Your Friday Phil

Spurgeon: Read fewer blogs, more Scripture

posted by Phil Johnson

5-31-08

The following excerpt is from "How to Read the Bible," a sermon published in 1879.

Need I suggest the question as to whether you do read your Bibles or not? I am afraid that this is a magazine-reading age, a newspaper-reading age, a periodical-reading age, but not so much a Bible-reading age as it ought to be.

In the old Puritanic times men used to have a scant supply of other literature, but they found a library enough in the one book, the Bible. And how they did read the Bible! How little of Scripture there is in modern sermons compared with the sermons of those masters of theology, the Puritanic divines! Almost every sentence of theirs seems to cast sidelights upon a text of Scripture; not only the one they are preaching about, but many others as well are set in a new light as the discourse proceeds. They introduce blended lights from other passages, which are parallel or semi-parallel thereunto, and thus they educate their readers to compare spiritual things with spiritual.

I would to God that we ministers kept more closely to the grand old book. We should be instructive preachers if we did so, even if we were ignorant of "modern thought," and were not "abreast of the times." I warrant you we should be leagues ahead of our times if we kept closely to the word of God.

As for you, my brothers and sisters, who have not to preach, the best food for you is the word of God itself. Sermons and books are well enough, but streams that run for a long distance above ground gradually gather for themselves somewhat of the soil through which they flow, and they lose the cool freshness with which they started from the spring head. Truth is sweetest where it breaks from the smitten Rock, for at its first gush it has lost none of its heavenliness and vitality. It is always best to drink at the well and not from the tank. You shall find that reading the word of God for yourselves, reading it rather than notes upon it, is the surest way of growing in grace. Drink of the unadulterated milk of the word of God, and not of the skim milk, or the milk and water of man's word.

Terminology - Leaven

As you may suspect half of the staff here at The Old Dead Guys, likes to garden.  But you most likely do not know she also likes to bake, especially bread.  Whether it is muffins, or wheat bread, or even that white stuff that is full of gluten goodness it makes little difference.  She will go to great lengths to try and make a different type or improve one already delicious by adding a fruit or spice of some sort.  But one thing that is always included without hesitation is leaven or yeast. 

The Scriptures use leaven frequently, and most often we think of leaven as a bad thing.  However, you will recall the Scriptures never say yeast is bad only the effects (seen in analogy) of leaven is and it is used usually as an object lesson.  

Webster’s 1828 states of leaven

As a noun leaven is

1. A mass of sour dough, which, mixed with a larger quantity of dough or paste, produces fermentation in it and renders it light.

2. Any thing which makes a general change in the mass. It generally means something which corrupts or depraves that with which it is mixed.

And as a transitive verb

1. To excite fermentation [growth] in.

2. to taint; to imbue.

Its usage in Scripture is first mention is in Gen 19:3 and displays haste, in this case baking bread by Lot for the two angels.  This idea of haste is also seen in God’s instructions for the Passover (Ex 12:15) as a memorial.  It is also seen in the NT as something to avoid as in the “leaven of the Pharisees” (Mt 16:6-12) and speaks of avoiding bad doctrine.

Conversely we are also shown that the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to leaven in that it will start out small but grow until it growing time is completed (Lk 13:21).  In the parable it is represented by all three lumps being leavened.

Lastly we see leaven likened to sin in our lives and are told to be on guard against and to put it away from us for a “little leaven leavens the whole” (1 Cor 5:8; Gal 5:9).

So remember leaven in Scripture is used as an object lesson in what it does i.e. grows.  Whether it is representing good or bad is determined by the context. 

Context is King!

SDG

Observations from the Garden

I love the outdoors and try to spend as much time as possible enjoying it.  Even under the curse where all of creation is groaning and waiting for redemption (Rom 8:18-23), there is much beauty to behold.  In my spiritual walk over the years I have learned to take time and observe the workings of nature around me.  God’s glory, majesty and power are all displayed if we care to pay attention. 

Paul speaks of this general revelation when he says that the invisible things of God, even his eternal power and deity are understood through the created order (Rom 1: 20).  I like how the Westminster Confession of Faith puts it:

Sec. 1.  Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation.

I also like to garden.  Christ used horticulture/agriculture many times in His parables to teach valuable kingdom truths (Mt 13:3-9; 13:31; 17:20; Jn 15:1-5).  It is my belief that we can still learn lessons by observing the created order around us, especially by watching things grow.  I have a yellow knockout rose bush that has a wonderful smell and beautiful yellow blooms that appear all summer long.  I have been observing its growth/bloom cycle carefully since this is my first year growing this particular rose.  

It struck me the other day how its cycle could give me a lesson in my Christian walk.   I noticed that it did not bloom continually but took rests in-between.  During this time it sends out a lot of new robust growth and then new buds appear for the next bloom cycle.  It repeats this process all summer long until it goes into dormancy for the winter.

In our Christian walk we also have growth/bloom cycles.  We need those times where we really need to focus on our growth, renewing our mind, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in order for our fruit (blooms) to be abundant.  If my rose bush had beautiful foliage but never produced any blooms it would give me cause for concern.  Likewise, if we grow abundantly in the knowledge of God yet never produce any fruit (blooms) for the advancement of the kingdom we should also have cause for concern.  The same is true if we bloom continually without having the proper growth to support that blooming, we will soon become weak and mal-nourished which will cause reduced fruit (bloom) production.  Proper balance is key as with all things.

So, I hope you enjoyed our time spent in the garden.  My rose bush is very healthy and doing well by the way.  I hope you will take time every single day to stop and smell the roses.  God’s wonderful creation can teach us much if only we will take the time to observe.

Foundational Truths – God – Just/Justice

I am always amazed at the names that we use to give our children or leaders.  During biblical times name carried an idea as to the character of the individual such as James and John being the “Sons of Thunder.”  Of course this means their dad was Thunder.  What a nickname.  I can hear it now “don’t look now boys but here comes Thunder” or “I hope Thunder don’t find out.”  It sounds more like a wrasslin name (that’s wrestling before it went Hollywood).  Anyway we are never told why he was called Thunder; was it his commanding voice or his loud raucous laughter or maybe even a violent temperament we will never know. 

Then we have Edward Longshanks better known today as the antagonist or visa versa of William Wallace (think Brave Heart).  (It’s sorta like the war of northern aggression… it depends on which side of the fence your on but I digress).  Anyway, it seems he was called Longshanks due to his unusual height.  Yet when we think of God we rarely think of Him or call Him “God the Just” but that is exactly who He is, Just.  We may in a study of “the names of God” give this a glancing look but not much more.

Webster’s 1828 states of Just:

      The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; Impartiality or Equity [and carries the idea of] Vindictive retribution or merited punishment.

Now we have to acknowledge that this is the unpleasant side of God if I can put it that way.  Especially since we most often think of God as a benevolent father type and it is certainly accurate to ascribe this trait to Him as well but that view is only part of who He actually is. 

Justice in terms of God is His fair and impartial treatment of all people.  The justice of God is a necessary result of His holiness or moral excellence. Since God is infinitely and eternally perfect, He must be impartial in His judgments and always treat His creatures with equity.  Or as Abraham stated... Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you!  Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Ge 18:25).

Of necessity for God to be Just He must also be omniscient or all knowing.  He must not only know what we did but also the intent of why we did what we did… and He does 1 Chron 28:9; Heb 4:12.  And while many may say they want justice from God they do so from an inflated ego not knowing their true self (Jer 17:9).  Of this position James Boice states:

Mercy or Justice - It has always been my experience that those who have not yet believed in Christ react in one of two ways at the thought of God's judgment. Some simply refuse to believe it. They think quite wrongly, I believe, that judgment is inconsistent with God's character. "God is love," they argue; "how can a loving God condemn anyone?" The answer to this view is that God's love is not inconsistent with his judgment and that, whatever we may think about the matter, the Bible quite obviously speaks of these two themes as compatible.

The other objection is more dangerous. These persons believe that it is somehow ignoble of themselves to receive salvation through Christ. To receive salvation in this way is to depend on God's mercy or grace, and they would far rather deal with God's justice. "I don't want mercy from God," they will say. "All I want is a fair shake. I just want justice."

I pity the person who wants nothing from God but justice. The justice of God? The justice of God will send a person to hell; the justice of God will never save him. Justice condemns! It is only the grace of God in Jesus Christ that pardons and makes alive.

But God’s justice is not set aside for the believer; His justice must be satisfied and it is only through the work and person of Jesus Christ.  Christ expiates (atones) our sin and guilt in that our guilt is imputed to His account.  As a result God is propitious toward us having had His wrath appeased and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to our account.  Therefore we are justified before God not on account of our own merit but upon His, The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29).

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Pt 8

Well here it is.  I know many did not think this would ever come but yes it’s here.  Why it seems as if it was only last month when we began our series on Jonathan Edwards’ work Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God but the end is here.  Yes this is the last installment of his work and next week unless something else should interfere we will begin a new work.  If you have a favorite let me know and I will work him in.  So without any further delay and with limited commercial interruption we present this final installment of Jonathan Edward’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. 

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has flung the door of mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God; many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him that has loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to Christ?

Are there not many here that have lived long in the world, that are not to this day born again, and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh sirs, your case in an especial manner is extremely dangerous; your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Don’t you see how generally persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and wake thoroughly out of sleep; you cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God.

And you that are young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious season that you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as it is with those persons that spent away all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness.

And you children that are unconverted, don’t you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God that is now angry with you every day, and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let everyone that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now harken to the loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, that is a day of such great favor to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls: and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart, and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land; and probably the bigger part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on that great outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days, the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the ax is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over great part of this congregation: let everyone fly out of Sodom. Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed [Gen. 12:17].

A taste of Turk

Sending out weiner dogs

by Frank Turk
12-27-06

I just realized it was Wednesday, which is unofficially my day for occupying this space, and I realized I hadn't been preparing for it. I have been so engrossed by my Belkin TuneBase over the last two days, I'll be honest: I forgot about blogging. You can't imagine how entraced you can get listening to every frequency on the FM dial trying to find one with the appropriate level of stationlessness in order to broadcast a puny little peep from your iPod so you can listen to John Piper, Third Day and James White's rather hardscrabble free MP3s.

Anyway, as I found that 88.9 FM is the best for my little device, I was listening to Dr. Piper describe Christians as "task oriented" folk who frankly have let the arts slip through our fingers. There are a lot of reasons for that -- each could probably make a very keen blog post in and of itself -- but let me suggest one which Dr. Piper did not say in particular.

As a people, we Christians have adopted one of the worst attributes of the anabaptist tradition, and that is a rather sincere disdain for things which are true and beautiful. Here's what I mean by that: we have set up a false dichotomy between "true" and "beautiful" so that anything which is "true" must be plain or otherwise homely, and everything which is "beautiful" must be the work of the devil because it appeals to our eyes and ears. And we have also let the world dictate to us what is "beautiful" so that we don't even know it when we see it anymore.

So what we wind up with, for example, is the ocean of vacuous "worship" music in Christian bookstores which is neither true nor beautiful; we wind up with Christian "art" which is hardly suited for comic books let alone the walls of our homes; we wind up with t-shirts being the high fashion statement of our subculture; we wind up with literature-ignorant and theology-vacant "poetry" that neither moves emotionally or inspires intellectually.

And with these things, we want to have a culture war with New York, Los Angeles and Hollywood. Good grief, people: we might as well be sending weiner dogs out to defend us against an army of machette-weilding Haitian voodoo zombies. At least the weiner dogs would be able to smell the dead meat and run away from it, and we could follow them.

So what to do? I mean, isn't the right answer to study the culture and then try to co-opt its methods because obviously those methods are working on those people who we say we want to reach? It's that the missional thing to do -- especially in the arts?

Does that sound like a TeamPyro post to you?

Let me suggest something instead which I think many people probably have heard but no one has bothered to apply to this problem: all great art demonstrates the tension between love and death. That's not a Biblical proverb per se, but it is, in fact, true. All great poetry is about the tension between love and death -- even if it's not the love of another person or the death of a particular person. And one of the great failings of modern culture is its shallow vision of love (which is explicitly and almost exclusively sexual and sensual) and its obsession with death (either by avoidance in worshipping youth, or its glamorization of suicide).

Listen: if there's anything on Earth (or in the Heavens) which we Christians ought to know something about, it's Love and Death. In fact, we should be the ones who are exclaiming the fact of Love inDeath. We shouldn't be establishing a suicide cult but extolling the fantastic fact that Christ died for our sins because God Loved, andChrist was resurrected in order that death would be destroyed.

There's more art to be made in that one sentence than all the movies Hollywod has ever turned out, and more than either NYC or LA could turn out in music and TV in 10,000 years. Why? Because there is Truth and Beauty in that statement, and it doesn't force us to make false moral choices or reduce our expressions to some gloomy, dismal, atonal text.

The great topic of art belongs to us. The great purpose of art is not, as someone once said, to frame a lie which seems pleasant, but to frame truth by analogy -- and the greatest truth-by-analogy of all time is the Bible.

So as we close out the season of meditation on that the incarnation of Christ means (or ought to mean) to us, the Christians, let us also think about how we tell others about this great gift. It's not enough to get it right in theory: we must also get it right in practice, which is to say, in the full-contact sport of real life.

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold.
She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called blessed.

Let us find her, and let us tell everyone how precious and rich she is indeed.

Terminology - Apocrypha

I must apologize for being so sporadic of late; it seems circumstances have conspired to prevent any real consistency; nevertheless let’s take a quick stab at it.

Many have heard of the Apocrypha and may have even seen bibles that contain these mysterious books; however you may not  know how they came to be or why they not recognized in the Protestant bible but are recognized by the Roman Catholic church.  So today we want to give a brief look at this subject.

Apocrypha (a-pa-cra-fa)

Webster’s 1828 states:

Literally such things as are not published; but in an appropriate sense, books whose authors are not known; whose authenticity, as inspired writings, is not admitted, and which are therefore not considered a part of the sacred canon of the scripture.

So the issue is one of verifiable authenticity or knowing who wrote them.  Most commonly the Apocrypha is comprised of 14 books more or less depending upon the bible edition used; and are noted to be:

1 Esdras 

2 Esdras 

Tobit

Judith

Rest of Esther 

Wisdom

Ecclesiasticus aka. Sirach

Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy 

Song of the Three Children 

Story of Susanna 

The Idol Bel and the Dragon 

Prayer of Manasses

1 Maccabees

2 Maccabees

As far as Protestants are concerned though Luther c. 1534, published a German translation from the Vulgate leaving the apocryphal books in a section between the OT and NT as many do today.  It was Luther’s conviction that since the Masoretic Text of Judaism did not include these they did not therefore rise to the level of being canon and should not be included.  But he could not bring himself to remove them completely.

His position was/is not without biblical merit though since Jesus in teaching His disciples and in rebuking the Pharisees did so on many grounds pertaining to the Law (OT canon) (Mt 7:12; 12:5; 22:36-40; 23:23; Jn 7:19; 8:17; 10:34), but never for not having a complete work or for having added to it.  So today the apocryphal books are received by the church of Rome as canonical, but not by Protestants.