Sola Scriptura

A friend and I were recently discussing the idea of what is “beautiful” as he heard someone else waxing eloquently on the “beauty” of certain literary works in the context of Christian ministry.  Al Mohler discussed the issue of what the secular considers “beautiful” on the Briefing a couple of days ago.  While there are certainly many different literary works that have much to offer to excite and stimulate the senses, all works of human origin pale in comparison to the inherent beauty of the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God as found in His infallible, holy Word.

“The attentive study of the Scriptures has a sort of constraining power.  It fills the mind with the most splendid form of heavenly truth, which it teaches with purity, solidarity, certainty, and without the least mixture of error.  It soothes the mind with an inexpressible sweetness; it satisfies the sacred hunger and thirst for knowledge with flowing rivers of honey and butter; it penetrates into the innermost heart with irresistible influence; it imprints its own testimony so firmly upon the  mind, that the believing soul rests upon it with the same security, as if it had been carried up into the third heaven, and heard it from God’s own mouth; it touches all the affections, and breathes the sweetest fragrance of holiness upon the pious reader, even though he may not perhaps comprehend the full extent of his reading.”

– Charles Bridges

“Enjoyment of God is the only thing that [truly] satisfies”

“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature; and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”

JONATHAN EDWARDS

Psalm 1 – 150 Days of Purposeful Meditation (Day 1) Remix

This is a second take at a post that I did back in 2008.

God is for those who love Him.  “The Lord knows the way of the righteous…”  That does not mean that He simply has knowledge of them.  That is evident from the second half of the verse.  The second half of the verse is a contrast intended to provide clarity to the first.  “but the way of the wicked will perish.”  In other words, “knowing the way” is contrasted with “perishing.”  In other words, the Lord will establish the way of the righteous but He will confound and destroy the way of the wicked.  Certainly the rest of the Psalm has eloquently (in the language of Hebrew poetry) born out this truth.

It may be helpful at this point to make clear the difference between the righteous and the wicked.  These two terms may at first seem to convey a sense of inherent morality.  But that is not the point.  The difference between those who are considered righteous and those who are considered wicked, in this Psalm is clearly their response to the law of the Lord.  The godly are those who delight in the law of the Lord and who take their meditation in it day and night (a Hebrew way of saying at all times).  To take delight in God’s word is to take delight in Him in the same way that lovers hang on every word of their beloved.  Those who are wicked, by obvious intended contrast, do not take their delight in the the Lord, nor in His law.  They are described as “wicked”, “sinners”, “scoffers” particularly because they do not walk in His way.

In other words, those who are righteous in the eyes of the Lord are those who take His word seriously.  They are those who take delight in His word as truth, as valuable.  They are those who long for His word and who seek His word often above all other knowledge and philosophy.  God’s word is truth and those whom He considers righteous, acknowledge His word as truth.  By contrast, those are considered wicked who fail to acknowledge the truth, value and rightness of God’s word.  They do not delight in His word.  They ignore and reject His word.  They essentially ignore and reject Him because they reject His word.  They seek to make their own truth.  They may say  “if that is good for you, that’s fine” “this is good for me, I have my own truth.”  And they find it virtuous to encourage relative truth.  Truth, cannot by definition be relative.  Truth is absolute and objective.  The wicked reject God’s truth and they scoff at those who hold to it.

And yet, again, God is for those who are righteous.  While the wicked may scoff at his taking delight in God’s law, God rewards his faithfulness.  Verse 1 speaks of the “blessedness” (or happiness) of the man who is righteous.  And the many blessings are laid out and described in vivid word pictures that follow.  He is pictured as a “tree planted by the streams of waters”.  To be planted by the streams of waters is to be given the best access to the source of life.  It is to be placed in the best possible location for the roots of the tree to find the vital nutrients and refreshment that it needs to live and thrive.  The one who is righteous is given such a connection.  And this connection that he has informs us of why the rest of what is said is true.  Because of this vital connection to the source of life where this tree is planted, he bears fruit, he does not wither and he prospers.  He is a tree that “brings forth fruit in season”.  This doesn’t promise that there will be seasons where fruit is not borne.  But it does promise fruit in its season, at the right time.  When it is time for this tree to produce fruit, He will ensure that it does.  Moreover, “its leaf does not wither”.  That means it will not lose its vitality.  It will not grow weary in producing fruit, nor in waiting until the season to produce fruit comes.  Its leaf will not wither.  The tree may grow old.  It will last as long as it is intended.  But while it lasts, its leaf will not wither.  And “whatever he does he prospers”.  This man (or woman) is made to prosper in whatever he does, not because of his own piety, but because he has held fast to the word of God.  Because He honors God.  Because He takes delight in God through His word, God promises to bless, to fill with happiness by prospering him in whatever he does.  Certainly the “whatever he does” means whatever he does in the context of God’s divine will and purposes for Him.  For God would not bless “whatever he does” if whatever he does is in contradiction to His word (or else he would then fall into the category of the wicked).  These are some of the many blessednesses/happinesses of the one who is righteous, who delights in the word of God.

Does this describe you?  You who consider yourselves righteous.  Are you one who delights in the word and ways of God?  Do you take delight in knowing His mind, in knowing His truth and His way?  Do you take delight in pursuing His way, regardless of what scoffers say?  How does your life measure up to the one described in Psalm 1.  Are you delighting in the Word of God today?  Are you delighting in His way, His wisdom or in the wisdom of the wicked of this world?  One way for you to know is to measure yourself against the blessed one of Psalm 1.  Are you bearing fruit in season?  Are you maintaining a vibrant spiritual life or are you withering?  Are you prospering in your work, whatever the Lord has given you to do?  We all have seasons of life where one or more of these things may not be true for other reasons.  But these things should be generally true of us if we are staying connected to the source of life.  If we have taken hold of and delighted in the Word of God, these things should be true of us.

Perhaps you are on the other side of the coin.  Perhaps you are the wicked.  God does distinguish between those who are righteous and those who are wicked.  And it has nothing to do with our concept of what is right or wicked.  It has everything to do with His absolutely sovereign decision to declare righteous those who take delight in His word, His truth.  Perhaps you are wondering, “who is able to do such a thing?”  Who is able to fully take delight in the word and way of God through His law?  Who has not transgressed His law?  Here is the good news.  The good news is that there is One who has taken full delight in the law of God.  And from that One, the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed One, the Righteous One, we are invited to share in His blessedness, His happiness by faith.

“BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” (1Pe 2:6 NAU)

“BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” (Heb 10:9 NAU)

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. (Joh 4:34 NAU)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Mat 5:6 NAU)

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (Joh 17:17 NAU)

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Rom 8:28 NAU)

And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (1Jo 2:1-2 NAU)

 

In pursuit of prayer

I am pursuing prayer.  That may sound strange, but I feel that my prayer life is of a very shabby sort.  I have been reading E. M. Bounds on Prayer.  That fella knew how to talk about prayer if anyone did.  Much of what I have been reading lately is from the standpoint that preachers, above all others, must be passionate and purposeful about prayer.  Preaching is a spiritual matter.  Prayer is a spiritual matter.  And thus for preaching to have any lasting spiritual benefit, it must be bathed in and fueled by prayer.  As I read the words of his book, understanding that they are not scripture, I am convicted and know without a doubt that it does not currently describe me.  And that ought not be so.

I am a preacher.  I preach and teach the Word of God.  That is how the Lord has thus gifted me and I am in the process of doing that and learning how to be more given to the Lord for that service to His body.  But I also know that “preaching” is not just for the preacher.  For we should all be involved in the preaching of the gospel. And so we should all be passionate about prayer that it might fuel all of our preaching.

I believe that prayer changes things.  I believe that prayer is a necessity.  And I would bet that many of us who know the Lord believe – at least consent to it cognitively and practically (and by practical I mean that we engage in it at least as a ritual).  But I don’t know how many of us could honestly say that we pursue prayer as a necessity of the heart.

David prayed in Psa 16 “I have no other good besides thee” to the LORD.  Prayer is more than just an exercise.  It is more than just a thing to be done and checked off.  It is communion with the Lord.  After I prayed this morning, I walked away feeling refreshed and encouraged.  But as I continued my day, I realized that I felt refreshed and encouraged (at least in my mind) because I had prayed, and not for the benefit of prayer.  The benefit of prayer is that it draws us nearer to God.  And that is what I needed.  I need that ever satisfying sweet fellowship with the One besides whom there is “no other good” in heaven or on earth.  That fellowship of prayer moves us closer in thought, closer in heart, closer in purpose and closer in love with the One who is alone worthy of our full attention and adoration.  There are not many other things, save communion with the Lord through His Word and fellowship with His people, that should satisfy as much as prayer.  And yet for all of its blessing and grandeur, how much do we actually pursue prayer as the greatest need of our thirsty souls?

In his writings, E. M. Bounds mentioned the example of our Lord who often went off to a secluded place to pray.   Why?  Why should He, the God-Man, need to go off into a secluded place to pray?  Why should He, but for communion, alone with His Father in heaven.  If our perfect, sinless Great God and Savior should need constant, fervent and passionate communion with His Father in heave – who is now our Father thorugh Him – how much more should we?