They were once a mighty and magnificent ocean- as beautiful as you could imagine. They were formed and established by a great and awesome Being, whose name was Awesome and Holy. He was infinitely creative and took great pleasure in what He made. Oh yes, He was a good and powerful Creator. And the waters ebbed and flowed at His kind Word. They danced happily to His song and leapt with joy at His voice. Yet, once, a long, long time ago, soon after the water was made, the same Almighty Creator crafted a beautiful ship. And this ship was the most magnificent of all the Maker’s creations. He even called it His masterpiece. It was designed, just the same as the water- to live and move and have its being joyfully at the Word of its Creator. Yet, unlike any other creation, it was made to experience a personal relationship with its Creator- to speak and sing to Him with a voice, to think about Him with a mind, and to love Him with a heart and soul forever. But, one day, the ship was deceived by the great and cunning sea Beast, and told to set its sail to follow its own course, for its Maker was withholding from it a course to a more desirable shore. And so, the ship, believing the lie, decided to chart its own way to this mysterious distant shore. It forsook its joy in following its Maker’s will, and abandoned His course for its own. When the ship’s loving Creator found the ship sailing towards a different land than the one He had lovingly set out for it, He was deeply grieved. And since He was of infinite dignity and worth, the offense His very own ship had committed against Him could not be overlooked. This horrible act was guilty of death forever for it had violated the will of the most honorable Being in the universe. But because of this Maker saw it pleasing to Himself, He did not destroy the ship entirely and immediately as He could have, but He pronounced a curse upon it and all of the water- a curse that brought hardship and sorrow, grief and pain, and ultimately, death itself. And so the curse remains to this day.
This story you must know before you take sail. The waters you wish to travel through are cursed by their Maker. They hold the curse of death in them. Therefore, you cannot sail in them and hope to overcome this curse. Either they will kill you through ease or through storm, but one way or another, they will kill you. Yet, there is something more to the story you must know as well. The curse pronounced upon the water was pronounced upon all of creation- including any ship that may happen to voyage across them. Yes, just as this ocean, this world, was made subject to the curse, you yourself were affected by the very same curse as well. Your ship is cursed. Indeed, your whole ship is infected with it: hull, deck, mast, sails, rudder, stern, anchor, and wheel. All you are has been contaminated by the same stuff that has contaminated the water. For that first ship was the head of all other ships, representing them all, even yours. So the curse brought about by that ship’s actions carries down to you. This is why it is so hard, even impossible, to master the waters of this life. The water isn’t the only problem, or even the main problem, you are- your ship is. You are trying to sail across cursed waters in a cursed ship.
The Waters of Prosperity
Let me talk first to the person who identifies most with pleasant waters. Let me address you whose life is one of ease and comfort. Let me have a word with you who seem to be just coasting along, everything’s going alright; you don’t really have much to worry about- no serious storms, no intense suffering. Money’s not really an issue. You have a good job that pays well. Or maybe you’re retired and now you’re just relaxing off the hard work you already put in all those years. You deserve it after all right? You know- the children are doing fine, perhaps they’re grown up and have started their own families. You and your spouse (or your significant other) aren’t facing any real relationship issues. You’ve got a nice place- maybe you’ve been there for some time and everything’s pretty settled in and comfortable. You have your car, or your truck, or your bike, or your boat, or your 4-wheeler, or snowmobile, or lawnmower, or surfboard, or skateboard, or whatever. You have a pretty set, typical schedule that’s generally not too disturbed. You have your different entertainment when you want it. You have your favorite places to eat, your hobbies you like to do, your places you like to go. You have your friends (maybe less or more), but you have enough to make you happy when you want to go out or something. You have no real health issues, no real pressing needs, no real pressing wants maybe even. All in all, everything’s pretty easy for you. You look at your life and it isn’t too bad. You got this, you got that; I mean, more or less, you’re happy, you’re comfortable. And maybe you’d even say you’ve actually got it pretty darn good. Maybe you’re just loving how good you have it right now.
If this is you, then I urge you to recall my earlier warning. Remember your danger! Satan loves to devour the complacent! And who tend to be most complacent? It’s the prosperous, the comfortable! -moseying along in their health and wealth and success and prestige, not a care in the world! Sure, they murmur- but about their grass not being green enough, or their sky being too clouded, or their fast food not fast enough, or their steak too soft, or their traffic too traficky! Oh how they make such fat and easy prey for that dragon of old! They are so filled with this world that they are weighed down by it, unable to even move towards heaven- like a full-grown cow that simply has its head down all day eating grass and only moves to the next patch of grass and barely ever lifts its head up to survey the field about them. It’s so content with grass that it doesn’t care about anything else! And then it is slaughtered! Don’t be like that! You aren’t a cow! But when you’re so comfortable with your life in this world, you forget about your life in the next. And when you forget, you stop caring. And when you stop caring about your life in the next, Satan laughs at the ease by which you perish. He simply has to pull the latch, and because you’re so weighed down by the world you’ve been feeding on, your own weight causes you to fall into Hell. And it is so easy for him to do precisely because you’ve lost sight of what really matters! You’re face is stuck in the grasses of this world, the comforts of this world, the soothing waters of this world. You think you were made for this world when you weren’t.
Have you forgotten who you are? –a finite, frail, temporary creature? Who created you? What are you doing here anyway? Why are you on this planet? Why is there breath in your lungs? Who started your heart beat and keeps it beating when you’re unconscious, asleep and dreaming like a little baby at night? You are here for a reason. Not because of some mysterious irrational impersonal insensible forces somehow over a billion years turning you from a cosmic prebiotic soup into a conscious, thinking, reasoning, and loving person. No! You were designed and made an immortal being. You have an eternal soul that will either live on forever in heaven or in hell no matter what you think or feel about it. And this life- this journey through this sea- is but a step across a puddle in comparison to eternity! A puddle! Don’t lose yourself in this puddle.
Have you forgotten where it is you are going? Oh Christian, you’re going to a sea like glass mingled with fire that is shining with the harps of all the saints. You’re going to a sea of tribes and nations and peoples all saved by grace praising the Lamb that was slain for them. You’re going to a sea of archangels, and angels, and seraphim, and cherubim, and all the heavenly host in all their glorious array working alongside you for the joy of their Master! Oh yes, you’re going to a sea of joy indescribable and pleasures you cannot even dream of!- a sea of ever-increasing happiness and new delights day after day forever. And best of all, you are going to a sea of infinite love flowing from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords ever, directly, and personally towards you. Wave after wave of the glory of Christ will wash over you- each one transforming you to be able to take in the next one’s delights; and that for-e-ver. Just imagine it! Can you describe the euphoria of heaven? Oh, what comforts and pleasures of this life are worth comparing to those of heaven? Forget them! They are temporary. They are fleeting. They are here to day and gone tomorrow. They will rust, rot, and die even as you will. They will not sustain you or give you the satisfaction you are looking for. Do not depend on them. They won’t deliver! Do not hold them tightly. They will turn to dust in the end! They are not worth living for. Do not trade the seas of heaven for the stagnant ponds of this world.
But your danger is greater indeed than simply wasting your life in this world, forgetting that of the next. That mistake is serious enough- for you won’t live for what you were made to live for, and you will have settled for pitiful pleasures; but the choice of making that mistake is one that you will regret forever. Know this: if you live for this world, you will not live in the next. If you waste your life in this world, you will lose your life in heaven. You won’t make it. The gates will be closed to you. You will have lazily drifted along in the easy waters of this world too long, and you will find that the nice river of life you were just enjoying has turned into a deadly waterfall; and there is nothing to save you from your plummet into the Lake of Fire at the bottom of it. As surely as you loved your life in this world, you will hate your life for eternity. Forever and ever and ever you will regret your life of comfort and ease. You will say, “Oh that I would have suffered the worst hells of that life if it would have saved me from this Hell.” For even the worst suffering of a temporary life won’t even compare to the lightest sufferings of an eternal one. Your torment, your suffering, your misery, your agony will be forever. “When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all.” Surely you will be the object of a merciless consuming fire for thousands and thousands and thousands of years; and once you have burned for all that time, when so many ages have already been spent by you screaming, you will know that it is all but a moment, a speck, a dot, to what remains.
Consider this seriously! Dwell on this! It is not like you can sit around awhile enjoying all this world has to offer you and then on your death bed will yourself to heaven! Just as you can’t pull down your sails and sit in the middle of the ocean and then think you can somehow make it to shore! No you must do the opposite! You must sail to your destination! You must take up the anchor, and open your sails, and move! You must embark upon your voyage to the heavenly shore just as you must set sail upon your journey toward an earthly one. If you are still and stop, you will sink. If you dawdle and delay, you will drown. Think! Wouldn’t you rather live as if there was a heaven and a hell than if there wasn’t? Wouldn’t you rather risk this life for eternity rather than eternity for this life? If living as if there is a heaven and hell meant you must go through the worst of storms but you would still arrive at eternal bliss; and living as if there weren’t a heaven and hell meant you could live quite comfortably but you would arrive in eternal torment and misery; what would you choose? Don’t trade the hope of eternity for this fleeting vapor! Quickly hoist the sails and be off! Away quickly! The sun of your life is setting already! Your time is short! And you have wasted enough of it as it is! You cannot face the waterfall of death. You do not have strength to fight against its pull. The sea beast Satan himself is after you. His jaws seek only to bring you down to the Pit. Go now while he thinks you are still docked in Vanity Fair. Release your tie to this world, pull up the anchor, and open your sails, praying that the Lord may fill them with His grace and steer you towards His blessed eternal shore. You must go! Go at once!
BUT!
-one last word before I bid you farewell. And woe is me if I do not tell you this! If indeed this is your case, and you are enjoying the waters of this world far too much, and you find yourself lost in the comfort and pleasure they offer, truly your time is short indeed, and you must set sail quickly or you will never make it. However, you must know one last thing before you set off. And this is the most important thing: You will never make it across these waters on your own. Never. You will surely die if you try to sail to the heavenly shore on your own strength. You are not strong enough. You are not good enough; you’re not smart enough, you’re not funny enough, not charming enough, not successful enough, not good-looking enough, nor can you try hard enough; you are not perfect enough to make it across this sea alive. For these waters are cursed from old, and from ancient times they have held the plague of death in them.
(Quote is from Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, READ IT).
If this is you, then I urge you to recall my earlier warning. Remember your danger! Satan loves to devour the complacent! And who tend to be most complacent? It’s the prosperous, the comfortable! -moseying along in their health and wealth and success and prestige, not a care in the world! Sure, they murmur- but about their grass not being green enough, or their sky being too clouded, or their fast food not fast enough, or their steak too soft, or their traffic too traficky! Oh how they make such fat and easy prey for that dragon of old! They are so filled with this world that they are weighed down by it, unable to even move towards heaven- like a full-grown cow that simply has its head down all day eating grass and only moves to the next patch of grass and barely ever lifts its head up to survey the field about them. It’s so content with grass that it doesn’t care about anything else! And then it is slaughtered! Don’t be like that! You aren’t a cow! But when you’re so comfortable with your life in this world, you forget about your life in the next. And when you forget, you stop caring. And when you stop caring about your life in the next, Satan laughs at the ease by which you perish. He simply has to pull the latch, and because you’re so weighed down by the world you’ve been feeding on, your own weight causes you to fall into Hell. And it is so easy for him to do precisely because you’ve lost sight of what really matters! You’re face is stuck in the grasses of this world, the comforts of this world, the soothing waters of this world. You think you were made for this world when you weren’t.
Have you forgotten who you are? –a finite, frail, temporary creature? Who created you? What are you doing here anyway? Why are you on this planet? Why is there breath in your lungs? Who started your heart beat and keeps it beating when you’re unconscious, asleep and dreaming like a little baby at night? You are here for a reason. Not because of some mysterious irrational impersonal insensible forces somehow over a billion years turning you from a cosmic prebiotic soup into a conscious, thinking, reasoning, and loving person. No! You were designed and made an immortal being. You have an eternal soul that will either live on forever in heaven or in hell no matter what you think or feel about it. And this life- this journey through this sea- is but a step across a puddle in comparison to eternity! A puddle! Don’t lose yourself in this puddle.
Have you forgotten where it is you are going? Oh Christian, you’re going to a sea like glass mingled with fire that is shining with the harps of all the saints. You’re going to a sea of tribes and nations and peoples all saved by grace praising the Lamb that was slain for them. You’re going to a sea of archangels, and angels, and seraphim, and cherubim, and all the heavenly host in all their glorious array working alongside you for the joy of their Master! Oh yes, you’re going to a sea of joy indescribable and pleasures you cannot even dream of!- a sea of ever-increasing happiness and new delights day after day forever. And best of all, you are going to a sea of infinite love flowing from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords ever, directly, and personally towards you. Wave after wave of the glory of Christ will wash over you- each one transforming you to be able to take in the next one’s delights; and that for-e-ver. Just imagine it! Can you describe the euphoria of heaven? Oh, what comforts and pleasures of this life are worth comparing to those of heaven? Forget them! They are temporary. They are fleeting. They are here to day and gone tomorrow. They will rust, rot, and die even as you will. They will not sustain you or give you the satisfaction you are looking for. Do not depend on them. They won’t deliver! Do not hold them tightly. They will turn to dust in the end! They are not worth living for. Do not trade the seas of heaven for the stagnant ponds of this world.
But your danger is greater indeed than simply wasting your life in this world, forgetting that of the next. That mistake is serious enough- for you won’t live for what you were made to live for, and you will have settled for pitiful pleasures; but the choice of making that mistake is one that you will regret forever. Know this: if you live for this world, you will not live in the next. If you waste your life in this world, you will lose your life in heaven. You won’t make it. The gates will be closed to you. You will have lazily drifted along in the easy waters of this world too long, and you will find that the nice river of life you were just enjoying has turned into a deadly waterfall; and there is nothing to save you from your plummet into the Lake of Fire at the bottom of it. As surely as you loved your life in this world, you will hate your life for eternity. Forever and ever and ever you will regret your life of comfort and ease. You will say, “Oh that I would have suffered the worst hells of that life if it would have saved me from this Hell.” For even the worst suffering of a temporary life won’t even compare to the lightest sufferings of an eternal one. Your torment, your suffering, your misery, your agony will be forever. “When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all.” Surely you will be the object of a merciless consuming fire for thousands and thousands and thousands of years; and once you have burned for all that time, when so many ages have already been spent by you screaming, you will know that it is all but a moment, a speck, a dot, to what remains.
Consider this seriously! Dwell on this! It is not like you can sit around awhile enjoying all this world has to offer you and then on your death bed will yourself to heaven! Just as you can’t pull down your sails and sit in the middle of the ocean and then think you can somehow make it to shore! No you must do the opposite! You must sail to your destination! You must take up the anchor, and open your sails, and move! You must embark upon your voyage to the heavenly shore just as you must set sail upon your journey toward an earthly one. If you are still and stop, you will sink. If you dawdle and delay, you will drown. Think! Wouldn’t you rather live as if there was a heaven and a hell than if there wasn’t? Wouldn’t you rather risk this life for eternity rather than eternity for this life? If living as if there is a heaven and hell meant you must go through the worst of storms but you would still arrive at eternal bliss; and living as if there weren’t a heaven and hell meant you could live quite comfortably but you would arrive in eternal torment and misery; what would you choose? Don’t trade the hope of eternity for this fleeting vapor! Quickly hoist the sails and be off! Away quickly! The sun of your life is setting already! Your time is short! And you have wasted enough of it as it is! You cannot face the waterfall of death. You do not have strength to fight against its pull. The sea beast Satan himself is after you. His jaws seek only to bring you down to the Pit. Go now while he thinks you are still docked in Vanity Fair. Release your tie to this world, pull up the anchor, and open your sails, praying that the Lord may fill them with His grace and steer you towards His blessed eternal shore. You must go! Go at once!
BUT!
-one last word before I bid you farewell. And woe is me if I do not tell you this! If indeed this is your case, and you are enjoying the waters of this world far too much, and you find yourself lost in the comfort and pleasure they offer, truly your time is short indeed, and you must set sail quickly or you will never make it. However, you must know one last thing before you set off. And this is the most important thing: You will never make it across these waters on your own. Never. You will surely die if you try to sail to the heavenly shore on your own strength. You are not strong enough. You are not good enough; you’re not smart enough, you’re not funny enough, not charming enough, not successful enough, not good-looking enough, nor can you try hard enough; you are not perfect enough to make it across this sea alive. For these waters are cursed from old, and from ancient times they have held the plague of death in them.
(Quote is from Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, READ IT).
Confessions Of A Former Semi-Pelagianist: Part 1
Hi, my name is Josh and I'm a former Semi-Pelagianist.
I used to believe in free will. I thought that irrisistable grace meant that God would drag you to heaven kicking and screaming even if you didn't want to go. I thought that this was a serious afront to the will of man.
I thought that faith arose from within me and did not know that it was God's grace that gave it to me. I thought I was sick in my sin, not dead. I thought I was like the swimmer in the ocean who got leg cramps and had to call out for help to the life guard in order to be rescued. I didn't realize that I had already been at the bottom of the ocean for days, already dead, unable to breath, unable to cry out for help.
But then God showed me some dreadful, yet wonderful and glorious truths. Man has an enslaved will and not a free will. I was dead in sin, not sick. I would not call out to God apart from His enabling grace and regeneration. Oh, how I needed His grace for I would nor could ever come to Him willingly.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It couldn't be any more clear. Man does not have free will but is enslaved to Satan and sin. Last time I checked, neither Satan or sin are in the habit of telling people to obey the gospel. Apart from God's grace, we are captive and obedient to these cruel taskmasters unless the Lord liberates us and sets us free. It's only then that we can yield ourselves to God as slaves of righteousness. God has freed us from the slavery of Satan and sin and made us obedient servants of Christ. We have been freed to serve Christ.
I have received faith and thus the righteousness of Christ. I've obtained both by Divine alottment. Both are precious gifts to me. Nothing in my salvation is the result of anything I have done. Salvation is a monergistic work not a synergistic one. The Roman Catholic Church and many professing Christians have errored. They've tried to mix Sovereign Grace and Pelagianism and have compromised themselves as Semi-Pelagians.
Fellow Christians and pastors, know your church history and you'll see that from the very beginning faithful men of God have always fought against the heresies of Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius. Many of you, as I once was, are so far removed from church history that you actually think the teachings of Calvin, Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon and the Puritans are heretical. If you do not believe them to be heretical then you affirm that they are preaching the true Word of God, so why not join them? Go to history and you'll slowly begin to see that modern day evangelicalism has more in common with Rome, Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius than historical and Biblical christianity. Flee this heresy and no longer be apostates of the one true gospel of grace.
I pray for this. And I pray for the salvation of men knowing that it's God's grace that is effectual as His Word is delivered to them--wherever they may be.
I used to believe in free will. I thought that irrisistable grace meant that God would drag you to heaven kicking and screaming even if you didn't want to go. I thought that this was a serious afront to the will of man.
I thought that faith arose from within me and did not know that it was God's grace that gave it to me. I thought I was sick in my sin, not dead. I thought I was like the swimmer in the ocean who got leg cramps and had to call out for help to the life guard in order to be rescued. I didn't realize that I had already been at the bottom of the ocean for days, already dead, unable to breath, unable to cry out for help.
But then God showed me some dreadful, yet wonderful and glorious truths. Man has an enslaved will and not a free will. I was dead in sin, not sick. I would not call out to God apart from His enabling grace and regeneration. Oh, how I needed His grace for I would nor could ever come to Him willingly.
2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Peter 2:1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It couldn't be any more clear. Man does not have free will but is enslaved to Satan and sin. Last time I checked, neither Satan or sin are in the habit of telling people to obey the gospel. Apart from God's grace, we are captive and obedient to these cruel taskmasters unless the Lord liberates us and sets us free. It's only then that we can yield ourselves to God as slaves of righteousness. God has freed us from the slavery of Satan and sin and made us obedient servants of Christ. We have been freed to serve Christ.
I have received faith and thus the righteousness of Christ. I've obtained both by Divine alottment. Both are precious gifts to me. Nothing in my salvation is the result of anything I have done. Salvation is a monergistic work not a synergistic one. The Roman Catholic Church and many professing Christians have errored. They've tried to mix Sovereign Grace and Pelagianism and have compromised themselves as Semi-Pelagians.
Fellow Christians and pastors, know your church history and you'll see that from the very beginning faithful men of God have always fought against the heresies of Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius. Many of you, as I once was, are so far removed from church history that you actually think the teachings of Calvin, Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon and the Puritans are heretical. If you do not believe them to be heretical then you affirm that they are preaching the true Word of God, so why not join them? Go to history and you'll slowly begin to see that modern day evangelicalism has more in common with Rome, Pelagius, Erasmus and Arminius than historical and Biblical christianity. Flee this heresy and no longer be apostates of the one true gospel of grace.
I pray for this. And I pray for the salvation of men knowing that it's God's grace that is effectual as His Word is delivered to them--wherever they may be.
The Waters of Circumstance: Part 1
Our lives are so easily ruled by our circumstances. Too easily ruled by our circumstances. We are told to make the best of them, but they seem to make the best (or worse) of us. They’re life. And “life throws things at you.” They become “your lot in life.” They’re just your “part of life.” Your circumstances are just your “river of life.” See we view our circumstances as the water in the river of our lives. Whatever way the current runs, we float along. And however strong it takes us, is how fast we will go. We think they have complete control over our lives and can dictate everything about us. But God rules circumstances. He dictates the currents and the speeds of our lives. If God has power over circumstances, and we have trust in God, then circumstances have no power over us. See, it is not our circumstances that either make or break us; but it is how we deal with them. It is our perspective in them, not our powerlessness over them that makes all the difference. Is God in control of this or not? Is this for our good or not? Should we then complain or not? We must have a proper perspective of circumstances before we will be able to live as we were meant to in them. This is one of the most important requirements of the rejoicing Christian.
So what shall we compare our circumstances to? What are they like, and how should we approach them? What perspective should guide us in the midst of prosperity and circumstances of adversity and suffering? Answering these questions will be invaluable to both our every days lives as well as for the day we get that one unexpected phone call.
Circumstances are like the waves on the seas of our lives. One day they are calm, still, peaceful, relaxed, and refreshing- waters of ease and comfort. The next they are rough, stormy, dark, frenzied and chaotic; they create a tempest, hitting you from every side, and they seem to just toss you about; they disorient you, drain you, and threaten to sink the boat of your very life. And the waves change suddenly and dramatically. The moment you look down to see gentle waves below you, you look up to see a violent storm before you. They are dangerous waters indeed. Yes, they are cursed waters. They have been since the first ship set its sails upon them. Cursed altogether. In fact, their storms are just as cursed as their silence.
Picture the seen of the still and peaceful waters. Picture them as the smooth and pleasant waters of your life as you coast along them- easy waters, nice waters, comfortable waters. But remember: cursed waters. And perhaps their stillness is more treacherous than their storms. For it is more subtle. You hear no thunder in the distance; you see no dark clouds on the horizon. When they are still, then it is that they are captivating- you look only a moment too long and you are enticed to throw out the anchor and take a break from your set voyage to the safe haven; to stop and relax and lounge about in the waters. They are so calm, so peaceful; they feel so good, so relaxing. But they are deadly. Beware if you find yourself in these waters! The deceptively calm waters of this world claim more souls than the stormy ones. They are as satanic as they are soothing- if you trust in them. It is just as you lose yourself in these soothing waters that the great sea dragon Leviathan is beneath you, sizing you up from below. The Evil One is stalking you from the depths. Prowling nearer, and nearer, without a noise or a ripple to be seen. He is just waiting for you to forget where you are and forget where you are going, playing around in these easy waters. It is then that he leaps upon his prey, his roaring jaws snapping in a death-lock and dragging the unsuspecting victim underwater to its death. Oh, do be wary that you do not linger too long! Enjoy these waters of prosperity, of peace, and restoration, but do not lose yourself in them. Do not look into them too long. Oh how our eyes are enticed so quickly by the ease and comfort of the waters of this life! Do not be naïve! Keep yourself watchful! Stay alert! Always have an eye fixed on the destination! You are on a voyage! And your life depends on your safe arrival to the heavenly shore! Your odyssey is through these waters, but it is not in them. It is in Paradise! across this sea! Take advantage of the smooth waters and open your sails full of God’s grace so that you might journey on with speed.
But there is another person, on another vessel, who is traveling in far different waters than these. This one’s waters are far from easy and comfortable. Oh no, this person can hardly remember what calm water even looks like! They can barely remember the last time it was still, and gently rolling about them, or recall its refreshing cool, or its peaceful sound. This might be you. Your life is one filled with tumultuous waters. You are locked in its grasp, sucked in and spiraling around and around in this giant whirlpool. Your enemy is not stalking you from below, no, he is upon you already! Perhaps he has asked permission to sift you like wheat, or to treat you as he did Job and take away everything from you but your very breath. Perhaps this storm is a storm of sins that you have been lost in for sometime. Or, maybe it is a storm of persecution, or poverty, or sickness. But, whatever the case, it is truly a fierce and terrible storm to you! -slamming into the side of your ship, spinning you around, rocking your whole life apart. Wave after wave is piling over you, relentless: just crashing upon you from all sides- so loud, so hard, you can barely hear yourself think! You are in a storm, the wind is howling, the sky is black, and all you can see before you are endless rows of towering waves. Oh yes, yours is a dark sea indeed! You are beyond tired; you’re defeated. The wind of your sails is far from blown out; your sails are torn to shreds already. The waters of your world are far from subtle and deceptive; they are upon you even now; and perhaps so heavily and so powerfully you feel totally hopeless in this storm. Where can you go? What can you do? If you jump ship and try to swim away, you will drown. If you stay and cling to whatever you can you will sink. And maybe you have already tried both. And maybe you have already drowned; your ship has already sunk. Maybe you are just floating there unconscious, arms somehow draped over a broken piece of what was once your ship, your life. Maybe, it is as though your whole life is one big shipwreck already.
The truth is, everyone is sailing through different waters. Yes, there are no new forms of these waters that are not common to man. But, here me, they are unique to you. You maybe have never had to go through what you’re going through right now, even though someone else has. The water you’re sailing in- the circumstances you’re in- have never come against such a ship as yours- with your own personality, and strengths and weaknesses, and history, and flaws, and the way you alone were put together. And maybe you have had to deal with whatever it is before. Maybe you’ve been sailing through the same rough waters for a very long time: the same sin, the same relationships, the same sickness, the same trials. Even so, the waters may be the most common, but you, the ship sailing across them, are totally unique. There has never been a ship like you to go through even the most ordinary waters of circumstance.
But no matter who you are, and no matter what kind of water you’re going through right now in life, know this: there is hope for you. There is good news. His name is Jesus Christ.
So what shall we compare our circumstances to? What are they like, and how should we approach them? What perspective should guide us in the midst of prosperity and circumstances of adversity and suffering? Answering these questions will be invaluable to both our every days lives as well as for the day we get that one unexpected phone call.
Circumstances are like the waves on the seas of our lives. One day they are calm, still, peaceful, relaxed, and refreshing- waters of ease and comfort. The next they are rough, stormy, dark, frenzied and chaotic; they create a tempest, hitting you from every side, and they seem to just toss you about; they disorient you, drain you, and threaten to sink the boat of your very life. And the waves change suddenly and dramatically. The moment you look down to see gentle waves below you, you look up to see a violent storm before you. They are dangerous waters indeed. Yes, they are cursed waters. They have been since the first ship set its sails upon them. Cursed altogether. In fact, their storms are just as cursed as their silence.
Picture the seen of the still and peaceful waters. Picture them as the smooth and pleasant waters of your life as you coast along them- easy waters, nice waters, comfortable waters. But remember: cursed waters. And perhaps their stillness is more treacherous than their storms. For it is more subtle. You hear no thunder in the distance; you see no dark clouds on the horizon. When they are still, then it is that they are captivating- you look only a moment too long and you are enticed to throw out the anchor and take a break from your set voyage to the safe haven; to stop and relax and lounge about in the waters. They are so calm, so peaceful; they feel so good, so relaxing. But they are deadly. Beware if you find yourself in these waters! The deceptively calm waters of this world claim more souls than the stormy ones. They are as satanic as they are soothing- if you trust in them. It is just as you lose yourself in these soothing waters that the great sea dragon Leviathan is beneath you, sizing you up from below. The Evil One is stalking you from the depths. Prowling nearer, and nearer, without a noise or a ripple to be seen. He is just waiting for you to forget where you are and forget where you are going, playing around in these easy waters. It is then that he leaps upon his prey, his roaring jaws snapping in a death-lock and dragging the unsuspecting victim underwater to its death. Oh, do be wary that you do not linger too long! Enjoy these waters of prosperity, of peace, and restoration, but do not lose yourself in them. Do not look into them too long. Oh how our eyes are enticed so quickly by the ease and comfort of the waters of this life! Do not be naïve! Keep yourself watchful! Stay alert! Always have an eye fixed on the destination! You are on a voyage! And your life depends on your safe arrival to the heavenly shore! Your odyssey is through these waters, but it is not in them. It is in Paradise! across this sea! Take advantage of the smooth waters and open your sails full of God’s grace so that you might journey on with speed.
But there is another person, on another vessel, who is traveling in far different waters than these. This one’s waters are far from easy and comfortable. Oh no, this person can hardly remember what calm water even looks like! They can barely remember the last time it was still, and gently rolling about them, or recall its refreshing cool, or its peaceful sound. This might be you. Your life is one filled with tumultuous waters. You are locked in its grasp, sucked in and spiraling around and around in this giant whirlpool. Your enemy is not stalking you from below, no, he is upon you already! Perhaps he has asked permission to sift you like wheat, or to treat you as he did Job and take away everything from you but your very breath. Perhaps this storm is a storm of sins that you have been lost in for sometime. Or, maybe it is a storm of persecution, or poverty, or sickness. But, whatever the case, it is truly a fierce and terrible storm to you! -slamming into the side of your ship, spinning you around, rocking your whole life apart. Wave after wave is piling over you, relentless: just crashing upon you from all sides- so loud, so hard, you can barely hear yourself think! You are in a storm, the wind is howling, the sky is black, and all you can see before you are endless rows of towering waves. Oh yes, yours is a dark sea indeed! You are beyond tired; you’re defeated. The wind of your sails is far from blown out; your sails are torn to shreds already. The waters of your world are far from subtle and deceptive; they are upon you even now; and perhaps so heavily and so powerfully you feel totally hopeless in this storm. Where can you go? What can you do? If you jump ship and try to swim away, you will drown. If you stay and cling to whatever you can you will sink. And maybe you have already tried both. And maybe you have already drowned; your ship has already sunk. Maybe you are just floating there unconscious, arms somehow draped over a broken piece of what was once your ship, your life. Maybe, it is as though your whole life is one big shipwreck already.
The truth is, everyone is sailing through different waters. Yes, there are no new forms of these waters that are not common to man. But, here me, they are unique to you. You maybe have never had to go through what you’re going through right now, even though someone else has. The water you’re sailing in- the circumstances you’re in- have never come against such a ship as yours- with your own personality, and strengths and weaknesses, and history, and flaws, and the way you alone were put together. And maybe you have had to deal with whatever it is before. Maybe you’ve been sailing through the same rough waters for a very long time: the same sin, the same relationships, the same sickness, the same trials. Even so, the waters may be the most common, but you, the ship sailing across them, are totally unique. There has never been a ship like you to go through even the most ordinary waters of circumstance.
But no matter who you are, and no matter what kind of water you’re going through right now in life, know this: there is hope for you. There is good news. His name is Jesus Christ.
Noah's Ark: Love, Care, Peace and Family?
What a massive replica this must be, if indeed it is to Biblical scale. I can only imagine how much effort and money this must have taken to build this. Although impressive in size, I wonder if the message of Noah's Ark will be lost if people think that this Biblical account is about love, care, peace and uh, family?
The words love, care, peace and family may be used to describe the account inaccurately if one understands these words from a human perspective. If one is thinking about the love and care of God for His elect, then yes, the story is partially about love and care. If one is thinking about the peace that God has with those that come to Him in faith for salvation, then yes, the story is partially about peace, too. But from a human standpoint, I don't think most people would be thinking about love, care and peace from this perspective. They may be more inclined to think this story is merely about the human love that is portrayed by Noah for his family and Noah's love for "mother nature" and her animals. That, I am convinced, is merely a man-centered perspective of looking at the Bible and in no way communicates the Biblical message of sin and salvation--which is what God intends for us to know from the account of Noah's ark.
God hates sin and will punish and destroy those who violate His holy nature and do not love His holy nature. Yet, God has made provision for salvation. That provision comes through faith in what God has said...faith in His Word...faith in the Living Word. When we take God at His Word, we are credited with the righeousness of God and are spared from the wrath of God for our sin and sin nature. Those poor souls who did not believe Noah's message from God were not spared, just as any soul who fails to believe God's Word will not be spared from the final judgment and destruction to come.
The rain of God's wrath is coming and will last not for 40 days and 40 nights but for all eternity. There is an ark that we can climb into to be spared from these horrible rains and floodwaters. That ark is Christ. We need to be immersed and baptized in Him. Like the ark covered Noah and His family from certain death, so the righteousness of Christ and His shed blood covers us from the wrath and damnation of God. This is God's love. This is God's care. This is peace with God. This makes us heirs and family of God. So if the story of Noah's ark is intended to communincate love, care, peace and family from this perspective, I say "AMEN!" If not, then I say "anathema" to the person who preaches a false gospel and message from Scripture.
There's nothing wrong with using the words love, care, peace and family to teach the account of Noah's ark. But you can have two separate meanings, understandings and perspectives depending on how you proclaim the story. And if you fail to use words like sin, judgment, death and salvation in the story of Noah's ark, then you've only told part of the story. Let's make sure we use the Biblical meanings to tell the whole story rightly.
The words love, care, peace and family may be used to describe the account inaccurately if one understands these words from a human perspective. If one is thinking about the love and care of God for His elect, then yes, the story is partially about love and care. If one is thinking about the peace that God has with those that come to Him in faith for salvation, then yes, the story is partially about peace, too. But from a human standpoint, I don't think most people would be thinking about love, care and peace from this perspective. They may be more inclined to think this story is merely about the human love that is portrayed by Noah for his family and Noah's love for "mother nature" and her animals. That, I am convinced, is merely a man-centered perspective of looking at the Bible and in no way communicates the Biblical message of sin and salvation--which is what God intends for us to know from the account of Noah's ark.
God hates sin and will punish and destroy those who violate His holy nature and do not love His holy nature. Yet, God has made provision for salvation. That provision comes through faith in what God has said...faith in His Word...faith in the Living Word. When we take God at His Word, we are credited with the righeousness of God and are spared from the wrath of God for our sin and sin nature. Those poor souls who did not believe Noah's message from God were not spared, just as any soul who fails to believe God's Word will not be spared from the final judgment and destruction to come.
The rain of God's wrath is coming and will last not for 40 days and 40 nights but for all eternity. There is an ark that we can climb into to be spared from these horrible rains and floodwaters. That ark is Christ. We need to be immersed and baptized in Him. Like the ark covered Noah and His family from certain death, so the righteousness of Christ and His shed blood covers us from the wrath and damnation of God. This is God's love. This is God's care. This is peace with God. This makes us heirs and family of God. So if the story of Noah's ark is intended to communincate love, care, peace and family from this perspective, I say "AMEN!" If not, then I say "anathema" to the person who preaches a false gospel and message from Scripture.
There's nothing wrong with using the words love, care, peace and family to teach the account of Noah's ark. But you can have two separate meanings, understandings and perspectives depending on how you proclaim the story. And if you fail to use words like sin, judgment, death and salvation in the story of Noah's ark, then you've only told part of the story. Let's make sure we use the Biblical meanings to tell the whole story rightly.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: John Owen
"Morality which does not come from the spiritual regeneration and renovation of our souls is not gospel holiness. The tree must first be made good and then the fruit will be good also. All morality arising from the old nature--even if prayer is made to Christ for help and it is claimed that it is being done to the glory of God--is never acceptable to God. Unless a person is regenerate and his nature renewed into the image and likeness of God; unless he is endued with spiritual life from above enabling him to live to God, he can do nothing that is acceptable to God. Any morality that does not arise from this principle of grace in the renewed soul is not gospel holiness." -- John Owen, Apostasy from the Gospel
Meet Chelsea Kauflin. Pt. 3
talia: So tell us what you do.
chelsea: i work for my dad at Sovereign Grace Ministries, and LOVE it. it has been such an awesome thing receiving emails and talking to people all over about how my dad and Sovereign Grace Ministries has impacted their lives. it has only made me more grateful for Sovereign Grace and the work that they're doing.
talia: Since you come from a musical family, do you play any instruments, sing or write music?
chelsea: yes, i get this question asked all the time. i am from a musical family and i do not play anything. i have tried playing violin, guitar, and piano, but never liked it enough to practice every day. i do sing, but not nearly as much as i used to. writing...not so much. though i have tried numerous times to go up to my room and start to write a song...i guess the writing genes just skipped me? most everyone in my family writes music. i am the unique one.
[Chelsea is being modest. she didn't mention this, but she is featured on the upcoming Sovereign Grace Kids worship CD "To Be Like Jesus" coming out soon. We heard a couple tracks, and it's awesome. Better than the first one.]
talia: What's your favorite hymn?
chelsea: one of my favorite hymns is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" i can't stop listening to it:
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.
such a good reminder to me that i am so prone to wander, no matter how strong i think i am. my prayer is that i would not lose sight of this and be ever leaning on grace to fight this battle.
"My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less" is another favorite. the whole song from vs. 1 stating where my hope is, from vs 2. reminding me that i should never doubt when darkness comes because his grace for me is the same, and to be reminded to look back at all the times he has been faithful, vs. 3 even when times are hard, his promises to me never change. even though it might not be the way that i think is best, he does. from vs. 4 my prayer, that i would always be found in him, never straying but building my life in him.
"In Christ Alone" is a good one as well.
Thank you Chelsea! Your testimony is a blessing to us.
[Chelsea will be working the Sovereign Grace Music table at the Resolved Conference 2009 in Palm Springs]
Meet Chelsea Kauflin. Pt 2
talia: During that time of reading, praying, and talking to your parents after you had been let go from ministry and work at the church, what were some books or passages of scripture that God used to turn you around.
chelsea: the book that impacted my life the most is Disciplines of Grace by Jerry Bridges. this book helped me realize just how desperate i am in need of God and his grace on my life. this book really humbled me and made me more aware of how i cannot do anything in my own strength. also, the book of psalms, proverbs, and james, were books that i really meditated on. the truth of those books was just what i needed and continually need to hear.
talia: What robs you of your satisfaction in Christ most? How do you fight for that satisfaction?
chelsea: my eyes have always been drawn to things of this world. i can constantly feel the pull from the world thinking that if i buy this, or if i'm with this person...i will be happy. these temptations jump at me most when i am going through times of diversity. when i am not trusting in God's promises for me, i can often feel like God really doesn't have my best interest at heart (ps 84:11), and he will never give me what i really want. during these times, i seek things that i believe will make me happy. God is always showing me that i can only find complete satisfaction in him after i believe the lies that my flesh tell me. and by God's grace, i hope to reach the point when i'm not giving into the lies, but instead, resting on the promises that the Lord has given his children.
talia: What excites you most about the gospel?
chelsea: well, the more and more i see my sin, the more glorious the gospel appears. this means that by God's grace, i will only be more and more amazed by the gospel. i can come to God as a filthy sinner and yet be seen as someone who is clean. and not only me, my friends and family have all been cleansed of their sin as well. and if we have all been saved by grace, so can many other people. there is nothing that i need to do to prove myself worthy since it has already been done for me on the cross. what a releasing thought.
talia: What is your life mission?
chelsea: my life mission, is really to "live a life worthy of the calling i have received" (eph 4). i want everyone that knows me to know who i live for. i want people to be drawn to Christ by the way they see me living. i want my eyes to be taken off myself and what i need and turned to all the people that God has placed around me. i hope to be a woman that "does good all the days of her life" (prov. 31) not for my good, but for God's glory.
[stay tuned for the conclusion of "Meet Chelsea Kauflin"]
chelsea: the book that impacted my life the most is Disciplines of Grace by Jerry Bridges. this book helped me realize just how desperate i am in need of God and his grace on my life. this book really humbled me and made me more aware of how i cannot do anything in my own strength. also, the book of psalms, proverbs, and james, were books that i really meditated on. the truth of those books was just what i needed and continually need to hear.
talia: What robs you of your satisfaction in Christ most? How do you fight for that satisfaction?
chelsea: my eyes have always been drawn to things of this world. i can constantly feel the pull from the world thinking that if i buy this, or if i'm with this person...i will be happy. these temptations jump at me most when i am going through times of diversity. when i am not trusting in God's promises for me, i can often feel like God really doesn't have my best interest at heart (ps 84:11), and he will never give me what i really want. during these times, i seek things that i believe will make me happy. God is always showing me that i can only find complete satisfaction in him after i believe the lies that my flesh tell me. and by God's grace, i hope to reach the point when i'm not giving into the lies, but instead, resting on the promises that the Lord has given his children.
talia: What excites you most about the gospel?
chelsea: well, the more and more i see my sin, the more glorious the gospel appears. this means that by God's grace, i will only be more and more amazed by the gospel. i can come to God as a filthy sinner and yet be seen as someone who is clean. and not only me, my friends and family have all been cleansed of their sin as well. and if we have all been saved by grace, so can many other people. there is nothing that i need to do to prove myself worthy since it has already been done for me on the cross. what a releasing thought.
talia: What is your life mission?
chelsea: my life mission, is really to "live a life worthy of the calling i have received" (eph 4). i want everyone that knows me to know who i live for. i want people to be drawn to Christ by the way they see me living. i want my eyes to be taken off myself and what i need and turned to all the people that God has placed around me. i hope to be a woman that "does good all the days of her life" (prov. 31) not for my good, but for God's glory.
[stay tuned for the conclusion of "Meet Chelsea Kauflin"]
