Rejoice! Your Names Are Written in Heaven

1 August 2009
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Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

How quickly does a lightening bolt
Fall from the blackened clouds and strike the forest fair!
How powerful the fleeting volt
That vanishes at once and leaves a cinder there!

So quickly falls the ancient Snake
From his condemning height with all his cruel pangs,
When in Your name and for Your sake
We wield your mighty word and break his deadly fangs.

And as we leap to celebrate
This triumph in our hands, this best of mountain peaks,
Your voice, so calm and full of weight,
Cuts through our ecstasy, our festival, and speaks:

“Do not rejoice in this, dear ones,
That Satan and his hordes are subject to your voice,
But that, in heav’n as treasured sons,
Your names are written down. In this, in this, rejoice!

Rejoice, rejoice, my friends, my prize!
Your names are written there, in blood with my own hand.
Rejoice and sing, rejoice, arise
And leap for this: before the world, your name was planned.

Rejoice, your name is written there
Secure, and by this Lamb it is forever placed.
And thus by my own blood I swear:
Your name will never be, no never be, erased.”

John Piper

Who Lives Like a Christian?

22 July 2009
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“Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord — and do not do the things that I say?” As if He had said, “Either keep My words more — or else call Me Lord no more! Either take Me into your lives — or cast Me out of your lips.” As princes disdain to have their images on base counterfeits — so the Lord Jesus cannot delight to see His name on rotten hypocrites. Therefore He says, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ, depart from all iniquity.” If godliness is evil — why is it so much professed? If godliness is good — why is it so little practiced?

“Who has saved us — and called us with a holy calling.” Now a holy calling — will be attended with a holy carriage. Many may be found who can talk of grace — but very few can be found who taste of grace. It is not everyone who looks like a Christian — who lives like a Christian. For there are some who make their boast of the law, and yet through breaking the law, they dishonor God. It is a greater glory to us, that we are allowed to serve God — than it is to Him, that we offer Him that service. He is not rendered happy by us — but we are made happy by Him. He can do without such earthly servants — but we cannot do without such a heavenly master.

William Secker, 1660

The Eclipsing of Another’s Sun…

22 July 2009
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“The eclipsing of another’s sun — will not make your own shine with brighter beams. O pare off those envious nails, which are ever disfiguring that face which is fairer than your own. Why do you wound yourself — with that plaster which is laid upon your brother’s sore? Why do you weep at every shower — which falls beside your own field? Who would envy an ox that pasture — which only fits it for the slaughter? Who would envy the malefactor that carriage — which only conveys him to the place of execution? You have no less — because others have much; nor have they much — because you have little. Another’s wealth is no more the cause of your need, than Leah’s fruitfulness was the cause of Rachel’s barrenness. O never pine at your neighbor’s prosperity — and you shall never pine away through your own scarcity. He enjoys much — who is thankful for a little. A grateful mind is a great mind. “

William Secker, 1660

Our Present Fight and Future Glory…

16 July 2009
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A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’s person, work and office, is the life, heart and mainspring of the Christian soldier’s character. He sees by faith an unseen Saviour, who loved him, gave Himself for him, paid his debts for him, bore his sins, carried his transgressions, rose again for him, and appears in heaven for him as his Advocate at the right hand of God. He sees Jesus and clings to Him. Seeing this Saviour and trusting in Him, he feels peace and hope and willingly does battle against the foes of his soul.

He sees his own many sins, his weak heart, a tempting world, a busy devil, and if he looked only at them he might well despair. But he sees also a mighty Saviour, an interceding Saviour, a sympathizing Saviour-His blood, His righteousness, His everlasting priesthood-and he believes that all this is his own. He sees Jesus and casts his whole weight on Him. Seeing Him, he cheerfully fights on, with a full confidence that he will prove more that conqueror through Him that loved him (Rom. 8:37).

Finally, let us remember that the time is short and the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. A few more battles and the last trumpet shall sound, and the Prince of Peace shall come to reign on a renewed earth. A few more struggles and conflicts, and then we shall bid and eternal goodbye to warfare and to sin, to sorrow and to death. Then let us fight on to the end and never surrender. Thus saith the Captain of our salvation: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Rev. 21:7).

Let me conclude all with the words of John Bunyan, in one of the most beautiful parts of Pilgrim’s Progress. He is describing the end of one of his best and holiest pilgrims: “After this it was noised abroad that Mr. Valiant-for-Truth was sent for by a summons, by the same party as the others. And he had this word for a token that the summons was true: “The pitcher was broken at the fountain” (Eccles. 12:6). When he understood it, he called for his friends, and told them of it. Then said he, “I am going to my Father’s house; and though with great difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the troubles I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles, who will now be my Rewarder.” When the day that he must go home was come, many accompanied him to the riverside, into which, as he went down, he said, “O death, where is thy sting?” And as he went down deeper, he cried, “O grave, where is thy victory?” So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”

May our end be like this! May we never forget that without fighting there can be no holiness while we live, and no crown of glory when we die! 

JC Ryle 1879

Dropping Word’s…

13 July 2009
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Men take the words they find in use amongst their neighbours; and, that they may not seem ignorant in what they stand for, use them confidently, without much troubling their heads about a certain fixed meaning; whereby, besides the ease of it, they obtain this advantage: That, as in such discourses they are seldom in the right, so are they as seldom to be convinced that they are in the wrong; it being all one to go about to draw those men out of their mistakes who have no settled notions, as to dispossess a vagrant of his habitation who has no settled abode. – John Locke
I freely admit that I have an unusual appreciation for excellent quotes. Great thoughts stated briefly and with clarity are a particular pleasure for me. The above quote, one of my personal favorites, is only brief and clear to those who are used to reading puritans so I thought I would offer a brief explanation.
Locke says that some people like to take terms, and I think he has in mind theological or doctrinal terms, and use them with equal parts bold confidence and ignorance. These people speak of spiritual gifts, Lordship Salvation, and Calvinistic doctrine without having done the Bible study, prayer, and research necessary to understand their full meaning.
Ironically, Locke points out, their ignorance becomes their advantage. For the dedicated student that has spent many hours wrestling with the Scriptures, poring over the Church fathers, and examining application in his own life, these subjects are very near and dear. An ignorant “word-dropper” can come along and pick a fight. The student then takes up his defense and applies the fruits of his study by attempting to enlighten the ignorant word-dropper.
In the end, it is to no avail. What the student doesn’t understand is that the word-dropper is not like him. The word-dropper has done no study and no research. He has spent no time, sweat, or tear. He has merely picked up enough to cause trouble where he likes. The student can craft an argument that is logical, clear, indeed – irrefutable, to no avail.
The word-dropper cannot be pulled from his shell, he cannot be convinced he is wrong, he cannot be drawn from his position. He has no position. He is a vagrant. He is homeless. He owns no truths and no truths own him. He has come to start an argument. He can worm his way out of a fight he just started with terms like “I haven’t come to my own conclusions on this,” or “I’m not arguing for either side,” or “I should study this more,” or “I don’t think its worth arguing over.”
His work is done, and he moves on to the next bridge, under which he will set up camp with a term like “limited atonement” and when things get hot, he will move on, excusing himself politely and congratulating himself on his open-mindedness.
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