Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah . . . has conquered . . . Revelation 5:5
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . Galatians 6:14
You have been very angry with your Anointed One. Psalm 89:38
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
Let the motto upon your whole ministry be - "Christ is All!" - Cotton Mather

Monday, December 16, 2019

"That's My King!" In The Virgin's Womb!

Christ Conceived In A Virgin's Womb
The God-Man Born To Hell Consume
He Lived The Life That Made Love Bloom
Yet Died And Took God's Wrathful Doom
Then Rose To Lay On Death God's Boom
He Conquered Sin And Crushed The Tomb
In Him There's Joy And No More Gloom
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room
Bow Down And Praise Your Coming Groom!

That's my King! Do you know Him?!

Monday, December 2, 2019

Nothing Like His Love

"If there were infinite worlds made of creatures loving, they would not have so much love in them as was in the heart of that man Christ Jesus." Thomas Goodwin

Never Diminish The Sufferings Of Our Lord Jesus Christ

"I dread to the last degree that kind of theology which is so common now-a-days, which seeks to depreciate and diminish our estimate of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, that was no trifling suffering which made recompense to the justice of God for the sins of men. I am never afraid of exaggeration, when I speak of what my Lord endured. All hell was distilled into that cup, of which our God and Saviour Jesus Christ was made to drink." Charles Spurgeon

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Is It Biblical To Say Jesus Was Damned By God On The Cross?

1. The Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'"

God, Galatians 3:13

To "curse" and to "damn" mean the same thing! John Calvin used these words interchangeably: "Then are we all undone and damned as in respect of the Law, there is no more remedy, Cursed shall he be which does not all those things." (Calvin also taught that Jesus both became a curse and was cursed by God on the cross.)

John Calvin, On Wednesday, the first of January 1556 The 124th Sermon which is the fifth upon the one and twentieth Chapter, https://www.monergism.com/sermons-deuteronomy-ebook. Accessed 09 March 2022.

2. Martin Luther: "So then, gaze at the heavenly picture of Christ, who descended into hell [I Pet. 3:19] for your sake and was forsaken by God as one eternally damned when he spoke the words on the cross, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!' — 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' [Matt. 27:46]. In that picture your hell is defeated and your uncertain election is made sure."

Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 42, Eds. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), 105.

3. Martin Luther: "[On the cross Christ] prepared himself as a threefold picture for us, to be held before the eyes of our faith against the three evil pictures with which the evil spirit and our nature would assail us to rob us of this faith. He is the living and immortal image against death, which he suffered, yet by his resurrection from the dead he vanquished death in his life. He is the image of the grace of God against sin, which he assumed, and yet overcame by his perfect obedience. He is the heavenly image, the one who was forsaken by God as damned, yet he conquered hell through his omnipotent love, thereby proving that he is the dearest Son, who gives this to us all if we but believe."

Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 42, Eds. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), 95–115.

4. Martin Luther: "For even Christ suffered damnation and dereliction to a greater degree than all the saints. And his sufferings were not, as some imagine, easy for him. For he really and truly offered himself for us to eternal damnation to God the Father. And in his human nature, he behaved in no other way than as a man eternally damned to hell. Because he loved God in this way, God at once raised him from death and hell and thus devoured hell."

Martin Luther, Lectures On Romans, Trans. and Ed. Wilhelm Pauck, (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1961, 2006), 263.

5. John Calvin: Calvin's Catechism: "69. How is it possible that Jesus Christ, who is the salvation of the world, should have been under such damnation? He was not to remain under it. For though He experienced the horror we have spoken of, He was by no means oppressed by it. On the contrary, He battled with the power of hell, to break and destroy it."

The School Of Faith: The Catechisms Of The Reformed Church, Ed., Trans. Thomas F. Torrance, (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1959), 16.

6. John Calvin: "Not only the body of Christ was given as the price of our redemption, but there was another, greater, and more excellent ransom, for He suffered in his soul the dreadful torments of a damned and lost man."

John Calvin, Institutes, II.xvi.10.

7. John Calvin: "For inasmuch as we see that the Son of God . . . was pronounced accursed by God's own mouth."

John Calvin, Sermons On Galatians, (Audubon, New Jersey: Old Path Publications, 1995), 295-296.

8. John Calvin: ". . . the son of God was fain [pleased] to suffer our curse, and to endure that death which is so slanderous before men, yea and to be cursed of God's own mouth . . . ."

John Calvin, Sermons On Galatians, (Audubon, New Jersey: Old Path Publications, 1995), 713.

9. John Calvin: "How does the inheritance of heaven belong to us, except in that He was made a curse for our sakes, and He was cursed not only before men, but from the mouth of God His Father?"

John Calvin, The Gospel According To Isaiah: Seven Sermons on Isaiah 53 Concerning The Passion And Death Of Christ, Trans. Leroy Nixon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953), 16.

10. John Wyclif: " . . . because the friars had put heresy upon Christ in the matter of the sacrament, and the earth trembled as it did when Christ was damned to bodily death."

John Wyclif, Select Engl. Works, III. 503. As cited in Philip Schaff, History Of The Christian Church, Vol. 6, The Middle Ages, (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910), https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc6.iii.vi.iii.html#fnf_iii.vi.iii-p32.2, Accessed 30 November 2019.

11. Jeremiah Burroughs: "The afflictions that Christ endured, though they were not every way the same with the damned in hell, yet certainly there was the wrath of God as really and truly upon Christ, as truly as upon the damned in hell . . . ."

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Evil Of Evils, The Exceeding Sinfulness Of Sin, (London: Peter Cole, 1654), 9.

12. John Owen: "They who would invent evasions for this express complaint of our Saviour, that he was deserted and forsaken, as that he spake it in reference to his church, or of his own, being left to the power and malice of the Jews, do indeed little less than blaspheme him; and say he was not forsaken of God, when himself complains that he was. Forsaken, I say, not by the disjunction of his personal union; but as to the communication of effects of love and favour, which is the desertion that the damned lie under in hell."

John Owen, The Works Of John Owen, Vol. 9, Edited by Thomas Russell, (London: Paternoster, 1826), 122.

13. Herman Witsius: "Calvin, and some of the ancients, say that he was damned . . . Some of the Romish doctors have, with great acrimony of style, aggravated what was said by Calvin in the tenth section of his Catechism, concerning the satisfactory pains and punishment of Christ, viz. that he was in a state of damnation. But it is answered by our Divines, that Tertullian used the same phrase, Book III. against Marcion, chap. xi. 'The nativity will not be more shameful than death, nor infamy than the cross, nor damnation than the flesh.' Cyprian on the passion of Christ, 'He was damned, that he might deliver the damned.' And Gregory the great, Moral. Book III. chap. xi. 'He who is equal to the Father in point of divinity, came, on our account, to scourging in respect of the flesh; which scourging he would not have received, had he not in redemption taken upon him the form of a damned man.'"

Herman Witsius, Conciliatory Or Irenical Animadversions on the Controversies Agitated in Britain: Under the Unhappy Names of Antinomians and Neonomians, Trans. Thomas Bell, (Glasgow: W. Lang, 1807), 38, 45.

14. Francis Turretin: "With similar calumny that great man of God is accused of saying that Christ 'was damned' because he says 'he was constituted in such a damnation; that he complained of being deserted by God (Catechismus Ecclesiae Genevensis [1545], CR 34.28-32). But: (1) who does not see that 'damnation' is put here for 'condemnation,' according to the most customary style of French language at that time? (2) If Christ is called 'a curse,' why cannot damnation be ascribed to him? (3) The fathers and some of our opponents have so spoken: Cyprian, 'He as damned that he might free the damned; he suffered that he might heal the sick; he feared to make us secure' ('De Passione Christi' [attributed to Cyprian] in Arnold Carnotensis, Opera, p. 49 in Cyprian, Opera [ed. John Oxoniensem, 1682]); Gregory Nazianzus, 'He united that which was condemned that he might free the whole from condemnation' (Fourth Theological Oration, Second on the Son,' 21 [NPNF2, 7:317; PG 36.131]); Athanasius, 'There was need for the very Judge, who made the decree, to fulfill himself the sentence in the form of the condemned; (de Incarn.+); Gregory the Great, 'He assumed the form of a condemned man; and 'condemns him for sinners who is without sin' (Morals on the Book of Job 3.14* [1844], 1:148-49; PL 75.612-13). The Vulgate uses the word damnatio as does the Louvain Version of the year 1533. Cusanus uses the same word (Exercit. lib. xi+)."

Francis Turretin, Institutes Of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 2, Trans. George Musgrave Giger, Ed. James T. Dennison, Jr., (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1994), 356.

15. Wilhelmus à Brakel: "Christ did indeed suffer eternal damnation, for eternal damnation, death, and pain consist in total separation from God, in the total manifestation of divine wrath, and all of this for such a duration until the punishment upon sin was perfectly and satisfactorily born."

Wilhelmus à Brakel. The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. 1, Trans. Bartel Elshout, Ed. Joel Beeke, (Rotterdam, The Netherlands: D. Bolle, 1999), 591. Online: http://s3.amazonaws.com/apmmedia/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/06135501/The-Christians-Reasonable-Service-Volume-1-by-Wilhelmas-aBrakel.pdf, Accessed 29 February 2019.

16. John Duncan: "Ay, ay, d'ye know what it was - dying on the cross, forsaken by his Father? D'ye know what it was? What? What? It was damnation, and damnation taken lovingly . . . It was damnation, and he took it lovingly."

John M. Brentnall, Ed., 'Just a talker': Sayings of John ('Rabbi') Duncan, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1997), 26.

17. Charles Spurgeon: "The whole of the punishment of his people was distilled into one cup; no mortal lip might give it so much as a solitary sip. When he put it to his own lips, it was so bitter, he well nigh spurned it - 'Let this cup pass from me.' But his love for his people was so strong, that he took the cup in both his hands, and 'At one tremendous draught of love He drank damnation dry' for all his people. He drank it all, he endured all, he suffered all; so that now for ever there are no flames of hell for them, no racks of torment; they have no eternal woes; Christ hath suffered all they ought to have suffered, and they must, they shall go free."

Charles Spurgeon, "Justification by Grace," April 5, 1857, https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/justification-by-grace#flipbook/, Accessed 03 December 2019.

18. A. W. Pink: "Unsaved reader, reject not the Saviour, for if you die in your sins your eternal cry will be, 'I thirst!' This is the moan of the damned. In the Lake of Fire the lost suffer amid the flames of God's wrath for ever and ever. If Christ cried 'I thirst' when He suffered the wrath of God for but three hours, what is the state of those who have to endure it for all eternity!"

A. W. Pink, The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross, https://chapellibrary.org:8443/pdf/books/ssot.pdf, page 30, Accessed 03 December 2019.

19. John Murray: "We cannot dissociate the death of Christ from its propitiatory implications. And so we must say that this love of the Father was at no point more intensely in exercise than when the Son was actively drinking the cup of unrelieved damnation, than when he was enduring as a substitute the full toll of the Father’s wrath. All of this is implicit in the saying of Romans 8:32, that the Father did not spare his own Son. And what perverse myopia afflicts the minds of men when they try to rob the unspeakable spectacles of Gethsemane and Calvary of that which is the only explanation! As we rob this unexampled ordeal of its meaning, we deprive ourselves of what brings us to the summit of amazement. What love for men that the Father should execute upon his own Son the full toll of holy wrath, so that we should never taste it! This was John’s amazement when he wrote: 'This is love, not that we loved God, but that he love us, and sent his son the propitiation for our sins' (1 John 4:10)."

John Murray, Collected Writings, Vol. 2, “The Atonement,” 146-147.

20. John Murray: "But love and wrath are not contradictory; love and hatred are. It is only because Jesus was the Son, loved immutably as such and loved increasingly in His messianic capacity as He progressively fulfilled the demands of the Father's commission, that He could bear the full stroke of judicial wrath. This is inscribed on the most mysterious utterance that ever ascended from earth to heaven, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' (Ps. 22:1; Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). God in our nature forsaken of God! Here is the wonder of the Father's love and of the Son's love, too. Eternity will not scale its heights or fathom its depths. How pitiable is the shortsightedness that blinds us to its grandeur and that fails to see the necessity and glory of the propitiation. 'Herein is love,' John wrote, 'not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins' (I John 4:10). Christ is truly the propitiation for our sins because He propitiated the wrath which was our damnation. The language of propitiation may not be diluted; it bespeaks the essence of Calvary."

John Murray, "The Atonement," https://www.the-highway.com/atonement_murray.html, Accessed 18 March 2022.

21. R. C. Sproul: "It was as if there was a cry from heaven - excuse my language, but I can be no more accurate than to say - it was as if Jesus heard the words 'God Damn You.' Because that's what it meant to be cursed, to be damned, to be under the anathema of the Father. As I said, I don't understand that, but I know that it's true."

R. C. Sproul, "And God Cursed Him," April 19, 2019, https://www.ligonier.org/blog/god-cursed-him/, Accessed 03 December 2019.

22. R. C. Sproul: "God is too holy to even look at iniquity. God the Father turned His back on the Son, cursing Him to the pit of hell while He hung on the cross. Here was the Son’s “descent into hell.” Here the fury of God raged against Him. His scream was the scream of the damned. For us."

R. C. Sproul, "Treasuring Redemption’s Price," September 13, 2009, https://www.ligonier.org/blog/treasuring-redemptions-price/, Accessed 30 November 2019.

23. J. I. Packer: ". . . the dimensions of Divine love are not half understood till one realizes that God need not have chosen to save nor given his Son to die; nor need Christ have taken upon him vicarious damnation to redeem men, nor need He invite sinners indiscriminately to Himself as He does; but that all God’s gracious dealings spring entirely from His own free purpose."

J. I. Packer, Introduction, The Death Of Death In The Death Of Christ, by John Owen (Carlisle,PA: The Banner Of Truth Trust, 1983), 19.

24. Robert Reymond: "When we look at Calvary and behold the Savior dying for us, we should see in his death not first our salvation but our damnation being borne and carried away by him!"

Robert Reymond, A New Systematic Theology Of The Christian Faith, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 639.

25. D. A. Carson: "The footwashing was shocking to Jesus' disciples, but not half as shocking as the notion of a Messiah who would die the hideous and shameful death of crucifixion, the death of the damned."

D. A. Carson, The Gospel According To John, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 467.

26. John Piper: "When Jesus cried, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' it was the scream of the damned — damned in our place (Isaiah 53:5–6; Romans 8:3; Galatians 3:14). If we will repent and trust him, no Esau, no lesbian, no president, no pastor, no person will be condemned."

John Piper, "Lesbian Sex, HIV, Esau, And Christ," March 18, 2014, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/lesbian-sex-hiv-esau-and-christ, Accessed 29 November 2019.

27. John Piper: "Hell exists, sin exists (wouldn't be any hell without sin), heaven exists, cross exists, everything exists to magnify the worth of the scream of the damned. Everything! That's the point of the universe! . . . what we will mainly do forever in heaven is magnify the worth of the scream of the damned. That's the point of the book of Revelation . . . What was the and always will be the apex of the revelation of the grace of God? And the answer is the scream of the damned on the cross."

John Piper, "The Triumph of the Gospel in the New Heavens and New Earth," Resolved Conference 2008, https://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/841, Accessed 29 November 2019.

28. John Piper: "First, this was a real forsakenness. That is why. 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' means he really did. He really did. He is bearing our sin. He bore our judgment. The judgment was to have God the Father pour out his wrath, and instead of pouring it out on us, he pours it out on him. That necessarily involves a kind of abandonment. That is what wrath means. He gave him up to suffer the weight of all the sins of all of his people and the judgment for those sins. We cannot begin to fathom all that this would mean between the Father and the Son. To be forsaken by God is the cry of the damned, and he was damned for us. So he used these words because there was a real forsakenness."

John Piper, "'My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?' Didn’t Jesus Already Know?" March 1, 2016, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/my-god-my-god-why-have-you-forsaken-me-didnt-jesus-already-know, Accessed 29 November 2019.

29. John Piper: "The cancellation happened when the record of our deeds was 'nail[ed] to the cross' (Colossians 2:14). How was this damning record nailed to the cross? Parchment was not nailed to the cross. Christ was. So Christ became my damning record of bad (and good) deeds. He endured my damnation. He put my salvation on a totally different footing. He is my only hope. And faith in him is my only way to God."

John Piper, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2006), 33.

30. Philip Graham Ryken: "To the Jews, this was absolute blasphemy: a cursed Messiah on a cursed cross. No wonder the cross was such a stumbling block to them! To put it in the most shocking and yet perhaps the most accurate way, the apostolic message was about a God-damned Messiah."

Philip Graham Ryken, Galatians (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 2005), 115.

31. Al Baker: "Christ took hell, God's just judgment for you. He suffered damnation lovingly, patiently, compassionately for you."

Al Baker, "Anger," September 12, 2008, https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2008/anger/, Accessed 01 December 2019.

32. Paul Carter: "On the cross Jesus bore our sins and was punished for them as if they were his own. He experienced the death and forsakenness that we ought to have experienced as sinners. The Apostles' Creed says that Jesus 'descended to hell'. Good Christians may debate as to whether this should be understood spatially but all true Christians must affirm that Jesus descended unto hell really, truly, and substantially. Jesus Christ suffered the damnation that I deserved for my sin and rebellion. He was forsaken as a rebel that I might be received as a son – thanks be to God!"

Paul Carter, "'Tis Mystery All! (What I Know And Don't Know about The Atonement)," September 5, 2019, https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/columns/ad-fontes/tis-mystery-know-dont-know-atonement/, Accessed 01 December 2019.

33. Tim Challies (agreeing with R. C. Sproul): "The scream of the damned. Jesus Christ gave a cry from the midst of unspeakable agony. He gave the very cry of the damned."

Tim Challies, "The Most Grotesque Ugliness Imaginable," https://www.challies.com/articles/the-most-grotesque-ugliness-imaginable/, Accessed 01 December 2019.

34. Jason Meyer: "This King has been forsaken by God . . . Jesus cries out in a loud voice, 'My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?!' Which has been called the scream of the damned."

Jason Meyer, "Christ Alone," Chapel Message at SBTS, https://equip.sbts.edu/chapel/christ-alone/, Accessed 01 December 2019.

35. Brent McGuire: "God's wrath is real. But it was also really borne by Jesus Christ. 'God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God' (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was judged. Jesus was damned. For us."

Brent McGuire, "What Christ's Last Prayer Reveals About His Death," April 19, 2019, https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/what-christs-last-prayer-reveals-about-his-death/, Accessed 08 March 2022.

36. Matt Moore: "Though our sins once possessed power to condemn us to a hopeless future, Jesus removed this damning power when he was damned in our place."

Matt Moore, "A Gospel For Failures," September 9, 2019, https://10looks.com/2019/09/09/a-gospel-for-failures/, Accessed 08 March 2022.

37. And John Flavel wrote that Christ's sufferings were even worse than the damned experience in hell: 

"Fourthly, As it was all the wrath of God that lay upon Christ, so it was wrath aggravated, in divers respects beyond that which the damned themselves do suffer. That is strange you will say; can there be any sufferings worse than those the damned suffer, upon whom the wrath of an infinite God is immediately transacted, who holds them up with the arm of his power, while the arm of his justice lies on eternally? Can any sorrows be greater than these? Yes; Christ's sufferings were beyond theirs in divers particulars.

First, None of the damned were ever so near and dear to God as Christ was: they were estranged from the womb, but Christ lay in his bosom. When he smote Christ, he smote "the man that was his fellow," Zech. 13:7. But in smiting them, he smites his enemies. When he had to do, in a way of satisfaction, with Christ, he is said not to spare his own son, Rom. 8:32. Never was the fury of God poured out upon such a person before.

Secondly, None of the damned had ever so large a capacity to take in a full sense of the wrath of God as Christ had. The larger any one's capacity is to understand and weigh his troubles fully, the more grievous and heavy is his burden. If a man cast vessels of greater and lesser quantity into the sea, though all will be full, yet the greater the vessel is, the more water it contains. Now Christ had a capacity beyond all mere creatures to take in the wrath of his Father; and what deep and large apprehensions he had of it may be judged by his bloody sweat in the garden, which was the effect of his mere apprehensions of the wrath of God. Christ was a large vessel indeed; as he is capable of more glory, so of more sense and misery than any other person in the world.

Thirdly, The damned suffer not so innocently as Christ suffered; they suffer the just demerit and recompense of their sin: They have deserved all that wrath of God which they feel, and must feel forever: It is but that recompense which was meet; but Christ was altogether innocent: He had done no iniquity, neither was guile found in his mouth; yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. When Christ suffered, he suffered not for what he had done; but his sufferings were the sufferings of a surety, paying the debts of others. "The Messiah was cut off, but not for himself," Dan. 9:26. Thus you see what his external sufferings in his body, and his internal sufferings in his soul were."

John Flavel, The Seven Utterances Of Christ On The Cross, http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/flavel/The%20Seven%20Utterances%20of%20Christ%20-%20John%20Flavel.pdf, 65-66, Accessed 30 November 2019.

38. Thomas Goodwin made an argument like Flavel - what Jesus endured on the cross was even worse than what the damned in hell experience because Jesus endured all of God's wrath in a finite amount of time, perfectly satisfying God's justice, which the damned never do: 

"Yea, and by reason of the incapacity of the damned in hell to take in the full measure of God's wrath due to them for their sins, therefore their punishment, though it be eternal, yet never satisfies, because they can never take in all, as Christ could and did, and so theirs is truly less than what Christ underwent. And therefore Christ's punishment ought not in justice to be eternal, as theirs is, because he could take it all in a small space, and more fully satisfy God's wrath in a few hours, than they could unto all eternity."

Thomas Goodwin, Christ Our Mediator, (Sovereign Grace Publishers, Grand Rapids: 1971), 285.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

To learn more about the great King Jesus and His glorious Gospel message, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Samuel Rutherford On The Father's Love And Anger At The Cross

1. "O what sweating for us, even in death, and sweating of blood! O what praying, and praying more earnestly . . . and all this time, he is drawing and carrying on his shoulders hell up to heaven. What a fight was it to behold Christ dying, bleeding, pained, shamed, tormented in soul, wrestling in an agony with divine justice and wrath, receiving strokes and lashes from an angry God, and yet he kept fast in his bosom his redeemed ones, and said, Death and hell, pain and wrath shall not part us. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, to afflict his soul, not to spare him, to smite the Shepherd; but it pleased him in that condition, out of deep love, to draw his redeemed ones from earth up after him to heaven."

Samuel Rutherford, Christ Dying And Drawing Sinners To Himself, (Glasgow: Niven, Napier & Khull, 1803), 652-653. Online: http://www.digitalpuritan.net/Digital%20Puritan%20Resources/Rutherford,%20Samuel/Christ%20Dying%20and%20Drawing%20Sinners%20to%20Himself.pdf, Accessed 05 December 2019.

2. "Christ's love burnt and consumed him till he died; love followed and pursued his lost spouse through the land of death, through hell, the grave, the curses of an angry God . . . this sun of love burns hard down from heaven to this day."

Christ Dying And Drawing Sinners To Himself, 661-662.

3. ". . . death all this time twenty-four hours, was acting upon Christ, both the second death, the Lord's anger and curse being on him; and then bodily pain, with the curse of the law, all this time wrought upon him . . . Christ in bearing the pains of the second death did suffer that which all the elect should have suffered in their souls forever . . . ."

Christ Dying And Drawing Sinners To Himself, 679.

4. "The Lord . . . punished Christ, who was not inherently, but only by imputation the sinner, with no hatred at all, but with anger and desire of shewing and exercising revenging justice, but still loving him dearly, as his only Son."

Samuel Rutherford, The Covenant Of Life Opened, (Edinburgh: A. A. for Robert Broun, 1655), 265. Online: https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/rutherford/The%20Covenant%20of%20Life%20Opened%20-%20Samuel%20Rutherford.pdf, Accessed 05 December 2019.

5. ". . . Christ, under his forest assault with hell . . . and the felt anger of a forsaking God, doubles his grips on the Covenant, my God, my God . . . ." 

The Covenant Of Life Opened, 353.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

To learn more about the great King Jesus and His glorious Gospel message, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

The Priority Of Evangelism And Missions In The Book Of Acts!

1. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because Jesus’ Last Words To His Disciples Before He Ascended Into Heaven Were An Exhortation To Evangelism And Missions


Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

2. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because One Of The First Acts Of The Apostles Was To Appoint A New Apostle To Help Them Do Evangelism And Missions


Acts 1:21-22: So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us - one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

3. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because The Holy Spirit Was Given To Empower Evangelism And Missions And The Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit Was Accompanied By Evangelism And Missions


Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Acts 2:1-4, 14, 36-39: When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them & rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . . But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them . . . Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

4. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because Sinners Being Converted Characterized The Early Church


Acts 2:42-47: And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 9:31: So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

5. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because It Was A Priority For The Apostles And Early Christians


Acts 3:12, 18-19: Peter . . . addressed the people . . . But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out

Acts 5:27-28: And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. & the high priest questioned them, saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching

Acts 5:41-42: Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Acts 8:1, 4-5: And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles . . . Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

Acts 8:40: But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Acts 9:20: And immediately he [Paul] proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God."

Acts 14:6-7: they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.

Acts 14:21: they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples

Acts 28:30-31: He lived there two whole years at his own expense,1 and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

6. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because It And God Are Worth Going To Jail For


Acts 4:1-3: And as they [Peter and John] were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody

7. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because It’s Worth Disobeying Every Other Human Authority In Order To Accomplish It And Obey God


Acts 4:17-20: But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."

Acts 5:27-32: And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

8. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because It’s More Important Than Feeding The Hungry


Acts 6:1-4, 7: Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." . . . And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

9. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because It And God Are Worth Dying For


Acts 7:51-8:1: You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of his execution.

10. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because Even Our Enemies Need To Hear The Gospel


Acts 8:25: Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Romans 5:8, 10: But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us . . . For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

11. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because Many People Don’t Understand The Gospel


Acts 8:30-31, 35: So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" . . . Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

12. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because Through It God Makes Enemies Into Preachers


Acts 9:13-15: But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

13. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because All Nations Need To Hear The Gospel


Acts 10:34-35, 43-45: So Peter opened his mouth & said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him & does what is right is acceptable to him . . . To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.

14. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because The Early Church Sent Out Missionaries


Acts 13:2-3: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

15. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because Sound Doctrine Matters


Acts 15:1: But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

Acts 16:4-5: As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

16. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because God Is At Work Opening People’s Hearts, Helping You, And Protecting You


Acts 16:14: The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

Acts 18:9-10: And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people."

17. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because Many Religious People Don’t Know God


Acts 17:22-23: So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you."

18. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because God Will Judge The World


Acts 17:30-31: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

19. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because We Should Want All People To Be Saved


Acts 26:27-29: King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe." And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?" And Paul said, "Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am - except for these chains."

20. Evangelism And Missions Should Be A Priority Because It’s The Only Way People Can Be Saved From Hell


Acts 2:41: So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Acts 4:4: many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

Acts 4:11-12: Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved

Acts 16:31: And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

Jesus And The Gospel Are God’s Power For Salvation
He Said You Take This Message To Every Tribe And Nation
The Holy Spirit Came Giving Power For Oration
Christ Has Died And Risen Bow To Him In Adoration
Now We Have Propitiation And Justification 
That Saves From Damnation
And Father, Son, And Spirit Are Our Joy And Fascination
So Go And Tell The World About Our Great Infatuation
He’s Worthy Of All Glory Throughout The Whole Of Creation!

That's my King! Do you know Him?!

To know how to make it to heaven to be with Jesus - which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Bible alone, all for the glory of God alone - please watch "American Gospel: Christ Alone."

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Ten Reasons God Delights In Interethnic Marriages


1. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because Only One Race Exists

Acts 17:26: And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth

2. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because All Human Beings Are Made In God’s Image


Gen 1:27: God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male & female he created them

Psalm 8:4-5: what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

3. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because He Hates Racism


a. Racism is the sin of partiality: James 2:1: My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

b. Racism isn’t loving: Matthew 22:37-39: And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

c. Racism is hatred and murderous: 1 John 3:15: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

d. Racism is against God: Colossians 3:11: Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

4. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because He Loves All Nations


Genesis 12:3: I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Ezekiel 47:22: You will allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners living among you, who have fathered children among you. You will treat them like native-born Israelites; along with you, they will be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

Revelation 5:9: And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation”

5. God Delights in Interethnic Marriage Because He Delights In Marriage


Hebrews 13:4: Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Ephesians 5:31-32: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

6. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because It Uniquely Displays Gospel Reconciliation In A Fallen World


Ephesians 2:14-16: For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

John 17:22-23: The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

7. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because His Anger Burned Toward Those Who Opposed It


Numbers 12:1-2, 9-10: Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?" And the LORD heard it . . . And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed. When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

"Further, because they were unable to allege any grounds, upon which Moses in himself was not far their superior, they seek to bring disgrace upon him on account of his wife; as if in half of himself he was inferior to them, because he had married a woman who was not of their own race, but a foreigner. They, therefore, cast ignominious aspersions upon him in the person of his wife, as if it were not at all becoming that he should be accounted the prince and head of the people, since his wife, and the companion of his bed, was a Gentile woman." John Calvin

"What is most significant about this context is that God does not get angry at Moses; he gets angry at Miriam for criticizing Moses. The criticism has to do with Moses’s marriage and Moses’s authority. The most explicit statement relates to the marriage: “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.” Then consider this possibility. In God’s anger at Miriam, Moses’s sister, God says in effect, “You like being light-skinned Miriam? I’ll make you light-skinned.” Numbers 12:10: “When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow.” God says not a critical word against Moses for marrying a black, Cushite woman. But when Miriam criticizes God’s chosen leader for this marriage God strikes her skin with white leprosy. If you ever thought black was a biblical symbol for uncleanness, be careful; a worse white uncleanness could come upon you." John Piper

8. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because He Ordained That Interethnic Marriages Of Israelites With God Fearing Gentiles Be In The Genealogy Of Jesus Christ


Matthew 1:1-6, 16: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers . . . and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king . . . and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Rahab was a Canannite: Hebrews 11:31: By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

Rahab married Salmon, an Israelite, and had baby Boaz!

Ruth was a Moabite: Ruth 1:14-17: Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."

Ruth married Boaz, and Israelite, and had baby Obed. Obed fathered Jesse. Jesse fathered David!

9. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because He Delights When Those Who Know Him Marry One Another


Deuteronomy 7:3-4: You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

1 Kings 11:1-2: Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

Proverbs 31:30: Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Malachi 2:15-16: Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel

1 Corinthians 7:39: A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

2 Corinthians 6:14-15: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

1 Corinthians 9:5: Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

Ephesians 5:22, 25: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord . . . Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

10. God Delights In Interethnic Marriage Because The Model Marriage – The Greatest Of All Marriages – Is An Interethnic Marriage


Revelation 5:9: And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation”

The marriage which all other godly marriages are to be modeled after and point to; the most beautiful, glorious, loving, satisfying, holy marriage – the marriage of all marriages – is an interethnic marriage: a Jewish carpenter and crucified and risen King, married to a bride from every tribe and tongue and people and nation!

"Sinners, if you marry him all is yours. All his riches are yours forever. If you are in debt even a thousand talents, he has enough to pay all. All he asks is your consent. Will you come to the King's supper? Will you embrace him, accept him as your all? What do you say? What answer shall I return to the great King who sent me to you?" Gilbert Tennet

Jesus’ Precious Bride Shall Come From Every Nation
An Interracial Marriage With All Joy And Celebration
From Every Tribe And Tongue He Died For Our Salvation
And Took God’s Wrath For Sin As Our Full Propitiation
Then Rose And Conquered Death In Glorious Exaltation
To Make Us One In Christ For Reconciliation
So Now We Love Each Other With Christ As Our Foundation
And Crush All Racial Sin Since We Are His New Creation!

That's my King! Do you know Him?!

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

"That's My King!" In An Interracial Marriage!

Jesus' Precious Bride Shall Come From Every Nation
An Interracial Marriage With All Joy And Celebration
From Every Tribe And Tongue He Died For Our Salvation
And Took God's Wrath For Sin As Our Full Propitiation
Then Rose And Conquered Death In Glorious Exaltation
To Make Us One In Christ For Reconciliation
So Now We Love Each Other With Christ As Our Foundation
And Crush All Racial Sin Since We Are His New Creation!

That's my King! That's my King!

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The Supremacy And Power Of Prayer In The Book Of Acts!

1. Prayer Comes First
Acts 1:14

2. Everyone Prays
Acts 1:14

3. Everyone Prays In Agreement
Acts 1:14

4. Everyone Devotes Themselves To Prayer
Acts 1:14

5. God Guided The Early Church Through Prayer
Acts 1:23-26

6. The Church That Resulted From Peter’s Pentecost Preaching Perpetually Pursued Prayer
Acts 2:36-42

7. God’s People Have Always Been A Praying People
Acts 3:1

8. The Disciples Praised God In Prayer, Prayed The Bible, Prayed About Their Problems, And Prayed For Power To Preach
Acts 4:23-31

9. Prayer Is More Important Than Feeding The Hungry
Acts 6:1-4

10. Leaders In The Church And Missionaries Need Your Prayers
Acts 6:6; Acts 13:2-3; Acts 14:23

11. The Early Church Fasted And Prayed
Acts 13:2-3; Acts 14:23

12. The Holy Spirit Works In Response To Our Prayers
Acts 8:14-15, 17

13. Salvation And Forgiveness Come When Sinners Pray To God For Mercy
Acts 8:18-24; Acts 22:16

14. Baby Christians Pray
Acts 9:11

15. Christians In The Early Church Were Named After Prayer
Acts 9:13-14

16. The Early Church Did Mighty, Miraculous Works Through Prayer
Acts 9:40

17. God Hears The Prayers Of Those Who Truly Seek Him
Acts 10:1-5

18. The Early Church Broke Chains Through Prayer
Acts 12:5-7

19. The Early Church Was Always Praying
Acts 12:12; Acts 20:36-38; Acts 21:5-6; Acts 22:17; Acts 27:34-35; Acts 28:8

20. Prayer Was So Important To The Early Church That They Designated Special Places For Prayer
Acts 16:13, 16

21. The Early Church Prayed In The Midst Of Persecution
Acts 16:22-26

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Thomas Goodwin On The Father's Love And Anger At The Cross


The puritan Thomas Goodwin, who was on the Westminster Assembly, got penal substitution right. He is one of the most respected Puritans who "stood up and spoke from the floor more often than any other [delegate] (357 times) at the creation of the Westminster standards in England in the 1640s" (Dane Ortlund).


If I could have $5 for every time someone has asked me the question, "Who is your favourite Puritan to read?," I suppose I'd be a wealthy man by now. Though I would probably answer that question today by saying, "Anthony Burgess--and he's also one of the most neglected!," for nearly two decades I would have said, "Thomas Goodwin." I may be an oddball, but--dare I say it--I've usually gotten more out of reading Goodwin than reading John Owen.

Come and see what Goodwin wrote about God the Father's love and anger expressed toward His own Son while He suffered on that cross:

1. "That he, that is God blessed forever, should be made a curse, this you have in Gal. 3:13. That he, that is, 'the Holy One of Israel,' should be made sin, aye, and what is more, he that cannot endure sin, for nothing is more contrary to the holiness of God than sin, and yet 'he that knew no sin was made sin,' this you have in 2 Cor. 5:21. That God should never be more angry with his Son than when he was most pleased with him, for so it was when Christ hung upon the cross, God did find a sweet-smelling savour of rest and satisfaction even when he cried out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'"

Thomas Goodwin, The Works Of  Thomas Goodwin, Volume 4, Chapter 2, Glory Of The Gospel (Tanski Publications: Eureka, California: 1996), 275.

2. "Our Lord and Saviour Christ is God blessed for ever; therefore, say the papists, he did not suffer the displeasure of God in his soul. Why, say they, can God love his Son and be angry with him at the same time? And he that is God blessed for ever, can he be made a curse in his soul? Yes, take him as a surety. They take part with one truth of the gospel to exclude the other, whereas the gospel is a reconciliation of both these, and therein lies the depth of it."

The Works Of  Thomas Goodwin, 277.

3. "And also this offering up himself was so sweet a smelling sacrifice to God (as Eph. V. 2), that although God expressed never so much anger against Christ as when he hung upon the cross, yet he was never so well pleased by him as then . . . ."

Thomas Goodwin, Christ Our Mediator, (Sovereign Grace Publishers, Grand Rapids: 1971), 136.

4. "The place where he had prayed, and been refreshed, there is his agony and encounter; a garden turned into hell. His sweet communion with God there is now turned into wrestling with God's anger falling on him here . . . ."

Christ Our Mediator, 200

5. "Thus when it is said, that Christ was made a curse, not only in bodily miseries, but in his soul also, the meaning is not that the hypostatical union was dissolved, or the influence of divine grace restrained, but only, that in regard of comfort he was ' forsaken' of God, and felt the fearful effects of his anger due to our sins, without sin and despair."

Christ Our Mediator, 272

6. "It signifies 'to be in horror.' No sooner hath these our sins presented themselves to him, as being our surety, but that withal thunder and lightning from God do presently strike him, and his wrath and curse for them suddenly arrests him; this was it that put him into such an amazement as contains in it both fear and horror. His Father is presented unto him as an angry judge brandishing his sword of justice."

Thomas Goodwin commenting on this passage: Mark 14:33: And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

Christ Our Mediator, 275.

7. "A soul having thus taken the guilt of sin upon it, God may justly vent his anger upon such a soul for sin, and express that anger against that soul, as against the sinner, though otherwise God loves him. For it is just with God to inflict his wrath and curse for sin on whomsoever he finds that sin, whether by personal guilt or by imputation. And therefore it is no wonder if he be accursed by God, who hath the guilt of that upon him which God hates, and therefore curseth. If God cursed the earth because of man's sin, which was but his house he dwelt in, then much more must man's surety expect wrath and a curse, who will be so hardy as to take his sin upon him."

Christ Our Mediator, 281.

8. "And further; that soul, though innocent in itself, may be made sensible of the impressions of that anger for sin thus imputed."

Christ Our Mediator, 281.

9. "He might look upon himself as a Son, and a Son performing an obedience to his Father, even in suffering his wrath, and never pleasing him more than now, and in that respect most beloved of him; and yet withal, as a surety for sinners, and so punished, and in that respect he might apprehend God for the present angry, and full of wrath against him, as being made sin and so a curse for us, yet so as to the end that he might be well pleased with sinners in him. And both these differing apprehensions of his did Christ accordingly express in that one sentence, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' He speaks it as apprehending himself a Son still, and united to God, and beloved of him, and yet forsaken by him, and, as a surety, accursed."

Christ Our Mediator, 283.

10. "But there was another principle in him, and that was present sense of the impressions of God's anger: his mind by sight or vision seeing nothing else, and his will by the impressions on it feeling nothing else."

Christ Our Mediator, 284.

11. "If your sins brought Christ upon his knees (as they did in the garden) before God as an angry judge, they may well bring you upon your knees also."

Christ Our Mediator, 290

12. "And considered either as lamb or shepherd, we find that God being angry with him whilst thus he bore our sins, insomuch as he is said in his wrath to have smitten this shepherd with his sword, and smitten him unto death . . . ."

Christ Our Mediator, 370

Some other pertinent quotations:

a. ". . . he was made a curse, and encountered his Father's wrath, which, first, the darkness that was then about him may inform us of. If ever the face of hell were upon the earth, it was at that day."

Christ Our Mediator, 278.

b. "Yea, and by reason of the incapacity of the damned in hell to take in the full measure of God's wrath due to them for their sins, therefore their punishment, though it be eternal, yet never satisfies, because they can never take in all, as Christ could and did, and so theirs is truly less than what Christ underwent. And therefore Christ's punishment ought not in justice to be eternal, as theirs is, because he could take it all in a small space, and more fully satisfy God's wrath in a few hours, than they could unto all eternity."

Christ Our Mediator, 285

c. "Here God blessed for ever is made a curse, the light and life of the world and fountain of life is killed, the Lord of glory debased, the fulness of the Godhead emptied, emptied to nothing; he who is one with God in essence, in title to glory, is separated and accursed from him and by him, and laid as low as hell; and all this because he was made sin."

Christ Our Mediator, 288

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Goodwin's book, Christ Our Mediator, is online for free.

To learn more about the great King Jesus and His glorious Gospel message, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

"That's My King!" Who Prayed With Greatest Devotion!

Jesus Christ Prayed With Greatest Devotion
Through Blood, Sweat, And Tears He Cried With Emotion
Then Suffered God's Wrath To That Lowest Demotion
Yet Rose From The Dead Setting New Life In Motion
Now All Our Sins Are Cast Deep In The Ocean
So We Pray To Our Father With Joyful Devotion!

That's my King! That's my King!

Monday, November 11, 2019

Some Sins Are More Evil In God's Sight Than Others - And Jesus Saves From Them All!


Some have wrongly interpreted Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount to mean that every sin is equally evil in God's sight:

Matthew 5:21-22: You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 5:27-28: You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Jesus does not teach here that murder and anger are exactly equal in their severity. He does not teach that actual physical adultery and lust are exactly equal degrees of sin. What do these passages teach?

1. The outward action and the inner desire are both sinful in God's sight.
2. The outward action and the inner desire both deserve the punishment of God in hell. God will judge both our outward behavior and our inner thoughts, feelings, desires, and motives.
3. The inner desire is the beginning or seed of the outward action.
4. The inner desire (anger) is a kind of murder of the heart.
5. The inner desire (lust) is a kind of adultery of the heart. 
6. All sin, both our outward behavior and our inner thoughts, feelings, desires, and motives from which our outward behavior flows, are very serious to God. Repent and turn from all sin.
7. The Pharisees were very focused on mere outward behavior while their hearts were far from God. Jesus is teaching here that God looks at the heart and judges the heart as well as the outward behavior.


James 2:10 is another verse some wrongly interpret to mean all sins are equal in God's sight: James 2:9-11: "But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law."


Here, James does not negate all the other Biblical teaching on degrees of sin, but, like Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, he makes the point that all sin is very serious because it is an offense against God. Every sin is utterly serious in God's sight and to break one of God's laws is to bring the whole wrath of the whole Lawgiver Who gives the whole law against you.

Commenting on James 2:10, Dan Vander Lugt writes: 

What James is confronting in this verse is the self-righteous attitude that we don't depend as much on God's grace as someone who has committed more obvious and heinous kinds of sin. This kind of thinking is self-deceiving and encourages complacency. Any violation of the law is enough to keep us from being justified by the law's standards. A person who doesn't murder or commit adultery but shows partiality to the rich should not feel self-righteous. He is a lawbreaker too. The function of the law is not to justify but to bring awareness of sin (Romans 4:14-16; 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 15:56). We should be humbled and conscience-stricken by the many sins we do commit, and not feel superior to those who sin in ways we don't.

Stephen Wellum adds:


Sin before God, no matter what sin it is, leads to our status of guilty, polluted, and far from God (Eph. 2:1-3). On this point, James 2:10 can now be legitimately used: "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." Before God, breakage of any point of the law is to break all of it. Or, Paul can say: "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them" (Gal. 3:10; cf. Deut. 27:26). Breaking one commandment results in our condemnation before God.

Though every sin, from the least to the greatest, deserves the infinite wrath of the infinite God, the Bible also teaches there are degrees of seriousness of sin. God's Word is clear that some sins are worse than others. Actually murdering someone is worse than getting angry with them. Committing the physical act of adultery is worse than lusting for them. Here are 20 ways God's Word teaches some sins are worse than others:


1. God makes a distinction between unintentional sins and high handed sins in the Old Testament


Numbers 15:27-31: If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.

2. God assigned more or less severe punishments depending on the sin committed in the Old Testament


Exodus 21:15-17: Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Exodus 22:1: If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

3. God told Ezekiel that he would see greater abominable sin than he was already seeing


Ezekiel 8:6: And he said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations."

4. Jesus said people who sin with more knowledge will receive a more severe punishment than those who sin with less knowledge


Luke 12:47-48: And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

5. Jesus said certain people will suffer more than others on the day of judgment


Matthew 11:23-24: And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.

Luke 10:10-14: But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

6. Jesus said some sins are greater than others


John 19:11: Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin."

7. There is an unpardonable sin in the Bible, showing this sin is worse than other sins


Matthew 12:31: Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

8. There is a sin leading to death in the Bible, showing this sin is worse than other sins


1 John 5:16-17: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life - to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

9. There is a sin God calls unthinkable to Him


Jeremiah 7:31: And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

10. Sexual sin is spoken of as a sin that is worse than other sins because it is a sin against your own body


1 Corinthians 6:18-20: Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

11. God says that deliberately sinning after you have the knowledge of the truth is particularly evil


Hebrews 10:26-27: For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

12. God says that those who reject the revelation found in Christ will receive a worse punishment than those who sinned under the old covenant


Hebrews 10:28-31: Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

13. God lists sins that He particularly hates


Proverbs 6:16-19: There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

14. God speaks of a sin that is so bad that it is not even tolerated among godless, pagan people


1 Corinthians 5:1: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.

15. Turning away from God after receiving many evangelical blessings is particularly evil in God's sight


Hebrews 6:4-6: For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

16. Causing children to stumble is particularly evil in God's sight


Mark 9:42: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

17. You can sin in such a way that you are twice as much a son of hell when compared with others


Matthew 23:15: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

18. Paul called himself one of the greatest and worst of sinners


1 Timothy 1:15-16: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

19. The unbiblical notion that all sin and sinners are equally evil in God’s sight steals the joy of those who know they have been forgiven much


Luke 7:44-50: Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

20. This is what the historic, Reformed catechisms teach


The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches this biblical truth in Question 83:

Q. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

(See also the Westminster Larger Catechism questions 150 and 151)

The Heidelberg Catechism teaches this biblical truth in Question 100:

Q. Is the blaspheming of God's Name by swearing and cursing such a grievous sin that God is angry also with those who do not prevent and forbid it as much as they can?
A. Certainly, for no sin is greater or provokes God's wrath more than the blaspheming of His Name. That is why He commanded it to be punished with death.

Only Jesus Christ, the God-Man, through His life, death, and resurrection, can save you from all of your sins! He took the wrath of God that you and I deserve for our sins on Himself, died on the cross, and rose again so that we might be saved! Repent and believe in Him today!

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

For more study on this topic, please see: 



Degrees Of Sin by Stephen Wellum



For a wonderful explanation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves from all sin, please watch: American Gospel: Christ Alone.

You can watch the full version of American Gospel: Christ Alone here with a free trial.