tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372705062024-03-13T00:01:45.017-04:00The Beauty of HolinessI'm a church planter in Quebec City. The purpose of this blog is to exalt the infinite HOLINESS of the LORD and to promote the holiness of his saints.
Please take into consideration that my mother tongue is french and not english. Look more at the ideas than the way they are expressed.Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-37516365732850031792008-05-31T15:07:00.005-04:002008-05-31T15:45:09.885-04:00PART 4 - Conclusion on the practical uses of the doctrine of sin (related to holiness)<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bishop Ryle draws his final conclusion on the amazing sinfulness of sin and how we need to realize this fact if we want to really grow in holiness. </span><br /><br />In the last place, a scriptural view of sin will prove an admirable antidote to the low views of personal holiness, which are so painfully prevalent in these last days of the church. This is a very painful and delicate subject, I know, but I dare not turn away from it. It has long been my sorrowful conviction that the standard of daily life among professing christians in this country has been gradually falling.<br /><br />I am afraid that Christ–like charity, kindness, good temper, unselfishness, meekness, gentleness, good nature, self-denial, zeal to do good and separation from the world are far less appreciated that they ought to be and than they used to be in the days of our fathers.<br /><br /><br />Into the causes of this state of things I cannot pretend to enter fully and can only suggest conjectures for consideration . It may be that a certain profession of religion has become so fashionable and comparatively easy in the present age that the streams which were once narrow and deep have become wide and shallow, and what we have gaines in outward show we have lost in quality.<br /><br />It may be that our contemporary affluence and comfortable lifestyles have insensibly introduced a plague of worldliness and self-indulgence and a love of ease. What were once called luxuries are now comforts and necessities, and self-denial and "enduring hardness" are consequently little known. It may be that the enormous amount of controversy which marks this age has insensibly dried up our spiritual life. We have too often been content with zeal for orthodoxy and have neglected the sober realities of daily practical godliness. Be the causes what they may, I must declare that the result remains. There has been of late years a lower standard of personal holiness among believers than there used to be in the days of our fathers.<br /><br />The whole result is that the Spirit is grieved and the matter calls for much humiliation and searching of heart. As to the best remedy for the state of things I have mentioned, I will venture to give an opinion. Other schools of thought in the churches must judge for themselves. The cure for evangelical churchmen, I am convinced, is to be found in a clearer apprehension of the nature and sinfulness of sin.<br /><br />We need not go back to Egypt and borrow semi–Roman "Catholic" practices in order to revive our spiritual life. We need not restore the confessional, or return to monasticism or asceticism. Nothing of the kind! We must simply repent and do our first works. We must return to first principles. We must go back to "the old paths". We must sit down humbly in the presence of God, look the whole subject in the face, examine clearly what the Lord Jesus calls sin, and what the Lord Jesus calls doing His will. We must then try to realize that it is terribly possible to live a careless, easy-going, half-worldly life, and yet at the same time to maintain evangelical principles and call ourselves evangelical people! Once we see that sin is far viler and far nearer to us and sticks more closely to us than we supposed, we will be led, I trust and believe, to get nearer to Christ. Once drawn nearer to Christ, we will drink more deeply out of His fullness and learn more thoroughly to "live the life of faith" in Him, as St. Paul did. Once taught to live the life of faith in Jesus, and abiding in Him, we will bear more fruit, will find ourselves more strong for duty, more patient in trial, more watchful over our poor weak hearts, and more like our Master in all our little daily ways. Just in proportion as we realize how much Christ has done for us, will we labor to do much for Christ. Much forgiven, we will love much. In short, as the apostle says, "With open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image... even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18).<br /><br /><br />Whatever some may please to think or say, there can be no doubt that an increased feeling about holiness is one of the signs of the times. Conferences for the promotion of "spiritual life" are becoming common in the present day. The subject of "spiritual life" finds a place on congress platforms almost every year. It has awakened an amount of interest and general attention throughtout the land for which we ought to be thankful. Any movement, based on sound principles, which helps to deepen our spiritual life and increase our personal holiness will be a real blessing to the Church of England.<br /><br /><br />It will do much to draw us together and heal our unhappy divisions. It may bring down some fresh outpouring of the grace of the Spirit and be "life from the dead" in these later times. But sure I am, as I said in the beginning, we must begin low, if we would build high. I am convinced that the first step towards attaining a higher standard of holiness is to realize more fully the amazing sinfulness of sin.</span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-55425215944644981592008-05-03T14:55:00.007-04:002008-05-03T15:53:35.793-04:00PART 3 - Practical uses of the doctrine of sin (related to holiness)<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bishop Ryle concludes. If we compare the situation he speaks about from his times to ours, we must admit that it has deteriorated even more today.<br /><br />So the reading of this book so well written on the subject of holiness is greatly needed today and is necessary before we share any experiences or struggles in the field of holiness. Everyone knows that sound doctrine must precede practical application. <br /></span><br /><br />In the last place, a scriptural view of sin will prove an admirable antidote to the low views of personal holiness, which are so painfully prevalent in these last days of the church.<br /><br />This is a very painful and delicate subject, I know, but I dare not turn away from it. It has long been my sorrowful conviction that the standard of daily life among professing Christians in this country has been gradually falling. I am afraid that<br />Christ–like charity, kindness, good temper, unselfishness, meekness, gentleness, good nature, self-denial, zeal to do good and separation from the world are far less<br />appreciated than they ought to be and than they used to be in the days of our fathers.<br /><br />Into the causes of this state of things I cannot pretend to enter fully and can only suggest conjectures for consideration. It may be that a certain profession of religion has become so fashionable and comparatively easy in the present age that the streams that which wer once narrow and deep have become wide and shallow, and what we have gained in outward show we have lost in quality. It may be that our contemporary affluence and comfortable lifestyles have insensibly introduced a plague of worldliness and self-indulgence and a love of ease. What were once called luxuries are now comforts and necessities, and self-denial and "enduring hardness" are consequently little known.<br /><br />It may be that the enormous amount of controversy which marks this age has insensibly dried up our spiritual life. We have too often been content with zeal for orthodoxy and have neglected the sober realities of daily practical godliness. Be the causes what they may, I must declare my own belief that the results remains. There has been of late years a lower standard of personal holiness among believers than there used to be in the days of our fathers.<br /><br />The whole result is that the Spirit is grieved and the matter calls for much humiliation and searching of the heart. As to the best remedy for the stage of things I have mentioned, I will venture to give an opinion. Other schools of thought in the churches must judge for themselves. The cure for evangelical churchmen, I am convinced, is to be found in a clearer apprehension of the nature and sinfullness of sin. We need not to go back in Egypt and borrow semi-Roman "Catholic" practices in order to revive our spiritual life. We need not restore the confessional, or return to monasticism or asceticism. Nothing of the kind! We must simply repent and do our first works.<br /><br />We must return to first principles. We must go back to "the old paths". We must sit down humbly in the presence of God, look the whole subject in the face, examine clearly what the Lord Jesus calls sin, and what the Lord Jesus calls doing His will. We must then try to realize that it is terribly possible to live a careless, easy-going, half-worldly life, and yet at the same time to maintain evangelical principles and call ourselves evangelical people! Once we see that sin is far viler and far nearer to us and sticks more closely to us than we supposed, we will be led, I trust and believe, to get nearer to Christ. Once drawn nearer to Christ, we will drink more deeply out of His fullness and learn more thoroughly to "live the life of faith" in Him, as St. Paul did.<br /><br />Once taught to live the life of faith in Jesus, and abiding in Him, we will bear more fruit , will find ourselves more strong for duty, more patient in trial, more watchful over our weak hearts, and more like our Master in all our little daily ways. Just in proportion as we realize how much Christ has done for us, will we labor to do much for Christ. Much forgiven, we love much. In short, as the apostle says, "With open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image... even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3: 18).<br /><br />Whatever some may please to think or say, there can be no doubt that an increased feeling about holiness is one of the signs of the times. Conferences for the promotion of "spiritual life" are becoming common in the present day. The subject of "spiritual life are becoming common in the present day.<br /><br />The subject of "spiritual life" finds a place on congress platforms almost every year.<br />It has awakened an amount of interest and general attention throughout the land for which we ought to be thankful. Any movement, based on sound principles, which helps to deepen our spiritual life and increase our personal holiness will be a real blessing to the Church of England. I will do much to draw us together and heal our unhappy divisions. It may bring down some fresh outpouring of the grace of the Spirit and be "life from the dead" in these later times. But sure I am, as I said in the beginning, we must begin low, if we would build high. I am convinced that the first step towards attaining a higher standard of holiness is to realize fully the amazing sinfulness of sin.<br /><br /></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-74879023855662159552008-04-19T18:04:00.004-04:002008-05-03T14:55:13.601-04:00PART 2 - Practical uses of the doctrine of sin (related to holiness)<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bishop Ryle continues his explanations of the practical uses of sin. This is important to meditate. </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">In the third place</span>, a right view of sin works as an antidote to a ceremonial and formal kind of Christianity which has carried away so many in its wake. Unenlightened minds may find such a view of religion attractive in a certain sense, yet I cannot see how a sensuous and formal religion can thoroughly satisfy the Christian. A little child is easily quieted and amused with playthings, toys and dolls, as long as he isn't hungry. Let him feel the cravings of nature within, and you will discover quickly that only food can nourish him and satisfy his hunger. Likewise, a man's soul will not find satisfaction in music and flowers and candles and incense and banners and processions and beautiful vestments and confessionals and humanly contrived ceremonies.<br /><br />He may amuse himself with such, but let his soul awaken and rise from the dead, and he will not rest content with these things. They will seem to him mere solemn triflings and a waste of time. Let him see the scope of his sin, and he will also see his need for his Savior. He hungers and thirsts, and nothing will satisfy him but the bread of life. The prominence of this form of formal and sensuous Christianity, I dare to say, would not exist if Christians were taught more often in fullness the nature, vileness and sinfulness of sin.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">In the fourth place, </span> a right view of sin is one of the best antidotes to the overstrained theories of perfection of which we hear so much in these times. If those who press on us perfection mean nothing more than an all-round consistency and a careful attention to all the graces which make up the Christian character, reason would that we should not only bear with them, but agree with them entirely. By all means, let us aim high. But if men really mean to tell us that here in this world a believer can attain to entire freedom from sin, live for years in unbroken and uninterrupted communion with God, and feel for months together not so much as one evil thought, I must honestly say that such an opinion appears to me very unscriptural.<br /><br /><br />I go even further. I say that the opinion is very dangerous to him that holds it, and very likely to depress, discourage and keep back inquirers after salvation. I cannot find the slightest warrant in God's Word for expecting such perfection as this while we are in the body. I believe the words of our fifteenth Article are strictly true: that "Christ alone is without sin; and that all we, the rest, though baptized and born again in Christ, offend in many things; and if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us". To use the language of our first homily, "There be imperfections in our best works: we do not love God so much as we are bound to do, with all our heart, mind and power; we do not fear God so much as we ought to do; we do not pray to God but with many and great imperfections. We give, forgive, believe, live and hope imperfectly; we speak, think and do imperfectly; we fight against the devil, the world and the flesh imperfectly. Let us, therefore, not be ashamed to confess plainly our state of imperfection".<br /><br />Once more I repeat what I have said: the best preservative against this temporaty delusion about perfection which clouds some minds -- for such I hope I may call it --is a clear, full, distinct understanding of the nature, sinfulness and deceitfulness of sin.<br /><br /></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-18563941474217185082008-04-03T16:44:00.002-04:002008-04-03T17:26:32.781-04:00Practical uses of the doctrine of sin (related to holiness)<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Here bishop Ryle gives the practical uses of the doctrine of sin related to the pursuit of holiness. These are profound and essential thoughts. Keep also in mind that he wrote that in the 19th century. Things are worse today, that is for sure!<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I say, then, in the <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">first place</span>, that a scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to that vague, dim, misty, hazy kind of theology which is so painfully current in the present age. It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a vast quantity of so-called Christianity nowadays which you cannot declare positively unsound, but which, nevertheless, is not full measure, good weight and sixteen ounces to the pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably "something about Christ and something about grace and something about faith and something about repentance and something about holiness, but it is not the real "thing as it is" in the Bible. Things are out of place and out of proportion. As old Latimer would have said, it is a kind of "mingle-mangle", and does no good. It neither exercises influence on daily conduct, nor comforts in life, nor gives peace in death; and those who hold it often awake too late to find that they have got nothing solid under their feet. Now I believe the likeliest way to cure and mend this defective kind of religion is to bring forward more prominently the old scriptural truth about the sinfulness of sin. People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven and live like pilgrims until they really feel that they are in danger of hell.<br /><br />Let us all try to revive the old teaching about sin in nurseries, in schools, in training colleges, in universities. Let us not forget that "the law is good if we use it lawfully" and that "by the law is the knowledge of sin" (1 Tim. 1: 8; Rom. 3:20; Rom. 7:7). Let us bring the law to the front and press it on men's attention. Let us expound and beat out the Ten Commandments and show the lenght and breath and depth and height of their requirements. This is the way of our Lord in the sermon on the mount. We cannot do better than follow His plan. We may depend upon it, men will never come to Jesus and stay with Jesus and live for Jesus unless they really know why they are to come and what is their need.<br /><br />Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season; but they will soon fall away and return to the world.<br /></span></span><br /><br />In <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">the next place</span>, a scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to the extravagantly broad and liberal theology which is so much in vogue at the present time. The tendency of modern thought is to reject dogmas, creeds and every kind of bounds in religion. It is thought grand and wise to condemn no opinion whatever, and to pronounce all earnest and clever teachers to be trustworthy, however heterogeneous and mutually destructive their opinions may be.<br /><br />Everything, forsooth, is true and nothing is false! Everybody is right and nobody is wrong! Everybody is likely to be saved and nobody is to be lost! The atonement and substitution of Christ, the personality of the devil, the miraculous element in Scripture, the reality and eternity of future punishment, all these mighty foundation-stones are cooly tossed overboard, like lumber, in order to lighten the ship of Christianity and enable it to keep pace with modern science. Stand up for these great verities, and you are called narrow, illiberal, old-fashioned and a theological fossil!<br /><br />Quote a text, and you are told that all truth is not confined to the pages of an ancient Jewish book, and that free inquiry has found out many things since the book was completed! Now, I know nothing so likely to counteract this modern plague as constant clear statements about the nature, reality, vileness, power and guilt of sin. We must charge home into the consciences of these men of broad views and demand a plain answer to some plain questions. We must ask them to lay their hands on theirs hearts and tell us wether their favorite opinions comfort them in the day of sickness, in the hour of death, by the bedside of dying parents, by the grave of a beloved wife or child. We must ask them whether a vague earnestness, without definite doctrine, gives them peace at seasons like these. We must challenge them to tell us whether they do not sometimes feel a gnawing "something" within, which all the free inquiry and philosophy and science in the world cannot satisfy. And then we must tell them that this gnawing "something" is the sense of sin, guilt and corruption, which they are leaving out in their calculations. And above all, we must tell them that nothing will ever make them feel rest but submission to the old doctrines of man's ruin and Christ's redemption and simple childlike faith in Jesus.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-30993530136154088132008-03-21T15:13:00.002-04:002008-03-21T16:14:53.533-04:00The deceitfulness of sin<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Some may not see the usefulness of being prepared theologically before sharing our experiences with practical sanctification. I completely disagree with such a view. I will imitate Elihu (in the book of Job) who waited that the elders have spoken before he should give his opinion. Bishop Ryle's book on holiness is a classic and a very good book. Let him speak first. Then we will share our experiences!</span><br /><br />One point only remains to be considered on the subject of sin, which I dare not pass over. That point is its deceitfulness. It is a point of most serious importance and I venture to think it does not receive the attention which it deserves. You may see this deceitfulness in the wonderful proneness of men to regard sin as less sinful and dangerous than it is in the sight of God and in their readiness to extenuate it, make excuses for it and minimize its guilt. "It is but a little one! God is merciful! God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss! We mean well! One cannot be so particular! Where is the mighty harm? We only do as others!". Who is not familiar with this kind of language? You may see it in the long string of smooth words and phrases which men have coined in order to designate things which God calls downright wicked and ruinous to the soul.<br /><br /><br />What do such expressions as "fast", "gay", "wild", "unsteady", "thoughtless", "loose" mean? They show that men try to cheat themselves into the belief that sin is not quite sinful as God says it is, and that they are not so bad as they really are. You may see it in the tendency even of believers to indulge their children in questionable practices, and to blind their own eyes to the inevitable result of the love of money, of tampering with temptation and sanctioning a low standard of family religion. I fear we do not sufficiently realize the extreme subtlety of our soul's disease. We are too apt to forget that temptation to sin will rarely present itself to us in its true colors, saying, "I am your deadly enemy and I want to ruin you forever in hell".<br /><br />Oh, no! Sin come to us, like Judas, with a kiss, and like Joab, with and outstretched hand and flattering words. The forbidden fruit seemed good and desirable to Eve, yet it cast her out of Eden. The walking idly on his palace roof seemed harmless enough to David, yet it ended in adultery and murder. Sin rarely seems sin at its first beginnings. Let us then watch and pray, lest we fall into temptation.<br /><br />We may give wickedness smooth names, but we cannot alter its nature and character in the sight of God. Let us remember St. Paul's words: "Exhort one another daily...lest any be hardened through the deceitfullness of sin" (Heb. 3:13). It is a wise prayer in our litany: "From the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil, good Lord, deliver us." And now, before I go further, let me briefly mention two thoughts which appear to me to rise with irresistible force out of the subject.<br /><br />On the one hand, I ask my readers to observe what deep reasons we all have for humiliation and self-abasement. Let us sit down before the picture of sin displayed to us in the Bible and consider what guilty, vile, corrupt creatures we all are in the sight of God. What need we all have of that entire change of heart called regeneration, new birth or conversion! What a mass of infirmity and imperfection cleaves to the very best of us at our very best! What a solemn thought it is that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord"! (Heb. 12:14). What cause we have to cry with the tax-collector every night in our lives we think of our sins of omission as well as commission, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13). How admirably suited are the general and communion confessions of the Prayer Book to the actual condition of all professing Christians! How well that language suits God's children which the Prayer Book puts in the mouth of every churchman before he goes up to the communion table: "The remembrance of our misdoings is grievous unto us; the burden is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for Your Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past." How true it is that the holiest saint is in himself a miserable sinner and a debtor to mercy and grace to the last moment of his existence!<br /><br /><br />With my whole heart I subscribe to that passage in Hooker’s sermon on "Justification," which begins: "Let the holiest and best things we do be considered. We are never better affected unto God than when we pray, how are our affections many times distracted! How little reverence do we show unto the grand majesty of God unto whom we speak! How little remorse of our own miseries! How little taste of the sweet influence of His tender mercies do we feel! Are we not unwilling many times to begin, and as glad to make an end, as if in saying, "Call upon Me", He had set us a very burdensome task? It may seem somewhat extreme, which I will speak; therefore, let every one judge of it, even as his own heart shall tell him, and not otherwise; I will but only make a demand! If God should yield unto us, not as unto Abraham-- if fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, yes, or if ten good persons could be found in a city, for their sakes this city should not be destroyed but, and if He should make us an offer thus large: "Search all the generations of men since the Fall of our father Adam, find one man that has done one action which has passed from him pure, without any stain or blemish at all, and for that one man's only action neither man nor angel should feel the torments which are prepared for both, do you think that this ransom to deliver men and angels could be found to be among the sons of men? The best things which we do have somewhat in them to be pardoned".<br /><br />I am persuaded that the more light we have, the more we see our own sinfulness; the nearer we get to heaven, the more we are clothed with humility. In the very age of the church you will find it true, if you will study biographies, that the most eminent saints -- men like Bradford, Rutherford and Mc'Cheyne-- have always been the humblest men.<br /><br />On the other hand, I ask my readers to observe how deeply thankful we ought to be for the glorious gospel of the grace of God. There is a remedy revealed for man's need, as wide and broad and deep as man's disease. We need not be afraid to look at sin and study its nature, origin, power, extent and vileness, if we only look at the time at the almighty medicine provided for us in the salvation that is in Jesus Christ. Though sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded. Yes: in the everlasting covenant of redemption, to which Father, Son and Holy Spirit are parties; in the Mediator of that covenant, Jesus Christ the righteous, perfect God and perfect Man in one Person; in the work that He did by dying for our sins and rising again for our justification; in the offices that He fills as our Priest, Substitute, Physician, Shepherd and Advocate; in the precious blood He shed which can cleanse from all sin; in the everlasting righteousness that He brought in; in the perpetual intercession that He carries on as our Representative at God's right hand; in His power to save to the uttermost the chief of sinners, His willingness to receive and pardon the vilest, His readiness to bear with the weakest; in the grace of the Holy Spirit which He plants in the hearts of all His people, renewing, sanctifying and<br />causing old things to pass away and all things to become new -- in all this (and oh, what a brief sketch it is!) -- in all this. I say, there is a full, perfect and complete medicine for the hideous disease of sin. No wonder that old Flavel ends many a chapter of his admirable Fountain of Life with the touching words: "Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.".<br /><br />In bringing this mighty subject to a close, I feel that I have only touched the surface of it. It is one which cannot be thoroughly handled in a message like this. He who would see it treated fully and exhaustively must turn to such masters of experimental theology as Owen and Burgess and Manton and Charnock and the other giants of the Puritan school.<br /><br />On subjects like this there are no writers to be compared to the Puritans. It only remains for me to point out some practical uses to which the whole doctrine of sin may be profitably turned in the present day.<br /><br /></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-78852786517653753732008-03-13T15:41:00.004-04:002008-03-13T16:22:42.441-04:00The guilt, vileness and offensiveness of sin<span style="color:#ff0000;"><span style="font-size:130%;">During the next few weeks, we will continue quoting Bishop Ryle's book on holiness. I consider that a must before we can begin to share our subjective experiences and struggles towards holiness. So, be patient, we will be more personal when this very needful and very long introduction will be completed.</span> <span style="font-size:130%;">Everyone knows that sound theology must precede practical sanctification. </span></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Concerning the guilt, vileness and offensiveness of sin in the sight of God, my words<br />will be few. I say "few" advisedly. I do not think, in the nature of things, that mortal man can at all realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the sight of that holy and perfect One with whom we have to do. On the one hand, God is that eternal Being who "charges His angels with folly" and in whose sight the very "heavens are not clean". He is One who reads thoughts and motives as well as actions and requires "truth in the inward parts" (Job 4:18; 15:15; Ps.51:6). We, on the other hand - poor blind creatures, here today; and gone tomorrow, born in sin, surrounded by sinners, living in a constant atmosphere of weakness, infirmity and imperfection - can form none but the most inadequate conception of the hideousness of evil. We have no line to fathom it and no measure by which to gauge it. The blind man can see no difference between a masterpiece of Titian or Raphael and the queen's head on a village signboard. The deaf man cannot distinguish between a penny whistle and a cathedral organ. The very animals whose smell is most offensive to us have no idea that they are offensive and are not offensive to one another.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Fallen men and women, I believe, can have no just idea what a vile thing sin is in the<br />sight of that God whose handiwork is absolutely perfect—perfect whether we look<br />through telescope or microscope; perfect in the formation of a mighty planet like Jupiter, with his satellites, keeping time to a second as he rolls round the sun; perfect in the formation of the smallest insect that crawls over a foot of ground. But let us nevertheless settle it firmly in our minds that sin is "the abominable thing that God hates"; that God "is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look upon that which is evil"; that the least transgression of God's law makes us "guilty of all"; that "the soul that sins shall die"; that "the wages of sin is death"; that God will "judge the secrets of men"; that ther is a worm that never dies and a fire that is not quenched; that "the wicked shall be burned into hell" and "shall go away into everlasting punishment"; and that "nothing that defiles shall in any wise enter" heaven (Jer. 44:4; Hab. 1:13; James 2:10; Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 6:23; Rom.2: 16; Mark 9:44; Ps. 9:17; Matt. 25:46; Rev. 21:27). These are indeed tremendous words, when we consider that they are written in the book of a most merciful God!<br /><br /><br />No proof of the fullness of sin, after all, is so overwhelming and unanswerable as the<br />cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the whole doctrine of His substitution and atonement. Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane and cry at Golgotha, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). Nothing, I am convinced, will astonish us so much, when we awake in the resurrection day, as the view we will have of sin and the retrospect we will take of our own countless shortcomings and defects. Never until the hour when Christ comes the second time will we fully realize the "sinfulness of sin". Well might George Whitefield say, "The anthem in heaven will be: What has God wrought!"<br /><br /></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-33705949671544352502008-03-07T10:38:00.002-05:002008-03-07T10:44:41.089-05:00The Lord's creation!<p> </p><p> </p><div style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; WIDTH: 337px; HEIGHT: 267px"><a title="photo sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ibrahimfiraq/338499974/"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 2px solid" height="267" alt="" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/338499974_6ca6a3748a_m.jpg" width="311" /></a><br /><span style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px;font-size:0;" ><br /></span></div><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork" Psalm 19:1</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </p><p> </p>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-87408889216441688752008-03-07T09:47:00.003-05:002008-03-07T10:24:07.638-05:00The extent of sin<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Bishop Ryle is doing a masterful job in exposing sin as the force opposing holiness. Let us read what he says: </span><br /><br /><br /><br />Concerning the extent of this vast moral disease called "sin," let us beware that we make no mistake. The only safe ground is that which is laid for us in Scripture. "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart" is by nature "evil," and that "continually." "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9).<br /><br /><br /><br />Sin is a disease which pervades and runs through every part of our moral constitution and every faculty of our minds. The understanding, the affections, the reasoning powers, the will, are all more or less infected. Even the conscience is so blinded that it cannot be depended on as a sure guide, and is as likely to lead men wrong as right, unless it is enlightened by the Holy Spirit. In short, "from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness" about us (Isa. 1:6).<br /><br /><br /><br />The disease may be veiled under a thin covering of courtesy, politeness, good manners and outward decorum, but it lies deep down in the constitution. I admit fully that man has many grand and noble faculties left about him, and that in arts and sciences and literature he shows immense capacity. But the fact still remains that in spiritual things he is utterly "dead" and has no natural knowledge, or love, or fear of God. His best things are so interwoven and intermingled with corruption, that the contrast only brings out into sharper relief the truth and extent of the Fall.<br /><br /><br /><br />That one and the same creature should be in some things so high and in others so low; so great and yet so little; so noble and yet so mean; so grand in his conception and execution of material things and yet so groveling and debased in his affections; that he should be able to plan and erect buildings like those at Carnac and Luxor in Egypt and the Parthenon at Athens, and yet worship vile gods and goddesses and birds and beasts and creeping things; that he should be able to produce tragedies like those of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and histories like that of Thucydides, and yet be a slave to abominable vices like those described in the firstchapter of the Epistle to the Romans—all this is a sore puzzle to those who sneer at "God’s Word written" and scoff at us as bibliolaters.<br /><br /><br /><br />But it is a knot that we can untie with the Bible in our hands. We can acknowledge that man has all the marks of a majestic temple about him, a temple in which God once dwelt, but a temple which is now in utter ruins, a temple in which a shattered window here, and a doorway there, and a column there, still give some faint idea of the magnificence of the original design, but a temple which from end to end has lost its glory and fallen from its high estate. And we say that nothing solves the complicated problem of man’s condition but the doctrine of original or birth–sin and the crushing effects of the Fall. Let us remember, beside this, that every part of the world bears testimony to the fact that sin is the universal disease of all mankind.<br /><br /><br /><br />Search the globe from east to west and from pole to pole; search every nation of every climate in the four quarters of the earth; search every rank and class in our own country from the highest to the lowest—and under every circumstance and condition, the report will be always the same.<br /><br /><br /><br />The remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, completely separate from Europe, Asia, Africa and America, beyond the reach alike of Oriental luxury and Western arts and literature, islands inhabited by people ignorant of books, money, steam and gunpowder, uncontaminated by the vices of modern civilization, these very islands have always been found, when first discovered, the abode of the vilest forms of lust, cruelty, deceit and superstition. If the inhabitants have known nothing else, they have always known how to sin! Everywhere the human heart is naturally "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9).<br /><br /><br /><br />For my part, I know no stronger proof of the inspiration of Genesis and the Mosaic account of the origin of man, than the power, extent and universality of sin. Grant that mankind have all sprung from one pair and that this pair fell (as Genesis 3 tells us), and the state of human nature everywhere is easily accounted for. Deny it, as many do, and you are at once involved in inexplicable difficulties. In a word, the uniformity and universality of human corruption supply one of the most unanswerable instances of the enormous "difficulties of infidelity."<br /><br /><br /><br />After all, I am convinced that the greatest proof of the extent and power of sin is the pertinacity with which it cleaves to man, even after he is converted and has become the subject of the Holy Spirit’s operations. To use the language of the ninth Article: "This infection of nature does remain—yes, even in them that are regenerate." So deeply planted are the roots of human corruption, that even after we are born again, renewed, washed, sanctified, justified and made living members of Christ, these roots remain alive in the bottom of our hearts and, like the leprosy in the walls of the house, we never get rid of them until the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved.<br /><br /><br /><br />Sin, no doubt, in the believer’s heart, has no longer dominion. It is checked, controlled, mortified and crucified by the expulsive power of the new principle of grace. The life of a believer is a life of victory and not of failure. But the very struggles which go on within his bosom, the fight that he finds it needful to fight daily, the watchful jealousy which he is obliged to exercise over his inner man, the contest between the flesh and the spirit, the inward "groanings" which no one knows but he who has experienced them—all, all testify to the same great truth, all show the enormous power and vitality of sin.<br /><br /><br /><br />Mighty indeed must that foe be who even when crucified is still alive! Happy is that believer who understands it and, while he rejoices in Christ Jesus, has no confidence in the flesh and, while he says,"Thanks be unto God who gives us the victory," never forgets to watch and pray lest he fall into temptation!</span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-7582399537744727772008-02-21T15:52:00.003-05:002008-02-21T16:17:16.619-05:00The origin and source of sin<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#ff0000;">So let us continue to read what bishop Ryle has to say about sin. This is of the first importance. </span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br />Concerning the origin and source of this vast moral disease called "sin", I am afraid that the views of many professing Christians on this point are sadly defective and unsound. I dare not pass by it. Let us, then, have it fixed down in our minds that the sinfulness of man does not begin from without, but from within. It is not the result of bad training in early years. It is not picked up from bad companions and bad examples, as some weak Christians are too fond of saying. No! It is a family disease, which we all inherit from our first parents, Adam and Eve, and with which we are born. Created "in the image of God", innocent and righteous at first, our parents fell from original righteousness and became sinful and corrupt. And from that day to his all men and women are born in the image of fallen Adam and Eve and inherit a heart and nature inclined to evil. "By one man sin entered into the world". "That which is born of the flesh is flesh". "We are by nature children of wrath". "The carnal mind is enmity against God." "Out of the heart naturally, as out of a fountain) proceed evil thoughts, adulteries" and the like (Rom. 5:12; John 3:6; Eph.2:3; Rom. 8:7; Mark 7:21).<br /><br />The fairest child, who has entered life this year and become the sunbeam of a family, is not, as his mother perhaps fondly calls him, a little "angel" or a little "innocent", but a little "sinner". Alas! As that infant boy or girl lies smiling and crowing in its cradle, that little creature carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness! Only watch it carefully, as it grows in stature and its mind develops, and you will soon detect in it an incessant tendency to that which is bad, and a backwardness to that which is good. You will see in it the buds and germs of deceit, evil temper, selfishness, self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, passion, which, if indulged and let alone, will shoot up with painful rapidity. Who taught the child these things? Where did he learn them? The Bible alone can answer these questions! Of all the foolish things that parents say about their children there is none worse than the common saying: "My son has a good heart at the bottom. He is not what he ought to be, but he has fallen into bad hands. Public schools are bad places. The tutors neglect the boys. Yet he has a good heart at the bottom." The truth, unhappily, is diametrically the other way. The first cause of all sin lies in the natural corruption of the boy's own heart, and not in public schools.</span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-52952166024003181752008-01-31T17:27:00.000-05:002008-01-31T19:46:59.725-05:00Back online<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Just a word to explain my absence of posts for the last few months. I have been strongly tempted to abandon the practice of blogging for two reasons: the first is because it is time-consuming and second is that I questioned the usefulness of it. Recently, I have been suggested by my pastor to reread Dr. Robert Lescelius book's SPIRIT DIRECTED LIFE-The Spirit Leadership into Christ's life, Service and Warfare. It is a very good book! Here is a phrase that I found in it that made a strong impression on me: "Holiness is the most essential issue in the Christian life. It is the greatest need in the churches today. It stands in priority above soulwinning, missions, service, or any other activity with which the Church finds itself occupied". </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">That is what has decided me to continue to speak on the subject of holiness. </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">When I first started the blog, my idea was to share our daily and practical struggles with the pursue of holiness. But I rapidly saw that if we want to share, we need first to remember many things about GOD's infinite holiness and the teachings of the Bible on sanctification. So I have consulted a few books on the subject and my first posts were from these theologians. So I will continue to use quotes of J.C. Ryle's book HOLINESS: ITS NATURE, HINDRANCES, DIFFICULTIES AND ROOTS. </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">This will preprare us for the more subjective parts of the subject: the sharing of our daily experiences. </span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Bishop Ryle had the profound conviction (and I agree strongly with him) that the first step towards attaining a higher standard of holiness is to realise more fully the amazing sinfulness of sin. Here is a quote from him: </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br /></span><span style="color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:130%;">SIN<br /></span><p><span style="font-size:130%;">"Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4) </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">"He who whishes to attain right views about Christian holiness must begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin. He must dig down very low if he would build high. A mistake here is most mischievous. Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption. I make no apology for beginning this volume of messages about holiness by making some plain statements about sin. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">The plain truth is that a right understanding of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Without it such doctrines as justification, conversion, sanctification, are "words and names" which convey no meaning to the mind. The first thing, therefore, that God does when He makes anyone a new creature in Christ is to send light into his heart and show him that he is a guilty sinner. The material creation in Genesis began with "light", and also does the spiritual creation. God "shines into our hearts" by the work of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual life begins (2 Cor. 4: 6). Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresies and false doctrines of the present day. If a man does not realize the dangerous nature of his soul's disease, you cannot wonder if he is content with false or imperfect remedies. I believe that one of the chief wants of the contemporary church has been, and is, clearer, fuller teaching about sin. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">1. I will begin the subject by supplying some definition of sin. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">We are all, of course, familiar with the terms "sin" and "sinners". We talk frequently of "sin" being in the world and of men committing "sins". But what do we mean by these terms and phrases? Do we really know? I fear there is much mental confusion and haziness on this point. Let my try, as briefly as possible, to supply an answer. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">"Sin", speaking generally, is, as the Ninth Article of our church declares, "the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that is naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusts always against the spirit; and, therefore, in every person born into the world, it deserves God's wrath and damnation". Sin is that vast moral disease which affects the whole human race, of every rank and class athat One was Christ Jesus the Lord?</p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">I say</span>nd name and nation and people and tongue, a disease from which there never was but one born of woman that was free. Nee I say </span><span style="font-size:130%;">, furthermore, that "a sin", to speak more particularly, consist <span style="color:#ff0000;">in doing, saying, thinking or imagining anything that is not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.</span><span style="color:#000000;"> "Sin", in short as the Scripture says, is "the transgression of the law" (1 John 3: 4). The slightest outward or inward departure from absolute mathematical parallelism with God's revealed will and character constitutes a sin, and at one makes us guilty in God's sight.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Of course, I need not tell anyone who reads the Bible with attention that a man may break God's law in heart and thought when there is no overt and visible act of wickedness. Our Lord has settled that point beyond dispute in the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5: 21-28). Even a poet of our own has truly said, "A man may smile and smile, and be a villain". Again, I need not tell a careful student of the New Testament, that there are sins of omission as well as commission, and that we sin, as our Prayer Book justly reminds us, by "leaving undone the things we ought to do", as really as by "doing the things we ought not to do". The solemn words of our Master in the Gospel of St.Matthew place this point also beyond dispute. It is written: "Depart..., you cursed, into everlasting fire... for I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink" (Matt. 25: 41-42).</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">I do think it necessary in these times to remind my readers that a man commit sin and yer be ignorant of it and fancy himself innocent when he is guilty. I fail to see any scriptural warrant for the modern assertion that: "Sin is not sin to us until we discern it and are conscious of it". On the contrary, in the fourth and fith chapters of that unduly neglected book, Leviticus, and in the fifteenth of Numbers, I find Israel distinctly taught that there were sins of ignorance which rendered people unclean and needed atonement (Lev. 4: 1-35 ; 5:14-19; Num. 15: 25-29). And I find our Lord expressly teaching that "the servant who knew not his master's will and did it not", was not excused on account of his ignorance but was "beaten" or punished (Luke 12:48). We will do well to remember that, when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and consciousness the measure of our sinfullness, we are on very dangerous ground. A deeper study of Leviticus might do us much good. </span></p><p></span></p><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">In the next post, we will continue on the subject of sin with its origin and source. May the Lord bless you and lead you in the beauty of holiness. </span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-70948972599527333112007-03-27T14:53:00.000-04:002007-03-27T15:06:28.579-04:00The difference between justification and sanctification<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#ff0000;">I found this public domain article written by bishop J.C. Ryle explaining the essential difference between justification and sanctification. As there is much confusion nowadays on these subjects, I consider it necessary to understand these theological concepts if we want to really understand what practical sanctification is. </span><br /><br /><br />Justification and SanctificationHow do they Differ? by J.C. Ryle<br /><br /><br />I now propose to consider, in the last place, the distinction between justification and sanctification. Wherein do they agree, and wherein do they differ?<br /><br />This branch of our subject is one of great importance, though I fear it will not seem so to all my readers. I shall handle it briefly, but I dare not pass it over altogether. Too many are apt to look at nothing but the surface of things in religion, and regard nice distinctions in theology as questions of” words and names,” which are of little real value. But I warn all who are in earnest about their souls, that the discomfort which arises from not” distinguishing things that differ” in Christian doctrine is very great indeed;and I especially advise them, if they love peace, to seek clear views about the matter before us. Justification and sanctification are two distinct things we must always remember. Yet there are points in which they agree and points in which they differ. Letus try to find out what they are.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">In what, then, are justification and sanctification alike?</span><br /><br />(a) Both proceed originally from the free grace of God. It is of His gift alone that believers are justified or sanctified at all.<br /><br />(b) Both are part of that great work of salvation which Christ, in the eternal covenant, has undertaken on behalf of His people. Christ is the fountain of life, from which pardon and holiness both flow. The root of each is Christ.<br /><br />(c) Both are to be found in the same persons. Those who are justified are always sanctified, and those who are sanctified are always justified. God has joined them together, and they cannot be put asunder.<br /><br />(d) Both begin at the same time. The moment a person begins to be a justified person; he also begins to be a sanctified person. He may not feel it, but it is a fact.<br /><br />(e) Both are alike necessary to salvation. No one ever reached heaven without a renewed heart as well as forgiveness, without the Spirit's grace as well as the blood of Christ, without a meetness for eternal glory as well as a title. The one is just as necessary as the other.<br /><br />Such are the points on which justification and sanctification agree. <span style="color:#ff0000;">Let us now reverse the picture, and see wherein they differ.</span><br /><br />(a) Justification is the reckoning and counting a man to be righteous for the sake of another, even Jesus Christ the Lord. Sanctification is the actual making a man inwardly righteous, though it may be in a very feeble degree.<br /><br />(b) The righteousness we have by our justification is not our own, but the everlasting perfect righteousness of our great Mediator Christ, imputed to us, and made our own by faith. The righteousness we have by sanctification is our own righteousness, imparted, inherent, and wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, but mingled with much infirmity and imperfection.<br /><br />(c) In justification our own works have no place at all, and simple faith in Christ is the one thing needful.<br /><br />(d) In sanctification our own works are of vast importance and God bids us fight, and watch, and pray, and strive, and take pains, and labour Justification is a finished and complete work, and a man is perfectly justified the moment he believes. Sanctification is an imperfect work, comparatively, and will never be perfected until we reach heaven.<br /><br />(e) Justification admits of no growth or increase: a man is as much justified the hour he first comes to Christ by faith as he will be to all eternity. Sanctification is eminently a progressive work, and admits of continual growth and enlargement so long as a man lives.<br /><br />(f) Justification has special reference to our persons, our standing in God's sight, and our deliverance from guilt. Sanctification has special reference to our natures, and the moral renewal of our hearts.<br /><br />(g) Justification gives us our title to heaven, and boldness to enter in. Sanctification gives us our meetness for heaven, and prepares us to enjoy it when we dwell there.<br /><br />(h) Justification is the act of God about us, and is not easily discerned by others. Sanctification is the work of God within us, and cannot be hid in its outward manifestation from the eyes of men.<br /><br />I commend these distinctions to the attention of all my readers, and I ask them to ponder them well. I am persuaded that one great cause of the darkness and uncomfortable feelings of many well-meaning people in the matter of religion is their habit of confounding, and not distinguishing, justification and sanctification. It can never be too strongly impressed on our minds that they are two separate things. No doubt they cannot be divided, and everyone that is a partaker of either is a partaker of both. But never, never ought they to be confounded, and never ought the distinction between them to be forgotten. It only remains for me now to bring this subject to a conclusion by a few plain words of application. The nature and visible marks of sanctification have been brought before us. What <span style="color:#ff0000;">practical reflections</span> ought the whole matter to raise in our minds?<br /><br />(1) For one thing, let us all awake to a sense of the perilous state of many professing Christians.”Without holiness no man shall see the Lord”; <span style="color:#ff0000;">without sanctification there is no salvation. (Heb.xii. 14.)</span> Then what an enormous amount of so-called religion there is which is perfectly useless! <span style="color:#ff0000;">What an immense proportion of church-goers and chapel-goers are in the broad road that leadeth to destruction! The thought is awful, crushing, and overwhelming.</span>Oh, that preachers and teachers would open their eyes and realize the condition of souls around them! Oh, that man could be persuaded to”flee from the wrath to come”I If unsanctified souls can be saved and go to heaven, the Bible is not true. Yet the Bible is true and cannot lie! What must the end be!<br /><br />(2) For another thing, let us make sure work of our own condition, and never rest till we feel and know that we are” sanctified” ourselves. What are our tastes, and choices, and likings, and in clinations? This is the great testing question. It matters little what we wish, and what we hope, and what we desire to be before we die. Where are we now? What are we doing? Are we sanctified or not? If not, the fault is all our own.<br /><br />(3) For another thing, if we would be sanctified, our course is clear and plain— we must begin with Christ. We must go to Him as sinners, with no plea but that of utter need, and cast our souls on Him by faith, for peace and reconciliation with God. We must place ourselves in His hands, as in the hands of a good physician, and cry to Him for mercy and grace. We must wait for nothing to bring with us as a recommendation. The very first step towards sanctification, no less than justification, is to come with faith to Christ. We must first live and then work.<br /><br />(4) For another thing, if we would grow in holiness and become more sanctified, we must continually go on as we began,, and be ever making fresh applications to Christ. He is the Head from which every member must be supplied. (Ephes. iv. 16.) To live the life of daily faith in the Son of God, and to be daily drawing out of His fulness the promised grace and strength which He has laid up for His people—this is the grand secret of progressive sanctification. Believers who seem at a standstill are generally neglecting close communion with Jesus, and so grieving the Spirit. He that prayed,”Sanctify them,” the last night before His crucifixion, is infinitely willing to help everyone who by faith applies to Him for help, and desires to be made more holy.<br /><br />(5) For another thing, let us not expect too much from our own hearts here below. At our best we shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation, and discover that <span style="color:#ff0000;">we are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour</span>. The more light we have, the more we shall see our own imperfection. Sinners we were when we began, sinners we shall find ourselves as we go on; renewed, pardoned, justified—yet sinners to the very last. Our absolute perfection is yet to come, and the expectation of it is one reason why we should long for heaven.<br /><br />(6) Finally, <span style="color:#ff0000;">let us never be ashamed of making much of sanctification,, and contending for a high standard of holiness</span>. While some are satisfied with a miserably low degree of attainment, and others are not ashamed to live on without any holiness at all—content with a mere round of church-going and chapel-going, but never getting on, like a horse in a mill—let us stand fast in the old paths, follow after eminent holiness ourselves, and recommend it boldly to others. This is the only way to be really happy.<br /><br /><br />Let us feel convinced, whatever others may say, that <span style="color:#ff0000;">holiness is happiness</span>, and that the man who gets through life most comfortably is the sanctified man. No doubt there are some true Christians who from ill-health, or family trials, or other secret causes, enjoy little sensible comfort, and go mourning all their days on the way to heaven. But these are exceptional cases. As a general rule, in the long run of life, it will be found true that”sanctified people are the happiest people on earth. They have solid comforts which the world can neither give nor take away.”The ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness.”—” Great peace has they that love Thy law.”—It was said by One who cannot lie,”My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”—But it is also written,”There isno peace unto the wicked.” (Prov iii. 17; Ps. cxix. 165; Matt, xi. 30; Is. xlviii. 22.)<br /><br />P. S. THE subject of sanctification is of such deep importance, and the mistakes made about it so many and great, that I make no apology for strongly recommending” Owen on the Holy Spirit” to all who want to study more thoroughly the whole doctrine of sanctification. No single paper like this can embrace it all. I am quite aware that Owen's writings are not fashionable in the present day, and that many think fit to neglect and sneer at him as a Puritan! Yet the great divine who in Commonwealth times was Deanof Christ Church, Oxford, does not deserve to be treated in this way. He had more learning and sound knowledge of Scripture in his little finger than many who depreciate him have in their whole bodies. I assert unhesitatingly that the man who wants to study experimental theology will find no books equal to those of Owen and some of his contemporaries, for complete, Scriptural, and exhaustive treatment of the subjects they handle.</span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-4479500167433967922007-03-20T19:41:00.001-04:002007-03-20T19:49:19.320-04:00The beauty of big cats<div style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px"><a title="photo sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/65026170@N00/351246174/"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-TOP: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #000000 2px solid" alt="" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/351246174_375856762d_m.jpg" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:180%;">"I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine"<br /><br />Psalm 50: 11<br clear="all"></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-38054362000971650492007-03-17T19:20:00.000-04:002007-03-17T19:38:18.069-04:00Exhortations to Holiness<div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">Here is is a wonderful exhortation to Holiness by pastor Claude Duval Cole. We have covered so far the essentials about God's holiness. Starting next week, we will begin to be more practical and will examine how we can become more holy in our daily lives. </span></div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">DEFINITIONS OF DOCTRINE<br />Volume I<br />The Doctrine of God<br />Chapter 23 </span></div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The Scriptures abound in exhortations to holiness. "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). We are exhorted to lift up holy hands in prayer: "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting" (I Tim. 2:8). "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" (Eph. 5:1). All these exhortations to holiness are addressed to believers, and show that we are not personally 'holy.' "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15). We are holy in Christ now; we will be personally holy when we are glorified, for our glorification will be our personal holiness. </span></div><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">It is a principle of universal recognition that all imitation of others is from an intense love and admiration of their persons. And we become like those with whom we associate. The heathen are so wantonly wicked because their gods are represented as vulgar and vicious. It is said that Plato wanted to have all the poets banished, because, in their poems, they dressed the gods in such wicked and vicious garb, thus encouraging the people to commit crime. </span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">Take Time to Be Holy</span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Believers, in the pursuit of holiness, must take time to meditate upon the holiness of God. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Ps. 1:1-2). <span style="color:#ff0000;">It takes time to be holy</span>. Sin cannot be banished by a single gesture or an occasional look at the good and beautiful. Meditation upon the holiness of God will develop a spirit of meekness and humility, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price" (I Peter 3:4). <span style="color:#ff0000;">Comparing ourselves with ourselves may lead to pride and boastfulness, but when we are occupied with thoughts of the holiness of our Savior we will be filled with reverence and godly fear.</span> "What torch can be proud of its own light when compared with the light of the sun?" </span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The temple of Incas at Cuzco, Peru, consisted of three walls, north, south, and west. The eastern side of the structure was open. The walls were smoothly plastered, and overlaid with finely hammered gold. These people were sun worshippers, and this was the way they worshipped: they would come to the temple just before dawn and stand in the opening to the east, facing the western wall. In front of them and on either side was a golden mirror. The sun would rise at their backs, and long before they could see it directly they could see its reflection in the western wall, and be covered with its golden light. Their faces would be illuminated, and their bodies would be literally bathed in light. Now the Gospel covenant is a mirror into which the believer looks with unveiled face at the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and ultimately will be entirely conformed to His image. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Cor. 3:18). Occupation with the holiness of the Lord will change us from one degree of holiness to another degree of holiness."And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" (I Thess. 3:12-13). "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (I Thess. 4:7). "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14) </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">"Holy God, we praise Thy name! </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">Lord of all, we bow before Thee;</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> All on earth Thy scepter claim, </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">All in heaven above adore Thee; </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">Infinite Thy vast domain,</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> Everlasting is Thy reign. </span></div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"Hark! the loud celestial hymn,</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> Angel choirs above are raising: </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">Cherubim and Sehaphim</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> In unceasing chorus praising, </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">Fill the heavens with sweet accord</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> Holy! holy! holy! Lord!</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> "Holy Father, Holy Son, </span></div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Holy Spirit, three we name Thee,</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> While in essence, only one,</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> Undivided God, we claim Thee;</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"> And, adoring, bend the knee, </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">While we own the mystery." </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-67433298810956768312007-03-14T17:28:00.000-04:002007-03-14T17:30:14.015-04:00The beauty of the butterfly<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RfhpB1cNkaI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Vk_30-GRBzI/s1600-h/341768630_bc23cde41c.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5041895263087464866" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RfhpB1cNkaI/AAAAAAAAAEE/Vk_30-GRBzI/s400/341768630_bc23cde41c.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">"The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein"</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Psalm 111: 2</span></div>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-92087587561726646172007-03-09T09:46:00.000-05:002007-03-09T09:46:09.888-05:00The holiness of the Holy Spirit<span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">Here the great theologian John Gill will speak of the holiness of the Holy Spirit: </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">"The holiness of the blessed Spirit, is visible in the formation of the human nature of Christ; in separating that mass out of which it was framed in the virgin; in sanctifying it, and preserving it from the taint and contagion of original sin; in filling the human nature, when formed, with his holy gifts and graces, and that without measure; and through him it was offered up without spot; and he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the Spirit of holiness, through the resurrection from the dead. Moreover, his holiness is manifest in the sanctification of the chosen of God, and the redeemed of the Lamb, which is therefore called, "the sanctification of the Spirit", (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2) in convincing them of sin, of the evil nature and just demerit of it; in converting them from it; in calling them with an holy calling, and to holiness; in implanting principles of grace and holiness in them; in purifying their hearts by faith, through the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus; in leading them in the way of holiness, in which men, though fools, shall not err; and in carrying on, and perfecting the work of sanctification in them, "without which none shall see the Lord".</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;"></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-13776837821856054922007-03-02T20:51:00.000-05:002007-03-09T09:47:18.297-05:00The beauty of creation<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RejUq1TNc1I/AAAAAAAAADA/-bLV-ZSYjx8/s1600-h/348148747_559357d43c.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5037510015541146450" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RejUq1TNc1I/AAAAAAAAADA/-bLV-ZSYjx8/s400/348148747_559357d43c.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth" </span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Psalm 33: 6</span></div>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-17049685040389050662007-03-01T20:39:00.000-05:002007-03-01T20:39:56.510-05:00The holiness of the Son of God<span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">The great theologian John Gill speaks here about the holiness of Jesus-Christ, the Son of God: </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"The holiness of the Son of God is to be seen in all his works; in the works of creation and providence, in common with his divine Father; and in all his works of grace; in giving himself to sanctify his church, and make it a glorious one, without spot or wrinkle, through his blood and righteousness; in redeeming his people from all iniquity, to purify them to himself a peculiar people; in bearing their sins, and making satisfaction for them, that they might live unto righteousness, and that the body of sin might be destroyed, (Eph. 5:25, 27 25: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26: That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27: That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but <span style="color:#ff0000;">that it should be holy and without blemish.</span><span style="color:#000000;">"</span> ; Titus 2:14 "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and <span style="color:#ff0000;">purify unto himself a peculiar people</span>, zealous of good works." ; 1 Peter 2:24 "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, <span style="color:#ff0000;">should live unto righteousness</span>: by whose stripes ye were healed. ; Rom. 6:6 "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, <span style="color:#ff0000;">that the body of sin might be destroyed</span>, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ") and so in the execution of all his offices; as a Prophet, he has appeared to be an Holy One; the faith delivered by him to the saints, is a most holy faith, wholesome words, doctrines according to godliness: as a Priest, he is holy and harmless, separate from sinners, and has offered up himself without spot to God; and though he makes intercession for transgressors, it is upon the foot of his sacrifice and righteousness: as a King, all his administrations are in purity and righteousness; and his laws, commands, and ordinances, are Holy Ones; and when he comes as judge of the world, he will appear without sin, and "judge the world in righteousness".</span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-37850588945037918692007-03-01T20:33:00.000-05:002007-03-01T20:36:13.716-05:00The wondrous works of God<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/Red_CdpbzhI/AAAAAAAAACM/pJBCmFFCl6I/s1600-h/318819817_6ed197b9bd.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5037134388532071954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/Red_CdpbzhI/AAAAAAAAACM/pJBCmFFCl6I/s400/318819817_6ed197b9bd.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div> </div><div> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">"...stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God"</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Job 37: 14</span></div>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-89255091429630668532007-02-23T19:53:00.000-05:002007-02-23T19:53:45.667-05:00The holiness of God the Father is manifested (part 4)<span style="font-size:130%;">John Gill has shown us many facets of the manifestation of God the Father's holiness. Let us discover more facets by quoting another good theologian, Claude Duval Cole:</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">" There is a display of Divine holiness <span style="color:#ff0000;">in redemption</span>. His holy nature will not allow Him to look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Salvation is not at the expense of His holiness. The Redeemer must bear the wrath due the sinner, for wrath is the exercise of His holiness. God's hatred of sin was as much manifested in redemption as it will be in judgment. The only difference is that in redemption the guilt of the sinner is transferred to the Savior. The wrath that fell upon the Savior on Calvary had its source in the holiness of God. </span><br /><p><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></p><span style="font-size:130%;"><p><br />God's holiness appears <span style="color:#ff0000;">in human conversion</span>. "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24). </p><p><br />Holiness will be displayed <span style="color:#ff0000;">in the glorification of the believer</span>. When our salvation is consummated we will be restored to the holiness of God. We will not have His power, nor His wisdom, but we will have His holiness. The Psalmist said, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15). This likeness will be both moral and physical, and the moral likeness to God will be holiness. The believer, while here on earth, struggling against sin, rejoices in hope of the glory of God. "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2). Sin is an awful burden to the believer; salvation is the restoration to his original holiness in creation. </p><p><br />The holiness of God will appear in all its purity <span style="color:#ff0000;">in the day of judgment</span>. Because God is holy, His wrath will he hot. His holy face will be too much for sinners to look upon. "And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. 6:16). </p><p>Claude Duval Cole "The doctrine of God", chap. 23, "the holiness of God". </span></p>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-20622204199435410552007-02-20T19:15:00.000-05:002007-02-20T19:18:59.417-05:00The beauty of birds<a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RduPU9pbzfI/AAAAAAAAAB0/USzBq9M8bxg/s1600-h/348345918_d50bab8088.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5033774598825168370" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RduPU9pbzfI/AAAAAAAAAB0/USzBq9M8bxg/s320/348345918_d50bab8088.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;">"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they"</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Matthew 6: 26</span></div>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-20368631436420140302007-02-15T20:20:00.000-05:002007-02-15T20:20:10.705-05:00The holiness of God the Father is manifested! (part 3)<span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">Let us continue to read what the great theologian John Gill has to say about God the Father's holiness: </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">The holiness of God the Father is manifested in his acts of grace</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"The holiness of Jehovah the Father is to be observed in those acts of grace which are peculiar to him; as in choosing some in Christ his Son to everlasting life, before the world began. Now though not the holiness of the creature, nor even the foresight of it, is the cause of this act; yet holiness, or the sanctification of the Spirit, is fixed as a means in it; and it is the will of God, that those whom he chooses and appoints to salvation should partake of it, or come to salvation through it; nay, he has not only chosen them "through" it, as a means, but he has chosen them to it, as a subordinate end; he has chosen them to be holy in part, in this life, and perfectly in the life to come; and holiness of heart and life, is the evidence of interest in it, and nothing more powerfully excites and engages to it. The covenant which he has made with his Son Jesus Christ, on the behalf of the chosen ones, provides abundantly for their holiness, both internal and external; see (Ezek. 36:25-27) and the promises of it serve greatly to promote it, and to influence the saints to be "perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1). And in this covenant is laid up a rod of correction, in love, to chastize with it the sins of God's people (Ps. 89:29-34). Justification is an act of God's grace towards them; it is God, even God the Father, that justifies, through the imputation of his Son's righteousness to them; by which the holy law of God is so far from being made void, that it is established, magnified, and made honourable: nor are justified persons exempted from obedience to it, but are more strongly bound and constrained to serve it; and though God justifies the ungodly, yet not without a righteousness provided for them, and imputed to them: nor does he justify, vindicate, or approve of their ungodliness, nor connive at it; but turns it from them, and them from that: and faith, which receives the blessing of justification from the Lord, by which men perceive their interest in it, and enjoy the comfort of it, is an operative grace, works by love to God, to Christ, and his people; and is attended with good works, the fruits of righteousness: the like may be observed with respect to other acts of the Father's grace; as adoption, pardon, &c."</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">John Gill, "A body of doctrinal divinity", book 1, chapter 20, "Of the holiness of God".</span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-64446703859699014932007-02-15T20:04:00.000-05:002007-02-16T12:11:40.574-05:00The beauty of the flower<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RdUDctXQmHI/AAAAAAAAABQ/bruMrmaHz80/s1600-h/342775265_7520b7d43f.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5031931950404769906" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RdUDctXQmHI/AAAAAAAAABQ/bruMrmaHz80/s320/342775265_7520b7d43f.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">"The grass withered, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever"</span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">Isaiah 40:8</span></div>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-18959165394561029082007-02-09T18:39:00.000-05:002007-02-10T10:08:27.361-05:00The holiness of God the Father is manifested (part 2)<span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">The holiness of God the Father is manifested in his works of providence</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Let John Gill continue to show us how God the Father's holiness is manifested: </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"The holiness of God appears in his works of providence; which, though many of them are dark and intricate, not easily penetrated into, and to be accounted for; yet there is nothing criminal and sinful in them: the principal thing objected to the holiness of God in his providences, is his suffering sin to be in the world; but then, though it is by his voluntary permission, or permissive will, yet he is neither the author nor abettor of it; he neither commands it, nor approves of it, nor persuades to it, nor tempts nor forces to it; but all the verse, forbids it, disapproves of it, dissuades from it, threatens to punish for it, yea, even chastises his own people for it; and, besides, overrules it for great good, and for his own glory; as the fall of Adam, the sin of Joseph's brethren, the Jews crucifixion of Christ; which have been instanced in, and observed under a former attribute: wherefore the dispensations of God, in his providence, are not to be charged with unholiness on this account."</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">John Gill "A body of divinity-book 1, chapter 20 "On the holiness of God"</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-26344606742522007662007-02-07T17:07:00.000-05:002007-02-07T17:13:11.215-05:00The beauty of the sea<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RcpN2qP6tzI/AAAAAAAAABE/pFCN5CuJtIo/s1600-h/291133907_1595922c53.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5028917535361906482" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_XVm67kO6X5w/RcpN2qP6tzI/AAAAAAAAABE/pFCN5CuJtIo/s320/291133907_1595922c53.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><span style="font-size:130%;">So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. Psalms 104: 25</span></div>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37270506.post-17331782972437002672007-02-03T10:14:00.000-05:002007-02-11T21:03:16.462-05:00The holiness of God the Father is manifested! (part 1)<span style="font-size:130%;">So far, we have looked at some characteristics of God's holiness. We will now begin to examine how this holiness is displayed. Here is what the great baptist pastor and theologian John Gill has to say about this:<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">The holiness of the Father is displayed int the works of creation </span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#000000;">"In the works of creation; for as he made all things by his Son, not as an instrument, but as co-efficient with him, so when he overlooked them, he pronounced them very good; which he would not have done, had there been anything impure or unholy in them. Angels, not only those that stood, but those that fell, were originally holy, as made by him: the elect angels continue in the holiness in which they were created; and the angels that sinned are not in the estate in which they were at their creation; they kept not their first estate, which was an estate of purity and holiness; and abode not in the truth, in the uprightness and integrity in which they were formed (Jude 1:6; John 8:44). And as for man, he was made after the image, and in the likeness of God, which greatly consisted in holiness; a pure, holy, and upright creature he was; and had a law given him, holy, just, and good, as the rule of his obedience, and which was inscribed on his heart; some remains of which are to be found in his fallen posterity, and even in the Gentiles." From "A body of doctrinal divinity", book 1, chapter 20 "On the holiness of God". </span><br /><br />Find also a contribution of the pastor and theologian Claude Duval Cole, in his book<br />"Definitions of doctrine", book 1, chapter 23:<br /><br />"The Holiness of God appears in creation. There was not a flaw in creation when it came from His hand. Everything was beautiful and glorious. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Gen. 1:31). And again, "The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works" (Ps. 145:17). So far as is known there are only two kinds of moral beings: angels and man, and these were created morally holy. But sin has marked and defaced God's handiwork, so that nothing is like it was when created except, perchance, the holy angels. Man is ruined and fallen, by nature a child of wrath. And the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, waiting to be delivered from the curse of sin. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:22). "<br /><br />In the next post, we will see how the holiness of God the Father is displayed in his works of providence.<br /><span style="color:#000000;"></span></span>Marcelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04869441720567976027noreply@blogger.com0