Learning Contentment

"...Christian contentment means that my satisfaction is independent of my circumstances.

...for Paul, contentment was rooted not in self-sufficiency but in Christ’s sufficiency (Phil. 4:13). Paul said that he could do all things—both being abased and abounding—in Christ... 

...contentment is something we have to learn. And here is the crux of the matter: to learn it, we must enroll in the divine school in which we are instructed by biblical teaching and providential experience.

...Christian contentment, therefore, is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at His disposal in the place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with the provision He is pleased to make.

...If I insist on knowing exactly what God is doing and what He plans to do with my future, if I demand to understand His ways with me in the past, I can never be content until I am equal with God.

...In our Augustinian tradition, it has often been said that the first sin was superbia, pride. But it was more complex than that; it included discontentment. A discontented spirit is both the fruit and the evidence of an ungodly heart."


- Sinclair Ferguson
Learning Contentment

Few Saved

“I will go as far as anyone in exalting God’s mercy in Christ, but I cannot shut my eyes against the fact that this mercy profits no man so long as it is wilfully refused.

I see nothing wanting, on God’s part, for man’s salvation. I see room in heaven for the chief of sinners. I see willingness in Christ to receive the most ungodly. I see power in the Holy Ghost to renew the most ungodly.

But I see, on the other hand, desperate unbelief in man: he will not believe what God tells him in the Bible. I see desperate pride in man: he will not bow his heart to receive the Gospel as a little child. I see desperate sloth in man: he will not take the trouble to arise and call upon God. I see desperate worldliness in man: he will not loose his hold on the poor perishable things of time, and consider eternity.

In short, I see the words of our Lord continually verified: 'Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life' (John 5:40), and therefore I am driven to the sorrowful conclusion that few are likely to be saved.”


Excerpt From: Ryle, J. C. “Old Paths.” iBooks. 
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The New "Leader of the Free World"

The Prime Minister of Israel gave a historical speech this week before a joint session of Congress which was both inspiring and alarming.

Benjamin Netanyahu is a leader. He speaks with moral clarity and manly boldness. I heard Mark Levin call him "the new leader of the free world," and regrettably I agree. Whittle also made the point:

Our current President pursues, among other things, a foreign policy of appeasement that weakens the security and strength of our nation. I believe this is intentional. He has proven himself lawless and untrustworthy. Now his administration is engaging in negotiations with a tyrannical government which is the world's leading sponsor of terror and is equally untrustworthy.

The actors are in place. The circus is underway. The music is playing.

I hope the negotiations crumble and dissolve. But I believe both sides will ultimately get what they want. And I fear for our nation, and the nation of Israel.

Our world, as we know it, is crumbling before our eyes. Godlessness is prevalent. Christians are mocked, persecuted, raped, enslaved, and executed. And sadly within the borders of the two beacons of hope... the USA and Israel... the most innocent among us are a slain by the hundreds of thousands - legalized infanticide - often paid for by our taxpayer money. But I digress.

I praise God for leaders like Netanyahu. And I pray for our nations. May God grant repentance, forgiveness, and reformation.

Here is the speech. I hope you will watch it:

The Life of the Justified

“The life of the justified is one of watchfulness.

...Forgiveness has altered all his circumstances and hopes. It has brought him into a new world, from which are shut out things he was formerly familiar with, and into which are introduced things which he knew not. He sees and hears what he never saw nor heard before; and he ceases to see and hear what but lately he delighted in. He expects changes, and wishes that they were come.

...The present has become less to him, the future more; and in that future the one absorbing object is the reappearing of Him, whom not having seen he loves.

...That the future should be a mere repetition of the present,--with a few scientific and political improvements,--is quite enough for the worldly man. But the man who, by his new connection with the cross, has been transported into a new region, is not content that it should be so.

...He wants a better future, and a more congenial world; he desires a state of things in which the new object of his love shall be all.”


Excerpt From: Bonar, Horatius. “The Everlasting Righteousness.” Monergism Books, 2011-11-05T22:59:54.841000+00:00. iBooks. 
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Sacrificing Self

“Self-sacrifice ought not to seem much to those for whom Christ has died, and whom He now represents upon the throne. Generous deeds and gifts and words ought to be as natural as they are becoming in those who have been so freely loved, so abundantly pardoned, and so eternally blest.”


Excerpt From: Bonar, Horatius. “The Everlasting Righteousness.” Monergism Books, 2011-11-05T22:59:54.841000+00:00. iBooks. 
This material may be protected by copyright.

William Tyndale on Sovereign Election

"In Christ God loved us, His elect and chosen, before the world began, and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of His holy gospel."

"Why does God open one man’s eyes and not another’s? Paul (Rom. 9) forbids to ask why; for it is too deep for man’s capacity. God we see is honoured thereby, and His mercy set out and the more seen in the vessels of mercy. But the popish can suffer God to have no secret, hid to Himself. They have searched to come to the bottom of His bottomless wisdom: and because they cannot attain to that secret, and be too proud to let it alone, and to grant themselves ignorant, with the apostle, that knew no other than God’s glory in the elect; they go and set up free-will with the heathen philosophers, and say that a man’s free-will is the cause why God chooses one and not another, contrary unto all the Scripture."

- From Ligonier Ministries

The Family

O SOVEREIGN LORD,

Thou art the Creator-Father of all men,
  for thou hast made and dost support them;
Thou art the special Father of those who know, love, and honor thee,
  who find thy yoke easy, and thy burden light,
  thy work honourable, thy commandments glorious.

But how little thy undeserved goodness has affected me!
How imperfectly have I improved my religious privileges!
How negligent have I been in doing good to others!

I am before thee in my trespasses and sins,
  have mercy on me,
  and may thy goodness lead me to repentance.

Help me to hate and forsake every false way,
  to be attentive to my condition and character,
  to bridle my tongue,
  to keep my heart with all diligence,
  to watch and pray against temptation,
  to mortify sin,
  to be concerned for the salvation of others.

O God, I cannot endure to see the destruction of my kindred.
Let those that are united to me in tender ties 
  be precious in thy sight and devoted to glory.

Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion, instruction, discipline, example,
  that my house may be a nursery for heaven,
  my church the garden of the Lord,
    enriched with trees of righteousness of thy planting, for thy glory;
Let not those of my family who are amiable, moral, attractive,
  fall short of heaven at last;
Grant that the promising appearances of a tender conscience,
  soft heart, the alarms and delights of thy Word,
  be not finally blotted out,
  but bring forth judgment unto victory
    in all whom I love.


- The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions