Rivers of water

Another portion from Robert Hawker. Hopefully it will be a blessing to all who read it.

"Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." -Psalm 119:136

Who is there of whom that may be said? Jesus, and Jesus only. He wept indeed over his beloved Jerusalem, for he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And the love he had to his redeemed, induced a bloody sweat through all the pores of his sacred body. But of every other may it not be said, "All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's."

Did we truly love Zion, would not rivers of tears run down at the present languishing state of Zion? Did we feel the full sense of distinguishing grace, would not every heart mourn over the ruins of our common nature?

Think, my soul, what a mess of sin ascends as a cloud before the view of the Lord every day from a single heart of the desperately wicked transgressor? Think what an accumulation in a town, a province, an empire, the world! Might not rivers of waters run down at the contemplation? And worse, if possible! Think of the higher source of sorrow, in that the only possible remedy for this evil is slighted, and Christ, which is God's gracious ordinance for the recovery of our ruined nature, is so little esteemed among men.

Oh how might the people of God be supposed to have their very souls melted in the contemplation! This, this is indeed the condemnation; this is the soul-destroying sin; "that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil."

Oh for grace to mourn over a Christ-despising generation! Oh for the "Deliverer to arise out of Zion, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob."

The Grace Given

I would like to share with you June 20th's evening portion from The Poor Man's Morning And Evening Portions. It is a collection of morning and evening devotions written by Robert Hawker.

"Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given."-Ephesians 3:8


My soul, hear what the great apostle to the gentiles speaks of himself. He calls himself "less than the least;" a thing most impossible in itself; but he doth it with a view to magnify the riches, the exceeding great riches of grace. And in the same moment that he view himself so low and abject, he is lost in amazement at beholding the exalted office to which he was called. So that Paul cries out, "Unto me," a poor, sinful, unworthy creature of the earth, "to me was this grace given!"

My soul, leave for a moment the view of the apostle, and make the subject personal, by looking to a renewed instance of that grace, most freely given, in a case far surpassing Paul in the greatness and undeservedness of it, as the imagination can conceive. Perhaps every sinner feels the same; this at least is certain, all may well feel the same. But the subject is not properly improved, either in the apostle's instance, or any other, unless there be connected with it the one great object of the whole, the promotion of the Redeemer's glory.

This was and is the first and ultimate design for which grace was given. "This people," saith Jehovah, speaking of the redeemed in Christ, " have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise," Isa. xliii. 21. And how do they shew forth the Lord's praise, but by the gifts of the Lord's grace? When Jesus calleth a poor sinner, and manifests himself to him, this is the display of his grace; for it is on such more especially, that he maketh his grace to shine.

It would have been no grace had we merited his favor. But because we merit nothing, yea, are justly entitled to punishment, and yet God gives mercy, grace, and favor; this is what illustrates the exceeding riches of his grace, and demonstrates God's love to be indeed the love of God which passeth knowledge, because it differs altogether from creature love.

And what tend yet more to display the riches of grace, that the glory of God in Christ, in following up the blessed plan of redemption, mat be great indeed, the crown of Jesus, as Mediator, depends upon bringing to glory the objects of his love, on whom he hath made that grace to shine. And who shall calculate the rich revenue of love, adoration, and praise, in glory, which Jesus will have, and be for ever receiving, from the millions of redeemed souls gathered from sin and Satan, by the alone sovereignty of his grace?

My soul, it is truly blessed thus to contemplate the person and work of Jesus, and the sweet effects of his grace. And what an addition to the subject it is, to say, with the apostle, each poor sinner for himself, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given!"

Be ye followers of God

Paul commands us in Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children. William Hendriksen remarks that this means that we should imitate God as little children imitate. He remarks that children excel at imitation. This can best be found in the cases when children are loved the most. Children tend to behave and act like those people who show them the most love. This then leads one to ponder. How should we? What does it mean to imitate Christ? What would such a thing look like?

Throughout the Bible we are told to love one another as Christ has loved us. How did Christ love us? He humbled Himself by taking on a lower form. He suffered greatly for us. He did all this while we were still against Him.

So we are to love one another. We are to love our enemies. That the light of Christ would so shine through us causing men to glorify God our heavenly Father.

A look at the mass

The mass is a cheap imitation of Old testament worship. Sure there are little twists here and there but for the most part it is the same form. If you don't believe me we can take a closer look.

IN the OT form of worship there were priests who were ordained by God. These men were to be from the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. It was their job to offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation. They also were required to first offer sacrifices for themselves. This was to ensure that their own sin would not taint the sacrifice for the people.

In the mass men are ordained by the power of the pope. It is their job to offer up the perpetual sacrifice of Christ for the people. They too must perform acts of cleansing so that they will not taint their "holy" sacrifice. One such act is a washing of their hands to take away their impurity. This washing takes place before the sacrifice, to again, make it "pure." They also are the first to partake of the sacrifice before giving it to everyone.

Feel free to list more examples. I am going to stop here as this post serves only as a stepping stone for the next.

'Tis The Season For Some Grinching

As most of you know I hate this time of year. People acting crazy over a single day is not my idea of fun. So here are my thoughts on christmas.

Lets not beat around the bush here. There is nothing Christian about December 25th. No matter how much one tries you will not find Christ in that holy day. The church has tried to make the day into a Christ filled day. Why? Some might say as a tool for evangelism. The problem with that is most "tools of evangelism" only water down the gospel and tend to taken focus off it's central theme: Christ. Let's face it the gospel has nothing to do with a tree and it especially has nothing to do with a candy cane. It is Christ paying the ransom for sinners, of whom I am chief, that they would be reconciled to God . We should not try to water that down or use illustrations that don't even come close to expressing that.

I don't have a problem with the gift giving. Just call it what it is: secular. If a person wants to get together with family and friends and exchange gifts that is fine with me. I think that would fall under their liberties in Christ. Again this is not a Jesus birthday blowout party.

"You mean, you don't celebrate Christ's birthday?" cries the zealous reader. Let me assure you dear read that I do. In fact I celebrate Christ's birth,death and resurrection on the same day. " You mean Easter?"asks the reader. Um no. I mean the Sabbath. You see dear reader on the Sabbath, I meditate on the gospel. In order for Christ to pay the ransom for my sins it way necessary for Him to come in the flesh.

Then there is that dubious name: christmas. Why any Christian would want to celebrate the mass is beyond my understanding and knowledge? The matter of the mass will be taken up in another post at a later time. For now we shall simply say that the perpetual "sacrifice" of Christ by human hands is an abomination to the Lord and so should it be to those who follow Him.

Something that I had just thought of this year was how religiously zealous some Christians have taken to this day. Would they be so zealous for the day if God had authorized it's observance? Somehow I think not. For God did authorize an Holy day. One in which we are to set the day apart. Yet lots of Christians fall short in this area(myself included). How sad it must be for our Lord and Savior, that His own people are more zealous to observe a man made day more than the Sabbath.

So there you have it my two cents on December 25th and this season that most people love. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by.

Brian J. Anderson

Who cares?

In trying to think of my next post my mind kept drawing blanks. Today, however is a different story. I have come to realize that words are pointless. That their meanings and authority can only be found in the actions of those who speak them. With this new found knowledge, I have come to realize that this blog serves only to show my hypocrisy.

Thoughts on the Confession

Recently a group, that I am involved in, had a discussion on the first three sections of Chapter 5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. I thought that I would post the questions. Doing so with the hope that it would be helpful for the growth of those who happen to read it. Feel free to leave any thoughts, or answers, that you might have.

The Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter V Of Providence

I. God the great Creator of all things does uphold,direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.

II. Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly; yet, by the same providence, He orders them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.

III. God, in His ordinary providence, makes use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them, at His pleasure.

1.) How does God execute His decrees?

2.) What can we say to those who believe that after God created all things He then took a "hands off" approach?

3.) What are some of the dangers of adopting such ideas?

4.) There are some that would claim that God is the immediate cause of all things and that consciousness is a thorough delusion. How do we refute this lie?

5.) What are some of the dangers of adopting this theory?

6.)What would be a Biblical view of how God deals with His creation?

7.)There are four places that we can go to find proof of our view. They are nature, our works or skills, our nature and the Bible. Can you give some examples of how they prove it to be true?

8.) What does section 2&3 teach us?

9.) What are the different ways that God works out His providence?

10.) Is He limited to do it the same way all the time?

11.)Give some examples of second causes?

I was going to leave some answers but thought it better for you to think it out first. Thanks and good night.