Be Thankful for Truth!

Yesterday I was working on a study on "Answered Prayer" I will be delivering in a few weeks. After consulting several commentaries, I was reading Johannes G. Vos' commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism. As I read the catechism, I began to envy the Presbyterians for their rich history, their strong theological tradition, and their churches. At that moment I wished I could be a Presbyterian and enjoy the benefits of being in a large, well ordered, theologically sound organization. But, I was quickly convicted of the foolishness of that kind of thinking. It wasn't long before I realized that I should be thankful that I have the truth, even if I don't have some temporal comforts. I should be more thankful that I am firmly convinced that I am in a better theological strand than they are. I should be thankful that the Lord has been pleased to open my eyes to things in Scripture like believer's baptism and New Covenant Theology. It is not a small thing to be convinced of the truth. Therefore, I should not envy those whom I believe are in error on certain points.

I am in no way inteding to bash the Westminster Larger Catechism, the Westminster Confession of Faith, or the Westminster Shorter Catechism. They are all three great documents and I have benefited greatly from them. After all, even the 1689 London Baptist Confession is just a baptized version of the WCF (which is why I prefer the 1646 London Baptist Confession, but that's another issue all together).

I guess the reason I'm posting this isn't so much for those of you who may be struggling between different denominational positions. Rather, I am posting this in hope that you will be thankful to God for the fact that there is objective truth, that we have His Word, and that we can know Him! I believe that New Covenant Theology is a more accurate system than Covenant Theology. I believe that believer's baptism is the only scriptural form of baptism. But, that doesn't mean I think everyone who doesn't agree with me is lost. If anything, the differing positions encourage me to search the Scriptures further and seek out which position is accurate.

I hope that you will love the Truth, be thankful to God that He has revealed His Truth, that you will search the Scriptures that you may discover what is True and what is not, and that you will be thankful that you have Truth, even if you don't have some of the temporal comforts you may desire.

Middle Knowledge

R. Scott Clark has posted a good article on Middle Knowledge at his blog. It is worth your time to read it, especially if you're a Southern Baptist. Middle Knowledge seems to be in vogue among certain SBC big-wigs. I loathe this aberration of the truth and pray you won't get duped by the false teachers propounding it!

The Deceitfulness of Sin

Sin is a liar.

This is a lesson I have been trying to learn for many years. I have known the truth of this statement since I first became a believer, but yet, I find that I must struggle daily to remember that it is true. It is not a difficult concept to grasp. It is not some "secret knowledge" that one must possess. Rather, the fact that sin is a liar is revealed on almost every page of scripture. And yet, I am too often led away by its deceitfulness.

The writer of Hebrews understood this truth. In 3:12-13 he says, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." The writer understood that the deceitfulness of sin was a real and present danger for his hearers. If we, as the body of Christ, do not exhort one another daily, we will become gullible, believe the lies of sin, and harden our hearts to the truths of the gospel.

I believe that the number one reason I sin, the number one reason you sin, is because I am so incredibly gullible! I do not preach the truth of the gospel to my own heart. Instead, I allow sin to whisper lies into my minds all day long. Sin promises pleasure, fulfillment, comfort, security, ease, joy, renown, recognition, friendship, LIFE. Sin promises your best life now! Why wait? Why put of "pleasures" in the here and now in the hope that you will receive them in the next life? Sin can deliver them right this moment!

But this is sin's biggest lie of all. Sin promises life, fulfilled life, your best life now! But what does Scripture say? "For the wages of sin is death..." (Rom 6.23), "If you live according to the flesh you will die..." (Rom 8.13). The truth of Scripture blasts darkness dispelling light into the deceitful promises of sin. Sin tells us, "Indulge in me and you will know what it's like to live!" Scripture tells us, "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

Remember our first parents next time sin tries to deceive you. The serpent promised life and knowledge. But what did they get? Death. Oh sure, they got knowledge, but not the kind they were hoping for. They wanted the knowledge of good and evil in a hypothetical sense. What they got instead was the knowledge of good and evil in an experiential sense! Remember the lie of the serpent. Remember he told Eve, "you will not surely die," even though he knew full well that sin would ultimately result in death. Remember that next time sin comes to call at your door. Remember that it cannot fulfill its promises. Remember that sin is a liar.

The Wretchedness of Sin

“Suppose a man should come to his dinner table, and there should be a knife laid down, and it should be told him, ‘This is the very knife that cut the throat of your child!’ If the man would use this knife as a common knife, would not everyone say, ‘Surely this man had but very little love to his child, who can use this bloody knife as a common knife!’

Look upon the cross on which Christ was crucified, and the pains He suffered thereon—and the seeming sweetness which is in sin, will quickly vanish. When you are solicited to sin, cast your eye upon Christ’s cross; remember His astonishing sufferings for your sin, and sin will soon grow distasteful to your soul. How can sin not be hateful to us—if we seriously consider how hurtful it was to Jesus Christ?”

—Thomas Brooks, “The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures”

John Piper is NOT your Pastor!

This post from the guys over at Pyromaniacs really hit the spot for me today. We need to remember that we have been given real, flesh-and-blood shepherds over us to whom we are to look for pastoral leadership. We shouldn't seek to fill that spot with dead men, or pastors from around the country who don't know us from Adam.

I only wish I'd learned this lesson sooner! How different things might be...

Quote de Jour

"By itself the privilege of close contact with God's word is no guarantee of blessing; what is needed is a continuous exposure of the heart to it and a continuous response of faith." -Andrew T. Lincoln

Lincoln's words concerning the Word of God could not be truer.

The Word is a sword (Heb 4:12) that will judge men, either by cutting them asunder in condemnation of sin (John 12:47-8), or by cutting out, as a surgeon's scalpel, the heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh (Ezk 36:25-7).

Where do you stand under the sharp blade of the Word?

MacArthur Speaks Out

My pastor from home alerted me to the following articles by John MacArthur concerning Mark Driscoll's sermon series on the Song of Solomon. I recommend them to you as a sober analysis of the plague that is sweeping through the evangelical world.

Part I

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4