John Calvin said, For until men have so examined themselves, and learned how wretched and miserable they are, they will surely never yield God one hundredth part of the honour he deserves.” Continue reading ‘Our Great Salvation’
Monthly Archive for June, 2007Page 2 of 2
Whenever it is suggested that forgiveness is conditional, some respond, “Well isn’t it true that Jesus forgave those who crucified Him?” The reference is to Luke 23:34.
Continue reading ‘Didn’t Jesus pray, “Forgive them, Father. . .”?’
Biblical forgiveness is conditional. We offer forgiveness to all. But, forgiveness does not happen apart from repentance. Here is an excerpt from my writing.
Continue reading ‘On Bitterness and Conditional Forgiveness’
Even if you argue that Esther was forced to spend the night with the king, the fact remains that she kept her identity a secret and that she won the contest. She may have been forced to spend the night with the king (though we do not know that is the case). She did not have to conceal her identity and surely she did not have to win . . .
What is the point?
Continue reading ‘Preaching and Esther: She Won the Contest’
If you feel yourself wrestling with bitterness then focus more intently on our glorious God. We need to be less “feelings-centered” and more Christ-centered. Savor the providence of God. He is in control of all things and he is perfectly just and cannot be unjust. Bitterness begins when we have been treated unfairly. But, if we believe at the depths of our being that God will make sure that justice is accomplished, and if we are simultaneously confident that God is working all things together for our good, if that is our center, then we will beat the stuffings out of bitterness every time.
The current atonement debate has implications far beyond the doctrine of salvation. We are beginning to see how a departure from the Reformation understanding of the atonement will trickle down into areas of practical theology such as forgiveness.
It is also true that people are reading therapeutic approaches in the area of forgiveness back into doctrine. . .
I wrote the below material as an illustration about bitterness. But, it ended up being too much illustration and not enough truth. So, I had to cut it out. But, I couldn’t bear to completely delete it.
If you don’t want to read the illustration, here is the point. Avoid bitterness like the bubonic plague.
For those with nothing to do, here is a true story about 6th grade science. . .
Continue reading ‘A Bitterness Illustration that was too Long’
John Calvin said, For until men have so examined themselves, and learned how wretched and miserable they are, they will surely never yield God one hundredth part of the honour he deserves.”
If we are to really glorify God, then we must continually understand how completely lost we are apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul wrote.
I am preaching this morning from Hebrews 6:4-8 - - one of the most solemn warnings in all of Scripture. The author of Hebrews:
(1) Warns people who have tasted the faith.
(2) That if they walk away.
(3) They may never come back again because they have inoculated themselves to the Gospel.
Our Father in Heaven,
I pray our church would have a greater urgency with the Gospel. I pray that those who are waiting to accept the Gospel would bow their knee to Christ without delay. I pray that those who are weary from the journey would be reminded that quitting cannot be an option. And, I pray that our people would have a greater urgency for those who have walked away.
I pray that we would recognize that eternal destiny is in the balance.
For all our church,
”May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought back from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip us with everything good for doing His work, and may he work in us, what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb 13:20-21).
I am writing a chapter on bitterness. I am in the middle of describing the characteristics of bitter people. This is a chunk of what I just wrote:
And, yet there are so many bitter people. In fact, one of the reasons we agree that bitterness is bad is because we witness what it does to people. We all know ogres who yell at children who cut through their yard, kick dogs, and talk with red faces and raised voices at church business meetings about insignificant issues. They are cynical at work and unappreciative of how they have been blessed and they resent the successes of others.
The Wicked Witch of the West, for instance, was bitter. Anybody that would try and euthanize Toto has issues.
But, before we begin to feel too self-righteous because we do not kick dogs or light scarecrows on fire, we need to remember that even a little bitterness is bad. Proverbs tells us not to fret or burn up emotionally, that is be bitter, and we have all fretted about some injustice however trivial it might have been.[1] And, that is how bitterness begins, in small ways. No one climbs on a broomstick the first day and hires a bunch of flying monkeys right out of the chute. Bitterness begins with a little pouting.
[1] Proverbs 24:19-20.
A couple of questions:
(1) Would you agree that there are a lot of bitter people?
(2) What is characteristic of bitter people / what are they like? Don’t use any names or information that would allow someone to be identified!
