The God of Grace

I was reading, praying and preparing for my sermon this morning and came across the following prayer in "“The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions."” If you have not gotten your hands on this collection of prayers I encourage you to do so --– it'’s incredible. We are using part of the following prayer as our preparation for worship this Sunday, but I thought you would benefit from reading the entire prayer.

O God of grace,
Teach me to know that grace precedes, accompanies,
and follows my salvation; that it sustains the redeemed soul,
that not one link of its chain can ever break!

From Calvary's cross, wave upon wave of grace . . .
reaches me,
deals with my sin,
washes me clean,
renews my heart,
strengthens my will,
draws out my affection,
kindles a flame in my soul,
rules throughout my inner man,
consecrates my every thought, word, work,
teaches me Your immeasurable love.

How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus!
Without Him I stand far off, a stranger, an outcast.
In Him I draw near and touch His kingly scepter!
Without Him I dare not lift up my guilty eyes.
In Him I gaze upon my Father-God and friend!
Without Him I hide my lips in trembling shame.
In Him I open my mouth in petition and praise!
Without Him all is wrath and consuming fire.
In Him is all love, and the repose of my soul!
Without Him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish.
In Him its gates are barred to me by His precious blood!
Without Him darkness spreads its horrors before me.
In Him an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon!
Without Him all within me is terror and dismay.
In Him every accusation is charmed into joy and peace!
Praise be to You for grace, and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus!
"The Valley of Vision" is published by The Banner of Truth.

The Epitome of Sad

Justin Taylor posted the following yesterday on his blog:

This has to be one of the saddest stories I've read in a while. The BBC reports that a woman in Scotland sought to abort her twins. Unbeknownst to the mother or to the doctors, one of the babies survived the attempted murder. So now the mother is suing the hospital for compensation, seeking damages for the "financial burden" of raising the child.

"I have got a child now that I wasn't planning to have and I believe the hospital should take some responsibility for that," she said.

"They should have known, or at least warned me, that I might still be pregnant when I left. It has totally changed my life and my parents' lives.

(My emphasis.)

"I still don't know if, or what, I am going to tell Jayde when the time comes. Maybe when she is nine or 10 I will sit her down and explain it to her."

Try to imagine that conversation. Then weep at the depravity. Then realize that we would act in such a murderous, self-centered way but for the grace of God. May we cling to the cross, and cry out to God for both mercy and justice. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

I agree.

Piper on Not Wasting Your Cancer

"Cancer is meant to waken us to the reality of God. It is meant to put feeling and force behind the command, 'Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord'(Hosea 6:3). "
-- John Piper

This quote is from an article that Piper wrote on the eve of his cancer surgery. You can read the entire article here.

Keller on Becoming a Christian

"We are not converted by faith in God in general or a spiritual experience of some vague sort or by subscribing to doctrinal truth in general. We are converted, spiritually reborn, when (a) we hear the work of Christ expounded to us, so that (b) we are awakened and convicted that we have been seeking to complete ourselves through our own work, so we (c) transfer our trust from our works to Christ's work." -- Tim Keller

Out of My Bondage (Jesus, I Come)

This past Sunday we discussed briefly the fact that Jesus’ healing ministry ultimately served the purpose of revealing to people that He possessed the power to meet their eternal needs as well as their earthly needs. Our greatest need is that we are sinners who need a Savior -- and our broken bodies, relationships, finances, etc. serve to remind us of that fact.

We sang a hymn a few weeks that expresses the rescuing nature of Christ’s saving work. This hymn was written in 1887 by W.T. Sleeper -- it is still true today.

Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself, Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of my shameful failure and loss, Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm, Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of unrest and arrogant pride, Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove, Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of the fear and dread of the tomb, Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home, Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold, Jesus, I come to Thee.

May we all run to Jesus!

Luke, The Young One

Here is Luke -- not content to let his big brother get all the attention.
Luke will be 8 weeks old tomorrow.
I'm very curious to see what his personality will turn out like but, there is one thing we know -- HE IS CUTE! (and I am biased!)

Andrew, The Clean One

This is Andrew. Andrew is 22 months old. Andrew loves to be clean.

Andrew cannot stand to have anything on his hands (except ketchup & chocolate, which he likes to lick off) or his clothes or the table around his plate... Sometimes I wish that he would just go jump in a mud puddle (and I know the day is coming when I will probably beg him to be clean). Sometimes I call him "little Monk"!

As much as Andrew loves to be clean, lately he has not been enjoying actually taking a bath. Oh, he loves getting in the tub and playing in the water. It's the scrubbing part that he actually has come to dislike. Andrew loves the appearance of being clean, but the process to get there is what seems unpleasant at times.

I am like that as well. I love the appearance of holiness and I am really good at appearing holy on the outside. While I long to be really clean I hate going through the process of getting there. Being holy often means giving up things that I would like to hang on to (even though I know better). Being holy means admitting that I have messed up, offended people, done stupid stuff or hurt those that I love.

When God moves me through the process of being made clean it means having to admit that I am dirty. That is not pleasant, but it is necessary. Without acknowledging the need for cleansing and submitting myself to being made clean, I will never get there. The good news is that God is committed to my holiness -- to the point that He sent His Son to be holy for me and to become dirty for me, so that I could be found clean.
--------------

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." -- Matthew 23:25-28 (ESV)