The Gospel According to Joseph: Providence

This Sunday's sermon post will focus on God's sovereignty, which is clearly seen in Ge. 45-46 in several ways. One of those ways is providence. Providence has been one of the two major themes that we've seen weaving its way through this narrative thus far, and we have had the chance to talk about it in several ways in several of the past sermons. We are not going to discuss the details of providence in this devotion because the sermon will talk about that, but we are going to discuss the comfort that the knowledge of God's providence can bring to our lives.

The Heidelberg Catechism has a really good statement about the comfort that God's providence can bring to our lives. In question 28 (which will be our confession of faith this Sunday) it asks, "How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?" And, it answers:

We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love. All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved.

Let's consider this a line at a time. First: "we can be patient when things go against us." When we remember that God is in sovereign control of everything that happens to us and that He is our loving, faithful, heavenly Father (which are the two parts to providence), then "we can be patient when things go against us" and don't seem to make any sense because we can know that one day He will work them out for our good (Ge. 50:20; Ro. 8:28). Joseph's sale, slavery, and imprisonment didn't make any sense to him at first, but in our passage for Sunday, we see that he finally understands (at least in part) God's purpose in it. His patience paid off. The enslavement of the Israelite nation didn't make any sense to the Jews at first, but it does now that we can see the whole story. The crucifixion didn't make any sense to the apostles at first (even though Jesus had told them it was coming), and yet they soon figured out how crucial and important it is. And, I bet there are many things in your life that didn't make sense at first, but now that you can look back on them, you can see at least some part that God worked for your good or the good of others in them. Of course, you may be in the middle of something against you right now and cannot see any good reason for it, but be patient for your heavenly Father is working it for your good. As Spurgeon once said, "When you can't trace God's hand, trust His heart."

The next line is, "we can... be thankful when things go well." This is a convicting line in a comforting answer. How often do we pray for God to act and then forget to thank Him when He answers our prayers in the way we'd hoped? How often do we attribute success or prosperity to our abilities? When we realize that God in His providence never for a moment removes His hand from our lives, we'll start to see all things as a reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving; we'll start to realize that everything good is a gift of grace from our loving, faithful, heavenly Father (cf. Js. 1:17).

The third line says, "...for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from His love." This is simply a restatement of Ro. 8:38-39. Since God is always in sovereign control of everything that happens to us and, again, since He is our loving, faithful, heavenly Father, then we can know that nothing will separate us from His love. Since He is sovereign over this universe, nothing can take us out of His hand, and since God loves us with a never-stopping, never-giving-up, unbreaking, always-and-forever love, He will not let us go. His providence guarantees this comfort and makes promises like Ro. 8:38-39 absolutely certain.

And, finally, the HC states, "All creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they can neither move nor be moved." This is the doctrinal statement that comes from passages like Ps. 115:3; 135:5-6; 145:11-13; Jer. 27:5; Ac. 2:23; 4:23-31; 17:24-26; Eph. 1:11 that makes the three preceding comforts absolute and certain. Without God working "all things according to the counsel of his will" (Eph. 1:11), we can't have the comforts of patience during the hard times, thankfulness for the good, and knowing that nothing can pluck us out of God's hand (Jn. 10:29) or separate us from His love (Ro. 8:38-39).

Now, at this point, the modern, Western sense of autonomy with which most of us grew up tends to recoil and question whether this is really good or fair. Naturally, we want to be masters of our own "fate" or "destiny." But, consider that alternative carefully. I can maybe control the way I respond to what's going on around me in the world, but I can't control the world around me itself. So, how can I possibly think that I can be the master of my own destiny? The best I can do is attempt to respond circumstances that are largely out of my control in way that helps my future, but even then, I'm a sinful man and my even responses are not to be trusted. So, with such sinful, limited ability, how is it at all good for me to be the master of my own fate? Where's the comfort or peace in that? Yet, if God is sovereign and my loving, faithful, heavenly Father, then I can trust Him and rest in His hands. That's what Joseph does, and we'll get to see more of that, Lord willing, in Sunday's sermon post.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Personal Devotions

I am in the process of putting together a page for my church's website that will give a short list of resources for daily devotions. It is not up yet because I still need to get a few technical things worked out, but I figured I would go ahead and share it here. I hope you find it useful.

At Grace Covenant, we want to find as many ways as we can to help you immerse yourself in the means of grace (the Bible, the sacraments, and prayer), and one of those ways is your personal time in the Word or, as some call it, your "quiet time." Now, while quiet times are supposed to be a pillar of healthy, freeing spiritual growth, they can become a source of great guilt and anxiety. If you are struggling with that, we recommend "Freedom from Quiet Time Guilt" as a place to start. Then, spending time in the Word and solid devotional resources are a great way to continue. There are, however, many resources online and in bookstores that offer such guidance, and it can be difficult to know which are truly Christ-centered, gospel-driven, useful resources and which are better left on the shelf. On this page you will find a small collection of solid, biblical, free resources for personal time with the Lord.
Bible Reading Plans: There are many Bible reading plans you could adopt for your quiet times, but whichever you do choose to use, remember the old adage that less is more. Most plans have you reading through the Bible in a year, which is a laudable goal, but it can lead to reading for quantity instead of quality, which is less helpful. If you find that being the case with you, try dividing each day's reading in half and taking two years to complete the plan. Here are a few possibilities:

• Straight Through: This plan is designed to take you from the beginning to the end in a year. It has the advantage of a simple structure, a fairly even reading load, and following the Bible's natural progression.
• Chronological: This plan takes you through the Bible in the order the events occurred chronologically. It has the advantage of reading passages in their historical context and putting parallel passages together so you can see events from different perspectives or with different emphases.
• M’Cheyne Bible Reading: This plan is designed to take you through the NT and Psalms twice a year and the OT once. It has the advantage of balancing your daily readings with OT and NT passages with an even distribution of both.
• 52-Week: This plan has you read through the Bible in a year, with each day of the week dedicated to a different genre: Epistles, the Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy, and Gospels. It has the advantage of dividing the Bible up by its major genres and giving you a balanced, weekly diet of each.

Here are a few daily devotionals that are Christ-centered, gospel-driven, and available for free online:

• GCPC's Private & Family Worship Guide: This devotional is put together by Pastor Hutchinson and emailed out to the church email list monthly (you can also download the latest here). It takes a holistic approach to private and family devotions by combining daily Scripture reading with monthly Scripture memory, catechism questions, and psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. It is an excellent resource that will line up your devotions with many of the other individuals and families of Grace Covenant, and, as an added bonus, the Saturday Scripture reading previews the sermon text for the following Sunday.
• Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening: This classic daily devotional was published by Charles Spurgeon in the mid-nineteenth century and has been a blessing to countless Christians ever since. For each day, Spurgeon has written a morning and evening devotion (hence the title), and in just a few paragraphs, each devotion expounds a single Bible verse with practical application to the life of the reader. This resource creates a great bookend for your day, and it is available for free from many sources: CCEL has it in several formats and there is an Android app and an iPhone app.
• D. A. Carson's For the Love of God: This two-volume daily devotional is an exceptional contemporary resource. In Carson, God has developed the mind of a scholar and the heart of a pastor, both of which are evident in these daily devotionals. Each volume covers a whole year following the M'Cheyne Bible Reading Plan. On each day, Carson takes one of the passages from the reading plan and comments on it in a short devotion that combines brilliant exegesis with pastoral application to the life of the reader. It is available for free on The Gospel Coalition's website with the option to read online, through RSS, or via a daily email. It is also available for free as an iPhone App.
• Jerry Bridges' Holiness Day by Day: In a similar pattern to Spurgeon's devotions, this devotional starts each day with a verse of Scripture and then a short explanatory devotion, which is usually an excerpt taken from Bridge's wide breadth of writing. It is theologically solid, accessible to the reader, and gospel-centered, and you can access it for free by reading it online or subscribing to its daily email.
• The Valley of Vision: Though this resource does not follow a Bible reading plan or start you out with Scripture, it is one of the best devotional and prayer tools available and a great addition to any reading plan. The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan prayers and meditations that are rooted in confessionalism, steeped in Scripture, centered on Christ, and overflowing with godly affections, exquisitely balancing the mind and heart. Unfortunately, it is not available for free in full anywhere online but Banner of Truth has most of them on their website and even has a daily Valley of Vision designed for devotional use.

By His Grace,
Taylor

In Christ You Can Be Completely Honest

"In this solemn confession, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its true name, bloodguiltiness. He did not actually kill the husband of Bathsheba; but still it was planned in David’s heart that Uriah should be slain, and he was before the Lord his murderer. Learn in confession to be honest with God. Do not give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no sweeter. What God sees them to be, that do you labour to feel them to be; and with all openness of heart acknowledge their real character." ~ Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, evening April 7

In this devotion, Spurgeon was referring to David's confession in Ps. 51, where he brought his sin of murder before God. If I might be so bold as to add to Spurgeon's statement: for in Christ you will always find forgiveness. Before the throne of God we must always be honest about our sin and not try to "soft petal" anything, for He knows the truth whether we try to hide it or not. Yet, that is not a labor, for we know that before the throne of God in Christ--on the basis of His sacrifice and clothed in His righteousness--is the only place where we can be completely honest and still be accepted. Our closest friends and family my reject us, eventually. They might grow tired of our depravity. They might find our sin too heinous to be forgiven. They might never be able to look at us the same way again. But, the Christian has no such worry before God in Christ. We cannot expect to stand before the throne of God without Christ, but in Him we cannot be unaccepted for any sin. There are no stipulations on His promise: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 Jn. 1:9) There is no time when our Advocate (1 Jn. 2:1) is not before the throne defending us against any and all condemnation. That is why Paul can say, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Ro. 8:1)

Christian, you can be completely honest before God with your sin. You can pour it out in repentance with all candor. You are free to go to Him not matter how dirty you may be, and He will not reject you. He will not unaccept you. He will not be angry. You can cry out, "Wretched man that I am!" (Ro. 7:24), and He will not look at you any differently, for when He sees you, He sees Christ (2 Co. 5:21). You are safe, in Christ. Never forget that, and go to God always as you are.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Unassailable Acceptance

"Mark, believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance, since it is in him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you have received his merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Notwithstanding all your doubts, and fears, and sins, Jehovah’s gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though he sees sin in you, in yourself, yet when he looks at you through Christ, he sees no sin." ~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, evening March 28

What we celebrate on this day--Easter--is central to Christianity, and it guarantees our full, irremovable, unassailable acceptance before God. Is it historical? Absolutely. Is it important? Absolutely, for as Paul says, "...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." (1 Co. 15:17) Christ's resurrection is essential for the completed work of salvation, for an unresurrected Christ still bears the guilt of sin and has secured nothing (1 Co. 15:14-17). As long as He remained in death the righteous character of His work as our federal head and Savior remained in question. Through His resurrection He secured justification (1 Ti. 3:16), adoption (Ro. 1:4), sanctification (Ro. 6:3-11), glorification (1 Co. 6:14), and eternal life (Ro. 6:4-8). Since we are united to Christ in His death and resurrection (Col. 2:12), we have all these things too. Without His resurrection we have nothing.

As Spurgeon says, "when you have received His merit, you cannot be unaccepted." When Paul said, "³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord," (Ro. 8:38-39) he meant nothing can separate us from God if we are in Christ and that includes we ourselves. Nothing means nothing; so you cannot be unaccepted. If you have repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you cannot make God love you any more or any less by anything you do. You are fully accepted before God in Christ, period. Bask in that truth today and every day, and go live a life of thankfulness to Him for it.

Someone might say, "All of my incentive goes away when I know that my acceptance with God does not depend on my success or failure in obedience." But, if you say that, you do not really know or understand the love of Christ. Let me give you an example. (It is a marriage one so for those of you who are not married, use your imagination.) Husbands, would you cheat on your wife, if you knew that she would love and forgive you anyway? (Wives, think about it from your perspective.) I doubt it. Why not? Because her unconditional love engenders your love and thankfulness, and you would not do that to someone you love, even if you knew for certain they would still love you if you did cheat. You would not bring yourself to hurt them that much for your own selfish gain because their love has engendered your reciprocating love and thankfulness. You would want to show them by not cheating how thankful you are for a love that would forgive you even if you did cheat. Now, if you would cheat, then you do not really understand her love or understand love at all and probably have never understood it.

True believers have been changed by the love of Christ and will want to please Him and show Him their thankfulness. In fact, the only people who get any better are those that know if they do not get any better, God will still love them anyway. Does that mean we will not sin? No, of course not (1 Jn. 1:8). But, we do when we forget the truth of the gospel and go looking for what we already have in Christ in some idol that is smaller than Him. We have hearts that are prone to wander, which is why we need to come back to the gospel over and over again. The gospel is not just the flame that ignites the Christian life, it is the fuel that makes it burn every day. Jonathan Edwards used to say, "The key to the Christian life is letting the gospel filter down into every aspect of your life both rationally and experientially." You need the gospel as much today as you did when you were still dead in your sins. Never forget that, and never forget that you "cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you have received His merit, you cannot be unaccepted."

By His Grace,
Taylor

Sin, a Little Thing?

"Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with thorns, and pierced His heart! It made Him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe. Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Savior, and you will see it to be 'exceedingly sinful.'" ~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, morning March 11.

Surrounded by sin, continually committing them, and being in a world that only cares about sin when they fear punishment means that Christians can start to become familiar with it, and by degrees we begin to regard sin as less than what it is--an affront to a holy, sinless God. We all do this, myself included. It's easy to think of sin in relative, worldly terms, and in that way it does not look so bad. The "white lie," the flirtation with lust, the creeping bitterness, the slowly building disinterest, the "small" bouts with impatience, the covetous desires, the racist thoughts we "never act on," or any other sin we may take lightly, they all nailed Jesus to the cross and all deserved an eternity in hell. Even if they were to be the only sin we ever committed, they deserve an eternity in hell, separated from the holy, sinless God. No matter how we might feel or the degree to which we might become used to sin, we must remind ourselves of the heinousness of sin--all want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.

What then do we do? Do we then punish ourselves for them? By no means, for Jesus took that punishment and it cannot be repeated! Do we let them go? May it never be, for they brought God's wrath down upon His Son on the cross. We take them to Him, we confess them, we repent of them with gospel-driving repentance, we acknowledge their evil, we ask His forgiveness, and we then bask in His glorious grace to those who are in Christ. We take sin seriously and acknowledge it for what it is, yet we do not wallow in our guilt over it. We take it to the cross and rest in the grace that has saved us from its punishment and freed us from its power.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Thankfulness, Not Obedience

"Come, my soul, think thou of this. Believing in Jesus, thou art actually and effectually cleared from guilt; thou art led out of thy prison. Thou art no more in fetters as a bond-slave; thou art delivered now from the bondage of the law; thou art freed from sin, and canst walk at large as a freeman, thy Saviour's blood has procured thy full discharge. Thou hast a right now to approach thy Father’s throne. No flames of vengeance are there to scare thee now; no fiery sword; justice cannot smite the innocent. Thy disabilities are taken away: thou wast once unable to see thy Father’s face: thou canst see it now. Thou couldst not speak with him: but now thou hast access with boldness. Once there was a fear of hell upon thee; but thou hast no fear of it now, for how can there be punishment for the guiltless? He who believeth is not condemned, and cannot be punished. And more than all, the privileges thou mightst have enjoyed, if thou hadst never sinned, are thine now that thou art justified. All the blessings which thou wouldst have had if thou hadst kept the law, and more, are thine, because Christ has kept it for thee. All the love and the acceptance which perfect obedience could have obtained of God, belong to thee, because Christ was perfectly obedient on thy behalf, and hath imputed all his merits to thy account, that thou mightst be exceeding rich through him, who for thy sake became exceeding poor. Oh! how great the debt of love and gratitude thou owest to thy Saviour!" ~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

I love Spurgeon's artistic description of the benefits of redemption that Christ has won for us. When I read this, the last sentence especially stood out to me. Notice Spurgeon did not say, "Because of all this, you owe Jesus your obedience." He said that we owe Him thankfulness and there is a big difference between those two.

Think about it this way: if a person says to you, "It would make me happy if you did this for me," there are two ways you could look at their request. If you are indifferent about the person or you do not like them—you have no relationship with them and no reason to be grateful to them—then their request for their happiness is at your expense. If you do what they ask, it is merely compliance, duty, obedience, and it feels inconvenient or burdensome. However, if you love that person, if you are thankful to them for all they have done for you, then your heart is bound up with theirs and their happiness is your happiness. Then, their request for their happiness is not at your expense at all. Even if it is hard for you, even if you have to drop something important to do it, you do not feel exploited or inconvenienced by the request because you want to make them happy, you want to show them how thankful you are. So it is with God. When there is awe at what He has done in Christ for sinners like us; where there is thankfulness for the many benefits of salvation, duty becomes desire, obedience becomes thankfulness, and sacrifice becomes joyful service. Where there is love and gratitude, there is a desire to show our thankfulness through service. That is what we give God: lives of thankfulness, not obedience to the rules.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Let That Be Enough

"...have you not cause to say, 'I love the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplication.'?... He has heard you in the day of trouble, has strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured Him by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat. Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard your poor weak prayers." ~ Charles Spurgeon, the morning of Feb. 6 from Morning and Evening

Reading this today reminded me of a very special part of prayer that I often forget in my desire for answers--the believer's prayers are heard by the God and King of the universe always. Even when we do not get the answers for which we look, He never turns a blind eye or deaf ear. He always listens and perhaps says, "Wait, my child," and when, in our anxiousness, we say, "But, Father!" He patiently responds, "Wait, my child." That is never the response I want but it is no less valid or loving. The very fact that our heavenly Father--the God and King of the universe--is available at all hours and hears us is incredible. Imagine how you would feel if the President (whether you like him or not) was always at the ready to hear you. Just the fact that he listens and wants to hear from us would be an honor, regardless of his response. How much more true is that of our heavenly Father? He is the King of the universe; I am a pion and unimportant even by human standards (not to mention cosmic standards). He is the holy God; I am a sinful, selfish creature. Yet, He wants me to come to Him and wants to listen. That alone, regardless of the answer, is amazing. I am not a big fan of Switchfoot in general (not that I have anything against them; I just do not care for most of their music), but I like the chorus to "Let That Be Enough":

Let me know that You hear me
Let me know Your touch
Let me know that You love me
And let that be enough

Let that be enough, Father.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Strength of Faith

"Where lies the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is—an emanation of divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God; and faith says, 'My God could not have given this promise, except from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain his Word will be fulfilled.' Then faith thinketh, 'Who gave this promise?' It considereth not so much its greatness, as, 'Who is the author of it?' She remembers that it is God who cannot lie—God omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the promise must be fulfilled; and forward she advances in this firm conviction. She remembereth, why the promise was given,—namely, for God’s glory, and she feels perfectly sure that God’s glory is safe, that he will never stain his own escutcheon, nor mar the lustre of his own crown; and therefore the promise must and will stand. Then faith also considereth the amazing work of Christ as being a clear proof of the Father’s intention to fulfil his word. 'He that spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' Moreover faith looks back upon the past, for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. She remembers that God never has failed her; nay, that he never did once fail any of his children. She recollecteth times of great peril, when deliverance came; hours of awful need, when as her day her strength was found, and she cries, 'No, I never will be led to think that he can change and leave his servant now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and he will help me still.' Thus faith views each promise in its connection with the promise-giver, and, because she does so, can with assurance say, 'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!'" ~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, July 8.

I like this devotion from Spurgeon because it brings to light an important truth about faith. The value of faith is not found in its strength but in its object. Faith is useless if it is not placed in something faithful and deserving of that faith, and this kind of useful faith is nothing more than the proper response to the faithfulness of that to which it looks. You can have the strongest faith in the world in a mushroom but that mushroom cannot forgive your sins. You also can have unsteady, weak faith in Jesus, but if He alone is the object, He can and will forgive your sins. Today you often hear people say, "I have faith." "Faith in what?", I want to ask. You might also hear people say, "I am a person of faith." Again, I would ask, "Faith in what or who?" Nebulous faith is useless faith. Faith is only meaningful if it is placed in something or Someone who is deserving of that faith. Again, that alone is where the value of faith lies; it does not lie in the strength of the faith.

Allow me to share a classic illustration of this. Let's say you are next to a cliff and a bear is running at you. You look down the side of the cliff and there below you are three branches that you could grasp to escape the reach of the bear. All that matters in this situation is the strength (faithfulness) of the branch. Whether you leap off the cliff and grab the branch or climb down slowly and cautiously to it, all that matters is the strength of the branch. If you choose the wrong branch, a bold leap or a cautious climb will not make a difference, you will die either way. If you choose the right branch, a bold leap or a cautious climb will not make a difference, you will be held up. Such is the case with faith.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Preaching and a Preacher's Growth

"I give you the motto, 'Go forward.' Go forward in personal attainments, forward in gifts and in grace, forward in fitness for the work, and forward in conformity to the image of Jesus...If there be any brother here who thinks he can preach as well as he should, I would advise him to leave off altogether." ~ Charles Spurgeon

I am in a preaching lab class at my seminary, RTS Atlanta, and my professor sent a great blog post out to the class about how preachers should evaluate their preaching. It is a great article that I would recommend anyone reading, even those who have no plans of ever preaching. If you are reading this and you are not a preacher, nor do you have any plans to become one, I do not write this here to give you a means by which to criticize your pastor but quite the contrary. I write this so you can know how to pray for your pastor and his preaching and so you can know what he pours into it when he does it in a godly, biblical manor. No preacher gets all this right all the time (I preached at my church this past Sunday and found this article both encouraging and quite convicting), which is why he needs your prayer for his preaching.

The article's major points are the following:

• Did I preach as God's servant? The author summarizes, "Evaluate your sermons for any hint that you stood in the pulpit as a lord and savior instead of a humble servant and messenger whose authority comes solely from God."
• Did I preach to build God's Church? The author summarizes, "When evaluating your preaching, ask yourself whether you preached with a burning love for God which made you long to see His church built up on earth. God loves His church with an everlasting love. If you love God, your preaching must be full of love for God’s church."
• Did I preach Christ as the only foundation? The author states, "Christ is everything to the believer: our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ is not only the door into salvation; He is the entire road on which we must travel to glory."
• Did I build my sermon with the precious materials of Reformed experiential preaching? He, again, summarizes, "The wisdom of the Scriptures is the only material worthy of use in God’s holy temple. Therefore, do not build your sermons with the materials of man which will perish in God’s flaming glory."
• Did I preach for the Master's reward? He states, "Though you and your hearers may have long forgotten the specifics of what you preached, the Lord will judge every sermon. Every sermon will have one of two outcomes on Judgment Day: it may be found precious in God’s sight and receive His approbation, or it will be judged unworthy and the fire of God’s glory will consume it."

Those are the major points of this blog post but there is some great content in between them. I recommend reading the whole thing. And, remember, read with the heart wanting to know how to pray for your pastor, not judge his sermons for all of the above questions are attitudes of the heart that only he and God can know fully.

By His Grace,

Taylor

Take Not Your Name From the Evening

Yesterday's Morning and Evening evening devotional is really great so I just wanted to share if with everyone. Read below and may it bless your soul.

         “And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
         — Genesis 1:5

The evening was “darkness” and the morning was “light,” and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, “Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?” Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” The place of the morning is second, it dawns when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, “That which is last, lasts for ever.” That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; “thy sun shall no more go down.” The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred, high, eternal noon.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Justice Demands

"The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep, and pleads that they must therefore go free. The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom He stands a substitute should go their way." ~ Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, Morning March 26

There is an anecdote (which I cannot confirm) that tells the story of a conversation between Spurgeon and one of his congregation. As the story goes, the member came up to Sprugeon, after a particularly good sermon on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ being the only way to obtain eternal life, and asked him, "Pastor Spurgeon, what would you do if you got to the gates of heaven and God did not grant you entrance." Without missing a beat Spurgeon replied, "I would demand to be let in!"

Whether the story is true or not, it brings up an interesting point. Could we ever make demands of God? Could we demand to be let into heaven? If you have placed your faith in the propitiatory sacrifice (satisfying God's wrath) of Christ then you could. I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God is not only faithful to forgive our sins if we come to Him on the basis of the righteousness of Christ; He is just in doing so. In fact, it would be unjust for God to refuse if we come on the basis of Christ's righteousness alone. Why? Romans 3:23-26 tells us the answer,

²³[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. ²⁶It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The emphasis in the last verse is my own, which I added to bring attention to the part of the verse that I want to focus on. Because of the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, God can both justify sinners (declare them not guilty and righteous on account of Christ) and be just in doing so. It is just because Christ took the punishment for our sin (became a propitiatory sacrifice for us) and imputed to our account His perfect righteousness. Since Christ took our punishment and we have His righteousness it would be unjust for God to do anything other than declare us not guilty and righteous--to justify us. So Christians can confidently before God because, as Spurgeon says above, "justice demands that those for whom He stands a substitute should go their way."

As Easter approaches consider this: "³³Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is to condemn?" ~ Romans 8:33-34a. If you are His, then you can rejoice because nothing can separate you from His love... nothing (Romans 8:35).

By His Grace,
Taylor

His Heart

"If you can't trace God's hand trust His heart." ~ Charles Spurgeon

I was reminded of this quote recently and I thought it would be something relevant to share considering the times we are in. Many today are having a hard time finding a job, worried about keeping a job, worried about paying bills, worried about retirement, or at least know someone in one of these states. It is tough to be able to see any reasons for what is going on, especially when you are right in the middle of it. This is, of course, the point of what Spurgeon is saying here. We often cannot see the reasons for why God does what He does, but we can choose to say, "God, I do not know what You are doing, but I know Your love for me never changes so it must be good for me. Help me to trust that. Help me to believe that."

One more thing, saying the above does not mean we do not ask God why in the hopes that we will one day see the reasons. I get more than a little frustrated with the people who say, "I never ask God why." I sometimes want to smack them to bring them back to reality. Even Jesus asked God why! Sure He was in the darkest place one could ever be and it was His human frailty crying out, but if it was not a sin for His humanity to cry out to God then it is not a sin for us to do the same. God knows our frame and knows that we are dust (Psalm 103:14). He understands. There is nothing wrong with asking God why. We certainly cannot demand answers from Him, but we can humbly ask the question as a child would ask his father. The worst that can happen is He will respond, "My child, you would not understand. Just know that I love you and am carrying you the whole way."

By His Grace,
Taylor