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Articles from Pastor Jon's Blog

"The Whole Pack of You Heretics" 2007-12-17 23:30:00 John Foxe researched and recorded the sufferings of many obscure evangelicals who died during the reign of England's Queen Mary. Here is his story, condensed, of John Philpot who was burned on December 18, 1555: The bishop, seeing his unmovable steadfastness in the truth, did pronounce sentence of condemnation against him. "I thank God," said Philpot, "that I am a heretic out of your cursed church; I am no heretic before God. But God bless you, and give you grace to repent your wicked doings, and let all men beware of your bloody church." So the officers delivered him to Newgate (Prison). "Well," said Philpot, "I must be content, for it is God's appointment. I pray you show me what you would have me do." He said, "If you would recant, I will show you any pleasure I can." "Nay," said Master Philpot, "I shall never recant whilst I have my life, that which I have spoken is certain truth; in witness hereof I will seal i ...

1 John 5:11-13 2007-12-17 00:00:00 1 John 5 - Born of God and Believing in the Son of God 4. (11-13) Assurance of life in the Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. a. And this is the testimony: John, in the previous verse, has just “raised the stakes” regarding the testimony of God.  If we reject it, we are calling God a liar. We don’t want to do that, so we must accept the testimony.  And what is God’s testimony? b. That God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  This is God’s essential message to man: eternal life is a gift from God, received in Jesus Christ.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not h ...

Sunday Quotes 12.16.07 2007-12-16 00:30:00 To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude. -- Henry Nouwen Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself, it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing for others. -- Oswald Chambers We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts.We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we m ...

1 John 5:9-10 2007-12-16 00:00:00 1 John 5 - Born of God and Believing in the Son of God 3. (9-10) The witness of men and the witness of God. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. a. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: Everybody, everyday, receives the witness of men regarding various things.  How much more should we regard the witness of God, when He tells us who Jesus is? i. John does not want us to believe with a “blind faith.”  Instead, our faith is to be based on reliable testimony.  And we have the most reliable testimony possible, the witness of God. b. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself: When we believe on Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit as an inner confirmat ...

Romans 11:1 2007-12-15 00:00:00 Romans 11 - The Restoration of Israel A. Israel and the remnant of grace. 1. (1a) Has God cast away (rejected) His people Israel? I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! a. Has God cast away His people? Paul’s question makes sense as at this point in Romans. If Israel’s rejection of the gospel was somehow both consistent with God’s eternal plan (Romans 9:1-29) and Israel ’s own choosing (Romans 9:30-10:21), then does this mean that Israel’s fate is settled, and there is no possibility of restoration? b. Certainly not! Despite their present state, Israel is not permanently cast away. Now Paul will explain this answer. 2. (1b) Evidence that God has not cast away His people: Paul himself. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. a. I also am an Israelite: The fact that Paul has come to faith in Jesus as Messiah proves there are some Jews who have been chosen by God and who have embraced the gospel. b. ...

Romans 10:16-21 2007-12-14 00:00:00 Romans 10 - Israel's Present Rejection Of  God B. The prophets foretold this rejection of the gospel by Israel. 1. (16-17) Isaiah foretold Israel's rejection of the gospel in Isaiah 53:10.   But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. a. But they have not all obeyed the gospel: If salvation is so simple, available to all who trust in the person and work of Jesus, then why does Israel seem to be cast off from God? Because many among them had not believed his report - because they have not trusted in God’s Word through Isaiah and other messengers of the gospel, they are not saved. b. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God: Saving faith comes through hearing by the word of God. Although Israel heard, they did not exercise saving faith in Christ - making them (and us) all the more responsible.  i. “Hearin ...

Romans 10:14-15 2007-12-13 00:00:00 Romans 10 - Israel's Present Rejection Of God 4. (14-15) The necessity of the preaching of the gospel. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” a. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Paul rightly observes that it all goes back to the preaching of the gospel, and preachers must be sent - both by God and the Christian community at large. b. How shall they hear without a preacher? Conceivably, God could have chosen any means for the message of salvation to come, such as angelic messengers or directly working without a human preacher. Nevertheless God’s “normal” way of bringing people to Jesus Christ is through the preachi ...

Romans 10:9-13 2007-12-12 00:00:00 Romans 10 - Israel's Present Rejection Of God 3. (9-13) How God’s righteousness is gained by faith. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” a. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved: God’s righteousness is not gained by works (as Paul made plain in Romans 10:4-8). Instead, we gain it by confessing and believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ. b. Confess with your mouth: Confession has the idea of agreeing with. When we confess ...

1 John 5:6-8 2007-12-11 00:00:00 1 John 5 - Born of God and Believing in the Son of God B. The source of our relationship with God: Jesus Christ. 1. (6-8) Precisely identifying who Jesus, the Son of God is, the One on Whom we must believe. This is He who came by water and blood; Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. a. He who came by water and blood: John makes it clear that the Jesus he speaks of is not the Gnostic, “phantom” Jesus who was so holy He could have nothing to do with this world.  The Jesus we must believe on is the Jesus who came by water and blood - you can’t get more “earthy” than that. i. John is returning to a theme he started with in the beginning of the letter: t ...

1 John 5:4-5 2007-12-10 00:00:00 1 John 5 - Born of God and Believing in the Son of God 3. (4-5) Being born of God is the source of victory. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? a. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world: John begins with a principle that is so simple, yet so powerful - if we are born of God, we will overcome the world.  The idea that anything born of God could be defeated by this world is strange to John, and should be strange to us. b. This is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith: Since believing on Him is the key to being born of God (1 John 5:1), the key to victory is faith. Not only an initial, “come-to-the-altar-and-get-saved” faith, but a consistently abiding faith, a reliance and trust upon Jesus Christ. i. John repeats the thought with the words, Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes ...

1 John 5:2-3 2007-12-09 01:00:00 1 John 5 - Born of God and Believing in the Son of God 2. (2-3) The demonstration of God’s love. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. a. By this we know that we love the children of God: Just as much as our love for the people of God reflects our love for God (as expressed in 1 John  3:10, 17), so our love for God, and our obedience to Him, is a demonstration of love to the body of Christ. i. It is often said that the best thing a father can do for his children is to love his wife and their mother.  Even so, the first way for a child of God to love his brothers and sisters in Christ is to love God and to obey Him.  And, if you love the parent, you will love the child.  It all works together! b. A Christian who does not love God or keep His commandments is of little effective use in the body of Chris ...

Sunday Quotes 12.09.07 2007-12-09 00:30:00 "I steadfastly refuse to gratify the Devil by being discouraged." -- Unknown Our thoughts are the product of our thinking, and since these are of vast importance to us it is imperative that we learn how to think rightly. -- A. W. Tozer, "That Incredible Christian," p. 95 The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit? -- Proverbs 18:14 I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. -- C. S. Lewis If you want to see God's power at work, you must get out of the church and into the world. Watch the extravagant lengths which God will go to reveal Himself to people who don't know Him. Then you will learn how truly awesome our God is. -- Author Unknown It is a curious fact of life that we learn most by our mistakes. Each generation has to learn for itself, and one can help most by just loving you all, and looking on in love and looking up in love ...

1 John 5:1 2007-12-08 00:00:00 1 John 5 - Born of God and Believing in the Son of God A. Being born of God. 1. (1) Being born of God is the source of love. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. a. John has often mentioned being born of God (as in 1 John  2:29, 3:9, and 4:7); here he tells us how one is born of God: whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ.  This means believing that Jesus is their Messiah, not just the Messiah in the generic sense. i. John’s great emphasis has been on love, but he never wants anyone to believe they earn salvation by loving others.  We are born of God when we put our trust on Jesus, and His saving work in our lives. ii. We also understand that John is not talking about a mere intellectual assent to Jesus being Messiah (as even the demons might have, as described in James  2:19), but a trust in, and reliance on, Jesus as Messiah. iii. Additionally ...

Providence 2007-12-07 23:30:00       He was an Anglican, then a Puritan, then a Separatist, then a Baptist, then a “Seeker.” He quarreled with civil leaders, frustrated church leaders, and loved the Indians. He founded an American colony and established the first Baptist church on American soil. Most of all, he trusted the overruling providence of God so much that he named a city in honor of it. Who was he? He was Roger Williams, born about 1603 in England. He grew up in London near a square in front of Newgate Prison, famous as the site of execution for condemned heretics. Young Roger witnessed many such executions, and he developed an abhorrence for the persecution of those with differing religious beliefs. As an 18-year-old, he worked as recording secretary in a British courtroom, transcribing the cases of heretical prosecution. By the time Williams graduated from Cambridge, he was a powerful preacher and a relentless advocate of religious liberty.  In 1630 under King Charles ...

1 John 4:20-21 2007-12-07 00:00:00   1 John 4 - Abiding in God and His Love 6. (20-21) The commandment to love. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. a. If someone says, “I love God”: It is often easier for someone to proclaim their love for God, because that is more of a private relationship, with an invisible God.  But John rightly insists that our claim of loving God is false if we do not also love our brother - and that is a love that can be seen. i. We may be spiritual dwarfs because we lack love; we may know the Word, we may never miss a service, we may pray with fervency, we may demonstrate gifts of the Spirit - but in it all, we can be like Cain, offering to God the fruit of our hands, not the fruit of the Spirit. b. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, ...