Christian Books | A People for His Name

Spurgeon on Obedience to God's Commandments

August 15, 2011

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” The Christian delights to be obedient, but it is the obedience of love, to which he is constrained by the example of His Master. “He leadeth me.” The Christian is not obedient to some commandments and neglectful of others; he does not pick and choose but yields to all. Observe the plural is used—”the paths of righteousness.” Whatever God may give us to do we would do it, led by His love. Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. . . . All this is done out of pure free grace; for His name’s sake.” It is to the honour of our great Shepherd that we should be a holy people, walking in the narrow way of righteousness. If we be so led and guided we must not fail to adore our heavenly Shepherd’s care.

—Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 23:3, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1, 355; bold text is in italics in original

In Discipleship, Quotes

Bridges on Fearing God

August 14, 2011

The person who fears God realizes that life cannot be compartmentalized into spiritual and secular but must all be lived as God directs us in His Word. This person consistently and habitually reads and studies the Bible to determine what he should believe and how he should live. The God-fearing person seeks after “the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness” (Titus 1:1). He or she wants to know the truth, not just intellectually but in a way that promotes growth in godliness.

—Jerry Bridges, The Joy of Fearing God, 140

In Quotes

"We Do Not Get Our Doctrine From Acts"

July 31, 2011

I found the following on a site through searching on Google:

Luke is considered to be the author of the book of Acts. He wrote it around the year 61. We do not get our doctrine from Acts. It is a history of the transition from the Kingdom Gospel to our current Age of Grace dispensation.

(NOTE: The stoning of Stephen took place about 1 year after the nation of Israel rejected and crucified Jesus. Stephens message was of the Kingdom Gospel that Jesus came to fulfill. This was the rejection of the Holy Ghost that put the Kingdom Gospel on hold and ushered in the Age of Grace. In this dispensation we no longer require salvation through the nation of Israel. Now salvation is a free gift from God to all that “BELIEVE” in the Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that takes away the sins of the world. Jew and Gentile are now equal and can only be saved through the message that the Apostle Paul brings to us in Romans Thru Philemon)

—http://www.savedbygrace.com/acts.htm

I disagree strongly with a number of things that this source says.

First, concerning our doctrine, I find no Bible data that teaches me that the book of Acts is an exception to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which states, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine . . .”

Second, Acts 8:12 shows us that Philip preached the gospel of the kingdom of God in Samaria after Stephen’s stoning. The statement above, therefore, that his stoning “was the rejection of the Holy Ghost that put the Kingdom Gospel on hold . . .” is not supported by the Scripture.

Third, Paul says that he preached the kingdom of God throughout Asia (20:25) in his three years of ministry there (20:31). Furthermore, Luke summarizes Paul’s entire ministry in Rome with two statements that emphasize his proclamation of the kingdom of God (28:23, 31). These bibilical statements do not support a supposed “transition from the Kingdom Gospel to our current Age of Grace dispensation.”

Fourth, it appears that this site views the Pauline Epistles as of singular significance for our day. I do not find biblical justification for this view.

I wonder how many of God’s people over the years have received teaching similar to these statements from this site. Even for those who have not received direct teaching of this type, I wonder how many have through one means or another come to hold such views.

In Gospel, Interpretation, Quotes

Apostolic Preaching of Repentance and Conversion

July 28, 2011

The great themes of repentance and conversion were part of the apostolic preaching from the beginning (Acts 2:38; 3:26). Paul taught clearly that good works could save no one (Rom. 3:28). But he also taught that consequent good works were a necessity to demonstrate the genuineness of the conversion (Eph. 2:8-10). By grace a person must change the way he thinks and lives, must turn his life around from sin and selfishness to God, and must so live that people can see the seriousness of his choice for Christ. Only the transforming power of Christ can work such a change.

—Stewart Custer, Witness to Christ: A Commentary on Acts, 366

In Quotes

Healed to Sin No More

July 25, 2011

Jesus healed a man who had suffered from an infirmity for 38 years (John 5:5). In their subsequent meeting in the temple, He challenged the man by saying, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee”(5:14).

The man had suffered greatly with a physical problem for a long time, yet Jesus exhorted him concerning his not sinning any longer. Prior to this statement, the passage does not say anything about the man’s having a sin problem. Why then did Jesus challenge him in the way that He did?

Interpreters differ on the meaning of Jesus’ words to the man. Blum holds that his sin did not cause his malady:

(Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you) does not mean that his paralysis was caused by any specific sin (cf. 9:3), though all disease and death come ultimately from sin. The warning was that his tragic life of 38 years was no comparison to the doom of hell. Jesus is interested not merely in healing a person’s body. Far more important is the healing of his soul from sin.

— BKC: NT, 290; bold in original

Carson argues for the opposite view concerning the man’s sinfulness having caused his condition but agrees about what Jesus was most concerned about:

But although suffering and illness have this deep, theological connection with sin in general, and although John elsewhere insists that a specific ailment is not necessarily the result of a specific sin (9:3), there is nothing in any of this that precludes the possibility that some ailments are the direct consequence of specific sins. And that is the most natural reading of this verse. . . . If so, it is just possible John is also telling us that the reason Jesus chose this invalid out of all the others who were waiting for the waters to be stirred, was precisely because his illness, and his alone, was tied to a specific sin. . . . The something worse must be final judgment (cf. v. 29).

—The Gospel According to John, PNTC, 246; bold words are in italics in the original

Regardless of which view we take to be correct, we should keep in mind that the passage teaches that this man was healed to sin no more. From this passage, we, therefore, should learn not to allow a legitimate concern for the healing of even serious physical suffering in people to keep us from being supremely concerned about their eternal destiny.

In Health, Interpretation, Quotes

Spurgeon on Soul Winning

July 24, 2011

There is a spiritual wooing and winning of hearts for the Lord Jesus. If you would learn the way, you must ask God to give you a tender heart and a sympathizing soul. I believe that much of the secret of soul-winning lies in having compassion, in having spirits that can be touched with the feeling of human infirmities. Carve a preacher out of granite, and even if you give him an angel’s tongue, he will convert nobody. Put him into the most fashionable pulpit, make his elocution faultless and his matter profoundly orthodox, but so long as he bears within his bosom a hard heart, he can never win a soul. Soul-saving requires a heart that beats hard against the ribs. It requires a soul full of the milk of human kindness. This is the sine qua non of success. This is the chief natural qualification for a soul winner, which, under God and blessed of Him, will accomplish wonders.

—The Soul Winner, 223; bold is in the original; underlined text is in italics in the original

In Quotes

Bridges on Fearing God

July 6, 2011

Great thoughts about God will lead naturally to realistic thoughts about ourselves. We begin to realize how little we know, how uncertain and unpredictable life is, and consequently how little we’re actually in control of anything. We begin to see that we’re physically and spiritually frail and vulnerable, and that every second of our lives is lived at the good pleasure of God. As John Calvin wrote, “Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.”
Such an awareness of ourselves is spiritually healthy. Few things block out our growth of fearing God as do feelings of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency. When we’re pleased with our goodness and confident of our abilities, we tend not to stand in awe of God. But when we’re shorn of our self-righteousness and stripped of sinful self-sufficiency, we’re in a position to fear Him.

—Jerry Bridges, The Joy of Fearing God, 131

In Quotes

Judgment in Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper

July 3, 2011

C. F. D. Moule has pointed out that both the sacraments imply a doctrine of judgment. Baptism is regarded as dying with Christ and rising with Him. It is thus ‘a willing acceptance of the verdict on sin, in union with Christ, whose perfect obedience to the sentence has been vindicated and crowned by the resurrection’. Baptism ‘is essentially pleading guilty, accepting the verdict’. It is unrepeatable, and has about it the once-for-all quality of the final judgment. Holy Communion should be preceded by self-judgment, otherwise it will be followed by divine judgment (1 Cor. xi. 28f.). ‘Emphatically, therefore the Eucharist is an occasion of judgment—either of voluntary self-judgment, in acceptance of God’s verdict on fallen man, or else of unwilling liability to God’s judgment.’

—Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, 56-57.

In Quotes

Words That Weary God

June 25, 2011

The prophet Malachi indicted God’s people with some amazing words: “Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, ‘Wherein have we wearied Him?’ When ye say, ‘Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them’; or, ‘Where is the God of judgment?'” (Mal. 2:17). Craig A. Blaising comments,

The Jews in Malachi’s day had failed to learn such hope [of God’s future punishment of evil people and rewarding of the righteous when He comes] from the Scriptures. They questioned God’s justice by saying that He delights in evil people and by asking, Where is the God of justice? Yet they were the guilty ones; they were the ones who were unfaithful to Him. Here too God responded by referring to His forthcoming judgment (Mal. 3:1-5). However, unlike the answers by the righteous biblical writers mentioned earlier [Job 24, 27; Ps. 73; Eccl. 8; Jer. 12; Hab. 2-3; mentioned in the previous paragraph in the commentary], the judgment which Malachi referred to was to be against the hypocritical questioners as well.

—BKC: OT, 1583; bold and italics in the quote are from the original
When we are tempted to question God’s justice, we would do well to allow this indictment (2:17) and God’s response to the people’s questioning His justice (3:1-5) to turn us away from yielding to the temptation to do so.

In Discipleship, Quotes

Jesus' Warning That Spammers Need to Heed

June 16, 2011

I have been blogging since February of this year and have learned much about writing, blogs, PHP, CSS—and the practices of spammers. Having to deal regularly with many spam messages, I think that spammers need to consider solemnly that Jesus taught, “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36). He

emphasizes the importance of what people say by speaking of every careless word they utter. When people speak lightly without paying serious attention to what they are saying, the careless word, the word uttered without any thought of the effect that it will have on other people, then that word shows something of what they are, deep down . . . This makes it more significant than the person uttering it may think, and it will be taken into account on Judgment Day. Jesus is saying that in the end we must all give account of ourselves and that words we take lightly will then be seen to have meaning, for they show our innermost being.—Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, 322; bold words are in italics in the original

Based on the content of the spam messages that I am receiving on my site, I believe that their authors are sadly storing up for themselves wrath from God in the Day of Judgment.

Every spam message that supposedly comments on a post but does not have anything to do with the post itself displays a failure to love one’s neighbor as oneself. Spammers fail to obey the Golden Rule of doing to others what they would want to have done to themselves.

May God grant spammers repentance of their multiplying idle words through their worthless messages that display their lack of love for their fellow man.

In Interpretation, Quotes

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