Calling and Election Sure

O soul, there is a coming Judgment Day—
Consider carefully these truths therein;
Make sure your calling and be true alway!

Continue in these qualities—don't stray!
Work hard at them and give not way to sin—
Consider Jesus: let us run to win!
O soul, there is a coming Judgment Day.

Have you no fruit?  Your life reduced to gray?
Grab hold the Spirit's qualities to win,
Possessed increasingly will keep from sin,
Press into God, each day with prayer begin—
Make sure your calling and be true alway!

Your life then lived, these qualities display
The truth regeneration then is in
Your heart and not a mask like phony skin.
The Spirit seals His ownership within;
Secure in Christ—make sure He is your kin.
O soul, there is a coming Judgment Day!

Remember this though still within the fray,
That Christ redeemed and purchased you from sin;
You have no need to walk like that again.
Then on that Day His vict'ry you will win
An entrance into Paradise with Him
Abundantly He'll give forever then!
Make sure your calling and be true alway!

So fight the fight and do what's right,
Take up His cause and sin destroy;
Soon Day will blaze and burst with praise,
So purely live down here with joy!

- D. Benning

Based on the Sunday am service, 24-Jun-2018, by Pastor on 2 Pet. 1:8 - 11.

Calls to Holiness & Personal Progressive Sanctification

"You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
2 Tim. 2:1

Paul includes so many different ways of saying that we all must make sure that we are moving on in holiness and continuing our sanctification.  It all starts with the overarching principle of verse one: we can't do it in our own strength.  We must be strong in the Lord!  Self-sufficiency will result in self-failure.  Therefore we must press into Him and into His Word.

The concept of:

• v. 4 — soldier—avoid civilian affairs; that is, do what the commanding officer says.  This implies obedience to human authority and a chain of command.  Be a disciple.  Don't be a loner and disconnected.
• v. 5 — athlete—compete according the rules.  Therefore, look into the Book to see what the rules are and then obey them!
• v. 6 — hardworking farmer—doesn't do things on a whim; instead follows patterns and plants then harvests according patterns and dictates of the seasons.  Be a person who understands the times and seasons to know what to do.  The goal is fruit: that is, personal sanctification as well as result of evangelism.
• w. 15 — workman / craftsman—this implies precision, diligence, hard work, quality.  It takes years of careful practice under a master craftsman as an apprentice.  Likewise, the Christian faith takes years of discipleship under a man or woman of God to train you in the way to go.

So many calls to holiness because:

• we are not holy.
• God is holy!
• without holiness, no one may see the Lord.
• the only acceptable worship is to worship Him in the beauty of holiness (1 Chr. 16:29 KJV).
• note: this means that holiness is beauty!—thus He adorns His bride with the most beautiful object He can find: holiness!
• Lam. 2:15b — we are called to be the perfection of beauty; the joy of the earth.  Only if we are holy can we truly give joy to the earth.  Being wrapped up in our unholiness is exactly as the world is and that does not bring joy.

Therefore, be holy!

His Manifold Wisdom

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Eph. 3:10 - 11

This view that Paul gives us through the Holy Spirit is amazing.  God has so many things going on all at once, all interconnected and contingent upon each other and ultimately upon Himself.  He is working all of them out to His goal.  Here we see that we are not the ultimate.  The church is not the ultimate.  Rather the church and each of us in the church are used as His instrument whereby others are shown the multi-faceted wisdom of God.

Who is He showing this off to?

KJV: "...unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places..."  (Literally in the Greek, "in the heavenlies").
NIV: "...to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms..."

Who are these "principalities"?

• Eph 1:21  Christ is above them all
• Eph 3:10  they are in the heavenlies
• This is where Christ is seated.  Eph 1:20
•  This is where we are blessed in Christ.  Eph 1:3
•  This is our goal, where we are going.  Heb 11:16
• These "principalities" are good angels and evil demons and are thus much more powerful than we are.  Yet God makes the good angels to be ministering servants to us who inherit salvation (Heb 1:14).  And there is nothing that the evil demons can do to thwart God's purpose nor remove us from His Love in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:38 - 39).

This is all sure and secure because He has eternally purposed this in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:11).  See how secure His purpose is and stands?

This is what the Lord says,
  he who appoints the sun
    to shine by day,
  who decrees the moon and stars
    to shine by night,
  who stirs up the sea
    so that its waves roar—
    the Lord Almighty is his name:
  “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
    declares the Lord,
  “will Israel ever cease
    being a nation before me.”
Jer. 31:35 - 36

This Mighty God works out everything in conformity to His Plan (Eph 1:11) and His Plan is to make us holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4), thus holy and blameless we will be.  Therefore it is in our best interest to get on board and be part of His Plan and submit to His purpose and undergo that work of sanctification and be changed into the likeness and image of His Son!

But just because God is wielding His church as an instrument, showing off to the heavenlies His great wisdom, doesn't mean that God thinks any less of us at all.  In fact Paul emphasized to his readers just how great God's love for us is.  Eph 3:18 - 19 says that the love of Christ is wide and long and high and deep and surpasses knowledge.  What encouragement!  God loves us and is using us for our good and His glory.  And nothing will undo nor thwart His loving purpose for us!

Diary of an Old Soul

Two selections from George MacDonald's work, Diary of an Old Soul.

January 1st

LORD, what I once had done with youthful might,

Had I been from the first true to the truth,

Grant me, now old, to do--with better sight,

And humbler heart, if not the brain of youth;

So wilt thou, in thy gentleness and ruth,

Lead back thy old soul, by the path of pain,

Round to his best--young eyes and heart and brain.

May 26th

My prayers, my God, flow from what I am not;

I think thy answers make me what I am.

Like weary waves thought follows upon thought,

But the still depth beneath is all thine own,

And there thou mov'st in paths to us unknown.

Out of strange strife thy peace is strangely wrought;

If the lion in us pray--thou answerest the lamb.

George MacDonald

 

I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow

John Newton

by John Newton

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.

’Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“ ’Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
“I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”

“I Asked The Lord” — by Indelible Grace

Be Holy!

"And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
No lion will be there,
    nor any ravenous beast;
    they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there..."
~ Isa. 35:8-9

"Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."
~ Heb. 12:14



Ev'ry good and perfect gift
   comes down from heav'n Above
from th'eternal Father God
   and filled with light and love.
In Him are no doubt nor shadows—
   He is e'er the same.
He commands His people likewise live
   and to burn with Holy Flame

   Be holy, be holy!
      live life all for Him and blameless in His sight.
   He is holy, so be holy!
      without which you will never see His light!


Walking by God's just commands,
   the way of holiness;
No unclean nor fools thereon
   and nothing to distress.
This is then the Father's will
   we walk this way with Him;
So be done with ev'ry worldly way,
   and be purged from ev'ry sin.

   Be holy, be holy!
      live life by His law and live forever blest.
   He is holy, so be holy!
      without which you will never enter rest!



Jesus lived this way on earth
   and told us live the same:
"Be holy as your Father God
   to wear His righteous Name."
We can never earn a place
   to live in heav'n Above;
but if we can't follow His commands
   then we dwell not in His love.

   Be holy, be holy!
      live life all for Him and by His love and grace.
   He is holy, so be holy!
      without which you will never see His face!

- D. Benning

"If you love me, keep my commands."
~ John 14:15

I Heard an Eagle Cry Today

I heard an eagle cry today,
   high, haunting and insistent.
I looked and there above me,
   nestled amidst the cradle of sky and sun,
   a solitary form glided overhead.

I stared and strained to follow his path,
   Bright shimmering sun dogs and tree tops obscuring my sight.
Again he cried; again I spied and followed his course on wimpled wing.
   Again he turned; again he spurned and rebuffed the wind with pinion, talon and call;
   majestically graced and poised and balanced
   above the ground-bound, sodden-encumbered cares of earth.

I glanced around and saw the sunlight shadow-playing on the grass,
   the sessile inhabitants of lunch-time-egress lay and lay in turgid stupor
   or catatonic relaxation, unmoved by Day Sky’s rider or his call.

I heard the eagle cry today,
   high, haunting and insistent;
   yet not so insistent, for I turned.
Turned and retreated back into my office,
   my lair, my care, my shell,
   for the pressing insistences of the immediate and the urgent called me too.
Yet in hiding my soul stirred
   —ah, patience! my captive heart!
   For soon with obedience and discipline shall come forth
   the mastery and the reward so that you shall go not,
   like quarry-slave at night,
   but brought with honor into your Father’s home!

- D. Benning

Do Not Deny Love

Do not deny Love

   nor quench its strong embrace.

Love beckons and it calls;

   Love woos you with its grace.

 

See how many times, ere you had known,

   this Love had borne you softly:

   protected, directed, corrected;

and kept you from your own

   harm that you had imagined “lofty.”

Oh see with what tender heart Love broods over you

   to reck, to check, to beck and bend

   and blast your gourds that grow not true—

All in love to bring you to that glorious end!

But, O! How strong the pull that opposes,

   interdicts and imposes fallacies and lies!

Do not deny Love

   nor chafe under its gentle care.

Do not be drawn back to feeble lights

   whilst Love its sunlight shares!

Do not be drawn to sin and darkness

   like moth to harmful flame.

   like pig to dirt and wallow, filth and shame.

Is it in your nature to be thus drawn?

   To fritter, flitter, fob and fawn?

Then ask why this may be!

   And if you still be moth within,

   then turn, yearn and churn within,

   and call, fall, and recall Love’s mercies new again each morn.

It is not within your strength to change your nature,

   but Love, in its strong embrace,

   will change, exchange—think not strange!

   So that no longer moth but His child reborn!

Do not deny Love

   but hasten to submit, admit and bend;

And there with shall bloom forth a thousand gifts—

   All crowned with Love who is your Friend.

- D. Benning

Rake the Coals of Thy Fire....

"...rake the coals of thy fire so that it will start, burst into flame more easily upon the morrow...."

 

This quote from an old, Puritan write has intrigued me. What's more, it has challenged me to greater discipline. Few of us understand the urgency behind this analogy: To someone in the 17th Century, the fire was the heat and source of cooking power. Much of the life in the house revolved around using and tending to the fire. The fire was life-giving and essential. For it to go out was a serious problem! So what about our Christian life? While we would most all readily admit that the Spirit's fire is essential, do we really order our day so that we can tend this fire and quench it not?

So then, what is this tending of the fire, this "raking the coals"? In my limited knowledge of fires I see several points of interest: 

1) First, to rake the coals there had to be a fire there already. Are you saved? Does your heart grow warm when His kingdom is mentioned? Do you thrill at the reading of His Word as with a great glowing ardor? Then God has placed His fire in your heart. Some would say, "but my fire has gone out!" No! If you are truly saved, He will not allow that to happen. Dig around in the ashes of your heart to find those live embers and then fan them into flame. If your fire is truly out, then you never had His life-giving fire in your heart in the first place! This can only be remedied by humbly repenting and petitioning Him for Salvation. You cannot start your own fire. Remember Nadab and Abihu and their unauthorized fire! (See Lev 10.) 

2) For there to be a fire there, there must be work and planning. These are coals that we are to rake. Coals are the long-lasting hot-points of a fire. When something else comes next to the coals, it too catches fire. How do you get long-lasting coals? Not from paper. That's a flash and it is gone. Nor from small kindling. No, the best coals come from the densest, hard-wood logs. Oak and maple fires will have many hot, glowing embers eight or more hours later. In our Christian life, with what sort of things are we stoking our fire? Light reading? Current events? Sensational stories? Emotionally appealing tripe? If that is all, we will not have many if any coals in the evening, much less the morning! No, we need to feed our soul's fire with God's Word itself: with great logs of doctrine that we ponder and marvel on all day long. Second we feed our soul's fire with writings of those who likewise ponder these deep and marvelous doctrines from God's Word. Puritan writers, D. Lloyd-Jones, P. G. Mathew among others. Do this and you will have hot coals to rake. 

3) Where there is fire there will be ash also. Some of this raking involves the removing of the dead fire, the debris of our own wood, hay and stubble that God's mercy ignited. Perhaps that is why we don't like keeping the fire burning hot so that it is useful. For while it is hot, it also burns our ambitions and self-esteem and worldly pleasures. The dross is purged. Note also that paper and things like it produce much more ash then do hard-wood logs. So also we will have less ash -- less carnal pleasures to repent of if we feed our soul's fire with doctrine instead of sensational, feel-good readings. But forget all these little trinkets of wood, hay and stubble. Look at the great treasure which He is giving -- and has given already--to us! Note also that this ash removal needs to be done at least morning and evening. That sounds like repentance, doesn't it? Never done with it in this life. Repentance is not a once for all, done with it sort of thing. It is daily, on-going. The Puritans said that the two wings by which we fly to heaven are Repentance and Faith. Don't hobble your flight to God. Repent! Clear out the ashes of your soul's fire regularly.

4) Lastly, I want to point out just how much work there is involved in tending a fire. Yes. We all know that it is God who saves us. He reaches down monergistically and sets our hearts aflame. No human with any type of "strike anywhere" match could have ever lit the water-logged alter of our hearts. But just as for Elijah, fire came down from heaven and ignited our hearts. (See II Kings 18:30 - 38) But somehow, we in our fleshly, carnal wisdom want this to stay and to remain completely God's working. We want this sanctification process to be completely of God too. Face it. We' tend toward a certain amount of spiritual laziness. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Herein is another divine mystery! We work in partnership with God Himself! This is why the scripture implores us to "make every effort" and to "make sure" and "to guard your hearts"! Phil 2: 12, 13 says "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." We are to work our our salvation. Work it to the outside so that others may see it. God has placed it there on the inside, now we need to work it to the outside. In thoughts; in speech; and in actions. Raking the coals, and tending our fire will make our lives shine that much brighter for this King who has worked in us such a great salvation!

So, to what end now? What benefit is there in all this work? You will have a heart that is ready to spring forth in praises and supplication upon your waking! No need to spend extra hours trying to find the ember and coax it back to life. No need to start afresh with the paper and kindling of light, simplistic and trivial readings. The coals will already be hot --eager for another log of from God's Word. Notice that this fire will not automatically spring to life. It takes some attention in the morning too. But with the preparation from the night before, it is ready and will take little additional effort.


This Puritan writer adds yet one more incentive: "...for he that goes to sleep in the presence of the Lord, will surely wake in His Presence!"

- D. Benning