Depth of Mercy! Can there be?

Depth of mercy! Can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear,
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

I have long withstood His grace,
Long provoked Him to His face,
Would not hearken to His calls,
Grieved Him by a thousand falls.

I have spilt His precious blood,
Trampled on the Son of God,
Filled with pangs unspeakable,
I, who yet am not in hell!

I my Master have denied,
I afresh have crucified,
And profaned His hallowed Name,
Put Him to an open shame.

Jesus speaks, and pleads His blood!
He disarms the wrath of God;
Now my Father’s mercies move,
Justice lingers into love.

There for me the Savior stands,
Shows His wounds and spreads His hands.
God is love! I know, I feel;
Jesus weeps and loves me still.

Pity from Thine eye let fall,
By a look my soul recall;
Now the stone to flesh convert,
Cast a look, and break my heart.

Now incline me to repent,
Let me now my sins lament,
Now my foul revolt deplore,
Weep, believe, and sin no more.

Together for the Gospel: Mark Dever

Together for the Gospel

XI Marks

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And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:1-7)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; (1 John 3:1a)

The Love of Christ is Rich and Free

The love of Christ is rich and free;
Fixed on His own eternally;
Nor earth, nor hell, can it remove;
Long as He lives, His own He’ll love.

His loving heart engaged to be
Their everlasting Surety;
’Twas love that took their cause in hand,
And love maintains it to the end.

Chorus: Love cannot from its post withdraw;
Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law,
Can turn the Surety’s heart away;
He’ll love His own to endless day.

Love has redeemed His sheep with blood;
And love will bring them safe to God;
Love calls them all from death to life;
And love will finish all their strife.

He loves through every changing scene,
Nor aught from Him can Zion wean;
Not all the wanderings of her heart
Can make His love for her depart.

Chorus: Love cannot from its post withdraw;
Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law,
Can turn the Surety’s heart away;
He’ll love His own to endless day.

At death, beyond the grave, He’ll love;
In endless bliss, His own shall prove
The blazing glory of that love
Which never could from them remove.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12)

My Jesus I love Thee

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Heresy in Dead Orthodoxy

My good friend James Riker pointed me to his blog some time ago. I finally got around to visting it and linking to it.

From His blog,

Heresy in Dead Orthodoxy

"Heresy always finds its fattest soil in dead orthodoxy." W.H. Whitsitt, former President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1895-99)

So true. May we never lose the wonder and joy of discovering more and more of Christ our Lord!

The Church's answer to Transgenders

Christianity Today ran an article on the church’s response to the rising transgender movement. A quote form a pastor they interviewed summed up well what the article was getting at,

We tried very hard to walk a fine line between biblical authenticity—faithfulness to our understanding of the Bible—and compassionate concern.

Being Biblical while showing compassion. Though, Christianity Today did a good job of not saying whether transgenderism is wrong or right. Take the following quote, what is one suppose to make of it?

Cumings and the elders wrestled at length with many questions: Is it right to reject an isolated, deeply troubled person who is seeking the Lord?

"Seeking the Lord?" If any transgender is truly being drawn by the Father to believe in Christ, he will start having a distain for his sin. But it does bring up a good point about our compassion towards transgenders.

Let me say out loud that sexual perversions are not the graves of sins. unbelief and rejection of Christ is! the greatest commandment is not, "live according to the sexual standards I have given you." But is, "love the Lord with all your heart soul and mind." All other sins flow from not seeing who God is. Thus, we all are under the same condemnation if we are not hid in Christ! This of course does not mean sexual sins should be glazed over. to do that is unbelief as well. If one takes sins lightly or passes it by them, he is taking God's holiness lightly or passing it by! All sins should be seen as the horrendous offense to our creator that they are. Through the cross, however, God has shown that His grace is mightier than the power of sin!

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Rom 6:6)

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.(Rom 5:20-21)

thus we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to all under the wrath of God. Knowing that whether they are liars, robbers, or transgenders, The grace of God can reign over sin by the way of the cross.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor 6:9-11. emphasis mine)

So what will happen when transgender start calling for acceptance by the church? How will the church respond?

There are two positions we must resist with all strength.

1. We reject them as reprobates and show them no mercy. Yes this is an extreme position. But this is our standard gear regarding those we see in gross sin. We forget that one's salvation does not depend on the level of sin one is in. It relies on the power of our Savior. The Father removing the blindness from the sinners eyes to behold the magnificent glories of Christ (2 Cor 4:4-6). That is why I made a point to bring out the truth that unbelief is the greatest sin. If that is true than our very salvation testifies that no sin is too great for the power of the gospel.

2. We accept or remain silent to their lifestyle. This is plain acceptation of sin and disregard for God's holiness. This is neither loving or Christ like! This does not proclaim anything about God but only shows our fear of man.

Instead of these options, we must lovingly, compassionately proclaim and live the gospel to those that are still in darkness. Telling them and showing them the God justifies the ungodly and Jesus came to save sinners. No matter if they disobey their parents, cheat on their taxes, or dress up as the other gender. Christ saves sinners!

Wanye Grudem! Go, Wanye Grudem!

You can read the words to the song here.

Hercules Collins: God is the Gospel

A believer who hath the eyes of his understanding enlightened, his judgement and apprehension is [that] God is the chief good and supreme happiness [is] an intrest in God, a conformity to God, the enjoyment of God here and hereafter... As a convetous and a ambitious man, and a man given to carnal pleasure, will go through much difficulty to have their respective desires fulfilled; so will a believing soul suffer the loss of all, so he may win Christ. "None but Christ," saith an illuminated believer. "Whom have I in heaven but thee, or in earth I desire in comparison of thee?"

There are many good objects in heaven and earth beside thee. There are angels in heaven and saints on earth. But, soul, what are these to thee? Heaven, without thy presence would be no heaven to me. A palace without thee, a crown without thee, cannot satisfy me. But with thee can I be content, though in a poor cottage. With thee I am in liberty in bonds...[I]f I have thy smiles, I can bear the world's frowns. If I have spiritual liberty in my soul that I can ascend to thee by faith and have communion with thee, thou shalt choose my portion for me in this world, "for in the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul."

He may have gold, silver, wife, children, possessions, but his affections, the best of his affections God hath. He hath those things as the traveler doth his inn to help him to his journey's end.




Excerpts from Hercules Collins. taken from the book, Devoted to the Service of the Temple.