I can’t say enough how thankful I am for my Church Home. Back in November of 2004 I was in the midst of a trial of which I’d never conceived. Providentially, God, in His grace, led me to Texarkana Reformed Baptist Church (TRBC). Now, long before this I had been one who subscribed to the Doctrines of Grace but neither the timing nor “opportunity” was right that I could go to TRBC.

There is no church with which one who is a serious student of Scripture will always agree on everything. I’m reminded of the old adage, “In essentials unity, in no-essentials liberity, in all things charity.” Now this is not, of course, an acknowledgement to the ungodly notion of modern ecuminism, but rather it is a principle by which all biblical Christians ought to apply in the context of fellowship and ministry.

I’m happy to say that I see it in practice each time I visit my Church. “So, Josh, what are you getting at?” Well, I’m merely pointing out the importance of regularly attending, fellowshipping within, and applying the principles learned therein of a biblical Church at which the Word of God is supreme, primary, and final. In today’s culture Churches (so-called) have lost their identities in Christ (IMHO proving they were not in Christ from the beginning, seeing that those whom He saves, He also justifies, whom He justifies, He alos sanctifies, glorifies, so on, so forth, etc.).

One particular area in which I think of automatically (not to mention one that hits very “close to home”), is the biblical command and principle of Church discipline. When is the last time you’ve heard of a church actually confronting a member who professes Christ, yet is openly and blatantly involved in sin in a way that spits in the face of Christ and tramples on God’s law? It is overwhelmingly rare in these days . . . especially in the “Good Ole’ Bible Belt”. It is clear in Scripture that Church discipline is both authorized and commanded to be applied in Churches. Why? Among others, so that:

1) No man would have a false sense of security (i.e. “fire insurance”) that he does indeed know Christ, when his constant, unrepentant actions truly and only show a hatred of our Lord. (Consider Matthew 7:21,22)

2) The Church would maintain a sense of credibility with unbelievers and other Christians. The Lord said we are salt, we are light. A Church full of Christ-professing, yet not Christ-possessing people is one which has lost all flavor of saltiness, and has no light, but the dim, nay, dark blindness of sin and deception.

So let me encourage you who may have unwittingly stumbled on to my blog. Number 1, are you a Christian? Number 2, if you are a Christian do you go to a biblical Church which engages in the 1) proper preaching of the Word of God borne out of a belief that the Bible, in its original autographs, is the actual, inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, 2) rightful administratin of Baptism and the Lord’s supper, and 3) church discipline? If not, do so! It is imperative to growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you’re comfortable NOT going, then you should indeed examine your heart, and ask God to examine as well, to see “whether ye be in the faith.”

Concerning number 1, if your answer is “No”, then I exhort you to heed the command of God to repent and believe on His Son Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. This is not a hokey, “God loves you and has a plan for your life” thing, nor is it a plea for you to “find your purpose.” The Bible says in Proverbs 16, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of doom.” Does that send chills down your spine? The God of the Scriptures hates sin, and yet He loved the world so much that to those who believe, follow, and obey Him, He gives eternal life. With this change of mind (repentance), comes a change of action (sanctification) as secured and guaranteed by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you know not Christ yet, cast yourself at His mercy, for it is your only hope. No trust can you put in yourself or your goodness, for you have none. You are deserving of only hell, but God will never cast out any who come to Him.

How’s this to be done? Well, in Scripture God has given us a revelation of Himself and His standards. Originally God had made a covenant with Adam, the first of all mankind and, thus, the Representative of all mankind. Adam was created upright and holy, but when he sinned he plunged himself and all mankind (remember, he was our representative) into sin.

In this regard, all men are born spiritually dead and separated from God. Yet, even right after Adam’s transgression, God spoke of His plan of redemption. The seed of woman (Christ) would crush the head of the serpent (Satan). Genesis 3:15 is the first time the Gospel is preached. You can read more about this here. Moving on to the crux of the matter. After Adam introduces sin into the world, mankind has the sinful misconception that somehow he can earn salvation with God. “Well, I’m better than so and so.” or “My good outweighs my bad”, etc. This is the mentality of our natures.

As has been noted, God had a standard with Adam. Adam broke covenant. There is a portion of Scripture which sums up all the law/standards of God. In this portion of Scripture we learn about the 10 Commandments. Guess what? We’ve all broken at least one of them. Repeatedly. Now, if this is God’s standard for “getting in”, then where does that leave all of mankind? On the way to hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. So, if you answered “No” to question 1, you’re in the same predicament as everyone else. You cannot earn the salvation of God. You have nothing to offer Him. He will accept nothing less than perfection . . .THAT’S SCARY, HUH? Yet, my friend, there is hope.

You see, the first Adam failed in his covenant with God. But there is a second Adam. And He did not fail. His Name is Jesus Christ. As Adam represented all of mankind and plunged all mankind into sin, Christ represents His people and has secured all of them into God’s salvation. So, we’ve found that God requires perfection for entrance into His kingdom. But we’ve also learned that all mankind is sinful, thus no one is perfect. Scripture itself says, “There is no one righteous. No, not even one.” and “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If we are to stop here, there is no hope for any of mankind. But the Gospel means “good news” and it doesn’t stop here! We can never be perfect, thus we cannot merit God’s favor or salvation. But Christ can and did! He is the second Adam, the one Who crushed the head of the Serpent.

He came into this world, without sin, lived a perfect life according to the law of God, and then fulfilled all righteousness to be a sacrifice for those who would believe on Him, satisfying God’s requirement of perfection on their behalf! What glorious news! Do you believe yourself to be hopelessly lost and destitute, and sinful? Do you realize that in your wickedness you have offended the thrice holy God who knows no sin? Do you want entrance to His kingdom, forgiveness of sin? Then acknowledge your great rebellion against Him, cast your sinfulness aside, and plead to God for His mercy according to the merit of Christ! There is no mystical prayer that obligates God to do this. It is simply His offer of salvation for those who believe on His Name by faith, not trusting in anything of themselves, and who repent of their sinfulness, following Him, loving, knowing, and obeying His Word, and, if need be, dying for Him.

Will you?

This is a picture I took some time back last December (My Brother and Dad). For some reason it reminds me of a pops and son mob meeting.

“Pops, I want out.”

“Foghett abowdit, Sonny. or they’ll have ya’ sleepin’ with da fishies.”

So, moving on. (By the way, for all you folks out there who know better than I concerning the proper pronunciation of mob slang, please forgive me if I have poorly protrayed proper pronunciation)

Last Friday was Miss Jessica’s birthday. According to this picture…

…it appears she may just be turning one year of age. However, by the extensive vocabulary, complete sentences, and thought-for-thought connection with which she writes concerning her birthday time with her family, we see that she must be older! And, then, there is the picture she has at her blog also implying a latter year than that of one. Happy Birthday, Jessi (Although I’m publishing this a bit late)!!!!!

From here:

Daughter Who Surprised Mom With Birthday Visit Sues Parents

MADISON, Wis. — An Illinois woman is suing her Wisconsin parents for maintaining an icy driveway that she blamed for a fall that broke her ankle two winters ago.This week, a federal judge refused to toss out the lawsuit, setting up a trial for November.    Carriel Louah, 25, visited Darlington, Wis., to surprise her mother on her birthday in January 2005. But the next morning, she was injured when she slipped and fell on her parents’ driveway. She filed suit against her parents earlier this year.

The daughter said that a letter from her mom apologizing months after the fall proves that her parents knew they had a defective gutter for years and did nothing about it.

She’s seeking more than $75,000 in damages for medical bills and lost wages.

Her parents said that she can’t prove the driveway was icy at the time or that their drainage system was faulty.

U.S. District Judge John Shabaz said that a jury should decide the matter.

Hmm…embolden all which apply:

2 Timothy 3:2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God… 

You know, there are many folks who shy away from labels because of the many misinterpretations that come with those labels. Not only terminologies, but symbols of heritage, and other things are shied away from all under the guise of not wanting to be misunderstood. I certainly think that’s folks’ right to do so if they wish, but they needn’t look down upon the people who still hold on to these labels, or symbols of heritage, etc. Nor should they expect others to follow suit in their semi-sensitivity-to-what-others-think behavior.

One such term can be “Calvinism”. Being associated with the name seems to be a bad taste to some who may be subscribers to the doctrines of grace but want to distance themselve from the man John Calvin because of misconceptions concerning the death of Servetus, or paedobaptism, etc. I’ll read or hear someone say something like, “Well, I’m not a Calvinist, because I don’t believe everything Calvin taught.” Just today I read, “Having not always been Sovereigntist (the preferred term in our household, as we are not followers of Calvin, but of God)…” I believe, for the most part, this is due to ignorance (not stupidity, mind you, but ignorance) on the part of the fine folks who say such things. Or, even better, because they don’t want to deal with the many strawmen people assert when talking about the Biblical doctrine of soteriology. I think, though, this is a bit misguided in that:

1) People are going to bring the strawmen on AND the name, person, and life of John Calvin when speaking about election, predestination, etc., whether you wear the label “Calvinist” or hold to “Calvinism” or not.

2.) Simply by being called a “Calvinist” or holding to the system known as “Calvinism” you are NOT saying that you believe all the beliefs of John Calvin, or even necessarily most. Rather, you believe in his well-known articulatin of God’s sovereignty over all things, particularly the salvation of men.

I can say that I proudly wear the label “Calvinist” (not in a sense of “hey, look at me”, but in a sense of “Hey, I believe that God has the freedom to save sinners Whom He has so chosen and is not bound by the captive wills and manipulation of sinful men) because it immediately identifies me in the eyes of others as “one of them.” There’s no doubt. No fishing around to see if this guy believes that God is in complete control or not. Yes, the strawmen will come. Yes, the misunderstandings will ensue, but that’s all the more opportunity to educate others on the true teachings of Scripture and what great soul-winners like Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards, Judson, Carey, et al. believed from the demands and dictates of Scripture. So be the confrontations! So be the strawmen! I will gladly pour the gasoline to his neck and light the match myself to clear up the understand! So be it all to the glory of the Sovereign God Who was free to condemn all men to hell, yet in His abundant mercy He saved some! Blessed be His Name! And now a few quotes from that quotable Baptist, C.H. Spurgeon:

I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, ‘It is Jesus Christ.’

If anyone should ask me what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, ‘He is one who says, Salvation is of the Lord.’ I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible. ‘He only is my rock and my salvation.’ Tell me anything contrary to this truth, and it will be a heresy; tell me a heresy, and I shall find its essence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rock-truth, ‘God is my rock and my salvation.’ What is the heresy of Rome, but the addition of something to the perfect merits of Jesus Christ—the bringing in of the works of the flesh, to assist in our justification? And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer?…I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

And, simply in conclusion, an example of shying away from a symbol of heritage I am reminded of the Confederate Battle Flag. What a misunderstood, abused, and hated symbol which is, in my humble opinion, a symbol of heritage for the Southern cause, as known in the first half of the 1800s. More has been done to demonize the South and exalt “honest” Abe (who was a socialist tyrant, trampling upon the Constitution to put his thumb of oppression on the dissenting North and the free peoples of the South) than I care to admit. I grew up thinking such inaccurate things about my own culture and used to think that the Confederate Battle Flag was a sign of hatred. Now, no doubt, there are some “backwoods”, ignorant, racist people who would use it to their advantage, and do fall prey to the caricatures which man place on the Southern people and Southern history, but that is, by no means, an admission by me or any other proud Southron that we should do away with the flag and for what it once stood.

Anyway, I’m just letting you know that I’m proud to be a Calvinist and I’m proud to be a Southerner and I’m proud of being proud of being both.

      “There is no fatigue so wearisome as that which comes from lack of work”

-C.H. Spurgeon

Ain’t that the truth? Spiritually, mentally, and physically this always rings true. Don’t you find that when you are not regularly exercising this or that, you find yourself less apt or motivated to do so? I must confess that I’ve been spiritually (biblically) lax in these passing weeks. Beginning in May I was doing “real well” but within in the last few weeks I have flopped on my face! Sure, I can blame it on this or that, but is there ever really a valid excuse to have not been in prayer and meditation upon the work, word, and person of Jesus Christ, the Lord Who has purchased me with His blood? Certainly Not!

So, as I have begun fresh and anew in my physical work out, I pray for a renewed fervency in my spiritual disciplines.

Lord, I confess my spiritual laxity and sinfulness to you. Without the symbiotic relationship between prayer & the word and mortification of sin I have allowed myself to come upon a sad state. Forgive my wretchedness. Help me to hate my complaceny and love for sin.

Anyway, just thought I’d confess my absolute human fallenness and that the things of which Dr. Owen speaks, particularly that we will never be free of indwelling sin “whilst” in this life, are very much relevant and applicable in the lives of all believers. I have been focused a bit too much on selling houses, moving places, paying bills, and various forms of entertainment at the expense of delving into, loving, knowing, and obeying the Word of God. I fear I have also caused my best Christian friends distraction in doing the same. Not that they haven’t also been immersed in the Word of God, but I fear I have distracted them from always thinking of the praiseworth, excellent things upon which Paul admonishes us to think. Forgive me, Friends, if I am guilty of such terrible things.