For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Deuteronomy 30:11-19
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Here, the Lord tells the children of Israel what he requires of them. He has laid out his commandments, and He has explained in graphic detail the consequences of forsaking those commandments. Now, these things were written for our examples – that we should not lust after evil things, as they did – so let us take care to pay attention to what we read. In giving the commandments of this covenant, as weak and unprofitable as it was, as burdensome a yoke (that neither they nor their children were able to bear, says Peter), what does the Lord say? He says there is nothing about these commands that is difficult: they are not hidden requirements that we might break them unwittingly, they are not far off, idealistic and unrealistic; they are not up in heaven that we need some prophet to bring them to us, nor are they in some far away country, that we need a hero to retrieve them for us. No, the Lord says, they are right here, near you – in fact, they are in your mouth – in your heart. Simply do them and live. It is not a difficult choice, people.
Now, if that is what our Lord provided for His people in the former covenant, what greater provision and power must there be in His new covenant? For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God…by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament…wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are call might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
The new covenant being established on better promises than the old, we may say that through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, grace and peace are multiplied unto us according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness – through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue – and by him are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Thus, in the Spirit and power of the Lord, we may live, not in fear, nor in sin, but in wholehearted obedience and love, and that not as though it were difficult, but easily and naturally, for our Lord says “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (I John 5:2-4)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth of October, 1658
I was reading Foxe’s Book of Martyrs the other day, and came across a passage that sounded eerily familiar – too familiar, perhaps. Without further ado...
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An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth of October, 1658
"Whereas, there is a pernicious sect, commonly called Quakers, lately risen, who by word and writing have published and maintained many dangerous and horrid tenets, and do take upon them to change and alter the received laudable customs of our nation, in giving civil respects to equals, or reverence to superiors; whose actions tend to undermine the civil government, and also to destroy the order of the churches, by denying all established forms of worship, and by withdrawing from orderly Church fellowship, allowed and approved by all orthodox professors of truth, and instead thereof, and in opposition thereunto, frequently meeting by themselves, insinuating themselves into the minds of the simple, or such as are at least affected to the order and government of church and commonwealth, whereby divers of our inhabitants have been infected, notwithstanding all former laws, made upon the experience of their arrogant and bold obtrusions, to disseminate their principles amongst us, prohibiting their coming into this jurisdiction, they have not been deferred from their impious attempts to undermine our peace, and hazard our ruin.
"For prevention thereof, this court doth order and enact, that any person or persons, of the cursed sect of the Quakers, who is not an inhabitant of, but is found within this jurisdiction, shall be apprehended without warrant, where no magistrate is at hand, by any constable, commissioner, or selectman, and conveyed from constable to constable, to the next magistrate, who shall commit the said person to close prison, there to remain (without bail) until the next court of Assistants, where they shall have legal trial.
"And being convicted to be of the sect of the Quakers, shall be sentenced to banishment, on pain of death. And that every inhabitant of this jurisdiction, being convicted to be of the aforesaid sect, either by taking up, publishing, or defending the horrid opinions of the Quakers, or the stirring up mutiny, sedition, or rebellion against the government, or by taking up their abusive and destructive practices, viz. denying civil respect to equals and superiors, and withdrawing from the Church assemblies; and instead thereof, frequenting meetings of their own, in opposition to our Church order; adhering to, or approving of any known Quaker, and the tenets and practices of Quakers, that are opposite to the orthodox received opinions of the godly; and endeavoring to disaffect others to civil government and Church order, or condemning the practice and proceedings of this court against the Quakers, manifesting thereby their complying with those, whose design is to overthrow the order established in Church and state: every such person, upon conviction before the said court of Assistants, in manner aforesaid, shall be committed to close prison for one month, and then, unless they choose voluntarily to depart this jurisdiction, shall give bond for their good behavior and appear at the next court, continuing obstinate, and refusing to retract and reform the aforesaid opinions, they shall be sentenced to banishment, upon pain of death. And any one magistrate, upon information given him of any such person, shall cause him to be apprehended, and shall commit any such person to prison, according to his discretion, until he come to trial as aforesaid."
____________________________________________________________
An Act Made at a General Court, Held at Boston, the Twentieth of October, 1658
"Whereas, there is a pernicious sect, commonly called Quakers, lately risen, who by word and writing have published and maintained many dangerous and horrid tenets, and do take upon them to change and alter the received laudable customs of our nation, in giving civil respects to equals, or reverence to superiors; whose actions tend to undermine the civil government, and also to destroy the order of the churches, by denying all established forms of worship, and by withdrawing from orderly Church fellowship, allowed and approved by all orthodox professors of truth, and instead thereof, and in opposition thereunto, frequently meeting by themselves, insinuating themselves into the minds of the simple, or such as are at least affected to the order and government of church and commonwealth, whereby divers of our inhabitants have been infected, notwithstanding all former laws, made upon the experience of their arrogant and bold obtrusions, to disseminate their principles amongst us, prohibiting their coming into this jurisdiction, they have not been deferred from their impious attempts to undermine our peace, and hazard our ruin.
"For prevention thereof, this court doth order and enact, that any person or persons, of the cursed sect of the Quakers, who is not an inhabitant of, but is found within this jurisdiction, shall be apprehended without warrant, where no magistrate is at hand, by any constable, commissioner, or selectman, and conveyed from constable to constable, to the next magistrate, who shall commit the said person to close prison, there to remain (without bail) until the next court of Assistants, where they shall have legal trial.
"And being convicted to be of the sect of the Quakers, shall be sentenced to banishment, on pain of death. And that every inhabitant of this jurisdiction, being convicted to be of the aforesaid sect, either by taking up, publishing, or defending the horrid opinions of the Quakers, or the stirring up mutiny, sedition, or rebellion against the government, or by taking up their abusive and destructive practices, viz. denying civil respect to equals and superiors, and withdrawing from the Church assemblies; and instead thereof, frequenting meetings of their own, in opposition to our Church order; adhering to, or approving of any known Quaker, and the tenets and practices of Quakers, that are opposite to the orthodox received opinions of the godly; and endeavoring to disaffect others to civil government and Church order, or condemning the practice and proceedings of this court against the Quakers, manifesting thereby their complying with those, whose design is to overthrow the order established in Church and state: every such person, upon conviction before the said court of Assistants, in manner aforesaid, shall be committed to close prison for one month, and then, unless they choose voluntarily to depart this jurisdiction, shall give bond for their good behavior and appear at the next court, continuing obstinate, and refusing to retract and reform the aforesaid opinions, they shall be sentenced to banishment, upon pain of death. And any one magistrate, upon information given him of any such person, shall cause him to be apprehended, and shall commit any such person to prison, according to his discretion, until he come to trial as aforesaid."
Sunday, May 10, 2009
A Few Words from Leonard
Some quotations from Leonard Ravenhill. I found them encouraging and applicable; I pray they do the same for you.
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"A popular evangelist reaches your emotions. A true prophet reaches your conscience."
"A true shepherd leads the way. He does not merely point the way."
"You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there's a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it."
"John the Baptist never performed any miracles. Yet, he was greater than any of the Old Testament prophets."
"I doubt that more than two percent of professing Christians in the United States are truly born again."
"Our God is a consuming fire. He consumes pride, lust, materialism, and other sin."
"There are only two kinds of persons: those dead in sin and those dead to sin."
"Children can tell you what Channel 7 says, but not what Matthew 7 says."
"Some women [some men, too!] will spend thirty minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church with prayer and meditation?"
"Maturity comes from obedience, not necessarily from age."
"What good does it do to speak in tongues on Sunday if you have been using your tongue during the week to curse and gossip?"
"Would we send our daughters off to have sex if it would benefit our country? Yet, we send our sons off to kill when we think it would benefit our country!"
"The only time you can really say that 'Christ is all I need,' is when Christ is all you have."
"The Bible is either absolute, or it's obsolete."
"Why do we expect to be better treated in this world than Jesus was?"
"Testimonies are wonderful. But, so often our lives don't fit our testimonies."
"My main ambition in life is to be on the Devil's most wanted list."
"You can't develop character by reading books. You develop it from conflict."
"When there's something in the Bible that churches don't like, they call it: legalism.'"
"We can't serve God by proxy."
"We must do what we can do for God, before He will give us the power to do what we can't do."
"There's a difference between changing your opinion, and changing your lifestyle."
"Our seminaries today are turning out dead men."
"How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don't even have the strength to turn off your TV?"
"If a Christian is not having tribulation in the world, there's something wrong!"
"Any method of evangelism will work, if God is in it."
"Church unity comes from corporate humility."
"Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, 'Leonard, you took Me too seriously?'"
"If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified."
"You can know a lot about the atonement, and yet receive no benefit from it."
_____________________________________________________________
And one final quote, a warning to which we would do well to take heed:
"If the whole church goes off into deception, that will in no way excuse us for not following Christ."
_________________________________________________
"A popular evangelist reaches your emotions. A true prophet reaches your conscience."
"A true shepherd leads the way. He does not merely point the way."
"You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there's a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it."
"John the Baptist never performed any miracles. Yet, he was greater than any of the Old Testament prophets."
"I doubt that more than two percent of professing Christians in the United States are truly born again."
"Our God is a consuming fire. He consumes pride, lust, materialism, and other sin."
"There are only two kinds of persons: those dead in sin and those dead to sin."
"Children can tell you what Channel 7 says, but not what Matthew 7 says."
"Some women [some men, too!] will spend thirty minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church with prayer and meditation?"
"Maturity comes from obedience, not necessarily from age."
"What good does it do to speak in tongues on Sunday if you have been using your tongue during the week to curse and gossip?"
"Would we send our daughters off to have sex if it would benefit our country? Yet, we send our sons off to kill when we think it would benefit our country!"
"The only time you can really say that 'Christ is all I need,' is when Christ is all you have."
"The Bible is either absolute, or it's obsolete."
"Why do we expect to be better treated in this world than Jesus was?"
"Testimonies are wonderful. But, so often our lives don't fit our testimonies."
"My main ambition in life is to be on the Devil's most wanted list."
"You can't develop character by reading books. You develop it from conflict."
"When there's something in the Bible that churches don't like, they call it: legalism.'"
"We can't serve God by proxy."
"We must do what we can do for God, before He will give us the power to do what we can't do."
"There's a difference between changing your opinion, and changing your lifestyle."
"Our seminaries today are turning out dead men."
"How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don't even have the strength to turn off your TV?"
"If a Christian is not having tribulation in the world, there's something wrong!"
"Any method of evangelism will work, if God is in it."
"Church unity comes from corporate humility."
"Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, 'Leonard, you took Me too seriously?'"
"If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified."
"You can know a lot about the atonement, and yet receive no benefit from it."
_____________________________________________________________
And one final quote, a warning to which we would do well to take heed:
"If the whole church goes off into deception, that will in no way excuse us for not following Christ."
Monday, May 4, 2009
On Interpreting Scripture
Sometimes, I feel dumb asking other people what they think about this or that spiritual topic. Not all the time, but when I don’t know the “answer” – for some reason, it strikes me as presumptuous (maybe that’s not the right word, but it seems not quite right, anyway) to ask others, when it is the Spirit of God that leads us into all truth – shouldn’t I simply ask the Author what He meant, if I don’t understand?
If Jesus said that the Spirit, when He was come, would guide us into all truth, I must lay hold on that promise and bring it before God as the basis for my prayer – God has promised that He would send the Spirit, and that the Spirit would guide me into all truth – if I am to live and walk in the Spirit, then I must take God at His word, and actually live that way. So if I am to rightly interpret a section of Scripture, I must be in the Spirit (for who knoweth the mind of man, save the spirit of man; who knoweth the mind of God, save the Spirit of God?).
Now, the wisdom (that is, the correct and skilful application of knowledge) that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated. Easy to be intreated. That means that any enduement of heavenly wisdom will only make me more approachable and willing to listen to others’ thoughts and arguments. Hmm…like love, pure, not rejoicing in iniquity, but rejoicing in truth; heavenly wisdom is first pure, seeking the pure, the right, the truth, so as not to fall into error or sin.
If Jesus said that the Spirit, when He was come, would guide us into all truth, I must lay hold on that promise and bring it before God as the basis for my prayer – God has promised that He would send the Spirit, and that the Spirit would guide me into all truth – if I am to live and walk in the Spirit, then I must take God at His word, and actually live that way. So if I am to rightly interpret a section of Scripture, I must be in the Spirit (for who knoweth the mind of man, save the spirit of man; who knoweth the mind of God, save the Spirit of God?).
Now, the wisdom (that is, the correct and skilful application of knowledge) that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated. Easy to be intreated. That means that any enduement of heavenly wisdom will only make me more approachable and willing to listen to others’ thoughts and arguments. Hmm…like love, pure, not rejoicing in iniquity, but rejoicing in truth; heavenly wisdom is first pure, seeking the pure, the right, the truth, so as not to fall into error or sin.
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