tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8445808145532435172024-03-19T04:47:07.982-04:00Christ is All!Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.comBlogger954125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-3430654589573637132024-03-12T13:30:00.005-04:002024-03-12T13:30:58.157-04:00Christ Jesus Came To Crush The Snake!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgChlX71l5ZxKKONqxYvZsjLDdhxJ8PtipBlKfVEYyJgxQBtmwBKGdfF6MbrW9irQDB9UkA2TOMAMvSSaUeQsoGob_YKid8Jp_O5HDzq4O5Uo0ck31qp7vuRP4WyfLeC2YiRc21By_7kO5OoTIYhwl8lGoVnA81DCAcTeKiOfD1oe0h2rDg0mNljgUo_dzy/s669/12.MAR.2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="622" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgChlX71l5ZxKKONqxYvZsjLDdhxJ8PtipBlKfVEYyJgxQBtmwBKGdfF6MbrW9irQDB9UkA2TOMAMvSSaUeQsoGob_YKid8Jp_O5HDzq4O5Uo0ck31qp7vuRP4WyfLeC2YiRc21By_7kO5OoTIYhwl8lGoVnA81DCAcTeKiOfD1oe0h2rDg0mNljgUo_dzy/w596-h640/12.MAR.2024.jpg" width="596" /></a></div> <p></p>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-12834526918993873562024-03-08T08:24:00.003-05:002024-03-08T08:24:23.936-05:00Christ Jesus Is Pure Clean Outside!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBP-JbhZpU1WQ4FpoDljBDvbidG4nLgLpoNQjQwriv474XFRd-RSASXzdaTPLB5xHF22soEzWQBXswiNseNOhWm0eB9A4UzUKF1dNlvw8upy4uO_a7sPoKCofzDxCCrwWcMaAEeM0uqPb0TL5UmanI1cp-qCXiTDWnG-bkLnUVhLWnN5FIKMmRdFpkLcOA/s687/08.MAR.2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBP-JbhZpU1WQ4FpoDljBDvbidG4nLgLpoNQjQwriv474XFRd-RSASXzdaTPLB5xHF22soEzWQBXswiNseNOhWm0eB9A4UzUKF1dNlvw8upy4uO_a7sPoKCofzDxCCrwWcMaAEeM0uqPb0TL5UmanI1cp-qCXiTDWnG-bkLnUVhLWnN5FIKMmRdFpkLcOA/w596-h640/08.MAR.2023.jpg" width="596" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-54189356985819145662024-03-04T17:55:00.007-05:002024-03-16T14:26:21.410-04:00God Blesses Us When We Give Generously And Sacrificially So That We Might Bless Others<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXnlhUcaoK2ry0QyMKrLhHdoXDJVRBEqE-6a-bsH3bjqIjh8OuON-_VcWaNLlGSTeT9BvSymUQvvJ3sEYaX5hiVaJkK6Z3D38UT942tUEbic5h64ooyaww2eUorGWi5_Yffc0OOd_3WwR9dFuV8Crh1z8ZKnKDc1iX6lT_0X3puYtXEZZKZTDpxeQ8JulI/s5616/alexander-mils-lCPhGxs7pww-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3744" data-original-width="5616" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXnlhUcaoK2ry0QyMKrLhHdoXDJVRBEqE-6a-bsH3bjqIjh8OuON-_VcWaNLlGSTeT9BvSymUQvvJ3sEYaX5hiVaJkK6Z3D38UT942tUEbic5h64ooyaww2eUorGWi5_Yffc0OOd_3WwR9dFuV8Crh1z8ZKnKDc1iX6lT_0X3puYtXEZZKZTDpxeQ8JulI/s320/alexander-mils-lCPhGxs7pww-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>In a recent sermon, I asked this question: "Is this quotation from a false, prosperity gospel preacher or a godly, faithful preacher that I would recommend to you?" And then I quoted him:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Generosity in giving results in a greater reward from God. You want blessing from God, you want it poured out, you want it overflowing, pressed down, shaken together, packed in full, then give.</p></blockquote><p>That might sound like a prosperity preacher, but it's actually John MacArthur.</p><p>Like one of my mentors, <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/" target="_blank">John Piper</a>, I hate the prosperity gospel. See:</p><p>1. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2024/02/benny-hinn-and-those-like-him-are.html" target="_blank">Benny Hinn And Those Like Him Are Dangerous False Teachers</a></p><p>And</p><p>2. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-false-i-am-of-joel-osteen-and-true.html" target="_blank">The False "I Am" Of Joel Osteen And The True "I AM" Who Alone Can Save!</a></p><p>But for those of us who hate this wicked and evil false teaching, we must be careful that we don't fail to embrace, love, and teach the truth of God's Word that God does bless His people when they give generously and sacrificially. Consider these Word's of God:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. Proverbs 3:9-10</p></blockquote><p>Ligonier Ministries <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/honoring-god-your-wealth" target="_blank">comments on these verses</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The Wisdom Literature gives us the same exhortation, and in today's passage we read that we are to honor God with our wealth and the firstfruits of all our produce. We are to give to Him and the work of His church not after we have spent enough on ourselves but beforehand. This is a visible act of worship that manifests the intents of our hearts. Giving the first of what we have to our Creator is a tangible way of expressing our trust in Him to meet all our needs. If we take the first and best for ourselves and leave to God only what is left over, we are at least implying, if not outright declaring, that we are not sure whether the Lord can meet our needs. We have to take what we need first; otherwise, we might not be satisfied. It is not that the Lord needs our possessions in any absolute sense; rather, the call to tithe and to sacrifice unto Him is for our benefit. It keeps us from "robbing God," as Malachi so memorably puts it (Mal. 3:6–12), and it enables us to develop the kind of whole-hearted trust that pleases Him. If we give to the Lord before we give to ourselves, we are put in a position where we must trust God to make up for what we have surrendered to Him. Such giving also helps us see the Lord for who He really is. Matthew Henry comments, "God, who is the first and best, must have the first and best of every thing; his right is prior to all other, and therefore he must be served first." If we are faithful to give to the Lord, Proverbs 3:10 tells us, our blessings will not only be spiritual but also physical. The Lord will give us so much that our barns will be full and our wine vats overflowing. These are images of incredible abundance, and the principle applies even for those of us who are not farmers. God will reward all those who give sacrificially to His mission both now and especially in the age to come (Mark 10:39–40).</p></blockquote><p>Jesus says: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Luke 6:38</p></blockquote><p>On this verse, <a href="https://www.gty.org/" target="_blank">John MacArthur</a> preached <a href="https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/47-55/a-biblical-model-for-giving-part-1" target="_blank">this exhortation</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The principle is simply this. Generosity in giving results in a greater reward from God. You want blessing from God, you want it poured out, you want it overflowing, pressed down, shaken together, packed in full, then give. That is the most direct route to blessing from God. That’s the first verse, and if it was all there was in the Bible, it should make generous sacrificial givers out of all of us because what it tells us is you can’t out give God. You give and He gives back more. You give, He gives back more. That’s the principle, that’s how it works . . . </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">It should be noted, by the way, that for those, however, for whom the motive of promise doesn’t work too well, for whom the motive of promise doesn’t elicit faith and trust, there is also a command. Luke 6:38 does say, “Give,” that’s imperative. So it’s not just a question of faith; it’s a question of obedience. Trust and obey, those are the two keys to Christian living. Believe God’s promises and obey His commands, and you have both there. The command is give; the promise is He will give in return. Giving then is an issue of faith and obedience. It is an issue of trusting God. It is an issue of believing in His commandments. It is believing that if you give He will give you back in greater measure than you could ever give away, which means you’re always replenished. It is also a question of obedience.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In either case, not to give is a sin. It’s a sin against God in the sense that you don’t trust Him. It’s a sin against God in that you don’t obey Him. These simple verses ought to be enough to make us line up to give as generously, as magnanimously, as unselfishly, as sacrificially as possible.</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.ligonier.org/" target="_blank">R. C. Sproul</a> preached it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viI7ggGm6wY" target="_blank">this way</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Jesus said, "I want you to be generous. I want you to give in great measure, and the more you give the more you'll get because our God is a generous God and not a stingy God."</p></blockquote><p>In the book of Acts, we read: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35</p></blockquote><p>Listen to John MacArthur again <a href="https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/47-55/a-biblical-model-for-giving-part-1" target="_blank">expositing this statement of Jesus</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">But there’s a second verse that we would add to it and that is Acts 20:35. It says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” By the way, that is the only quote from the lips of Jesus recorded in the New Testament outside the four gospels, unless you include those glorified statements where Christ is speaking in the book of Revelation. But earthly statements quoted from the lips of Jesus are all in the gospels with this one single exception. And of all that Jesus said, which John tells us the books of the world could not even contain all His words and works, of all that He said, of all that could have been quoted, of all that could have been rehearsed and recorded after the gospels, only this, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In other words, what you give away brings you a greater blessing than what you receive. That should be enough. That should be enough to make us line up to give. Do you want to be most blessed? Than give. Do you want to receive pressed down, shaken together, and running over so that your lap is filled? Then give. Those two monumental promises of blessing and generosity from God, who is the source of everything, who is the giver of every good and perfect gift, who has the power to get you wealth, who gives you all that you have, those promises from God should make us sacrificially generous.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Now, apparently, and we have to say this sadly. But truly, apparently many Christians don’t believe those promises. They carry around the idea that they have to protect everything they have and hang on to it. They become hoarders and they become stingy and they become self-indulgent and protective. And it’s really a matter of faith. They don’t believe the promise of the Word of God or they would give. It’s a question of faith. It’s a question of trust. It’s a question of belief. You either believe it or you don’t. If you do, you give because giving is more blessed and giving causes God to give back in greater abundance.</p></blockquote><p>Then Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, tells us this: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://ligonduncan.com/" target="_blank">Ligon Duncan</a> comments on <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/christian-giving-11636283.html" target="_blank">these verses saying</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The Bible teaches that the liberality of God's blessings to us is connected to the liberality of our Christian giving. Though it may seem strange, both Jesus and Paul emphasize that there is a relation between our giving to the Lord and the Lord's giving to us. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6 "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." About this matter J.A. Beet once said: "They who in giving think, not how little they can give, as they would if self-enrichment were the aim, but of benefits to be conferred, will receive back on the same principle. As they do to others, so God will act to them." Jesus reminds us of this in Matthew 6:4, where He teaches that our reward in giving comes from our heavenly Father. As someone once said: "The desire to be generous and the means to be generous both come from God." Do you realize that the Lord has given you much, so that you can give much?</p></blockquote><p>And <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/enough-for-us" target="_blank">John Piper says as well</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>In God's mathematics the best way to increase a sum is to subtract from it.</p><p>Verse 6 [2 Cor. 9:6]: "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Most people operate on exactly the opposite principle to this one, namely, We will have more if we give less. But the Bible says, You will have more if you give more. This doesn't sound like good mathematics. Ten minus one is nine. And ten minus zero is ten. So if you want to have ten instead of nine, you subtract zero from the checkbook on the first day of the week. Right?</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Wrong! The problem with that math is that it leaves God out. That's what I am trying to change this morning—to put God and his promises back into your finances. God says: if you subtract more seed from your bag, you have more than if you subtract less seed from your bag. That's God's promise to you. Put him to the test. If you ask, How can this be? we will see more as we move on.</p></blockquote><p><b>How Is This Different From The Prosperity Gospel False Teachers?</b></p><p>The Bible does actually teach that God blesses His people when we give generously and sacrificially. The prosperity gospel false teachers get this right. But it's their motive, goal, and doctrine that is the deadly problem. </p><p><b>Their motive is love of money:</b> They use this true teaching in God's Word to get more money for themselves, spend it on themselves, and live in luxury (like spending $25,000 for one night in hotels in the UAE!), while a lost and dying world goes to hell.</p><p><b>Their goal is their own selfish pleasures: </b>They use their money and resources for themselves - to build everything bigger and better and nicer and more expensive for themselves and for their own extravagant lifestyles.</p><p><b>Their doctrine is false and leads to hell:</b> They preach a false gospel of the love of money and prosperity that doesn't save anyone but leads their hearers to a deeper love of money, and, as Jesus said, you cannot serve God and money. They teach a false god (<a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">denying the Trinity</a>); they teach a false Christ (The true Christ <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">is both God and Man</a>); They humanize God; They deify man; And they make the focus of the Christian life health and wealth, not Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead. They get rich by lying, stealing, cheating, and blaspheming the name of God and His Word.</p><p><b>Why Should Christians Give To Get More Blessing From God?</b></p><p>What blessings do we get from God when we give?</p><p><b>1. We get the blessing of glorifying Jesus:</b> We give because Jesus is better. Money and stuff is not our god, God is our God. Jesus is our God. When we give generously and sacrificially, we glorify God and show the world that God is most precious to us, not our money. We even build up our own assurance and make our calling and election sure by showing we are not serving money, but God. Our joy is in God, and when we give, we testify to this reality and glorify God. Maturing and growing Christians will want to grow in their giving to glorify God.</p><p><b>2. We get the blessing of obedience:</b> God commands us to give generously and sacrificially, and true Christians take great delight in obeying God.</p><p><b>3. We get the blessing of God's promises:</b> The promises of Luke 6:38, Acts 20:35, and 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 are for us! God will grant us a great abundance and provide all of our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, we are storing up treasures in heaven for all eternity when we give - God promises great rewards in the life to come when we give and give and give!</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21</p></blockquote><p><b>4. We get the blessing of being able to give away more for the glory of God:</b> As God blesses us with more resources, we don't horde those blessings for ourselves and live extravagant lifestyles like the prosperity preachers. No! We give away more for the glory of God and for the spread of God's truth, to help the poor, and for spreading the Gospel throughout the world!</p><p>I love <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/happy-birthday-john-wesley-two-silver-spoons-and-thousands-of-souls" target="_blank">this story John Piper tells</a> about John Wesley. As his income increased, he did not increase his standard of living, but he increased his standard of giving for the spread of the Gospel:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Thank you, John Wesley, for your practicing what you preached about money. John Wesley was born on this day 1703 (same year as Jonathan Edwards). He was one of the great evangelists of the 18th century. Today I want to celebrate his attitude toward money.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">He is famous for saying: “Having, first, gained all you can, and, secondly saved all you can, then give all you can. (Sermon 50, "The Use of Money" in The Works of the Reverend John Wesley, 1840, edited by John Emory, Vol. I, 446). Here is how he lived this out.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In 1731 he began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. In the first year his income was 30 pounds and he found he could live on 28 and so gave away two. In the second year his income doubled but he held his expenses even, and so he had 32 pounds to give away (a comfortable year's income). In the third year his income jumped to 90 pounds and he gave away 62 pounds. In his long life Wesley's income advanced to as high as 1,400 pounds in a year. But he rarely let his expenses rise above 30 pounds. He said that he seldom had more than 100 pounds in his possession at a time.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">This so baffled the English Tax Commissioners that they investigated him in 1776 insisting that for a man of his income he must have silver dishes that he was not paying excise tax on. He wrote them,</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">I have two silver spoons at London and two at Bristol. This is all the plate I have at present, and I shall not buy any more while so many round me want bread.</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">When he died in 1791 at the age of 87, the only money mentioned in his will was the coins to be found in his pockets and dresser. Most of the 30,000 pounds he had earned in his life had been given away. He wrote,</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">I cannot help leaving my books behind me whenever God calls me hence; but in every other respect, my own hands will be my executors.</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In other words, I will put a control on my spending myself, and I will go beyond the tithe for the sake of Christ and his kingdom. (Quotes from Mission Frontiers, Sept./Oct. 1994, nos. 9–10, pp. 23–24)</p></blockquote><p>Amen! May we follow John Wesley as he followed Christ! </p><p><b>5. We get the blessing of spreading God's truth and the Gospel:</b> This is what we are to be about as Christians! We are not to be about spending money on ourselves and spending money on things that have no eternal value. We are to be about glorifying God with His money (it all belongs to Him!) and making disciples of all nations! May we heed 1 Timothy 6:8: "But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." </p><p>I love what John Piper calls the <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-william-carey-wild-card" target="_blank">William Carey Wildcard</a>. Piper writes:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">William Carey left for India in 1793. Two years later he received his second pack of letters from England. One of them criticized him for “engaging in affairs of trade.” In other words, he was working to earn a living for his family as well as doing mission work.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The accusation hurt. The fact was that communication was so slow and sporadic Carey and his family would have starved if he had not worked to earn a living. He wrote back these words which describe the William Carey Wild Card.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">It is a constant maxim with me that, if my conduct will not vindicate itself, it is not worth vindicating…I only say that, after my family’s obtaining a bare allowance, my whole income, and some months, much more, goes for the purposes of the gospel, in supporting persons to assist in the translation of the Bible, write copies, teach school, and the like…The love of money has not prompted me to pursue the plan that I have engaged in. I am indeed poor, and shall always be so until the Bible is published in Bengali and Hindosthani, and the people want no further instruction. (Mary Drewery, William Carey: A Biography, p. 91)</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The William Carey Wild Card is a radical call to remember that we are fighting a war for the eternal lives of men and women. God never condemned high incomes per se. But he said a lot about how much we should keep. The William Carey Wild Card is a challenge to think in a radically heaven-focused way about your treasure. “After an allowance for me and my family, my whole income goes for the purposes of the gospel.”</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Praying with you about the limit of that allowance,<br /> Pastor John</blockquote><p>Amen! May we follow William Carey as he followed Christ! </p><p>I'll end this article with one last amazing story from John Piper about Isaiah 58 and a friend of his named Doug Nichols. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/a-fast-for-waters-that-do-not-fail" target="_blank">Piper writes</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The other experience that makes the chapter rich for me right now is the connection that it has with Doug Nichols, the President of Action International Ministries. Doug is the man who wrote to Tom Steller last summer and suggested that our church get an airplane and take a couple hundred people to Rwanda to help bury the dead so that doctors and nurses could do what they were sent to do. He spoke at our Pastors’ Conference a week or so ago, and gave <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/lets-get-on-with-it" target="_blank">one of the most stirring messages</a> I have heard in a long time. Action International specializes in reaching street children around the world.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">To show you the kind of person he is, he wrote me last week to thank me for the conference and put a P.S. at the bottom of his letter:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In the last “one minute” that it possibly took you to read this letter, 28 children died of malnutrition and diseases that could have been easily prevented. 1,667 die every hour, 40,000 children die daily! Please pray with ACTION for more missionaries to take the Gospel to these children.</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Doug was found to have colon cancer in April of 1993. They gave him a thirty percent chance of living after his surgery and colostomy and radiation treatments. Last fall he got on a plane and went to Rwanda with our Dr. Mike Anderson and some others. His non-Christian oncologist said he would die in Rwanda. Doug said that would be okay because he is going to heaven. The oncologist called his surgeon to solicit help in not letting Doug go to Rwanda. The surgeon is a Christian and said, “It’s okay, Doug’s ready to die and go to heaven.”</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">We got word here that Doug was going — with his cancer and his colostomy — to Rwanda. I recall gathering in the prayer room with the staff and very specifically being led to Isaiah 58:7–8, which we prayed for Doug:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Is [the fast I choose] not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery [i.e., your healing] will speedily spring forth.</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">We prayed very specifically that the feeding of the hungry and the housing of the homeless in Rwanda would not kill but heal Doug Nichols.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">From Rwanda, Doug called his Jewish oncologist and said he was not dead. And when he got back, he had a battery of tests which resulted in the assessment NED: no evidence of disease. If he makes it to April — the two-year mark — without recurrence of the cancer, doctors give him a good chance of living out his normal span of life. Doug is 53.</p></blockquote><p>Amen! May we follow Doug Nichols as he follows Christ!</p><p>To learn more about the great and true <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a>, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</p><p><b>More Resources On Money And Giving</b></p><p>1.<b> </b><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-place-of-my-birth-valdese-nc-my.html" target="_blank">The Place Of My Birth (Valdese, NC), My Views On Money, And Peter Waldo</a></p><p>2. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/11/giving-up-your-ring-for-glory-of-king.html" target="_blank">Giving Up Your Ring For The Glory Of The King Who Forever Makes You Sing!</a></p><p>3. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/neither-poverty-nor-riches-and-growing.html" target="_blank">"Neither Poverty Nor Riches" And Growing In Generosity For The Glory Of King Jesus!</a></p><p>4. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/11/use-christmas-time-and-other-times-to.html" target="_blank">Use Christmas Time And Other Times To Store Up Treasure In Heaven!</a></p>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-31208576764926264412024-02-28T10:20:00.001-05:002024-02-28T10:20:11.931-05:00Christ Jesus Is The Matter Of Greatest Weight!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ZTtoczQUI8qxhTlfvdt4SUTVuDS4sC4Ms-hUn3ikeudHVbHVLC4rLDM7jTTd6RkxZNm0bUA47CpbxTbBkhCLjw8oRL8cW-w8RY10LJmDzNl7XqpKk8Y0jk4ua24CUwx7g4QZndEe63GFpF0mQXKjgYIwOooqBwKf9MoUQsQvka8Pxo5x1ogqbTuVAlPr/s640/28.FEB.2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="618" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ZTtoczQUI8qxhTlfvdt4SUTVuDS4sC4Ms-hUn3ikeudHVbHVLC4rLDM7jTTd6RkxZNm0bUA47CpbxTbBkhCLjw8oRL8cW-w8RY10LJmDzNl7XqpKk8Y0jk4ua24CUwx7g4QZndEe63GFpF0mQXKjgYIwOooqBwKf9MoUQsQvka8Pxo5x1ogqbTuVAlPr/w618-h640/28.FEB.2024.jpg" width="618" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-47448357821165132622024-02-22T08:39:00.007-05:002024-03-08T23:52:15.636-05:00Benny Hinn And Those Like Him Are Dangerous False Teachers<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl9dAZyfVlRnpF43ZufUwLi_6asVEHrlC0cOSkNLg6Y_6-JWpFSOyzxlzuqyS8u-9S8zk9yomP-DzFOypkru8XssvvBoRh9JYEGQ0aDAkGEpqMH4v1jObDirVWzKjRhuP1N8jujjzvy8GJBLx9p2vzaYzbm5gxPxL5kjEU8OemVH86GLRlJC-NOxxzIZj1/s900/420234174_1647754608963956_3065282295362126233_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl9dAZyfVlRnpF43ZufUwLi_6asVEHrlC0cOSkNLg6Y_6-JWpFSOyzxlzuqyS8u-9S8zk9yomP-DzFOypkru8XssvvBoRh9JYEGQ0aDAkGEpqMH4v1jObDirVWzKjRhuP1N8jujjzvy8GJBLx9p2vzaYzbm5gxPxL5kjEU8OemVH86GLRlJC-NOxxzIZj1/w320-h400/420234174_1647754608963956_3065282295362126233_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">When you love someone with true, Biblical love, you warn them about what will kill them and lead them to hell. Love warns and seeks to turn people away from evil and harm.</div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">But His denunciation (Jesus' denunciation of religious teachers in Matthew 23) is purely pastoral. He is not just venting, He is not just finally fed up and He is going to let them have it. Jesus is calculated and deliberate and ultimately loving in what He says in this passage. Eight times He pronounces woes on the scribes and Pharisees. Seven times He calls them hypocrites. Four times He calls them blind. Once He calls them fools. He calls them the offspring of vipers once. His words are strong. <a href="https://ligonduncan.com/jesus-prophetic-lament-part-2-woe-to-the-scribes-and-pharisees-972/" target="_blank">Ligon Duncan</a></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" And then will I declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." Jesus (Matthew 7:15-23)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sadly, Benny Hinn is taking his love-of-money, hellish false gospel to Kenya this weekend. Benny Hinn is a wolf in sheep's clothing. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/" target="_blank">John Piper</a> says this about the false gospel of Benny Hinn:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-V_91c5ojU" width="320" youtube-src-id="G-V_91c5ojU"></iframe></div><p>God mercifully saved Benny Hinn's nephew, <a href="https://www.forthegospel.org/costi-hinn" target="_blank">Costi Hinn</a>, out of this false prosperity non-gospel. You can <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/greed-gospel-truth-overwhelms-built-lies/costi-hinn/9780310355274/pd/355274" target="_blank">read his book about this</a> or hear his testimony here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Ac_DJ3e9jU" width="320" youtube-src-id="2Ac_DJ3e9jU"></iframe></div><p>Pray that God would grant true repentance and saving faith to Benny Hinn as well. Pray that God would save him and <a href="https://www.challies.com/false-teachers/the-false-teachers-creflo-dollar/" target="_blank">Creflo Dollar</a>, <a href="https://www.challies.com/false-teachers/the-false-teachers-t-d-jakes/" target="_blank">T. D. Jakes</a>, <a href="https://awordfitlyspoken.life/podcast/discerning-false-teachers-joyce-meyer/" target="_blank">Joyce Meyer</a>, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, and other prosperity teachers like them. May God save them or stop them from spreading their dangerous lies and false gospel. See this interview with Costi as well:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BPfig7MunPs" width="320" youtube-src-id="BPfig7MunPs"></iframe></div><p><a href="https://www.challies.com/" target="_blank">Tim Challies</a> warns about Benny Hinn's theology here: <a href="https://www.challies.com/false-teachers/the-false-teachers-benny-hinn/" target="_blank">The False Teachers: Benny Hinn</a></p><div style="text-align: left;">I love Shai Linne's warning about false teachers here:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KJmcEAwazD0" width="320" youtube-src-id="KJmcEAwazD0"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://justinpeters.org/" target="_blank">Justin Peters</a> writes:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">People get up out of wheelchairs all the time at Benny Hinn crusades. I've been to 18 of them and have seen it hundreds of times. I've also followed up with many of them later. Do you know how many were truly healed? Zero. None. Costi Hinn has seen the same thing - first hand working for his uncle. He has seen many more than have I. Would you like to know how many he said were real, organic healings? Zero. None. They were all either faked (and, trust me, this happens) or psychosomatic, temporary "healings." Either Benny Hinn is lying or Costi is. Who do you suppose it is? Costi, who repented of the heresy of the Word-Faith movement and is now a pastor raising a family, or Benny Hinn who has never repented, no home church, no pastor, and is constantly telling people to give him money in exchange for financial blessings, protection from disasters, and healing from sickness and disease?</div></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvGem40xI2d0etmVOI2VPlUlLsRUV1_9IcH1abecwhA_W2nYSOROybjP7bgma2eYEedgN6k_t1xQm0Tq-BpoD61LKl4DuzOjH-lUFY6z-7_ycXcRSV2YU1WpXfOgBDyNusZ3j5_H2DWPbDKwOQez1dbwC5ls-Yd_SD4NbXW5XBS6MTY9T8S_tFog-ATE_/s2592/GG-EHNKboAA9tjb.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1936" data-original-width="2592" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvGem40xI2d0etmVOI2VPlUlLsRUV1_9IcH1abecwhA_W2nYSOROybjP7bgma2eYEedgN6k_t1xQm0Tq-BpoD61LKl4DuzOjH-lUFY6z-7_ycXcRSV2YU1WpXfOgBDyNusZ3j5_H2DWPbDKwOQez1dbwC5ls-Yd_SD4NbXW5XBS6MTY9T8S_tFog-ATE_/w400-h299/GG-EHNKboAA9tjb.jpeg" width="400" /></a></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Was scrolling through some old pictures and found this one I took at a Benny Hinn conference. This young man was able-bodied until he hit a tree while skiing. Pictured with him is his mother and the personal care attendant just behind. His mother told me that she brought her son there believing God would heal him. As is the standard at his crusades, Hinn takes up the offering right before the "healing" starts. This is by design, of course. The bigger miracle you need, the bigger monetary seed you had better sow. She obviously needed quite the miracle. I watched her as she put a check in the offering plate. When it was all over, she left pushing her son out to the car. No healing. But at least Benny went home with her money - and that, of course, of everyone else there. Jude aptly describes false teachers as "caring only for themselves" (vs. 12). Anyone endorsing him shares in his sin and is in eternal peril.</blockquote> <br /><div style="text-align: left;">To learn more about the great and true <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a>, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>More Resources On The False Prosperity Health And Wealth Non-Gospel</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">American Gospel: Christ Alone</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/christ-and-cancer" target="_blank">Christ And Cancer</a> by John Piper</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">3. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/search/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=prosperity+gospel#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=prosperity%20gospel&gsc.page=1" target="_blank">Desiring God Articles On The Prosperity Gospel</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">4. <a href="https://www.9marks.org/journal/prosperity-gospel/" target="_blank">9 Marks Journal On The Prosperity Gospel</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5. <a href="https://www.challies.com/topics/false-teachers/" target="_blank">Tim Challies on False Teachers</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPgCBNhBYHMNTX4mk4Z2WzrXbUQIAupfL" target="_blank">Clouds Without Water</a> by Justin Peters</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7. <a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/health-wealth-and-the-real-gospel-the-prosperity-gospel-meets-the-truths-of-scripture-9781527108028?variant=41783510008008" target="_blank"><i>Health, Wealth, and the (Real) Gospel: The Prosperity Gospel Meets the Truths of Scripture</i></a> by Sean DeMars and Mike McKinley</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">8. <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/health-wealth-happiness-david-jones/9780825429309/pd/429309?event=AAI" target="_blank">Health, Wealth, And Happiness: Has The Prosperity Gospel Overshadowed The Gospel Of Christ?</a></i> by David W. Jones and Russell S. Woodbridge</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">9. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-false-i-am-of-joel-osteen-and-true.html" target="_blank">The False "I Am" Of Joel Osteen And The True "I AM" Who Alone Can Save!</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">10. <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/field-guide-on-false-teaching-prosperity-gospel" target="_blank">What Is The Prosperity Gospel?</a> by Ligonier Ministries</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">11. <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/story-behind-john-pipers-most-famous-attack-on-the-prosperity-gospel/" target="_blank">The Story Behind John Piper’s Most Famous Attack on the Prosperity Gospel</a> by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">12. <a href="https://www.forthegospel.org/read/5-reasons-i-hate-the-prosperity-gospel" target="_blank">5 Reasons I Hate The Prosperity Gospel</a> by Costi Hinn</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">13. <a href="https://albertmohler.com/2019/05/03/would-you-trade-eternal-life-for-a-ferrari-the-false-gospel-of-prosperity-theology" target="_blank">Would You Trade Eternal Life For A Ferrari? The False Gospel of Prosperity Theology</a> by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">14. <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/5-errors-of-the-prosperity-gospel/" target="_blank">5 Errors of the Prosperity Gospel</a> by David W. Jones</div><div><br /></div><div>15. <a href="https://www.gty.org/library/topical-series-library/33/unmasking-the-prosperity-gospel" target="_blank">Unmasking the Prosperity Gospel</a> by John MacArthur</div><div><br /></div><div>16. <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-prosperity-gospel/" target="_blank">9 Things You Should Know About the Prosperity Gospel</a> by Joe Carter</div><p></p>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-40578750475426951002024-02-21T18:19:00.006-05:002024-02-28T10:40:21.692-05:00How To End Your Sermon Series On The Book Of Ruth!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6frAg9ClXRAlzQZDriEvvy_XPu2uNzpxNYyzWrnCk6zuX3CWxRrStmFll9FGWwmh1onWNlZH37uBdQpvorTMOLs4YnaYohtxAEPxaE8THiQuP9rJViTSoBdgO-u_sjXhwzF4jELK-17IyOgHgJwHYNpLfBlZzSd2_N0qPDSSpAWdhYxMEXwrcGPFtBDz/s4928/michal-janek-C5aL4GKYsLI-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="4928" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6frAg9ClXRAlzQZDriEvvy_XPu2uNzpxNYyzWrnCk6zuX3CWxRrStmFll9FGWwmh1onWNlZH37uBdQpvorTMOLs4YnaYohtxAEPxaE8THiQuP9rJViTSoBdgO-u_sjXhwzF4jELK-17IyOgHgJwHYNpLfBlZzSd2_N0qPDSSpAWdhYxMEXwrcGPFtBDz/w400-h265/michal-janek-C5aL4GKYsLI-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way Pastor Edward Donnelly ended <a href="https://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?seriesOnly=true&currSection=sermonstopic&sourceid=trinity560&keyword=Ruth&keyworddesc=Ruth" target="_blank">his sermon series on the book of Ruth</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>The book begins with famine; it ends with riches. </p><p>It begins with sorrow; it ends with joy. </p><p>It begins with loneliness; it ends with a family. </p><p>It begins with despair; it ends with hope. </p><p>It begins with an end; and it ends with a beginning. </p><p>It begins with death; it ends with life. </p><p>It begins with a widow; it ends with a [wife and] mother. </p><p>It begins with a corpse; it ends with a baby. </p><p>It begins in Moab; and it ends in Bethlehem. </p><p>Marvelously written book. </p><p>And it is the redeemer. It is the redeemer who changes the beginning into the end. And the end of the book is a little baby born in Bethlehem. And so the whole book leads and points to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Him that God's purposes are found. </p><p>It is Christ Who brings us from famine to riches. </p><p>It is Christ Who leads us from sorrow to joy. </p><p>It is Christ Who takes us from loneliness and brings us into the family of God. </p><p>It is Christ Who delivers us from despair and gives us hope. </p><p>It is Christ Who saves us from death and gives us everlasting life. </p><p>In Him alone is our hope. </p><p>Do you know this Redeemer? Have you called on Him as Ruth called on Boaz? Have you received His grace. If you have not, you're nearing the end of your happiness. If you have, your happiness is just beginning. Amen.</p></blockquote><p>Sinclair Ferguson's <a href="http://tapesfromscotland.org/Audio4/4983.mp3" target="_blank">ending is powerful as well</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">There is no suggestion in this book that there is anything in this world that could conceivably compensate for those losses. The author is not saying to us, “Now she was happy all the day and the memories of pain and grief were healed forever.” No, what he’s saying to us is that the LORD brought to her the fullness of His gracious restoration. But not the end of the pains and the sorrows of this life. And perhaps that’s where we ought to end our studies in this great book. By the recognition that the blessings God gives to His children, the restoration He brings to His people, the fullness that He gives to us in Jesus Christ is a fullness that restores us to the joy of fellowship with God and gives us indications of the glorious purposes of God. It’s never a fullness that explains ultimately and finally all the mysteries of God’s providence in our lives. Because you see the truth about Naomi’s life was – it could never have been long enough for her to see what God was really planning to do through the griefs and the pains and the sorrows she’d experienced in Moab . . . in Naomi’s life, out of Naomi’s darkness, in Naomi’s sorrow, He was planning to bring Ruth into His kingdom, to bring Ruth to Boaz, to bring Obed to the birth, to bring David to the throne, and to bring ultimately great King David’s greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to the manger in Bethlehem, to the cross at Calvary, and to the throne of God in glory as the great Kinsman Redeemer and Savior of His people . . . the final answer to our final needs can be found only in the final Kinsman Redeemer, our Savior Jesus Christ . . . the ultimate explanation of the mysteries, the pains, the tragedies, the darkness, the sorrow of life – “My God, what are you doing? Life is so bitter!” says Naomi. The answer is this: I’m working in you in order that Jesus Christ may fully and finally be your Savior. And we need therefore to look beyond even the blessings that He gives to us to the Savior, the Kinsman Redeemer, Who was born in Bethlehem in order to bring us the fullness of God’s grace. My dear friends, in the face of this exquisite story, don’t you want to trust Him?</p></blockquote><p>To learn more about the great <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a>, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</p><p><b>Helpful Resources On The Book Of Ruth</b></p><p>1. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/ruth/messages" target="_blank">Sermons on Ruth</a> by John Piper</p><p>2. <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/resources/sermons/" target="_blank">Sermons on Ruth</a> by Mark Dever</p><p>3. <a href="https://www.monergism.com/topics/sermon-manuscripts-mp3s-scripture/ruth/audio-multimedia/chapter-ruth" target="_blank">Sermons on Ruth</a> on Monergism</p><p>4. <a href="https://www.preceptaustin.org/verse_by_verse#book_8" target="_blank">Commentary on Ruth</a> by Precept Austin</p><p>5. <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/top-5-commentaries-on-the-book-of-ruth" target="_blank">Top Five Commentaries on Ruth</a> by <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/" target="_blank">Ligonier Ministries</a></p><p>6. <a href="https://www.challies.com/resources/best-commentaries-on-ruth/" target="_blank">Best Commentaries on Ruth</a> by <a href="https://www.challies.com/" target="_blank">Tim Challies</a></p><p>7. <a href="https://radical.net/series/love-story-gods-epic-tale-of-redemption/" target="_blank">Love Story: A Study In Ruth</a> by David Platt</p>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-33607057545814337712024-02-20T11:00:00.005-05:002024-02-20T11:00:45.285-05:00Christ Jesus Opened The Kingdom For Every Tribe And Nation!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3Jw5tdNvsTuvzv9vw0jfzVLQ4iEAwq8l-3zs6ecyV7j1788k-GAJDzmS5OdI1A3osqsYJVGCxnmA03s0AcIdGSC29jJU-c4Mui5HT_Y_aojQcl62bb4RmYqb6heKuKdb4pGEme4V4kUYKWbPTRQRUkzGTlHLvE1DN9kg1bnboQRif6iJiaP8Zh7UdjAY/s548/19.FEB.2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="548" height="580" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3Jw5tdNvsTuvzv9vw0jfzVLQ4iEAwq8l-3zs6ecyV7j1788k-GAJDzmS5OdI1A3osqsYJVGCxnmA03s0AcIdGSC29jJU-c4Mui5HT_Y_aojQcl62bb4RmYqb6heKuKdb4pGEme4V4kUYKWbPTRQRUkzGTlHLvE1DN9kg1bnboQRif6iJiaP8Zh7UdjAY/w640-h580/19.FEB.2024.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-89231268372983497742024-02-16T11:49:00.001-05:002024-02-16T11:49:17.549-05:00Christ Jesus Is Perfect, The Humble Rabbi!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Fznf_72BDGXSp41MBJfurxFUOSLOvK07M2a1lYXRXXHKZ9Rwf6PZIRrs2Z3d65l2_S5uMtgKpno9mYY-YOvLYYyEpreaNrVj0ep-vy9zohrzPfRnxXrw9u9dlTRc9zGPLVTGTNSWy0MCEmAvJE6AoGlwbrASZrsFiBK4_zglRg22zOKwklTVTIIIpmdR/s640/16.FEB.2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Fznf_72BDGXSp41MBJfurxFUOSLOvK07M2a1lYXRXXHKZ9Rwf6PZIRrs2Z3d65l2_S5uMtgKpno9mYY-YOvLYYyEpreaNrVj0ep-vy9zohrzPfRnxXrw9u9dlTRc9zGPLVTGTNSWy0MCEmAvJE6AoGlwbrASZrsFiBK4_zglRg22zOKwklTVTIIIpmdR/w640-h640/16.FEB.2024.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-33375516002964796922024-02-15T17:15:00.007-05:002024-02-19T09:46:45.865-05:00Thanking God For Brother John Barros - Who Stood For Life In Jesus' Name<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEPvAgKm5ZZmCJ53BZXTEFSbk4bX74Zlqek9uuYtEoSc3xN8Op6V6r6jslzut1O0Ew8hWa3cgeqi30BA0U0Rzyz9NSmlFI7f5Ugmb5AiC8BlZjEDIuwYfptG0vnCPvq3F1wk9Rr9khbrn8nCwsWU26XuvkbX1gayM56Ej0VpwUUSkVJHNIydhEDSd2zRBb/s960/119700490_10223768901918895_9080663576709132674_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="845" data-original-width="960" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEPvAgKm5ZZmCJ53BZXTEFSbk4bX74Zlqek9uuYtEoSc3xN8Op6V6r6jslzut1O0Ew8hWa3cgeqi30BA0U0Rzyz9NSmlFI7f5Ugmb5AiC8BlZjEDIuwYfptG0vnCPvq3F1wk9Rr9khbrn8nCwsWU26XuvkbX1gayM56Ej0VpwUUSkVJHNIydhEDSd2zRBb/w400-h353/119700490_10223768901918895_9080663576709132674_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. Proverbs 24:11</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27</div></div></blockquote><p>Today, Brother John Barros <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/01/come-my-lord-take-me-home.html" target="_blank">went home to be with Jesus Christ</a> in Paradise. His wife, Rebecca, writes:<br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">John Barros finished the race God gave him at 2:38 pm Feb 15th and is hearing “Well Done” from our Lord. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” Psalm 116:15. We love and miss you greatly John, and are so blessed by the things that God hath done through His faithful servant and Saint . . . I said go in peace honey and kissed his ear then sang “God be with you ‘til we meet again … go in peace” in my heart several times and he breathed his last in peace.</p></blockquote><p>I thank God for Brother John Barros. In Jesus' name, <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/gospel-hopeless-interview-john-barros" target="_blank">God called him to rescue</a> those who were being taken away to death; to speak up for those who could not speak for themselves; and to help the most vulnerable among us - and John answered that call faithfully. </p><p>Brother John spent nine hours a day, six days a week, all year around for years preaching against the <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/blogs/the-unthinkable-sin.php" target="_blank">murder of the unborn</a> and preaching <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">the Gospel of salvation</a> outside of an abortion mill in Orlando. See his amazing story in this powerful video here:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MFr74Hpf8ek" width="320" youtube-src-id="MFr74Hpf8ek"></iframe></div><p>John saw thousands of babies saved from death during his numerous years of ministry at this clinic, and many of the mothers became like daughters to him, visiting his church and building deep and lasting friendships with him.</p><p>On two separate occasions, I had the privilege to stand with Brother John and minister the law and the Gospel by preaching and offering help to those entering the clinic to murder their children. He has been a mentor to me from a distance and an inspiration to many people to be more bold and active to preach the Gospel and stand up for the unborn.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEius6hD2ePBgZW7dA58yypk6rmeNxfbWoQjuGOA5Z2vN_5QXTleVJOdi36RmekCa6VBTUaRwdNjHKV7sEmaIbqQSUdyYprKm7JGx_Bz5CZ5A2GsRUdDCQ79oEvcKKca3_aHVqZ5NW_QLKHr_kt2kdE2MzRjLFEsQeah6CTMgMLE1G7hWlRlTDrQQ2d6Qox4/s960/119480414_10223768900438858_5976840152350046773_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEius6hD2ePBgZW7dA58yypk6rmeNxfbWoQjuGOA5Z2vN_5QXTleVJOdi36RmekCa6VBTUaRwdNjHKV7sEmaIbqQSUdyYprKm7JGx_Bz5CZ5A2GsRUdDCQ79oEvcKKca3_aHVqZ5NW_QLKHr_kt2kdE2MzRjLFEsQeah6CTMgMLE1G7hWlRlTDrQQ2d6Qox4/w300-h400/119480414_10223768900438858_5976840152350046773_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOi4yJdGgfGGqr9o9jMJ_eot9amPk0spbdcPbdNEqpa57I9CLCkwlrlLNZ8CcUN3HIa-PtkD_tg7SALJ38M3adOMU0G9CXXbFdNoiX4INEVglKb_DdkHw77QS7V7Tb23FJ40Uofs0r-WgY0zYwHDERTFVSK9vkYo8k9Y-U-4nPwYWph_SrqV_LzKlmFgUh/s960/11295687_10206731784041596_4227123206323338537_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="749" data-original-width="960" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOi4yJdGgfGGqr9o9jMJ_eot9amPk0spbdcPbdNEqpa57I9CLCkwlrlLNZ8CcUN3HIa-PtkD_tg7SALJ38M3adOMU0G9CXXbFdNoiX4INEVglKb_DdkHw77QS7V7Tb23FJ40Uofs0r-WgY0zYwHDERTFVSK9vkYo8k9Y-U-4nPwYWph_SrqV_LzKlmFgUh/w400-h313/11295687_10206731784041596_4227123206323338537_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In one of the messages I preached, I made the point that I am also a murderer because Jesus said: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">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 5:21-22. </div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After I finished, Brother John cautioned me not to use this kind of argument because, though it is true, it can, inadvertently undermine the gravity and seriousness of the sin those heading to the abortion clinic were about to commit. He passed on much wisdom to me and to many! He has been a tremendous blessing and encouragement in my life, and I want to follow him as he followed Christ. Thank You, Father, for the life, ministry, example, and faithfulness of Brother John Barros!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Brother John was a member at <a href="https://sachapel.com/" target="_blank">Saint Andrew's Chapel</a> were <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/" target="_blank">Dr. R. C. Sproul</a> ministered. Dr. Sproul called Brother John his "hero."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQbrdOjKHc8doPz8NqbAfEcUc3ChkEPRAps76WZBeKEKEs80n1mbKnxDfbMHiIdt9upgR_N47s4H-DAz3z7SHL8A_PJWi8K_v7HXC5_H3C7o2ef9sG4nvsJ6GKcNHL2UEB8_RcXwT_7jhYZosEukFf-LicvJLPvRUKmUvqn8SlvF2i9phvRGkfyAcZPpk/s522/GGd_2IXXIAAfL7D.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="478" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZQbrdOjKHc8doPz8NqbAfEcUc3ChkEPRAps76WZBeKEKEs80n1mbKnxDfbMHiIdt9upgR_N47s4H-DAz3z7SHL8A_PJWi8K_v7HXC5_H3C7o2ef9sG4nvsJ6GKcNHL2UEB8_RcXwT_7jhYZosEukFf-LicvJLPvRUKmUvqn8SlvF2i9phvRGkfyAcZPpk/w366-h400/GGd_2IXXIAAfL7D.jpeg" width="366" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ImxX-EcXcc" width="320" youtube-src-id="2ImxX-EcXcc"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z6jt6tfn8H8" width="320" youtube-src-id="Z6jt6tfn8H8"></iframe></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/60zRMPUoUtY" width="320" youtube-src-id="60zRMPUoUtY"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">May God raise up many more like Brother John to stand for life in Jesus' name!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXm9-iND25fnogId16MhVvRz4t1JRtEUjX4dItOUl5L5pPZP3hZpIW180KU0EJXoR-DYkUs5-d1ojaJKlWIdBGASOzNgeDTwqDizwNS0QDaUd3ysdi5CZR__MFRPw5nXCrILdNBTgpHI7hjkoT-x8BxIzmm-bUt9tg1emIz3nvi5RpwbjzrYh4eXyeI72/s2048/18489514_10158690991355506_1193107895386052134_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXm9-iND25fnogId16MhVvRz4t1JRtEUjX4dItOUl5L5pPZP3hZpIW180KU0EJXoR-DYkUs5-d1ojaJKlWIdBGASOzNgeDTwqDizwNS0QDaUd3ysdi5CZR__MFRPw5nXCrILdNBTgpHI7hjkoT-x8BxIzmm-bUt9tg1emIz3nvi5RpwbjzrYh4eXyeI72/w400-h300/18489514_10158690991355506_1193107895386052134_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREYyWHs32LYtnDYahy875Av4xIh1V5ExHMrpaZpGC2ZPwlcjLwRVIg7K8N3otsRMdh6C82KhTSLyW1v6yGbFJ-NanI8PwEIYnbxlkhkIeTGdYoG9EkZoqq0RCCL5Rr_FS0XiVnhr_uy2fhQ8-V5AtJv8TGYwzO2NFAnMGQqkwzY6n3FWkZO5sU0jHHhk_/s2048/18451604_10158690991990506_3590996290897053186_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;">Photo created by Mistaya Wilks</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2_RxmqJBxzWAuH0N6eie2r_v9LrwItM_84EZTkRwKmvQfaSDgrijwmXwYacREQ7jrSoF4QTBJOgVziLnxK0CO5GQ5NEcCeF8v4hVcIk0JqM_eEAGDsVAUJYwiNOLE5I8e1D82RuXYA9YjK8f-nXh5_4nOqQGoEYv6y5IpLp7KhpWb8mzK37Fmxa9QNW0/s626/11329826_10206731785361629_3733995494392434200_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="432" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2_RxmqJBxzWAuH0N6eie2r_v9LrwItM_84EZTkRwKmvQfaSDgrijwmXwYacREQ7jrSoF4QTBJOgVziLnxK0CO5GQ5NEcCeF8v4hVcIk0JqM_eEAGDsVAUJYwiNOLE5I8e1D82RuXYA9YjK8f-nXh5_4nOqQGoEYv6y5IpLp7KhpWb8mzK37Fmxa9QNW0/w442-h640/11329826_10206731785361629_3733995494392434200_n.jpg" width="442" /></a></div><br /><div>To learn more about the great <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a> of Brother John Barros and his Savior, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and the glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a> that John preached about for so many years, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>More Resources On The Fight Against Abortion</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>1. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/to-be-pro-choice-is-to-be-pro-murder.html" target="_blank">To Be Pro-Choice Is To Be Pro-Murder And Anti-Christ</a></div><div><br /></div><div>2. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/06/answering-joe-burrows-post-on-abortion.html" target="_blank">Answering Joe Burrow's Post On Abortion And Roe v. Wade</a></div><div><br /></div><div>3. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/10/what-do-voting-for-hamas-and-voting-for.html" target="_blank">What Do Voting For Hamas And Voting For Pro-Choice Politicians Have In Common?</a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Protestia's Tribute To John</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>This tribute to John from Protestia is an excellent summary of his ministry:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">John Barros, a beloved brother who spent over two decades camped outside the gates of hell at Orlando Women’s Center, one of the busiest abortion clinics in the country, has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Barros, whose name may be unfamiliar to most, was a giant to those who knew him and a significant influence on many abortion abolitionists who witnessed his work. With hundreds coming to serve alongside him and learn from him, his faithfulness and kind demeanor served to stiffen a generation of spines.</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">A devoted and dedicated chaplain, he attended Saint Andrew’s Chapel, home of the late RC Sproul, who, in his high praise, described Barros as his “hero.” </div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Barros started ministering part-time outside the murder mill in 2004 and full-time in 2010, where he endured thousands of hours of jeering, threats of violence, verbal abuse, and the pain and heartache of watching untold numbers of women pass by him on their way to murder their babies. Sometimes, he would see abortive mothers literally lined up outside the building, primed to turn their babies into a slurry of blood and bone, and he would call out to them, to plead, to save.</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">He did this every day despite two brain aneurysms, multiple cancer diagnoses, chronic pain, a stroke, years of crutches, and even shortly after a bad car wreck. </div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Recently, after the abortion clinic escorts found out he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and would soon perish, they got a speaker and blasted a documentary about the tortuous effects his cancer would soon have on him and the sort of misery he will endure as his death draws near.</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Describing a typical day, Barros once shared:</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">We pray for those on their way to the clinic, asking God to work on their hearts. When they arrive, we introduce ourselves, letting them know we are here for them and that God sent us to call them to trust Him. We give them the <a href="https://livingwaters.com/store/gospel-tracts/life-in-the-womb/" target="_blank">“In the Womb” tract</a> and a card to the local crisis pregnancy center, which will do an immediate ultrasound. God turns many hearts right away.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">When others go into the clinic for their paperwork, I preach. The building is twenty-five feet from the sidewalk. They hear every word. God uses His Word to move people’s hearts and open ears. Usually, within an hour, someone begins asking questions or chooses life.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div><br /></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>We stay until the end. We have seen some literally “get off the table” and come out. God doesn’t work on our timetable.</div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">He did this so often that his feet literally wore away a spot in the sidewalk’s concrete. </div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Mercifully, his toils and torments bore both immediate and delayed fruit. Over the years John saw over 3000 babies saved as a direct result of his and his co-laborers intervention, with the moms and husbands/ boyfriends occasionally coming up to him months or years later to introduce him to the baby they never aborted because he rescued those being delivered to death and held back those staggering toward slaughter. </div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">After a life of faithfulness, yesterday morning John Barros heard the beautiful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your master.”</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Till we meet again.</div></div></blockquote>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-61590641517433221712024-02-06T10:50:00.006-05:002024-02-12T22:19:50.161-05:00"That's My King!" In Matthew 22!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1as1s2oQNZTVI3Nii8g3lE1_Lct9GjBRl2DhLMO6adgmCLFfNUxtOEw6hvURSnXfQ38GYKJwk3IkGVSIotBgLQ91AWdSIoFI31cV-TwtUrUczoBC05oxFyvyQnttqFKLY2inLv1IDwO-pNQhZL3Y9gtdynoKo9iev3LeAe-h5pGjFv3fNMID-UDqB7Bb/s4032/IMG_5830.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix1as1s2oQNZTVI3Nii8g3lE1_Lct9GjBRl2DhLMO6adgmCLFfNUxtOEw6hvURSnXfQ38GYKJwk3IkGVSIotBgLQ91AWdSIoFI31cV-TwtUrUczoBC05oxFyvyQnttqFKLY2inLv1IDwO-pNQhZL3Y9gtdynoKo9iev3LeAe-h5pGjFv3fNMID-UDqB7Bb/w480-h640/IMG_5830.jpeg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div>Christ Jesus Is The Son And Groom</div>Of The Greatest Wedding Whom<br />His Father Gives To End All Gloom<br />The God-Man Came In Mary’s Womb<br />Then Lived And Died To Death Consume<br />He Bore God’s Wrath And Judgment Doom<br />Then Conquered Death, Rose From The Tomb<br />Ascended And All Powers Assume<br />On Sinners Christ Will Lay The Boom<br />Would You Be Worthy Of This Groom?<br />Called And Chosen To His Room?<br />Where Joys Ever Grow And Loom?<br />Then Turn From Loves That Hearts Consume<br />And Every Sin That Causes Doom<br />And Trust In Christ Alone The Groom<br />You Will Be Justified And Bloom<br />And Royal Sonship You’ll Assume<br />A Wedding Garment Yours For Whom<br />There Will No More Be Any Gloom<br />All Joy Is Yours In Christ Your Groom!<div><br /></div><div>That's my King! Do you know Him?!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Reigns And You Belong</div><div>To Him Alone, So Don’t Prolong </div><div>Your Death To Self, But Come Along</div><div>To Him Who Died And Rose Up Strong</div><div>He Bore God’s Wrath For All Your Wrong</div><div>Redeems From Olney To Hong Kong</div><div>So Now Salvation Is Your Song</div><div>To Him Your Life, Your All Belong</div><div>You’ll Pay Your Taxes Full Lifelong</div><div>Submit To Caesars Who Do Wrong</div><div>For He’s Your Joy And Your Song</div><div>Your Marvel Who Can Do No Wrong!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Is Our Life Resurrection</div><div>Our Holy Groom Of All Affection</div><div>There’s No Human Marriage And No Rejection</div><div>In Heaven Where Christ Is Every Perfection</div><div>He’s God Of The Living And Our Protection</div><div>Astonishing All With His Bold Correction</div><div>He Died On That Cross Under Wrath Subjection</div><div>Then Rose Up Alive In Power Projection</div><div>Now All That’s In Marriage, That Human Connection</div><div>You’ll Find It In Him Our Treasure Collection</div><div>God Chose Us In Him Through Sovereign Election</div><div>Because Of His Life We Change Our Direction</div><div>And Live From His Smile For Glory Reflection</div><div>For He’s Our Resurrection, Affection</div><div>And Perfect Perfection!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Is God’s Love Command</div><div>Our Great Delight In Whom We Stand</div><div>And More Than Any Joy Or Gland</div><div>Christ Is All Our Joy Grand</div><div>All Things Else Are Sinking Sand</div><div>He’s The Greatest Love That’s Spanned</div><div>The Everlasting Time God’s Planned</div><div>He Died And Bore God’s Angry Hand</div><div>Who Struck The Shepherd Dead But And</div><div>Then Rose Alive To Life Expand</div><div>By Faith Alone You’re Just And Stand</div><div>To Love And Treasure Your God And</div><div>To Love Your Neighbor – His Demand</div><div>With Heart, Mind, Soul Let’s Understand</div><div>Love God The Most And Fight, Withstand</div><div>The Devil’s Evils Bound And Banned</div><div>God Loved Us First, So That Command</div><div>We Do Through Him Who From His Hand</div><div>Grants By His Spirit Each Demand</div><div>For Christ Is All Our Wonderland!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King! I wonder if you know Him today?!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Finally Ends All Confrontation</div><div>They’ve Tested And Tried Him Without Cessation</div><div>Questions They’ve Asked Like Satan’s Temptation</div><div>Yet He’s Been Victorious In Every Situation</div><div>He Always Wins So There’s Celebration</div><div>Now He Leads The Final Interrogation</div><div>Takes The Wheel Of This Investigation</div><div>To Show They Don’t Know The Incarnation</div><div>He’s David’s Son But More Elevation </div><div>He’s David’s Lord, The God-Man Revelation</div><div>He Died On That Cross As Our Propitiation</div><div>Then Rose From The Dead For Our Justification</div><div>They Can’t Answer Him, He Ends The Conversation</div><div>There’s No More Questions, They Should Bow In Prostration</div><div>By Faith Alone There’s No Condemnation</div><div>He’s Our Holy Fascination Who Grants Us Salvation</div><div>So Worship Him Forever With Deep Admiration!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King! That's my King!</div><div><br /></div><div>To learn more about the great <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a>, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-59709397492618678042024-02-06T10:36:00.005-05:002024-02-06T10:36:49.338-05:00Christ Jesus Finally Ends All Confrontation!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMe0vGJpaztQvuZOqGNlR3GXZewGODYv5LIQ_ZgWBJTbpNiK4N0iotEwu6yf-ZCR3y9gpTigPLTsu3In8B-WVtlFZPG0BC9zbQvg5LVTaijJ3kg09we_n02aICKUaCrSwU6UaH2lhdKPKHLyOHdVpi3LTPgFjOrkV64j1_kkn2amebj9XuqbfN5fNEdKi/s644/06.FEB.2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="618" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMe0vGJpaztQvuZOqGNlR3GXZewGODYv5LIQ_ZgWBJTbpNiK4N0iotEwu6yf-ZCR3y9gpTigPLTsu3In8B-WVtlFZPG0BC9zbQvg5LVTaijJ3kg09we_n02aICKUaCrSwU6UaH2lhdKPKHLyOHdVpi3LTPgFjOrkV64j1_kkn2amebj9XuqbfN5fNEdKi/w614-h640/06.FEB.2024.jpg" width="614" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-28329599780427750732024-02-02T10:39:00.047-05:002024-03-18T21:16:36.721-04:00The Bible Says The Father Turned His Face Away From Jesus On The Cross<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVuyfSt47vfrBU0tccReaMVkIIeWTzEhMK9RSvM1a410e2YuciUM87cCKBrnLVsNMgSgjZy0MycsfQvO1fJp3txM9H6_Q4Xf7gZcc-jLYCBoRCDW5fRzn8oo8OlnXSwTLzIksSvpYMTNwVk9K0TgGNJnMFmLOAz_2pG-xK9HWl4tRrWYRarusHru5wt3o/s3884/hangjia-xu-3ZdSvOSlm4c-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2373" data-original-width="3884" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAVuyfSt47vfrBU0tccReaMVkIIeWTzEhMK9RSvM1a410e2YuciUM87cCKBrnLVsNMgSgjZy0MycsfQvO1fJp3txM9H6_Q4Xf7gZcc-jLYCBoRCDW5fRzn8oo8OlnXSwTLzIksSvpYMTNwVk9K0TgGNJnMFmLOAz_2pG-xK9HWl4tRrWYRarusHru5wt3o/w400-h245/hangjia-xu-3ZdSvOSlm4c-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">I had said in my alarm, "I am cut off from your sight." Psalm 31:22</div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Psalm 88:14</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Sadly, in recent years, I've seen a denial of these glorious words of the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQj7XvKFmA" target="_blank">"How Deep The Father's Love For Us"</a>:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>How great the pain of searing loss –</div></div><div><div>The Father turns His face away,</div></div><div><div>As wounds which mar the Chosen One</div></div><div><div>Bring many sons to glory. (<a href="https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/song/how-deep-the-fathers-love-for-us/" target="_blank">Stuart Townend</a>)</div></div></blockquote><p>Critics wrongly argue that the Father didn't turn His face away. Let me use Jesus' words: You are wrong, and you don't know the Scriptures. Have you not read Psalm 31, Psalms 88 and 89, and all the Psalms?</p><p>If the Father didn't turn His face away from Jesus on the cross, then we are dead in our sins and without hope in the world, and the Father will turn His face away from us in hell for all eternity. Our only hope is that the Father did turn His face away from Jesus on that cross so that He will never turn His face away from us forever in His presence <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/topics/christian-hedonism#joy-changes-everything" target="_blank">where there's fullness of joy</a> and pleasures forevermore!</p><p>Yes, the Father never stopped loving His Son on the cross. Yes, the Father was well pleased with Jesus on the cross. Yes, there was no break-up in the the eternal intratrinitarian relationship of the Father and the Son. But because Jesus, in His office as Mediator, was made sin on the cross - because all of His people's sins were imputed to Him on that cross, the Father turned His face away and crushed His Son so that His people will never be crushed. This is the heart of <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">the Gospel</a>!</p><p><b>The Psalms Are About Jesus</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZD6XV_dJdl42-BcuuHCOGVeR-53i_t3ihgmXHyfoqmjP28DQdzU8OSk6Sd1hhiF5guP3jrUFXNippsJEWwGzN3jGUYDnFT3ybCFu6sYWu8oRCQvxaFXH5vnKqkRzT6hh-gCXpBH0omiWxBxXdZ6EqVkx7iZvVPJAFUI8WYd1J5vDFFrrwn95kf5VLBjFs/s960/399895076_877661253729598_7857998602556214975_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZD6XV_dJdl42-BcuuHCOGVeR-53i_t3ihgmXHyfoqmjP28DQdzU8OSk6Sd1hhiF5guP3jrUFXNippsJEWwGzN3jGUYDnFT3ybCFu6sYWu8oRCQvxaFXH5vnKqkRzT6hh-gCXpBH0omiWxBxXdZ6EqVkx7iZvVPJAFUI8WYd1J5vDFFrrwn95kf5VLBjFs/w512-h640/399895076_877661253729598_7857998602556214975_n.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">All of Scripture everywhere deals only with Christ. <a href="https://www.1517.org/articles/all-of-scripture-everywhere-deals-only-with-christ" target="_blank">Martin Luther</a></p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-psalms/" target="_blank">Bruce Waltke and Fred Zaspel write</a> about how the Psalms are about Jesus Christ:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The Psalms are about Jesus. The significance of this royal orientation goes further as we seek to understand the psalms in canonical perspective. We have it on Jesus’s authority (<a href="https://www.esv.org/verses/Luke%2024%3A44/" target="_blank">Luke 24:44</a>) that the psalms are about him. Some of the psalms are more directly predictive, such as <a href="https://www.esv.org/verses/Psalm%202/" target="_blank">Psalm 2</a> and <a href="https://www.esv.org/verses/Psalm%20110/" target="_blank">Psalm 110</a>. In others David stands as a “type” or picture of Christ and is prospective of him in more subtle ways.</div></blockquote><p>Commenting on how Psalm 89 is about Jesus Christ, <a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/when-pain-is-real-and-god-seems-silent-finding-hope-in-the-psalms-9781433569050?variant=31649201913918" target="_blank">Ligon Duncan writes</a>:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The New Testament, on nearly every page, teaches that Jesus is the true and better David, the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant and the restorer of David's throne. Consider, for instance, Peter's sermon at Pentecost:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence." </p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Acts 2:22-32</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">As Peter explains, the psalms chronicling the suffering of David and his children are fully realized in the sufferings of Christ. David's flesh did, in fact, see corruption - he is, after all, still dead in his tomb. So, Peter reasons, this psalm must refer to David's greater son! Where did he get this idea? From the Lord Jesus himself. When Christ encountered the disciples on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection, he bemoaned that they did not see in the Old Testament the many evidences that Christ would undergo death and exile to restore what Adam and Israel had lost:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The suffering of David and the people of Israel - rejection, curse, and judgment - were ultimately and consummately experienced by David's greater son, the servant of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Jesus experienced Psalm 89:38-45. And by that suffering Jesus restored the throne of David and saved the people of God . . . Psalm 89 gives us hope ultimately because it points us to the one who endured a suffering far beyond anything we will ever know. He was mocked and shamed and forsaken of God, so that we might be God's precious inheritance into eternity. (Pages 48-52)</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.1517.org/sections/chadbird" target="_blank">Chad Bird</a> writes:<br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Are All 150 Psalms about Jesus? The psalms are the prayerbook and hymnbook of Jesus. About half of them were written by David, and others by Solomon, Moses, or the sons of Korah. The coauthor behind all 150, however, is our Lord. What does this mean? Does it mean that they were inspired by the Spirit of Jesus? Yes, for “all Scripture is breathed out [θεόπνευστος] by God,” (2 Tim. 3:16). That Greek word, θεόπνευστος (theopneuotos) was translated by the Latin Vulgate as “inspiro,” whence we get our word “inspire,” literally, “to breathe into.” But that’s not all Christ’s authorship of the psalms means, for all Scripture is God-breathed. What makes the psalms unique? All the psalms are by Jesus and about Jesus, in one way or another. St. Augustine gives a helpful way to think about this with the analogy of a head and body. Here’s how it works. My head cannot act apart from my body, nor my body from my head. This is true, but certain actions are particularly head-actions or body-actions. For instance, I run with my body, but my head is involved. And I see with my eyes in my head and think with the brain in my head, but my body is also involved. My feet take me to where I can see a canyon or forest. My hand feeds my mouth so I can concentrate on thinking instead of my hunger pains. So it is with the psalms. Some of the psalms are more particularly about the head, that is, Christ. Psalm 2 is about his sonship and messiahship. Psalm 16 about his resurrection. Psalm 22 about his crucifixion and resurrection. But even in these psalms, the body—that is, the church—is involved. For instance, Psalm 2 is primarily about our Lord, but we body of believers are referenced in vs. 12 as those who are “blessed” because we “take refuge in him.” Other psalms are more particularly about the body of believers. Psalm 13 is the brief lament of those who are suffering, then vindicated. Yet the lovingkindness and salvation for which we thank God in vs. 5 is wrapped up in the Messiah, our head. Psalm 23 is our confession as the sheep of the Messiah, those who are kept safe in his body. Yet the Messiah, our head, is our Shepherd-King whose rod and staff comfort us. So it is with all the psalms. Sometimes they are more focused on Christ the head, or are his very words spoken (e.g., Ps. 22). At other times, the psalm is more focused on the body. And at still other times, both are the same. For instance, is Psalm 88 the prayer of a deeply troubled and suffering believer or group of believers? Or is Psalm 88 the lament of Jesus on Good Friday as he sinks into the darkness of death? Yes. It is both, for Christ as The Man subsumes all humanity into himself. His speech becomes ours and ours his. As you pray the psalms, bear this in mind. These 150 ancient poems and prayers are the treasure of the Spirit, in which he enriches us through the Son of God, who comes to reconcile us to the Father and to teach us to pray . . . Which OT book is quoted more in the NT than any other? Psalms. Which OT verse is quoted more in the NT than any other? Psalm 110:1. Which OT book did Jesus quote when he was being crucified? Psalms. Why are the psalms the heart of Scripture? Because, as Martin Franzmann said, "Theology is doxology. Theology must sing." It cannot remain mute words inside a book, but it leaps off the printed page, exits the mouth, and fills the air with a holy sound. In the psalms we sing with Jesus, and Jesus sings with us, in a hymn to the Father through the Spirit, amidst a choir of saints and angels. Here are God's words to us that become our words back to God. The psalms are verbal tears for the suffering, a steady hand to the wavering, a beating heart to the dying. No other biblical book was on the lips of Jesus as he was about to die. Let them ever be on our lips as well, for they are the songs of heaven on earth. (See also: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYXZphE02dQ" target="_blank">Every Psalm Is The Prayer Of Jesus</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Jesus is not only the Suffering Servant, He's the Suffering Psalmist: ". . . everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Luke 24:44</p><p><b>Psalm 31 </b></p><div><div>Like Jesus quoted from Psalm 22 on the cross: "My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?!", when He died, He also quoted Psalm 31:5: "Into your hands I commit my spirit"</div><div><br /></div><div>Later in Psalm 31:22, we read: "In my alarm I said, 'I am cut off from your sight!'" This also describes what Jesus faced on the cross. The Father did turn His face away from His Son on the cross, so that He will never turn His face away from all who repent and believe in Him! And just like in Psalm 22 (Psalm 22:24: he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.), Psalm 31 ends in triumph, pointing us to the resurrection (Psalm 31:22: But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cried to you for help.). God finally did hear Jesus' cry - and answered! His face was no longer hidden from His Son! He raised Him up!</div><div><br /></div><div>As Herman Bavinck wrote, the resurrection is the Father's "Amen!" to Jesus' "It is finished!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Hallelujah! What a Savior!</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwF0HW-aPR8GV4G3JQ_Dq1ZN0sOs7LNrj3JLeuq1axKHSdONCbFCqvCKkvV91hkNHu5Pm4uuZ2cK3vOM6a2IsE9A-x1GkgWB6xKTuWGvL-G7ELksg0FR35_z5hlTfHvymW3fsOJT6LfKu5TA32IlSoweV-Qh5mPRYhVZV4FvvEqADzla2Fe28pGg19PRX3/s705/278509941_10166375107595506_8744215950841829216_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="705" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwF0HW-aPR8GV4G3JQ_Dq1ZN0sOs7LNrj3JLeuq1axKHSdONCbFCqvCKkvV91hkNHu5Pm4uuZ2cK3vOM6a2IsE9A-x1GkgWB6xKTuWGvL-G7ELksg0FR35_z5hlTfHvymW3fsOJT6LfKu5TA32IlSoweV-Qh5mPRYhVZV4FvvEqADzla2Fe28pGg19PRX3/w400-h381/278509941_10166375107595506_8744215950841829216_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><b>Psalm 88</b></div><div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care. You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your anger lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves . . . <b>Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me?</b> . . . I have suffered your terrors and am in despair. Your anger has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me. Psalm 88:5-7, 14-16</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that <b>the Christ should suffer</b> these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself . . . Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that <b>everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.</b>" Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead . . . . Luke 24:25-27, 44-46</p></blockquote><p>In his <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/commentary/psalm-73-psalm-89/" target="_blank">commentary on the Psalms</a>, Bruce K. Waltke writes on Psalm 88:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Heman foreshadows the “Man of Sorrows” (Isa 53:3; see references to Mark 14–15 below). The psalm rightly belongs in the Good Friday liturgy and shows us God’s unconventional love.</p></div></blockquote><div><p>In his <a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/psalms-two-volume-set-evangelical-biblical-theology-commentary-ebtc?variant=41331541704904" target="_blank">commentary on the Psalms</a>, James Hamilton gives a helpful summary of Psalm 88: </p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Heman the Ezrahite prays to the Lord in Ps 88 as he endures God's wrath, as he suffers alienation and abandonment, as he endures the rising waters and the breaking waves of God's punishment. Through all of this, he maintains that Yahweh is his God, the God of his salvation. He further recognizes that God is everything he declared himself to be in Exod 34:6-7. The Lord's lovingkindness has not ceased, nor has the Lord's faithfulness come to an end. He still does wonders, and he is still righteous. Heman cries out for deliverance, that he might continue to enjoy God and praise him in this life.</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">The pattern of Heman's experience was fulfilled in the one who was forsaken that his people might be comforted, who was made a curse that his people might be blessed, who bore the sins of his people in his body on the tree, who was baptized in the waters of wrath that his people might rise with him to newness of life, who suffered outside the camp to open the way to the holy places. (Page 130). </p></div></blockquote><div><p>Daniel Fletcher writes:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>. . . the psalmist's experience in Ps 88 and that of Jesus is an example of biblical typology. Because the entire book of Psalms testifies to Jesus, namely his sufferings (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47), the words of lamentation of the psalmist point to Christ, culminating in his passion experience. The psalmist had his own experience of suffering as the historical analysis indicates, but Jesus also had his own experience that both echoes and exceeds that of the psalmist, as the antitype exceeds that type. (Daniel Fletcher, <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/psalms-christ-the-messiah-non-messianic/daniel-fletcher/9781532650796/pd/650796" target="_blank">Psalms Of Christ: The Messiah In Non-Messianic Psalms</a></i>, (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2018), 109-110.) (Many of the wonderful meditations below come from Fletcher's book, like this chart.)</p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyJRxpT_lYVS_F7j6WinKoVTg-JRA5kKK3rlB0OqvNjFnIwRdOz-BBCd9AIrUfV0hIKPbKxnBXYVFXn-24uOo7stINl6tu64PgLYYmMAOym4ZRLMwY7d7hbr_V3M2hPjOh7s_EcHoK3kcvRXCz3vcdmEXQW785FM3Cs5_cdMOARK3AdaLCt_ZPGZgFsLs/s3505/E42FCDF8-026D-4567-83C7-71F3F295FC65.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1882" data-original-width="3505" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyJRxpT_lYVS_F7j6WinKoVTg-JRA5kKK3rlB0OqvNjFnIwRdOz-BBCd9AIrUfV0hIKPbKxnBXYVFXn-24uOo7stINl6tu64PgLYYmMAOym4ZRLMwY7d7hbr_V3M2hPjOh7s_EcHoK3kcvRXCz3vcdmEXQW785FM3Cs5_cdMOARK3AdaLCt_ZPGZgFsLs/w400-h215/E42FCDF8-026D-4567-83C7-71F3F295FC65.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p>J. Clinton McCann Jr. writes: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Psalm 88 . . . serves to articulate the same experience Jesus would later live out. (J. Clinton McCann Jr., <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/theological-introduction-book-psalms-the-torah/j-mccann/9780687414680/pd/14687" target="_blank">A Theological Introduction To The Book Of Psalms: The Psalms As Torah</a></i>, (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), 99.)</p></blockquote><p>Commenting on Psalm 88:7, Augustine wrote: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>The anger of God was not merely roused, but lay hard upon Him, whom they dared to bring to death, and not only death, but that kind, which they regarded as the most execrable of all, namely the death of the Cross. (Augustine of Hippo, <i>Expositions On The Psalms</i>, In <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/nicene-post-fathers-volume-8-ebook/philip-schaff/9781610250559/pd/13775EB" target="_blank">Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Vol. 8</a></i>. Edited by Philip Schaff. Trans. J. E. Tweed, (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature, 1888), 88.)</p></blockquote><p>Jerome gave this heading to Psalm 88 in the Vulgate:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>The voice of Christ: he speaks concerning his Passion to the Father. (John Eaton, <i><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/psalms-john-eaton/9780567089793/pd/89797" target="_blank">The Psalms: A Historical and Spiritual Commentary With An Introduction And New Translation</a></i>, (New York: Continuum, 2005), 509.)</p></blockquote><p>Richard Belcher writes:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Although it is legitimate for the believer to pray Psalm 88, ultimately Psalm 88 is not our prayer but the prayer of Jesus. Hebrews 5:7 states that "Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death." Psalm 88 fits the experience of Jesus as he struggled with the prospect of crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane. Although the resurrection stands in the future, Jesus is overwhelmed by the darkness of the pit and the prospect of death on the cross. He is all alone, abandoned by everyone close to him (Mark 14:50; Luke 22:45, 54-62; 23:49). He not only faces the horror of the physical pain of being crucified, and so is counted as one who is already dead, he faces the horror of bearing the judgment of God against sin. Verse 7 is literally fulfilled in Jesus: "your wrath lies heavy upon me." He was going to be abandoned by God, which is expressed in the questions of 88:14 [Psalm 88:14: "O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?"]. Could not the rhetorical questions of 88:10-12 be similar to the experience of Jesus in Luke 22:44, where it describes Jesus being in agony and praying more earnestly, with his sweat becoming like great drops of blood? What was he praying? Luke 22:42 reports his prayer: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done." Jesus experienced the darkness and abandonment by God expressed in Psalm 88 as he hung on the cross suffering the judgment of God against sin. His human life ended in darkness, but only for a short time, for on the third day he burst from the grave conquering sin and death. Because Jesus experienced the dark night of the soul we are assured that darkness will not be the last word. (Richard P. Belcher, <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/messiah-psalms-preaching-christ-from-all/dick-belcher/9781845500740/pd/500740" target="_blank"><i>The Messiah And The Psalms: Preaching Christ From All The Psalms</i></a>, (Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2006), 75-76.)</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.sbts.edu/faculty/thomas-r-schreiner/" target="_blank">Thomas Schreiner</a> writes on Psalm 88:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">God as v. 14 says hid his face from Jesus Christ at his death. The worst thing Jesus experienced was being abandoned by God. The fellowship he always enjoyed with God was severed. That was the most difficult aspect of Jesus’ sufferings. (<a href="https://credomag.com/2012/12/dark-nights-and-days-psalm-88/" target="_blank">Dark Nights and Days: Psalm 88</a>)</p></div></blockquote><p><a href="https://ligonduncan.com/" target="_blank">Ligon Duncan</a> writes on Psalm 88:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The suffering of this psalm ultimately points to the sufferings of Jesus . . . Jesus's words and life attest to these very sufferings on the cross [the sufferings of Psalm 88]. (<i><a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/when-pain-is-real-and-god-seems-silent-finding-hope-in-the-psalms-9781433569050?variant=31649201913918" target="_blank">When Pain Is Real And God Seems Silent: Finding Hope In The Psalms</a></i>, Pages 28-29; Duncan preaches <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/in-the-lowest-pit/" target="_blank">Psalm 88</a> and <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/a-psalm-for-adversity/" target="_blank">Psalm 89</a>. Bryan Chapell has <a href="https://vimeo.com/134570019" target="_blank">an excellent sermon on Psalm 88</a>.) </p></blockquote><div><p>Preaching on Psalm 88, Timothy Keller said:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>The end of Psalm 39: God's face is turned away. The end of Psalm 88: darkness. Losing God's face; darkness. Does that sound familiar to you? Matthew 27:45: "From the sixth hour to the ninth hour, darkness came down over all the land. At the ninth hour, Jesus Christ on the cross cried: 'My God! My God! . . . Why have You forsaken Me?'" . . . Jesus got the total darkness that Heman thought he was getting. When Jesus went to the cross, He was abandoned. Really. Not just subjectively. "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" On the cross, Jesus Christ really got the wrath of God. Not just I felt the wrath. He actually got the wrath of God. Everybody abandoned Jesus so only Jesus Christ of all the people who have ever trusted God as Savior, only Jesus Christ - darkness really was His only friend. His disciples had left Him; His people had left Him, His Father had abandoned Him - darkness was His only friend. You know why? He was taking the sins upon Himself that we've committed . . . but Jesus took the darkness so that when you believe in Him, your sins are forgiven. Or put it another way: Jesus Christ experienced darkness as His only friend so in your darkness you can know that Jesus is still your friend. He's still there. Jesus was truly abandoned so that you will only feel abandoned, and you can know that God's still there. He's not going to abandon you. No matter what you've done wrong, because of what Jesus Christ has done - He's taken the penalty. It all fell on Him. It all fell on to His heart. (Timothy Keller, <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulmaUtbayGY" target="_blank">How To Deal With Dark Times</a></i>, Accessed 06 FEB 2024).</p></blockquote><p>On Psalm 88, see <i><a href="https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/bonar/Christ%20and%20His%20Church%20Bonar.pdf" target="_blank">Christ And His Church In The Book Of Psalms</a></i> by Andrew Bonar. Robert Hawker, whom <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/charles-spurgeon-preaching-through-adversity" target="_blank">Charles Spurgeon</a> cites extensively in his <a href="https://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps088.php" target="_blank"><i>The Treasury Of David</i></a> on Psalm 88, wrote a whole sermon titled, "The Personal Sufferings Of Christ For The Salvation Of His People", from Psalm 88:15: "Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless." It's <a href="https://ia801608.us.archive.org/32/items/worksofrevrobert04hawk/worksofrevrobert04hawk.pdf" target="_blank">on page 89 of his works here</a>.</p><p>Hallelujah! What a Savior! </p><p><b>Psalm 89</b></p><p>I have already written more extensively about how <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-bible-says-god-was-angry-with-jesus.html" target="_blank">Psalm 89 is fulfilled in Christ</a>. But briefly take note of verse 46:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Psalm 89:46</p></div></blockquote><p>Because Jesus was made sin on the cross, God hid Himself from His Anointed Son on the cross, and God's wrath burned like fire toward His Son so that God might never hide Himself from us and we might never experience His burning, fiery wrath!</p><p>In <a href="https://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps089.php" target="_blank">The Treasury Of David</a>, commenting on Psalm 89:46: "How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?", Charles Spurgeon gave these hints to the village preacher (Oh be a village preacher, Brother Pastors!), and they include God's hiding Himself from Christ and His wrath burning like fire as afflictions on Christ. Spurgeon understood that God hid Himself from Christ on the cross, and God's wrath burned like fire upon Christ on the cross:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">Verse 46. The hand of God is to be acknowledged.<br />1. In the nature of affliction. "Wilt thou hide thyself", etc.<br />2. In the duration of affliction. "How long, Lord?"<br />3. In the severity of affliction. Wrath burning like fire.<br />4. In the issue of affliction. How long? for ever? </blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">In all these respects the words are applicable both to Christ and to his people.</blockquote><p>Hallelujah! What a Savior!</p><div><p><b>Other Psalms</b></p><p>All over the Psalms, we see the Psalmist cry out about God's face being hidden from him. And as we've already seen, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-bible-says-god-was-angry-with-jesus.html" target="_blank">the Psalms are about Christ!</a>:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? Psalm 13:1</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! Psalm 27:9</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? Psalm 44:23-24</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. Psalm 69:17</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call! Psalm 102:2</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Psalm 143:7</p></div></blockquote><p>All of these Psalms point to the cries of Jesus from the cross! Jesus endured the true hiddenness from the face of God so that we will never face such torment but see Him face to face!</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Revelation 22:3-4</p></blockquote><p>Hallelujah! What a Savior!</p><p><b>God Hides His Face From The One He Forsakes </b></p><p>The Bible teaches that <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/blog/forsaken-or-felt-forsaken" target="_blank">Jesus was forsaken by God on the cross</a>. To be forsaken by God means God will hide His face from the forsaken one. Right before Moses died, God warned Moses that Israel would forsake Him and serve other gods. As a result of this rebellion, God told Moses that He would forsake His people and hide His face from them: “. . . my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them . . .” (Deuteronomy 31:17).</p><p>The Psalmist also connects the hiding of God’s face with being forsaken: “Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!” (Psalm 27:9).</p><p>This is exactly how faithful preachers of the past, like <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/charles-spurgeon-preaching-through-adversity" target="_blank">Spurgeon</a> and <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/a-passion-for-christ-exalting-power" target="_blank">Martyn Lloyd-Jones</a>, have preached about what Christ endured for sinners on the cross. <a href="https://www.spurgeon.org/" target="_blank">Spurgeon</a> preached:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Christ in that hour took all our sins, past, present, and to come, and was punished for them all there and then, that we might never be punished, because he suffered in our stead. Do you see, then, how it was that God the Father bruised him? Unless he had so done the agonies of Christ could not have been an equivalent for our sufferings; for hell consists in the hiding of God's face from sinners, and if God had not hidden his face from Christ, Christ could not – I see not how he could – have endured any suffering that could have been accepted as an equivalent for the woes and agonies of his people (<a href="http://www.romans45.org/spurgeon/sermons/0173.htm" target="_blank">The Death Of Christ</a>)</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.mljtrust.org/" target="_blank">Lloyd-Jones</a> also preached this way:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">[God] has made His Son the sacrifice; it is a substitutionary offering for your sins and mine. That was why He was there in the Garden sweating drops of blood, because He knew what it involved – it involved a separation from the face of the father. And that is why He cried out on the Cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Commentary on Romans 8:32).</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Everyone else had forsaken Him, His disciples had fled and had left Him, but now He cries, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The one who utters that cry is “the beloved,” the one who had basked in the sunshine of the eternal love from eternity, without intermission. He reaches a point wherein even He has lost sight of the face and the smile of His Father. And He experienced that for you, for me. (<a href="http://articles.ochristian.com/article534.shtml" target="_blank">"In The Beloved"</a>)</p></blockquote><p>(This section was taken from an article I wrote for <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/" target="_blank">Reformation 21</a>: <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/blog/forsaken-or-felt-forsaken" target="_blank">"Forsaken, Or Felt Forsaken?"</a>. I wrote this follow-up article: <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/blog/more-thoughts-on-being-god-forsaken" target="_blank">"More Thoughts On Being God-Forsaken"</a>)</p><p>Hallelujah! What A Savior!</p><div><p><b>Yes, The Father Turned His Face Away</b></p><p>The Puritan, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2019/11/thomas-goodwin-on-love-and-anger-at.html" target="_blank">Thomas Goodwin</a>, wrote of how Jesus suffering the curses mentioned in Job 13:24:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy? </p></div></blockquote><p>In his book, <a href="https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/goodwin/Of%20Christ%20the%20Mediator%20-%20Goodwin.pdf" target="_blank">Of Christ The Mediator</a>, Goodwin wrote:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>A bloody battle was now towards, and therefore it was a black day; Christ was to encounter with the utmost power of darkness, and therefore the field he fights it out in is darkness. Two things were due unto us for our sins:</p><p>1. Pœna damni, the loss of God's favour, and a separation from God and all good, even to a drop of water.</p><p>2. Pœna sensûs, the curse and wrath of God. Other things are but either circumstances or consequents of suffering these in those who are sinners. We have them both mentioned; Job 13:24, "Wherefore hidest thou thy face" (says he to God; there is the punishment of loss and privation), "and holdest me for an enemy?" (There is the punishment of sense). These two are the substance of the pains in hell, and do now both fully meet in Christ. (Page 471)</p></blockquote><div><p>Sinclair Ferguson writes: </p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">His [Christ's] death is everything that death truly is . . . alienation from the face of the Father. (<a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/the-holy-spirit-sinclair-ferguson-9780830815364?variant=10007144890415" target="_blank">The Holy Spirit</a>, Page 104)</p></div></blockquote><p>In <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/supreme-malediction-jesus-became-curse" target="_blank">a powerful article and sermon on the curse motif of the cross</a>, R. C. Sproul pointed out that what Jesus suffered on the cross was the exact opposite of the blessing of Aaron in Numbers 6:24-26:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">The Lord bless you and keep you;<br />the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;<br />the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.</blockquote><br />R. C. Sproul wrote:<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The supreme malediction would read something like this:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"May the Lord curse you and abandon you. May the Lord keep you in darkness and give you only judgment without grace. May the Lord turn his back upon you and remove his peace from you forever."</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">When on the cross, not only was the Father's justice satisfied by the atoning work of the Son, but in bearing our sins the Lamb of God removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He did it by being cursed.</p></blockquote><p>You can watch his powerful sermon on this here:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lgwpd0SKpmc" width="320" youtube-src-id="Lgwpd0SKpmc"></iframe></div><br />In another article, <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/crucifixion-and-old-testament-prophecy" target="_blank">The Crucifixion And Old Testament Prophecy</a>, R. C. Sproul wrote:<div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">God is too holy to look on iniquity, so when Christ hung on the cross, the Father, as it were, turned His back. He averted His face and He cut off His Son. Jesus, Who, touching His human nature, had been in a perfect, blessed relationship with God throughout His ministry, now bore the sin of God’s people, and so He was forsaken by God . . . On the cross, He was in hell, totally bereft of the grace and the presence of God, utterly separated from all blessedness of the Father. He became a curse for us so that we one day will be able to see the face of God. God turned His back on His Son so that the light of His countenance will fall on us. It’s no wonder Jesus screamed from the depths of His soul.</div></blockquote><div><br /><div>Mark Dever, <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/jesus-was-forsaken-by-god/" target="_blank">while preaching about the Father forsaking the Son on the cross</a>, references the excellent and Biblical line in question from the song they had just sung during the church service, "How Deep The Father's Love For Us":<div><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">How great the pain of searing loss<br />The Father turns His face away<br />As wounds which mar the Chosen One<br />Bring many sons to glory!</blockquote><br />Later he says, "Christ was forsaken, so that we will never be." Then Dever quotes <a href="https://banneroftruth.org/us/devotional/love-lustres-at-calvary/" target="_blank">this puritan prayer</a> from <i><a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/valley-of-vision-arthur-bennett-9780851512280?variant=9781797257263" target="_blank">The Valley Of Vision</a></i>:<br /><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,<br />cast off that I might be brought in,<br />trodden down as an enemy<br />that I might be welcomed as a friend,<br />surrendered to hell’s worst<br />that I might attain heaven’s best,<br />stripped that I might be clothed,<br />wounded that I might be healed,<br />athirst that I might drink,<br />tormented that I might be comforted,<br />made a shame that I might inherit glory,<br />entered darkness that I might have eternal light . . .<br /> expired that I might for ever live.</blockquote><br />Hallelujah! What a Savior!<div><br /></div><div>To learn more about the great <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a>, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>More Resources On The Cross</b><br /><div><p><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-bible-says-god-was-angry-with-jesus.html" target="_blank">The Bible Says God Was Angry With Jesus On The Cross</a></p><p><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/01/we-must-get-cross-right-for-glory-of.html" target="_blank">We Must Get The Cross Right For The Glory Of King Jesus!</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cUpZ-USm-Fw" width="320" youtube-src-id="cUpZ-USm-Fw"></iframe></div></div></div></div></div></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-15894375305223016942024-01-30T10:52:00.002-05:002024-01-30T10:52:58.914-05:00Christ Jesus Is God's Love Command!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8DETKbeBpv5mu9CKImPmSD5t-OqwHNacNS5c2WwAjPImaaD3y3uRNhQZXwGBuoIsDIAv5nDPFJV6SfzaZPdrgBAnv6AcgXCxSkNTWou2RCJ7RLJBD-aDord8BaoGah4n4vQllOmRdzfSS68ONPB-YSJv4NhBLT49se46g-4F22v9q7aEfRDZ-bH0GFpl/s640/30.JAN.2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="491" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8DETKbeBpv5mu9CKImPmSD5t-OqwHNacNS5c2WwAjPImaaD3y3uRNhQZXwGBuoIsDIAv5nDPFJV6SfzaZPdrgBAnv6AcgXCxSkNTWou2RCJ7RLJBD-aDord8BaoGah4n4vQllOmRdzfSS68ONPB-YSJv4NhBLT49se46g-4F22v9q7aEfRDZ-bH0GFpl/w492-h640/30.JAN.2024.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-92072313845616686952024-01-29T20:05:00.038-05:002024-02-12T21:17:49.983-05:00The Bible Says God Was Angry With Jesus On The Cross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6p-Mf0dZveFYBJJqYTEGZZ4S688P3ksUj9cAoliuG41CoX5QwQPLeVkMKjrSj_moke30DHbkt_0Jb9FaEj87WM7At283X5Jrf-DzWFo9-ONRCreXx6oT9Ws0vQmlQRU5a0ubiIXPARLY7IM_a9hz9-LBjFCqyQNCJynCJIKQFAQ0eWY5lO5e39njQAfu/s6000/cdoncel-3cHmnTxXSbU-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6p-Mf0dZveFYBJJqYTEGZZ4S688P3ksUj9cAoliuG41CoX5QwQPLeVkMKjrSj_moke30DHbkt_0Jb9FaEj87WM7At283X5Jrf-DzWFo9-ONRCreXx6oT9Ws0vQmlQRU5a0ubiIXPARLY7IM_a9hz9-LBjFCqyQNCJynCJIKQFAQ0eWY5lO5e39njQAfu/w400-h266/cdoncel-3cHmnTxXSbU-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">But You have rejected, You have spurned, You have been very angry with Your Anointed One. Psalm 89:38</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"Was it not necessary that <b>the Christ should suffer</b> these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them <b>in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself </b> . . . Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets <b>and the Psalms must be fulfilled</b>." Luke 24:26-27, 44 (All bold emphasis mine throughout this article)</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Jesus read the Old Testament uniquely inasmuch as it was written <i>to</i> Him and <i>about</i> Him. <a href="https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2018/11/jesus-read-scriptures/" target="_blank">Nick Batzig </a></p></blockquote><p>Today, I saw a new book on the cross wrongly claim (<a href="https://olneybaptist.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Bavinck.Calvin.Penal_.Substitution.2.pdf" target="_blank">following one little either misunderstood or mistaken statement by John Calvin</a>; see <a href="https://derekzrishmawy.com/2017/07/31/calvin-on-he-descended-into-hell-guest-post-by-tim-keller/" target="_blank">this post by Tim Keller</a> as well) that God was not angry with Jesus when He suffered and died on the cross. This is incorrect according to God's Word. Have you not read Psalm 89? <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/01/we-must-get-cross-right-for-glory-of.html" target="_blank">Let's get ready for Good Friday</a>!</p><p>Though God loved Jesus when He was on the cross, and though God was well pleased with Jesus when He died on the cross because of the glorious obedience and sacrifice that He offered to His Father, God was also angry with His Son at the same time and poured His wrath out on His Son because of our sins imputed to Him so that we might be saved from God's wrath forever! This is the heart of the Gospel! <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-sufferings-of-lord-jesus-christ-on.html" target="_blank">We've got to get this right</a>! </p><p>And the Bible actually tells us, plainly and clearly, that God was angry with Jesus on the cross.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtJUCs-XNtyZueNTR1ewCJI6kkV3sy8LvgE-Qtg24KtN_i6ioMIJhhSodlDRWwkzjgIythJaqg7gGXBkb_ZFVOVRhj4uGz7rkDpjB3eBbbtpbC7v5mC-FnzvB9YMGPbxjeZhsfdlcrXguqdZdDAfUpFeJlRBsnaqk07XcqCLalfUP4a-36Xq92NZjw71Y/s960/399895076_877661253729598_7857998602556214975_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtJUCs-XNtyZueNTR1ewCJI6kkV3sy8LvgE-Qtg24KtN_i6ioMIJhhSodlDRWwkzjgIythJaqg7gGXBkb_ZFVOVRhj4uGz7rkDpjB3eBbbtpbC7v5mC-FnzvB9YMGPbxjeZhsfdlcrXguqdZdDAfUpFeJlRBsnaqk07XcqCLalfUP4a-36Xq92NZjw71Y/w512-h640/399895076_877661253729598_7857998602556214975_n.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">All of Scripture everywhere deals only with Christ. <a href="https://www.1517.org/articles/all-of-scripture-everywhere-deals-only-with-christ" target="_blank">Martin Luther</a></p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-psalms/" target="_blank">Bruce Waltke and Fred Zaspel write</a> about how the Psalms are about Jesus Christ:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The Psalms are about Jesus. The significance of this royal orientation goes further as we seek to understand the psalms in canonical perspective. We have it on Jesus’s authority (<a href="https://www.esv.org/verses/Luke%2024%3A44/" target="_blank">Luke 24:44</a>) that the psalms are about him. Some of the psalms are more directly predictive, such as <a href="https://www.esv.org/verses/Psalm%202/" target="_blank">Psalm 2</a> and <a href="https://www.esv.org/verses/Psalm%20110/" target="_blank">Psalm 110</a>. In others David stands as a “type” or picture of Christ and is prospective of him in more subtle ways.</div></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.1517.org/sections/chadbird" target="_blank">Chad Bird</a> writes:<br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Are All 150 Psalms about Jesus? The psalms are the prayerbook and hymnbook of Jesus. About half of them were written by David, and others by Solomon, Moses, or the sons of Korah. The coauthor behind all 150, however, is our Lord. What does this mean? Does it mean that they were inspired by the Spirit of Jesus? Yes, for “all Scripture is breathed out [θεόπνευστος] by God,” (2 Tim. 3:16). That Greek word, θεόπνευστος (theopneuotos) was translated by the Latin Vulgate as “inspiro,” whence we get our word “inspire,” literally, “to breathe into.” But that’s not all Christ’s authorship of the psalms means, for all Scripture is God-breathed. What makes the psalms unique? All the psalms are by Jesus and about Jesus, in one way or another. St. Augustine gives a helpful way to think about this with the analogy of a head and body. Here’s how it works. My head cannot act apart from my body, nor my body from my head. This is true, but certain actions are particularly head-actions or body-actions. For instance, I run with my body, but my head is involved. And I see with my eyes in my head and think with the brain in my head, but my body is also involved. My feet take me to where I can see a canyon or forest. My hand feeds my mouth so I can concentrate on thinking instead of my hunger pains. So it is with the psalms. Some of the psalms are more particularly about the head, that is, Christ. Psalm 2 is about his sonship and messiahship. Psalm 16 about his resurrection. Psalm 22 about his crucifixion and resurrection. But even in these psalms, the body—that is, the church—is involved. For instance, Psalm 2 is primarily about our Lord, but we body of believers are referenced in vs. 12 as those who are “blessed” because we “take refuge in him.” Other psalms are more particularly about the body of believers. Psalm 13 is the brief lament of those who are suffering, then vindicated. Yet the lovingkindness and salvation for which we thank God in vs. 5 is wrapped up in the Messiah, our head. Psalm 23 is our confession as the sheep of the Messiah, those who are kept safe in his body. Yet the Messiah, our head, is our Shepherd-King whose rod and staff comfort us. So it is with all the psalms. Sometimes they are more focused on Christ the head, or are his very words spoken (e.g., Ps. 22). At other times, the psalm is more focused on the body. And at still other times, both are the same. For instance, is Psalm 88 the prayer of a deeply troubled and suffering believer or group of believers? Or is Psalm 88 the lament of Jesus on Good Friday as he sinks into the darkness of death? Yes. It is both, for Christ as The Man subsumes all humanity into himself. His speech becomes ours and ours his. As you pray the psalms, bear this in mind. These 150 ancient poems and prayers are the treasure of the Spirit, in which he enriches us through the Son of God, who comes to reconcile us to the Father and to teach us to pray . . . Which OT book is quoted more in the NT than any other? Psalms. Which OT verse is quoted more in the NT than any other? Psalm 110:1. Which OT book did Jesus quote when he was being crucified? Psalms. Why are the psalms the heart of Scripture? Because, as Martin Franzmann said, "Theology is doxology. Theology must sing." It cannot remain mute words inside a book, but it leaps off the printed page, exits the mouth, and fills the air with a holy sound. In the psalms we sing with Jesus, and Jesus sings with us, in a hymn to the Father through the Spirit, amidst a choir of saints and angels. Here are God's words to us that become our words back to God. The psalms are verbal tears for the suffering, a steady hand to the wavering, a beating heart to the dying. No other biblical book was on the lips of Jesus as he was about to die. Let them ever be on our lips as well, for they are the songs of heaven on earth. (See also: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYXZphE02dQ" target="_blank">Every Psalm Is The Prayer Of Jesus</a>)</p></blockquote><p>Psalm 89 is about Jesus, God's preeminent Anointed One, and there we read very clearly that God was angry with Jesus:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>You have been very angry with your Anointed One. Psalm 89:38</p></blockquote><p>I'm not sure how much more clear God could be to settle this question once and for all. Yes, this Psalm is about God's Davidic King under God's judgment in exile. But it's also about David's greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! God the Father was very angry with His Messiah on that cross because of our sins counted to Him, and God punished Jesus with the anger we deserve so that we will never face that anger in hell! This is our only hope!</p><p>If John Calvin (or any other theologian) misspoke about the cross and what they wrote directly contradicts Scripture, we must always follow the clear teaching of God's infallible, inerrant, and inspired Word. God's Word has the final say, and we must submit to it, believe it, and teach it. And love it! Hallelujah! What a Savior!</p><p>This truth is at the heart of propitiation; it's at the heart of the cross; and it's at the heart of the Gospel.</p><p><b>Christ's Sufferings Prophesied In Psalm 89</b></p><p>In his <a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/psalms-two-volume-set-evangelical-biblical-theology-commentary-ebtc?variant=41331541704904" target="_blank">commentary on the Psalms</a>, James Hamilton gives a helpful summary of Psalm 89:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Psalm 89 appears to deal with the end of David's dynasty (89:38 [MT 89:39]). The destruction of the temple and exile of the Davidic king in 586 BC resulted from God's wrath against his covenant-breaking people. The earlier sections of Ps 89 rehearse God's covenant with David (89:1-4, 17-37 [MT 89:2-5, 18-38]) and God's defeat of the serpent-monster at the exodus from Egypt (89:9-10 [MT 89:10-11]). God's promise to David is the foundation for the future return of the king, and the exodus from Egypt is the pattern for the future salvation God will achieve through that king. </p><p>As Jesus spoke of his future death in John 2:18-22, he spoke in terms of the temple being destroyed. John seems to present Jesus saying that the outpouring of wrath at the destruction of the temple in 586 BC was a typological anticipation of the way that God would satisfy his covenant justice by an outpouring of wrath at the death of Christ. Thereby God also crushed the serpent's head, recapitulating the redemption accomplished at the exodus, liberating captives and guaranteeing their inheritance.</p><p>When he raised Jesus from the dead, God inaugurated the restoration of the Davidic reign through David's greater son. The midday crucifixion darkness of Psalm 89 sets the stage for the rising of the son on the third day, that he might be seated at God's right hand (Ps 110). (Pages 149-150)</p></blockquote><p>Hamilton clearly understands Psalm 89 to be written about Christ. Commenting on Psalm 89:49-52 he writes:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Here, Ethan anticipates the one in whom this bearing of the reproaches of those who reproach Yahweh would be fulfilled (cf. Ps 69:9 [MT 69:10]; Rom 15:3). Those at enmity with Yahweh reproach him, and "they reproach the heels of your anointed" (Ps 89:51 [MT 89:52]). The reference to the "heels" . . . of the anointed seems to allude to the "heel" . . . that would be bruised by the serpent (Gen 3:15). (Page 149)</p></blockquote><p>Though Hamilton limits "the discipline described in 89:38-48 . . . [to] the 'sons' [other Davidic kings] not the 'seed' [Jesus]" (Page 147) (I disagree with him that the discipline here is limited only to the other Davidic kings. He reads too much into the "sons"/"seed" distinction, and he is happy to apply Genesis 3:15 to and Psalm 69:9 to God's Anointed in Ps 89:51, even though "servants" are referenced, not the "seed". The punishments of 89:38-48 come together with the punishments of 89:49-52 and should not be separated), Hamilton does say that what Jesus endured on the cross is far worse than any of the discipline described in Psalm 89:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Surprisingly, Jesus experienced God's covenant curse at the cross in a way that transcended anything borne by his predecessors in the line of David (cf. esp. Gal 3:13). (Page 147)</p></blockquote><p>In his chapter on the book of Acts in the excellent work, <i><a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/commentary-on-the-new-testament-use-of-the-old-testament-g-k-beale-d-a-carson-9780801026935?variant=9783429300271" target="_blank">Commentary On The New Testament Use Of The Old Testament</a></i>, I. Howard Marshall includes <b>Psalm 89:38</b> in the Psalms that are messianic and refer to Jesus Christ:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>It is often said that although the concept of the Messiah/Christ is found in the OT, the term itself is not found with this reference, and that this usage developed only later in Jewish literature. However, whereas the original reference in the relevant OT passages was to the reigning monarch (or an immediate successor), by the time the psalms were collected and effectively canonized (cf. Luke 24:44) the references in them were understood, where appropriate, as messianic (cf. Ps. 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 84:9; <b><u>89:38</u></b> . . . .) (Page 540, emphasis mine)</p></blockquote><p>Justin Huffman, in his tremendously helpful article, <a href="https://thirdmill.org/magazine/article.asp/link/jus_huffman%5Ejus_huffman.SK.html" target="_blank">"The Davidic Covenant: Psalm 89 and the Servant King"</a>, writes:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Psalm 89 . . . as an exposition of the Davidic Covenant plainly prophesies concerning the coming Christ. Yet this prophecy . . . includes elements of both a victorious kingship and of a suffering servant of Yahweh [like in Isaiah 52-53] . . . We began this paper by asking the question: can both suffering servant and victorious king be promised and foreshadowed in the same figure, in the same Davidic covenant? And we find, in answer to the psalmist's plaintive cry, that the answer mysteriously and gloriously is, "Yes." In fact, it must be this way, according to Jesus himself. <b>The humiliation of the Davidic king in the days of Psalm 89, then, was not a failing of the Davidic covenant, but was rather a foreshadowing of how God would bring about eventual victory through apparent suffering and defeat in the Messiah.</b> Jesus would be the Servant King. "Ironically this psalm in which suffering and glory jostle sets up a mysterious pattern which was followed by the Heir: 'Here is your king' was spoken of one wearing a crown of thorns."</p></blockquote><p>Huffman also cites Richard Belcher in his book: <i><a href="https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/the-messiah-and-the-psalms-preaching-christ-from-all-the-psalms-belcher.html" target="_blank">The Messiah And The Psalms: Preaching Christ From All The Psalms</a></i>, writing:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Richard Belcher even argues that the placement of Psalm 89 among the royal psalms forms a prophetic pattern for the coming Messiah: the progression of the royal psalms in the Psalter prefigures the ministry of Christ. The royal psalms move from coronation (Psalm 2, used at Jesus' baptism), to the righteous reign of the king (Psalm 72 speaks of Christ's kingship and leads to the Israelites trying to crown Jesus), <b>to the humiliation and rejection of the king in Psalm 89</b>, to resurrection and ascension in Psalm 110 (referred to in Acts 2 in relation to Christ's resurrection and ascension into heaven), and then to the final triumph of the king in Psalm 144.</p></blockquote><p>In the book, <i><a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/review/the-psalms-in-the-new-testament/" target="_blank">The Psalms In The New Testament</a></i>, Sylvia Keesmaat writes about "The Psalms In Romans And Galatians":</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><i>A Different Messiah</i>: The second allusion to the psalms in Galatians is also to a psalm of lament: Psalm 89 in Gal. 3:16. The parallels between this psalm and Galatians are extensive; just as Paul emphasizes God's faithfulness to the offspring of Abraham, so the psalmist outlines God's promises to the offspring of David, the anointed one. Although Paul begins by talking about Abraham and his seed, he is moving within a story line where the promises made to the seed of Abraham are continued in the seed of David (Hays, <i>Galatians</i>, p. 264). By using the language of both the anointed (the messiah), and the seed, Paul creates an echo with Psalm 89, an echo that increases in volume when one realizes that there are other points of parallel with Galatians. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">However, the most striking parallel is the most unexpected. Psalm 89 begins by recounting God's unconditional promise to David, the anointed, and to his seed for ever . . . Then, suddenly, there is a turn. God is accused of rejecting his people and his messiah in v. 39 [v. 38 ET] . . . In the midst of this rejection, the anguished cry goes up, "How long?" (v. 47 [v. 46 ET]). And, in striking parallel with Galatians, the psalmist ends this way:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted,</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">how I bear in my bosom the insults of the nations,</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">with which your enemies taunt, O Lord,</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">with which they taunted the footsteps of your messiah . . . .</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>(Ps. 89:51-52 [Ps. 89:50-51 ET])</div></blockquote></blockquote><div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">This psalm describes the suffering of the messiah, a suffering which is central to Galatians (2:20; 3:1; 6:17). The close identification of Paul with the suffering messiah in the letter (2:20; 6:17), and the assertion that those advocating circumcision were doing so in order to avoid persecution for the cross of the messiah (6:12) creates points of resonance with the text. Such echoes firmly place the messiah that Paul describes in Gal. 2:16 in the story line of the promise to Abraham and to David. Psalm 89 describes a messiah who suffers; Jesus is such a messiah. The intertextual matrix of this psalm, then, serves to support Paul's argument that it is the story of the suffering messiah, Jesus, who fulfills the promise for these Christians, not the law (Brueggemann, "The Costly Loss Of Lament", p. 102). (Pages 159-160).</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/how-long-o-lord" target="_blank">This excellent Ligonier article</a> argues for the suffering Messiah aspect of <a href="https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/psalm-89-promise-struggle-and-reality-2020-04/" target="_blank">Psalm 89</a> as well:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>In light of the person and work of Christ, we understand why this psalm belongs to the category of messianic psalms. <b>Our Savior endured God's wrath in the place of His people</b>, bearing the sins of David's line and the sins of His chosen ones (Rom. 3:21–26). He was likewise insulted by His enemies (Matt. 27:27–31). <b>In receiving this wrath in our place</b>, Jesus revealed the steadfast love of God for David and for His people, and in raising Jesus from the dead to reign forever, God fulfilled His promise to David (Phil. 2:5–11).</p></blockquote><p>Ligon Duncan, in his book <i><a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/when-pain-is-real-and-god-seems-silent-finding-hope-in-the-psalms-9781433569050?variant=31649201913918" target="_blank">When Pain Is Real And God Seems Silent: Finding Hope In The Psalms</a></i>, shows how the sufferings endured in Psalm 89 foreshadow the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Ultimately, we'll never appreciate this psalm fully until we see how it points to our Savior . . . Psalm 89:38-45 is a picture of the dashed hopes of the people God. They were promised that David and his line would reign forever, but now that promise seems to have failed. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Yet Scripture often shows us that what seems like a failure of God's promises is actually the very way he delivers on them. This description of David and his line cannot be exhausted by the experiences of David and his sons. Instead, these words are true, in the fullest sense, of David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know? </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The New Testament, on nearly every page, teaches that Jesus is the true and better David, the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant and the restorer of David's throne. Consider, for instance, Peter's sermon at Pentecost:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know - this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">"I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence." </p></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Acts 2:22-32</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">As Peter explains, the psalms chronicling the suffering of David and his children are fully realized in the sufferings of Christ. David's flesh did, in fact, see corruption - he is, after all, still dead in his tomb. So, Peter reasons, this psalm must refer to David's greater son! Where did he get this idea? From the Lord Jesus himself. When Christ encountered the disciples on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection, he bemoaned that they did not see in the Old Testament the many evidences that Christ would undergo death and exile to restore what Adam and Israel had lost:</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27</p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The suffering of David and the people of Israel - rejection, curse, and judgment - were ultimately and consummately experienced by David's greater son, the servant of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Jesus experienced Psalm 89:38-45. And by that suffering Jesus restored the throne of David and saved the people of God . . . Psalm 89 gives us hope ultimately because it points us to the one who endured a suffering far beyond anything we will ever know. He was mocked and shamed and forsaken of God, so that we might be God's precious inheritance into eternity. (Pages 48-52) (You can listen to a sermon Dr. Duncan preached on <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/a-psalm-for-adversity/" target="_blank">Psalm 89 at Capitol Hill Baptist Church here</a>.)</p></blockquote><p>In <a href="https://www.christianity.com/bible/commentary/matthew-henry-complete/psalm/89" target="_blank">Matthew Henry's commentary on Psalm 89</a>, he mentions "Christ" 45 times. And on Psalm 89:38, he writes:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">When the great anointed one, Christ himself, was upon the cross, God . . . was wroth [very angry] with him . . . .</p></div></blockquote><p>In <a href="https://archive.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps089.php" target="_blank">The Treasury Of David</a>, commenting on Psalm 89:46: "How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?", Charles Spurgeon gave these hints to the village preacher (Oh be a village preacher, Brother Pastors!), and they include God's hiding Himself from Christ and His wrath burning like fire as afflictions on Christ. Spurgeon understood that God hid Himself from Christ on the cross, and God's wrath burned like fire upon Christ on the cross:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Verse 46. The hand of God is to be acknowledged.<br />1. In the nature of affliction. "Wilt thou hide thyself", etc.<br />2. In the duration of affliction. "How long, Lord?"<br />3. In the severity of affliction. Wrath burning like fire.<br />4. In the issue of affliction. How long? for ever? In all these respects the words are applicable both to Christ and to his people.</blockquote><div><p>Hallelujah! What a Savior!</p><p>Jesus is not only the suffering servant, He's the suffering psalmist: ". . . everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Luke 24:44</p><p>Here is a chart I made showing how Jesus fulfills Psalm 89 (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K7tSQ0IocZwV1l4vI0femHndgde1zbOK/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Link to larger version here</a>):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGig6I0KYq38WuVT5Jzv5mp7AFKjAcbVRbQ5ZitvHGi-ydz7GJegQJHGozS_Kwcea2Jwg5XlkSJPI1sBImSHoYkUcJA5300H4OwIYlHliJHaxXbJACxlq7LnvLL9eNdKBCkeJw6APwg5nA5mNEM1ZPmaXd8yl67_KsnUnhf7oO5ATkuiVYsXTQBed2Y9WY/s640/Psalm89.Christ.Chart.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="510" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGig6I0KYq38WuVT5Jzv5mp7AFKjAcbVRbQ5ZitvHGi-ydz7GJegQJHGozS_Kwcea2Jwg5XlkSJPI1sBImSHoYkUcJA5300H4OwIYlHliJHaxXbJACxlq7LnvLL9eNdKBCkeJw6APwg5nA5mNEM1ZPmaXd8yl67_KsnUnhf7oO5ATkuiVYsXTQBed2Y9WY/w510-h640/Psalm89.Christ.Chart.jpg" width="510" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rvKozW0yaedYPgViREL9UCB2cAyteSiIyfYyJBBZBbb_1hG2w49a9trx2dL9iGEux-uFLM3IZ2f9OcFZQNfXcXDwrkze5w0NIjtjAxsLN8A96m07SRD_6GqNQ6HUl5hGMt0xExb0QuQfoaFk_QZXsV8LUEGFEPVyITbQXu4hG9azjc4FFri0NdEkxh1U/s640/Psalm89.Christ.Chart.Pt2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="503" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1rvKozW0yaedYPgViREL9UCB2cAyteSiIyfYyJBBZBbb_1hG2w49a9trx2dL9iGEux-uFLM3IZ2f9OcFZQNfXcXDwrkze5w0NIjtjAxsLN8A96m07SRD_6GqNQ6HUl5hGMt0xExb0QuQfoaFk_QZXsV8LUEGFEPVyITbQXu4hG9azjc4FFri0NdEkxh1U/w504-h640/Psalm89.Christ.Chart.Pt2.jpg" width="504" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Psalm 89 is about the work of Christ: His sufferings and death and His triumphant resurrection! So we now await the return of the King! In <a href="https://etsjets.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/files_JETS-PDFs_58_58-3_JETS_58-3_507-25_Pohl.pdf" target="_blank">"A Messianic Reading Of Psalm 89: A Canonical And Intertextual Study"</a>, William C. Pohl IV writes:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Heim has pointed out that the messianic hope of Psalm 89 is also addressed in the NT in Rev 1:5. There Jesus is described as “the faithful witness,” “the firstborn of the dead,” and “the ruler of the kings of the earth.” This intertextual interplay shows that Jesus is the answer of Psalm 89 (“The (God-)Forsaken King of Psalm 89” 316–21). He is the faithful witness, the guarantee of the “Lord’s adherence to his oath (v. 35). Yahweh has not lied to David. His covenant still stands, now renewed, to be consummated in Christ’s glorious return as foretold in Revelation” (320). He is the firstborn of the dead, which is informed by the parallel in 89:28. The title “highest of the kings of the earth” and the reference to overcoming death find their significance in the apparent overcoming of the death of the king in 89:49 (320–21). In other words, Christ is the king of kings, the sovereign one whose resurrection confirms his sovereignty. He is the universal ruler, the one who has international influence as the Lord’s “vacarius dei” (321).</div></blockquote><p>Heim also writes:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In vv. 47-51 the lament comes to a powerful climax, culminating in a whole series of urgent questions. Most relevant to the present discussion are those in v. 49: "Who can live and never see death? Who can escape the power of Sheol?". Both are rhetorical questions expecting a negative response: No, nobody can live without dying! Nobody can escape Sheol! Yes, in stark contrast to this, the book of Revelation puts forward the one who can. Readers may pick up that there is a Davidic "king" who did die, yet lived and escaped (from) Sheol. (Knut M. Heim, "The (God-)Forsaken King Of Psalm 89: A Historical And Intertextual Enquiry," in <i>King And Messiah In Israel And The Ancient Near East</i>, (Sheffield Academic Press: Shefield), 1998), 320)</p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Testimonies Of Others From Church History</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Throughout church history, faithful pastors and theologians have written about God being angry with His Son on the cross while loving Him at the same time:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.reformation21.org/blogs/love-and-anger-at-the-cross.php" target="_blank">Herman Witsius</a>: Since there is an exchange of persons between Christ and believers, and since the guilt of our iniquities was laid upon him, the Father was <b>offended and angry</b> with him.</div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2019/11/thomas-goodwin-on-love-and-anger-at.html" target="_blank">Thomas Goodwin</a>: 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. <b>That God should never be more angry with his Son than when he was most pleased with him,</b> 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?"</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2019/11/thomas-goodwin-on-love-and-anger-at.html" target="_blank">Thomas Goodwin</a>: 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.<b><i> </i>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.</b> 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. </blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2019/11/thomas-goodwin-on-love-and-anger-at.html" target="_blank">Thomas Goodwin</a>: And also this offering up himself was so sweet a smelling sacrifice to God (as Eph. V. 2), <b>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</b> . . . .</div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2019/11/samuel-rutherford-on-fathers-love-and.html" target="_blank">Samuel Rutherford</a>: The Lord . . . punished Christ, who was not inherently, but only by imputation the sinner, with no hatred at all, <b>but with anger and desire of shewing and exercising revenging justice, but still loving him dearly, as his only Son</b><b>.</b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2019/11/is-it-biblical-to-say-jesus-was-damned.html" target="_blank">Wilhelmus à Brakel</a>: <b>Christ did indeed suffer eternal damnation, for eternal damnation, death, and pain consist in total separation from God,</b> <b>in the total manifestation of divine wrath,</b> and all of this for such a duration until the punishment upon sin was perfectly and satisfactorily born.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/03/dr-klaas-schilder-on-sufferings-of.html" target="_blank">Klaas Schilder</a>: At that time, therefore, Christ had been dead. He had also endured this death in His body, for His whole human existence suffered the affliction of hell. <b>The flesh, too, had been consumed in God’s anger, and forsaken.</b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/christ-crucified-understanding-the-atonement-donald-macleod-9780830840618?variant=10007011426351" target="_blank">Donald Macleod</a>: It was the Father who was delivering him up (Rom. 8:32) and <b>everything spoke of HIS anger.</b> That anger was no additional circumstance. It was in the circumstances: in the pain, in the loneliness, in Satan's whispers and in heaven's deafness; <b>and under that anger</b> his identity contracted to the point where . . . he was the sin of the world. He was carrying it, heaven held him answerable for it, and he WAS it. It was here, all of it, in his body (1 Pet. 2:24), being condemned in his flesh (Rom. 8:3); because of it he was a doomed and ruined man, korban, devoted to destruction. God's pure eyes could not look on him, nor heaven entertain his cry . . . Clearly, the unity of the divine Trinity remains unbroken throughout the passion. <b>Even while the Father is angry with the Mediator, the Son is still beloved and still fully involved in all the external acts (the opera ad extra) of the Trinity.</b></div></blockquote><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/christ-alone-stephen-wellum-9780310515746?variant=10007010345007" target="_blank">Stephen Wellum</a>: In saying that the Son bears the Father's wrath for us, we must never forget that the unity of the triune persons remains unbroken. Macleod rightly notes: "<b>Even while the Father is angry with the Mediator, the Son is still the beloved and still fully involved in all the external acts (the opera ad extra) of the Trinity.</b>" (Page 209)</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://ligonduncan.com/anger-and-the-glory-of-god-469/" target="_blank">Ligon Duncan</a>: And notice, by the way, God in both of those instances was not simply angry at sin, He was angry with sinners. We often say God loves the sinner and hates the sin, and there's something very important and true about that truth. But you also need to understand that God is angry with people, and not simply with acts. He was angry with Solomon when Solomon married many foreign wives, who led him astray from his fidelity and devotion to the one true God. He was angry with Israel when Israel strayed into idolatry. His anger comes to rest on people. <b>Does not the cross teach us that? That His righteous anger found its place on the head of His own Son?</b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/05/mark-jones-on-gods-love-and-anger-at.html" target="_blank">Mark Jones</a>: Much was given to Jesus by way of gifts and graces, and much was required. He gave all that was required. <b>Yet he was still the recipient of his Father's anger.</b> He became an object of wrath that no redeemed saint will ever fully comprehend; for, as Charnock says: "Not all the vials of judgments, that have, or shall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of a sinner's conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced against the rebellious devils, nor the groans of the damned creatures, give such a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, <b>as the wrath of God let loose upon his Son.</b>" The anger of Christ proves the reality of the mercy he shows toward sinners. <b>Indeed, even in the way that God saves, he could not be merciful towards us if he was not angry towards his Son on the cross at Calvary.</b> (<i><a href="https://www.cvbbs.com/products/knowing-christ-jones-mark" target="_blank">Knowing Christ</a></i>, Page 72)</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/05/mark-jones-on-gods-love-and-anger-at.html" target="_blank">Mark Jones</a>: Let us remember the salient fact that the Father would soon abandon His beloved Son in Whom He found such delight . . . <b>In relation to His death on the cross, God was never more pleased with His Son than when He was most angry with Him.</b> (<i><a href="https://www.cvbbs.com/products/knowing-christ-jones-mark" target="_blank">Knowing Christ</a></i>, Page 82)</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/05/mark-jones-on-gods-love-and-anger-at.html" target="_blank">Mark Jones</a>: These are the words of someone who has experienced divine desertion. This type of abandonment includes the withdrawal of the feeling or presence of God's favour, grace, and love. The removal of these things is the removal of God. Yet although God withdrew his favour from his Son, Christ remained obedient. <b>God was never more happy with his Son than when he was most angry with him</b> . . . the withdrawing of his presence was, for Christ, a new experience . . . When Christ cried out these words - a direct quote from Psalm 22:1 - they were like the shrieks of those who are cast away forever . . . now he "descended into hell" . . . In this dark abandonment, Christ still, in faith entrusted himself to the Father and rested upon his promises . . . Christ experienced both physical pain and the spiritual loss of his Father's face." (<i><a href="https://www.cvbbs.com/products/knowing-christ-jones-mark" target="_blank">Knowing Christ</a></i>, Pages 146-147)</div></div></blockquote><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Hallelujah! What a Savior!</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To learn more about the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a>, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Read More On God's Love And Anger At The Cross</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Please see these other articles I've written and compiled on the cross: <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/01/we-must-get-cross-right-for-glory-of.html" target="_blank">We Must Get The Cross Right For The Glory Of King Jesus!</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Hallelujah! What a Savior!</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x4WVT-_Xt7M" width="320" youtube-src-id="x4WVT-_Xt7M"></iframe></div></div></div></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-73133127448227883062024-01-24T10:40:00.016-05:002024-02-28T10:40:44.080-05:00What Is Going On With Ruth And Boaz At The Threshing Floor?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLJ86nscBkMub7byE_Rrs8Gu5EQotw2xTV4meNZ3KjpU7OGX1205-aqUrjCgkU8pWtQTGAQ_k1gAilCht4GCEI554YsQWF_eirgbOxPvMVsw8CBw43HE7bIBNTn72oCdA_RTQZyT5pdMVCZR0N5uMuWxAsXeMGUb2D8PyHadUGF2T41HvwrHhNZoXHCx-/s6000/kai-pilger-jQSmvesQMsY-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiLJ86nscBkMub7byE_Rrs8Gu5EQotw2xTV4meNZ3KjpU7OGX1205-aqUrjCgkU8pWtQTGAQ_k1gAilCht4GCEI554YsQWF_eirgbOxPvMVsw8CBw43HE7bIBNTn72oCdA_RTQZyT5pdMVCZR0N5uMuWxAsXeMGUb2D8PyHadUGF2T41HvwrHhNZoXHCx-/w400-h266/kai-pilger-jQSmvesQMsY-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><a href="https://jimhamilton.info/2011/11/01/the-best-essay-ive-ever-read-on-the-book-of-ruth/" target="_blank">This essay contains the best explanation I've ever read</a> of Ruth's odd way of proposing to Boaz (And <a href="https://www.sbts.edu/faculty/james-m-hamilton/" target="_blank">Dr. James Hamilton writes</a> it's the best essay he's ever read on the book of Ruth!). Ruth went to Boaz secretly, at night, on the threshing floor, uncovered his feet, and lay down at his feet in hopes of marriage and children (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ruth%203&version=ESV" target="_blank">Ruth 3</a>). This method of a marriage proposal has caused confusion and disagreement among commentators, pastors, and laymen alike.</p><p>Some, <a href="http://tapesfromscotland.org/Audio4/4981.mp3" target="_blank">like Sinclair Ferguson</a>, <a href="https://geoffthomas.org/index.php/gtsermons/31-5-may-boaz-and-ruth-marry/" target="_blank">Geoff Thomas</a>, and <a href="https://www.monergism.com/topics/sermon-manuscripts-mp3s-scripture/ruth/audio-multimedia/chapter-ruth/chapter-03" target="_blank">Alistair Begg</a>, go so far as to argue that this was sinful/bad advice from Naomi, and Ruth should not have obeyed and gone to Boaz like this (so another example of God drawing straight lines with crooked sticks; though Naomi and Ruth acted foolishly, God meant it for good). But this scene sets up Ruth as the antitypical Moabite.</p><p>Others argue that Boaz and Ruth had a forbidden sexual encounter because the text is full of sexual/sensual language. But this is also wrong and misses the point.</p><p>It is true, the text is filled with sexual/sensual language: it happens in secret, at night, on the threshing floor (a place associated with sexual promiscuity), & the three words used in the encounter can have sexual meanings (uncover, feet, lie). But again, this is setting up Ruth as the antitypical Moabite.</p><p>Remember the daughters of Lot (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+19%3A28-37&version=ESV" target="_blank">Genesis 19:28-37</a>)? They wanted children, so they got their father to drink wine, at night, secretly went to him, lay with him, and all this to bear children. This was wicked and sinful. This is where the Moabites came from.</p><p>In a similar way, yet also in stark contrast, Ruth, the Moabite, secretly came to Boaz (<a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/11/what-should-we-make-of-large-age-gaps.html" target="_blank">a father figure who called her "daughter"</a>), at night, after he was merry with drink (but not drunk), uncovered his feet, and lay down at his feet, asking him to take her under his wings (marry her) to provide children!</p><p>Unlike Lot's daughters, Ruth does it right! She and Boaz are pure and holy before God. They do not have sex, but wait on God's direction. But the language and the situation point our minds back to the origin of the Moabites. Ruth is the antitypical Moabite who follows the LORD and His ways in holiness and purity. Unlike the daughters of Moab with whom Israel committed sexual immorality (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+25&version=ESV" target="_blank">Numbers 25</a>), Ruth was sexually pure. Unlike the daughters of Moab who led Israel to worship false gods (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+25&version=ESV" target="_blank">Numbers 25</a>), Ruth took refuge under the wings of the one, true, and living God - <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">the LORD God almighty</a>! And from her offspring ultimately comes the perfectly pure, sinless, and holy One - <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">the LORD Jesus Christ</a>. He is <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">the God-Man</a> Who saves Jews and Gentiles, idolaters and the self-righteous, the sexually immoral and all sinners through His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension! Everyone who repents and believes in the LORD Jesus Christ shall be saved!</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved! Acts 16:31</p><p>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</p></blockquote><p>Hallelujah! What a Savior!</p><p>To learn more about <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">the great King Jesus</a> and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</p><p><b>Helpful Resources On The Book Of Ruth</b></p><p>1. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/scripture/ruth/messages" target="_blank">Sermons on Ruth</a> by John Piper</p><p>2. <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/resources/sermons/" target="_blank">Sermons on Ruth</a> by Mark Dever</p><p>3. <a href="https://www.monergism.com/topics/sermon-manuscripts-mp3s-scripture/ruth/audio-multimedia/chapter-ruth" target="_blank">Sermons on Ruth</a> on Monergism</p><p>4. <a href="https://www.preceptaustin.org/verse_by_verse#book_8" target="_blank">Commentary on Ruth</a> by Precept Austin</p><p>5. <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/top-5-commentaries-on-the-book-of-ruth" target="_blank">Top Five Commentaries on Ruth</a> by <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/" target="_blank">Ligonier Ministries</a></p><p>6. <a href="https://www.challies.com/resources/best-commentaries-on-ruth/" target="_blank">Best Commentaries on Ruth</a> by <a href="https://www.challies.com/" target="_blank">Tim Challies</a></p><p>7. <a href="https://radical.net/series/love-story-gods-epic-tale-of-redemption/" target="_blank">Love Story: A Study In Ruth</a> by David Platt</p>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-42046280082667373372024-01-23T11:02:00.006-05:002024-01-23T11:02:40.964-05:00Christ Jesus Is Our Life Resurrection!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizc1ImY7tWYz6gNaiWUIRRzHbQLN-OFu1obsR6obu_tfOLvPE2n08rxSsZDBON1Bk6JqYDlJSESNZwFYRAOPoHhmPr-w_y2Vre4je6qDdqTzu1cl3124Hm9Ok61_6A5BIPAWgdl4BJHscXzCl0PgmN6Rg-Mo6MSM1U38QW5ZI_DEoDVuFpQtgc-2_FL2Sp/s702/23.JAN.2024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="694" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizc1ImY7tWYz6gNaiWUIRRzHbQLN-OFu1obsR6obu_tfOLvPE2n08rxSsZDBON1Bk6JqYDlJSESNZwFYRAOPoHhmPr-w_y2Vre4je6qDdqTzu1cl3124Hm9Ok61_6A5BIPAWgdl4BJHscXzCl0PgmN6Rg-Mo6MSM1U38QW5ZI_DEoDVuFpQtgc-2_FL2Sp/w632-h640/23.JAN.2024.jpg" width="632" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-55071026171570981172024-01-22T15:38:00.000-05:002024-01-22T15:38:44.530-05:00A Letter To Mayor Cherelle Parker About Abortion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmutSO5uoaqW95D2TisWkIyrk56kvca7ABKu3LpG1R5e8IIk78WkgFekQzsWYvTMzxPUS2_cHXAUwzRmEpxMfWqIlzpJA7K6-4UT6o55jFpx1eCuR6_4U7c51_znOP4vcvfbtVDo6t3RGzUOhkA-16DZDSEwEWLThBkXNz30bpcuSNkdwP-10nNR3xTcvK/s4440/leo-serrat-ZB5Xgw_MLa0-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4440" data-original-width="3090" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmutSO5uoaqW95D2TisWkIyrk56kvca7ABKu3LpG1R5e8IIk78WkgFekQzsWYvTMzxPUS2_cHXAUwzRmEpxMfWqIlzpJA7K6-4UT6o55jFpx1eCuR6_4U7c51_znOP4vcvfbtVDo6t3RGzUOhkA-16DZDSEwEWLThBkXNz30bpcuSNkdwP-10nNR3xTcvK/w446-h640/leo-serrat-ZB5Xgw_MLa0-unsplash.jpg" width="446" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">January 9th 2024</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.phila.gov/departments/mayor/" target="_blank">Mayor Cherelle Parker</a></div><div>City Hall, Office 215</div><div>Philadelphia, PA 19107</div><div><br /></div><div>Dear Mayor Cherelle Parker,</div><div><br /></div><div>Congratulations on your election to be the 100th Mayor of Philadelphia! I am the pastor of Olney Baptist Church, and I’m thankful for your thanks to Jesus in your inauguration speech, and I’m thankful that you explicitly thanked your LORD and Savior Jesus Christ for Whom all things are possible. I praise God that [you said] it is not just a line for you – and that you are dependent on the grace and mercy of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am also thankful that one of your top priorities in your 100-day action plan is public safety. I would like to speak up for one of the most oppressed minorities in our city who face the most violent deaths, and their murder is protected by law. I am writing about the public safety of unborn children in the city of Philadelphia who are killed by abortion. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health abortion statistics (2021), 33,206 abortions were performed in Pennsylvania, and more than 36% of those abortions happened in Philadelphia County. </div><div><br /></div><div>I’m asking you, as a [professing] follower of the LORD Jesus Christ, to fight to end abortions in the City of Philadelphia. It is <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/to-be-pro-choice-is-to-be-pro-murder.html" target="_blank">murder according to God’s Word</a>, and it should be illegal.</div><div><br /></div><div>God is knitting these babies together in their mothers’ wombs:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Psalm 139:13-16: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. </div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>The first person to rejoice in the miraculous conception of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ in the womb of the virgin Mary was an unborn child in the womb:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Luke 1:41-44: And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>I would be happy to meet with you and give you more information about abortion and it’s evil nature according to God’s Word. I am praying that you will take a stand against this wicked practice in our city.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sincerely in Christ,</div><div>Joseph Randall</div><div><br /></div><div><b>More Information On The Evils Of Abortion</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>1. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/to-be-pro-choice-is-to-be-pro-murder.html" target="_blank">To Be Pro-Choice Is To Be Pro-Murder And Anti-Christ</a></div><div><br /></div><div>2. <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/blogs/the-unthinkable-sin.php#" target="_blank">The Unthinkable Sin</a></div><div><br /></div><div>3. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/06/answering-joe-burrows-post-on-abortion.html" target="_blank">Answering Joe Burrow's Post On Abortion And Roe v. Wade</a></div><div><br /></div><div>4. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/10/what-do-voting-for-hamas-and-voting-for.html" target="_blank">What Do Voting For Hamas And Voting For Pro-Choice Politicians Have In Common?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>5. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/03/an-unborn-childs-perspective-on-judge.html" target="_blank">An Unborn Child's Perspective On Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Confirmation Hearing</a></div><div><br /></div><div>To learn more about <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">the great King Jesus</a> and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-48298935579048601702024-01-18T08:23:00.001-05:002024-01-18T08:23:10.221-05:00Christ Jesus Reigns And You Belong!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3fGXN2CENdK2CScmUn1MsJ1QED_HiUEhc99AmeSKtY1Id26cVT61mtRYO2g_F4VsBEzCx70PW6x8ZNC2QwW47q83UoZSryPqXKO-gYO4DAZhYElsueLk7SYHDOhWgcRVUY6n5izzxs6_RBRnnPqJPtq_5t5Hj995-z-pOvq5ij1V9cRMm48UiZwiYgdp/s683/18.JAN.2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="683" height="568" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3fGXN2CENdK2CScmUn1MsJ1QED_HiUEhc99AmeSKtY1Id26cVT61mtRYO2g_F4VsBEzCx70PW6x8ZNC2QwW47q83UoZSryPqXKO-gYO4DAZhYElsueLk7SYHDOhWgcRVUY6n5izzxs6_RBRnnPqJPtq_5t5Hj995-z-pOvq5ij1V9cRMm48UiZwiYgdp/w640-h568/18.JAN.2023.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-84181329634688333792024-01-11T10:50:00.004-05:002024-01-13T16:51:07.662-05:00Prayers You Should Pray For Your Pastor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6N-0I6g3e9X-pkT3iPUnxDjM6gjlaa1LjEz4qMq5hgGrxeULY_bGKh769J3TYi4U_swuBrRUlEpyqiqOfTHE5__pqHu4T7cA2W6359At_cGvcp1lOdcmzfI5RyIako_IhT8UZndeMmJr2M6A4ne-7uelRU_kNQs9VCWLNaxI65j8xqK2XYvXTEM5lZ3G/s5472/jametlene-reskp-YUVZOGlHfdk-unsplash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6N-0I6g3e9X-pkT3iPUnxDjM6gjlaa1LjEz4qMq5hgGrxeULY_bGKh769J3TYi4U_swuBrRUlEpyqiqOfTHE5__pqHu4T7cA2W6359At_cGvcp1lOdcmzfI5RyIako_IhT8UZndeMmJr2M6A4ne-7uelRU_kNQs9VCWLNaxI65j8xqK2XYvXTEM5lZ3G/w400-h266/jametlene-reskp-YUVZOGlHfdk-unsplash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/on-protecting-the-church-staff" target="_blank">John Piper writes</a>: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">On one of his visits to the Continent, <a href="https://www.spurgeon.org/" target="_blank">Charles Spurgeon</a> (pastor of the large Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, 1853-1892) met an American minister who said, “I have long wished to see you, Mr. Spurgeon, and to put one or two simple questions to you. In our country there are many opinions as to the secret of your great influence. Would you be good enough to give me your own point of view?” After a pause <a href="https://archive.spurgeon.org/mainpage.php" target="_blank">Spurgeon</a> said, “My people pray for me.”</p></blockquote><p>Oh Father please . . .</p><div>Help my pastor to give Your people the sense of Your Word, and to help us understand the reading! Neh. 8:8<br /><p></p><p>Help my pastor come to the pulpit, not with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to Your people the testimony of God. Help him determine not to know anything among us except Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Help his speech and his preaching not to be with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that our faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God! 1 Cor. 2:1-5</p><p>Help my pastor to preach the Gospel and to present the Gospel of Christ without charge, that he may not abuse his authority in the Gospel! 1 Cor. 9:18</p><p>Help my pastor not to preach himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself a bondservant for Jesus' sake! 2 Cor. 4:5</p><p>Help my pastor not to preach Christ from envy, strife, or selfish ambition! Help him to preach Christ from good will and out of love! Phil. 1:15-17</p><p>Help my pastor to preach Christ, warning all of us and teaching all of us in all wisdom, that he may present all of us perfect in Christ Jesus! Col. 1:28</p><p>Help my pastor to preach the Word! Help him to be ready in season and out of season! Help him to convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching! 2 Tim. 4:2</p><p>Help my pastor to preach the Gospel so that It does not come to us in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance! 1 Thess. 1:5</p><p>Help my pastor to praise Your works and declare Your mighty acts from the pulpit! Help him to speak of the might of Your awesome acts and declare Your greatness! Help him to speak of the glory of Your kingdom and of Your power! Psalm 145:5, 6, 11</p><p>Grant that utterance may be given to my pastor, that he may open his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel! Eph. 6:19</p><p>Help my pastor to be diligent to present himself approved to You, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth! 2 Tim. 2:15</p><p>Help my pastor to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded! Matt. 28:18-20</p><p>Help my pastor to always be sober-minded, to endure suffering, and to do the work of an evangelist, fulfilling his ministry. And may he see many sinners come to Christ! 2 Tim. 4:5</p><p>Help my pastor to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, and may he know that in the Lord his labor is not in vain! 1 Cor. 15:58</p><p>Help my pastor to believe what he preaches! Grip him with it and humble him with it, and help him to exult in it until he is lost in wonder, love, and praise! (Adapted from <a href="https://www.mljtrust.org/" target="_blank">Martyn Lloyd-Jones</a>)</p><p>Help my pastor to give us a sense of You and Your presence when he preaches. Help him to give us a glimpse of Your glory and majesty, the love of Christ our Savior, and the magnificence of the Gospel! (Adapted from Martyn Lloyd-Jones)</p><p>Cut all the ribbons that tie my pastor to the frowns and smiles of men and drive a steel beam down his backbone and free him to serve You for Your glory alone! (Adapted from Albert N. Martin)</p><p>Help my pastor to seek to serve Your people and not impress us with himself! May he impress us with Jesus! May we come away from his sermons not saying, "What a wonderful preacher!" but "What a wonderful Savior!" (<a href="https://journal.rts.edu/article/reflections-teaching-career-great-savior/" target="_blank">Spurgeon Story</a>)</p><p>Help my pastor take heed to himself and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made him an overseer. Please help him to shepherd faithfully the church of God which You purchased with Christ's own blood! Acts 20:28</p><p>Help my pastor to be blameless, a one-woman man, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, gentle, and able to teach! Keep him from being given to wine, from being violent, from being greedy for money, from being quarrelsome, and from being covetous! Help him rule his own household well, having his children in submission with all reverence! Keep him from being puffed up with pride and falling into the same condemnation as the devil! Help him have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil! 1 Tim. 3:2-7</p><p>Help my pastor to be Your steward oh God, not self-willed and not quick-tempered! Help him be hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, and self-controlled! Help him hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict! Titus 1:7-9</p><p>Help my pastor to shepherd the flock of God, and serve as an overseer, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly! Help him not lord his authority over those entrusted to him, but help him be an example to the flock! Help him so labor that when the Chief Shepherd appears, he will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away! 1 Pet. 5:2-4</p><p>Help my pastor watch out for the souls You have entrusted to him, as a man who must give an account! Help him do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for those entrusted to him! Heb. 13:17</p><p>Help my pastor not have dominion over the faith of Your people, but help him be a worker for our joy! 2 Cor. 1:24</p><p>Help my pastor not cease to pray for Your people! May he be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; may he walk worthy of You, fully pleasing You, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You! May he be strengthened with all might, according to Your glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy! May he give thanks to You Who has qualified him to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light! Col. 1:9-12</p><p>Cause my pastor's love to abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that he may approve the things that are excellent, that he may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to Your glory and praise! Phil. 1:9-11</p><p>Grant my pastor, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with might through Your Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in his heart through faith; that he, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that he may be filled with all the fullness of You oh God! Eph. 3:16-19</p><p>Please use my pastor for Your glorious employ! Make him mighty in the Scriptures; make his life to be dominated by a sense of Your greatness, Your majesty, and Your holiness. Make his mind and heart aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. Help him learn what it is to die to self, to all human aims and personal ambitions; help him be willing to be a fool for Christ's sake. Help him be willing to bear reproach and falsehood for Your sake. Help him labor and suffer for Your sake. Please make his supreme desire not to be to gain earth's accolades, but to win Your approbation when he appears before Your awesome judgment seat. Help him preach with a broken heart and with tear-filled eyes! Please grant Your ministry through him an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and allow us to witness "signs and wonders following" in the transformation of multitudes of human lives! (Adapted from Arnold Dallimore)</p><p>. . . for Jesus' sake – Amen!</p><p>To learn more about <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">the great King Jesus</a>, the LORD of the church, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</p></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-1724511445688437582024-01-10T10:52:00.004-05:002024-01-10T10:52:26.161-05:00Christ Jesus Is The Son And Groom!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfTl2YR1FtKDc_-rxCuGJrdZ3Cb2wlkWoOlKcvTflpj7A4seCNIrH6qtZdNw18qeRTxm9n4DUqUzzidbAV6iXoiEQlK5HMA-Ovb-eCFAjj61HPwrF84ZJwdZtrTk7yFYJroMmNzF766B_Ye_2SfoTLBOuM1VgueR5tlysC8SXMJ3WSOh4uapzvd30zjTo/s683/10.JAN.2024.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="658" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfTl2YR1FtKDc_-rxCuGJrdZ3Cb2wlkWoOlKcvTflpj7A4seCNIrH6qtZdNw18qeRTxm9n4DUqUzzidbAV6iXoiEQlK5HMA-Ovb-eCFAjj61HPwrF84ZJwdZtrTk7yFYJroMmNzF766B_Ye_2SfoTLBOuM1VgueR5tlysC8SXMJ3WSOh4uapzvd30zjTo/w616-h640/10.JAN.2024.jpeg" width="616" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-9758538206286576232024-01-09T11:32:00.565-05:002024-01-17T14:35:01.709-05:00A Picture With Denzel Washington, His Profession Of Faith, And The Return Of The King<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj48H6p0XfCwChHPaO6bn_hjD5yLZFnDlJaXX_wKTUO9CvB7vPntHE7Oh21RljwgvgErfiOh9tMjQFWoP3GzQeOLXQ5pcOjx5NU0twUjzBtGMHUbZs4a9vQ1aW1yBj2UOLM5Z0I5mbXlKOzjg6l5Ku8W2xeQmeptPXmNcvBluvBrAj2pndcfZTCak975aJT/s701/IMG_5717.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="701" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj48H6p0XfCwChHPaO6bn_hjD5yLZFnDlJaXX_wKTUO9CvB7vPntHE7Oh21RljwgvgErfiOh9tMjQFWoP3GzQeOLXQ5pcOjx5NU0twUjzBtGMHUbZs4a9vQ1aW1yBj2UOLM5Z0I5mbXlKOzjg6l5Ku8W2xeQmeptPXmNcvBluvBrAj2pndcfZTCak975aJT/w400-h270/IMG_5717.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Pauletta Washington, Denzel Washington's wife (since 1983; over 40 years!), is from the area where I grew up - Newton, North Carolina. My cousin (on the far right) had a flower shop there, and he provided the flowers for the Washington's wedding. Above is a picture of them together that Denzel signed: "To Alvin, God Bless, Denzel Washington"</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><b>Denzel Washington's Profession Of Faith</b></div><div><br /></div>Denzel is a talented, successful actor, and he seems to live a relatively moral life. After all, he has been married to the same woman for over 40 years! How many Hollywood actors have done that? At one awards ceremony, he thanked his wife, saying: "40 years of sacrifice. 40 years of forgiveness. She taught me about faith, spirituality, love, real love, unwavering love, in spite of myself." <a href="https://www.crosswalk.com/culture/features/10-times-denzel-washington-was-candid-about-his-christian-faith.html" target="_blank">He also speaks of God</a> and has encouraged young people <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROiNPUwg9bQ" target="_blank">to put God first in everything</a>. But some <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/unbrokenground/2023/05/is-denzel-washington-christian/" target="_blank">have wrestled with the question</a> whether or not Denzel actually is a true Christian, even though he himself professes to be one. We know that many professing believers will be rejected by Jesus on the last day:<div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" And then will I declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." <a href="https://www.monergism.com/topics/sermon-manuscripts-mp3s-scripture/matthew/audio-and-multimedia/chapter-matthew/chapter-07" target="_blank">Matthew 7:21-23</a></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>Being a moral person doesn't save you. Being faithful to your wife for 40 years and being a good husband doesn't save you. Going to church and talking about God doesn't save you. Those are all good things, but you can do all those things and still go to hell. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/series/you-must-be-born-again/messages" target="_blank">You must be born again</a>. You must repent of your sins and trust in the Christ of the Bible, and trust in Him by faith alone. That justifies you before God. And then, the evidence that you are truly born again and trusting in Christ alone is that you will seek, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to obey all that Jesus has commanded for the glory of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>One reason to be concerned about the genuineness of Denzel's profession of faith is his association with a false teacher. I was sad to see that he did an interview with T. D. Jakes, <a href="https://www.challies.com/false-teachers/the-false-teachers-t-d-jakes/" target="_blank">who is a dangerous, false teacher</a> and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaYsruRT0d4" target="_blank">wolf in sheep's clothing</a>. Jakes' "Christianity" is a brand of "Christianity" that is NOT Christianity. Jakes preaches a false god (<a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">This is the true God!</a>) and a false gospel. Please see this excellent documentary, <i><a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">American Gospel: Christ Alone</a>,</i> for more on that.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://livingwaters.com/" target="_blank">Ray Comfort</a> made a video on the question of the genuineness of Denzel's profession of faith with a bold Gospel presentation at the end here:<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hR50eO-8M-8" width="320" youtube-src-id="hR50eO-8M-8"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Only <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">our great triune God</a> knows for certain whether Denzel truly belongs to Christ or not, but we can always pray for him to know, trust, love, obey, and pursue Christ. We should pray that for ourselves and for all people everywhere. <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/12/go-to-hell.html" target="_blank">May God save sinners from hell</a>!</div><div><br /></div><div>God commands everyone to take the utmost care to ensure they are trusting in Christ alone:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Examine yourselves, <b><u>to see whether you are in the faith</u></b>. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 2 Corinthians 13:5-6</div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent <b><u>to make your calling and election sure</u></b>, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 2 Peter 1:10</p></blockquote><p>It's not wrong to ask good, Biblically informed questions about the genuineness of our own faith and about the genuineness of another's faith if the questioning is motivated by love and grounded in the truth. It's good and loving to be as discerning as possible about the reality of genuine faith because there is a great day of judgement coming, and, in love, we want everyone to be ready.</p><p><b>The Return Of The King In Wrath</b></p><div><div>One of the reasons it's so important that we examine ourselves to see whether we "are in the faith" and are diligent to "make our calling and election sure" is because of the terrifying picture of the final judgment we see in God's Word. There is lots of graphic violence and blood in the book of Revelation when Jesus comes back. The return of <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">the Warrior King, Jesus Christ the Almighty</a>, will be a frightening event for those outside of Christ. As one of the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-most-terrifying-hymn-lyrics-ive.html" target="_blank">most terrifying hymns</a> I've ever heard states: </div><div><br /></div></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>Judgment is surely coming</div></div><div><div>Coming to you and me</div></div><div><div>We will be judged that morning</div></div><div><div>For all eternity</div></div><div><div>Some will go into heaven</div></div><div><div>Others will be denied</div></div><div><div>Will you be in that number</div></div><div><div>Standing outside?</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>Standing outside the portals</div></div><div><div>Standing outside denied</div></div><div><div>Knowing that with the demons</div></div><div><div>Ever you shall abide</div></div><div><div>Never to share the beauty</div></div><div><div>Awaiting the sanctified</div></div><div><div>Oh! what an awful picture</div></div><div><div>Standing outside.</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>Standing outside while loved ones</div></div><div><div>Enter the pearly gate</div></div><div><div>Knowing that there forever</div></div><div><div>You will then separate</div></div><div><div>To be away from loved ones </div></div><div><div>And by our God denied</div></div><div><div>Oh! what an awful picture</div></div><div><div>Standing outside?</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>Can you not see the picture </div></div><div><div>Of those who're lost in sin</div></div><div><div>Standing outside the portals</div></div><div><div>Without a hope to win</div></div><div><div>Soul-crushed with deepest sorrow</div></div><div><div>Without a friend to guide</div></div><div><div>Oh! what an awful picture</div></div><div><div>Standing outside. J. A. McClung</div></div></blockquote><div><div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus' return described in the book of Revelation shows us His total and absolute victory, His ushering in of perfect justice, and the utter destruction of all of His and of His people's enemies:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/whos-left-standing/" target="_blank">Revelation 6:15-17</a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia [that's about 184 miles - that's a lot of blood!]. <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/the-end-of-labor/" target="_blank">Revelation 14:19-20</a></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. <a href="https://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/sermon/the-end-of-rivalry/" target="_blank">Revelation 19:11-16</a></div></blockquote><p>Are you ready to face the LORD Jesus Christ on that day and give an account of your life?</p><p>On that day, God will accomplish perfect justice; He will punish all of His enemies; everything sad will become untrue (a line from J. R. R. Tolkien); all wrongs will be made right; <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/01/jesus-spoke-of-hell-more-than-everyone.html" target="_blank">every evil will be perfectly punished</a>; there will be no more sin, no more death, no more sadness, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. We will finally see <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">the God-Man</a>, Jesus Christ, face to face. The LORD Jesus Christ is King of kings and LORD of lords Who has <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">the name above all names</a>, and He will bring about perfect justice someday, either in hell or because of <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/books/fifty-reasons-why-jesus-came-to-die" target="_blank">the cross</a>. Which will you choose?</p><p>If you are not a true, genuine, born again Christian, then you are cut off from Christ and in rebellion against God. Christ will <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/12/go-to-hell.html" target="_blank">punish you in hell</a> forever someday where there will be <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/01/jesus-spoke-of-hell-more-than-everyone.html" target="_blank">weeping and burning and gnashing of teeth</a> for all eternity. The <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/09/praying-gods-curses-on-wicked-war.html" target="_blank">Warrior King</a> will crush you in hell forever. And there will be lots of blood. And there will be no <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/12/gods-mercy-that-never-runs-dry.html" target="_blank">mercy</a>. But if you repent of (turn away from) your sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ - if you trust in His perfect life, <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/boasting-only-in-the-cross" target="_blank">His death on that cross</a>, His burial, and His resurrection - then He will save you from your sins and justice will have been accomplished at the cross:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-just-and-the-justifier" target="_blank">Romans 3:23-26</a></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">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. Jesus (John 3:16) (For more on this verse, see: 1. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-danger-perishing" target="_blank">The Danger: Perishing</a>; 2. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-design-is-love" target="_blank">The Design Is Love</a>; 3. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-duty-faith" target="_blank">The Duty: Faith</a>; 4. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-destiny-eternal-life" target="_blank">The Destiny: Eternal Life</a>)</p></blockquote><p><b>The Return Of The King For Our Everlasting Joy</b></p><p>But if the only reason you trust in Christ is so that you won't go to hell, you aren't truly trusting in Christ. You don't have to be born again in order not to want to go to hell. Nobody wants to go to hell. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/twenty-five-years-of-desiring-god" target="_blank">John Piper preached</a> about this insufficient reason some people come to Jesus:</p></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div><div><p style="text-align: left;">Or "I don’t want to go to hell. And so I am coming to you, Jesus. I hear that you can get me out of hell. Please don’t let me suffer forever. I don’t want to go to hell. Save me from hell." Well no demon wants to be in hell. Nobody wants to be in hell. You don’t have to be regenerate in order to have the desire not to want to go to hell. There is nothing holy or godly about not wanting to go to hell and be unhappy forever. Nobody wants to go to hell.</p></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F4-CrGFUAjA" width="320" youtube-src-id="F4-CrGFUAjA"></iframe></div><p>The deeper, more fundamental desire of the truly born again Christian is not merely to escape hell, but a <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/books/desiring-god" target="_blank">desire for God Himself</a>. We want Christ to come back because we want Christ above all. We don't want to go to hell because God will not be experienced there in His love and mercy but only in His anger and judgment. We don't want just to escape the punishment of hell; we want the presence of Christ! In his book, <i><a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/books/god-is-the-gospel" target="_blank">God Is The Gospel</a></i>, John Piper asks a riveting question:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?</p></blockquote><p>The true believer will cry out from the depths their heart: <b>NO! NEVER! I WANT CHRIST ABOVE ALL!</b> </p><p>Again, Piper writes in <i><a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/books/god-is-the-gospel" target="_blank">God is the Gospel</a></i>: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Justification is not an end in itself. Neither is the forgiveness of sins or the imputation of righteousness. Neither is escape from hell or entrance into heaven or freedom from disease or liberation from bondage or eternal life or justice or mercy or the beauties of a pain-free world. None of these facets of the gospel-diamond is the chief good or highest goal of the gospel. Only one thing is: seeing and savoring God himself, being changed into the image of his Son so that more and more we delight in and display God’s infinite beauty and worth.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God . . . . 1 Peter 3:18</p></blockquote><p>Jesus died to bring us to God. We want God, not His gifts, above all. This is the testimony of the saints throughout history. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/seven-reasons-we-must-pursue-supreme-satisfaction-in-god" target="_blank">They delight in God Himself</a>. Not merely in His gifts. But in God:</p><div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div><p style="text-align: left;">You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-swan-is-not-silent" target="_blank">Augustine</a></p></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in Him [God], they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-divine-majesty-of-the-word" target="_blank">John Calvin</a></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You." <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-path-to-full-and-lasting-pleasure" target="_blank">Psalm 16:2</a></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-path-to-full-and-lasting-pleasure" target="_blank">Psalm 16:11</a></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/battling-the-unbelief-of-envy" target="_blank">Psalm 37:4</a></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/your-emotions-matter-to-god" target="_blank">Psalm 73:25</a></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/come-what-may" target="_blank">Habakkuk 3:17-18</a></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ . . . . <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/that-we-might-gain-christ" target="_blank">Philippians 3:7-8</a> </p></div></blockquote><div><p>Hell is going to be so horrific that you want to escape it at any cost! And heaven, because God is there, is going to be so glorious and amazing that you want to enter in at any cost! Sam Storms, while describing Jonathan Edwards' view of heaven, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2011/02/christ-is-all-glory-of-immanuels-land.html" target="_blank">gave this wonderful description</a>:</p><blockquote>Edwards often talked about what we won’t see in heaven. Praise God for this. In Revelation 21:4 we are told there will be no tears of grief, no death or sorrow or pain. [In] verse 8 of chapter 21 we are assured by John that no one who is cowardly, lying, or unbelieving will be present; no murderers or anything abominable, immoral, or idolatrous. And again in [Revelation] 21:27 he says nothing that is unclean will be allowed to enter there. People think of the implications of what is being said. When we get to heaven there will be, said Edwards, nothing which shall offend the most delicate eye. In other words, nothing that is abrasive, irritating, agitating, or hurtful; nothing harmful, hateful, upsetting or unkind; nothing sad, bad, or mad, harsh, impatient, ungrateful, or unworthy; nothing weak or sick or broken or foolish; nothing deformed, degenerate, depraved, or disgusting; nothing polluted, pathetic, poor, or putrid; nothing dark, dismal, dismaying, or degrading; nothing blameworthy, blemished, blasphemous, or blighted; nothing faulty, faithless, frail, or fading; nothing grotesque or grievous, hideous or insidious; nothing illicit or illegal, lascivious or lustful; nothing marred or mutilated, misaligned or misinformed; nothing nasty or naughty, offensive or odious; nothing rancid or rude, soiled or spoiled, tawdry or tainted, tasteless, or tempting; nothing vile or vicious, wasteful or wanton - none of it! </blockquote><blockquote>And all of this for hell deserving sinners like you and me. </blockquote><blockquote>What will we see there? Wherever you turn your eyes you see nothing but glory and grandeur and beauty and brightness and purity and perfection and splendor and satisfaction and sweetness and salvation and majesty. We’ll see only and all that is adorable and affectionate, and beautiful and bright and brilliant and bountiful and delightful and delicious and delectable and dazzling and elegant and exciting and fascinating and fruitful and glorious and grand and gracious and good and happy and holy and healthy and whole and joyful and jubilant and lovely and luscious and majestic and marvelous, opulent and overwhelming, radiant and resplendent, splendid and sublime, sweet and savory, tender and tasteful, euphoric and unified. <b>And why?</b> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Because we’ll be looking at the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.</span></blockquote><p>Hallelujah! What a Savior! </p><p>If you are not a Christian, would you please flee from the wrath to come in hell, and flee to the all satisfying God and trust in Jesus Christ alone today? And pray that Denzel Washington and everyone else in the world would do the same as well! And meet me in heaven!</p><p>To learn more about <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">the great King Jesus</a> and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPFggtcdSHX8QVjYIJ1ucIuJ5RCYcGcdsVpnfYFbE6HD2JGyxo7drN4uUseIeobTLLNJLSnBZ3VQy0Xs6KwJ9xR4sLHCUajCrNG1u3ysXXOGgf7XY4Zs99mlKtduwGAvLAwqN_sxi5DDZGspJ4pptmdrxtR20xykoOcGsM4cU-wwMMO6CYiH3f6XFtZgS/s701/IMG_5717.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="701" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPFggtcdSHX8QVjYIJ1ucIuJ5RCYcGcdsVpnfYFbE6HD2JGyxo7drN4uUseIeobTLLNJLSnBZ3VQy0Xs6KwJ9xR4sLHCUajCrNG1u3ysXXOGgf7XY4Zs99mlKtduwGAvLAwqN_sxi5DDZGspJ4pptmdrxtR20xykoOcGsM4cU-wwMMO6CYiH3f6XFtZgS/w640-h432/IMG_5717.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p></div></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-26963702116400719132024-01-08T17:29:00.007-05:002024-01-12T11:09:29.854-05:00"For Your Sake He Became Poor": Taking The Poverty Of Jesus To Heart by John Piper<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOttD5PZwCIUAfD6vp8UkW4rRWLgwTyzjSeqpkft4XGbs7Y08iK_Xzt25iTcsMo4ovMcCvlYY6J_tXdchm-b4KTyTYkzQx09_YH3TzvH5RzynIz9q8jYyxWE4KglSRN5kDtfnyC_cOwIQRwLcQ82xBI0UoFVKhD5BO3N2MK3VVlKtr6D6XnixJ0O3hErX/s708/taste-and-see.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOttD5PZwCIUAfD6vp8UkW4rRWLgwTyzjSeqpkft4XGbs7Y08iK_Xzt25iTcsMo4ovMcCvlYY6J_tXdchm-b4KTyTYkzQx09_YH3TzvH5RzynIz9q8jYyxWE4KglSRN5kDtfnyC_cOwIQRwLcQ82xBI0UoFVKhD5BO3N2MK3VVlKtr6D6XnixJ0O3hErX/w434-h640/taste-and-see.jpeg" width="434" /></a></div><br /><div>This post is chapter 87 in John Piper's book <i><a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/books/taste-and-see" target="_blank">Taste And See: Savoring The Supremacy Of God In All Of Life</a></i> (Pages 258-261)</div><br />"If Christ had evangelized only his own kind, no one would be saved. There is only one of his kind - and God did not need evangelizing. Therefore, "Though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). Similarly, if the well-fed church evangelizes only "its own kind," massive stretches of lost humanity will go untouched because they are absolutely poor. Not only that, there are millions of Christians among the poor who are our brothers and sisters. <div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>Absolute poverty isn’t quite starvation, but it isn’t quite subsistence either. Absolute poverty means earning less than $370 per year. Half of all children in this population will not survive to their fifth birthday….</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Of the one billion people living in absolute poverty, David Barrett estimates that fully 200 million of these people are fellow believers in Jesus Christ. Something is desperately wrong in the international body of Christ when some of us live palatially, and others can’t keep their kids fed. (Tom Sine, "The Demographic Revolution and Whole-Life Stewardship," Faces of Poverty and Population [Monrovia, CA: World Vision, 1992], 18)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br />But even more important and more powerful in our lives than such statistics is the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We need to keep our eyes fixed on him—the real Jesus of history, not just some vague idea of God floating in the air. What he did and how he lived and what he said will change us, if we really listen to him and ponder the purpose of our predestination: "Those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29, RSV).<br /><br /><b>1. He became poor.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>2. His mother was poor.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">For [God] has had regard for the lowly state of His bondslave; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. (Luke 1:48)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>3. He was born in a cow stall.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">She gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>4. He was dedicated with the poor offering.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">When the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord…and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." (Luke 2:22–24; see also Leviticus 12:6–8)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>5. He was anointed to preach to the poor.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden. (Luke 4:18)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>6. He called the poor blessed and the rich woeful.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…. But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full." (Luke 6:20, 24)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>7. He said it was hard for the wealthy to be saved.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Luke 18:24–25)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>8. He called for anxiety-free sell-offs to get to a wartime lifestyle.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on…. But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to charity…. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:22, 31–34)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>9. He called for a passionate search for the poor.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame. (Luke 14:21)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">When you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. (Luke 14:13–14)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>10. He lived without accumulating even a home.</b><br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. (Matthew 8:20)</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br />There is in the life and teachings of Jesus a relentless tendency toward simplicity. There is a steady impulse toward living at risk, and with a kind of abandon to the Father’s care that looks foolish to the well-off world. There is an unsettling otherworldliness that made Jesus and his first followers radically useful in this dead-end world. There is a freedom from things and for the kingdom that thrills the heart of his disciples.<br /><br />Lord, give us this freedom. At any cost, free us from the bondage to this world, and its images of success and power. Open our eyes to see that "what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15, RSV). Grant us to live as aliens and exiles. And fix our eyes on the all-satisfying, everlasting joy of arriving in heaven on the Calvary road of love and service." <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/" target="_blank">John Piper</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To learn more about <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">the great King Jesus</a> and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-88549564077792940032024-01-06T11:41:00.025-05:002024-03-05T14:39:56.565-05:00The Place Of My Birth (Valdese, NC), My Views On Money, And Peter Waldo<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCLfWeWdI20rmuNu2ZrGYZp3si5MlrYO6fYWsZzcvwhJUGLWq3V_NEA-pVXQoyRHtnt7YCi_8hZB0KsvAcYGP9FgkbYGFKSgC0Kh4fwJG10fPB-hZpUYsitUPdqd_QxcEtkR_8Djl3dwfJ2QKlSz_qfZYJqcIbYX5FFt5wST-2hhTol4_UQVBYW19AwS1/s3088/IMG_5554.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2320" data-original-width="3088" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCLfWeWdI20rmuNu2ZrGYZp3si5MlrYO6fYWsZzcvwhJUGLWq3V_NEA-pVXQoyRHtnt7YCi_8hZB0KsvAcYGP9FgkbYGFKSgC0Kh4fwJG10fPB-hZpUYsitUPdqd_QxcEtkR_8Djl3dwfJ2QKlSz_qfZYJqcIbYX5FFt5wST-2hhTol4_UQVBYW19AwS1/w400-h300/IMG_5554.jpeg" width="400" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;">I was born on December 26th on a Sunday morning at 8am in Valdese, North Carolina. Recently I was able to visit this city again with my mom. I knew Valdese was founded by <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/peter-waldo-and-the-waldensians" target="_blank">a group of persecuted Christians called the Waldensians</a>: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">On May 29, 1893 Southern Railway’s “Number 11” deposited a travel-weary band of 29 souls from Northern Italy who were to break ground for a settlement. They were called the Waldensians, and that settlement became the Town of Valdese. The Waldensians were both a people and a church. Joining the Reformation in 1532, they predate <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-morning-star-of-the-reformation" target="_blank">John Wycliffe</a>, <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-goosefather" target="_blank">John Huss</a>, <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/martin-luther-lessons-from-his-life-and-labor" target="_blank">Martin Luther</a> and other Reformers. Known as a “people of the book,” they held the Bible to be sacred and the final authority in every aspect of life. (Blue Ridge National Heritage Area)</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">But I didn't know the full story behind <a href="https://www.gotquestions.org/Waldensians.html" target="_blank">the founder of this group</a>: Peter Waldo. What <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/12/gods-mercy-that-never-runs-dry.html" target="_blank">a kind mercy</a> it was for <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">the Triune God</a>, like He has in <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/11/10-gifts-im-most-thankful-for-with.html" target="_blank">so many other ways in my life</a>, to show me more about Himself and about Peter and his commitment to the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man, Jesus Christ</a>. Peter was basically a kind of <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/martin-luther-lessons-from-his-life-and-labor" target="_blank">Martin Luther</a> hundreds of years before Martin Luther. And I didn't know about his views on maximizing his use of money for the poor and for the glory of God. In <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-first-tremor" target="_blank">this excellent Desiring God article, Jon Bloom writes</a>: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">In 1170, Waldo was a very wealthy, well-known merchant in the city of Lyon. He had a wife, two daughters, and lots of property. But something happened — some say he witnessed the sudden death of a friend, others say he heard a spiritual song of a traveling minstrel — and Waldo became deeply troubled over the spiritual state of his soul and desperate to know how he could be saved. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The first thing he resolved was to read the Bible. But since it only existed in the Latin Vulgate, and his Latin was poor, he hired two scholars to translate it into the vernacular so he could study it.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Next, he sought spiritual counsel from a priest, who pointed him to the rich young ruler in the Gospels and quoted Jesus: “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). Jesus’s words pierced Waldo’s heart. Like the rich young ruler, Waldo suddenly realized he had been serving Mammon, not God. But unlike the rich young ruler who walked away from Jesus, Waldo repented and did exactly what Jesus said: he gave away all he had to the poor (after making adequate provision for his wife and daughters). From that point on, he determined to live in complete dependence on God for his provision.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Waldo immediately began to preach from his Bible in the streets of Lyon, especially to the poor. Many were converted, and by 1175 a sizable group of men and women had become Waldo’s disciples. They too gave away their possessions and were preaching . . . The people started calling them the “Poor of Lyons.” Later, as the group grew into a movement and spread throughout France and other parts of Europe, they became known as “The Waldensians.”</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The more Waldo studied Scripture, the more troubled he became over certain doctrines, practices, and governing structures of the Catholic Church — not to mention its wealth. And he boldly spoke out against these things. But since the Church officially prohibited lay preaching, Waldo and his ragtag band drew opposition from church leaders.</p></blockquote><p>I was so encouraged and confirmed by reading this! The very place of my birth was founded by a people whose heritage was immersed in fighting the love of money, seeking to give all they could away to the poor, and living for the glory of <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">King Jesus</a>! I took this discovery as a confirmation from God that this pursuit of mine is not odd or out of place, but in harmony with the people who founded the very place of my birth. Don't listen to the criticism! Your heart is free, Joseph! Pursue this way of life for the glory of King Jesus! Even where you were born confirms this!</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">Only one life, t'will soon be past!<br />Only what's done for Christ will last!<br />- <a href="https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/the-cambridge-seven" target="_blank">C. T. Studd</a></blockquote><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Lord, I give up my own plans and purposes, all my own desires, hopes and ambitions, and I accept Thy will for my life. I give up myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee, to be Thine forever. I hand over to Thy keeping all of my friendships; all the people whom I love are to take second place in my heart. Fill me now and seal me with Thy Spirit. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, for to me to live is Christ. Amen.<div>- <a href="https://www.reviveourhearts.com/blog/betty-scott-stam-life-surrender/" target="_blank">Betty Scott Stam</a></div></blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Loving Lord and Heavenly Father I offer up today all that I am, all that I have, all that I do, and all that I suffer, to be yours today and Yours forever. Give me grace, Lord, to do all that I know of Your Holy will. Purify my heart, sanctify my thinking, correct my desires. Teach me, in all of today's work and trouble and joy, to respond with honest praise, simple trust, and instant obedience, that my life may be in truth a living sacrifice, by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, my Master and my all. Amen.<br />- <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2022/08/elisabeth-elliot-grew-up-less-than-four.html" target="_blank">Elisabeth Elliot</a></blockquote><p><b>John Piper Helped Open My Eyes To What God's Word Teaches About Money</b></p><div><p><a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/" target="_blank">Pastor John Piper</a> has been a huge influence on <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2024/01/for-your-sake-he-became-poor-taking.html" target="_blank">how I view money</a> and the pursuit of a "war-time" lifestyle for the glory of King Jesus. In his book on fasting, <i><a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/books/a-hunger-for-god" target="_blank">A Hunger For God: Desiring God Through Fasting And Prayer</a></i>, he writes:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18–20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.</p></div></blockquote><div><p>His finger prints are all over these articles I've written:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/11/giving-up-your-ring-for-glory-of-king.html" target="_blank">Giving Up Your Ring For The Glory Of The King Who Forever Makes You Sing!</a></p><p><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/neither-poverty-nor-riches-and-growing.html" target="_blank">"Neither Poverty Nor Riches" And Growing In Generosity For The Glory Of King Jesus!</a></p><p><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/11/use-christmas-time-and-other-times-to.html" target="_blank">Use Christmas Time And Other Times To Store Up Treasure In Heaven!</a></p></blockquote></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2024/03/god-blesses-us-when-we-give-generously.html" target="_blank">God Blesses Us When We Give Generously And Sacrificially So That We Might Bless Others</a> </p></div></blockquote><div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-V_91c5ojU" width="320" youtube-src-id="G-V_91c5ojU"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>His book, <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/books/desiring-god" target="_blank"><i>Desiring God: Meditations Of A Christian Hedonist</i></a>, has a powerful chapter on money. John Piper could be a millionaire, but <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/millions-sold-no-money-taken" target="_blank">he takes no money from his book royalties</a>. He gives it all away! Oh to follow him as he follows Christ! Below, I link to numerous of his <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/ask-pastor-john" target="_blank">Ask Pastor John</a> podcasts on money.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPzig6t7gK6Enwh7mJmXNOlFDlHyGJIs5lXOwqGM1v4isjjwDcRXVRhqeXLoS9aspHKZku-CIj1-H4abCIrF2x_dUNkXq54JgyBs_g0PtkbWThdax0jAgVgmYfZqoPPzD3AUS0FLm3BXmK3_lsmLiYmDAvMT3E1KRAFuTp7z1SuAi1j5sqaFYCPGW3JdW/s4030/IMG_5629.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4030" data-original-width="3003" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsPzig6t7gK6Enwh7mJmXNOlFDlHyGJIs5lXOwqGM1v4isjjwDcRXVRhqeXLoS9aspHKZku-CIj1-H4abCIrF2x_dUNkXq54JgyBs_g0PtkbWThdax0jAgVgmYfZqoPPzD3AUS0FLm3BXmK3_lsmLiYmDAvMT3E1KRAFuTp7z1SuAi1j5sqaFYCPGW3JdW/w476-h640/IMG_5629.jpeg" width="476" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSiabgn5eJhNXBe6I_iSWxnpMmrh-7KT3KzSLu_hbIKR9C90UL4zB2NFCelHjvaAJsYmKcstCYg6XluGC2z3OuMxANP0MpRwA0x1LbIrnHhuWWgtQHw4pG5kiZtBOoUoazdbSimyqTk8iPTLuMWAZG0Z1A_bOKVxf_zg7qEnRhE5QeJx5eFC0X5kast-T/s3264/Valdese.Hospital..JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibSiabgn5eJhNXBe6I_iSWxnpMmrh-7KT3KzSLu_hbIKR9C90UL4zB2NFCelHjvaAJsYmKcstCYg6XluGC2z3OuMxANP0MpRwA0x1LbIrnHhuWWgtQHw4pG5kiZtBOoUoazdbSimyqTk8iPTLuMWAZG0Z1A_bOKVxf_zg7qEnRhE5QeJx5eFC0X5kast-T/w480-h640/Valdese.Hospital..JPG" width="480" /></a></div><p>May we, like Peter Waldo and John Piper, pursue our <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-christian-hedonism" target="_blank">joy in God</a> and give all we can away for the cause of Christ in the world so that God would be most glorified in us and we would be most satisfied in Him as we <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/dont-be-anxious-lay-up-treasure-in-heaven-part-1" target="_blank">store up treasure in heaven</a> for all eternity and truly know and experience the reality that it is <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/i-entrust-you-to-god-and-to-the-word-of-his-grace" target="_blank">more blessed to give than to receive</a>!</p><p><b>Resources From John Piper On Money And Storing Up Treasure In Heaven</b></p><div>1. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/is-it-sinful-to-pray-for-a-larger-income" target="_blank">Is It Sinful To Pray For A Larger Income?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>2. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/should-rich-christians-downgrade-their-lifestyle" target="_blank">Should Rich Christians Downgrade Their Lifestyle?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>3. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-jesus-teach-us-to-sell-all-our-possessions" target="_blank">Does Jesus Teach Us To Sell All Our Possessions?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>4. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-can-i-be-free-from-materialism" target="_blank">How Can I Be Free From Materialism?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>5. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-concerned-should-christians-be-with-consumerism" target="_blank">How Concerned Should Christians Be With Consumerism?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>6. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-christians-survive-in-middle-class-america" target="_blank">How Do Christians Survive In Middle Class America?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>7. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/do-the-biblical-warnings-against-riches-apply-to-most-americans" target="_blank">Do The Biblical Warnings Against Riches Apply To Most Americans?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>8. <a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-did-jesus-teach-about-giving-generously/" target="_blank">What Did Jesus Teach About Giving Generously?</a></div><div><br /></div><div>9. <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/topics/money/interviews?page=2" target="_blank">Various Topics About Money</a></div><div><br /></div><div>10. An excellent sermon from Kevin DeYoung on tithing and generosity: <a href="https://christcovenant.org/sermons/our-neglected-stewardship/" target="_blank">Our Neglected Stewardship</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Randy Alcorn's ministry, <a href="https://www.epm.org/browse/money-and-giving/" target="_blank">Eternal Perspective Ministries</a>, is also helpful on money and giving, and his book <i><a href="https://store.epm.org/the-treasure-principle-revised" target="_blank">The Treasure Principle</a> </i>is helpful as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>To learn more about the great and true <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2023/08/behold-your-triune-god.html" target="_blank">Triune God</a>, the <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2020/10/1.html" target="_blank">God-Man</a>, <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2012/06/thats-my-king-whos-name-above-all-names.html" target="_blank">Jesus Christ</a>, and His glorious <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/quest-for-joy" target="_blank">Gospel message</a> and <a href="https://christisallinall.blogspot.com/2021/02/thats-my-king-by-s-m-lockridge.html" target="_blank">everlasting Kingship</a>, please watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocHm18wUAGU" target="_blank"><i>American Gospel: Christ Alone</i></a>. You can <a href="https://www.watchagtv.com/american-gospel-christ-alone/videos/american-gospel-christ-alone" target="_blank">watch the full documentary here</a> with a free, 3 day trial.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>May We Be Moved To Give Joyfully And Sing With Passion!</b></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/clqdCXxqYvI" width="320" youtube-src-id="clqdCXxqYvI"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">An article about <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-divine-majesty-of-the-word" target="_blank">John Calvin's</a> influence on the Waldensians: <a href="https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ref-rev/10-4/10-4_accardy.pdf" target="_blank">Calvin's Ministry To The Waldensians</a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-32160890907878613752024-01-03T15:48:00.001-05:002024-01-03T15:48:13.713-05:00"That's My King!" In Matthew 21!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYqJ8BZzt4Gz93TSvUH-s59cwCWKAs0ugHg4JT5XJ49djm1p94tnpgLCDsRkl1SCuxgSuS9Q3UjpprJBqeqL5xjYoyQjdw3N6KQzSdpsOsT0TZ7kKIaELRfcUkjIftAIPzJdvvMq6LALZHtQXvUk-WYIkf8H__eRYy-g3s8rLvDKlVU5H-CH_Q-Utp13l/s3716/IMG_5621.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3716" data-original-width="3023" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPYqJ8BZzt4Gz93TSvUH-s59cwCWKAs0ugHg4JT5XJ49djm1p94tnpgLCDsRkl1SCuxgSuS9Q3UjpprJBqeqL5xjYoyQjdw3N6KQzSdpsOsT0TZ7kKIaELRfcUkjIftAIPzJdvvMq6LALZHtQXvUk-WYIkf8H__eRYy-g3s8rLvDKlVU5H-CH_Q-Utp13l/w520-h640/IMG_5621.jpeg" width="520" /></a></div><br /><div>Christ Jesus Is The Coming King</div><div>Who Knows Of Colts And Everything</div><div>Supplies All Needs, From Him They Spring</div><div>And In Jerusalem They Sing</div><div>Hosannas! Praise! They’re Worshiping</div><div>The Son Of David, Glory’s Ring</div><div>And Yet He’d Die And Taste The Sting</div><div>Of Sin And Death For Man’s Offspring</div><div>A Crown Of Thorns Would Pierce This King</div><div>On Him God’s Fiery Wrath Would Spring</div><div>He’d Die So Marred Past Human Thing</div><div>Then Rise To Us Salvation Bring</div><div>Take Refuge In His Healing Wing</div><div>By Faith Alone Let’s To Him Cling</div><div>He Saves From Olney To Beijing</div><div>He Is Our God, Our Reigning King</div><div>Who Will Forever Make Us Sing</div><div>He Is Our All, Our Everything!</div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Is The Temple Praise</div><div>The God-Man Truth His Life Conveys</div><div>Zeal For God’s House He Loves, Obeys</div><div>He Toppled Tables In A Blaze </div><div>Of Righteous Anger For Their Craze</div><div>For Money And Their Sinful Ways</div><div>The Temple Is For Prayer And Praise</div><div>Of Him Who Sent His Son These Days</div><div>To Die And Rise So We Could Raise</div><div>Hosannas To Our God Always</div><div>Now Every Nation To Him Prays</div><div>He’s Healer, Wonderful’s The Phrase</div><div>That Captures What He Is Amaze</div><div>All Hail! All Hail! The King Of Praise</div><div>Who Is Our All, Our All Always</div><div>Who Saved Us From Our Sinful Ways</div><div>So He’ll Forever Be Our Craze!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King! Do you know Him?!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Grows The Greatest Fruit</div><div>His Perfect Holiness Salute</div><div>He Loves And Serves And Saves To Boot</div><div>There’s No One Like Him, No Dispute</div><div>From Olney, Gaza, To Beirut</div><div>Sin Does And Has And Will Pollute </div><div>Like Israel Who Bore No Fruit</div><div>And Acted Like A Prostitute</div><div>Christ Curses All From Head To Root</div><div>But He Will Save And Death Refute</div><div>For On A Tree He’s Cursed And Mute</div><div>He Bore God’s Wrath Like Sinner Brute</div><div>He Died Our Lamb And Substitute</div><div>Then Rose Alive The Grave To Loot</div><div>Of All His Loved Ones Hot Pursuit</div><div>His Righteousness He Does Impute</div><div>By Faith Alone We’re Just, On Route</div><div>To Pray To Him And Mounts Uproot</div><div>For He’s Our All, The Greatest Fruit!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Reigns, Owning All Authority</div><div>In Everything He Bleeds Superiority</div><div>Don’t Question Him For He’s Right In The Majority</div><div>He’s Everlasting With Utmost Seniority</div><div>Yet He Died On That Cross And Was Counted Inferiority</div><div>Bearing God’s Wrath In Horrific Deteriority</div><div>But Rose Up From The Dead With All Superiority</div><div>Saving From Every Nation: The All And The Minority</div><div>So Trust In Him As Your First Priority</div><div>And Bow Down To His God-Man Authority</div><div>Who Is Himself Our Joy Superiority!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Is The Righteous Way</div><div>He Is The Son Who “Yes!” Would Say</div><div>Then All His Father’s Will Obey</div><div>But We’ve All Sinned And Gone Astray</div><div>Like Whores And Cheats Who Do Betray</div><div>We’ve Chosen Our Own Selfish Way</div><div>But Christ Would Die Our Debt To Pay</div><div>On Him Hell’s Wrath Would Fully Lay</div><div>But Then He Rose All Death To Slay</div><div>By Faith Alone We’re Just Today</div><div>So Now We’re Free To Walk His Way</div><div>We Too Say “Yes!” And Do And Pray</div><div>For Jesus Takes Our Sins Away</div><div>God’s Promises In Him Are Yea</div><div>Who Put God’s Love On Full Display</div><div>So We Like Him Trust And Obey!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King! I wonder if you know Him today?!</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Christ Jesus Is The Son And Stone</div><div>Of The Corner Best That’s Known</div><div>Marvelous In Our Eyes Shown</div><div>So Beautiful That Minds Are Blown</div><div>God’s Done This We Are His Own</div><div>By Christ’s Rejection Died Alone</div><div>Spit On, Beaten To The Bone</div><div>Bore God’s Wrath For Sins Atone</div><div>Died And Rose To Victory Own</div><div>Now With All Power On His Throne</div><div>He Rules O’er All The Cornerstone</div><div>Shows Mercy To All Those He’s Known</div><div>Who Trust In Him By Faith Alone</div><div>But Crushes Sinners, Down They’re Thrown</div><div>Who Reject His Rule And Groan</div><div>So Trust The Son He Won’t Disown</div><div>All Those By Grace To Him Have Flown!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>That's my King! That's my King!</div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-844580814553243517.post-54455050517591024672024-01-03T09:08:00.000-05:002024-01-03T09:08:02.787-05:00Christ Jesus Is The Son And Stone!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiwf9aDsgpEuVmoitz2TZWynO99M4XjrrmMwkA0jqFkXlMImS0IV82jmC1kzw1IqqCJZ-lfgHGaX8AsPwkszlzCz0_cN4wNLU5oiKyBlTaEqFGtyhjRLgX2PeuF4zoZQtjiGCEmg7BUPwEW0sARtR5IG5LOMN2QDNl4xM-uUfcR-fn0DRiF6Y-GvgcM7a/s695/03.JAN.2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="629" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiwf9aDsgpEuVmoitz2TZWynO99M4XjrrmMwkA0jqFkXlMImS0IV82jmC1kzw1IqqCJZ-lfgHGaX8AsPwkszlzCz0_cN4wNLU5oiKyBlTaEqFGtyhjRLgX2PeuF4zoZQtjiGCEmg7BUPwEW0sARtR5IG5LOMN2QDNl4xM-uUfcR-fn0DRiF6Y-GvgcM7a/w580-h640/03.JAN.2023.jpg" width="580" /></a></div>Joseph Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16595065822113855411noreply@blogger.com0