Newton on Controversy

Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace. Yea, I would add, the best of men are not wholly free from this leaven; and therefore are too apt to be pleased with such representations as hold up our adversaries to ridicule, and by consequence flatter our own superior judgments. Controversies, for the most part, are so managed as to indulge rather than to repress his wrong disposition; and therefore, generally speaking, they are productive of little good. They provoke those whom they should convince, and puff up those whom they should edify.

--John Newton

If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all.

Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. A
Jesus, ready, stands to save you, Full of pity joined with power. B
He is able, He is able; He is willing; Doubt no more. A

Come ye needy, come and welcome; God's free bounty glorify; A
True belief and true repentance every grace that brings you nigh. A
Without money, without money Come to Jesus Christ and buy. A

Come ye weary, heavy laden, Bruised and broken by the fall. A
If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all. A
Not the righteous, not the righteous; Sinners Jesus came to call. A

Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. A
All the fitness He requires is to feel your need of Him. B
This He gives you, this He gives you, tis the Spirit's rising beam. A

Lo! The Incarnate God, ascended; pleads the merit of His blood. A
Venture on Him; venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude. B
None but Jesus, none but Jesus Can do helpless sinners good. A

--Joseph Hart

Warfield on the Purpose of the Seminary

Whenever I read B.B. Warfield, I get help plain and simple. Here is something he said with regard to the purpose of the seminary and the task I have before me (and so does anyone else who is in ministry) --

What precisely must be taught in a theological seminary will be determined by our conception of the ministry for the exercise of the functions for which it offers preparation. And that will be determined ultimately by our conception of the Church.......On the evangelical view, the Church is the communion of saints, gathered out of a lost world; and the business of the minister is to apply the saving gospel to lost men for their salvation from sin -- from its guilt and from its corruption and power. Palpably, what he needs for this is just the gospel; and if he is to perform his functions at all, he must know this gospel, know it thoroughly, know it in all its details, and in all its power. It is the business of the seminary to give him this knowledge of the gospel. That is the real purpose of the seminary. -- Selected Shorter Writings Vol. 1, p. 376

Thanking God for my Eustace Adventure

In his The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis gives us a very telling picture of where all of us are in life post-conversion. Until this point, the young boy name Eustace has been a quite unbearable companion for those unfortunate enough to be on board the Dawn Treader. In an episode of the story where Eustace sneaks away to avoid helping repair the ship, he finds himself outwardly what he has always been in his heart: a dragon. This is quite disturbing to Eustace, because he can longer talk and feels desperately lonely. It seems that Eustace will forever be condemned to go on alone, when suddenly (Thanks to Aslan) he is turned back into a boy. Everyone around him notices the being a dragon has done Eustace some good. Summing up Eustace's little adventure Lewis writes, "It would be nice, and fairly true, to say that 'from that time forth Eustace was a different boy'. To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun. "

Colossians 1:27 tells us of this cure. "Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Hold fast to the Gospel and do not despair of glory (holiness) because by the grace of God you are what you are, and his grace toward you is not in vain. On the contrary, work harder than before, because it is not you, but the grace of God that is with you. (1 Cor 15).

Gospel Poem

O ye sons of men be wise,trust no longer dreams and lies,

Out of Christ, almighty pow'r can do nothing but devour.

God you say is good. 'Tis true.But he's pure and hold too;

just and jealous is his ire,burning with vindictive fire.

This of old himself declared:Israel trembled when they heard.

But the proof of proofs indeed is he sent his Son to bleed.

When the blessed Jesus died God was clearly justified:

Sin to pardon without blood never in his nature stood.

Worship God, then, in his Son,there he's love and there alone.

Think not that he will, or may, pardon any other way.

See the suff'ring Son of God,panting, groaning, sweating
blood!

Brethren, this had never been had not God detested sin.

Be his mercy therefore sought in the way himself has taught:

There his clemency is such,we can never trust too much.

He that better knows than we,bids us all to Jesus flee.

Humbly take him at his Word and your souls will bless the
Lord!

--Joseph Hart

Piper on the Racism of Abortion and the Pro-choice movement

Here is a very cogent case that abortion is one of the societal structures that consistant social liberals should hate. If pro-choice folks really valued true freedom (i.e. the freedom to not sin, and to be righteous), then they would hate abortion.
(It should be noted that I am not a Republican posting for the party platform. I am a human, a creature created in the image of God, posting for the party platform.)

A Third Way for Jekyll

This past couple of weeks I have been plodding my way through Keller's The Reason for God, and it has been very helpful on a variety of levels. However, the sine qua non of Keller's stuff is his insight into the depravity of our own righteousness. Particularly clear on the matter is his exposition of this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,

I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with honesty that my resolve was fruitful of some good. You know how earnestly, in the last months of the last year, I labored to relieve suffering; you know that much was done for others....[But as] I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active goodwill with the lazy cruelty of their neglect...at the very moment of that vain-glorious thought, a qualm came over ma, a horrid nausea and the most dreadful shuddering....I looked down...I was once more Edward Hyde.

Keller goes on to explain "Like so many people Jekyll knows he is a sinner, so he tries desperately to cover his sin with great piles of good works. Yet his efforts do not actually shrivel his pride and self-centeredness, they only aggravate it. They lead him to superiority, self-righteousness, pride and suddenly -- look! Jekyll becomes Hyde, not in spite of his goodness, but because of his goodness." (p. 182-3)

Those who know the story know that Dr. Jekyll despairs and takes his own life when he comes to the horrifyingly insightful realization that his attempts to atone for his sins merely fuel the fire. But there is another way, a miraculous way that would have healed the sickness inside of Jekyll. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus makes the Jekyll in all of us an over that would have stopped the tragic end to that story. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (ESV)

I plead with you who do not know the Savior, Unload!