Sunday Meditation

Q. 56. What believest thou concerning "the forgiveness of sins"?

A. That God, for the sake of Christ's satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all my life long; (a) but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ, (b) that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God. (c)

(a)	1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 2 Cor.5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 2 Cor.5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
(b)	Jer.31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Ps.103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Ps.103:4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Ps.103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Ps.103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Mic.7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Rom.7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Rom.7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Rom.7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(c)	Rom.8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom.8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Rom.8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: Rom.8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Published in Heidelberg Catechism

To Thee, O Lord ...

To Thee, O Lord Who dwellest in the height,

My eyes look up for light.

Lo, as the eyes of servants, when neglected,

Are to their lord directed,

And as a Maiden's glance for favor lingers

Upon her mistress' fingers,

Thus, too, our eyes look to our Master's face

Till He provide us grace.

O Lord, our God, grant us Thy grace again,

Grant us Thy grace again.

For, lo, our ears are full of man's derision

At our estranged condition;

Our soul is sated with the scorn and chiding

Of those at ease abiding,

And of the proud who in their vanity

Regard us haughtily

The Spirit's Purpose

When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth,

who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 15:26 ESV

~~~

“Sometimes we seek for the operation of the Spirit with the purpose of obtaining more power for work, more love in our life, more holiness in the heart, more light on Scripture or on our path. But all these gifts are subordinate to the great purpose of God. The Father bestowed the Spirit on the Son, and the Son gave Him to us for the purpose of revealing and glorifying Christ Jesus in us.

The heavenly Christ must become for us a real and living personality who is always with us and in us. Our life on earth can be lived every day in unbroken fellowship with our Lord Jesus. This is the first and greatest work of the Holy Spirit in the believer, that we should know and experience Christ as our life. God desires that we be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God’s love. This was the secret of the joy of the first disciples. They had received the Lord Jesus—whom they feared they had lost—as the heavenly Christ into their hearts. And this was their preparation for Pentecost: their attention was completely taken up with Him. He was literally everything to them. Their hearts were empty of everything, so that the Spirit could fill them with Christ. In the fullness of the Spirit they had power for a life and service such as the Lord desired for them. Is this the goal of our desires and our experience? The Lord wants us to know that the blessing for which we have so diligently prayed can be increased in no other way than by the faithful cultivation of intimate fellowship with Christ in prayer every day.”

          —  Andrew Murray, Living a Prayerful Life, 133-134

~~~~~~~~~

“And after you surrender—then what? Your entire life should be characterized by an eagerness to maintain unbroken fellowship and oneness with God.”

          —  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, September 13

(Repost from: A Disciple's Notebook)

Freedom

"The servants of sin and corruption are subjected to the worst kind

of tyranny in the universe."

     —  "Black Regiment" Rev.Samuel West (1730 - 1807)

I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly." 

—  Jesus (John 10:10b KJV)

Changed ... from glory to glory!

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (NKJV)

"Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech - unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away  in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Matthew Henry

— Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible, 1 Cor. 3

"It is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to use great plainness, or clearness, of speech. The Old Testament believers had only cloudy and passing glimpses of that glorious Saviour, and unbelievers looked no further than to the outward institution. But the great precepts of the gospel, believe, love, obey, are truths stated as clearly as possible. And the whole doctrine of Christ crucified, is made as plain as human language can make it. Those who lived under the law, had a veil upon their hearts. This veil is taken away by the doctrines of the Bible about Christ. When any person is converted to God, then the veil of ignorance is taken away. The condition of those who enjoy and believe the gospel is happy, for the heart is set at liberty to run the ways of God's commandments. They have light, and with open face they behold the glory of the Lord. Christians should prize and improve these privileges. We should not rest contented without knowing the transforming power of the gospel, by the working of the Spirit, bringing us to seek to be like the temper and tendency of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and into union with Him. We behold Christ, as in the glass of his word; and as the reflection from a mirror causes the face to shine, the faces of Christians shine also."

Sunday Meditation

The Heart of the Matter

   
Author Bob DeMoss writes, "Your heart is the core of your being. It's the essence of who you are. It's where your mind and will, our emotions and convictions come together to shape what you believe and the choices you make." He's saying that our behavior is determined by what is in our heart. Scripture backs up this idea: "As in water face reflects face, So a man's heart reveals the man." (Proverbs 27:19)

Behavior dictated by the heart sounds fine - except that our hearts have a fatal flaw: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

What if we weren't gospel women? Apart from the Gospel, the best we could do to master what is in our hearts would be to refine our civilities and manners. But patting ourselves on the back because we're "not that bad" is false comfort because the most cultivated sensibilities can never get to the core of the problem in our deceitful, incurable hearts. Only the Gospel can get to the heart of the matter.

The heart! It's the place where we are born again. "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

Once we've confessed and believed in our hearts, the Word of God helps us address our deep need for an ongoing conversion of heart: "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Romans 4:12)

When the Word of God begins its gracious surgery on our hearts, it is painful. It demands submitting to God's will in areas that we either deny exist or that we'd prefer to think are none of His business.

                                  —  Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Woman 

Sunday Meditation

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;

I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Holly Cate Photography

The Christian and the Christian church are usually at their bet in times of suffering. God-sent afflictions have a health-giving effect upon the believer's soul. They clear his eye-sight so that he recognizes this world as the wicked, godless place that it is. Afflictions, when blessed by God, are the medicine used to purge the soul of its worldliness and its love of life's vanities. Those who have been in the crucible have lost more of their scum. They who have been in the fire with Christ have felt the sweetness of his presence, as few others have. When we are in trouble the promises of God's Word are more precious to us than gold. So, too, the church's suffering times are often her golden ages.

There will to the very end be trials in this life for God's people. Our ultimate comfort lies in this, that all Christ's promises will outlive this short life.

          — Maurice Roberts, Great God of Wonders

Sunday Meditation

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,

while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8, KJV

Richard Baxter

"Be sure your life witnesses as well as your words. Let people see you practicing what you seek to persuade them about. Let them see, by your attitude toward heaven and the world, that you do indeed believe what you would have them believe."

— Richard Baxter, How to Meditate, Aim High

(An old classic, popular for centuries, now comes alive in modern paraphrase

 - Richard Baxter's The Saints' Everlasting Rest)

Sunday Meditation

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned -" Romans 5:12

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19

Here, then, is the relationship between the two: Adam, implicating us in his ruin, destroyed us with himself; but Christ restores us to salvation by his grace.

John Calvin

      — Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, page 248