May 07 2012
If you are following this blog please be advised that there will be no new postings to this site. Instead I have developed a new blog site. Please bookmark or rss the address below.
http://stevephobbs.wordpress.com/
Thanks again. see you on the other site.
Dec 01 2011
We are living in the age which lies between the two blazing beacons of the Divine appearings and we are called to hasten from one to the other. The sacramental host of God’s elect is marching on from the one appearing to the other with hasty feet. We have everything to hope for in the last appearing, as we have everything to trust to in the first appearing—and we have now to wait with patient hope throughout that weary interval which intervenes! Paul calls it, “this present world.” This marks its fleeting nature. It is present, but it is scarcely future, for the Lord may come so soon and thus end it all. It is present, now, but it will not be present long. It is but a little time and He who will come shall come and will not tarry. Now it is this “present world.” Oh, how present it is! How sadly it surrounds us!
Yet, by faith, we count these present things to be unsubstantial as a dream and we look to the things which are not seen and not present, as being real and eternal! We pass through this world as men on pilgrimage. We traverse an enemy’s country. Going from one manifestation to another, we are as birds migrating on the wing from one region to another— there is no rest for us by the way. We are to keep ourselves as loose as we can from this country through which we make our pilgrimage, for we are strangers and foreigners and here we have no continuing city. We hurry through this Vanity Fair—before us lies the Celestial City and the coming of the Lord who is the King thereof! As voyagers cross the Atlantic and so pass from shore to shore, so do we speed over the waves of this ever-changing world to the Glory Land of the bright appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
…Oh that all of us were ardent, fervent, vigorous, zealous! Come, Holy Spirit, and quicken us! We may not go about to get this by our own efforts and energies, but God will work it by His Grace. Grace given us in Christ is the fountainhead of all holy impulse. O heavenly Grace, come like a flood at this time and bear us right away! Oh that those of you who have never felt the Grace of God may be enabled to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as to His first appearing! Then, trusting in His death upon the Cross, you will learn to look for His second coming upon the Throne of God and you will rejoice in it! Unto His great name be Glory forever and ever! Amen.
from C. H. Spurgeon’s sermon, “The Two Appearings and The Discipline of Grace,” 1886.
Jul 06 2011
We have only successfully acquired the art of living a Christian life—when we have learned to apply the principles of true religion, and enjoy its help and comfort in our daily life. It is easy to join in devotional exercises, to quote Bible promises, to extol the beauty of the Scriptures; but there are many who do these things—whose religion utterly fails them in the very places and at the very times—when it ought to prove their staff and stay!
All of us must go out from the sweet services of the Sunday—into a week of very real and very commonplace life. We must mingle with people who are not angels. We must pass through experiences that will naturally worry and vex us. Those about us, either wittingly or unwittingly, annoy and try us. We must mingle with those who do not love Christ. We all meet many troubles and worries in ordinary week-day life. There are continual irritations and annoyances.
The problem is to live a beautiful Christian life—in the face of all these hindrances! How can we get through the tangled briers which grow along our path—without having our hands and feet torn by them? How can we live sweetly—amid the vexing and irritating things and the multitude of little worries and frets which infest our way, and which we cannot evade?
It is not enough merely to ‘get along’ in any sort of way, to drag to the close of each long, wearisome day, happy when night comes to end the strife. Life should be a joy—and not a burden. We should live victoriously, ever master of our experiences, and not tossed by them like a leaf on the dashing waves. Every earnest Christian wants to live a truly beautiful life, whatever the circumstances may be.
A little child, when asked ’what it was to be a Christian,’ replied, “For me, to be a Christian is to live as Jesus would live—and behave as Jesus would behave—if he were a little girl and lived at our house.” No better definition of practical religion could be given. Each one of us is to live just as Jesus would—if he were living out our little life in the midst of its actual environment, standing all day just where we stand, mingling with the same people with whom we must mingle, and exposed to the very annoyances, trials and provocations to which we are exposed. We want to live a life that will please God, and that will bear witness on its face to the genuineness of our piety.
How can we do this? We must first recognize the fact that our life must be lived just in its own circumstances. We cannot at present change our surroundings. Whatever we are to make of our lives—must be made in the midst of our actual experiences. Here we must either win our victories—or suffer our defeats. We may think our lot is especially hard—and may wish it were otherwise. We may wish that we had a life of ease and luxury, amid softer scenes, with no briers or thorns, no worries or provocations. Then we would be always gentle, patient, serene, trustful, happy. How delightful it would be—never to have a care, an irritation, a cross, a single vexing thing!
But meanwhile this fact remains—that our aspiration cannot be realized, and that whatever our life is to be made, beautiful or marred, we must make it just where we are. No restless discontent can change our lot. We cannot get into any ‘paradise’ merely by longing for it. Other people may have other circumstances, possibly more pleasant than ours—but here are ours. We may as well settle this point at once, and accept the battle of life on this field—or else, while we are vainly wishing for a better chance, the opportunity for victory shall have passed.
The next thought is that the place in which we find ourselves is the place in which the Master desires us to live our life.
There is no haphazard in this world. God leads every one of his children by the right way. He knows where and under what influences each particular life will ripen best. One tree grows best in the sheltered valley, another by the water’s edge, another on the bleak mountain-top swept by storms. There is always adaptation in nature. Every tree or plant is found in the locality where the conditions of its growth exist, and does God give more thought to trees and plants than to his own children? He places us amid the circumstances and experiences in which our life will grow and ripen the best. The peculiar discipline to which we are each subjected—is the discipline we each need to bring out in us the beauties and graces of true spiritual character. We are in the right school. We may think that we would ripen more quickly—in a more easy and luxurious life—but God knows what is best; he makes no mistakes.
There is a little fable which says that a primrose growing by itself in a shady corner of the garden, became discontented as it saw the other flowers in their mirthful beds in the sunshine, and begged to be moved to a more conspicuous place. Its prayer was granted. The gardener transplanted it to a more showy and sunny spot. It was greatly pleased—but there came a change over it immediately. Its blossoms lost much of their beauty and became pale and sickly. The hot sun caused them to faint and wither. So it prayed again to be taken back to its old place in the shade. The wise gardener knows best where to plant each flower, and so God, the divine Gardener, knows where His people will best grow into what he would have them to be. Some require the fierce storms, some will only thrive spiritually in the shadow of worldly adversity, and some come to ripeness more sweetly under the soft and gentle influences of prosperity, whose beauty, rough experiences would mar. He knows what is best for each one.
The next thought, is that it is possible to live a beautiful life anywhere. There is no position in this world in the allotment of Providence, in which it is not possible to be a true Christian, exemplifying all the virtues of Christianity. The grace of Christ has in it, potency enough to enable us to live godly, wherever we are called to dwell. When God chooses a home for us—he fits us for its peculiar trials. There is a beautiful law of adaptation that runs through all God’s providence. Animals made to dwell amid Arctic snows are covered with warm furs. The camel’s home is the desert, and a wondrous provision is made by which it can endure long journeys across the hot sands without drink. Birds are fitted for their flights in the air. Animals made to live among the mountain-crags, have feet prepared for climbing over the steep rocks. In all nature this law of special equipment and preparation for allotted places prevails.
And the same is true in spiritual life. God adapts his grace to the peculiarities of each one’s necessity. For rough, flinty paths—he provides shoes of iron. He never sends any one to climb sharp, rugged mountain-sides, wearing silken slippers. He always gives sufficient grace. As the burdens grow heavier—the strength increases. As the difficulties thicken—the angel draws closer. As the trials become sorer—the trusting heart grows calmer. Jesus always sees his disciples, when they are toiling in the waves—and at the right moment comes to deliver them. Thus it becomes possible to live a true and victorious life—in any circumstances. Christ can as easily enable Joseph to remain pure and true, in heathen Egypt—as Benjamin in the shelter of his father’s love. The sharper the temptations, the more of divine grace is granted. There is, therefore, no environment of trial, or difficulty or hardship—in which we cannot live beautiful lives of Christian fidelity and holy conduct.
Instead, then, of yielding to discouragement when trials multiply and it becomes hard to live right, or of being satisfied with a broken peace and a very faulty life—it should be the settled purpose of each one to live, through the grace of God—a patient, gentle and unspotted life—in the place and amid the circumstances He allots to us. The true victory is not found in escaping or evading trials—but in rightly meeting and enduring them. The questions should not be, “How can I get out of these worries? How can I get into a place where there shall be no irritations, nothing to try my temper or put my patience to the test? How can I avoid the distractions that continually harass me?” There is nothing noble in such living. The soldier who flies to the rear when he smells the battle is no hero; he is a coward.
The questions should rather be, “How can I pass through these trying experiences, and not fail as a Christian? How can I endure these struggles, and not suffer defeat? How can I live amid these provocations, these reproaches and testings of my temper, and yet live sweetly, not speaking unadvisedly, bearing injuries meekly, returning gentle answers to insulting words?” This is the true problem of Christian living.
We are at school here. This life is disciplinary. Processes are not important: it is results we want. If a tree grows into majesty and strength, it matters not whether it is in the deep valley or on the cold peak, whether calm or storm nurtures it. If character develops into Christ like symmetry, what does it matter whether it be in ease and luxury—or through hardship? The important matter is not the process—but the result; not the means—but the end; and the end of all Christian nurture is spiritual loveliness. To be made truly noble and godlike—we should be willing to submit to any discipline.
Every obstacle to true living should, then, only nerve us with fresh determination to succeed. We should use each difficulty and hardship, as a leverage to gain some new advantage. We should compel our temptations to minister to us—instead of hindering us. We should regard all our provocations, annoyances and trials, of whatever sort—as practice-lessons in the application of the theories of Christian life. It will be seen in the end—that the hardships and difficulties are by no means the smallest blessings of our lives. Someone compares them to the weights of a clock, without which there could be no steady, orderly life.
The tree that grows where tempests toss its boughs and bend its trunk, often almost to breaking—is more firmly rooted than the tree which grows in the sequestered valley, where no storm ever brings stress or strain. The same is true in life. The grandest character is grown in hardship. Weakness of character, springs out of luxury. The best men the world ever reared—have been brought up in the school of adversity and hardship.
Besides, it is no heroism to live patiently—where there is no provocation, bravely where there is no danger, calmly where there is nothing to perturb. Not the hermit’s cave—but the heart of busy life, tests, as well as makes character. If we can live patiently, lovingly and cheerfully, amid all our frets and irritations day after day, year after year, that is grander heroism than the farthest famed military exploits, for ‘he who rules his own spirit—is better than he who captures a city.’
This is our allotted task. It is no easy one. It can be accomplished only by the most resolute decision, with unwavering purpose and incessant watchfulness.
Nor can it be accomplished without the continual help of Christ. Each one’s battle must be a personal one. We may decline the struggle—but it will be declining also the joy of victory. No one can reach the summit—without climbing the steep mountain-path. We cannot be borne up on any strong shoulder. God does not put features of beauty into our lives—as the jeweler sets gems in clusters in a coronet. The unlovely elements are not magically removed and replaced by lovely ones. Each must win his way through struggles and efforts—to all noble attainments. The help of God is given only in cooperation with human aspiration and energy. While God works in us—we are to work out our own salvation. He who overcomes, shall be a pillar in the temple of God. We should accept the task with quiet joy. We shall fail many times.
Many a night we shall retire to weep at Christ’s feet—over the day’s defeat. In our efforts to follow the copy set for us by our Lord—we shall write many a crooked line, and leave many a blotted page blistered with tears of regret. Yet we must keep through all, a brave heart, an unfaltering purpose, and a calm, joyful confidence in God. Temporary defeat should only cause us to lean on Christ more fully. God is on the side of everyone who is loyally struggling to obey his divine will, and to grow into Christ likeness. And that means assured victory, to everyone whose heart fails not.
J. R. Miller, 1880
Apr 04 2011
I was just about to write a review of the book “Love Wins” when I found this online and realized I could simply not do a better job than this. Please enjoy.
http://donmilleris.com/2011/04/01/my-review-of-love-wins/
Mar 22 2011
“Without knowing the dramatic plot and its doctrinal significance, our doxology becomes unfocused. Our praise lacks not only depth but even its rationale: For what exactly are we praising God? Are we responding to God’s character and works, or merely expressing ourselves?”
Michael Horton
The Christian Faith
(Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2011), 23
Nov 26 2010
We always think we know what is best for us. When we are hungry we think it is to eat. When we are thirsty we think it is to drink. When we are tired we think it is to sleep. When we travel we think it is to arrive safely. We could go on and on with the examples. The other day I was sitting in easy chair beginning another session of grumbling and complaining. I’ve been having a few of them lately because of severe pain I am experiencing in my neck and left arm from surgery to correct a broken neck. You see, I know what’s best for me. And of course, that is, no pain, no numbness, and no tingling. And since that is not the reality I must do the one thing I can do. Complain.
Then it hit me. It is arrogance to think I know what is best. I am not God. I am certainly not in control. As this thought began to settle in and I began to repent, it finally dawned on me that pain is actually the best thing for me. You see, if I had o pain it would mean only one thing. I would have no pain because there was severe nerve damage. Pain means the nerves are ok and will return to a functioning condition! How foolish can I be? Here I was actually wishing for something that would ultimately be bad for me physically!
Then I was reminded that God has promised me that He would only do good for me. Now, please don’t miss the bigger point. That doesn’t mean that nothing will happen to me that I don’t think is bad. To the contrary. The Lord who ordains and plans has promised only good for his children. However, He decides what is good and what is not. I am the one who is to live by faith. He is the one who is at work causing all things to work out for good. My task is to trust Him and the plan He is working out for His glory an my good.
All this certainly doesn’t take away the pain (that’s what the drugs are for), but it certainly brings meaning and hope into painful, seemingly meaningless situations. God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us?
I hope this makes sense as I am still under the influence of the medications.
Feb 17 2010
The past 8 or 9 years have found me in a significant period of transition regarding my understanding of the Scriptures. Although theological transitions will hopefully continue throughout my life, the current transition has radically altered my thinking regarding the Scriptures.
Perhaps it is best if I review my past thinking, teaching, and preaching. My perspective of the Scriptures was based on a very legalistic, moralistic approach where the proclamation was primarily focused on how God told us to live. The result was that I and my listeners would come away understanding what God expected of us but would know little regarding God the Father and Jesus Christ. This was most pronounced in my studies of the Old Testament although would regularly be evidenced in the New Testament studies as well.
My transition began when I was studying the Gospels and came to Jesus on the road to Emmaus. There Jesus declared that people were fools if they did not believe all that the prophets had spoken. All my life I thought I believed all the prophets had spoken. However, this time I saw what the Scriptures said next. Jesus proceeded to show them how all the Old Testament talked about Him. I shuddered to a stop and asked myself if I really believed that and if I could actually look at the various passages in the OT and see Christ. I know the classic prophetic passages that point to Him but what about Samson, Cain and Able, the Proverbs, etc.? I was not so sure.
So, the past years have been one of new exploration. How is Christ seen in all the Scriptures? And when I began to look I also noticed that I had settled far to short of Christ. I was satisfied with moralisms and legalisms. I was satisfied merely with knowing what I should be and do and did not understand that those things I was doing and being were not for God’s glory but mine.
That is bad enough but I was also teaching, preaching, and counseling these same perspectives. I was not focusing on Christ but on getting people to “look” more Christian. In effect I was helping people to be able to stand before God and say “but did we not do all these things in your name” only to hear Him say “depart from me, I never knew you.”
Ultimately, who really cares is I preach, teach, and counsel how to do better and be better (read, live more consistent with the Scriptures) if the result is that the listeners do not know and love Jesus more. Jesus came seeking worshippers, not merely people who do the right thing and act the right way.
It is because of this that I want to repent of how I have ministered to many of you over the years. My prayer for you is that, in spite of my failures, the Holy Spirit captured your hearts for God and caused you to love Jesus more than you love anyone and caused you to know Jesus more than you know anyone.
Let us not be fools and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.
Nov 30 2009
“A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession!’ Jesus did not answer her a word!” Matthew 15:22
We are apt to forget that the aim of God with us, is . . .
not to flood us with tenderness all the time,
not to keep our path always strewn with flowers,
not to continually give us everything we want,
not to save us from all manner of suffering.
No! God’s aim with us, is . . .
to make something of us,
to build up strong and noble character in us,
to mature qualities of grace and beauty in us,
to make us more like Christ!
To do this–He must ofttimes deny us what we ask for, and must seem indifferent to our cries. “Jesus did not answer her a word!“
There are ’sentimental ideas of God’ prevalent, which are dishonoring to Him. There are those who imagine that God’s love means tenderness that cannot cause pain. They think that He cannot look a moment on suffering, without relieving it; that He must instantly hear and answer every cry for the removal of trouble.
Not such a God–is the God of the Bible! When suffering is the best thing for us–He is not too sympathetic to let us suffer–until the work of suffering is accomplished in us. He is not too kind to be silent to our prayers–when it is better that He should be silent for a time, to allow . . .
faith to grow strong,
self-confidence to be swept away, and
the evil in us–to be burned out in the furnace of pain!
There is a danger with all of us–our tenderness lacks strength. We cannot tolerate to see people suffer, and so we hasten to give relief–before the ministry of suffering is accomplished. We think of our mission to others, as being only ‘to make life easier for them’. We are continually lifting away burdens, which it were better to have left resting longer on our friend’s shoulder! We are eager to make life easy for our children–when it were better if it had been left hard.
We must learn that God does not deal with us in this ’sentimental’ way. He is not too tender to see us suffer–if more suffering is needed to work in us the discipline that will make us like Christ!
Here we have the key of many of the ‘mysteries of
Suppose for a moment, that God immediately gave us everything we ask for–and immediately removed every little pain, trouble, difficulty, and hardness that we seek to have removed; what would be the result on us? How selfish it would make us! We would become weak, unable to endure suffering, to bear trial, to carry burdens, or to struggle. We would be only children always–and would never rise into manly strength. God’s over-kindness to us–would pamper in us all the worst elements of our nature, and would make us only poor driveling creatures!
On the other hand, however, God’s wise and firm treatment of us, teaches us the great lessons which make us strong with the strength of Christ Himself.
He teaches us to yield our own will to Him.
He develops in us–patience, faith, love, hope and peace.
He trains us to endure hardness–that we may grow heroic, courageous and strong.
It is well for us to make careful note of this–that in all God’s delays when we pray–His aim is some good in us.
Perhaps we are willful, asking only for our own way–and must learn to say, “May Your will be done.”
Perhaps we are weak, unable to bear pain or to endure adversity or loss–and we must be trained and disciplined into strength.
Perhaps our desires are only for earthly good, not for heavenly blessings–and we must be taught the transitory character of all worldly things, and led to desire things which are eternal.
Perhaps we are impatient–and must be taught to wait for God. We are like children in our eager restlessness–and need to learn self-restraint.
At the least, we may always know that silence is not refusal–that God hears and cares, and that when our faith has learned its lessons–He will answer in blessing!
“The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives.” Hebrews 12:6
“God disciplines us for our good–that we may share in His holiness.” Hebrews 12:10
Nov 17 2009
Life is nothing but death’s hallway; and our pilgrimage on earth is but a journey to the grave. The pulse that preserves our being beats our death march, and the blood which circulates our life is floating it forward to the deeps of death. Today we see our friends in health, tomorrow we hear of their death. Only yesterday, we shook hands with the strong man, and today we close his eyes. We rode in a chariot of comfort only an hour ago, and in a few more hours the black hearse must carry us to the home of the living. Oh, how closely allied is death to life! The little lamb that plays in the field must soon feel the knife. The cow that lows in the pasture is fattening itself for the slaughter. Trees only grow to be cut down. Yes, and greater things than these feel death. Empires rise and flourish; they flourish only to fall into decay, they rise to fall. How often do we take up a history book, and read of the rise and fall of empires. We hear of the coronation and the death of kings. Death is the black servant who rides behind the chariot of life. See life and death is close behind it. Death reaches far throughout this world, and has stamped all terrestrial things with an arrow pointing to the grave. Stars die; it is said that large and destructive fires have been seen in outer space, and astronomers have marked the funerals of planets-the decay of those mighty spheres, that we had imagined set forever in sockets of silver, to glisten as the lamps of eternity.
But blessed be God, there is one place where death is not life’s brother-where life reigns alone; “to live” is not the first syllable which is to be followed by the next, “to die.” There is a land where the death bells are never tolled, where grave clothes are never put on, where graves are never dug. Blessed land beyond the skies! To reach it, we must die.
Charles Spurgeon
Oct 21 2008
A sermon is never rightly heard—until it is practiced. “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.” John 13:17
Christ does not put happiness upon knowing—but upon doing. It is not knowledge of the points of religion—but practice, which renders a man truly happy and blessed.
Luke 6:46, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?” It is not the mere knowledge and acceptance of the most glorious Gospel truths—which will bring a man to heaven. If a man could fluently discourse on all Scriptural truths, if his head were a treasury of wisdom, an ocean of learning—yet this could not entitle him to happiness. His knowledge might make him admired by men—but not blessed by God. If a man knew and believed all the doctrines of Scripture—this would not crown him with happiness.
Knowledge is a fair garland to look upon—but it is like Rachael. Though she was beautiful—yet being barren she said, “Give me children or I die!” Just so, if knowledge does not bring forth the child of obedience—it will die and come to nothing.
I would by no means disparage knowledge. Knowledge is the pilot to guide us in our obedience. Yet, knowledge must usher in obedience. Knowledge may put us into the way of happiness, but it is only practice which brings us there! Knowledge alone, cannot make a man eternally happy and blessed.
Knowledge alone, does not make a man better; therefore, it cannot make him happy and blessed. Bare knowledge has no influence; it does not leave a spiritual tincture of holiness behind. Knowledge informs—not transforms. Knowledge, of itself, has no power upon the heart to make it more holy. Bare knowledge is like weak medicine, which does not work. It does not warm the affections nor purge the conscience; it does not fetch virtue from Christ to dry up the bloody issue of sin.
A man may receive the light of the truth—yet not love the truth, “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10. The Apostle calls it “a form of knowledge,” Romans 2:20. Knowledge alone, is but a dead form, having nothing to animate it. He who has knowledge alone—is a spiritual stillborn! He looks like a Christian—but has neither appetite nor motion.
Knowledge alone, makes men monsters in religion! They are all head—but no feet! They do not walk in Christ, Colossians 2:6. A man may have Scriptural knowledge—and still be profane! He may have a clear head—and a foul heart! The understanding may be illumined—when the foot treads in unholy paths. If knowledge is divorced from practice, and does not make a man better—then it
cannot make a man eternally happy and blessed.
If bare knowledge will save, then all who have knowledge shall be saved. But that is not true—for then Judas would be saved, for he had knowledge enough. Then the devil would be saved! A man may have right knowledge, and be no better than a devil! Hell is full of learned heads!
Knowledge alone, makes a man’s case worse! Knowledge takes away all excuse. Knowledge adds to a man’s torment. “Woe to you! I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!” It will be better with heathen—than with professing Christians living in a contradiction to their knowledge. Luke 12:47, “The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it!”
Knowledge without practice, serves only as a torch to light men to hell—the brighter the light, the hotter the fire!
- Thomas Watson, “The Good Practitioner”