“You know the flesh has made a breach in your defenses when your heart is hardened by its deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:13) so that you are careless about sin. You will look at your life and think about how often you need God’s forgiveness, and so think of it as something common, nothing to worry over or take pains about. You’ll know you are hardened when you begin to extend the boundaries of Christian freedom to include indulgences that in the past would have shocked you. Your flesh will whisper to you that strictness and anxious care about obedience are legalism—the gospel came to deliver you from such things! And besides, if you really do commit a sin, you can be forgiven later.”

- Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within, p.65

Answer, from the Westminster Larger Catechism (Question 104):

“The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him; believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being zealous for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when in anything he is offended; and walking humbly with him.”

“The apostle John said, ‘My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin’ (1 John 2:1). The whole purpose of John’s letter, he says, is that we not sin. One day as I was studying this chapter I realized that my personal life’s objective regarding holiness was less than that of John’s. He was saying, in effect, ‘Make it your aim not to sin.’ As I thought about this, I realized that deep within my heart my real aim was not to sin very much…I realized God was calling me that day to a deeper level of commitment to holiness than I had previously been willing to make.”

- Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, pp.92-93.

“If holiness then is so basic to Christian life, why do we not experience it more in daily living? . . . Our first problem is that our attitude toward sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success-oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God.”

-Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 16

Ann Hasseltine, three years before she married Adoniram Judson in 1812, wrote this:

Ever since I have had a comfortable hope in Christ, I have desired to devote myself to him in such a way as to be useful to my fellow-creatures. As Providence has placed me in a situation in life where I have an opportunity of getting as good an education as I desire, I feel it would be highly criminal in me not to improve it. I feel, also, that it would be equally criminal to desire to be well educated and accomplished, from selfish motives, with a view merely to gratify my taste and relish for improvement, or my pride in being qualified to shine. I therefore resolved last winter to attend the academy from no other motive than to improve the talents bestowed by God, so as to be more extensively devoted to his glory, and the benefit of my fellow creatures.

Over a year ago, I read a small book by Amy Carmichael titled “If.” It’s composed of a series of if-then statements, with all of the “if’s” followed by “then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Oh how deeply some of these have struck my soul. I love Spurgeon and Luther and Edwards and all, but I also love finding stuff written by women who set such an example in their radical devotion to the Lord and obedience to His Word.

After I read this book, I typed a lot of it up and sent it to a friend. I like how now when I come across something that strikes me, I could just post it here on the blog. So as I’m reminded of this book yet again, I thought I’d post a few among the many of these if-then statements that both comfort and convict me tonight:

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points, in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting “who made thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?”…

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought…

If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for my worried self when troublesome things occur…

If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the concerned should say, “You do not understand,” or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the others’ highest good…

If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so…

If the moment I am conscious of the shadow of self crossing my threshold, I do not shut the door, and in the power of Him who works in us to will and to do, keep that door shut…

If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness…

If I feel injured when another lays to my charge things that I know not, forgetting that my Sinless Savior trod this path to the end…

If I feel bitterly towards those who condemn me, as it seems to me, unjustly, forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself they would condemn me much more…

If something I am asked to do for another feels burdensome; if, yielding to an inward unwillingness, I avoid doing it…

If the praise of man elates me and his blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself…

If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given a moment’s room there; if the cup of spiritual flattery tastes sweet to me…

If in the fellowship of service, I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (i.e., to myself, for myself)…

If I avoid being “plowed under,” with all that such plowing entails of rough handling, isolation, uncongenial situations, strange tests…

If I forget that the way of the cross leads to the cross and not to a bank of flowers…

If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross…

Then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Hard words, but I needed to hear them:

Oh, if you have the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn towards your poor ignorant, ungodly neighbours. Alas, there is but a step betwixt them and death and hell; many hundred diseases are waiting ready to seize on them, and if they die unregenerate, they are lost forever.

Have you hearts of rock, that cannot pity men in such a case as this? If you believe not the Word of God, and the danger of sinners, why are you Christians yourselves? If you do believe it, why do you not bestir yourself to the helping of others? Do you not care who is damned, so you be saved? If so, you have sufficient cause to pity yourselves, for it is a frame of spirit utterly inconsistent with grace.  . . .

Dost thou live close by them, or meet them in the streets, or labour with them, or travel with them, or sit and talk with them, and say nothing to them of their souls, or the life to come? If their houses were on fire, thou wouldst run and help them; and wilt thou not help them when their souls are almost at the fire of hell?

HT: Pulpit Magazine

Read this convicting quote by John Owen today:

Having come to the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ from Scripture or by the preaching of the gospel, let us regard it as our duty to meditate frequently on his glory. It is the neglect of meditation that keeps so many Christians in a feeble state, regardless of their privileges. They hear of these things and assent to the truth of them or at least they do not question them. But they never solemnly meditate on them. They think that meditation is above their capabilities, or they are totally ignorant of how to go about it, or they are not too concerned about it, or they treat it as fanaticism. Many cannot meditate because their minds are so cluttered up with earthly things. The mind must be spiritual and holy, freed from all earthly clutter. It must be raised above things here below if we wish to meditate on the glory of Christ. So many are strangers to this duty because they do not mortify their earthly desires and concerns.

HT: Recover the Gospel.com

“The Proverbs 31 woman is not meant to discourage us, but to inspire and encourage us. God desires to make us more like this godly woman. Just as he gives us grace to fulfill all of His commands, so He has provided power to help us resemble this lovely portrait. So let’s take a closer look.”

- Nicole Whitacre (Read the whole post here)

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Great exposition on Proverbs 31 by John MacArthur here.

Best book that I know of on the topic here.

John Piper’s foreword in Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood is one of the best pieces on singleness that I think I’ve ever read. Here’s a quote:

It is no sign of weakness to want to be married. It is normal, and it is good. The courage comes when you sense God calling you to singleness (for this chapter of your life) and you accept the call with zeal and creative planning for His glory.

More thoughts on this later, the Lord willing.

“Remember in every loss there is only a suffering, but in every discontent there is a sin, and one sin is worse than a thousand sufferings.”

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

I’m going through Susan Heck’s book, With the Master in the School of Tested Faith, a verse-by-verse Bible study on the Epistle of James, and reached her notes on James 1:22, with this convicting paragraph:

The way James states it, doer of the Word, instead of do the word, puts the emphasis on the kind of person a Christian should be, not just some act she performs. She is a “doer of the Word” –that’s just what she does! …It’s one thing to run a race; it’s something else to be a runner. It’s one thing to teach a class; it’s another thing to be a teacher. It’s one thing to bake a cake, but it is another thing to be a baker. Runners are known for their running. Teachers are known for their teaching. Bakers are known for their baking. Likewise, doers of the Word are known for their obedience to Biblical truth. The direction of the life is one of real obedience to God’s revealed will, not a sporadic obedience or a partial obedience.  Would others say about you, “Now she is a doer of the Word”?

And she had this humorous note on the “hearers only” part:

I once heard a story-perhaps apocryphal-about a new pastor who preached a wonderful sermon his first time in the pulpit. The pulpit committee knew they had done well by calling this man to their church, until the next Sunday when he preached the same sermon again. They were somewhat perplexed. So when some members of the congregation asked the new pastor why he preached the same sermon again, he replied, “When you start living the first message, then we will go on to the next one.”

What a strong reminder this verse was to me today to be a doer of the Word.

Pondering these words by D.A. Carson:

“There is no long-range effective teaching of the Bible that is not accompanied by long hours of ongoing study of the Bible. Effectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring. If you are not a student of the Word, you are not called to be a teacher of the Word.”

Going through some old stuff, I came across the following quote today. I remember reading it a few months ago, having really been struck by it. It has the same effect today.

All gracious affections that are a sweet odor to Christ, and that fill the soul of a Christian with a heavenly sweetness and fragrancy, are broken hearted affections. A truly Christian love, either to God or men, is a humble broken hearted love. The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires. Their hope is a humble hope; and their joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of glory, is a humble broken hearted joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit; and more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior.
-Jonathan Edwards (You can find the source here).

Quite a while ago, through Justin Taylor’s blog, I discovered Of First Importance, a blog which daily posts a quote on the gospel. Below, you’ll find one of the quotes that I tend to return to once in a while. It is penned by Octavius Winslow.

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“Sanctified affliction teaches the soul its utter destitution. The believer often commences his spiritual journey with shallow and defective views of the perfect fitness and glory of the Redeemer’s justifying righteousness. There is, we admit, a degree of self-renunciation, there is a reception of Christ, and there is some sweet and blessed enjoyment of his acceptance. Yet, his views of himself, and of the entire, absolute, supreme necessity, importance, and glory of Christ’s finished work, are as nothing compared with his after experience of both. God will have the righteousness of his Son to be acknowledged and felt to be everything. It is a great work, a glorious work, a finished work, and he will cause his saints to know it. It is his only method of saving sinners; and the sinner that is saved shall acknowledge this, not in his judgment merely; but from a deep heartfelt experience of the truth, ‘to the praise of the glory of his grace.’

It is then, we say, in the successive stages of his experience, that the believer sees more distinctly, and adores more profoundly, and grasps more firmly, the finished righteousness of Christ. And what is the school in which he learns his nothingness, his poverty, his utter destitution? The school of deep and sanctified affliction. In no other school is it learned, and under no other teacher but God. Here his high thoughts are brought low, and the Lord alone is exalted. Here he forms a just estimate of his attainments, his gifts, his knowledge; and that which he thought to be so valuable, he now finds to be nothing worth. Here his proud spirit is abased, his rebellious spirit tamed, his restless, feverish spirit soothed into passive quietude; and here, the deep, humbling acknowledgment is made, “I am vile!” Thus is he led back to first principles. Thus the first step is retaken, and the first lesson is relearned. The believer, emptied entirely of self; of self-complacency, self-trust, self-glorying, stands ready for the full Savior. The blessed and eternal Spirit opens to him, in this posture, the fitness, the fulness, the glory, the infinite grandeur of Christ’s finished righteousness, leads him to it afresh, puts it upon him anew, causes him to enter into it more fully, to rest upon it more entirely; opens it up to the soul, and discloses its perfect fitness in his case.

And what a glory he sees in it! He saw it before, but not as he beholds it now. And what a resting place he finds beneath the cross! He rested there before, but not as he rests now. Such views has he now of Christ- such preciousness, such beauty, such tenderness he sees in Immanuel- that a new world of beauty and of glory seems to have floated before his view; a new Savior, a new righteousness appear to have been brought to his soul. All this has been produced by the discipline of the covenant- the afflictions sent and sanctified by a good and covenant God and Father. O, you tried believers! murmur not at God’s dispensations; repine not at his dealings. Has he seen fit to dash against you billow upon billow? Has he thought proper to place you in the furnace? Has he blasted the fair prospect- dried up the stream- called for the surrender of your Isaac? O, bless him for the way he takes to empty you of self, and fill you with his own love. This is his method of teaching you, schooling you, and fitting you for the inheritance of the saints in light. Will you not allow him to select his own plan, to adopt his own mode of cure? You are in his hands; and could you be in better? Are you now learning your own poverty, destitution, and helplessness? and is the blood and righteousness of Jesus more precious and glorious to the eye of your faith? Then praise him for your afflictions; for all these disagreeable dispensations are now, yes, at this moment, working together for your spiritual good. It is no small mercy to have clear, close views of the glory and absolute fitness of Christ’s righteousness. “If, from this moment,” is the beautiful sentiment of an old divine, “I had all the purity of angels, all the sanctity of seraphs, all the immaculate love of pure spirits made perfect, I would part with all to stand before God in the righteousness of Christ.”

The vows of God are on me, and I may not stay
To play with shadows, or pluck earthy flowers
Till I my work have done, and rendered up account.

We are here to live holy, loving, lowly lives. We cannot do this unless we walk very, very close to our Lord Jesus. Anything that would hinder us from the closest walk that is possible to us till we see Him face to face is not for us. We need to be sensitive to the first approach of the hindering thing. For the sake of the souls that may be stumbled if we turn even ever so little aside, for the sake of our Master’s glory-dearer surely to us than all else-let us ask him now to show us whether in anywise we have been showing “crooked patterns.”

We should write it down as a law of the house that those who are absent are not to be discussed to their detriment, that no belittling stories are told of anyone, nor anything said about anyone unless it passes through the three sieves: Is it true? kind? necessary? We must humble ourselves lest ever, unawares, we break this law. There is an astonishing amount of talk of the kind that can harm the spirit of those whom we are discussing. The frothy talk of nothingness, the mere noise of words that can dull and make dusty a whole table of Christian people, will not taste good to us if by God’s grace we hold to that law. Talk can pull down as well as build up, and it can entrap and weaken in a very curious way. But the talk that is the kind Christ would enjoy-frank and simple and sincere and happy as the song of the birds-this kind of talk lifts up and helps. Imagination is appropriate here. Imagine the Lord at table or in the room (and He is): How would our talk sound to Him? All we need, all we want, is to have His ungrieved Presence with us always.

-Excerpts from God’s Missionary

Read this quote recently. Really, really like it. It’s by Mark Dever, taken from his book, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Emphasis mine.

Biblically, if we are Christians we must be members of a church. This membership is not simply the record of a statement we once made or of affection toward a familiar place. It must be a reflection of a living commitment or it is worthless.

Worse than being worthless, it is dangerous. Uninvolved members confuse both real members and non-Christians about what it means to be a Christian. We “active” members do the voluntarily “inactive” members no service when we allow them to remain members of the church. Membership is the church’s corporate endorsement of a person’s salvation. Yet how can a congregation honestly testify that someone invisible to it is faithfully running the race?

(HT: Provocations & Pantings)

Update: The link above corresponds to a series of articles on church membership, all of which you can find here.

“To the average conservative evangelical today, the idea that people who reject the gospel will die and face judgment in hell isn’t surprising or particularly controversial. Without the biblical truth of the gospel, there is no salvation. That’s obvious.

What is not obvious–what animates me as I write to you today–is that many people who sit under solid, biblical teaching of the true gospel each week will also die and face God as judge, rather than as Savior, Father, and friend.

I’m convinced, and deeply concerned, that many professing believers live in the unperceived darkness of false faith and self-deception. Yes, they sit under strong teaching. They know the gospel message inside out. They are immersed in church and ministry activities. They attend–maybe even teach–Bible studies. They appear to produce spiritual fruit. They look and sound like the authentic believers around them.

But exposure to and familiarity with the true gospel doesn’t guarantee true conversion. Knowing the facts of the gospel and having it penetrate the heart are two different things. Scripture is clear on the matter: it’s possible to have a perfect knowledge of the gospel and the Bible, and still not be saved.

The most frightening part is, many people who are in that situation don’t even know it. They are self-deceived. They wear a mask of genuine conversion that fools others, and eventually even fools themselves. They’ve played the part so long, they’ve convinced themselves their salvation is real. Tragically, many who sincerely believe they are saved and headed for heaven will be surprised to find themselves in hell.

The reality of spiritual self-deception isn’t some academic theory to me and my ministry. It’s a reality I’ve seen face to face for decades, and that I address with my congregation and with our Grace to You family on a regular basis. It is that commonplace and important. While I never want to raise unnecessary doubts in people’s minds where genuine conversion has taken place, I am duty bound by Scripture to lovingly warn about the reality of self-deception and call people to spiritual self-examination.”

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This is something that has been really heavy on my heart lately. Is the matter of spiritual self-examination a foreign concept to us or those we know? How often do we speak of evidence of salvation in a direct manner, things such as repentance, sensitivity to and hatred of sin, obedience, desire and love for God and the things of God, love for other believers, separation from the world, cross carrying, commitment to God’s glory… I’m sure I’m missing some. I know that some may have their true assurance shaken, but others may have their false assurance shattered.

And my dear reader, are you a Christian? How do you know? Make sure (2 Corinthians 13:5). Consider the words of A.W. Pink, “Others just as sure they were saved as you are, are now in Hell.” This is serious.