Dealing Responsibly With Anxious Souls-#4

Letters to a soul seeking Jesus – No. 3

Joy in believing

Dear friend,

I send you another line to tell you Jesus is the way. I would like much to hear how your weak body prospers, and whether your soul is resting under the apple-tree (Song ii. 3); but till some opportunity occurs, I must just content myself with committing your soul and body into the hand of Jesus, your faithful Creator (1 Pet. iv. 19).

We are now looking forward to another communion season, and I am busy instructing young persons for that holy and blessed ordinance. I think you said you were a good deal impressed at our last communion, and wished that you had been one of those seated at the table: perhaps you may never be permitted to sit at the table on earth; perhaps your first communion may be in glory.

There is a text in Rom. xv. 13, which expresses all my desire for you: “Now that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” You see here who is the author of conversion—“the God of hope.” He must open your heart to attend to the things that are spoken. The truths that are presented to you will not convert your heart; the God of hope must breathe on your heart and water it oft. Then see how He give you joy and peace—“in believing.”

When Jesus revealed Himself to Thomas (John xx. 28), Thomas cried out with joy, “My Lord and my God!” If Jesus reveal Himself to you in all the glory of His person, the completeness of His work, and the freeness of His love, you too will be filled with appropriating, joyful faith, and will cry, “My Lord and my God!”

It is a difficult thing to explain what it is to believe—I suppose it is impossible. But when Jesus unveils His matchless face that was buffeted and spit upon, then the soul joyfully clings to Him. This is believing, and this is joy and peace in believing. The truest, purest joy flows from a discovery of Jesus Christ. He is the hidden treasure that gives such joy to the finder (Matt. xiii. 44). Do you think you have found that treasure? Touching question! For if not, you are poor indeed.

But how much joy may you have in Christ? “The God of hope fill you with all joy.” You need not be afraid to take the full joy that Jesus gives. If you really come unto Christ, you come unto the love of Jehovah, and that is a filling love. The love of the creature does not fill the heart; but God’s love coming full upon the soul gives fulness of joy (1 John i. 4). It is holy love, sovereign love.

I have been interrupted several times in writing this little note. I will not be long in writing you again. Do decide the question of your eternity. One thing is needful! Have you closed with the great Mediator? Have you got saving knowledge of Jesus? Then only will death lose its power, and the grave become the bed of peaceful rest.

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.

Lean all your care for time and eternity on Jesus; that is the softest of all pillows—the bosom of our guardian Immanuel.—I am, ever yours, etc.

Memoir and Remains, pp. 298-9.

Pray

This coming Sunday at Grace we will revel in our great God...Who hears us when we pray! This link outlines a prayer concern you can take to the LORD now.

Dealing Responsibly With Anxious Souls-#3

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Letters to a soul seeking Jesus – No. 2

Seek the righteousness of Christ

Dear friend,

I was glad to hear of your safe arrival, and that your health had not suffered by the voyage. I trust the Lord is dealing gently with your frail body, so that your mind may get leave freely to fix itself on Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Above all, I pray that the Holy Spirit may sweetly and silently open your heart, to relish the way of salvation through the blood and obedience of Immanuel. Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things (Acts xii. 38, 39).

You would be deeply concerned to hear that your room-mate, -------, has been so suddenly and awfully called away. Should it not be a solemn warning to you? Oh that you may be even now clothed in the righteousness of Jesus! So that, if you were called away, you may meet God in peace, and hear Jesus say, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” In yourself you never will stand righteous before Jehovah. Ps. cxliii. 2 answers your case. “Enter not into judgment with me,” must be your cry.

In your nature, in your past life, in your breaking of the holy law, in your contempt and neglect of Jesus, in your indwelling sin, God can see nothing but what He must condemn. Oh that you would be of the same mind with God about your own soul! Do not be afraid to look upon its loathsomeness; for God offers to clothe you in Jesus Christ. “By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom. v. 19). There is only one in all the world on whose face God can look and say, “He is altogether lovely.” Jesus is that one. Now God is willing that you and I should hide in Jesus.

I feel at this moment that He is my righteousness. “This is His name whereby He shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness,” (Jer. xxiii. 6). I feel that the love of God shines upon my guilty soul through Jesus. This is all my peace.

Your tears will not blot our sin; they do nothing but weep in hell, but that does not justify them. Your right views of the gospel will not justify you; you must be covered with a spotless righteousness. Your change of heart and of life will not justify you; it cannot cover past sins—neither is it perfect. Your amended life is still fearfully sinful in Jehovah’s sight, and yet nothing but perfect righteousness can stand before Him. Jesus offers you this perfect righteousness; in Him you may stand and hear God say, “Thou art all fair, my love.” There is no spot in me.

Do you thus look to Jesus? Do you believe the record that God has given concerning Him? Do you receive Christ with open arms? Do you cry, “My Lord and my God;” my Surety—my all?

Dear friend, do not tarry. Eternity may be near. Now is your best time, perhaps your only time, of closing with Christ. How many worlds would a lost soul in hell give for such an opportunity of cleaving to Christ as you have now! “He that has the Son hath life.” This is all my prayer and desire for your precious, precious soul.—Ever yours in the gospel, etc.

Memoir and Remains, pp. 297-8.

TCT Network & DG Conference

Along with four brothers whom I love--Nathan Kyzar, Jim Suggs, Jonathan Hopper, and Gary Hair--I am in MN today for the TCT Network meeting, and this weekend for the DG National Conference.

We will appreciate your prayers as we are already absorbing much from the LORD!
JT

Dealing Responsibly With Anxious Souls-#2

When a young lady came inquiring to Robert Murray McCheyene, he dealt--as we now invite you to read--carefully, responsibly, and biblically with her soul. As the GC blog now turns the next six posts in this 'DRWAS' series over to Rev. McCheyene, we share two words of counsel:

1. Consider your own soul. Have you closed with Christ?
2. Consider that evangelism--which has suffered much in our culture from slick programization--is truly nothing less than giving Christ to others.

Now, Rev. McCheyene:

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Letters to a soul seeking Jesus – No. 1

Seek to know your corruption

Dundee, 1841.

Dear friend,

According to promise, I sit down to talk with you a little concerning the great things of an eternal world. How kind it is in God that He has given us such an easy way of communicating our thoughts, even at a distance!

My only reason for writing to you is, that I may direct your soul to Jesus, the sinner’s friend. “This man receiveth sinners.” I would wish much to know that you were truly united to Christ, and then, come life, come death, you will be truly and eternally happy.

Do you think you have been convinced of sin? This is the Holy Spirit’s work, and His first work upon the soul (John xvi. 8; Acts ii. 37, xxi. 29, 30). If you did not know your body was dangerously ill, you would never have sent for your physician; and so you will never go to Christ, the heavenly Physician, unless you feel that your soul is sick even unto death. Oh, pray for deep discoveries of your real state by nature and by practice! The world will say you are an innocent and harmless girl; do not believe them. The world is a liar. Pray to see yourself exactly as God sees you; pray to know the worth of your soul. Have you seen yourself vile, as Job saw himself? (Isa vi. 1, 5). Have you experienced anything like Ps. li? I do not wish you to feign humility before God, nor to use expressions of self-abhorrence, which you do not feel; but oh, pray that the Holy Spirit may let you see the very reality of your natural condition before God!

I seldom get more than a glance at the true state of my soul in its naked self. But when I do, then I see that I am wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev. iii. 17). I believe ever member of our body has been a servant of sin (Rom. Iii. 13, 18)—throat, tongue, lips, mouth, feet, eyes. Every faculty of our mind is polluted (Gen. vi. 5).

Besides, you have long neglected the great salvation; you have been gainsaying and disobedient. Oh that you were brought to pass sentence on yourself, guilty of all! Hear what a dear believer writes of himself: “My wickedness, as I am in myself, has long appeared to me perfectly ineffable, and swallowing up all thought and imagination, like an infinite deluge, or mountains over my head. I know not how to express better what my sins appear to me to be, than by heaping infinite upon infinite, and multiplying infinite by infinite. When I look into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deep, and yet it seems to me that my conviction of sin is exceeding small and faint.”

Perhaps you will ask, Why do you wish me to have such a discovery of my lost condition? I answer, that you may be broken off from all schemes of self-righteousness; that you may never look into your poor guilty soul to recommend you to God; and that you may joyfully accept of the Lord Jesus Christ, who obeyed and died for sinners. Oh that your heart may cleave to Christ! May you forsake all, and follow Jesus Christ. Count everything loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.

You never will stand righteous before God in yourself. You are welcome this day to stand righteous before God in Jesus. Pray over Phil. iii. 7, 9. I will try and pray for you. Grace be with you.—Your friend in Jesus, etc.

Memoir and Remains, pp. 296-7.

Dealing Responsibly With Anxious Souls-#1

This new series of posts is dedicated to Christ Jesus, the only Lord and Savior. In these posts, I hope to inspire thought, discussion, and practice around responsible evangelistic soul-care. We all know that leading a thirsty man to a dry riverbed could never satisfy his thirst. But, leading him to the never-failing "Fountain of living waters" will eternally quench his parched soul. So for you, which source will it be? The empty riverbed of man-centered tactics, or the saving oasis of Jesus Christ?

Complaining is easy. Finding solutions is more difficult. This is true even for (especially for?) Christians who are thinking about conversion counseling (i.e. witnessing). Have believers not become notorious for identifying the problems of decisionistic, 'I-can-do-it', Christianity? And rightfully so! Why is it then that guidance for those wanting to faithfully present the gospel, and represent the God of the gospel, have little help on which to lean?

It is one thing to lament the the erroneous theology of easy-believism that has been sweeping our land for quite some time. It is another thing altogether to seek the Lord's counsel in His Word in order to realize His revealed will for dealing responsibly with those whose souls are anxious for a remedy for their sin problem.

Too many are stating man's solution; "Repeat this prayer and you will be saved." Too few are stating God's solution; "Turn to GOD and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for He is GOD and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:22).


What is a child of God to do if he or she wants to lead someone else to faith in Jesus Christ (And every true Christian does desire to be used of God to do lead others to Christ!)? What are we to say in the 'moment of truth' when a soul is desiring to press into the kingdom of Christ, forsake sin and self, and rest in the Savior? What are we to do in that moment? To be certain, it is not the slickness of our words, or the winsomeness of our appeal that saves a soul. Yes, but in evangelism words are necessary. And the blame for wrong words is appropriately laid at our doorstep.

Some who become aware of our God-given responsibility to represent Him faithfully with our words will shrink back from being evangelistic at all for fear they may say the wrong thing. Silence, however, would be a greater crime.

With that, I invite you to join us in letting the hard work begin (er...continue) of finding God-pleasing solutions for our day's man-centered soteriological dilemma.

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First things first: We at Grace Church don't presume to have responsible soul-care figured out. But we are desiring to always be praying and laboring to become better soul-physicians. And God forbid that any of us cop-out of our evangelistic responsibility by employing the 'magic prayer' either to expedite the process, or because we are unwilling to seek counsel from God, His Word, and other faithful soul-physicians.

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The next six posts in this series will come from Robert Murray McCheyne (pictured). And, Oh friend does he ever have God-centered biblical help to offer!

"And this is eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true GOD and JESUS CHRIST whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

Would You Consider Skipping Eating Out One Time for Christ and His Kingdom? (or more?)

Would you consider it?

"God will not allow his Word to rest lightly on the heart of one who longs to experience its life-changing, sin-killing, Christ-exalting power"

If you want to enjoy the Bible's life-altering affect of Christ-centeredness, then meditate on Scripture, don't speed read!

The following quotation is well worth our attention.
(Taken from pp 199-201 in Signs of the Spirit. I have noted which of the quotes are from Edwards, and which are from Storms.)

"I had then, and at other times, the greatest delight in the holy Scriptures, of any book whatsoever. Oftentimes in reading it, every word seemed to touch my heart. I felt a harmony between something in my heart, and those sweet and powerful words. I seemed often to see so much light exhibited by every sentence, and such a refreshing food communicated, that I could not get along in reading; often dwelling long on one sentence, to see the wonders contained in it; and yet almost every sentence seemed to be full of wonders." (J. Edwards)

"And I have sometimes had an affecting sense of the excellency of the word of God, as a word of life; as the light of life; a sweet, excellent life-giving word; accompanied with a thirsting after that word, that it might dwell richly in my heart." (J. Edwards)

"Do you dwell 'long on one sentence' or skim quickly with only a cursory glance at words on a page? The greatest profit that I gain from Scripture is when I pause to take a word or phrase or sentence and turn it over and over again in my mind, speaking it aloud, perhaps even singing it unto the Lord. Memorize it. Muse on it. Ruminate. Reflect. Cry out to the Spirit for light of understanding. Evaluate your soul and mind and life and leisure time in the light of its truth. Place your thoughts and deeds and desires and daydreams under its authority." (Sam Storms)

"In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches" (Psalm 119:14).

"I will delight in your statutes" (v. 16).

"My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times" (v. 20).

"Behold, I long for your precepts" (v. 40).

"For I find my delight in your commandments, which I love" (v. 47).

"The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces" (v. 72).

"Oh how I love your law" (v. 97).

"Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart" (v. 111).

"Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold" (v. 127).

"I rejoice at the word like one who finds great spoil" (v. 162).

"My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly" (v. 167).

"Those incredible statements from Psalm 119 should never be read in isolation from the rest of the psalm. The reason God's Word resonated with such sweet savor in the soul of the psalmist is because he was committed to seeking the Lord with his "whole heart" (Ps. 119:2, 10) and to meditating on his precepts (119:15) and to fixing his eyes on God's "ways" (119:15). His resolve was to "keep God's law continually, forever and ever" (1198:44). Listen to the psalmist's prayer, repeated over and again: (S. Storms)

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law" (v. 18).

"Teach me your statutes!" (vv. 26, 68, 124, 135).

"Make me understand the way of your precepts" (v. 27).

"Graciously teach me Your law!" (v. 29).

"Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes" (v. 33).

"Give me understanding that I may learn your commandments" (v. 73; see also vv. 34, 125, 144, 169).

"Teach me your rules" (v. 108).

"If this were our prayer, perhaps then, like Edwards, we would begin to feel 'a harmony' between our hearts and 'those sweet and powerful words' and taste 'a refreshing food' in God's Word and see the 'wonders contained in it.' Rest assured of this: God will not allow his Word to rest lightly on the heart of one who longs to experience its life-changing, sin-killing, Christ-exalting power." (S. Storms).

By The Strength of His Might Not One of Them is Missing

You've probably seen these images before...but its worth another jaw-drop.

Worship Preparation | Our Living GOD

Exodus 3, is our sermon text for Sunday, and as you know, is the "burning bush" or "calling of Moses" chapter. And, as you also know, it is about so much more than that--namely the God-initiated revealation of the Name and Character of God (as YHWH).

As you ready your heart for Sunday at Grace, consider the remainder of the Exodus account (all the way through Joshua!), and that the God who reveals Himself, and makes covenant promises to deliver His people from bondage, is the God who sovereignly accomplishes all that He said He would do! Consider most of all our Passover Lamb!

The Heart of the Matter

We would do ourselves well to pray this...then pray it again and again until it resonates with the deepest of our desires.

"Lord, spare us the insidious ego deception that we love God when really we love being told that we love God. Forbid that our being thanked is the bottom of our joy, rather than Christ being praised." (J. Piper)

John Owen Prayed for Grace Church

Beginning this coming Sunday, the Grace Groups (small groups) of Grace Church will start going through John Owen's book, Communion With God. Staggeringly amazing in concept, completely soul-satisfying when practiced!

As we are preparing to embark on this study, I was encouraged to find that Rev. Owen prayed for us. Here is the transcript of his summary of the study, and of his petition of the Almighty on our behalf:

"It is with regard to this initial communion [with God] (on earth) that I intend to speak and to show that mutual giving and receiving between God and the saints as they walk together in holy and spiritual peace."

"First I pray that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has, by the riches of his grace, brought us from a state of enmity into this glorious fellowship with himself, may give you such a taste of his sweetness and excellence in this communion as to be stirred up to a greater longing for that eternal enjoyment of him in eternal glory" (p. 3).

Amen and Amen!

He Rests

So rest with Him...IN HIM!

Was He Tired? Worship Preparation

Take time this week to read and meditate through the creation account in Genesis 1-2. Focus specifically on the first three verses of chapter two.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Gen 2:1-3 ESV)

The "rest" of God will be one of our main questions this Sunday at Grace. More importantly, we will ask, "So, what was He doing while He rested?" And, "He was doing what? And He was doing it to whom?" Ultimately we want to worship Him because He has said to us, "I will give you rest."


See you Sunday, Lord willing...

Who Is This?

Who is This, so Weak and Helpless
William W. How

Who is this so weak and helpless,
Child of lowly Hebrew maid,
Rudely in a stable sheltered, coldly in a manger laid?
’Tis the Lord of all creation,
Who this wondrous path hath trod;
He is God from everlasting, and to everlasting God.

Who is this, a Man of sorrows,
Walking sadly life’s hard way,
Homeless, weary, sighing, weeping,
Over sin and Satan’s sway?
’Tis our God, our glorious Savior,
Who above the starry sky
Is for us a place preparing,
Where no tear can dim the eye.

Who is this? Behold Him shedding
Drops of blood upon the ground!
Who is this, despised, rejected,
Mocked, insulted, beaten, bound?
’Tis our God, Who gifts and graces
On His church is pouring down;
Who shall smite in holy vengeance
All His foes beneath His throne.


Who is this that hangs there dying
While the rude world scoffs and scorns,
Numbered with the malefactors,
Torn with nails, and crowned with thorns?
’Tis our God Who lives forever,
’Mid the shining ones on high,
In the glorious golden city, reigning everlastingly.