This is from a book I am reading by Thomas Watson:
"The truths of the gospel are evident and infallible...A Christian may come not merely to a vague opinion, but to a certainty of what he holds...So all God’s providences, being divinely tempered and sanctified, work together for the best to the saints...He who loves God and is called according to His purpose, may rest assured that everything in the world shall be for his good...If all things work for good, hence learn that there is a providence. Things do not work of themselves, but God sets them working for good. God is the great Disposer of all events and issues. He sets everything working. ‘His kingdom ruleth over all’ Psalm 103:19. It is meant of His providential kingdom. Things in the world are not governed by second causes, by the counsels of men, by the stars and planets, but by divine providence. There are three things in providence: God’s foreknowing, God’s determining, and God’s directing all things to their periods and events. Whatever things do work in the world, God sets them a working."
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
not even Noah, Daniel or Job...
I've been reading through Ezekiel this week and read this passage this morning:
"Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,"Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves," declares the Lord GOD. "If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. "Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, 'Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it, 'even though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. "Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. "For thus says the Lord GOD, "How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague to cut off man and beast from it! "Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. "Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did to it," declares the Lord GOD.
- Ezekiel 14:12-23
Ezekiel wrote to Israel during a time of exile. God exiled Israel from the land He promised his beloved people because, even in the midst of promise, they rejected God. For a nation steeped in sin, the righteousness of the great men that they once upheld, men whose stories are trumpeted in the Old Testament as examples of faithfulness...even the righteousness of such great men could do nothing on Israel's behalf. Consider Daniel stepping into a den a lions because he refused to worship anyone other than the Lord, and Job, who even in the midst of suffering greater than anything that I can imagine, did not reject the Lord. What great faith! Still, not enough to save anyone but themselves from the wrath of God.
But the righteousness of Jesus Christ, IS enough. Having resisted all temptation (rest assured, He faced temptation head on as a man, but unlike us, he struggled well against it, and won), Christ offered himself as a perfectly righteous sacrifice to save us from our self-imposed destruction and narrow-minded rebellion.
Christ alone can rescue. Love His righteousness.
"Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,"Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves," declares the Lord GOD. "If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate. "Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, 'Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it, 'even though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered. "Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. "For thus says the Lord GOD, "How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague to cut off man and beast from it! "Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. "Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did to it," declares the Lord GOD.
- Ezekiel 14:12-23
Ezekiel wrote to Israel during a time of exile. God exiled Israel from the land He promised his beloved people because, even in the midst of promise, they rejected God. For a nation steeped in sin, the righteousness of the great men that they once upheld, men whose stories are trumpeted in the Old Testament as examples of faithfulness...even the righteousness of such great men could do nothing on Israel's behalf. Consider Daniel stepping into a den a lions because he refused to worship anyone other than the Lord, and Job, who even in the midst of suffering greater than anything that I can imagine, did not reject the Lord. What great faith! Still, not enough to save anyone but themselves from the wrath of God.
But the righteousness of Jesus Christ, IS enough. Having resisted all temptation (rest assured, He faced temptation head on as a man, but unlike us, he struggled well against it, and won), Christ offered himself as a perfectly righteous sacrifice to save us from our self-imposed destruction and narrow-minded rebellion.
Christ alone can rescue. Love His righteousness.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
"Something in the Water"
One of my favorite recording artists, Brooke Fraser, just released her new album titled "Flags." Here is the video for one of the songs on the album. It will make your heart sing or my name's not Jenn Brown.
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