Sermon Sunday – J.C. Ryle – Faith and Assurance
October 23, 2011 at 6:30 am | Posted in Sermon Sunday | Leave a commentTags: abortion, America, assurance, ateasetees, baby, Bible, blessed, Christian, church, compromise, contrite, council, death, doubt, drink, evangelism, faith, fear, Gallio, God, grace, heart, hell, holy, hope, horses, Jesus, job, joy, Judas, judgment, justified, land, life, love, malice, meat, mercy, minister, money, murder, pardon, pastor, Paul, peace, Peter, prayer, religion, repent, salvation, Satan, saved, scripture, sin, sink, soul, Stephen, ten commandments, truth
FAITH AND ASSURANCE
by
J. C. Ryle
(1816-1900)
If you are a thoughtless, careless man about your soul, you will take no interest in the subject of this sermon. Faith and assurance are mere names and words to you: they are neither land, nor money, nor horses, nor dress, nor meat, nor drink: like Gallio, you care not for them. Alas, poor soul! I mourn over you. The day will come when you will think differently.
Reader, if you really desire to go to heaven, and to go there in the Bible way, you will find the subject of this sermon of the deepest importance. Believe me, your own comfort in religion, and your peace of conscience, depend exceedingly on understanding the matter about which I am going to speak.
I say then, that faith in Christ, and a full assurance of being saved by Christ, are two distinct things. Continue Reading Sermon Sunday – J.C. Ryle – Faith and Assurance…
Genesis 15
August 15, 2011 at 8:19 pm | Posted in Bible Study | Leave a commentTags: abortion, Abram, affliction, America, Amorite, animal, assurance, ateasetees, battle, believe, Bible, blood, Christian, church, compromise, convenant, credit, darkness, death, descendants, Egypt, enslave, evangelism, fail, faith, fear, Gabriel, Galatians, Genesis 15, goat, God, gospel, grace, heaven, hedonist, heifer, heir, hell, holy, hope, Israel, Jesus, John the Baptist, judgment, justified, king, law, lawless, life, Lord, love, marriage, Mary, Melchizedek, mercy, money, murder, nation, oppress, oven, peace, Pharaoh, pigeon, possess, prayer, promise, ram, relationship, repent, righteousness, Romans, salvation, saved, scripture, sin, smoking, Sodom, ten commandments, tenth, terror, torch, trial, tribulation, truth, turtledove, Ur, vision, war, wrath, Zacharias
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” He said, “O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. Continue Reading Genesis 15…
Sermon Sunday: Thomas Watson
April 17, 2011 at 7:31 am | Posted in Sermon Sunday | Leave a commentTags: abortion, affection, agony, America, assurance, ateasetees, Bible, children, Christian, church, clay, communion, compromise, crucified, David, death, Delilah, desire, dishonor, estate, evangelism, evil, faint, faith, fasting, fig, France, frost, Gaul, God, gold, gospel, grace, grief, heart, heat, heaven, hell, hide, holy, hope, iron, Israel, Italy, Jacob, Jesuit, Jesus, jewel, joy, judgment, law, lethargy, life, love, Luke, marriage, merchant, mercy, money, mourning, murder, ordinance, pain, pastor, Paul, peace, Peter, Philistines, pit, prayer, prince, Rachel, repent, reverence, righteousness, sacraments, saint, salvation, Samson, scripture, sin, slothful, soul, Stephen, sweet, ten commandments, truth, weeping, wept, wicked, worldly
A Test of Assurance: How We Know Whether We Love God?
by
Thomas Watson
(1620-1686)
HE WHO LOVES GOD DESIRES HIS PRESENCE. Lovers cannot be long apart, they soon have their fainting fits, for want of a sight of the object of their love. A soul deeply in love with God desires the enjoyment of Him in His ordinances, in word, prayer, and sacraments. David was ready to faint away and die when he had not a sight of God. “My soul fainteth for God” (Psalm 84:2). Such as care not for ordinances, but say, “When will the Sabbath be over?” plainly reveal their lack of love to God.
He who loves God DOES NOT LOVE SIN. “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil” (Psalm 97:10). The love of God, and the love of sin, can no more mix together than iron and clay. Every sin loved, strikes at the being of God; but he who loves God, has a hatred of sin. He who would part two lovers is a hateful person. God and the believing soul are two lovers; sin parts between them, therefore the soul is implacably set against it. By this try your love to God. How could Delilah say she loved Samson. when she entertained correspondence with the Philistines, who were his mortal enemy? Continue Reading Sermon Sunday: Thomas Watson…
Genesis 8:13-22
March 7, 2011 at 8:12 pm | Posted in Bible Study | Leave a commentTags: abortion, account, alone, altar, America, Ararat, ark, aroma, assurance, ateasetees, Bible, bird, Born Again, Christian, church, clean, cold, compromise, Day, death, depravity, dinosaurs, dove, drink, eat, Eden, evangelism, evil, faith, Fall, favor, fire, flood, fountain, Genesis, global, God, gospel, grace, Harvest, heat, heaven, hell, holy, hope, Israel, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, mock, money, multiply, murder, night, Noah, offering, onslaught, pastor, peace, perish, plead, prayer, promise, rain, raven, repent, righteousness, salvation, scripture, seed, sin, study, summer, ten commandments, TIME, today, tomorrow, truth, unclean, violence, window, winter, wood
Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
This week, we see the after effects of the Flood as well as a promise from the Lord. Before we look at that, let’s review a little bit. Since the Fall of man in the garden of Eden, man had been spiraling downward into violence. In recent times, it had gotten so bad that man’s only thoughts were evil continually. The earth was full of violence. Because of man’s depravity, God decided to give him 120 years to repent and return to Him. If man didn’t do this, God was going to judge the earth with a global Flood. In the midst of all of the evil lived Noah and his sons and their wives. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and found favor with God. Because of this, God revealed to Noah that a Flood was coming and that he should build a great ark for protection. God revealed the plans for the ark to Noah and they began to build it. At this time, no one had ever seen rain so the idea of a global Flood was preposterous. While building the ark, Noah also spent time preaching righteousness to those around him, warning them of the coming judgment in hopes that they might be saved.
About a week before the Flood, the animals that would spend time on the ark started arriving and boarding the now-finished ship. There were two of every unclean animal (including dinosaurs) and seven pairs of every clean animal. As the day of judgment approached, God told Noah and his family to board the ark and God shut the door behind them. Then, in a sudden onslaught, the fountains of the great deep burst and the windows of heaven opened up and water the likes of which had never been seen before rained down upon the entire planet. For forty days and nights it rained non-stop until the water rose over the highest mountains to a depth of about 20 feet. Every living land animal and many of the water dwelling ones perished in those forty days. All of the people who once mocked Noah for his proclamation now lay dead in the floodwaters. For a year, Noah and his family lived on the ark riding out the high waves and the storms as the Flood raged across the planet. Finally, things began to subside and the waters began to recede. Noah sent out a few birds to test the level of the waters. Finally, when the last dove didn’t return, Noah knew that land was visible. It is here that we pick up our study.
It has been a year and seventeen days since they boarded the ark. They had been through a lot, but God finally told them that it was time for them to disembark. Noah opened the ark of his salvation and he and his family, along with every animal on the ark, came out into a world that was very different from the one that they had seen when they entered the ark. The animals were given the command to multiply upon the earth. This was the purpose for which the animals were saved. It is interesting that they obeyed God in this. What is even more interesting to me, is Noah’s response.
After being saved from certain death by the grace of God and spending a year on a ship with at least two representatives of every animal known, Noah didn’t think about eating or drinking. Instead, he thought of God. Verse 20 says that Noah built an altar to the Lord and made an offering of every clean animal that they had brought with them. I find it interesting that those who search for the ark or believe that it may be found in the mountains of Ararat today seem to overlook this simple statement. They forget that Noah made an offering to the Lord. You may be wondering why this strikes me funny and what it has to do with those looking for the ark? Well, to make an offering to the Lord, you would have had to have fire. To have a fire, you must have wood – dry wood. The only likely source of dry wood at the time would have been the ark. The land may have been dry but it is doubtful that the wood was. I seriously doubt that the ark still exists today. I would imagine that Noah used the wood in his daily life.
Noah remembered the God who had remembered him. He offered to the Lord a small pittance of what was owed, but God accepted the offering. Not only that, God made a promise that still stands today. The Lord promised that He would never again curse the ground on the account of man, nor destroy every living thing like He had just done. While the earth remains, the Lord has promised that seedtime and harvest, winter and summer, cold and heat, day and night will never cease. God has kept His promise. He has never destroyed every living thing from the earth. Seedtime and harvest have continued. So have summer and winter, cold and heat, and day and night. Everything has been done according to God’s plans.
It is the same with man. The Bible says that it is God’s will that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. It says that if a man will repent of his sins and put his faith in Jesus Christ alone to save him, the man will be born again. He can know without a shadow of a doubt that he will go to heaven when he dies. Not only that, but God will give him a new heart with new desires. He will be changed from the inside out. This promise has come true for millions, including me. If you will repent of your sins, turn away from the lying, the stealing, the lusting, the hatred, the gossip, the adultery, and all the other sins in your life; and if you will put your faith in Christ to save you from the wrath of God; then this very minute, as you read these words, God can save you. He will save you! And you can have assurance that you will go to heaven when you die.
Please consider where you stand and what will happen when you stand before God to give an account of your life. If you are not sure your saved, or you know for a fact that you’re not, then please understand that I plead with you right now to make it right with God before you die. You don’t know if you have tomorrow. You only are guaranteed this minute. Please be honest with yourself and repent….while there is still time…..
Wages
April 14, 2009 at 2:40 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a commentTags: assurance, ateasetees, Catholicism, Christian, death, evangelism, God, grace, hell, Hinduism, hope, Islam, Jesus, judgment, love, Mormonism, salvation, sin, tax, wages
Nothing’s free. I know that this may not come as a shock to many people (although there may be a number of people who refuse to admit it sometimes), it’s a surprise to some. I imagine that it also depends on what we’re talking about. If it comes to merchandise, people are always looking for free stuff. But when it comes to many important things in life, nothing is free. If you choose to spend your time doing one thing, it will cost you the ability to do something else.
When we go to work, our time is worth money. The companies that we work for have to pay wages for our time and effort. Our time also costs us (as those in the U.S. know at about this time every year…). If we know that nothing’s free, then it is important for us to evaluate the worth of everything so that we don’t have to pay for something that is worthless to us. Unfortunately, we often find ourselves paying for things that we shouldn’t have done. There are also times that we just plain don’t want to admit that something is costing us because we enjoy it too much.
There is no place that this is more evident than when it comes to eternal life. Many people through the ages have deluded themselves into thinking that their lifestyles, choices, and actions are not costing them anything when they are. They have hidden their consciences in the ethereal emotions and fleeting pleasures of sin. Because they don’t see the cost of their actions, they don’t look for a solution to the problem. Unbeknownst to them, the debt continues to add up.
When the time comes and the account is reconciled, if the sin remains unpaid for, then the account holder will be responsible for paying for their sins. The payment for sins is a terrible thing. If a person is still in their sins when they die, they must spend eternity in hell as the just payment for those sins. Many people today scoff at this and say a loving God would never send someone to hell. I disagree. It is precisely because God is love that He sends people to hell. It must be remembered that God is holy, just, righteous, and perfect as well as loving, gracious, and merciful (contrary to many contemporary preachers). Because God must always act in accord with all of His attributes, He must punish sin. That is the just and righteous thing to do. Because God is holy and eternal, the only just punishment for sin is an eternal hell. But, because God is loving, He has made an alternate way for the payment of their sins. The cost of this payment was no less terrible. The alternate payment for sins required that God’s perfect Son Jesus die on a wicked cross, even though He was innocent. Jesus took the wrath of God on Himself so that those who repent of their sins and put their trust in Him alone as their Savior would be spared God’s wrath. Because Jesus is God, He is perfect and eternal. As the substitutionary sacrifice for sin, this means that the sacrifice that He made was able to pay for all sins once. He doesn’t need to die again.
Sin has a cost. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23). Sin will be paid for either way. It will be paid by those being punished in hell or it will be paid by the blood of Jesus. I ask anyone who reads this to take some advice from Jesus Himself and count the cost. I know that when Jesus said this, He was talking about following Him, but I think that it could apply here too. Understand what the cost will be to you if you die in your sins. You will spend your days in eternal torment where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies (Mark 9:48). However, if you will admit that you are a sinner and have transgressed the law of God (see Exodus 20); and if you will repent of your sins (turn away from them) and put your complete trust in Jesus alone as your Savior, the Bible says that you will be saved from the wrath of God and can know without a shadow of a doubt that you will be in heaven when you die.
I mentioned the cost of following Jesus and it would be unfair for me to present the truth without talking about what it will cost you if you receive the gift of salvation. If you choose to follow Jesus Christ, then your life will not be a bed of roses. There is no guarantee that you will be blessed, healthy, rich, famous, or have an easy life. There is a guarantee from the Lord Jesus Himself that you will be mocked, hated, ridiculed, and may even be beaten or killed for Him. All you have to do is look outside the US to see this is true. I pray that you understand that what your life may be like should not discourage you from receiving salvation. What your eternity will be like if you don’t will be infinitely worse than anything that you can face here on earth.
Please consider where you stand in God’s eyes. If you don’t believe that He exists, then ask yourself why. Is it really because you honestly believe that all of this came about by chance random processes? Is it because you really believe that you can work your way to heaven (whether it’s by the system in Islam, Catholicism, Hinduism, or Mormonism)? Is it because you really can’t reconcile the “problems” with Christianity? Or, is it because you are too attached to your sin and living life the way that you want it rather than sacrifice your self in order to admit the truth? Whatever the reason, God challenges it and says that if you are willing to honestly look at what His Word says and come to Him on His terms, He will reveal Himself to you (not audibly or visually) and you can know that He is real and His Word is true.
This is the most important thing that you can spend your time considering and it is my hope and prayer that you will take the time to do so seriously…