By Grace Alone

Audio cuts out at about 1:50 but it is worth watching for that 1:50

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“Election is a truth which should call forth praise and thanksgiving from all true Christians. Except God had chosen and called them, they would never have chosen and called on Him. Except He had chosen them of His own good pleasure, without respect to any goodness of theirs, there would never have been anything in them to make them worthy of His choice.

“The worldly and the carnal-minded may rail at the doctrine of election; the false professor may abuse it and turn ‘the grace of God into lasciviousness’ (Jude 4); but the believer who knows his own heart will ever bless God for election. He will confess that without election there would be no salvation.”

~ J.C. Ryle

Day by Day with J.C. Ryle, “Election”, 87.

Found here: http://jcrylequotes.com/2010/01/11/gratitude-for-gods-election/#comment-996 and reposted by me – to the praise of His glorious grace!

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I highly recommend this new book by John Piper

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For every Arminian you know this Christmas… :-)

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I have been using Puritan Picks for several months now and have waited to see if it was as good a company as it seemed. Well it exceeded my expectations in every area and I want to commend it to your attention today. Watch the video below and then go to http://www.puritanpicks.com/

For Christ and His Kingdom…
Jeff

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“I learned, when I was a boy, that the chief end of man was to glorify God and enjoy him forever; but I hear now, according to the new theology, that the chief end of God is to glorify man and enjoy him forever. Yet this is the turning of things upside down.” – CHS

“If God be glorified, does it really matter where we are? What becomes of us is of small consequence compared with bringing glory to his great name.” – CHS

“God’s great design in all his works is the manifestation of his own glory. Any aim less than this were unworthy of himself. He cannot act for the good of his creatures as an ultimate aim, for that were for God to be impelled by a motive less great than his own nature. Since there can be nothing greater than the infinite, and there can be but one infinite—if the infinite God be moved by an infinite motive which is the only one worthy of him, that motive must be found in his own glory.” – CHS

“To whom be glory for ever.” This should be the single desire of the Christian. I take it that he should not have twenty wishes, but only one. He may desire to see his family well brought up, but only that “To God may be glory for ever.” He may wish for prosperity in his business, but only so far as it may help him to promote this—“To whom be glory for ever.” He may desire to attain more gifts and more graces, but it should only be that “To him may be glory for ever.” This one thing I know, Christian, you are not acting as you ought to do when you are moved by any other motive than the one motive of your Lord’s glory.” – CHS

“Our Lord’s great object in laying down his life upon the cross was the father’s glory.” – CHS

“Surely he is the grandest creature God has made who glorifies him most.” – CHS

“We endeavour to glorify him now by our actions, but then he will be glorified in our own persons, and character, and condition. He is glorified by what we do, but he is at the last to be glorified in what we are.” – CHS

“The salvation of men is a grand aim, but it must always be in subordination to the glory of the Lord, that his arm may be revealed, and that all flesh may see it together.” – CHS

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A great reminder through John Piper

John Piper – Recap from T4G 2008 from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

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For everyone who can relate – Caedmon’s Call “Shifting Sand”

Sometimes I believe all the lies
So I can do the things I should despise
And every day I am swayed
By whatever is on my mind

I hear it all depends on my faith
So I’m feeling precarious
The only problem I have with these mysteries
Is they’re so mysterious

And like a consumer I’ve been thinking
If I could just get a bit more
More than my 15 minutes of faith,
Then I’d be secure

(Chorus)
My faith is like shifting sand
Changed by every wave
My faith is like shifting sand
So I stand on grace

I’ve begged you for some proof
For my Thomas eyes to see
A slithering staff, a leprous hand
And lions resting lazily

A glimpse of your back-side glory
And this soaked altar going ablaze
But you know I’ve seen so much
I explained it away

Chorus
Waters rose as my doubts reigned
My sand-castle faith, it slipped away
Found myself standing on your grace
It’d been there all the time

(Chorus repeated)

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Are you involved in the conspiracy?

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I plead this day for those who cannot plead for themselves, namely, the great outlying masses of the heathen world. Our existing pulpits are tolerably well supplied, but we need men who will build on new foundations. Who will do this? Are we, as a company of faithful men, clear in our consciences about the heathen? Millions have never heard the Name of Jesus. Hundreds of millions have seen a missionary only once in their lives, and know nothing of our King. Shall we let them perish? Can we go to our beds and sleep, while China, India, Japan, and other nations are being damned? Are we clear of their blood? Have they no claim upon us? We ought to put it on this footing,—not, “Can I prove that I ought to go?” but, “Can I prove that I ought not to go?”

When a man can honestly prove that he ought not to go, then he is clear, but not else. What answer do you give, my brethren? I put it to you man by man. I am not raising a question among you which I have not honestly put to myself. I have felt that, if some of our leading ministers would go forth, it would have a grand effect in stimulating the churches, and I have honestly asked myself whether I ought to go. After balancing the whole thing, I feel bound to keep my place, and I think the judgment of most Christians would confirm my decision; but I hope I would readily, and willingly, and cheerfully, go abroad if I did not feel that I ought to remain at home. Brethren, put yourselves through the same process. We must have the heathen converted; God has myriads of His elect among them, we must go and search for them somehow or other. Many difficulties are now removed, all lands are open to us, and distance is almost annihilated. True, we have not the Pentecostal gift of tongues; but languages are now readily acquired, while the art of printing is a full equivalent for the lost gift. The dangers incident to missions ought not to keep any true man back, even if they were very great, but they are now reduced to a minimum. There are hundreds of places where the cross of Christ is unknown, to which we can go without risk. Who will go?

The men who ought to go are young brethren of good abilities who have not yet taken upon themselves family cares. Each student entering the College should consider this matter, and surrender himself to the work unless there are conclusive reasons for his not doing so. It is a fact that, even for the Colonies, it is very difficult to find men, for I have had openings in Australia which I have been obliged to decline. It ought not to be so. Surely there is some self-sacrifice among us yet, and some among us who are willing to be exiled for Jesus. The Mission languishes for want of men. If the men were forthcoming, the liberality of the Church would supply their needs; and, in fact, the liberality of the Church has provided the supply, and yet there are not the men to go. I shall never feel, brethren, that we, as a band of men, have done our duty until we see our comrades fighting for Jesus in every land in the van of the conflict. I believe that, if God moves you to go, you will be among the best of missionaries, because you will make the preaching of the gospel the great feature of your work, and that is God’s sure way of power.

I wish that our churches would imitate that of Pastor Harms, in Germany, where every member was consecrated to God in deed and of a truth. The farmers gave the produce of their lands, the workingmen their labour; one gave a large house to be used as a missionary college, and Pastor Harms obtained money for a ship which he fitted out, to make voyages to Africa, and then he sent missionaries, and little companies of his people with them, to form Christian communities among the Bushmen. When will our churches be equally self-denying and energetic? Look at the Moravians, how every man or woman becomes a missionary, and how much they do for the Lord in consequence. Let us catch their spirit. Is it a right spirit? Then it is right for us to have it. It is not enough for us to say, “Those Moravians are very wonderful people.” We ought to be wonderful people, too. Christ did not purchase the Moravians any more completely than He purchased us; they are under no more obligation to make sacrifices than we are. Why then this backwardness?

When we read of heroic men who gave up all for Jesus, we are not merely to admire, but to imitate them. Who will imitate them now? Come to the point? Are there not some among you willing to consecrate yourselves to the Lord? “Forward” is the watchword to-day! Are there no bold spirits to lead the van? Pray all of you that, during this Pentecost, the Spirit may say, “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Brethren, on wings of love mount upward, and fly forward. Amen.*

Thanks to Timmy Brister for pointing out this book here and thanks to Logos Bible Software for putting it in their new Spurgeon Collection.

*Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). An All-Round Ministry: Addresses to Ministers and Students. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 55-57.

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