A People for His Name

The Restorer of Souls

August 17, 2011

David testifies that the Lord, his Shepherd (“The Lord is my Shepherd”; κύριος ποιμαίνει με; Ps. 23:1), is the One who restores souls:

τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐπέστρεψεν ὡδήγησέν με ἐπὶ τρίβους δικαιοσύνης ἕνεκεν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ

KJV Psalm 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

David uses the same verb and object (in both the Hebrew and Greek OT) that are in this verse in other closely related teaching in the Psalms:

ὁ νόμος τοῦ κυρίου ἄμωμος ἐπιστρέφων ψυχάς ἡ μαρτυρία κυρίου πιστή σοφίζουσα νήπια

KJV Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

By comparing Psalms 23:3 and 19:7, we learn that the Lord is the Shepherd who restores souls through His perfect law.

Scripture’s use of the same verb and object (in both Greek and Hebrew) in Lamentations provides us with further understanding:

ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου κατήγαγεν ὕδωρ ὅτι ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ ὁ παρακαλῶν με ὁ ἐπιστρέφων ψυχήν μου

KJV Lamentations 1:16 Mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me

NAU Lamentations 1:16 My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul.

By comparing all three of these passages, we see that the Lord as the Shepherd is the Comforter who restores people’s souls through His perfect law.

Finally, the occurrence in the NT of the same Greek verb and object that is in all the preceding passages as well as the Greek word for shepherd that is a cognate to the verb found in the LXX rendering of Psalm 23:1 highlights the truths seen above:

ὃς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν αὐτὸς ἀνήνεγκεν ἐν τῷ σώματι αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον, ἵνα ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἀπογενόμενοι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ ζήσωμεν, οὗ τῷ μώλωπι ἰάθητε. 25 ἦτε γὰρ ὡς πρόβατα πλανώμενοι, ἀλλὰ ἐπεστράφητε νῦν ἐπὶ τὸν ποιμένα καὶ ἐπίσκοπον τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν.

KJV 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

This passage declares that we were sheep going astray (cf. Isa. 53:6), but we are now returned to the Shepherd of our souls. He brought about that return through His using His perfect law to restore our souls.

Praise the Lord that He is the Shepherd, the Restorer of the souls of sheep who have gone astray!

In Interpretation

Sanctification through Visitation

August 16, 2011

Tonight, I went on visitation with another member from my church. We went to a rough neighborhood in a trailer park. Although we talked with several lost people, no one seemed to be genuinely receptive much at all.

God used what I observed and heard in this neighborhood tonight to deal with me about issues in my own heart and walk with Him. Had I not been in that setting and experienced the personal challenges in my own soul that I did because of my being among those people, I would not have been as receptive to God’s dealing with me afterward as I ended up being.

Perhaps my experience tonight would be repeated in the lives of many others of God’s people were they to put themselves consistently among lost people to try to reach them.

I believe that through our regular interaction with lost people, God desires not only to bless them with exposure to His truth; He also wants to sanctify us for His service. Let us all, therefore, heed even more God’s desire for us to be active in trying to reach lost people.

In Discipleship, Testimony

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

Great Free Sheet Music Program!

August 13, 2011

Yesterday, I downloaded an updated version of MuseScore. This is a great program for a great price—it’s free!

Here’s info from the website about the program:

MuseScore is a free cross-platform WYSIWYG music notation program that offers a cost-effective alternative to commercial programs such as Sibelius and Finale.
You can print beautifully engraved sheet music or save it as PDF or MIDI file.
Some highlights:
WYSIWYG, notes are entered on a “virtual note sheet”
Unlimited number of staves
Up to four voices per staff
Easy and fast note entry with your keyboard, mouse, or MIDI keyboard
Integrated sequencer and FluidSynth software synthesizer
Import and export of MusicXML and Standard MIDI Files
Available for Windows, Mac and Linux
Translated in 43 languages
GNU GPL licensed

I especially appreciate having a music notation program that allows me easily to listen to how even very complicated music should sound. Using this program in my own practicing is undoubtedly going to help me learn very difficult rhythm patterns that I otherwise may never have been able to learn on my own!

I look forward to using this program to produce many quality resources to train Christian guitarists in the future, D.V.

In Music

Jesus' Call to a Commandment-Centered Making of Disciples

August 12, 2011

Recently, I have read a number of blog posts that concern current debates about being centered on the gospel, the grace of God, etc. Because I have not myself read the actual book-length works of the various leading authors who are propounding these views, I am not able to assess thoroughly the validity of what these who advocate this approach to the Christian life are saying.

Nonetheless, after reading these posts, I find my thoughts gravitating to Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:18-20 as decisively showing what kind of life Jesus has called us to live:

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Because these verses as so well known, a detailed exposition is unnecessary. In brief, they stress that Jesus has called His disciples to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them.

What Jesus specifies about the teaching that must take place is noteworthy. He stressed to His disciples that they must disciple others by teaching them to obey everything whatever He had commanded His disciples themselves to obey. He thus plainly enjoined a focus in discipleship of teaching people all that Jesus has commanded and directing them to obey all that Jesus has commanded.

Based on this analysis, I believe that any teaching that ultimately results in a de-emphasis on Jesus’ call to a commandment-centered making of disciples is not supported by Scripture.

In Discipleship, Interpretation

Kept From Sin by the Ministry of God's Judicial Agents!

August 11, 2011

King Jehoshaphat appointed judges “throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city” (2 Chron. 19:5). He warned them that they would be judging for God and not for man and that God would be with them in the judgment (19:6). He thus instructed them that they were judicial agents of God.

Because they were God’s judicial agents, God’s fear had to be upon them (19:7a). They had to be diligent and careful in their judging because God is the righteous Judge with whom is no iniquity, partiality, or accepting of bribes (19:7b).

In Jerusalem, his capital city, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites, priests, and chiefs of the fathers of Israel “for the judgment of the LORD and for controversies” (19:8). Saying this, the writer of 2 Chronicles informs us that these men were also appointed God’s judicial agents.

As he had done earlier with the other judicial agents that he had appointed (19:7), the king then charged them to judge faithfully in the fear the Lord (19:9). This charge to God’s judicial agents throughout Judah shows that fearing God was a key qualification for those who would judge for Him.

He then gave them key instruction that reveals the vital ministry that they were to perform in behalf of God’s people:

“And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass” (19:10).

Through this instruction, the king informed these judicial agents that they had to play a key role in adjudicating disputes that arose between God’s people. By warning His people not to trespass against Him when such controversies would arise among them, the judicial agents would keep both themselves and God’s people from incurring the wrath of God.

Many people today seem to have largely negative perspectives about the ministry of God’s judicial agents, thinking of them mainly in terms of those who would punish people for wrongdoing. This passage, however, reveals that they played a very beneficial and “positive” role of instructing God’s people to keep them from sinning against Him!

In Interpretation

Every Thought Obedient to Christ

August 10, 2011

A comparison of two passages reveals a vital point about making a person a disciple of Christ:

“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28:20).

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Jesus commanded His disciples to make disciples of all nations by teaching them to obey everything that He had commanded His disciples themselves to obey. Paul spoke of our warfare as intended to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Taken together, these passages suggest that making people disciples of Christ at its essence involves engaging in spiritual warfare to bring them to have their all their thinking captive to the obedience of Christ. How will we make them such disciples?

Psalm 1:3 surely shows us one essential aspect of how we are to do so—we must teach them to have their delight in God’s Word and meditate in it day and night! Apart from their having such a total absorption with God’s own thoughts, their being a disciple whose every thought is captive to the obedience of Christ will be impossible.

In Bible reading, Discipleship

God's Appeal For Repentance and Faith in Psalm 2

August 9, 2011

Tonight, I had the privilege of preaching an evangelistic message at Berean Baptist Church in Fountain Inn, SC. My message focused on a detailed exposition of Psalms 1-2. I praise God for giving me clarity today concerning a key point about Psalm 2 that I had not fully understood previously!

Psalm 2 begins with a record of rebellious kings and rulers who desire to throw off the authority of God and His anointed over them (2:1-3). It then records the angry response of the Father (2:4-6), followed by the Son’s declaration (2:7-9) and the psalmist’s closing appeal (2:10-12).

The psalmist directed the very authorities who were spoken of earlier as rebelling against God to be wise and be instructed (2:10). He then explained those directives by declaring that they would have to turn from rebelling against God to serving Him with fear and rejoicing with trembling (2:11). This complete reversal toward the Lord was an appeal for them to repent toward God.

The psalmist continued by demanding that they submit to and honor the Son and put their trust in Him (2:12). This reversal of their prior opposition to Him and call to entrust themselves to Him was a further appeal for their repentance toward God and an appeal to believe in the Son.

This analysis shows that Psalm 2 highlights God’s appeal for repentance and faith on the part of the very authorities who rebelled against Him and His Christ!

In Evangelism, Interpretation, Ministry, Preaching

Let us Make Known the Gospel to All!

August 8, 2011

Scripture has four verses that explicitly speak of the gospel with reference to all nations:

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14).

“And the gospel must first be published among all nations” (Mk. 13:10).

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed” (Gal. 3:8)

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6).

Galatians 3:8 quotes Genesis 12:3, which refers to all the families of the earth: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Mark 16:16 records that Jesus commanded gospel ministry to every individual: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Compiling the data from these references plainly reveals that God has ordained gospel ministry to all:

all nations (Matt. 24:14; Mk. 13:10; Gal. 3:8)
all families (Gen. 12:3)
every creature (Mk. 16:15)
those that dwell on the earth (Rev. 14:6)
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people (Rev. 14:6)

Let us therefore make known to all God’s desire to bless all through the gospel!

In Evangelism, Gospel

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