Said Charles Wesley…Right Before Being Beaten

“I insist you still are a Pharisee. My commission is to show you your sins, and I shall make no apology for so doing. You are a damned sinner.”

Apparently the doctor to whom he said it was a bit offended!

To Grace….

Oh to Grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be…

I have a very unreformed confession: I have alway had issues with grace. I know it is awful. My only defense is this, I have no problem with God’s grace for you. I believe with all my heart that no matter what you have done or will do, that God at the Cross, made atonement and his blood covers you. My problem with grace is me. You see I have to live with me everyday, and the more time I spend with me the less I am able to put my full faith in God’s grace. I am there at every stupid sin, every angry comment, every impure thought. The more time I spend with me, the more I become convinced that there is no way God could like me. And when I start to feel this way I start to pull away from God and become sullen…or I work harder and try and measure up. I fully confess this. At the same time I fully reject it.

I can’t measure up, and If I truly know Jesus I can not pull away. I am so happy that the Bible says:

Romans 8:29: For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

I may struggle with grace but I have no issues with sovereignty. And if God is in charge then his will is perfect. All that he says, will be, will be. I will be conformed to the image of his son. Oh man that is beautiful.

I am also glad it says this:

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship ^[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

There is much there, but the part that really speaks to me is this: God chose me before the foundation of the world. He did not just chose me at the day of my Salvation and save me from the sins I had committed so far. But God in his wisdom and foreknowledge, before the world even was, chose me! If this is true it means that the all knowing God saw all of history and every sin I would ever commit and chose me anyway! Wow.

The other great part is why he chose me. For his own glory, pleasure and will. If God wants me what kind of arrogance is it if i claim my sins are too great? Are my sins bigger than the Cross? Are my sins greater than his love? Are my sins more powerful than his will? Never!

So yeah I have issues with Grace, but God is still working on me!

D

Church

Lyrics by Derek Webb:

i have come with one purpose
to capture for myself a bride
by my life she is lovely
by my death she’s justified

i have always been her husband
though many lovers she has known
so with water i will wash her
and by my word alone

so when you hear the sound of the water
you will know you’re not alone

’cause i haven’t come for only you
but for my people to pursue
you cannot care for me with no regard for her
if you love me you will love the church

i have long pursued her
as a harlot and a whore
but she will feast upon me
she will drink and thirst no more

so when you taste my flesh and my blood
you will know you’re not alone

there is none that can replace her
though there are many who will try
and though some may be her bridesmaids
they can never be my bride

Discuss.

D

The Five Sola’s (Pt. 2 of 5)

Sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”)

Sola scriptura is the teaching that the Bible is the only inspired and authoritative word of God, is the only source for Christian doctrine, and is accessible to all — that is, it is perspicuous and self-interpreting.

May I suggest that this idea has been and continues to be under attack in the church. The emergent church has basically determined that they can move beyond the Bible. That what the Bible says is not true anymore to them, they have evolved beyond Scripture. They put culture above Scripture.

The mystics/Pentecostals/charismatics tend to believe that personal experience trumps the Bible. Their final authority is experience.

Others have said that the logic trumps the Bible in knowing Jesus. You can see threads of this in the fundamental church.

May I suggest that these are all false. Scripture alone is our final authority. If that which we believe disagrees with Scripture then that which we believe is false. This is a hard place to come to. Sometimes life would be easier if we could move beyond Scripture. However Scripture is to be our highest authority. If not then why believe anything, we might as go be as the world. The Word of God must be held to the place of highest authority.

Now this does not mean that nothing else has authority. We can still find authority in Science, in Psychology, Engineering, Medicine, and many others. However when they disagree with Scripture then we are to disagree those points of that field of study. We must test everything by Scripture.

So I hope that we repent of our pride that we can find a higher authority than God’s Word. And may Scripture alone be our highest authority.