN TURN THE HEART PERFECTLY TO HATE THE SIN THAT WAS MOST OF ALL BELOVED; AND THE STRENGTH OF SIN IS GONE WHEN ONCE 'TIS HATED (note: !:); and as the hatred grows stronger and stronger, sin becomes weaker and weaker daily. - nathaniel vincent, 1695
our corruptions have made us such combustible matter, that there is scarce a dart thrown at us in vain: when satan tempts us, it is but like the casting of fire into tinder, that presently catcheth: our hearts kindle upon the least spark that falls; as a vessel that is brimful of water, upon the least jog, runs over. were we but true to ourselves, though the devil might knock by his temptations, yet he could never burst open the everlasting doors of our hearts by force or violence: but, alas! we ourselves are not all of one heart and one mind: satan hath got a strong party within us, that, as soon as he knocks, opens to him, and entertains him. and hence it is, that many times, small temptations and very petty occasions draw forth great corruptions: as a vessel, that is full of new liquor, upon the least vent given, works over into foam and froth; so truly, our hearts, almost upon every slight and trivial temptation, make that inbred corruption that lodgeth there, swell and boil and run over into abundance of scum and filth in our lives and conversations. - ezekiel hopkins
sins are many times hid from the godly man's eye, though he commits them, because he is not diligent and accurate in making a search of himself, and in an impartial studying of his own ways. if any sin be hid, as saul was behind the stuff, or as rahab had hid the spies, unless a man be very careful to search, he shall think no sin is there where it is. hence it is that the scripture doth so often command that duty of searching and trying, of examining and communing with our hearts. now what need were there of this duty, but that it is supposed many secret and subtle lusts lie lurking in our hearts, which we take no notice of? if then the godly would find out their hidden lusts, know the sins they not yet know, they must more impartially judge themselves; they must take time to survey and examine themselves; they must not in an overly and slight manner, but really and industriously look up and down as they would search for thieves; and they must again and again look into this dark corner, and that dark corner of their hearts, as the woman sought for the lost groat. this self-scrutiny, and self-judging, this winnowing and sifting of ourselves, is the only way to see what is chaff and what is wheat, what is mere refuse and what is enduring. - anthony burgess
sin is of a growing and advancing nature. from weakness to willfulness, from ignorance to presumption, is its ordinary course and progress. the cloud that elijah's man saw, was at first no bigger than a hand's breadth, and it threatened no such thing as a general tempest; but yet, at last, it overspread the face of the whole heavens; so truly, a sin that at first ariseth in the soul but as a small mist, and is scarcely discernible; yet, if it be not scattered by the breath of prayer, it will at length overspread the whole life and become most tempestuous and raging. and therefore, david, as one experienced in the deceitfulness of sin, doth thus digest and methodise his prayer; first against secret and lesser sins; and then against the more gross and notorious; as knowing the one proceeds and issues from the other: Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults; and this will be a most effectual means to preserve and keep thy servant from presumptuous sins. -ezekiel hopkins
v12-3 - that there is a difference betwixt infirmities and presumptuous sins is not to be denied; it is expressly in the holy scripture. papists say that the man who doth a mortal sin is not in the state of grace; but for venials, a man may commit (in their divinity) who can tell how many of them, and yet be in Christ for all that!
divinity - a science of divine things; which unfolds the character of God; His laws and moral government; the duties of men and the way of salvation.
i hope there is no such meaning in any of our divines as to tie up men's consciences, to hang on such a distinction of sins; since it is beyond the wit of man to set down a distinct point between mortal and venial sins. now when it is an impossible matter punctually to set down to the understanding of man which is, and which is not a venial sin, they must pardon me fro giving the least way to such divinity as must needs leave the conscience of a man in a maze and labyrinth. i find that the nature of infirmities doth so depend upon circumstances, that that is an infirmity in one man which is a gross sin in another; and some men plead for themselves that the things they do are but infirmities. he that will sin, and when he hath done will say - not to comfort his soul against satan, but - to flatter himself in his sin, that it is but an infirmity; for aught i know, he may go to hell for his infirmities. besides, if that be good divinity, that a man who is in the state of grace may do infirmities, but not commit gross sins, then i would i could see a man that would undertake to find us out some rule out of the word, by which a sinner may find by his sin, when he is in Christ and when out of Christ; at what degrees of sinning - where lies the mathematical point and stop - that a man may say, 'thus far may i go and yet be in grace; but if i step a step farther, then i am none of Christ's'. we all know that sins have their latitude; and for a man to hang his conscience on such a distinction as hath no rule to define where the difference lies, is not safe divinity. the conscience on the rack will not be laid and said with forms and quiddities (the quality that makes a thing what it is. the essential nature of a thing). the best and nearest way to quiet the heart of man is to say, that be the sin a sin of infirmity when we strive and strive but yield at last; or of precipitancy, when we be taken in haste, as he was who said in his haste, 'all men are liars'; or, a mere gross sin in the matter: ay, say it be a presumptuous sin, yet if we allow it not, it hinders not but we are in Christ, though we do with reluctancy act and commit it. and i say that we do resist it if we do not allow it. for let us not go about to deny that a godly man during his being a godly man may possibly commit gross and presumptuous sins; and for infirmities, if we allow them and like them that we know to be sins, then we do not resist them; and such a man who allows himself in one is guilty of all, and is none of Christ's as yet. be the sin what it will, james makes no distinction; and , where the law distinguisheth not, we must not distinguish. i speak not of doing a sin, but allowing; for a man may do it and yet allow it not; as in paul, 'that which i would not, that i do;' (romans 7.15-6) and he that allows not sin doth resist it. therefore, a man may resist it, hate it and yet do it. all the difference that i know is this:
1. that a man may live after his conversion all his days, and yet never fall into a gross sin. by gross here it means presumptuous sins also. so david saith not 'cleanse', but KEEP BACK thy servant from presumptuous sins'. we may, then, be kept from them. i speak not that all are, but some be; and, therefore, in itself all might be.
2. for lesser sins, 'secret faults,' we cannot live without them - they are of daily and almost hourly incursion; but yet we must be cleansed from them..daily get your pardon; there is a pardon, of course, for them; they do not usually distract and plague the conscience, but yet we must not see them and allow them; if we do our case is to be pitied, we are none of Christ's as yet.
3. great staring sins a man cannot usually and commonly practise them, but he shall allow them. so psalm 19.13, ' keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me', implying that except we be kept back from them they will have dominion over us. it follows, 'then shall i be upright'; so that the man in whom gross or presumptuous sin or sins have no dominion, he is an upright man. - richard capel
v.12-3 - the psalmist was sensible of sin's force and power; he was weary of sin's dominion; he cries unto God to deliver him from the reign of all the sins he knew; and those sins which were secret and concealed from his view, he begs that he might be convinced of them and thoroughly cleansed from them. THE LORD CAN TURN THE HEART PERFECTLY TO HATE THE SIN THAT WAS MOST OF ALL BELOVED; AND THE STRENGTH OF SIN IS GONE WHEN ONCE 'TIS HATED (note: !:); and as the hatred grows stronger and stronger, sin becomes weaker and weaker daily. - nathaniel vincent, 1695
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
4.18.2012 THIS MORNING WITH THE LORD, HEBREWS 7.25
before i share this a.m. ...let me ask you,
ARE YOU DELIGHTEDLY, MEDITATIVELY IN THE WORD OF GOD E-V-E-R-Y MORNING? i certainly cannot say that i could answer this question with an unqualified sense. my answer would be more along the line of 'lately, sometimes, usually'..things of that sort.
THERE IS A PROMISE that comes to those who are constantly doing this through EVERY WAKING (and maybe in some sense, sleeping) MOMENT. why then to i ask the question above about 'every morning'? because we grow in any area incrementally from little to large, from simple to complex. we desperately need to commun with the One who, mysteriously, is our very LIFE, the one who can literally not only bring to spiritual life our spirit but fill it. we need to learn to walk (EVERY MORNING) before we are able to run (EVERY MOMENT). the sky is the limit. our time in the morning is THE precursor to true and abundant spiritual life in the Spirit of Christ.
THE PROMISE starts off with some conditions, one negative and two positive,
NEGATIVE CONDITION-
psalm 1.1- how blessed is the man
who does not WALK in the counsel of the wicked,
nor STAND in the way of sinners,
nor SIT in the seat of the scoffers
notice the progression from WALK to STAND to SIT, from passing by to spending intimate time with. the bible says DON'T BE AROUND AT ALL and even WATCH EVEN PASSING THEM THAT YOU ARE NOT INFLUENCED TO FORSAKE THE WORD OF GOD BY IMITATING WHAT YOU SEE IN THEM. in other words beyond speaking the word of God to them and being a help to them in their need, HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE WHO HATE GOD BY DISOBEYING HIM.
this could be real people or virtual reality people. let me ask, who do you spend time with..who or what do you talk about? 99% of virtual reality people and most real ones we interact with are in this class. I corinthians 15.33 says, 'do not be deceived; BAD COMPANY CORRUPTS GOOD MORALS'. this principle given by God applies in every situation. the virtual (non-human) people we are to abstain totally from spending any time with. they are to be totally 'blacked out' of our lives for they flood evil while being incapable of being redeemed or turned from the evil they infect us with. the real ones we are to speak the word of God to concerning everything that is coming out of their lives. the good we are to encourage, support, strengthen and imitate in our own lives. the evil (that which is different from what the word of God says) is to be confronted with the word of God and discouraged and warned about.
POSITIVE CONDITIONS
1.v2- 'but his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord
2. 'and in His law he MEDITATES day and night'
what is God's promise if we delight in His word to the point where it is a moment-by-moment companion and guide and warning, etc. in our lives?
THE PROMISE-
V3-and he will BE LIKE A TREE FIRMLY PLANTED by streams of water
-which YIELDS ITS FRUIT IN ITS SEASON
-and its leaf DOES NOT WITHER
-and IN WHATSOEVER HE DOES HE PROSPERS (be successful, fortunate)
the promise is not at all focused on success and fortune and things going well in this world, during this moment of light affliction we are to endure here in this life, but is clearly focused on what we will experience when we stand before God on the day of judgment.
v4-6 the wicked (those who do not fulfill the conditions above) are not so (rosperous),
but they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment ('depart from me. I never knew you')
if we obey the conditions above we w
ARE YOU DELIGHTEDLY, MEDITATIVELY IN THE WORD OF GOD E-V-E-R-Y MORNING? i certainly cannot say that i could answer this question with an unqualified sense. my answer would be more along the line of 'lately, sometimes, usually'..things of that sort.
THERE IS A PROMISE that comes to those who are constantly doing this through EVERY WAKING (and maybe in some sense, sleeping) MOMENT. why then to i ask the question above about 'every morning'? because we grow in any area incrementally from little to large, from simple to complex. we desperately need to commun with the One who, mysteriously, is our very LIFE, the one who can literally not only bring to spiritual life our spirit but fill it. we need to learn to walk (EVERY MORNING) before we are able to run (EVERY MOMENT). the sky is the limit. our time in the morning is THE precursor to true and abundant spiritual life in the Spirit of Christ.
THE PROMISE starts off with some conditions, one negative and two positive,
NEGATIVE CONDITION-
psalm 1.1- how blessed is the man
who does not WALK in the counsel of the wicked,
nor STAND in the way of sinners,
nor SIT in the seat of the scoffers
notice the progression from WALK to STAND to SIT, from passing by to spending intimate time with. the bible says DON'T BE AROUND AT ALL and even WATCH EVEN PASSING THEM THAT YOU ARE NOT INFLUENCED TO FORSAKE THE WORD OF GOD BY IMITATING WHAT YOU SEE IN THEM. in other words beyond speaking the word of God to them and being a help to them in their need, HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THOSE WHO HATE GOD BY DISOBEYING HIM.
this could be real people or virtual reality people. let me ask, who do you spend time with..who or what do you talk about? 99% of virtual reality people and most real ones we interact with are in this class. I corinthians 15.33 says, 'do not be deceived; BAD COMPANY CORRUPTS GOOD MORALS'. this principle given by God applies in every situation. the virtual (non-human) people we are to abstain totally from spending any time with. they are to be totally 'blacked out' of our lives for they flood evil while being incapable of being redeemed or turned from the evil they infect us with. the real ones we are to speak the word of God to concerning everything that is coming out of their lives. the good we are to encourage, support, strengthen and imitate in our own lives. the evil (that which is different from what the word of God says) is to be confronted with the word of God and discouraged and warned about.
POSITIVE CONDITIONS
1.v2- 'but his DELIGHT is in the law of the Lord
2. 'and in His law he MEDITATES day and night'
what is God's promise if we delight in His word to the point where it is a moment-by-moment companion and guide and warning, etc. in our lives?
THE PROMISE-
V3-and he will BE LIKE A TREE FIRMLY PLANTED by streams of water
-which YIELDS ITS FRUIT IN ITS SEASON
-and its leaf DOES NOT WITHER
-and IN WHATSOEVER HE DOES HE PROSPERS (be successful, fortunate)
the promise is not at all focused on success and fortune and things going well in this world, during this moment of light affliction we are to endure here in this life, but is clearly focused on what we will experience when we stand before God on the day of judgment.
v4-6 the wicked (those who do not fulfill the conditions above) are not so (rosperous),
but they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment ('depart from me. I never knew you')
if we obey the conditions above we w
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
4.17.2012 MY TRIAL
after being arrested twice at planned parenthood on dec. 21, 2011 my pro life friends offered a pro bono (sp?), that is a 'for free', lawyer. one was referred to me and after looking at the charges started talking about taking the bond money ($1000) and said nothing to assure that that was the sum total to be taken. after sleeping on that, decided to call and thank him for his time in looking over things and offered to pay him for his time. he kindly declined and i was left on my own.
in thinking it over, it wasn't so much the money..although that was certainly a consideration. it was more about the principle of the matter. why should money (paid a lawyer) obtain something that lack of money barred? it can be understood in other areas but justice, no. justice is blind, impartial and makes its judgment on the facts of the case and what the law states. in this case the lawyer said he would get the charges expunged (blotted out) and the punishment lessened. it just didn't seem right.
i had, in good faith, done what i did, in all good conscience before God, because i believed that i was supposed to suffer in prison in communion with the unjust suffering of aborted babies. after getting in prison and realizing i was NOT supposed to be there it was obviously too late to avoid the penalty for breaking the law. i felt i needed to take responsibility for what i did, even though now viewing it as a mistake. i still broke the law whether now regretting that or not.
the week before the trial i heard two separate stories of total injustice occurring in courtrooms with great injustice done. this made me think twice. what if something of that sort happened and i was sent to prison, etc. thinking about the deal made, with my arresting officer/district attorney at the warminster courthouse, reducing the sentence to probation, the voice of one of the other warminster pro lifers kept coming, 'they lie'...yes, we men do often lie.
i thank the Lord that He gave me peace notwithstanding these 'last week things' and during the whole time at doylestown courthouse yesterday. left souderton at 8. a host of those having trials started through the sorting out process at 9 in courtroom 1. several of us were released to courtroom 3 at 10 am and before 1 we had all had our trials, mine being last.
the trial, at which i pled guilty to both charges, took about 3 to 5 minutes, the judge agreeing with the recommendation which had been agreed upon in warminster. each misdemeanor of the third degree carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of some hundreds of dollars. the sentence given yesterday is what had been originally stated. i am now starting two contiguous 12 month periods of non-visiting (i do not have to report or call in) probation, $300 to pay for probation costs and i must pay court costs. i am not allowed to leave, approximately, the 5 county area of philadelphia and suburbs without calling and getting approval. i am not allowed to leave pennsylvania without getting written approval. i walked out of the probation office and into the warm sunshine about 1:15 pm.
i was calm in the several month period before trial, not a light, elated calm but rather a kind of ready-to-except-whatever-the-Lord-send's calm. afterwards i experienced no expected elation but rather have had little tiny experiences of what can only be called 'times of refreshing from the Lord' in the time since 1:15 yesterday.
oh Lord You would have been perfectly righteous if i had been sentenced to jail, if all kind of unimaginably bad things had happened, were happening. would You give me the heart to live more for You than i am now?
in thinking it over, it wasn't so much the money..although that was certainly a consideration. it was more about the principle of the matter. why should money (paid a lawyer) obtain something that lack of money barred? it can be understood in other areas but justice, no. justice is blind, impartial and makes its judgment on the facts of the case and what the law states. in this case the lawyer said he would get the charges expunged (blotted out) and the punishment lessened. it just didn't seem right.
i had, in good faith, done what i did, in all good conscience before God, because i believed that i was supposed to suffer in prison in communion with the unjust suffering of aborted babies. after getting in prison and realizing i was NOT supposed to be there it was obviously too late to avoid the penalty for breaking the law. i felt i needed to take responsibility for what i did, even though now viewing it as a mistake. i still broke the law whether now regretting that or not.
the week before the trial i heard two separate stories of total injustice occurring in courtrooms with great injustice done. this made me think twice. what if something of that sort happened and i was sent to prison, etc. thinking about the deal made, with my arresting officer/district attorney at the warminster courthouse, reducing the sentence to probation, the voice of one of the other warminster pro lifers kept coming, 'they lie'...yes, we men do often lie.
i thank the Lord that He gave me peace notwithstanding these 'last week things' and during the whole time at doylestown courthouse yesterday. left souderton at 8. a host of those having trials started through the sorting out process at 9 in courtroom 1. several of us were released to courtroom 3 at 10 am and before 1 we had all had our trials, mine being last.
the trial, at which i pled guilty to both charges, took about 3 to 5 minutes, the judge agreeing with the recommendation which had been agreed upon in warminster. each misdemeanor of the third degree carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of some hundreds of dollars. the sentence given yesterday is what had been originally stated. i am now starting two contiguous 12 month periods of non-visiting (i do not have to report or call in) probation, $300 to pay for probation costs and i must pay court costs. i am not allowed to leave, approximately, the 5 county area of philadelphia and suburbs without calling and getting approval. i am not allowed to leave pennsylvania without getting written approval. i walked out of the probation office and into the warm sunshine about 1:15 pm.
i was calm in the several month period before trial, not a light, elated calm but rather a kind of ready-to-except-whatever-the-Lord-send's calm. afterwards i experienced no expected elation but rather have had little tiny experiences of what can only be called 'times of refreshing from the Lord' in the time since 1:15 yesterday.
oh Lord You would have been perfectly righteous if i had been sentenced to jail, if all kind of unimaginably bad things had happened, were happening. would You give me the heart to live more for You than i am now?
Monday, April 16, 2012
4.16.2012 PSALM 19.12 CLEANSE THOU ME FROM SECRET FAULTS
'cleanse Thou me from secret faults'.
it is the desire of a holy person to be cleansed, not only from public, but also from private and secret sins. romans 7.24, 'o wretched man (saith paul) that i am, who shall deliver me?' why, o blessed apostle! what is it that holds thee? what is it that molests thee? thy life, thou sayest, was unblamable before thy conversion, and since (note; where?) thy conversion. philippians 3.4-6. Thou hast exercised thyself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men. acts 24.16. and yet thou criest out, 'o wretched man', and yet thou complainest, 'who shall deliver me?'
verily, brethren, it was not sin abroad, but at home: it was not sin without, but at this time sin within; it was not paul's sinning with man, but paul's sinning within paul: oh! that 'law of his members warring (secretly within him) against the law of his mind'; this, this made that holy man so to cry out, so to complain. as rebekah was weary of her life, not as we read for any foreign disquietments, but because of domestic troubles: 'the daughters of heth' within the house made her 'weary of her life'; so the private and secret birth of corruption within paul -the workings of that - that was the cause of his trouble, that was the ground of his exclamation and desires, 'who shall deliver me?' i remember that the same paul adviseth the ephesians as 'to put off the former CONVERSATION' so 'to put on the renewed spirit of the mind (ephesians 4.22-3)
conversation-latin con+versor - to be turned; to be turned to or with; keep company, be intimately acquainted; talk familiarly.
intimating that there are sins lurking within as well as sins walking without; and that true christians must not only sweep the door, but wash the chamber; my meaning is, not only come off from sins which lie open in the conversation,but also labor to be cleansed from sin and sinning which remain secret and hidden in the spirit and inward disposition. obadiah sedgwick
'cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' learn to see thy spots. many have unknown sins, as a man may have a mole on his back and himself never know it. Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults. but have we not spots whereof we are not ignorant? in diseases sometimes nature is strong enough to put forth spots and there she cries to us by these outward declarations that we are sick. sometimes she cannot do it but by the force of cordials (a stimulating medicine). sometimes conscience of herself shows us our sins; sometimes she cannot but by medicines, arguments that convince us out of the holy word.
some can see, and will not, as balaam;
some would see, and cannot, as the eunuch
some neither will nor can, as pharaoh;
some both can and will, as david....we have many spots which God does not hear from us, because we see them not in ourselves. who will acknowledge that error, whereof he does not know himself guilty? THE SIGHT OF SIN IS A GREAT HAPPINESS, for it causeth and ingenuous (candid, sincere) confession. thomas adams
'cleanse Thou me from secret faults'. the law of the Lord is so holy that forgiveness must be prayed for, even for hidden sins. (this was a principal text of the reformers against the auricular confession of the roman catholics.) t.c. barth's 'bible manual' 1865
'secret faults' sins may be termed secret either,
1. when they are coloured and disquised - thou they do fly abroad, yet not under that name, but apparelled with some semblance of virtues.
2. when they are kept off from the stage of the world
3. when they are kept, not only from the public eye, but from any mortal eye
4. when it is subconscious, not even known to the conscious mind obadiah sedgwick
'secret faults' 'secret sins' are more dangerous to the person in some respects than open sins. for a man doth, by his art of sinning, deprive himself of the help of his sinfulness. like him who will carry his wound covered, or who bleeds inwardly, help comes not in because the danger is not descried nor known. if a man's sin breaks out there is a minister at hand, a friend near, and others to reprove, to warn, to direct; but when he is the artificer of his lusts, he bars himself of all public remedy and takes great order and care to damn his soul, by covering his 'secret sins' with some plausible varnish which may beget a good opinion in others of his ways. a man does by his secrecy give the reins unto corruption; the mind is fed all the day long either with sinful contemplations or projectings, so that the very strength of the soul is wasted and corrupted. nay, secret actings do but heat and inflame natural corruption. as in shouldering in a crowd, when one hath got out of the door, two or three are ready to fall out after; so when a man hath given his heart leave to act a secret sin, this begets a present and quick and strong flame in corruption to repeat and multiply and throng out the acts. sinful acts are not only fruits of sin, but helps and strengths, all sinning being more sinful by more sinning, not only in the effects but in the cause: the spring and cause of sin will grow mad and insolent hereby and more corrupt; this being a truth, that if the heart gives way for one sin, it will be ready for the next; if it will yield to bring forth once at the devil's pleasure, it will bring it forth twice by its own motion. a man by 'secret sins' doth but polish and square the hypocrisy of his heart: he doth strive to be an exact hypocrite; and the more cunning he is in the palliating (lessen) of his sinnings, the more perfect he is in his hypocrisy. obadiah sedgwick
'secret faults' beware of committing acts which it will be necessary to conceal. there is a singular poem by hood, called 'the dream of eugene aram' -a most remarkable piece it is indeed, illustrating the point on which we are now dwelling. aram had murdered a man and cast his body into the river - 'a sluggish water, black as ink, the depth was so extreme.' the next morning he visited the scene of his guilt -
'and sought the black accursed pool,
with a wild misgiving eye;
and he saw the dead in the river bed,
for the faithless stream was dry.'
next he covered the corpse with heaps of leaves, but a mighty wind swept through the wood and left the secret bare before the sun -
'then down i cast me on my face,
and first began to weep,
for i knew my secret then was one
that earth refused to keep;
on land of sea though it should be
ten thousand fathoms deep.
in plaintive notes he prophecies his own discovery. he buried his victim in a cave and trod him down with stones. but when years had run their weary round, the foul deed was discovered and the murderer put to death.
guilt is a grim chamberlain', even when his fingers are not bloody red. secret sins bring fevered eyes and sleepless nights, until men burn out their consciences and become in very deed ripe for the pit. hypocrisy is a hard game to play at, for it is one deceiver against many observers; and for certain it is a miserable trade, which will earn at last, as its certain climax, a tremendous bankruptcy. ah! ye who have sinned without discovery, 'be sure your sin will find you out'; and bethink you, it may find you out ere long. sin, like murder, will come out; men will even tell tales about themselves in their dreams. God has made men to be so wretched in their consciences that they have been obliged to stand forth and confess the truth. secret sinner! if thou wantest the foretaste of damnation upon earth, continue in thy secret sins; for no man is more miserable than he who sinneth secretly and yet trieth to preserve a character. yon stag, followed by the hungry hounds, with open mouths, is far more happy than the man who is pursued by his sins. yon bird, taken in the fowler's net and labouring to escape, is far more happy than he who hath weaved around himself a web of deception and labours to escape from it, day by day making the toils more thick and the web more strong. oh the misery of secret sins! one may well pray, 'cleanse thou me from secret faults'
spurgeons sermon (no. 116), on 'secret sins'
it is the desire of a holy person to be cleansed, not only from public, but also from private and secret sins. romans 7.24, 'o wretched man (saith paul) that i am, who shall deliver me?' why, o blessed apostle! what is it that holds thee? what is it that molests thee? thy life, thou sayest, was unblamable before thy conversion, and since (note; where?) thy conversion. philippians 3.4-6. Thou hast exercised thyself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men. acts 24.16. and yet thou criest out, 'o wretched man', and yet thou complainest, 'who shall deliver me?'
verily, brethren, it was not sin abroad, but at home: it was not sin without, but at this time sin within; it was not paul's sinning with man, but paul's sinning within paul: oh! that 'law of his members warring (secretly within him) against the law of his mind'; this, this made that holy man so to cry out, so to complain. as rebekah was weary of her life, not as we read for any foreign disquietments, but because of domestic troubles: 'the daughters of heth' within the house made her 'weary of her life'; so the private and secret birth of corruption within paul -the workings of that - that was the cause of his trouble, that was the ground of his exclamation and desires, 'who shall deliver me?' i remember that the same paul adviseth the ephesians as 'to put off the former CONVERSATION' so 'to put on the renewed spirit of the mind (ephesians 4.22-3)
conversation-latin con+versor - to be turned; to be turned to or with; keep company, be intimately acquainted; talk familiarly.
intimating that there are sins lurking within as well as sins walking without; and that true christians must not only sweep the door, but wash the chamber; my meaning is, not only come off from sins which lie open in the conversation,but also labor to be cleansed from sin and sinning which remain secret and hidden in the spirit and inward disposition. obadiah sedgwick
'cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' learn to see thy spots. many have unknown sins, as a man may have a mole on his back and himself never know it. Lord, cleanse me from my secret faults. but have we not spots whereof we are not ignorant? in diseases sometimes nature is strong enough to put forth spots and there she cries to us by these outward declarations that we are sick. sometimes she cannot do it but by the force of cordials (a stimulating medicine). sometimes conscience of herself shows us our sins; sometimes she cannot but by medicines, arguments that convince us out of the holy word.
some can see, and will not, as balaam;
some would see, and cannot, as the eunuch
some neither will nor can, as pharaoh;
some both can and will, as david....we have many spots which God does not hear from us, because we see them not in ourselves. who will acknowledge that error, whereof he does not know himself guilty? THE SIGHT OF SIN IS A GREAT HAPPINESS, for it causeth and ingenuous (candid, sincere) confession. thomas adams
'cleanse Thou me from secret faults'. the law of the Lord is so holy that forgiveness must be prayed for, even for hidden sins. (this was a principal text of the reformers against the auricular confession of the roman catholics.) t.c. barth's 'bible manual' 1865
'secret faults' sins may be termed secret either,
1. when they are coloured and disquised - thou they do fly abroad, yet not under that name, but apparelled with some semblance of virtues.
2. when they are kept off from the stage of the world
3. when they are kept, not only from the public eye, but from any mortal eye
4. when it is subconscious, not even known to the conscious mind obadiah sedgwick
'secret faults' 'secret sins' are more dangerous to the person in some respects than open sins. for a man doth, by his art of sinning, deprive himself of the help of his sinfulness. like him who will carry his wound covered, or who bleeds inwardly, help comes not in because the danger is not descried nor known. if a man's sin breaks out there is a minister at hand, a friend near, and others to reprove, to warn, to direct; but when he is the artificer of his lusts, he bars himself of all public remedy and takes great order and care to damn his soul, by covering his 'secret sins' with some plausible varnish which may beget a good opinion in others of his ways. a man does by his secrecy give the reins unto corruption; the mind is fed all the day long either with sinful contemplations or projectings, so that the very strength of the soul is wasted and corrupted. nay, secret actings do but heat and inflame natural corruption. as in shouldering in a crowd, when one hath got out of the door, two or three are ready to fall out after; so when a man hath given his heart leave to act a secret sin, this begets a present and quick and strong flame in corruption to repeat and multiply and throng out the acts. sinful acts are not only fruits of sin, but helps and strengths, all sinning being more sinful by more sinning, not only in the effects but in the cause: the spring and cause of sin will grow mad and insolent hereby and more corrupt; this being a truth, that if the heart gives way for one sin, it will be ready for the next; if it will yield to bring forth once at the devil's pleasure, it will bring it forth twice by its own motion. a man by 'secret sins' doth but polish and square the hypocrisy of his heart: he doth strive to be an exact hypocrite; and the more cunning he is in the palliating (lessen) of his sinnings, the more perfect he is in his hypocrisy. obadiah sedgwick
'secret faults' beware of committing acts which it will be necessary to conceal. there is a singular poem by hood, called 'the dream of eugene aram' -a most remarkable piece it is indeed, illustrating the point on which we are now dwelling. aram had murdered a man and cast his body into the river - 'a sluggish water, black as ink, the depth was so extreme.' the next morning he visited the scene of his guilt -
'and sought the black accursed pool,
with a wild misgiving eye;
and he saw the dead in the river bed,
for the faithless stream was dry.'
next he covered the corpse with heaps of leaves, but a mighty wind swept through the wood and left the secret bare before the sun -
'then down i cast me on my face,
and first began to weep,
for i knew my secret then was one
that earth refused to keep;
on land of sea though it should be
ten thousand fathoms deep.
in plaintive notes he prophecies his own discovery. he buried his victim in a cave and trod him down with stones. but when years had run their weary round, the foul deed was discovered and the murderer put to death.
guilt is a grim chamberlain', even when his fingers are not bloody red. secret sins bring fevered eyes and sleepless nights, until men burn out their consciences and become in very deed ripe for the pit. hypocrisy is a hard game to play at, for it is one deceiver against many observers; and for certain it is a miserable trade, which will earn at last, as its certain climax, a tremendous bankruptcy. ah! ye who have sinned without discovery, 'be sure your sin will find you out'; and bethink you, it may find you out ere long. sin, like murder, will come out; men will even tell tales about themselves in their dreams. God has made men to be so wretched in their consciences that they have been obliged to stand forth and confess the truth. secret sinner! if thou wantest the foretaste of damnation upon earth, continue in thy secret sins; for no man is more miserable than he who sinneth secretly and yet trieth to preserve a character. yon stag, followed by the hungry hounds, with open mouths, is far more happy than the man who is pursued by his sins. yon bird, taken in the fowler's net and labouring to escape, is far more happy than he who hath weaved around himself a web of deception and labours to escape from it, day by day making the toils more thick and the web more strong. oh the misery of secret sins! one may well pray, 'cleanse thou me from secret faults'
spurgeons sermon (no. 116), on 'secret sins'
Sunday, April 15, 2012
4.15.2012 PRIESTLY OR AARONIC BLESSING: NUMBERS 6.24-7
the spiritual character of the congregation of israel culminated in the blessing with which the priests were to bless the people. the directions as to this blessing, therefore, impressed the seal of perfection upon the whole order and organization of the people of God, inasmuch as israel was first truly formed into a congregation of Jehovah by the fact that God not only bestowed His blessing upon it, but placed the communication of this blessing in the hands of the priests, the chosen and constant mediators of the blessings of His grace, and imposed it upon them as one portion of their official duty.
the blessing which the priests were to impart to the people, consisted of a triple blessing of two members each, which stood related to each other thus: the second member in each case contained a special application of the first to the people and the three gradations (or blessing) unfolded the substance of the blessing as a whole step by step with ever increasing emphasis.
v24 'Jehovah BLESS thee and keep thee' conveys the blessing in the most general form, merely
bless - (all words are hebrew) barak- to bless, kneel
describing it as coming from Jehovah and setting forth PRESERVATION FROM THE EVIL OF THE WORLD as His work. 'the blessing of God is the goodness of God in action, by which a supply of all good pours down to us from His good favour as from their only fountain' then follows, secondly, the prayer that He would keep the people, which signifies that He alone is the defender of the Church, and that it is He who preserves it with his guardian care' (calvin)
v25 'Jehovah MAKE His face SHINE upon thee, and BE GRACIOUS unto thee' defined the blessing
make shine - or-to be or become light
more closely as the manifestation of the FAVOR and GRACE of God. the face of God is the
be gracious - chanan-to show favor (i found particular delight in 'favor'..it's webster definition..
-etymology: middle english-'friendly regard' (old french the same); latin-from 'favEre - to be favorable; old high german- gouma - attention; old slavic- goveti - to revere
1. archaic a. appearance
a. countenance
b. a facial feature
2. a.1. friendly regard shown toward another especially by a superior
2. approval, approbation(approbate- approve officially)
b. partiality
c. arch. leniency
d. " permission
e. popularity
3. a. gracious kindness; also an act of such kindness
b. arch. help, assistance
c. pl. effort in one's behalf, interest, attention
4. a. a token of love (as a ribbon) usually worn conspicuously
b. a small gift or decorative item given out at a party
c. badge (emblem awarded for a particular accomplishment)
5. a. a special privilege or right granted or conceded
b. sexual privileges (usually pl.)
6. arch. letter
7. behalf (middle english by+half - half, side; 'interest, benefit, support, defense')
thank You so much Lord for Your gracious favor!
personality of God as turned towards man. fire goes out from Jehovah's face and consumes the enemy and the rebellious (leviticus 10.2, 17.10,20.3; exodus 14.24; psalm 34.17) and also a sunlight shining with love and full of life and good (deuteronomy 30.30; psalm 27.14, 3.3, 44.4) if 'the light of the sun is sweet and pleasant for the eyes to behold' (ecclesiastes 11.7), 'the light of the divine countenance, the everlasting light (psalm 36.9) is the sum of all delight' (baumg.). this light sends rays of mercy into a heart in need of salvation, and makes it the recipient of grace.
v26 'Jehovah lift up His face to thee and set (or give) thee PEACE' (good, salvation), set forth the
peace- shalom-completeness, soundness, welfare from shalem-to be complete, sound
blessing of God as a manifestation of power or a work of power upon men, the end of which is peace , the sum of all the good which God sets, prepares, or establishes for His people..to lift up the face to any one is equivalent to looking at him...when affirmed of God, it denotes His providential work upon man.
as the threefold repetition of a word or sentence serves to express the thought as strongly as possible (cf. jeremiah 7.4,22.29), the triple blessing expressed in the most unconditional manner the thought, that God would bestow upon his congregation the whole fulness of the blessing enfolded in His divine being which was manifested as Jehovah...the substance of this blessing..is communicated to us through the Father, Son and Spirit.
v27 'so they shall invoke My name on the sons of israel and I THEN will bless them'. this blessing was not to remain merely a pious wish, however, but to be manifested in the people with all the power of a blessing from God.
this is taken from keil and delizsch commentary on the old testament. he includes luther on the same verses in a footnote:
see the admirable elaboration of these points in luther's exposition of the blessing. luther refers the first blessing to 'bodily life and good'. the blessing, he says desired for the people 'that God would give them prosperity and every good and also guard and preserve them'. this is carried out still further, in a manner corresponding to his exposition of the first article. the second blessing he refers to 'the spiritual nature and the soul', and observes, 'just as the sun, when it rises and diffuses its rich glory and soft light over all the world, merely lifts up its face upon all the world; ...so when God gives His word, He causes His face to shine clearly and joyously upon all minds and makes them joyful and light and as it were new hearts and new men. for it brings forgiveness of sins and shows God as a gracious and merciful Father, who pities and sympathizes with our grief and sorrow. the third also relates to the spiritual nature and the soul. and is a desire for consolation and final victory over the cross, death, the devil and all the gates of hell, together with the world and the evil desires of the flesh. the desire of this blessing is, that the Lord God will lift up the light of his work upon us, and so keep it over us, that it may shine in our hearts with strength enough to overcome all the opposition of the devil, death and sin and all adversity, terror or despair'.
the blessing which the priests were to impart to the people, consisted of a triple blessing of two members each, which stood related to each other thus: the second member in each case contained a special application of the first to the people and the three gradations (or blessing) unfolded the substance of the blessing as a whole step by step with ever increasing emphasis.
v24 'Jehovah BLESS thee and keep thee' conveys the blessing in the most general form, merely
bless - (all words are hebrew) barak- to bless, kneel
describing it as coming from Jehovah and setting forth PRESERVATION FROM THE EVIL OF THE WORLD as His work. 'the blessing of God is the goodness of God in action, by which a supply of all good pours down to us from His good favour as from their only fountain' then follows, secondly, the prayer that He would keep the people, which signifies that He alone is the defender of the Church, and that it is He who preserves it with his guardian care' (calvin)
v25 'Jehovah MAKE His face SHINE upon thee, and BE GRACIOUS unto thee' defined the blessing
make shine - or-to be or become light
more closely as the manifestation of the FAVOR and GRACE of God. the face of God is the
be gracious - chanan-to show favor (i found particular delight in 'favor'..it's webster definition..
-etymology: middle english-'friendly regard' (old french the same); latin-from 'favEre - to be favorable; old high german- gouma - attention; old slavic- goveti - to revere
1. archaic a. appearance
a. countenance
b. a facial feature
2. a.1. friendly regard shown toward another especially by a superior
2. approval, approbation(approbate- approve officially)
b. partiality
c. arch. leniency
d. " permission
e. popularity
3. a. gracious kindness; also an act of such kindness
b. arch. help, assistance
c. pl. effort in one's behalf, interest, attention
4. a. a token of love (as a ribbon) usually worn conspicuously
b. a small gift or decorative item given out at a party
c. badge (emblem awarded for a particular accomplishment)
5. a. a special privilege or right granted or conceded
b. sexual privileges (usually pl.)
6. arch. letter
7. behalf (middle english by+half - half, side; 'interest, benefit, support, defense')
thank You so much Lord for Your gracious favor!
personality of God as turned towards man. fire goes out from Jehovah's face and consumes the enemy and the rebellious (leviticus 10.2, 17.10,20.3; exodus 14.24; psalm 34.17) and also a sunlight shining with love and full of life and good (deuteronomy 30.30; psalm 27.14, 3.3, 44.4) if 'the light of the sun is sweet and pleasant for the eyes to behold' (ecclesiastes 11.7), 'the light of the divine countenance, the everlasting light (psalm 36.9) is the sum of all delight' (baumg.). this light sends rays of mercy into a heart in need of salvation, and makes it the recipient of grace.
v26 'Jehovah lift up His face to thee and set (or give) thee PEACE' (good, salvation), set forth the
peace- shalom-completeness, soundness, welfare from shalem-to be complete, sound
blessing of God as a manifestation of power or a work of power upon men, the end of which is peace , the sum of all the good which God sets, prepares, or establishes for His people..to lift up the face to any one is equivalent to looking at him...when affirmed of God, it denotes His providential work upon man.
as the threefold repetition of a word or sentence serves to express the thought as strongly as possible (cf. jeremiah 7.4,22.29), the triple blessing expressed in the most unconditional manner the thought, that God would bestow upon his congregation the whole fulness of the blessing enfolded in His divine being which was manifested as Jehovah...the substance of this blessing..is communicated to us through the Father, Son and Spirit.
v27 'so they shall invoke My name on the sons of israel and I THEN will bless them'. this blessing was not to remain merely a pious wish, however, but to be manifested in the people with all the power of a blessing from God.
this is taken from keil and delizsch commentary on the old testament. he includes luther on the same verses in a footnote:
see the admirable elaboration of these points in luther's exposition of the blessing. luther refers the first blessing to 'bodily life and good'. the blessing, he says desired for the people 'that God would give them prosperity and every good and also guard and preserve them'. this is carried out still further, in a manner corresponding to his exposition of the first article. the second blessing he refers to 'the spiritual nature and the soul', and observes, 'just as the sun, when it rises and diffuses its rich glory and soft light over all the world, merely lifts up its face upon all the world; ...so when God gives His word, He causes His face to shine clearly and joyously upon all minds and makes them joyful and light and as it were new hearts and new men. for it brings forgiveness of sins and shows God as a gracious and merciful Father, who pities and sympathizes with our grief and sorrow. the third also relates to the spiritual nature and the soul. and is a desire for consolation and final victory over the cross, death, the devil and all the gates of hell, together with the world and the evil desires of the flesh. the desire of this blessing is, that the Lord God will lift up the light of his work upon us, and so keep it over us, that it may shine in our hearts with strength enough to overcome all the opposition of the devil, death and sin and all adversity, terror or despair'.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
4.14.2012 BLESSING
what is it to be truly BLESSED? what would it look like if you observed it in another? would it be...let's see..that i would be obedient to God continually..to be more realistic..to be obedient would be the highest desire of my heart,
LOVE, THAT IS, OBEDIENCE TO YOU LORD would largely determine what i would do everyday and how i would do it...and when i realized i was not to run back quickly to You forsaking my sin...againandagainandagain all day long if need be...coming back to obey You. i would
matthew 22.37- 'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. this is the great and foremost commandment'.
LOVE OTHER PEOPLE (true, heart felt..not fake)
matthew 22.38-'the second is like it, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself'.'
DELIGHT IN PERSECUTION that came to me ON ACCOUNT OF YOU LORD
matthew 5.12-'rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you'.
CONQUER EVIL
hebrews 11.32f-'and what more shall i say? for time will fail me if i tell of gideon, brak, samson, jephthah, of david and samuel and the prophets, who by faith
conquered kingdoms
performed acts of righteousness
obtained promises
shut the mouths of lions
quenched the power of fire
escaped the edge of the sword
from weakness were made strong
became mighty in war
put foreign armies to flifght
women received back their dead by resurrection
OR ENDURE EVIL (having already conquered it within)
hebrews 11.35f..and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection
and others experienced mockings
and scourgings
yes, also chains
and imprisonment.
they were stoned
they were sawn in two
they were tempted
they were put to death with the sword
they went about in sheepskins
in goatskins
being destitute
afflicted
ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worth)
wandering in deserts
and mountains
and caves
and holes in the ground.
and all these, having gained approval through their faith,
DID NOT RECEIVE WHAT WAS PROMISED.
God has created marriage, foods and many other good things to be shared in by those who know the truth (I timothy 4.3-4), but can we not forgo them as Jesus did while He was here?
I timothy 6.8f-'and if we have food and covering with these we shall
BE CONTENT, SO AS TO
BECOME FREE TO DEVOTE yourself to AND
FOCUS THE MOST POSSIBLE time, talent, energy and effort
TO PROMOTE GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH, around us and within us.
-matthew 6.33-'but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you'.
-seeing the widow put two small copper coins into the temple treasury Jesus said to His disciples, 'truly I say to you, this poor widow PUT IN MORE than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, OUT OF HER POVERTY, PUT IN ALL SHE OWNED, ALL SHE HAD TO LIVE ON. mark 12.43-4
-I timothy 6.9-'(we shall be content. BUT THOSE WHO WANT TO GET RICH (ie. have more than food and covering)
fall into temptation
and a snare
and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction'.
-I timothy 6.17-'instruct those who ARE RICH IN THIS PRESENT WORLD not to be conceited
or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but
(fix their hope) on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
instruct them
TO DO GOOD
TO BE RICH IN GOOD WORKS
TO BE GENEROUS and
READY TO SHARE, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, SO THAT THEY MAY TAKE HOLD OF THAT WHICH IS LIFE INDEED'.
-matthew 6.19f-'DO NOT LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES ON EARTH
where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal.
but LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN
where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in or steal.
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
the lamp of the body is the eye
if therefore your eye is clear (margin 'healthy')
your whole body will be full of light.
but if your eye is bad,
your whole body will be full of darkness.
if therefore the light that is in you is darkness,
how great is the darkness!
for this reason i say to you,
DO NOT BE ANXIOUS
for your life, as to what you shall eat,
or what you shall drink
nor for your body, as to what you shall put on.
is not life more than food
and the body than clothing?
LOOK AT the birds of the air, that
they do not sow, neither
do they reap,
nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
are you not worth much more than they?
and which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?
and why are you anxious about clothing?
OBSERVE how the lilies of the field grow;
they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet i say to you
LOVE, THAT IS, OBEDIENCE TO YOU LORD would largely determine what i would do everyday and how i would do it...and when i realized i was not to run back quickly to You forsaking my sin...againandagainandagain all day long if need be...coming back to obey You. i would
matthew 22.37- 'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. this is the great and foremost commandment'.
LOVE OTHER PEOPLE (true, heart felt..not fake)
matthew 22.38-'the second is like it, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself'.'
DELIGHT IN PERSECUTION that came to me ON ACCOUNT OF YOU LORD
matthew 5.12-'rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you'.
CONQUER EVIL
hebrews 11.32f-'and what more shall i say? for time will fail me if i tell of gideon, brak, samson, jephthah, of david and samuel and the prophets, who by faith
conquered kingdoms
performed acts of righteousness
obtained promises
shut the mouths of lions
quenched the power of fire
escaped the edge of the sword
from weakness were made strong
became mighty in war
put foreign armies to flifght
women received back their dead by resurrection
OR ENDURE EVIL (having already conquered it within)
hebrews 11.35f..and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection
and others experienced mockings
and scourgings
yes, also chains
and imprisonment.
they were stoned
they were sawn in two
they were tempted
they were put to death with the sword
they went about in sheepskins
in goatskins
being destitute
afflicted
ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worth)
wandering in deserts
and mountains
and caves
and holes in the ground.
and all these, having gained approval through their faith,
DID NOT RECEIVE WHAT WAS PROMISED.
God has created marriage, foods and many other good things to be shared in by those who know the truth (I timothy 4.3-4), but can we not forgo them as Jesus did while He was here?
I timothy 6.8f-'and if we have food and covering with these we shall
BE CONTENT, SO AS TO
BECOME FREE TO DEVOTE yourself to AND
FOCUS THE MOST POSSIBLE time, talent, energy and effort
TO PROMOTE GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH, around us and within us.
-matthew 6.33-'but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you'.
-seeing the widow put two small copper coins into the temple treasury Jesus said to His disciples, 'truly I say to you, this poor widow PUT IN MORE than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, OUT OF HER POVERTY, PUT IN ALL SHE OWNED, ALL SHE HAD TO LIVE ON. mark 12.43-4
-I timothy 6.9-'(we shall be content. BUT THOSE WHO WANT TO GET RICH (ie. have more than food and covering)
fall into temptation
and a snare
and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction'.
-I timothy 6.17-'instruct those who ARE RICH IN THIS PRESENT WORLD not to be conceited
or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but
(fix their hope) on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
instruct them
TO DO GOOD
TO BE RICH IN GOOD WORKS
TO BE GENEROUS and
READY TO SHARE, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, SO THAT THEY MAY TAKE HOLD OF THAT WHICH IS LIFE INDEED'.
-matthew 6.19f-'DO NOT LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES ON EARTH
where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal.
but LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN
where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in or steal.
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
the lamp of the body is the eye
if therefore your eye is clear (margin 'healthy')
your whole body will be full of light.
but if your eye is bad,
your whole body will be full of darkness.
if therefore the light that is in you is darkness,
how great is the darkness!
for this reason i say to you,
DO NOT BE ANXIOUS
for your life, as to what you shall eat,
or what you shall drink
nor for your body, as to what you shall put on.
is not life more than food
and the body than clothing?
LOOK AT the birds of the air, that
they do not sow, neither
do they reap,
nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
are you not worth much more than they?
and which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?
and why are you anxious about clothing?
OBSERVE how the lilies of the field grow;
they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet i say to you
Friday, April 13, 2012
4.13. 2020 PSALM 19.12 WHO CAN UNDERSTAND HIS ERRORS
after this survey of the works and word of God, he comes at last to peruse the third book, his CONSCIENCE; a book which though wicked men may keep shut up and naturally do not love to look into it, yet will one day be laid open before the great tribunal (note: romans 2.13-16?) in the view of the whole world, to the justifying of God when he judges and to impenitent sinners' eternal confusion. and what finds he here? a foul, blurred copy that he is puzzled how to read; 'who', says he, 'can understand his errors?' those notions which God had with His own hand imprinted upon conscience in legible characters, are partly defaced and slurred with scribble, and interlinings of 'secret faults'; partly obliterated and quite razed out with capital crimes, 'presumptuous sins'. and yet this manuscript cannot be so abused, but it will still give in evidence for God; there being no argument in the world that can with more force extort an acknowledgment of God from any man's conscience than the conviction of guilt itself labours under. for the sinner cannot but know he has transgressed a law and he finds within him, if he is not past all sense, such apprehensions that though at present he 'walk in the ways of his heart and in the sight of his eyes' (as the wise man ironically advises the young man to do, ecclesiastes 11.9), yet he knows (as the same wise man there from his own experience tells him) that 'for all these things God will bring him into judgment'. the conscience being thus convicted of sin, where there is any sense of true piety the soul will, with david, here address itself to God for pardon, that it may be 'cleansed from secret faults'; and for grace, that by its restraints and preventions and assistances, it may be 'kept back from presumptuous sins' and if unhappily engaged, that it may be freed at least from the 'dominion' of them. adam littleton
the prophet saith, 'who can understand his own faults?' no man can , but God can; therefore reason after this manner, as saint bernard saith: i know and am known; i know but in part, but God knows me and knows me wholly; but what i know, i know but in part. so the apostle reasons; 'i know nothing of myself, yet am i not hereby justified'.
admit that thou keepest thyself so free and renewest thy repentance so daily that thou knowest nothing by thyself, yet mark what the apostle adds further: 'notwithstanding, i do not judge myself. i am not hereby justified, but He that judgeth me is the Lord'. this is the condition of all men; he that is infinite knows them; therefore they should not dare to judge themselves , but with the prophet david, in psalm 19, entreat the Lord that He would cleanse him from his secret sins. richard stock
'who can understand his own errors?' if a man repent not until he have made confession of all his sins in the ear of his ghostly father, if a man cannot have absolution of his sins until his sins be told by tale and number in the priest's ear; in that, as david saith, none can understand, much less, then, utter all his sins..in that david of himself complaineth elsewhere how that his 'sins are overflowed his head and as a heavy burden do depress him' (psalm 38.4); alas! shall not a man by this doctrine be utterly driven from repentance? though they have gone about something to make plasters for their sores, of confession or attrition to assuage their pain, bidding a man to hope well of his contrition, though it be not so full as is required, (to 'the forsaking of', to 'the brokenness over'; psalm 38.1-10, 15.. in Thee; 17-18, 21-2) and of his confession, though he have not numbered all his sins, if so be that he do so much as in him lieth, dearly beloved, in that there is none but that herein he is guilty (for who doth as much as he may?!) trow ye that this plaster is not like salt for sore eyes? yes, undoubtedly, when they have done all they can for the appeasing of consciences in these points, this is the sum, that we yet should hope well, but so hope that we must stand in a mammering (hesitating) and doubting whether our sins be forgiven. (am i now truly sorrowful to the point of hating and forsaking.) for to believe remissionem peccatorum, that is to be certain of 'forgiveness of sins', as our creed teacheth us, they count it a presumption. oh, abomination! and that not only herein, but in all their penance as they paint it. john bradford (martyr), 1510-1555
'who can understand his errors?' by 'errors' he means his unwitting and inconsiderate mistakes. there are sins, some of which are committed when the sun shines - ie. with light and knowledge; and then, as it is with colours when the sun shines, you may see them; so these, a man can see, and know, and confess them particularly to be transgressions. there are other sins which are committed either in the times of ignorance or else (if there be knowledge), yet with unobservance. either of these may be so heaped up in the particular number of them, that as a man did when he did commit them, take no notice of them; so now, after the commission, if he should take the brightest candle to search all the records of his soul, yet many of them would escape his notice. and, indeed, this is a great part of our misery and then to forget our sins is a misery too. if in repentance we could set the battle in array, point to every individual sin in the true and particular times of acting and re-acting, oh, how would our hearts be more broken with shame and sorrow and how would we adore the richness of the treasure of mercy which must have a multitude in it to pardon the multitude of our infinite errors and sins. but this is the comfort; though we cannot understand every particular sin or time of sinning, yet if we be not idle to search and cast over the books, and if we be heartily grieved for these sins which we have found out, and can by true repentance turn from them unto God, and by faith unto the blood of Jesus Christ,, i say that God, who knows our sins better than we can know them, and who understands the true intentions and dispositions of the heart - that if it did see the unknown sins it would be answerably carried against them - he will for his own mercy sake forgive them, and he, too, will not remember them. nevertheless, though david saith, 'who can understand his errors?' as the prophet jeremiah spake also, 'the heart of man is desperately wicked, who can know it?' yet must we bestir ourselves at heaven to get more and more heavenly light, to find out more and more of our sinnings. so the Lord can search the heart; and, though we shall never be able to find out all our sins which we have committed, yet it is proper and beneficial for us to find out yet more sins than yet we do know. and you shall find these in your own experience; that as soon as ever grace entered your hearts, you saw sin in another way than you ever saw it before; yea, and the more grace hath traversed and increased in the soul, the more full discoveries hath it made of sins. it hath shown new sins as it were; new sins, not for their being, not as if they were not in the heart and life before, but for their evidence and our apprehension. we do now see such wages and such inclinations to be sinful which we did not think to be so before. as PHYSIC brings those HUMOURS which had their residence before now more to the
physic-greek psUsikA from psUsis-nature; phUO (another member of this word family)-to produce
1. art of healing disease
2. medicine, remedy
3. a medicine that purges
humour-latin hUmeO -to be moist), moisture
-the moisture/fluids of animal bodies; more generally - a fluid in it's morbid (diseased, sickly) or vitiated (impure) state.
to the sense of the patient or as the sun makes open the motes of dust which were in the room before, so doth the light of the Word discover more corruption. obadiah sedgwick
'who can understand his errors?' who can tell how oft he offendeth? no man. the hairs of a man's head may be told, the stars appear in multitudes, yet some have undertaken to reckon them; but no arithmetic can number our sins. before we can recount a thousand we shall commit ten thousand more; and so rather multiply by addition than divide by subtraction; there is no possibility of numeration. like hydra's head, while we are cutting off twenty by repentance, we find a hundred more grown up. it is just, then, that infinite sorrows shall follow infinite sins. thomas adam
the prophet saith, 'who can understand his own faults?' no man can , but God can; therefore reason after this manner, as saint bernard saith: i know and am known; i know but in part, but God knows me and knows me wholly; but what i know, i know but in part. so the apostle reasons; 'i know nothing of myself, yet am i not hereby justified'.
admit that thou keepest thyself so free and renewest thy repentance so daily that thou knowest nothing by thyself, yet mark what the apostle adds further: 'notwithstanding, i do not judge myself. i am not hereby justified, but He that judgeth me is the Lord'. this is the condition of all men; he that is infinite knows them; therefore they should not dare to judge themselves , but with the prophet david, in psalm 19, entreat the Lord that He would cleanse him from his secret sins. richard stock
'who can understand his own errors?' if a man repent not until he have made confession of all his sins in the ear of his ghostly father, if a man cannot have absolution of his sins until his sins be told by tale and number in the priest's ear; in that, as david saith, none can understand, much less, then, utter all his sins..in that david of himself complaineth elsewhere how that his 'sins are overflowed his head and as a heavy burden do depress him' (psalm 38.4); alas! shall not a man by this doctrine be utterly driven from repentance? though they have gone about something to make plasters for their sores, of confession or attrition to assuage their pain, bidding a man to hope well of his contrition, though it be not so full as is required, (to 'the forsaking of', to 'the brokenness over'; psalm 38.1-10, 15.. in Thee; 17-18, 21-2) and of his confession, though he have not numbered all his sins, if so be that he do so much as in him lieth, dearly beloved, in that there is none but that herein he is guilty (for who doth as much as he may?!) trow ye that this plaster is not like salt for sore eyes? yes, undoubtedly, when they have done all they can for the appeasing of consciences in these points, this is the sum, that we yet should hope well, but so hope that we must stand in a mammering (hesitating) and doubting whether our sins be forgiven. (am i now truly sorrowful to the point of hating and forsaking.) for to believe remissionem peccatorum, that is to be certain of 'forgiveness of sins', as our creed teacheth us, they count it a presumption. oh, abomination! and that not only herein, but in all their penance as they paint it. john bradford (martyr), 1510-1555
'who can understand his errors?' by 'errors' he means his unwitting and inconsiderate mistakes. there are sins, some of which are committed when the sun shines - ie. with light and knowledge; and then, as it is with colours when the sun shines, you may see them; so these, a man can see, and know, and confess them particularly to be transgressions. there are other sins which are committed either in the times of ignorance or else (if there be knowledge), yet with unobservance. either of these may be so heaped up in the particular number of them, that as a man did when he did commit them, take no notice of them; so now, after the commission, if he should take the brightest candle to search all the records of his soul, yet many of them would escape his notice. and, indeed, this is a great part of our misery and then to forget our sins is a misery too. if in repentance we could set the battle in array, point to every individual sin in the true and particular times of acting and re-acting, oh, how would our hearts be more broken with shame and sorrow and how would we adore the richness of the treasure of mercy which must have a multitude in it to pardon the multitude of our infinite errors and sins. but this is the comfort; though we cannot understand every particular sin or time of sinning, yet if we be not idle to search and cast over the books, and if we be heartily grieved for these sins which we have found out, and can by true repentance turn from them unto God, and by faith unto the blood of Jesus Christ,, i say that God, who knows our sins better than we can know them, and who understands the true intentions and dispositions of the heart - that if it did see the unknown sins it would be answerably carried against them - he will for his own mercy sake forgive them, and he, too, will not remember them. nevertheless, though david saith, 'who can understand his errors?' as the prophet jeremiah spake also, 'the heart of man is desperately wicked, who can know it?' yet must we bestir ourselves at heaven to get more and more heavenly light, to find out more and more of our sinnings. so the Lord can search the heart; and, though we shall never be able to find out all our sins which we have committed, yet it is proper and beneficial for us to find out yet more sins than yet we do know. and you shall find these in your own experience; that as soon as ever grace entered your hearts, you saw sin in another way than you ever saw it before; yea, and the more grace hath traversed and increased in the soul, the more full discoveries hath it made of sins. it hath shown new sins as it were; new sins, not for their being, not as if they were not in the heart and life before, but for their evidence and our apprehension. we do now see such wages and such inclinations to be sinful which we did not think to be so before. as PHYSIC brings those HUMOURS which had their residence before now more to the
physic-greek psUsikA from psUsis-nature; phUO (another member of this word family)-to produce
1. art of healing disease
2. medicine, remedy
3. a medicine that purges
humour-latin hUmeO -to be moist), moisture
-the moisture/fluids of animal bodies; more generally - a fluid in it's morbid (diseased, sickly) or vitiated (impure) state.
to the sense of the patient or as the sun makes open the motes of dust which were in the room before, so doth the light of the Word discover more corruption. obadiah sedgwick
'who can understand his errors?' who can tell how oft he offendeth? no man. the hairs of a man's head may be told, the stars appear in multitudes, yet some have undertaken to reckon them; but no arithmetic can number our sins. before we can recount a thousand we shall commit ten thousand more; and so rather multiply by addition than divide by subtraction; there is no possibility of numeration. like hydra's head, while we are cutting off twenty by repentance, we find a hundred more grown up. it is just, then, that infinite sorrows shall follow infinite sins. thomas adam
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
4.10.2012 THIS MORNING WITH HIM IN ISAIAH 53
a tender shoot
a root out of dry ground
undesired, unattractive
left in the lurch, forsaken
constant painful endurance
oppressing evil everywhere
zeal of self sacrifice burns within
if You had not died a violent death You would have succumbed to the force of powers of destruction
that are innate in humanity in consequence of sin..
You would have succumbed as a result of Your own incessant, self-consuming conflict with them
the embodiment of repulsiveness
not one face directed
not a tender eye
estimated value, nothing
taking another's evil
as Your own
as if You are evil incarnate
extinguishing wrath
a root out of dry ground
undesired, unattractive
left in the lurch, forsaken
constant painful endurance
oppressing evil everywhere
zeal of self sacrifice burns within
if You had not died a violent death You would have succumbed to the force of powers of destruction
that are innate in humanity in consequence of sin..
You would have succumbed as a result of Your own incessant, self-consuming conflict with them
the embodiment of repulsiveness
not one face directed
not a tender eye
estimated value, nothing
taking another's evil
as Your own
as if You are evil incarnate
extinguishing wrath
4.10.2012 HELP ME
Lord, help me
BELIEVE all things are possible to him who believes. (mark 9.23)
BELIEVE You cause all things to work together for good to those who love You (romans 8.28)
LOVE You (if you love Me, keep My commandments. john 14.15)
BELIEVE no temptation has overtaken me but such as is common to man (I corinthians 10.13)
BELIEVE that You are faithful
BELIEVE that You will not allow me to be tempted beyond what i am able
BELIEVE that with the temptation You will provide a way to escape that i will be able to endure it
BE SATISFIED EARLY with Your mercy that i may rejoice and be glad all my days (psalm 90.14f)
BE GLAD according to the days wherein You have afflicted me
BE GLAD according to the years wherein i have seen evil
PRAY IN ALL THINGS 'not as i will but as You will' (matthew 26.39)
WATCH AND PRAY that i may not enter temptation (matthew 26.41)
BELIEVE that You are good (psalm 100.5)
BELIEVE that Your mercy is everlasting
BELIEVE that Your truth endures to all generations.
..Lord unless You help me to take each step believing and obeying i will utterly fall.
BELIEVE all things are possible to him who believes. (mark 9.23)
BELIEVE You cause all things to work together for good to those who love You (romans 8.28)
LOVE You (if you love Me, keep My commandments. john 14.15)
BELIEVE no temptation has overtaken me but such as is common to man (I corinthians 10.13)
BELIEVE that You are faithful
BELIEVE that You will not allow me to be tempted beyond what i am able
BELIEVE that with the temptation You will provide a way to escape that i will be able to endure it
BE SATISFIED EARLY with Your mercy that i may rejoice and be glad all my days (psalm 90.14f)
BE GLAD according to the days wherein You have afflicted me
BE GLAD according to the years wherein i have seen evil
PRAY IN ALL THINGS 'not as i will but as You will' (matthew 26.39)
WATCH AND PRAY that i may not enter temptation (matthew 26.41)
BELIEVE that You are good (psalm 100.5)
BELIEVE that Your mercy is everlasting
BELIEVE that Your truth endures to all generations.
..Lord unless You help me to take each step believing and obeying i will utterly fall.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
4.6.2012 PSALM 19.12-3 WHO CAN UNDERSTAND HIS ERRORS..KEEP ME BACK FROM PRESUMPTUOUS SINS
from spurgeon's 'treasury of david'...
'who can understand his errors?' a question which is its own answer. it rather requires a note of exclamation than of interrogation. by the law is the knowledge of sin and in the presence of divine truth, the psalmist marvels at the number and heinousness of his sins. he best knows himself who best knows the word, but even such an one will be in a maze of wonder as to what he does not know, rather than on the mount of congratulation as to what he does. know. we have heard of a comedy of errors, but to a good man this is more like a tragedy. many books have a few lines of errata at the end, but our errata might well be as large as the volume if we could but have sense enough to see them. augustine wrote in his older days a series of Retractations; ours might make a library if we had enough grace to be convinced of our mistakes and to confess them.
'cleanse Thou me from secret faults'. thou canst mark in me faults entirely hidden from myself. it were hopeless to expect to see all my spots; therefore, O Lord, wash away in the atoning blood even those sins which my conscience has been unable to detect. secret sins, like private conspirators, must be hunted out, or they may do deadly mischief; it is well to be much in prayer concerning them. in the lateran council of the church of rome, a decree was passed that every true believer must confess his sins, all of them, once in a year to the priest and they affixed to it this declaration, that there is no hope of pardon but in complying with that decree. what can equal the absurdity of such a decree as that? do they suppose that they can tell their sins as easily as they can count their fingers? why, if we could receive pardon for all our sins by telling every sin we have committed in one hour, there is not one of us who would be able to enter heaven, since, besides the sins that are known to us and that we may be able to confess, there are a vast mass of sins, which are as truly sins as those which we lament, but which are secret and come not beneath our eye. if we had eyes like those of God, we should thing very differently of ourselves. the transgressions which we see and confess are but like the farmer's small samples which he brings to market, when he has left his granary full at home, we have but a very few sins which we can observe and detect, compared with those which are hidden from ourselves and unseen by our fellow creatures.
'keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me'.
this earnest and humble prayer teaches us that saints may fall into the worst of sins unless restrained by grace and that therefore they mus watch and pray lest they enter into temptation. there is a natural proneness to sin in the best of men and they must be held back as a horse is held back by the bit or they will run into it. presumptuous sins are peculiarly dangerous. all sins are great sins, but yet some sins are greater than others. every sin has in it the very venom of rebellion and is full of the essential marrow of traitorous rejection of God; but there be some sins which have in them a greater development of the essential mischief of rebellion and which wear upon their faces more of the brazen pride which defies the Most High. it is wrong to suppose that because all sins will condemn us, that therefore one sin is not greater than another. the fact is, that while all transgression is a greatly grievous and sinful thing, yet there are some transgressions which have a deeper shade of blackness and a more double scarlet dyed hue of criminality than others. the PRESUMPTUOUS (to take for granted, assume, suppose; undertake with unwarranted boldness..without right or permission) sins of our text are the chief and worst of all sins; thy rank head and foremost in the list of iniquities. it is remarkable that though no atonement was provided under the jewish law for every kind of sin, there was this one exception: 'but the soul that sinneth presumptuously shall have no atonement; it shall be cut off from the midst of my people'. and now under the christian dispensation, although in the sacrifice of our blessed Lord there is a great and precious atonement for presumptuous sins, whereby sinners who have erred in this manner are made clean, yet without doubt, presumptuous sinners, dying without pardon, must expect to receive a double portion of the wrath of god and a more terrible portion of eternal punishment in the pit that is digged for the wicked. for this reason is david so anxious that he may never come under the reigning power of these giant evils.
'then shall i be upright and i shall be innocent from the great transgression' he shudders at the thought of the unpardonable sin. secret sin is a stepping-stone to presumptuous sin and that is the vestibule of 'the sin which is unto death'. he who is not wilful in his sin, will be in a fair way to be innocent so far as poor sinful man can be; but he who tempts the devil to tempt him is in a path which will lead him from bad to worse and the worse to the worst. charles haddon spurgeon
'who can understand his errors?' a question which is its own answer. it rather requires a note of exclamation than of interrogation. by the law is the knowledge of sin and in the presence of divine truth, the psalmist marvels at the number and heinousness of his sins. he best knows himself who best knows the word, but even such an one will be in a maze of wonder as to what he does not know, rather than on the mount of congratulation as to what he does. know. we have heard of a comedy of errors, but to a good man this is more like a tragedy. many books have a few lines of errata at the end, but our errata might well be as large as the volume if we could but have sense enough to see them. augustine wrote in his older days a series of Retractations; ours might make a library if we had enough grace to be convinced of our mistakes and to confess them.
'cleanse Thou me from secret faults'. thou canst mark in me faults entirely hidden from myself. it were hopeless to expect to see all my spots; therefore, O Lord, wash away in the atoning blood even those sins which my conscience has been unable to detect. secret sins, like private conspirators, must be hunted out, or they may do deadly mischief; it is well to be much in prayer concerning them. in the lateran council of the church of rome, a decree was passed that every true believer must confess his sins, all of them, once in a year to the priest and they affixed to it this declaration, that there is no hope of pardon but in complying with that decree. what can equal the absurdity of such a decree as that? do they suppose that they can tell their sins as easily as they can count their fingers? why, if we could receive pardon for all our sins by telling every sin we have committed in one hour, there is not one of us who would be able to enter heaven, since, besides the sins that are known to us and that we may be able to confess, there are a vast mass of sins, which are as truly sins as those which we lament, but which are secret and come not beneath our eye. if we had eyes like those of God, we should thing very differently of ourselves. the transgressions which we see and confess are but like the farmer's small samples which he brings to market, when he has left his granary full at home, we have but a very few sins which we can observe and detect, compared with those which are hidden from ourselves and unseen by our fellow creatures.
'keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me'.
this earnest and humble prayer teaches us that saints may fall into the worst of sins unless restrained by grace and that therefore they mus watch and pray lest they enter into temptation. there is a natural proneness to sin in the best of men and they must be held back as a horse is held back by the bit or they will run into it. presumptuous sins are peculiarly dangerous. all sins are great sins, but yet some sins are greater than others. every sin has in it the very venom of rebellion and is full of the essential marrow of traitorous rejection of God; but there be some sins which have in them a greater development of the essential mischief of rebellion and which wear upon their faces more of the brazen pride which defies the Most High. it is wrong to suppose that because all sins will condemn us, that therefore one sin is not greater than another. the fact is, that while all transgression is a greatly grievous and sinful thing, yet there are some transgressions which have a deeper shade of blackness and a more double scarlet dyed hue of criminality than others. the PRESUMPTUOUS (to take for granted, assume, suppose; undertake with unwarranted boldness..without right or permission) sins of our text are the chief and worst of all sins; thy rank head and foremost in the list of iniquities. it is remarkable that though no atonement was provided under the jewish law for every kind of sin, there was this one exception: 'but the soul that sinneth presumptuously shall have no atonement; it shall be cut off from the midst of my people'. and now under the christian dispensation, although in the sacrifice of our blessed Lord there is a great and precious atonement for presumptuous sins, whereby sinners who have erred in this manner are made clean, yet without doubt, presumptuous sinners, dying without pardon, must expect to receive a double portion of the wrath of god and a more terrible portion of eternal punishment in the pit that is digged for the wicked. for this reason is david so anxious that he may never come under the reigning power of these giant evils.
'then shall i be upright and i shall be innocent from the great transgression' he shudders at the thought of the unpardonable sin. secret sin is a stepping-stone to presumptuous sin and that is the vestibule of 'the sin which is unto death'. he who is not wilful in his sin, will be in a fair way to be innocent so far as poor sinful man can be; but he who tempts the devil to tempt him is in a path which will lead him from bad to worse and the worse to the worst. charles haddon spurgeon
Sunday, April 1, 2012
4.1.2012 CONSTITUTION OF THE MORAVIAN BRETHREN AT HERNHUTH
john wesley inserts an extract of the constitution of the church of the moravian brethren at hernhuth, laid before the theological order at wirtemberg, in the year 1733, part of which appears below..
1. they have a senior, or ELDEST, who is to assist the church by his counsel and prayers. of him it is required, that he be well experienced in the things of God and witnessed to by all for holiness of conversation.
2. they have DEACONS or HELPERS who are to take care that outward things be done decently and in order; and to see that every member of the church grows in grace and walks suitably to his holy calling.
3. the PASTOR, or TEACHER, is to be
-an OVERSEER of the whole flock and every person therein; to baptize the children; diligently to form their minds and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; when he finds in them a sincere love of the cross, then to receive them into the church;
-to administer the supper of the Lord;
-to join in marriage those who are already married to Christ;
-to reprove admonish, quicken, comfort, as need requires;
-to declare the whole counsel of God; taking heed at all times to speak as the oracles of God and agreeably to the analogy of faith;
-to bury those who have died in the Lord and
-to keep that safe which is committed to his charge, even the pure doctrine and apostolical discipline which we have received from our forefathers.
4. we have also ANOTHER SORT OF DEACONS, who take care that nothing be wanting to the orphanage, the poor, the sick and the strangers.
-OTHERS again there are, who are peculiarly to take care of the sick and others of the poor.
-and two of these are entrusted with the public stock and keep accounts of all that is received or expended.
5. there are WOMEN who perform each of the above mentioned offices among those of their own sex; for none of the men converse with them, beside the eldest, the teacher, and one, or sometimes two, of the deacons.
6. TOWARDS MAGISTRATES, whether of a superior or inferior rank, we bear the greatest reverence. we cheerfully submit to their laws; and even when many of us have been spoiled of their goods, driven out of their houses and every way oppressed by them, yet they resisted them not, neither opening their mouths, nor lifting up their hand against them. in all things which do not immediately concern the inward spiritual kingdom of Christ, we simply, and without contradicting, obey the higher powers. but, with regard to conscience, the liberty of this we cannot suffer to be any way limited or infringed. and to this head we refer whatever directly and in itself tends to hinder the salvation of souls; or, whatsoever things Christ and His holy apostles (who we know meddled not with outward worldly things) took charge of, and performed, as necessary for the constituting of , and performed, as necessary for the constituting and well ordering of His church. in these things we acknowledge no head but Christ and are determined, God being our helper, to give up not only our goods (as we did before) but life itself, rather than this liberty which God hath given us.
7. as it behoves all christians not to be slothful in business but diligently to attend the works of their calling; there are PERSONS CHOSEN BY THE CHURCH TO SUPERINTEND ALL those who are employed in OUTWARD BUSINESS. and by this means also, many things are prevented which might otherwise be an occasion of offence.
8. we have also CENSORS and MONITORS. in those experience and perspicacity; in these wisdom and modesty are chiefly required. the censors signify what they observe (and they observe the smallest things) either to the deacons or monitors. some monitors there are, whom all know to be such; others who are secretly appointed; and who, if need require, may freely admonish in the love of Christ, even the rulers of the church.
9. the church is so divided, that first the HUSBANDS, then the WIVES, then the WIDOWS, then the MAIDS, then the YOUNG MEN, then the BOYS, then the GIRLS, and lastly, the LITTLE CHILDREN, are IN SO MANY DISTINCT CLASSES; each of which is daily visited, the married men by a married man, the wives by a wife, and so of the rest. (this work all the married brethren and sisters, as well as the unmarried, perform in their turn.) these larger are also (now) divided into near 90 smaller classes or bands, over each of which one presides who is of the greatest experience. all these leaders meet the senior every week and lay open to him and to the Lord, whatsoever hinders or furthers the work of God, in the souls committed to their charge.
10. in the year 1727, 420 men and as many women agreed that each of them would SPEND AN HOUR IN EVERY DAY PRAYING to God for His blessing on His people; and, for this purpose both the men and women chose a place where any of their own sex who were in distress might be present with them. the same number of unmarried women, of unmarried men, of boys, and of girls, were afterwards, at their desire, added to them; who pour out their souls before God, not only for their own brethren, but also for other churches and persons, that have desired to be mentioned in their prayers. and this has never ceased day or night since its first beginning.
11. and as the members of the church are DIVIDED, according to their respective states and sexes; so they are also, WITH REGARD TO THEIR PROFICIENCY IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. some are dead, some quickened by the Spirit of God; of these, some again are untractable, some diligent, some zealous, burning with their first love; some babes, and some young men. those who are still dead are visited every day. and of the babes in Christ especial care is taken also, that they may be daily inspected and assisted to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
12. in the ORPHAN HOUSE, about 70 children are brought up, separate according to their sex. beside which, several experienced persons are appointed to consult with the parents touching the education of the other children. in teaching them christianity, we make use of luther's catechism and STUDY THE AMENDING OF THEIR WILLS as well as understanding; finding by experience, that WHEN THEIR WILL IS MOVED, THEY OFTEN LEARN MORE IN A FEW HOURS, THAN OTHERWISE IN MANY MONTHS. our little children we instruct chiefly by hymns; whereby we find the most important truths most successfully insinuated into their minds.
13. we HIGHLY REVERENCE MARRIAGE, but neither our young men nor women enter into it till they assuredly know they are married to Christ. when any know it is the will of God, that they should change their state, both the man and woman are placed for a time with some married persons who instruct them how to behave so that their married life may be pleasing to God. then their design is laid before the whole church and after about 14 days they are solemnly joined, though not otherwise habited (not dressed specially for the occasion?) than they are at other times. if they make any entertainment (which is not always) they invite only a few intimate friends by whose faithful admonitions they may be the better prepared to bear their cross and fight the good fight of faith. if ANY WOMAN IS WITH CHILD not only especial mention is made of her in the public prayers, but she is also exhorted in private wholly to give herself up into the hands of her faithful creator. as soon as a child is born, prayer is made for it and if it may be, it is baptized in the presence of the whole church. before it is weaned it is brought into the assembly on the Lord's day.
15. once or twice a month, either at bertholdsdorf, or if it may be, at hernhuth, ALL THE CHURCH RECEIVES THE LORD'S SUPPER. it cannot be expressed how greatly the power of God is then present among us. the seniors first receive, then the rest in order, without any regard had to worldly dignity in this any more than in any other of the solemn offices of religion. after receiving, all the men (and so the women) meet together to renew their covenant with God to seek His face and exhort one another to the patience of hope and the labour of love.
17. AT 8 IN THE MORNING AND IN THE EVENING we meet to pray to and praise God and to read to and praise God and to read and hear the holy scriptures; THE TIME WE USUALLY SPEND IN SLEEP IS FROM 11 PM TILL 4 AM. so that allowing 3 hours a day for taking the food both of our bodies and souls, there remain 16 for work. and this space those who are in health spend therein with all diligence and faithfulness.
18. two men KEEP WATCH EVER4Y NIGHT IN THE STREETS, as do two women IN THE WOMEN'S APARTMENT that they may pour out their souls for those that sleep and by their hymns raise the hears of any who are awake to God.
19.for the further stirring up the gift which is in us sometimes we have public, sometimes private LOVE FEASTS, at which we take a moderate refreshment with gladness and singleness of heart and the voice of praise and thanksgiving.
20. if any man among us, having been often admonished and long forborn, persists in walking unworthy of his holy calling, HE IS NO LONGER ADMITTED TO THE LORD'S SUPPER. if he still continues in his fault, hating to be reformed, THE LAST STEP IS, PUBLICLY,and often in the midst of many prayers and tears, TO CAST HIM OUT OF OUR CONGREGATION. BUT GREAT IS OUR JOY, if he then see the error of his ways, so THAT WE MAY RECEIVE HIM AMONG US AGAIN.
21. most of our brethren and sisters have in some part of their life EXPERIENCED HOLY MOURNING AND SORROW OF HEART AND HAVE AFTERWARDS BEEN ASSURED THAT THERE WAS NO MORE CONDEMNATION FOR THEM, BEING PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE. they are therefore far from fearing to die or desiring to live on earth..knowing that to them to die is gain and being confident that they are the care of Him, whose are the issues of life and death. wherefore they depart as out of one chamber into another. and after the soul has left its habitation their remains are deposited in the earth appointed for that purpose. and the survivors are greatly comforted and rejoice over them with a joy the world knoweth not of.
1. they have a senior, or ELDEST, who is to assist the church by his counsel and prayers. of him it is required, that he be well experienced in the things of God and witnessed to by all for holiness of conversation.
2. they have DEACONS or HELPERS who are to take care that outward things be done decently and in order; and to see that every member of the church grows in grace and walks suitably to his holy calling.
3. the PASTOR, or TEACHER, is to be
-an OVERSEER of the whole flock and every person therein; to baptize the children; diligently to form their minds and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; when he finds in them a sincere love of the cross, then to receive them into the church;
-to administer the supper of the Lord;
-to join in marriage those who are already married to Christ;
-to reprove admonish, quicken, comfort, as need requires;
-to declare the whole counsel of God; taking heed at all times to speak as the oracles of God and agreeably to the analogy of faith;
-to bury those who have died in the Lord and
-to keep that safe which is committed to his charge, even the pure doctrine and apostolical discipline which we have received from our forefathers.
4. we have also ANOTHER SORT OF DEACONS, who take care that nothing be wanting to the orphanage, the poor, the sick and the strangers.
-OTHERS again there are, who are peculiarly to take care of the sick and others of the poor.
-and two of these are entrusted with the public stock and keep accounts of all that is received or expended.
5. there are WOMEN who perform each of the above mentioned offices among those of their own sex; for none of the men converse with them, beside the eldest, the teacher, and one, or sometimes two, of the deacons.
6. TOWARDS MAGISTRATES, whether of a superior or inferior rank, we bear the greatest reverence. we cheerfully submit to their laws; and even when many of us have been spoiled of their goods, driven out of their houses and every way oppressed by them, yet they resisted them not, neither opening their mouths, nor lifting up their hand against them. in all things which do not immediately concern the inward spiritual kingdom of Christ, we simply, and without contradicting, obey the higher powers. but, with regard to conscience, the liberty of this we cannot suffer to be any way limited or infringed. and to this head we refer whatever directly and in itself tends to hinder the salvation of souls; or, whatsoever things Christ and His holy apostles (who we know meddled not with outward worldly things) took charge of, and performed, as necessary for the constituting of , and performed, as necessary for the constituting and well ordering of His church. in these things we acknowledge no head but Christ and are determined, God being our helper, to give up not only our goods (as we did before) but life itself, rather than this liberty which God hath given us.
7. as it behoves all christians not to be slothful in business but diligently to attend the works of their calling; there are PERSONS CHOSEN BY THE CHURCH TO SUPERINTEND ALL those who are employed in OUTWARD BUSINESS. and by this means also, many things are prevented which might otherwise be an occasion of offence.
8. we have also CENSORS and MONITORS. in those experience and perspicacity; in these wisdom and modesty are chiefly required. the censors signify what they observe (and they observe the smallest things) either to the deacons or monitors. some monitors there are, whom all know to be such; others who are secretly appointed; and who, if need require, may freely admonish in the love of Christ, even the rulers of the church.
9. the church is so divided, that first the HUSBANDS, then the WIVES, then the WIDOWS, then the MAIDS, then the YOUNG MEN, then the BOYS, then the GIRLS, and lastly, the LITTLE CHILDREN, are IN SO MANY DISTINCT CLASSES; each of which is daily visited, the married men by a married man, the wives by a wife, and so of the rest. (this work all the married brethren and sisters, as well as the unmarried, perform in their turn.) these larger are also (now) divided into near 90 smaller classes or bands, over each of which one presides who is of the greatest experience. all these leaders meet the senior every week and lay open to him and to the Lord, whatsoever hinders or furthers the work of God, in the souls committed to their charge.
10. in the year 1727, 420 men and as many women agreed that each of them would SPEND AN HOUR IN EVERY DAY PRAYING to God for His blessing on His people; and, for this purpose both the men and women chose a place where any of their own sex who were in distress might be present with them. the same number of unmarried women, of unmarried men, of boys, and of girls, were afterwards, at their desire, added to them; who pour out their souls before God, not only for their own brethren, but also for other churches and persons, that have desired to be mentioned in their prayers. and this has never ceased day or night since its first beginning.
11. and as the members of the church are DIVIDED, according to their respective states and sexes; so they are also, WITH REGARD TO THEIR PROFICIENCY IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. some are dead, some quickened by the Spirit of God; of these, some again are untractable, some diligent, some zealous, burning with their first love; some babes, and some young men. those who are still dead are visited every day. and of the babes in Christ especial care is taken also, that they may be daily inspected and assisted to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
12. in the ORPHAN HOUSE, about 70 children are brought up, separate according to their sex. beside which, several experienced persons are appointed to consult with the parents touching the education of the other children. in teaching them christianity, we make use of luther's catechism and STUDY THE AMENDING OF THEIR WILLS as well as understanding; finding by experience, that WHEN THEIR WILL IS MOVED, THEY OFTEN LEARN MORE IN A FEW HOURS, THAN OTHERWISE IN MANY MONTHS. our little children we instruct chiefly by hymns; whereby we find the most important truths most successfully insinuated into their minds.
13. we HIGHLY REVERENCE MARRIAGE, but neither our young men nor women enter into it till they assuredly know they are married to Christ. when any know it is the will of God, that they should change their state, both the man and woman are placed for a time with some married persons who instruct them how to behave so that their married life may be pleasing to God. then their design is laid before the whole church and after about 14 days they are solemnly joined, though not otherwise habited (not dressed specially for the occasion?) than they are at other times. if they make any entertainment (which is not always) they invite only a few intimate friends by whose faithful admonitions they may be the better prepared to bear their cross and fight the good fight of faith. if ANY WOMAN IS WITH CHILD not only especial mention is made of her in the public prayers, but she is also exhorted in private wholly to give herself up into the hands of her faithful creator. as soon as a child is born, prayer is made for it and if it may be, it is baptized in the presence of the whole church. before it is weaned it is brought into the assembly on the Lord's day.
15. once or twice a month, either at bertholdsdorf, or if it may be, at hernhuth, ALL THE CHURCH RECEIVES THE LORD'S SUPPER. it cannot be expressed how greatly the power of God is then present among us. the seniors first receive, then the rest in order, without any regard had to worldly dignity in this any more than in any other of the solemn offices of religion. after receiving, all the men (and so the women) meet together to renew their covenant with God to seek His face and exhort one another to the patience of hope and the labour of love.
17. AT 8 IN THE MORNING AND IN THE EVENING we meet to pray to and praise God and to read to and praise God and to read and hear the holy scriptures; THE TIME WE USUALLY SPEND IN SLEEP IS FROM 11 PM TILL 4 AM. so that allowing 3 hours a day for taking the food both of our bodies and souls, there remain 16 for work. and this space those who are in health spend therein with all diligence and faithfulness.
18. two men KEEP WATCH EVER4Y NIGHT IN THE STREETS, as do two women IN THE WOMEN'S APARTMENT that they may pour out their souls for those that sleep and by their hymns raise the hears of any who are awake to God.
19.for the further stirring up the gift which is in us sometimes we have public, sometimes private LOVE FEASTS, at which we take a moderate refreshment with gladness and singleness of heart and the voice of praise and thanksgiving.
20. if any man among us, having been often admonished and long forborn, persists in walking unworthy of his holy calling, HE IS NO LONGER ADMITTED TO THE LORD'S SUPPER. if he still continues in his fault, hating to be reformed, THE LAST STEP IS, PUBLICLY,and often in the midst of many prayers and tears, TO CAST HIM OUT OF OUR CONGREGATION. BUT GREAT IS OUR JOY, if he then see the error of his ways, so THAT WE MAY RECEIVE HIM AMONG US AGAIN.
21. most of our brethren and sisters have in some part of their life EXPERIENCED HOLY MOURNING AND SORROW OF HEART AND HAVE AFTERWARDS BEEN ASSURED THAT THERE WAS NO MORE CONDEMNATION FOR THEM, BEING PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE. they are therefore far from fearing to die or desiring to live on earth..knowing that to them to die is gain and being confident that they are the care of Him, whose are the issues of life and death. wherefore they depart as out of one chamber into another. and after the soul has left its habitation their remains are deposited in the earth appointed for that purpose. and the survivors are greatly comforted and rejoice over them with a joy the world knoweth not of.
4.1.2012 FAITH IS WEAK THIS MORNING (3.29) QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. in the midst of what i view to be impossible, AM I BELIEVING IN JESUS? 'Jesus said unto him, 'if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth'? mark 9.23
2. AM I LOVING GOD...(Jesus said, 'if you love Me, keep My commandments' john 14.15)..THAT IS AM I CURRENTLY KEEPING JESUS' COMMANDMENTS?
3. DO I KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD, to them that are the called according to His purpose?' romans 8.28
4. DO I BELIEVE that 'no temptation has overtaken me (is overtaking me) but such as is common to man and GOD IS FAITHFUL WHO WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO BE TEMPTED BEYOND WHAT I AM ABLE, BUT with the temptation WILL PROVIDE A WAY OF ESCAPE that i may be able to endure it? I corinthians 10.13
5. AM I SATISFIED (EARLY) WITH YOUR MERCY..then i am rejoicing and glad all my days!
AM I GLAD ACCORDING TO THE DAYS WHEREIN YOU HAVE AFFLICTED ME
AM I GLAD ACCORDING TO THE YEARS IN WHICH I HAVE SEEN EVIL... psalm 90.14-5
what i am saying is, 'Lord is Your mercy enough..are You enough..for me?
6. IS MY PRAYER, MY HEART'S DESIRE, 'NOT AS I WILL BUT AS THOU WILT? matt. 26.39
7. AM I WATCHING AND PRAYING THAT I ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION? matt. 26.41
8. AM I BELIEVING THAT,
THE LORD IS GOOD
HIS MERCY IS EVERLASTING
HIS TRUTH ENDURETH TO ALL GENERATIONS? psalm 100.5
2. AM I LOVING GOD...(Jesus said, 'if you love Me, keep My commandments' john 14.15)..THAT IS AM I CURRENTLY KEEPING JESUS' COMMANDMENTS?
3. DO I KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD, to them that are the called according to His purpose?' romans 8.28
4. DO I BELIEVE that 'no temptation has overtaken me (is overtaking me) but such as is common to man and GOD IS FAITHFUL WHO WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO BE TEMPTED BEYOND WHAT I AM ABLE, BUT with the temptation WILL PROVIDE A WAY OF ESCAPE that i may be able to endure it? I corinthians 10.13
5. AM I SATISFIED (EARLY) WITH YOUR MERCY..then i am rejoicing and glad all my days!
AM I GLAD ACCORDING TO THE DAYS WHEREIN YOU HAVE AFFLICTED ME
AM I GLAD ACCORDING TO THE YEARS IN WHICH I HAVE SEEN EVIL... psalm 90.14-5
what i am saying is, 'Lord is Your mercy enough..are You enough..for me?
6. IS MY PRAYER, MY HEART'S DESIRE, 'NOT AS I WILL BUT AS THOU WILT? matt. 26.39
7. AM I WATCHING AND PRAYING THAT I ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION? matt. 26.41
8. AM I BELIEVING THAT,
THE LORD IS GOOD
HIS MERCY IS EVERLASTING
HIS TRUTH ENDURETH TO ALL GENERATIONS? psalm 100.5
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