PROFESSOR OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IN COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, SOUTH CAROLINA.
-+ scanned and marked up by Lance George Marshall +-
In Christ alone is all our trust
For full and free salvation.
With His own blood He ransomed us
From ev’ry tribe and nation.
For us He lived and died.
Now, at the Father’s side,
Full knowing all our needs,
Our High Priest intercedes.
He lives to make us holy.
GARY A. PARRETT
It might seem that the best way to begin a study of God’s character, his holy-love, is to open a concordance and look up all the instances of holiness and all those of love and see if a synthesis is possible. This would yield much that would be helpful.
But there is a better way. It is to begin at the beginning and see how God revealed his character across time. In doing so, we find that as God’s redemptive history moved toward its goal, it provided what are the contours of our subject. It was moving toward Christ, in whom it culminated. From that time on, the Holy Spirit’s work became that of applying to sinners the benefits of Christ’s work on the cross. This progressive unfolding of the purposes of God is, at the same time, the unfolding of the character of God. We see more and more clearly what God’s redemptive plan was, as we move from Abraham toward Christ, and we also see the principles in that plan as it unfolded. That should be no surprise. It is the same triune God at work in this plan. It is the God who James says is one “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). And redemption means the same thing whether a person was born millennia before Christ or is yet unborn. It is redemption from sin, and that, in the nature of the case, can only be by grace.
Below I have some practical and devotional suggestions for your daily prayer life which includes a written list (below) of things you can prayer for which you can print out or cut and paste into digital index cards (like PrayerMate) for your hand held device.
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Do you often end up separating your career and daily activities from your spiritual life? Do you find yourself working in the midst of so much confusion that, many times, you don't feel as if you are able to easily recollect your heart in the presence of God? Are your distractions so intense that God often appears far away? Why does this happen? Why is it that we often lose the knowledge of God's presence during the day and live with a kind of spiritual schizophrenia? Well, the explanation is probably fairly simple. Whenever we react in a fleshly manner to the various providences that God puts before us; whenever we are temperamental, rash, impatient, restless, self-willed, letting circumstances make us depressed or angry, and given over to our tyrannical passions, we can almost always trace it back to one foundational reason: prayerlessness.
The following sermons by Jonathan Edwards were hand selected for their helpfulness and tendency to bring honor to Christ and glory to God. Take your time to read and reflect on Edwards expositions and let his thoughts on Scripture carry yours to consider how great and glrious a God we serve.
Table of Contents
God Glorified in Man's Dependence
God's Sovereignty in the Salvation of Men
The Sole Consideration, that God Is God
A Divine and Supernatural Light
Christian Knowledge
Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God
Men Naturally are God's Enemies
Treatise on Grace
The Admirable Conjunction of Diverse Excellencies in Christ Jesus
Concerning Efficacious Grace
Glorious Grace
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Unbelievers Despise the Gloy and Excellency of Christ
God the Best Portion of the Christian
Christians A Chosen Generation, A Royal Priesthood, A Holy Nation, A Peculiar People
God Makes Men Sensible Of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy And Love
Man's Natural Blindness to the Things of Religion
"...unless one is born again he cannot see...[or] enter the kingdom of God....The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:3,5,8
Jesus declared that unless a person is born again – unless he is regenerated, quickened or granted new life by the Spirit of God – he cannot "see" or "enter" the kingdom of God. The word "see" refers not to the perception of physical eyes, but to perception of the heart about spiritual things. That is, unless a person is supernaturally changed by God, he cannot have a heart which understands, or ears to hear or eyes to see the things of God (Deut 29:4; 30:6). Due to his unspiritual nature and corrupted condition it is utterly beyond his human powers to understand the truth about Christ or believe His revelation. The word "enter" refers to participation in kingdom life. That is, unless a man is born from above, he cannot be adopted into God's family. A citizen of God's kingdom must be born into it.
Bart Ehrman argues in his book The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture that in the early church there was not a composition of a single “orthodoxy” from which emerged a series of divergent and erroneous minorities, but instead there were various streams of Christian orthodoxy. No one stream represented “the clear and powerful majority of believers against all others.”[i] In other words, there was no monolithic “orthodoxy” in the early church. There were different streams that were obviously divergent of one another because of the divergent “books” that are found within the first three centuries of the Christian church. Ehrman goes on to argue:
To this extent “orthodoxy,” in the sense of a unified group advocating and apostolic doctrine accepted by the majority of Christians everywhere, did not exist in the second and third centuries. Beliefs that were, at later times, embraced as orthodoxy and condemned as heresy were in fact competing interpretations of Christianity, one of which eventually (but not initially) acquired domination because of singular and historical forces. Only when one social group had exerted itself sufficiently over the rest of Christendom did a “majority” opinion emerge: only then did the “right belief” represent the view of the Christian church at large.[ii]
by J. C. Ryle
The Bible is God's merciful provision for sinful man's soul, the map by which he must steer his course, if he would attain eternal life. All that we need to know, in order to make us peaceful, holy, or happy, is richly contained there. If a young man wants to know how to begin his life well, let him hear what David says: "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word" (Psalm 119:9).
Young men, I charge you to make a habit of reading the Bible, and not to let the habit be broken. Do not Let the laughter of friends, do not let the bad customs of the family you live in, don't let any of these things prevent your doing it. Determine that you will not only have a Bible, but also make time to read it too. Allow no man to persuade you that it is only a book for Sunday school children and old women. It is the book from which King David got wisdom and understanding. It is the book which young Timothy knew from his childhood. Never be ashamed of reading it. Do not "scorn instruction" (Proverbs 13:13).
Read it with the prayer that the Holy Spirit's grace will help you understand it. It has been said, "A man may just as soon read the Scripture without eyes, as understand the spirit of it without grace."
Some believe grace is not really a gift but gives man an opportunity to believe or not, but this scenario is about as likely as believing that shining a light into the eyes of a blind man will enable him to see if he wants to. If the blind is not given new eyes, he will not see. And once he is given new eyes he already sees. Grace is grace because Jesus gives to us what we were unable to give to ourselves: eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to believe. (Deut 29:4; 30:6)
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Some teach that 'salvation depends on human will', but the Bible teaches (and I quote) 'it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." (Rom 9:16)
We cannot believe in just any "Jesus", and think that because we are using this word, that we are, therefore, honoring God. The Jesus of the Bible is one who saves by grace ALONE, not the false or inconsistent Jesus' proclaimed by many who want to partly retain the merit, wisdom or humility of man. It is only when man is stripped of all hope in himself and, by grace, turns to Jesus alone that he understands the gospel. Do you trust in Jesus alone? If you do then know this, Jesus provides EVERYTHING we need for salvation, including the Holy Spirit to believe (John 6:63, 65), the wisdom and sound judgment to believe (1 Cor 1:30) and a new heart to believe (Ezek 36:26). Jesus is sufficient.
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"But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear." - Deut 29:4.
The following are some excerpts from The High King of Heaven: Discovering the Master Keys to the Great End Time Debate - A book which makes a defense of amillennial eschatology.
Dr. Sam Storms recent endorsement is as follows" "The High King of Heaven, by Dean Davis, is the most sweeping and comprehensive book on eschatology that I've ever encountered. The scope of this book is simply breathtaking. As is typical with all books on eschatology, no one will agree with everything he says. But everyone should wrestle vigorously and thoughtfully with his approach to reading prophetic texts. This isn't for bedside, late-night reading. In fact, it will probably keep you up at night!"
This is a series of posts dealing with the proper interpretation of Old Testament Kingdom Prophecy (OTKP). The goal in these eschatological adventures is two-fold. Davis is the author of The High King of Heaven: Discovering the Master Keys to the Great End Time Debate - A book which makes a defense of amillennial eschatology.
First, to open up something of the Christ-centered truth and beauty of OTKP to my brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Secondly, to reason a little with my premillennial brethren. In particular, I want to make the case that we all will best understand, enjoy, and profit from OTKP when we see that its true sphere of fulfillment is: 1) Christ, 2) the New Covenant he instituted by his blood, 3) the two-staged spiritual Kingdom he has already introduced (and will soon consummate), and, 4) the New Covenant community he is creating out of elect Jews and Gentiles: the Church.
In short, I would like my premillennial brothers to reconsider the amillennial approach to the interpretation of OTKP.
