Earlier this week, when my wife answered my “What’s for supper?” with “Asian meatballs,” I couldn’t help think of the recent cookbook goof calling for “salt and freshly ground black people.” [sigh . . .] I’ll never think of Italian sausage and Swedish meatballs the same. Anyway . . .

It’s time for another Holiness of God drawing.

Free RC!

Last week’s winner has been drawn and notified, and now it’s time for the next round. The rules are the same as last week. To win a copy of The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul, just send me an email that includes

• Your name
• How you follow this blog, i.e. RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Kindle, link from your blog, bookmark, etc.
• “The Holiness of God Giveaway 6” in the subject line

Entries will be accepted through next Friday (May 7), and the winner will be notified by email. Another giveaway will be announced next Saturday (and the next, until I run out), so there will be multiple chances to win.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The Lowest Place
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

Give me the lowest place: not that I dare
   Ask for the lowest place, but Thou hast died
That I might live and share
   Thy glory by Thy side.

Give me the lowest place: or if for me
   That lowest place too high, make one more low
Where I may sit and see
   My God and love Thee so.

—Christina Rossetti, Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 1993).

John 1:10–18

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
   11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again This commandment I received from My Father.”

These verses show us, for one thing, the great object for which Christ came into the world. He says, I have come that men “might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
   The truth contained in these words is of vast importance. They supply an antidote to many crude and unsound notions which are abroad in the world. Christ did not come to be only a teacher of new morality, or an example of holiness and self-denial, or a founder of new ceremonies, as some have vainly asserted. He left heaven, and dwelt for thirty-three years on earth for far higher ends than these. He came to procure eternal life for man, by the price of His own vicarious death. He came to be a mighty fountain of spiritual life for all mankind, to which sinners coming by faith might drink; and, drinking, might live for evermore. By Moses came laws, rules, ordinances, ceremonies. By Christ came grace, truth, and eternal life.
   Important as this doctrine is, it requires to be fenced with one word of caution. We must not overstrain the meaning of our Lord Jesus Christ’s words. We must not suppose that eternal life was a thing entirely unknown until Christ came, or that the Old Testament saints were in utter darkness about the world to come. The way of life by faith in a Saviour was a way well known to Abraham and Moses and David. A Redeemer and a Sacrifice was the hope of all God’s children from Abel down to John the Baptist; but their vision of these things was necessarily imperfect. They saw them afar off, and not distinctly. They saw them in outline only, and not completely. It was the coming of Christ which made all things plain, and caused the shadows to pass away. Life and immortality were brought into full light by the Gospel. In short, to use our Lord’s own words, even those who had life had it “more abundantly,” when Christ came into the world.
   These verses show us, for another thing, one of the principal offices which Jesus Christ fills for true Christians. Twice over our Lord uses an expression which, to an Eastern hearer, would be singularly full of meaning. Twice over he says emphatically, “I am the Good Shepherd.” It is a saying rich in consolation and instruction.
   Like a good shepherd, Christ knows all His believing people. Their names, their families, their dwelling-places, their circumstances, their private history, their experience, their trials,—with all these things Jesus is perfectly acquainted. There is not a thing about the least and lowest of them with which He is not familiar. The children of this world may not know Christians, and may count their lives folly; but the Good Shepherd knows them thoroughly, and, wonderful to say, though He knows them, does not despise them.
   Like a Good Shepherd, Christ cares tenderly for all His believing people. He provides for all their needs in the wilderness of this world, and leads them by the right way to a city of habitation. He bears patiently with their many weaknesses and infirmities, and does not cast them off because they are wayward, erring, sick, footsore, or lame. He guards and protects them against all their enemies, as Jacob did the flock of Laban; and of those that the Father has given Him He will be found at last to have lost none.
   Like a Good Shepherd, Christ lays down his life for the sheep. He did it once for all, when He was crucified for them. When He saw that nothing could deliver them from hell and the devil, but His blood, He willingly made His soul an offering for their sins. The merit of that death He is now presenting before the Father’s throne. The sheep are saved for evermore, because the Good Shepherd died for them. This is indeed a love that passeth knowledge! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John xv. 13.)
   Let us only take heed that this office of Christ is not set before us in vain. It will profit us nothing at the last day that Jesus was a Shepherd, if during our lifetime, we never heard His voice and followed Him. If we love life, let us join His flock without delay. Except we do this, we shall be found at the left hand in the day of judgment, and lost for evermore.
   These verses show us, lastly, that when Christ died, He died of His own voluntary free will. He uses a remarkable expression to teach this: “I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
   The point before us is of no small importance. We must never suppose for a moment that our Lord had no power to prevent His sufferings, and that He was delivered up to His enemies and crucified because He could not help it. Nothing could be further from the truth than such an idea. The treachery of Judas, the armed band of priests’ servants, the enmity of Scribes and Pharisees, the injustice of Pontius Pilate, the crude hands of Roman soldiers, the scourge, the nails, and the spear,—all these could not have harmed a hair of our Lord’s head, unless He had allowed them. Well might He say those remarkable words, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels. But how, then, shall the Scripture be fulfilled?” (Matt. xxvi. 53.)
   The plain truth is, that our Lord submitted to death of His own free will, because He knew that His death was the only way of making atonement for man’s sins. He poured out His soul unto death with all the desire of His heart, because He had determined to pay our debt to God, and redeem us from hell. For the joy set before Him He willingly endured the cross, and laid down His life, in order that we, through His death, might have eternal life. His death was not the death of a martyr, who sinks at last overwhelmed by enemies, but the death of a triumphant conqueror, who knows that even in dying he wins for himself and his people a kingdom and a crown of glory.
   Let us lean back our souls on these mighty truths, and be thankful. A willing Saviour, a loving Saviour, a Saviour who came specially into the world to bring life to man, is just the Saviour that we need. If we hear His voice, repent and believe, He is our own.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Following last Monday’s post on the recent news from Francis Chan, a reader asked:

If God wanted to communicate to me about something that has not been specified in His Word, how would he do it? I'm talking about a leading into ministry, a prompting to pray for someone, guidance towards some particular path...

I promised a full answer today, but I’m sorry to say I can’t come through with that today. I still hope to deliver on that promise, but for now, let me throw out a very short, off-the-top-of-my-head answer. But first, a couple of points before I begin:

• I’m setting aside the “prompting to pray for someone” part because, really, do we need a sign from above that we should pray? I don’t think so. If it occurs to me to pray, I just do it. So should you.
• I’m not going to answer or even consider the question, “God spoke directly to people in the Bible. How can you say he won’t do that now?” Volumes have been written by bona fide theologians explaining that quite well. That matter is settled, and nobody bloggers with pretentious blog titles have nothing to add.

We shouldn’t expect or depend on God to tell us what to do. Rather than pointing us to particular destinations, he puts us on a path that will take us where he wants us to go. Instead of telling us, step-by-step, what to do, he instructs us in a way of life.

Begin by looking at Psalm 1. Any answer I would give would begin with the assumption that the individual in question is the character featured therein.

1 How blessed is the man who does not walk
      in the counsel of the wicked,
   Nor stand in the path of sinners,
   Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
   And in His law he meditates day and night.

To anyone but the Psalm 1 man, I’d have to say, “Good luck; you’re on your own.” Only he is in any position to discern God’s leading. From there, I move to Psalm 37:

3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
   Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord;
   And He will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord,
   Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

The Psalm 1 “blessed” man is one and the same with the Psalm 37 man who “delight[s] . . . in the Lord.” He is in the position to receive his desires from the Lord. For this man — devoted to God, and saturated with his Word — what he wants is a good indication of what God wants. So the first key to discerning God’s leading is to be the kind of person who can be led.

However, being fallible and still burdened with sinful flesh, our desires aren’t nearly enough upon which to base any major decision. Our desires, having first been examined scripturally, should be put to the test through the communities that God has instituted, namely, the family and the church. For example, if you are a youth living in your parents’ home, and they don’t think you should go on that short-term mission trip, don’t go, and don’t argue about it. That goes even if they are not believers; if God could move Pharaoh, he can surely move your unbelieving parents. (Furthermore, even your unbelieving parents are probably wiser than you in many ways.) Concerning perceived calls to vocational ministry, the church must be a major player in confirming your call. The church is God’s ministry plan. Therefore, any call to vocational ministry is an ecclesiastical calling and will come through the church. God may first give you a desire which will then be confirmed through the church, or the church may recognize your gifting even before you have the desire (this short answer will not attempt to consider all the possibilities), but the church will be a deciding factor.

As I’ve said, this answer (which has gotten much longer than I anticipated) is far from complete. Let me now sum it all up:

How will God tell me to do something not specified in scripture?
• By moving my desires in that direction
• By moving my biblically-ordained authority structures in the same direction

A more complete answer would address circumstances, open and closed doors, etc., but I think I’ve hit on the most fundamental points here.

‘Having your loins girt about with truth’ (Eph. vi. 14).

Gurnall presents us with “a double design Satan hath to rob Christians of truth,” and a corresponding “twofold girding about with this truth.” The first was an understanding of the truth. The second is a determined conviction to profess the truth.

Second Girding About.
[It is the Christian’s duty to make a free and bold profession of the truth.]
Since Satan comes sometimes as a lion in the persons of bloody persecutors, and labours to scare Christians from the truth with fire and faggot; to defend us against this design, we need to have truth girt about us, so that with a holy resolution we may maintain our profession in the face of death and danger. The second way that truth is assaulted is by force and violence, the devil pierceth the fox’s skin of seducers with the lion’s skin of persecutors. The bloodiest tragedies in the world have been acted on the stage of the church; and the most inhuman massacres and butcheries committed on the harmless sheep of Christ. The first man that was slain in the world was a saint, and he for religion. And as Luther said, Cain will kill Abel unto the end of the world. The fire of persecution can never go out quite, so long as there remains a spark of hatred in the wicked’s bosom on earth, or the devil in hell to blow it up. Therefore there is a second way of having truth girt about the Christian’s loins, as necessary as the other, and that is in the profession of it. Many that could never be beaten from the truth by dint of argument, have been forced from it by the fire of persecution. It is not an orthodox judgment will enable a man to suffer for the truth at the stake. . . . Truth in the head, without holy courage, makes a man like the sword-fish, which Plutarch saith hath a sword in the head, but no heart to use it. Then a person becomes unconquerable, when from heaven he is endued with a holy boldness to draw forth the sword of the Spirit, and own the naked truth, by a free profession of it in the face of death and danger. This, this is to have our ‘loins girt about with truth.’

—William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), 1:304–305.

I would normally be posting something from John Calvin on the Gospel of John from John Calvin, but I was irresistibly drawn to do other things. I intend to persevere until I am finished. I don’t even have time to figure out how to fit the whole tulip into this lame excuse. See you tomorrow, unless I’m otherwise predestined.

The project to which I alluded yesterday continues. I’ve run out of shelf space, so I am adding about fifty feet of shelving in the office. Due to limited space combined with poor planning when I installed the present system, I’m having to take it all down and rearrange everything. It’s an enormous inconvenience, and one I hope never to deal with again. Consequently, as I am sure you will understand, I am very thankful.

Yes, I said “thankful,” so I thought I’d piggy-back today on the Thankful Thursday posts I’ve seen here and here. So here I am, being thankful:

• for so many books.
• for John MacArthur, whose book The Gospel According to Jesus got me started reading Christian books.
• for Iain Murray, who turned me on to church history.
• for numerous other authors, dead and alive.
• for great publishers.
• for online booksellers, who carry books local stores won’t.
• for laborers who work mostly willingly for an often impatient boss (thanks, family).
• for red oak.
• for square-drive screws.

I am sure this blessed nuisance points to many more reasons for gratitude, but I can’t think of any right now. I’m thankful that God won’t hold that against me.

Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, England

Our Fridays are (usually) dedicated to the promotion of liberty.

Milton Friedman explains why we get so little value for the vast sums of money spent by governments:

Because I’m so busy . . .

Free RC!

Last week’s winner has been drawn and notified, and now it’s time for the next round. The rules are the same as last week. To win a copy of The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul, just send me an email that includes

• Your name
• How you follow this blog, i.e. RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Kindle, link from your blog, bookmark, etc.
• “The Holiness of God Giveaway 7” in the subject line

Entries will be accepted through next Friday (May 14), and the winner will be notified by email. Another giveaway will be announced next Saturday. There are still several copies remaining, so if you haven’t won, keep trying.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Hymn 36. (C. M.)
A lovely carriage. Matt. x. 16.
Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

O ’tis a lovely thing to see
A man of prudent heart,
Whose thoughts, and lips, and life agree
   To act a useful part.

When envy, strife, and wars begin
   In little angry souls,
Mark how the sons of peace come in,
   And quench the kindling coals.

Their minds are humble, mild, and meek,
   Nor let their fury rise;
Nor passion moves their lips to speak,
   Nor pride exalts their eyes.

Their frame is prudence mix’d with love,
   Good works fulfil their day;
They join the serpent with the dove,
   But cast the sting away.

Such was the Savior of mankind,
   Such pleasures he pursued;
His flesh and blood were all refin’d,
   His soul divinely good.

Lord, can these plants of virtue grow
   In such a heart as mine?
Thy grace my nature can renew,
   And make my soul like thine.

—from The Psalms & Hymns of Isaac Watts. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book I: Collected from the Holy Scriptures (Soli Deo Gloria, 1997).

John 10:19–30

A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”

The Opposition at the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem

We should notice, first, in this passage, what strifes and controversies our Lord occasioned when He was on earth. We read that “there was a division among the Jews for His sayings,”—and that “many of them said He hath a devil, and is mad,” while others took an opposite view. It may seem strange, at first sight, that He who came to preach peace between God and man should be the cause of contention. But herein were His own words literally fulfilled,—“I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matt. x. 34.) The fault was not in Christ or His doctrine, but in the carnal mind of His Jewish hearers.
   Let us never be surprised if we see the same thing in our own day. Human nature never changes. So long as the heart of man is without grace, so long we must expect to see it dislike the Gospel of Christ. Just as oil and water, acids and alkalies, cannot combine, so in the same way unconverted people cannot really like the people of God.—“The carnal mind is enmity against God.”—“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.” (Rom. viii. 7; 1 Cor. ii. 14.)
   The servant of Christ must think it no strange thing if he goes through the same experience as his Master. He will often find his ways and opinions in religion the cause of strife in his own family. He will have to endure ridicule, harsh words, and petty persecution, from the children of this world. He may even discover that he is thought a fool or a madman on account of his Christianity. Let none of these things move him. The thought that he is a partaker of the afflictions of Christ ought to steel him against every trial. “If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household.” (Matt. x. 25.)
   One thing, at any rate, should never be forgotten. We must not allow ourselves to think the worse of religion because of the strifes and dissensions to which it gives rise. Whatever men may please to say, it is human nature, and not religion, which is to blame. We do not blame the glorious sun because its rays draw forth noxious vapors from the marsh. We must not find fault with the glorious Gospel, if it stirs up men’s corruptions, and causes the “thoughts of many hearts to be revealed.” (Luke ii. 35.)
   We should notice, secondly, the name which Christ gives to true Christians. He uses a figurative expression which, like all His language, is full of deep meaning. He calls them, “My sheep.”
   The word “sheep,” no doubt, points to something in the character and ways of true Christians. It would be easy to show that weakness, helplessness, harmlessness, usefulness, are all points of resemblance between the sheep and the believer. But the leading idea in our Lord’s mind was the entire dependence of the sheep upon its Shepherd. Just as sheep hear the voice of their own shepherd, and follow him, so do believers follow Christ. By faith they listen to His call. By faith they submit themselves to His guidance. By faith they lean on Him, and commit their souls implicitly to His direction. The ways of a shepherd and his sheep are a most useful illustration of the relation between Christ and the true Christian.
   The expression, “My sheep,” points to the close connection that exists between Christ and believers. They are His by gift from the Father, His by purchase, His by calling and choice, and His by their own consent and heart-submission. In the highest sense they are Christ’s property; and just as a man feels a special interest in that which he has bought at a great price and made his own, so does the Lord Jesus feel a peculiar interest in His people.
   Expressions like these should be carefully treasured up in the memories of true Christians. They will be found cheering and heart-strengthening in days of trial. The world may see no beauty in the ways of a godly man, and may often pour contempt on him. But he who knows that he is one of Christ’s sheep has no cause to be ashamed. He has within him a “well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John iv. 14.)
   We should notice, lastly, in this passage, the vast privileges which the Lord Jesus Christ bestows on true Christians. He uses words about them of singular richness and strength. “I know them.—I give unto them eternal life.—They shall never perish,—neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” This sentence is like the cluster of grapes which came from Eshcol. A stronger form of speech perhaps can hardly be found in the whole range of the Bible.
   Christ “knows” his people with a special knowledge of approbation, interest, and affection. By the world around them they are comparatively unknown, uncared for, or despised. But they are never forgotten or overlooked by Christ.
   Christ “gives” his people “eternal life.” He bestows on them freely a right and title to heaven, pardoning their many sins, and clothing them with a perfect righteousness. Money, and health, and worldly prosperity He often wisely withholds from them. But He never fails to give them grace, peace, and glory.
   Christ declares that His people “shall never perish.” Weak as they are they shall all be saved. Not one of them shall be lost and cast away: not one of them shall miss heaven. If they err, they shall be brought back; if they fall, they shall be raised. The enemies of their souls may be strong and mighty, but their Saviour is mightier; and none shall pluck them out of their Saviour’s hands.
   A promise like this deserves the closest attention. If words mean anything, it contains that great doctrine, the perseverance, or continuance in grace, of true believers. That doctrine is literally hated by worldly people. No doubt, like every other truth of Scripture, it is liable to be abused. But the words of Christ are too plain to be evaded. He has said it, and He will make it good,—“My sheep shall never perish.”
   Whatever men may please to say against this doctrine, it is one which God’s children ought to hold fast, and defend with all their might. To all who feel within them the workings of the Holy Ghost, it is a doctrine full of encouragement and consolation. Once inside the ark, they shall never be cast out. Once converted and joined to Christ, they shall never be cut off from His mystical body. Hypocrites and false professors shall doubtless make shipwreck forever, unless they repent. But true “sheep” shall never be confounded. Christ has said it, and Christ cannot lie: “they shall never perish.”
   Would we get the benefit of this glorious promise? Let us take care that we belong to Christ’s flock. Let us hear His voice and follow Him. The man who, under a real sense of sin, flees to Christ and trusts in Him, is one of those who shall never be plucked out of Christ’s hand.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you get around this end of the blogosphere much, you’ve no doubt read something about John Piper’s upcoming sabbatical. I don’t know why so much is being made of it, but since it is such a hot topic, I, of course, am obligated to weigh in on it as well. Or not. I’m actually surprised I haven’t read anything critical of Piper for doing this. Maybe that’s because I no longer read (and am trying not to be) the kind of blogs that would normally do that. Or maybe I expect that because I myself am often quick to react critically. Be that as it may, I hope critics will restrain themselves in this case.

I must confess that my first thoughts were, while not outright critical, skeptical. I looked askance at the notion of dropping everything in this way, for reasons that may or may not become evident by the end of this post. It doesn’t really matter, because my reasons and my opinion don’t matter. What I know is that John Piper is taking time off for very practical reasons motivated by very noble desires. If his church says that’s alright, then it is. Period. I wish him well, and I hope he returns refreshed and ready to minister to the church for the glory of God in the same way we have come to appreciate in the past.

However, this has got me thinking. John Piper has appeared in a video explaining how you can pray for him while on sabbatical. By all means, pray for Piper. But I’d like you extend your prayers to some other very important men. They are the thousands of pastors around the world who will never, in their wildest dreams, be able to take a break of this magnitude. They work in small churches, with little or no support staffs, plugging away faithfully, week after week. They don’t have book deals; they don’t have the admiration and praise of multitudes. They may seldom get as much as a “thank you.”

They are often overwhelmed, discouraged, and lonely. They have the same problems as John Piper has. They have the same problems as you have. Their marriages are under stress; their children are difficult. They are very often financially strapped. They are, quite likely, your pastor. They sacrifice more than you will probably ever know, and they do it for you.

Pray for them; support them; encourage them. Minister to them as members of the body. Love them as you love yourself.

Bethlehem Baptist has John Piper; John Piper has Bethlehem Baptist. You have your pastor; he has you. By all means, pray for John Piper. Just don’t forget who serves you.

Update: NGM Planet has been shut down. The ngmen.net domain was sold on eBay for $.06 on May 23.

I was surprised yesterday to be one of several victims of content theft. It all began Sunday night when I posted Monday morning’s entry before going to bed. Since my post referenced a post at Between Two Worlds, I left a trackback there as well before turning in. That, my friends, is a big deal, because, as any blogger who watches stats and has ever had a link from that site knows, there is a Justin Taylor effect. That is, rather than the usual traffic, you will get approximately thirty-seven jillion hits. Taylor moderates his feedback, so I checked back in the morning to see if my trackback had been published. It had (I thought), but it looked . .  different. So I clicked through.

To my dismay, I found my full post, image included, just like I expected to see it, but on a different site. (Check it for yourself. The only way you would ever know who the author was would be to click the “Previous/Next post” links at the bottom of the page (there is a blogroll-style list of “contributors” in the sidebar, also). Otherwise, the reader is left, intentionally or not, to assume that the site owner is the author of the post (the only exception being someone like Phil Johnson, who includes his name, along with multiple branded graphics, within each post). Consequently, my thirty-seven jillion hits are being hijacked by this aggregator site. Though the site owner claims to be “push[ing] viewers back to the original sites,” his URL (site address) has never, to my recollection, turned up in my stats.

So I shot off a polite, if annoyed, email:

To Whom It May Concern:

Last night (May 9) I posted an article on my site (Prayer for the Unknown on The Thirsty Theologian). I then posted a trackback at Justin Taylor’s blog, Between Two Worlds. Imagine my surprise when, this morning, I discovered not my trackback to my site, but one to NGM Planet where I found my full post and The Thirsty Theologian listed as a “contributor” in the sidebar. What is the meaning of this? I have no wish to judge your motives in this; I’m sure you mean nothing untoward. However, I must ask that you discontinue hijacking my content. If you wish, you are welcome to post short excerpts with links back to my site. That is a normally accepted practice.

Thank you,

David Kjos
The Thirsty Theologian

. . . and the following exchange ensued:

Mr Kjos:

If you would note on the about page (http://ngmen.net/?page_id=2), we do not "hijack" anyone's content, we aggregate and point to the originals for proper attribution of the authors. We do not collect comments/etc there, but push viewers back to the original sites for further discussion, etc.

Perhaps you are familiar with other "planet" sites (using either the FeedWordPress plugin we use or the python-based Planet tool (http://www.planetplanet.org/)) which also aggregate RSS feeds into one central source, linking back out to the originals for conversation, etc.

I will happily delink you from our aggregator if you prefer.

-Warren Myers

Mr, Myers:

Really, now, who do you think you're fooling? Surely, you must see that few people will ever find their way to the sites from whom you re-appropriate (to be kindly euphemistic) your content. Why would they? And what indication is there that they should? The plain fact is that I have never, to my knowledge, ever received any traffic from your site. No one who has read my work on NGM Planet knows who wrote it. I checked with another, much more popular blogger whose work you siphon, and he has never heard of NGM Planet. None of us are benefiting from your use of our content. As it now stands, your trackback at Between Two Worlds is depriving me of considerable traffic. The links you provide are inconspicuous and unnecessary to the reader. Each post is, to all appearances, original to your site.

De-linking me from your aggregator is not enough. Nothing short of a public statement giving credit where credit is due, and a cessation of current practices, will do. If you are, indeed, a follower of Christ, you will take this bit of correction and mend your ways.

David Kjos

Following that, wondering who this “Warren Myers” was, I investigated his personal blog. Searches for words like Jesus, gospel, grace, faith, and scripture produced little to indicate even a nominal religion, so maybe I was presumptuous in appealing to his conscience. Time passed, and I found myself happily de-linked from his aggregator. I expected no further communication, which was fine with me. But what followed later was not fine.

Mr Kjol,

The trackback you reference should not be pointing to ngmen.net - it should be going directly to "The Thirsty Theologian". I am unaware as to why it would show our aggregator rather than the original site - I am investigating that behavior with other blogs we aggregate to see if it does that with them as well. It should not, as you point out. (If you did click that link however, you would see that the "Next" and "Previous" links go straight to you, as it is merely importing data from the RSS feed made publicly-available from your blog. I presume you will also ask that people who follow your blog via RSS will cease, as that is also depriving you of traffic.)

We do have public statements indicating we do not write anything, but rather aggregate from other places. Kindly note the top of the page that reads "Christian blogs of interest" and, as already pointed-out in my previous email, our "About" page: http://ngmen.net/?page_id=2 -

"Welcome to NGM Planet, a service of ngmen.net.

This is an aggregation point for a variety of Christian blogs we’ve found to be of interest. If you would like you blog to be considered, please email the site admin at ngmen[at]ngmen[dot]net with your site’s name, your name, and we’ll review it.

Thanks for stopping by!

-the ngm team"

We are an aggregation point and nothing more. I am sorry this has upset you, as certainly that is not our goal.

I will have your syndication removed from our site shortly, and will no longer link others to it. There is nothing on our site which makes it look like we have written everything - if for no other reason than the volume per day of newly-syndicated entries going back to the original posters, along with, of course, the linked authors for each post and the RSS feed linking back to the original sites as well.

Again, I am sorry you are upset we are aggregating from your site. Have a good day.

Regards,
-Warren Myers

I can tolerate stupidity and, in its place, ignorance. But the intentionally obtuse are beyond excuse. At this point, I stop arguing. Psychoquacks call that passive-aggressive (a nonsensical term if ever there was one); I call it recognizing the difference between conversing with a human being and a brick wall. Of course I will not “also ask that people who follow [my] blog via RSS will cease.” They intentionally subscribed to my feed, and know who I am. The readers of NGM Planet may or may not. I say, most likely they do not; the previously-stated fact that I have received no resulting traffic ought to be proof enough of that.

I began the day without any assumption of unethical motives. Now, I am not so sure. I can’t imagine that the few ads on the aggregator site yield enough to make that the purpose of the site, but who knows? Or maybe he really just wants to share content he likes, but is too lazy or uncaring to do it right. Either way, it’s got to stop.

As I told Mr. Myers at the outset, if he wanted to post short excerpts with proper, conspicuous, credit and links to the source, that would be fine. We all do that; in fact, we hope others will do that for us. But to lift whole posts, removing the need to visit the source, and leaving it unlikely that anyone would ever be aware of the source, is theft. And to stubbornly continue when you are offered an ethical alternative exposes a willful disregard for anything but your own will. Don’t be that way; don’t do that. And if you do, don’t pretend to be a disciple of Christ.

Other “contributors” to NGM Planet are:

• 10 Million Words
• 20 Times Around the Block
• adrianwarnock.com
• AlbertMohler.com – Blog
• ali’s african adventures
• Answers in Genesis Articles
• antipaucity
• Atheist Central — Ray Comfort’s Blog
• Blog entries
• Capitol Hill Baptist Church
• Cerulean Sanctum
• Challies Dot Com – Informing the Reforming
• Church Matters: The 9Marks Blog
• Desiring God Blog
• ESV Bible Blog
• Eternal Perspectives (Randy Alcorn’s blog)
• Feed Your Faith
• GalatiansC4V16
• Grace to You Blog
• Grace to You: Drawing Near Daily Devotional
• Head Heart Hand
• J. Mark Fox’s Blog
• Journey Deeper Into God’s Word
• kerux noemata
• Ligonier Ministries Blog
• Next Gen Men
• Parchment and Pen
• Practical Shepherding
• Pyromaniacs
• Reformation21 Blog
• Samaritan’sPurse.tv – Featured
• Shepherds’ Pie
• Take Your Vitamin Z
• The Blazing Center
• The Fishermen
• The Gospel Coalition Blog
• The Walker Report
• Together for the Gospel (T4G)
• Toronto Pastors Fellowship
• Veritas Aequitas
• Wrestling with an Angel

Who better than Calvin to answer the question, “How can I know if I am elect?

   They are madmen, therefore, who seek their own salvation or that of others in the whirlpool of predestination, not keeping the way of salvation which is exhibited to them. Nay more, by this foolish speculation, they endeavor to overturn the force and effect of predestination; for if God has elected us to this end, that we may believe, take away faith, and election will be imperfect. But we have no right to break through the order and succession of the beginning and the end, since God, by his purpose, hath decreed and determined that it shall proceed unbroken. Besides, as the election of God, by an indissoluble bond, draws his calling along with it, so when God has effectually called us to faith in Christ, let this have as much weight with us as if he had engraven his seal to ratify his decree concerning our salvation. For the testimony of the Holy Spirit is nothing else than the sealing of our adoption, (Rom. viii. 15.) To every man, therefore, his faith is a sufficient attestation of the eternal predestination of God, so that it would be a shocking sacrilege to carry the inquiry farther; for that man offers an aggravated insult to the Holy Spirit, who refuses to assent to his simple testimony.

—John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries Volume XVII, Commentary on the Gospel according to John, Volume I (Baker Books, 2009), 254–255.

John 6:52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

Perhaps you know someone who prefers to keep Scripture a collection of intellectually indecipherable mysteries. Such a person thinks it impious to ask too many questions, claiming to take by faith what is not immediately understood. Maybe you are such a person. If so, Calvin gives you a piece of his mind:

   The Jews therefore debated among themselves. He again mentions the Jews, not by way of honor, but to reproach them with their unbelief, because they do not receive the well known doctrine concerning eternal life, or, at least, do not inquire modestly into the subject, if it be still obscure and doubtful. For when he says that they debated, it is a sign of obstinacy and contempt; and those who dispute so keenly do, indeed, block up against themselves the road to the knowledge of the truth. And yet the blame imputed to them is not simply that they inquired into the manner; for the same blame would fall on Abraham and the blessed Virgin, (Genesis xv. 2; Luke i. 34.) Those persons, therefore, are either led astray through ignorance, or are deficient in candour, who, without taking into account the hardihood and eagerness to quarrel, which alone the Evangelist condemns, direct all their outcry against the word how; as if it had not been lawful for the Jews to inquire about the manner of eating the flesh of Christ. But it ought rather to be imputed to sloth than ascribed to the obedience of faith, if we knowingly and willingly leave unsolved those doubts and difficulties which are removed for us by the word of the Lord. Not only is it lawful, therefore, to inquire as to the manner of eating the flesh of Christ, but it is of great importance for us to understand it, so far as it is made known by the Scriptures. Away, then, with that fierce and obstinate pretense of humility, “For my part, I am satisfied with that single word of Christ, when he declares that his flesh is truly food: to all the rest I willingly shut my eyes.” As if heretics would not have equal plausibility on their side, if they willingly were ignorant that Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, because, believing that he is the seed of Abraham, they make no farther inquiry. Only we ought to preserve such moderation about the secret works of God, as not to desire to know anything more than what he determines by his word.

—John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries Volume XVII, Commentary on the Gospel according to John, Volume I (Baker Books, 2009), 263–264.

Our Fridays are (usually) dedicated to the promotion of liberty.

The Philosophy of Liberty

Free RC!

Last week’s winner has been drawn and notified, and now it’s time for the next round. The rules are the same as last week. To win a copy of The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul, just send me an email that includes

• Your name
• How you follow this blog, i.e. RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Kindle, link from your blog, bookmark, etc.
• “The Holiness of God Giveaway 8” in the subject line

Entries will be accepted through next Friday (May 21), and the winner will be notified by email. Another giveaway will be announced next Saturday. There are still several copies remaining, so if you haven’t won, keep trying.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Hymn XXVII.
The milch kine drawing the ark:
Faith’s surrender of all. I. Samuel vi. 12.
John Newton (1725–1807)

The kine unguided went
By the directest road;

   Lowing they pass’d along,
   And left their calves shut up;
They felt an instinct for their young,
   But would not turn or stop.

   Shall brutes, devoid of thought,
   Their Maker’s will obey;
And we, who by his grace are taught,
   More stubborn prove than they?

   He shed his precious blood
   To make us his alone;
If wash’d in that atoning flood
   We are no more our own.

   If he his will reveal,
   Let us obey his call;
And think whate’er the flesh may feel,
   His love deserves our all.

   We should maintain in view
   His glory, as our end;
Too much we cannot bear, or do,
   For such a matchless friend.

   His saints should stand prepar’d
   In duty’s path to run;
Nor count their greatest trials hard,
   So that his will be done.

   With Jesus for our guide,
   The path is safe though rough
The promise says, “I will provide,”
   And faith replies, “Enough!”

—from Olney Hymns. Book I: On select Passages of Scripture.

John 10:31–42

The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” 39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.
   40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. 41 Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” 42 Many believed in Him there.

We should observe, in these verses, the extreme wickedness of human nature. The unbelieving Jews at Jerusalem was neither moved by our Lord’s miracles, nor by His preaching. They were determined not to receive Him as their Messiah. Once more it is written that “they took up stones to stone Him.”
   Our Lord had done the Jews no injury. He was no robber, murderer, or rebel against the law of the land. He was one whose whole life was love, and who “went about doing good.” (Acts x. 38.) There was no fault or inconsistency in His character. There was no crime that could be laid to His charge. So perfect and spotless a man had never walked on the face of this earth. But yet the Jews hated Him, and thirsted for His blood. How true are the words of Scripture: “They hated Him without a cause.” (John xv. 25.) How just the remark of an old divine: “Unconverted men would kill God Himself if they could only get at Him.”
   The true Christian has surely no right to wonder if he meets with the same kind of treatment as our blessed Lord. In fact, the more like he is to his Master, and the more holy and spiritual his life, the more probable is it that he will have to endure hatred and persecution. Let him not suppose that any degree of consistency will deliver him from this cross. It is not his faults, but his graces, which call forth the enmity of men. The world hates to see anything of God’s image. The children of the world are vexed and pierced in conscience when they see others better than themselves. Why did Cain hate his brother Abel, and slay him? “Because,” says John, “his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” (1 John iii. 12.) Why did the Jews hate Christ? Because He exposed their sins and false doctrines; and they knew in their own hearts that he was right and they were wrong. “The world,” said our Lord, “hateth Me, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” (John vii. 7.) Let Christians make up their minds to drink the same cup, and let them drink it patiently and without surprise. There is One in heaven who said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.” (John xv. 18.) Let them remember this and take courage. The time is short. We are traveling on towards a day when all shall be set right, and every man shall receive according to his works. “There is an end: and our expectation shall not be cut off.” (Prov. xxiii. 18.)
   We should observe, secondly, in these verses, the high honour that Jesus Christ puts on the Holy Scriptures. We find Him using a text out of the Psalms as an argument against His enemies, in which the whole point lies in the single word “gods.” And then having quoted the text, He lays down the great principle, “the Scripture cannot be broken.” It is as though He said, “Wherever the Scripture speaks plainly on any subject, there can be no more question about it. The cause is settled and decided. Every jot and tittle of Scripture is true, and must be received as conclusive.”
   The principle here laid down by our Lord is one of vast importance. Let us grasp it firmly, and never let it go. Let us maintain boldly the complete inspiration of every word of the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Let us believe that not only every book of the Bible, but every chapter,—and not only every chapter, but every verse,—and not only every verse, but every word, was originally given by inspiration of God. Inspiration, we must never shrink from asserting, extends not only to the thoughts and ideas of Scripture, but to the least words.
   The principle before us, no doubt, is rudely assaulted in the present day. Let no Christian’s heart fail because of these assaults. Let us stand our ground manfully, and defend the principle of plenary inspiration as we would the pupil of our eye. There are difficulties in Scripture, we need not shrink from conceding, things hard to explain, hard to reconcile, and hard to understand. But in almost all these difficulties, the fault, we may justly suspect, is not so much in Scripture as in our own weak minds. In all cases we may well be content to wait for more light, and to believe that all shall be made clear at last. One thing we may rest assured is very certain,—if the difficulties of plenary inspiration are to be numbered by thousands, the difficulties of any other view of inspiration are to be numbered by tens of thousands. The wisest course is to walk in the old path,—the path of faith and humility; and say, “I cannot give up a single word of my Bible. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. The Scripture cannot be broken.”
   We should observe, lastly, in these verses, the importance which our Lord Jesus Christ attaches to His miracles. He appeals to them as the best evidence of His own Divine mission. He bids the Jews look at them, and deny them if they can. “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works.”
   The mighty miracles which our Lord performed during the three years of His earthly ministry are probably not considered as much as they ought to be in the present day. These miracles were not few in number. Forty times and more we read in the Gospels of His doing things entirely out of the ordinary course of nature,—healing sick people in a moment, raising the dead with a word, casting out devils, calming winds and waves in an instant, walking on the water as on solid ground. These miracles were not all done in private among friends. Many of them were wrought in the most public manner, under the eyes of unfriendly witnesses. We are so familiar with these things that we are apt to forget the mighty lesson they teach. They teach that He who worked these miracles must be nothing less than very God. They stamp His doctrines and precepts with the mark of Divine authority. He only who created all things at the beginning could suspend the laws of creation at His will. He who could suspend the laws of creation must be One who ought to be thoroughly believed and implicitly obeyed. To reject One who confirmed His mission by such mighty works is the height of madness and folly.
   Hundreds of unbelieving men, no doubt, in every age, have tried to pour contempt on Christ’s miracles, and to deny that they were ever worked at all. But they labour in vain. Proofs upon proofs exist that our Lord’s ministry was accompanied by miracles; and that this was acknowledged by those who lived in our Lord’s time. Objectors of this sort would do well to take up the one single miracle of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead, and disprove it if they can. If they cannot disprove that, they ought, as honest men, to confess that miracles are possible. And then, if their hearts are truly humble, they ought to admit that He whose mission was confirmed by such evidence must have been the Son of God.
   Let us thank God, as we turn from this passage, that Christianity has such abundant evidence that it is a religion from God. Whether we appeal to the internal evidence of the Bible, or to the lives of the first Christians, or to prophecy, or to miracles; or to history, we get one and the same answer. All say with one voice, “Jesus is the Son of God, and believers have life through His name.”

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am thinking today about religion and politics. The following illustration represents the view of the religious right (the left would be very similar) as I see it. Please note that this is not necessarily accurate — I’m open to suggestions for improving or refining the illustration — and above all, that this is not my view.

Yet to come: I am working on a chart representing the Biblical view.

‘Having your loins girt about with truth’ (Eph. vi. 14).

In our past few visits with Gurnall, we have been presented us with “a double design Satan hath to rob Christians of truth,” and a corresponding “twofold girding about with this truth.” First, “It is the Christian’s duty to labour for an established judgment in the truth. Gurnall held up the Bereans as examples of those who “are highly commended for the inquiry they made into the Scripture, to satisfy their judgements concerning the doctrine Paul preached.” Second, “It is the Christian’s duty to make a free and bold profession of the truth.” head-knowledge, i.e. “an established judgement,” is not, by itself, adequate. “It is not an orthodox judgment will enable a man to suffer for the truth at the stake. . . . Truth in the head, without holy courage, makes a man like the sword-fish, which Plutarch saith hath a sword in the head, but no heart to use it.” But how are we to acquire this “free and bold profession”? Gurnall writes:

Labour to get an heart inflamed with a sincere love to the truth. This only is able to match the enemies of truth. The worst they can do is bonds or death; and ‘love is stronger than death.’ It kills the very heart of death itself. It makes all easy. Commandments are grievous to love, nor doth it complain of sufferings. With what a light heart did Jacob, for the love of Rachel, endure the heat of the day and cold of the night! It is venturous. Jonathan threw a kingdom at his heels, and conflicted with the anger of an enraged father, for David's sake. Love never thinks itself a loser so long as it keeps its beloved; yea, it is ambitious of any hazardous enterprise, whereby it may sacrifice itself in the service of its beloved, as we see in David, who put his life in his hands for Michal. How much more so when our love is pitched upon so transcendent an object as Christ and his truth! Alas, they are but faint spirits which are breathed from a creature! weak beams that are shot from such sorry beauties! If these lay their loves under such a law that they cannot but obey, though with the greatest peril and hazard; what constraint then must a soul ravished with the love of Christ be under! This has made the saints leap out of their estates, relations, yea out of their bodies with joy, counting it not their loss to part with them, but to keep them with the least prejudice to the truth, Re. xii. 11. It is said there, ‘they loved not their lives unto the death.’ Mark, not to the loss of some of the comforts of their lives, but ‘unto the death.’ Life itself they counted an enemy when it would part them and truth. As a man doth not love his arm, or leg, when it hazards the rest, but bids cut it off; ‘cannot we live,’ say these noble spirits, ‘but to the clouding of truth, and calling our love to it and Christ into question?—welcome then the worst of deaths.’ This kept up David’s courage when his life was laid for: ‘The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies,’ Ps. cxix. 95. A carnal heart would have considered his estate, wife, and children, or at least his life, now in danger. But David's heart was on a better subject; he considered the testimonies of God, and so much sweetness pours in upon his soul while he is rowling them in his meditation, that he cannot hold. ‘O how I love thy law!’ ver. 97. This made him set light by all the troubles he met with for his cleaving to the truth. It is a great mystery to the world, that men for an opinion, as they call it, should run such desperate hazard. Therefore Paul was thought by his judge to be out of his wits. And that question which Pilate asked Christ, seems rather to be slightingly, rather than seriously spoken, John xviii. Our Saviour had told him, ver. 37, that the end why he was born, and came into the world, was, that he should ‘bear witness to the truth.’ Then Pilate, ver. 38, asks Christ, ‘What is truth?’ and presently flings away, as if he had said, Is this now a time to think of truth, when thy life is in danger? What is truth, that thou shouldst venture so much for it? But a gracious should may better ask in a holy scorn, What are riches and honours, what the fading pleasures of this cheating world, yea, what is life itself, that any or all these should be set in opposition to truth? O sirs, look what has your love that will command purse, credit, life and all. Amor meus pondus meum—every man goes where his love carries him. If the world has your love, on it you will spend your lives; if truth has your hearts, you will catch the blow that is made at it in your own breasts, rather than let it fall on it. Only be careful that your love to truth be sincere, or else it will leave you at the prison door, and make you part with truth when you should most appear for it.

—William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), 1:309–310.

Just an interesting side note today gleaned from Calvin: apparently, the controversy over John 7:53–8:11 is not new. For those who aren’t aware of it, modern textual criticism based upon texts that were unavailable until long after the publication of the KJV demonstrates that the story of the woman taken in adultery is a later addition not found in the original text. I had always excused the earlier translators for including it by virtue of their ignorance. But Calvin, writing in the sixteenth century, knew it didn’t belong. He writes:

It is plain enough that this passage was unknown anciently to the Greek Churches; and some conjecture that it has been brought from some other place and inserted here. But as it has always been received by the Latin Churches, and is found in many old Greek manuscripts, and contains nothing unworthy of an Apostolic Spirit, there is no reason why we should refuse to apply it to our advantage.

—John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries Volume XVII, Commentary on the Gospel according to John, Volume I (Baker Books, 2009), 319.

He then introduces John 8:12–14 with these words:

Those who leave out the former narrative, which relates to the adulteress, connect this discourse of Christ with the sermon which he delivered on the last day of the assembly.

—Ibid., 324.

So the “modern perversions” were not the first to cast doubt upon, and even omit, this apocryphal text.

I hang my head in shame; I have failed to read my quota of Calvin (or almost anything else) this week. So rather than read Calvin, I’m going to tell you why you should read Calvin. Oh, heck, I’m not even going to do that. I’m going to let Steve Lawson tell you as he discusses his little book the Expository Genius of John Calvin

Our Fridays are (usually) dedicated to the promotion of liberty.

I wasn’t going to see Iron Man 2. I’m kind of fed up with the superabundance of comic book superhero movies which represent a supersized hunk of the proof that Hollywood has no original ideas. Back in the days of Reeve’s Superman and Keaton’s Batman, I thought they were cool. I even liked the three more recent Spiderman movies (although #3 had some pretty lame moments). These days, though, I find any more superhero movies to be superfluous.

I’ve changed my mind about Iron Man 2 and here’s why (HT: Steve Weaver).

. . . and I win the prize for Most Deceptive Title on a Blog Post.

Have you ever wondered, Dear Readers, “Where does this guy come up with some his weird ideas?” Well, here’s your answer: a brain that runs open-source software and short-circuits every now and then. Here’s a small window into the mind that is mine.

When this article came through my RSS reader, the headline read More women earning more than hubby. Scanning quickly as usual, I read Women earning more than one hubby. I thought, earning? Like, say, earning a trip to the woodshed? Naturally, I was then reminded of the Addams Family episode in which Morticia (one of the hottest babes ever to grace the small screen, if you ask me) asks, “Gomez, do you know what the penalty is for bigamy?” to which Gomez replies, “Of course — two wives.”

Speaking of two wives (not really, but I have to segue somehow), it is time for another The Holiness of God giveaway. The rules remain the same. To win a copy of The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul, just send me an email that includes

Free RC!

• Your name
• How you follow this blog, i.e. RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Kindle, link from your blog, bookmark, etc.
• “The Holiness of God Giveaway 9” in the subject line

Entries will be accepted through next Friday (May 28), and the winner will be notified by email. Another giveaway will be announced next Saturday. There are still a few copies remaining, so if you haven’t won, keep trying.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Petitionary Hymns
Poem XXIV. The Christian’s Wish
Augustus Toplady (1740–1778)

Emptied of earth I fain would be,
Of sin, myself, and all but Thee;
Only reserved for Christ that died,
Surrender’d to the crucified.

Sequester’d from the noise and strife,
The lust, the pomp, the pride of life;
For heaven alone my heart prepare,
And have my conversation there.

O may I the Redeemer trace,
Invested with his righteousness!
This path, untir’d, I will pursue,
Nor slack while Jesus is in view.

Nothing, save Jesus, would I know;
My friend and my companion Thou!
Lord, seize my heart, assert Thy right,
And put all other loves to flight.

My idols tread beneath thy feet,
And enter’d once, maintain thy seat;
Let Dagon fall before thy face,
The ark remaining in its place.

O lend me now a two edg’d sword,
To slay my sins before the Lord;
With Abraham’s knife, before thine eyes,
Each favorite Isaac sacrifice.

—The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady (Sprinkle Publications, 1987).

The Gospel According to John

Christ Raises Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” 4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.

The chapter we have now begun is one of the most remarkable in the New Testament. For grandeur and simplicity, for pathos and solemnity, nothing was ever written like it. It describes a miracle which is not recorded in the other Gospels,—the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Nowhere shall we find such convincing proofs of our Lord’s Divine power. As God, He makes the grave itself yield up its tenants.—Nowhere shall we find such striking illustrations of our Lord’s ability to sympathize with His people. As man, He can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.—Such a miracle well became the end of such a ministry. It was fit and right that the victory of Bethany should closely precede the crucifixion at Calvary.
   These verses teach us that true Christians may be sick and ill as well as others. We read that Lazarus of Bethany was one “whom Jesus loved,” and a brother of two well-known holy women. Yet Lazarus was sick, even unto death! The Lord Jesus, who had power over all diseases, could no doubt have prevented this illness, if He had thought fit. But He did not do so. He allowed Lazarus to be sick, and in pain, and weary, and to languish and suffer like any other man.
   The lesson is one which ought to be deeply graven in our memories. Living in a world full of disease and death, we are sure to need it some day. Sickness, in the very nature of things, can never be anything but trying to flesh and blood. Our bodies and souls are strangely linked together, and that which vexes and weakens the body can hardly fail to vex the mind and soul. But sickness, we must always remember, is no sign that God is displeased with us; no, more, it is generally sent for the good of our souls. It tends to draw our affections away from this world, and to direct them to things above. It sends us to our Bibles, and teaches us to pray better. It helps to prove our faith and patience, and shows us the real value of our hope in Christ. It reminds us betimes that we are not to live always, and tunes and trains our hearts for our great change. Then let us be patient and cheerful when we are laid aside by illness. Let us believe that the Lord Jesus loves us when we are sick no less than when we are well.
   These verses teach us, secondly, that Jesus Christ is the Christian’s best Friend in the time of need. We read that when Lazarus was sick, his sisters at once sent to Jesus, and laid the matter before Him. Beautiful, touching, and simple was the message they sent. They did not ask Him to come at once, or to work a miracle, and command the disease to depart. They only said, “Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick,” and left the matter there, in the full belief that He would do what was best. Here was the true faith and humility of saints! Here was gracious submission of will!
   The servants of Christ, in every age and climate, will do well to follow this excellent example. No doubt when those whom we love are sick, we are to use diligently every reasonable means for their recovery. We must spare no pains to obtain the best medical advice. We must assist nature in every possible manner to fight a good fight against its enemy. But in all our doing, we must never forget that the best and ablest and wisest Helper is in heaven, at God’s right hand. Like afflicted Job our first action must be to fall on our knees and worship. Like Hezekiah, we must spread our matters before the Lord. Like the holy sisters at Bethany, we must send up a prayer to Christ. Let us not forget, in the hurry and excitement of our feelings, that none can help like Him, and that He is merciful, loving, and gracious.
   These verses teach us, thirdly, that Christ loves all who are true Christians. We read that “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” The characters of these three good people seem to have been somewhat different. Of Martha, we are told in a certain place, that she was “anxious and troubled about many things,” while Mary “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word.” Of Lazarus we are told nothing distinctive at all. Yet all these were loved by the Lord Jesus. They all belonged to His family, and He loved them all.
   We must carefully bear this in mind in forming our estimate of Christians. We must never forget that there are varieties in character, and that the grace of God does not cast all believers into one and the same mold. Admitting fully that the foundations of Christian character are always the same, and that all God’s children repent, believe, are holy, prayerful, and Scripture-loving, we must make allowances for wide varieties in their temperaments and habits of mind. We must not undervalue others because they are not exactly like ourselves. The flowers in a garden may differ widely, and yet the gardener feels interest in all. The children of a family may be curiously unlike one another, and yet the parents care for all. It is just so with the Church of Christ. There are degrees of grace, and varieties of grace; but the least, the weakest, the feeblest disciples are all loved by the Lord Jesus. Then let no believer’s heart fail because of his infirmities; and, above all, let no believer dare to despise and undervalue a brother.
   These verses teach us, lastly, that Christ knows best at what time to do anything for His people. We read that “when He had heard that Lazarus was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was.” In fact, He purposely delayed His journey, and did not come to Bethany until Lazarus had been four days in the grave. No doubt He knew well what was going on; but He never moved until the time came which He saw was best. For the sake of the Church and the world, for the good of friends and enemies, He kept away.
   The children of God must constantly school their minds to learn the great lesson now before us. Nothing so helps us to bear patiently the trials of life as an abiding conviction of the perfect wisdom by which everything around us is managed. Let us try to believe not only that all that happens to us is well done, but that it is done in the best manner, by the right instrument, and at the right time. We are all naturally impatient in the day of trial. We are apt to say, like Moses, when beloved ones are sick, “Heal her now, Lord, we beseech thee.” (Num. xii. 13.) We forget that Christ is too wise a Physician to make any mistakes. It is the duty of faith to say, “My times are in Thy hand. Do with me as Thou wilt, how Thou wilt, what Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. Not my will, but Thine be done.” The highest degree of faith is to be able to wait, sit still, and not complain.
   Let us turn from the passage with a settled determination to trust Christ entirely with all the concerns of this world, both public and private. Let us believe that He by whom all things were made at first is He who is managing all with perfect wisdom. The affairs of kingdoms, families, and private individuals are all alike overruled by Him. He chooses all the portions of His people. When we are sick, it is because He knows it to be for our good; when He delays coming to help us, it is for some wise reason. The hand that was nailed to the cross is too wise and loving to smite without a needs-be, or to keep us waiting for relief without a cause.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week, I posted an illustration of the kingdom confusion of the American religious right as I see it. It was a hastily composed flow chart, and not thought out as well as it should have been. In my defense, I did say it was a work in progress. As I’ve thought about it over the last week, I’ve modified it some, and although I’m still not completely satisfied, I think it’s a pretty good representation of the religious right’s thinking. However, when making sweeping generalizations like this, it’s inevitable that someone will be misrepresented. So as I said last week, I’m open to suggestions for improvement and refinement.

The next chart shows how I think the Christian view of religion and politics should look. I see myself as having dual citizenship — one citizenship here on earth, and another, ultimate, citizenship in heaven.

In this view, political action has comparatively little ultimate value to the Kingdom of God, while the gospel, which is the focus of Kingdom activity, is important in both realms. This also shows the distinction between saving grace and common grace. While common grace — that grace which benefits all of creation — is temporal, ending when [fill in your particular view of the rapture/second coming], saving grace takes us into the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.

Again, any suggestions for improvement or refinement are welcome.

I’ve got a lot on my mind today, too much for blogging. I am grateful, though, for memorized Scripture. The following Psalm has also been especially precious. I post it here in the King James Version, first, because that’s how I memorized it, and second, because my preferred (for accuracy) NASB is no more accurate, and utterly destroys the poetry.

Psalm 121

A Song of degrees

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

As today is another day like yesterday, I’m meeting the day with more inspired poetry:

Psalm 124

A Song of degrees of David

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;

2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

As the usual routine here has been thoroughly busted this week, I’m going to continue sharing words that have encouraged me this week from the Supreme Encourager. Let these posts also stand as a reason, from an NASB guy, that the KJV should never be abandoned.

Psalm 125

A Song of degrees

They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.

2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.

3 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.

4 Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.

5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.

Well, “standing strong” might be a bit grandiose, but standing, I am. I sent in my census form a several weeks ago, having answered question #1 only. That question, asking how many people live here is, for those of you in the unquestioning majority, the only one mandated by the Constitution (Article 1, Section 2). And according to the Tenth Amendment, the “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution” are off-limits. Yes, I’m sure someone can send me dozens of articles (like this one) explaining why questions about who owns my house, and the names, sex, birthdays, and ethnicity of each of us, really are constitutional, but that won’t make it so, even if the Supreme Court says it is. The Constitution means what it says, and it doesn’t require a Juris Doctor to figure out what that is.

So I’ve been waiting for a census worker to stop by for a friendly chat about the Constitution, the difference between a Constitutional Republic and a fascist state, and why “live free or die” is not just a cute slogan on a license plate. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I learned that the census people — those who come around to collect data from folks who didn’t complete the census form correctly, or bother with it at all — have come and gone, totally ignoring my Patrick Henry moment.

Quick, someone say something to make me feel important.

. .  .  but you should pay for the music.

Before last week, I hadn’t heard of David L. Ward. After downloading his album, Cross-Centered Worship, I want you all to know about him. If you enjoy Sovereign Grace music or the Gettys, you will like Cross-Centered Worship.

Click here to listen to track samples, download the album, or order a CD. You’ll thank me.

Now it’s time to give away another copy of The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul. The rules are the same as last week. To enter, just send me an email that includes

• Your name
• How you follow this blog, i.e. RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Kindle, link from your blog, bookmark, etc.
• “The Holiness of God Giveaway 10” in the subject line

Entries will be accepted through next Friday (June 4), and the winner will be notified by email. Another giveaway will be announced next Saturday.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The Conflict
John Mason (1645–1694)

Oh, what a war is in my soul, which fain would be devout!

I am most weary with the fight, but may not yet give out.

The flesh and spirit both contend for this weak soul of mine,

That oft I know not what to do; but, Lord, I would be Thine.

I would believe, but unbelief prevails the other way;

And I have constant cause for grief, a longer night than day.

I cry to God; those cries declare whose part my soul does take;

Accept my poor desires while I do this resistance make.

My evidences should be clear; but, ah, the blots of sin

Turn cheering hope to saddening fear and make black doubts within.

The laws of sin and grace will jar both dwelling in one room,

The saints expect perpetual war till ye are sent for home.

Although these combats make you fear they should not cast you down;

God will give grace to hold out here, and glory for its crown.

—Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

John 11:7–16

Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 This He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.” 12 The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” 16 Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”

   We should notice, in this passage, how mysterious are the ways in which Christ sometimes leads His people. We are told that when He talked of going back to Judæa, His disciples were perplexed. It was the very place where the Jews had lately tried to stone their Master: to return there was to plunge into the midst of danger. These timid Galileans could not see the necessity or prudence of such a step. “Thou goest thither again?” they cried.
   Things such as these are often going on around us. The servants of Christ are often placed in circumstances just as puzzling and perplexing as those of the disciples. They are led in ways of which they cannot see the purpose and object; they are called to fill positions from which they naturally shrink, and which they would never have chosen for themselves. Thousands in every age are continually learning this by their own experience. The path they are obliged to walk in is not the path of their own choice. At present they cannot see its usefulness or wisdom.
   At times like these a Christian must call into exercise his faith and patience. He must believe that his Master knows best by what road His servant ought to travel, and that He is leading him, by the right way, to a city of habitation. He may rest assured that the circumstances in which be is placed are precisely those which are most likely to promote his graces and to check his besetting sins. He need not doubt that what he cannot see now, he will understand hereafter. He will find one day that there was wisdom in every step of his journey, though flesh and blood could not see it at the time. If the twelve disciples had not been taken back into Judæa, they would not have seen the glorious miracle of Bethany. If Christians were allowed to choose their own course through life, they would never learn hundreds of lessons about Christ and His grace, which they are now taught in God’s ways. Let us remember these things. The time may come when we shall be called to take some journey in life which we greatly dislike. When that time comes, let us set out cheerfully, and believe that all is right.
   We should notice, secondly, in this passage, how tenderly Christ speaks of the death of believers. He announces the fact of Lazarus being dead in language of singular beauty and gentleness: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” Every true Christian has a Friend in heaven, of almighty power and boundless love. He is thought of, cared for, provided for, defended by God’s eternal Son. He has an unfailing Protector, who never slumbers or sleeps, and watches continually over his interests. The world may despise him, but he has no cause to be ashamed. Father and mother even may cast him out, but Christ having once taken him up will never let him go. He is the “friend of Christ” even after he is dead! The friendships of this world are often fair-weather friendships, and fail us like summer-dried fountains, when our need is the sorest; but the friendship of the Son of God is stronger than death, and goes beyond the grave. The Friend of sinners is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
   The death of true Christians is “sleep,” and not annihilation. It is a solemn and miraculous change, no doubt, but not a change to be regarded with alarm. They have nothing to fear for their souls in the change, for their sins are washed away in Christ’s blood. The sharpest sting of death is the sense of unpardoned sin. Christians have nothing to fear for their bodies in the change; they will rise again by and by, refreshed and renewed, after the image of the Lord. The grave itself is a conquered enemy. It must render back its tenants safe and sound, the very moment that Christ calls for them at the last day.
   Let us remember these things when those whom we love fall asleep in Christ, or when we ourselves receive our notice to depart this world. Let us call to mind, in such an hour, that our great Friend takes thought for our bodies as well as for our souls, and that He will not allow one hair of our heads to perish. Let us never forget that the grave is the place where the Lord Himself lay, and that as He rose again triumphant from that cold bed, so also shall all His people. To a mere worldly man death must needs be a terrible thing; but he that has Christian faith may boldly say, as he lays down life, “I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest: for it is Thou, Lord, that makest me dwell in safety.”
   We should notice, lastly, in this passage, how much of natural temperament clings to a believer even after conversion. We read that when Thomas saw that Lazarus was dead, and that Jesus was determined, in spite of all danger, to return into Judæa, he said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” There can only be one meaning in that expression: it was the language of a despairing and desponding mind, which could see nothing but dark clouds in the picture. The very man who afterwards could not believe that his Master had risen again, and thought the news too good to be true, is just the one of the twelve who thinks that if they go back to Judæa they must all die!
   Things such as these are deeply instructive, and are doubtless recorded for our learning. They show us that the grace of God in conversion does not so re-mold a man as to leave no trace of his natural bent of character. The sanguine do not altogether cease to be sanguine, nor the desponding to be desponding, when they pass from death to life, and become true Christians. They show us that we must make large allowances for natural temperament, in forming our estimate of individual Christians. We must not expect all God’s children to be exactly one and the same. Each tree in a forest has its own peculiarities of shape and growth, and yet all at a distance look one mass of leaf and verdure. Each member of Christ’s body has his own distinctive bias, and yet all in the main are led by one Spirit, and love one Lord. The two sisters Martha and Mary, the apostles Peter and John and Thomas, were certainly very unlike one another in many respects. But they had all one point in common: they loved Christ, and were His friends.
   Let us take heed that we really belong to Christ. This is the one thing needful. If this is made sure, we shall be led by the right way, and end well at last. We may not have the cheerfulness of one brother, or the fiery zeal of another, or the gentleness of another. But if grace reigns within us, and we know what repentance and faith are by experience, we shall stand on the right hand in the great day. Happy is the man of whom, with all his defects, Christ says to saints and angels, “This is our friend.”

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It occurred to me this morning that I have nothing of value for which someone has not died. Could it be that one of God’s purposes for war is to provide a graphic, recurring illustration of the gospel?