The Goal of God's Love May Not Be What You Think It Is!

Do people go to the Grand Canyon to increase their self-esteem? Probably not. This is, at least, a hint that the deepest joys in life come not from savoring the self, but from seeing splendor. And in the end even the Grand Canyon will not do. We were made to enjoy God.

We are all bent to believe that we are central in the universe. How shall we be cured of this joy-destroying disease? Perhaps by hearing afresh how radically God-centered reality is according to the Bible.

Both the Old and New Testament tell us that God's loving us is a means to our glorifying him. "Christ became a servant ... in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:8-9). God has been merciful to us so that we would magnify him. We see it again in the words, "In love [God] destined us to adoption ... to the praise of the glory of His grace" (Ephesians 1:4-6). In other words, the goal of God's loving us is that we might praise him. One more illustration from Psalm 86:12-13: "I will glorify your name forever. For your lovingkindness toward me is great." God's love is the ground. His glory is the goal.

This is shocking. The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

Take the cross of Christ, for example. The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love: "God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Yet the Bible also says that the aim of the death of Christ was "to demonstrate [God's] righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed" (Romans 3:25). Passing over sins creates a huge problem for the righteousness of God. It makes him look like a judge who lets criminals go free without punishment. In other words, the mercy of God puts the justice of God in jeopardy.

So to vindicate his justice he does the unthinkable – he puts his Son to death as the substitute penalty for our sins. The cross makes it plain to everyone that God does not sweep evil under the rug of the universe. He punishes it in Jesus for those who believe.

But notice that this ultimately loving act has at the center of it the vindication of the righteousness of God. Good Friday love is God-glorifying love. God exalts God at the cross. If he didn't, he could not be just and rescue us from sin. But it is a mistake to say, "Well, if the aim was to rescue us, then we were the ultimate goal of the cross." No, we were rescued from sin in order that we might see and savor the glory of God. This is the ultimately loving aim of Christ's death. He did not die to make much of us, but to free us to enjoy making much of God forever.

It is profoundly wrong to turn the cross into a proof that self-esteem is the root of mental health. If I stand before the love of God and do not feel a healthy, satisfying, freeing joy unless I turn that love into an echo of my self-esteem, then I am like a man who stands before the Grand Canyon and feels no satisfying wonder until he translates the canyon into a case for his own significance. That is not the presence of mental health, but bondage to self.

The cure for this bondage is to see that God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act. In exalting himself – Grand Canyon-like – he gets the glory and we get the joy. The greatest news in all the world is that there is no final conflict between my passion for joy and God's passion for his glory. The knot that ties these together is the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Jesus Christ died and rose again to forgive the treason of our souls, which have turned from savoring God to savoring self. In the cross of Christ, God rescues us from the house of mirrors and leads us out to the mountains and canyons of his majesty. Nothing satisfies us – or magnifies him – more. John Piper

May the glory of our God strengthen our hearts to treasure Him above all!!

Made Willing In The day of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

A MONSTER DRINK FOR THE CHRISTIAN!

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Dear lover of Jesus in war,

The clarion call for every true disciple of Jesus is to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord! Our lives as born again believers is and unimaginable fight against remaining sin and the Love of this world- that is the predominant way this world basis their thinking.

Our hope is in the gospel alone! The foundation of all that we say and do is built upon the rock solid inspired God-breathed word of God. The Bible is the infallible Word of God with "Supreme Authority in All Matters of Faith and Conduct.

Dear Christian we are in a war! Our everlasting souls stand before eternity and so with that reality staring us right in the face the question that we must ask ourselves is—are we leaning on our own understanding concerning the meaning of life, or are we banking all our hope on the way this world says we should live in matters of faith and conduct? My hope for myself and all who read this exhortation is that with all that we have within us we are trusting in Jesus to whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Pro 3-23) (Col 2:3)

This is a question we must ask ourselves daily if not every minute. We do not have the luxury to be at ease with the philosophy of this present age or playing with sin as if it’s trivial. “We must be killing sin or sin will be killing us” John Owen. We must passionately fight against the tide to give in because the majority of Americans hold to this way of thinking and belief system. The system that places its hope in man or Government, its view of life, sexual orientation, etc… apart from the Bible.

And yes believe it or not this verse in our Bibles 1 John 2:15-17 stop loving the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

True Christianity will always be hated by this world. The proof lies in the realty of the blood stained cross. There were only a small group of people who followed Jesus and most tried to stone Him because Jesus never beat around the bush when it came to calling out sin or sinners whether religious or unconverted. Moreover, in the early Church, and in modern places like Sudan, China, Pakistan, etc.. Those who herald the truth of the gospel with unclenching determination to their risen lord you’ll find out their endings are not a bed of roses but martyrdom.

Why is this? The Bible is as clear as the nose upon our faces. The hearts of all men are born with a horrific debilitating disease called sin. This disease affects the whole of man. We are fallen creatures and right out of the womb there is an innate desire to sin and not only to sin but to love our sin! (Ps 51:5)

The man born with this disease will never love the Jesus of the Bible or His glorious gospel unless they are rescued by sovereign grace and the dominion and slavery of sin is broken by the High Sherriff of heaven, Jesus Himself!!!! (John 6:44-45) (John 1:12-13). God’s word is clear. The carnal mind is at enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Rom 8:7). Mankind is born spiritually dead and apart from saving grace our spiritual discernment is absolutely bankrupt! 1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

So, whatever we may do, we must not follow our hearts nor the philosophies of this present age because the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer 17:9).

My burden for writing this exhortation is because when I look around at modern evangelicalism it is a downright embarrassment. Who would want to a Christian when we look and act so much like the world! We stand with our Bibles in our hands and raise our hands in our worship services and we cry Holy, Holy, Holy, but in reality there is no resemblance to holiness according to Jesus! It all looks like a charade to those outside!

We are shocked at the sexual destruction that plagues our society. We are shocked by the failure of marriages and homes. We are shocked by the rampant realty of gossip, lying, stealing etc, yet we eat it up on our televisions but we chalked it up to “it’s just entertainment”. We boast that we are pop culture junkies but what we can’t boast in is in Holiness because our lives drip of downright hypocrisy!

Every Christian is called to peruse holiness. (2Cor 7:1) (Eph 4:22-24) (1Thess 3:13, 4:4,7) (2 Pet 3:11) The gospel evangelist to the Hebrews even proclaims “that without holiness no one will see the Lord” and yet we play around with sin because it’s just entertainment while the world laughs at us and perishes in their sin. (Heb 13:8)

Where are the men and women of courage? Who will stand and take the battle right into the face of our enemy and confront the philosophies and passing pleasures of this world for what they really are—fool’s gold!!!

Where are those who will stand with the apostle Paul and say Philippians 3:8-10 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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.

Satan’s ultimate desire is the obliteration of Biblical Christianity (John 8:44) (1John 3:8). Our stance upon the old truths of God’s eternal word will never be popular. Liberal theology, denial of the inerrancy of scriptures, Atheism boasting in there made up religion of self worship. Gainsayers mocking true Disciples of Christ and playing fast and loose with certain text of scriptures to prove or pacify there indulgences in sin etc..

Whatever the cost may be to be courageous for the gospel, remember it is always better to obey Jesus than man! (Acts 5:29). Remember we live in a crooked and perverse generation so contend for the faith by looking unto Jesus. (Phil 2:15) Regardless of the persecution that will arise if you take action remember the inspired words of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12 ¹² Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

Be prepared to meet great opposition but nevertheless don’t hesitate to share the truth of God’s glorious gospel for it is the only power to raise sinners from the dead and break the bondage of sin. Jesus said it very plainly in Matthew 10:34-40 ³⁴ " Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ "For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; ³⁶ "and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.' ³⁷ "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. ⁴⁰ " He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

Remember, be gospel centered! Everything we do and say must find its focal point at the cross. Keep the plain things the main things. It’s easy to get hung up on the symptoms of sin whether it’s homosexuality, fornication, abortion, lying, stealing etc.. The bottom line is that Jesus has come to destroy the works of Satan and to completely abolish the oppression of reigning sin! (1 John 3:8)

Our hope is the gospel! The main thing is that men women, boys and girls need new hearts! We must be born again! (John 3:3) Oh! And bless God through the gospel He works a miracle of grace and transforms our hearts out of darkness and into His marvelous light! So, be courageous for the truth and tackle the monster called sin by the strength of the cross. And may our Great God be pleased to use us in gospel ministry to see heart transplants that even we received and experienced at the foot of the cross!!

I hope that when our day comes to stand before the lord Jesus we can say with a joyful confidence 2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, i have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Striving with you my friends in the fight for our souls and the gospel!

Casey Kirkman

“Godly sorrow brings repentance”

"Godly sorrow brings repentance."

2 Corinthians 7:10 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God. Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature's garden. Pearls grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners except divine grace works it in them. If thou hast one particle of real hatred for sin, God must have given it thee, for human nature's thorns never produced a single fig. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh."

True repentance has a distinct reference to the Saviour. When we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another upon the cross, or it will be better still if we fix both our eyes upon Christ and see our transgressions only, in the light of His love.

True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may say he hates sin, if he lives in it. Repentance makes us see the evil of sin, not merely as a theory, but experimentally--as a burnt child dreads fire. We shall be as much afraid of it, as a man who has lately been stopped and robbed is afraid of the thief upon the highway; and we shall shun it--shun it in everything--not in great things only, but in little things, as men shun little vipers as well as great snakes. True mourning for sin will make us very jealous over our tongue, lest it should say a wrong word; we shall be very watchful over our daily actions, lest in anything we offend, and each night we shall close the day with painful confessions of shortcoming, and each morning awaken with anxious prayers, that this day God would hold us up that we may not sin against Him.

Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying day. This dropping well is not intermittent. Every other sorrow yields to time, but this dear sorrow grows with our growth, and it is so sweet a bitter, that we thank God we are permitted to enjoy and to suffer it until we enter our eternal rest. Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

For a great sermon upon what biblical grief look likes you can read Spurgeon's sermon upon this subject here-- http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols46-48/chs2691.pdf

Made Willing In The Day of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

WHAT IS TRUE REPENTANCE?

Mark 1:15 "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

We live in a day when most of modern Christianity is viewed as a scam. So many professed believers proclaiming love for Jesus and yet they are still wedded to this present world. Many professed believers in Christ professed to be saved but they have no idea what they are really saved from. Christianity in America is a million miles wide but only an inch thick!!!

I was reading Spurgeon and came across these very sobering words on repentance. So, as you read through these words from Spurgeon ask the Lord as the Psalmist did in Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart. Indeed this very uncommon in the day in which we live but it's Biblical. May Jesus convict, instruct, and comfort us as we long for that glorious day when we will never have to repent again!!!

"There must be a true and actual abandonment of sin and a turning unto righteousness in real act and deed in every day life. Repentance, to be sure, must be entire. How many will say, Sir, I will renounce this sin and the other...but there are certain darling lusts which I must keep and hold? Oh, sirs, in God's name let me tell you, it is not the giving up of one sin, nor 50 sins which is true repentance. It is the solemn renunciation of every sin. If thou dost harbor one of those accursed vipers in thy heart and dost give up every other, that one lust like one leak in a ship will sink thy soul. Think it not sufficient to give up thy outward vices, fancy it not enough to cut off the more corrupt sins of thy life, it is all or none which God demands. Repent, says He, and when He bids you repent, He means repent of all thy sins otherwise He can never accept thy repentance as real and genuine. All sin must be given up or else you will never have Christ. All transgression must be renounced or else the gates of heaven must be barred against you. Let us remember then that for repentance to be sincere, it must be entire repentance. True repentance is a turning of the heart as well as of the life. It is the giving up of the whole soul to God to be His forever and ever. It is the renunciation of the sins of the heart as well as the crimes of the life."

Made Willing In The Day Of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT TO LIVE BY FAITH TODAY!

Living by faith.

Galatians 3:11

Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith."

"Faith is the great sustaining energy when you are under trials, difficulties, suffering, or hard labor. The Holy Spirit implants an active, operative faith in the Christian. It is sent to sustain you during trials, and it is a riddle that we cannot explain. Divine purpose eternally fixes everything; nevertheless, the prayer of faith moves the arm of God. And though the mystery cannot be explained, the facts cannot be denied.

My brothers and sisters may think me fanatical, but it is my firm belief that in ordinary matters, such as obtaining your living, educating your children, and running your household, you are to depend on God as much as in the grand matter of salvation. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30), so go to God with your trifles. Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will (Mathew 10:29), so throw your minor trials on the Lord. Never think that anything is too little for your heavenly Father’s love. He who rides the whirlwind (Is.65:15) also walks in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8). He who shakes the avalanche from its mountain (Ps. 46:3) also makes the autumn leaf twinkle as it falls from the aspen. “He has stretched out the heavens by His understanding” (Jer. 51:15). He guides each grain of dust that is blown from the summer’s threshing floor.

Confide in Him for the little as well as for the great. You will find that He does not fail. He is the God of the hills as well as the God of the valleys." C.H. Spurgeon

Made Willing In The Day of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

What is the Gospel?

What is the Gospel? by C. J. Mahaney

1) What is the gospel?

"No question is more important, and biblical clarity in response to this question is critical. Sadly, confusion about the gospel is quite common among professing evangelicals today. I find Graeme Goldsworthy’s comment all too relevant: “The main message of the Bible about Jesus Christ can easily become mixed with all sorts of things that are related to it. We see this in the way people define or preach the gospel. But it is important to keep the gospel itself clearly distinct from our response to it or from the results of it in our lives and in the world.” So here is my attempt to heed the counsel of Dr. Goldsworthy and keep the gospel “clearly distinct.”

The following definition of the gospel, provided by Jeff Purswell, the Dean of our Pastors College, seeks to capture the substance of the gospel: “The gospel is the good news of God’s saving activity in the person and work of Christ. This includes his incarnation in which he took to himself full (yet sinless) human nature; his sinless life which fulfilled the perfect law of God; his substitutionary death which paid the penalty for man’s sin and satisfied the righteous wrath of God; his resurrection demonstrating God’s satisfaction with his sacrifice; and his glorification and ascension to the right hand of the Father where he now reigns and intercedes for the church.

“Such news is specific: there is a defined ‘thatness’ to the gospel which sets forth the content of both our saving faith and our proclamation. It is objective, and not to be confused with our response. It is sufficient: we can add nothing to what Christ has accomplished for us--it falls to us simply to believe this news, turning from our sins and receiving by faith all that God has done for us in Christ.”

I find this definition of the gospel faithful to the presentation of the four Gospels—they present the person and work of Christ as the good news. In the Apostle Paul’s concise summation of the gospel, he focuses more particularly on Christ’s death and resurrection as the core of his proclamation:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures….” 1 Cor 15:3-4

Focusing more specifically still, the apostle encapsulates the work of Christ by focusing on the cross: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2:2

So that is the gospel: God’s saving work in and through Christ. And the cross is the pinnacle of that work. Knox Chamblin helpfully notes this emphasis in Paul’s writing and ministry: “His gospel is ‘the word of the cross’ (1 Cor. 1:17-18); nowhere is there a comparable reference to ‘the word of the resurrection.’ In I Corinthians 1:23-24 it is ‘Christ crucified’ who is identified as ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God,’ not as we might have expected (especially in the case of ‘power’), Christ resurrected…. Both the cross and the resurrection are ‘of first importance’ in Paul’s gospel (I Cor. 15:3-4). Unless Christ has risen from the dead, the preaching of the cross (and of the resurrection) is a waste of time (15:14); but once the resurrection has occurred, the cross remains central.”

And the centrality of the cross isn’t temporary. The cross remains on center stage even when we receive a glimpse of eternity in the New Testament’s final book: “One is taken aback by the emphasis upon the Cross in Revelation. Heaven does not ‘get over’ the cross, as if there are better things to think about; heaven is not only Christ-centered, but cross-centered, and quite blaring about it.” Jim Elliff

There is nothing more important than getting the gospel right. Years ago, John Stott made the following frightening observation of the evangelical church when he wrote, “All around us we see Christians relaxing their grasp on the gospel, fumbling it, and in danger of letting it drop from their hands altogether.”

May the Lord help us to be richly planted in the gospel!

Made Willing In The Day of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

3 Simple Rules For Listening to a Sermon!

It is not enough that we go to Church and hear sermons. We may do so for fifty years, and be nothing better, but rather worse. “Take heed,” says our Lord, “how you hear.” Would any one know how to hear properly? Then let them lay to heartthree simple rules.

1) We must hear with FAITH, believing implicitly that every word of God is true, and shall stand. The word in old time did not profit the Jews, since it was “not mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Heb. 4:2).

2) We must hear with REVERENCE, remembering constantly that the Bible is the book of God. This was the habit of the Thessalonians. They received Paul’s message, “not as the word of men, but the word of God” (1 Thess. 2:13).

3) We must bear with PRAYER, praying for God’s blessing before the sermon is preached, praying for God’s blessing again when the sermon is over. Here lies the grand defect of the hearing of many. They ask no blessing, and so they have none. The sermon passes through their minds like water through a leaky vessel, and leaves nothing behind.

► Summary:

Let us bear these rules in mind every Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached. Let us not rush into God’s presence careless, reckless, and unprepared, as if it mattered not in what way such work was done. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions, we will hear with profit, and return with praise.~ J.C. Ryle

Made Willing In The Day Of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

PRAYING FOR THOSE OUTSIDE OF CHRIST!

Dear friend, I don't believe their can anything more heartbreaking than to have a loved one or a close friend who is not a Christian. Many of us feel deeply with the apostle Paul when he said in Romans 9:3 "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

We feel helpless because we can't make them believe! We must trust in the tender mercies of God to work in their heart to show them their desperate need of His Son. But in the meantime we have lot's of work to do. Just because God is the author of salvation that doesn't mean we have no work to do. We have lot's of work to do and our heavenly Father bid's us to work with dividends of eternal worth!

God has chosen to use human instruments to bring about His saving work in the heart of sinners. The gospel truth must be at the heart of this endeavor! No need to shave off the rough edges or candy coat the gospel message for God has promised to bless our endeavors if it is accompanied by his truth.

So while we trust God to bless His truth we must remain vigilant in holiness, godliness, faithfulness, love and many good works. Yet, I've left off till last the most important aspect of our work that we must be engaged in if we are to see sinners saved and that is prayer! So much can be said but let me leave you with these words from Mr. Spurgeon to help fuel our hearts in seeing sinners saved!!!

"We ought to make it a rule of our life to bear the sorrows of other people. If sinners will not repent, we cannot repent for them. If they will not believe, we cannot believe for them. True religion can never be a matter of sponsorship, but we can do this for sinners—we can say to the Lord, “O Lord, these sinners will not feel their sin, but we feel it! It grieves us and cuts us to the heart! O Lord, will You not give them repentance? Will You not cause these sinners to believe in You? We confess their iniquity before You, for we know the guiltiness of their hearts in rejecting You. We weep and mourn that they will not admire Your beauty and will not yield their hearts to You, but, dear Savior, do win their hearts in answer to our prayer. They are far away from God by their wicked works—bring them nearby Your precious blood.” That is what I mean. And if

you can do this, appropriating, as it were, the sins and sorrows of mankind to yourself, you will be showing your sympathy with them in the best possible way."

May Christ give us the strength in this most noble endeavor!

Made Willing In The Day of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

The Immutability of God!

The Attributes of God
by A.W. Pink

The Immutability of God

This is one of the Divine perfections which is not sufficiently pondered. It is one of the excellencies of the Creator which distinguishes Him from all His creatures. God is perpetually the same: subject to no change in His being, attributes, or determinations. Therefore God is compared to a rock (Deut 32:4, etc.) which remains immovable, when the entire ocean surrounding it is continually in a fluctuating state; even so, though all creatures are subject to change, God is immutable. Because God has no beginning and no ending, He can know no change. He is everlastingly "the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (Jas. 1:17).

First, God is immutable in His essence. His nature and being are infinite, and so, subject to no mutations. There never was a time when He was not; there never will come a time when He shall cease to be. God has neither evolved, grown, nor improved. All that He is today, He has ever been, and ever will be. "I am the Lord, I change not" (Mal. 3:6) is His own unqualified affirmation. He cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse. Altogether unaffected by anything outside Himself, improvement or deterioration is impossible. He is perpetually the same. He only can say, "I am that I am" (Ex. 3:14). He is altogether uninfluenced by the flight of time. There is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity. Therefore His power can never diminish nor His glory ever fade.

Secondly, God is immutable in His attributes. Whatever the attributes of God were before the universe was called into existence, they are precisely the same now, and will remain so forever. Necessarily so; for they are the very perfections, the essential qualities of His being. Semper idem (always the same) is written across every one of them. His power is unabated, His wisdom undiminished, His holiness unsullied. The attributes of God can no more change than Deity can cease to be. His veracity is immutable, for His Word is "forever settled in heaven" (Ps. 119:89). His love is eternal: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love" (Jer. 31:3) and "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (John 13:1). His mercy ceases not, for it is "everlasting" (Ps. 100:5).

Thirdly, God is immutable in His counsel. His will never varies. Perhaps some are ready to object that we ought to read the following: "And it repented the Lord that He had made man" (Gen. 6:6). Our first reply is, Then do the Scriptures contradict themselves? No, that cannot be. Numbers 23:19 is plain enough: "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent." So also in 1 Samuel 15:19, "The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man, that He should repent." The explanation is very simple. When speaking of Himself. God frequently accommodates His language to our limited capacities. He describes Himself as clothed with bodily members, as eyes, ears, hands, etc. He speaks of Himself as "waking" (Ps. 78:65), as "rising early" (Jer. 7:13); yet He neither slumbers nor sleeps. When He institutes a change in His dealings with men, He describes His course of conduct as "repenting."

Yes, God is immutable in His counsel. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Rom. 11:29). It must be so, for "He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth" (Job 23:13). Change and decay in all around we see, may He who changeth not abide with thee. God’s purpose never alters. One of two things causes a man to change his mind and reverse his plans: want of foresight to anticipate everything, or lack of power to execute them. But as God is both omniscient and omnipotent there is never any need for Him to revise His decrees. No. "The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations" (Ps. 33:11). Therefore do we read of "the immutability of His counsel" (Heb. 6:17).

Herein we may perceive the infinite distance which separates the highest creature from the Creator. Creaturehood and mutability are correlative terms. If the creature was not mutable by nature, it would not be a creature; it would be God. By nature we tend to nothing, as we came from nothing. Nothing stays our annihilation but the will and sustaining power of God. None can sustain himself a single moment. We are entirely dependent on the Creator for every breath we draw. We gladly own with the Psalmist Thou "holdest our soul in life" (Ps. 66:9). The realization of this ought to make us lie down under a sense of our own nothingness in the presence of Him "in Whom we live and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

As fallen creatures we are not only mutable, but everything in us is opposed to God. As such we are "wandering stars" (Jude 13), out of our proper orbit. The wicked are "like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest" (Isa. 57:20). Fallen man is inconstant. The words of Jacob concerning Reuben apply with full force to all of Adam’s descendants: "unstable as water" (Gen. 49:4). Thus it is not only a mark of piety, but also the part of wisdom to heed that injunction, "cease ye from man" (Isa. 2:22). No human being is to be depended on. "Put not your trust in princes, in the son of man, in whom is no help" (Ps. 146:3). If I disobey God, then I deserve to be deceived and disappointed by my fellows. People who like you today, may hate you tomorrow. The multitude who cried "Hosanna to the Son of David," speedily changed to "Away with Him, Crucify Him."

Herein is solid comfort. Human nature cannot be relied upon; but God can! However unstable I may be, however fickle my friends may prove, God changes not. If He varied as we do, if He willed one thing today and another tomorrow, if He were controlled by caprice, who could confide in Him? But, all praise to His glorious name, He is ever the same. His purpose is fixed, His will stable, His word is sure. Here then is a rock on which we may fix our feet, while the mighty torrent is sweeping away everything around us. The permanence of God’s character guarantees the fulfillment of His promises: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee" (Isa. 54:10).

Herein is encouragement to prayer: "What comfort would it be to pray to a god that, like the chameleon, changed color every moment? Who would put up a petition to an earthly prince that was so mutable as to grant a petition one day, and deny it another?" (S. Charnock, 1670). Should someone ask, But what is the use of praying to One whose will is already fixed? We answer, Because He so requires it. What blessings has God promised without our seeking them? "If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14), and He has willed everything that is for His child’s good. To ask for anything contrary to His will is not prayer, but rank rebellion.

Herein is terror for the wicked. Those who defy Him, break His laws, have no concern for His glory, but live their lives as though He existed not, must not suppose that, when at the last they shall cry to Him for mercy, He will alter His will, revoke His word, and rescind His awful threatenings. No, He has declared, "Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them" (Ezek. 8:18). God will not deny Himself to gratify their lusts. God is holy, unchangingly so. Therefore God hates sin, eternally hates it. Hence the eternality of the punishment of all who die in their sins.

The Divine immutability, like the cloud which interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptian army, has a dark as well as a light side. It insures the execution of His threatenings, as well as the performance of His promises; and destroys the hope which the guilty fondly cherish, that He will be all lenity to His frail and erring creatures, and that they will be much more lightly dealt with than the declarations of His own Word would lead us to expect. We oppose to these deceitful and presumptuous speculations the solemn truth, that God is unchanging in veracity and purpose, in faithfulness and justice. (J. Dick, 1850).

Made Willing In The Day Of His Power!

Casey Kirkman

The Kind of Revival We Need by Charles H. Spurgeon

It is good for us to draw nigh unto God in prayer. Our minds are grieved to see so little attention given to united prayer by many churches.How can we expect a blessing if we are too idle to ask for it? How can we look for a Pentecost if we never meet with one another, in one place, to wait upon the Lord? Brethren, we shall never see much change for the better in our churches till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.But now that we have come together, how shall we pray? Let us not degenerate into formality, or we shall be dead while we think we live. Let us not waiver through unbelief, or we shall pray in vain. Oh, for great faith with which to offer great prayers!We have been mingling praise and prayer together as a delicious compound of spices, fit to be presented upon the altar of incense through Christ our Lord; may we not at this time offer some special far-reaching petition? It is suggested to me that we pray for a true and genuine revival of religion throughout the world.

A Real and Lasting Revival

I am glad of any signs of life, even if they should be feverish and transient, and I am slow to judge any well intended movement, but I am very fearful that many so called revivals in the long run wrought more harm than good. A species of religious gambling has fascinated many men, and given them a distaste for the sober business of true godliness.But if I would nail down counterfeits upon the counter, I do not therefore undervalue true gold. Far from it. It is to be desired beyond measure that the Lord would send a real and lasting revival of spiritual life.We need a work of the Holy Spirit of a supernatural kind, putting power into the preaching of the Word, inspiring all believers with heavenly energy, and solemnly affecting the hearts of the careless, so that they turn to God and live. We would not be drunk with the wine of carnal excitement, but we would be filled with the Spirit. We would behold the fire descending from heaven in answer to the effectual fervent prayers of righteous men. Can we not entreat the Lord our God to make bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the people in this day of declension and vanity?

Old-fashioned Doctrine

We want a revival of old-fashioned doctrine. I know not a single doctrine which is not at this hour studiously undermined by those who ought to be its defenders. There is not a truth that is precious to the soul which is not now denied by those whose profession it is to proclaim it. To me it is clear that we need a revival of old-fashioned gospel preaching like that of Whitefield and Wesley.The Scriptures must be made the infallible foundation of all teaching; the ruin, redemption and regeneration of mankind must be set forth in unmistakable terms.
Personal GodlinessUrgently do we need a revival of personal godliness. This is, indeed, the secret of church prosperity. When individuals fall from their steadfastness, the church is tossed to and fro; when personal faith is steadfast, the church abides true to her Lord.It is upon the truly godly and spiritual that the future of religion depends in the hand of God. Oh, for more truly holy men, quickened and filled with the Holy Spirit, consecrated to the Lord and sanctified by His truth.Brethren, we must each one live if the church is to be alive; we must live unto God if we expect to see the pleasure of the Lord prospering in our hands. Sanctified men are the salt of society and the saviours of the race.

Domestic Religion

We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children?Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach! Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves "holiness unto the Lord"; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us.

Vigorous, Consecrated Strength

We want also a revival of vigorous, consecrated strength. I have pleaded for true piety; I now beg for one of the highest results of it. We need saints. We need gracious minds trained to a high form of spiritual life by much converse with God in solitude.Saints acquire nobility from their constant resort to the place where the Lord meets with them. There they also acquire that power in prayer which we so greatly need. Oh, that we had more men like John Knox, whose prayers were more terrible to Queen Mary than 10,000 men! Oh, that we had more Elijahs by whose faith the windows of heavens should be shut or opened!This power comes not by a sudden effort; it is the outcome of a life devoted to the God of Israel! If our life is all in public, it will be a frothy, vapoury ineffectual existence; but if we hold high converse with God in secret, we shall be mighty for good. He that is a prince with God will take high rank with men, after the true measure of nobility.Beware of being a lean-to; endeavour to rest on your own walls of real faith in the Lord Jesus. May none of us fall into a mean, poverty-stricken dependence on man! We want among us believers like those solid, substantial family mansions which stand from generation to generation as landmarks of the country; no lath-and-plaster fabrics, but edifices solidly constructed to bear all weathers, and defy time itself.Given a host of men who are steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, the glory of God's grace will be clearly manifested, not only in them, but in those round about them. The Lord send us a revival of consecrated strength, and heavenly energy!Preach by your hands if you cannot preach by your tongues. When our church members show the fruits of true godliness, we shall soon have inquiries for the tree which bears such a crop.Oh the coming together of the saints is the first part of Pentecost, and the ingathering of sinners is the second. It began with "only a prayer meeting", but it ended with a grand baptism of thousands of converts. Oh that the prayers of believers may act as lode stones to sinners! Oh that every gathering of faithful men might be a lure to attract others to Jesus! May many souls fly to Him because they see others speeding in that direction."Lord, we turn from these poor foolish procrastinators to thyself, and we plead for them with thine all-wise and gracious spirit! Lord, turn them and they shall be turned! By their conversion, pray that a true revival has commenced tonight! Let it spread through all our households, and then run from church to church till the whole of christendom shall be ablaze with a heaven-descended fire!"

Made Willing In The Day of His Power!

Casey kirkman

THE MOST NOBLE OF CAPTAINS!

Anyone who has walked with Jesus for any length of time must confess to how wonderful a master and friend He is! Jesus is absolutely precious! He is so full of tender mercies and His faithfulness truly reaches to the Heavens. I'm not worthy in the least bit to be acquainted with Him but yet through faith in Him He has become the closest of friends.

I love Him and He has made my life worth living beyond words! I'm speechless and I truly can't find words to really express how precious my Jesus is to me. With all my heart I wish I could live for Him more, serve Him more, and give my life in what ever way for the spread of His fame and His gospel!

Jesus has been the Capitan and Savior He's promised to be. My life, my heart are His and I commend Jesus to all who do not know Him as precious.

A lot of people reject Christianity because of the Blatant hypocrisy that flows from the lives of so many professed followers Jesus. Yes, I must confess, many who profess Christ have made a mockery of His saving grace. But, nevertheless, men will always let you down. Men should never be followed but the Lord Jesus is always worthy to be followed. He has never let anyone down who in humble repentance and faith has come to Him!!

All that have come to Him must confess as the apostle Peter did in--1 Peter 2:7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious;

As I read these last words of Spurgeon that he preached my heart melted within me concerning the preciousness of Jesus. So, may the Lord encourage your heart as you consider the precious grace of our God through the Lord Jesus Christ!

The closing words of Mr. Spurgeon’s last sermon on June 7th, 1891, were characteristic of the man, as follows:

“What I have to say lastly is this: How greatly I desire that you who are not yet enlisted in my Lord’s band would come to Him because you see what a kind and gracious Lord He is.

Young men, if you could see our Captain, you would fall down on your knees and beg Him to let you enter the ranks of those who follow Him. It is heaven to serve Jesus. I am a recruiting sergeant, and I would rejoice to find a few recruits at this moment.

Every man must serve somebody: we have no choice as to that fact. Those who have no master are slaves to themselves. Depend upon it, you will either serve Satan or Christ. Either self, or the Savior. You will find sin, self, Satan, and the world to be hard masters; but if you wear the uniform of Christ, you will find Him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls.

He is the most noble of captains. There never was one like Him among the greatest of princes. He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold He always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on His shoulders.

These forty years and more have I served Him, blessed be His name! and I have had nothing but love from Him. I would be glad to continue yet another forty years in the same dear service here below, if so it pleased Him.

His service is life, peace, joy. Oh, that you would enter on it at once. God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus even this day. Amen.”

- Charles Spurgeon

Made Willing In The Day of His Power!

Casey Kirkman