It amazes me how one can read through the Scriptures and then blatantly try to hold on to the thin thread of their Arminianism with a clear conscience. I mean, consider the very 1st verse in Scripture:

In the beginning, God…

Now, how much more do we really need to proclaim God’s sovereignty over all things? He was here before the beginning…He created all things, including time! Also, consider all the intricate things taking place in Scripture. For example, Moses being saved from the slaughter of children, and then being delivered to Pharoah’s daughter to be raised up a Hebrew alongside the Egyptians. Consider how God used Joseph’s brothers’ evil, for Joseph’s own good! Consider Job, who, in all his affliction, recognized one thing consistently: God’s prerogative in his sufferings.

There are countless other examples, but one of the inconsistent things with Arminianism is this: I’ve heard them many times proclaim, “God is sovereign”, but then deny His freedom to choose and save whom He so desires. Well, I’m sorry, but how can One plan the end, but not plan the means to that end? I’ve been reading through Amos, and here are a few good passages I’d like to share:

Amos 3:6 Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city,
unless the Lord has done it?
Amos 4:13 For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
and declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth—
the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!Amos 5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
and turns deep darkness into the morning
and darkens the day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
the Lord is his name;
9 who makes destruction flash forth against the strong,
so that destruction comes upon the fortress.Amos 9:5 The Lord God of hosts,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who dwell in it mourn,
and all of it rises like the Nile,
and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens
and founds his vault upon the earth;
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—
the Lord is his name. 

Now that’s sovereignty!

Thanks to Mr. Peter Gray for sharing these on the Puritanboard.

From Thomas Watson:

We are never more precious in God’s eyes when we are lepers in our own.  

A broken heart and a broken Christ do well agree. The more bitterness we taste in sin the more sweetness we shall taste in Christ.

Last night, as I was having some thoughts before this Lord’s Day I heard an excerpt from Jeremiah Burroughs’ A Treatise on Earthly Mindedness. In it, Mr. Burroughs was at one point writing about prayer and discussing the difference between a man who is earthly minded and a man who is heavenly minded. He made mention of how difficult it is in winter to still labor in prayer because of the cold, and that the one who still engages in such with a right heart is one who is heavenly minded, not spiritually minded.This allusion struck me quite strongly because I’ve never known what it was like to be truly cold for a whole winter. I’ve never known what it was like to really struggle…and yet, look at the sad state of my heavenly mindedness. Think of the travails of the great saints of old without the comfort of central heat and air. Even today, think of the persecuted and worn Christians of violent and third world countries, who labor on in devotion to their Lord with great joy, perseverance, grace, and fortitude! And me? Well, I offer up, “I’m tired” or “I’ve prayed today throughout the day” (i.e. meaning I’ve neglected special, set-aside, private prayer time, thinking my daily thoughts toward God are “enough”).What a rancid taste in my mouth! I repent. I thank the Lord for His mercies which are new every morning. He is good to His people and He has promised to be our God, and our family’s God, and to all those who shall call upon His Name with effectual grace-filled contrition of heart. Blessed be His Name for He does not allow His children to go unchaste Ned or without Spirit-wrought conviction. Let us all consider how we may better hone heavenly mindedness as we worship our Lord on this Day He has set aside for our good and His glory.

Deuteronomy 32:1-4

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
ascribe greatness to our God!
“The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.

God of Faithfulness
Yet another day has the Almighty given to His people to corporately acknowledge, proclaim, and remember His faithfulness and His keeping of His promise! He has not said He might be a God to us, our children, those who are afar off, and as many as He shall call. Nay, Church, he has promised that He indeed will our God!

Without Iniquity
Our great God is holy, and He sits loftily above executing flawlessly His decree which He determined before the foundations of the earth. In His perfection He has no sin, no wrongdoing, no violation of His own law. And yet, in His mercy, even by way of His own decree, He did determine to condescend to men, take upon Himself a body of a man, that this might be true: For our sake he made him [Our Lord Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. What a glorious, awe-inspiring truth!

Just and Upright
The Lord is always just. Some may object saying, “Wait, but he has forgiven our sins, so if He were just we would not be forgiven and absolved of our punishment in eternity.” I say again, the Lord is always just. God did not make a magic potion that just absolved the sins of His people. No, the Lord Himself descended, became a man, and by way of perfect obedience He paid the penalty on behalf of His people, that we might justly (not by our own merits but by the infinite worth and value of Christ’s pointed, particular, focused atonement) stand right before God. The legal demands of the Lord and His law were legally and fully met by Christ.

Thank the Lord for His redemptive plan!Let us come together and worship our Lord in unison, it having been sprinkled by His merit that it may be pleasing to the Lord. May we cast aside the sins which so easily entangle us, trusting in the provision of our Lord Who has indeed delivered us from such a plight!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!