"Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; but when he is found he must repay seven fold; he must give all the substance of his house.
Prob 6:30-31 (read to verse 35)

God does not excuse the sin of theft here. Man should earn his keep by the sweat of his brow. He is making a comparison with the adulterer who steals in vv 32-35.

This sort steal something which can never be restored, even at the selling of all his little goods. He has stolen trust and good will. His plea cannot be hunger, instead it is simple wantonness. The sin of adultery is like no other. It is the deepest of wounds to a relationship of oneness.

Solomon draws us to a compariosn of two wrongs in an attempt to teach us to be on guard for all temptation lest we inflict wounds that cannot but do harm when we give in to them. Holiness is the call.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

The Pursuit Of Unity
By
C.H. Spurgeon

Spurgeon was dogged by members of the very organization he founded in Britain. He insisted that truth was more critical than "unity" and for that insistance he was cast out from them. Here is a snippet of his thoughts from an article in his Sword and Trowel magazine.


"To pursue union at the expense of truth is treason to the Lord Jesus. If we are prepared to enter into solemn league and covenant for the defense of the crown-rights of King Jesus, we cannot give up the crown-jewels of his gospel for the sake of a larger charity. He is our Master and Lord, and we will keep his words: to tamper with his doctrine would be to be traitors to himself. Yet, almost unconsciously, good men and true may drift into compromises which they would not at first propose, but which they seem forced to justify. Yielding to be the creatures of circumstances, they allow another to gird them, and lead them whither they would not; and when they wake up, and find themselves in an undesirable condition, they have not always the resolution to break away from it. Especially in the company of their equally-erring brethren, they are not inclined to consider their ways, and are not anxious to have them remarked upon; and, therefore, in this brief paper we venture to make an earnest appeal from brethren assembled, to brethren at home in their studies quietly turning over the matter."

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
nor let her catch you with her eyelids."
Prov 6:25 (read 25-29)

Scripture says much about lust (see Matt 5:28; James 1:14-15; Job 31:1; Psalm 119:37, Ecc 9:3-5)

I was approached once by a young wife in our congregation who told me I needed to tell the young men in the church that women looked at men in tight pants also. She wasn't telling me something I didn't know, just reminding me that both the sexes can have "eye" lusts.

You see, temptation acts upon a congenial nature and situation. One aged saint said "The fire of lust ignites the fires of hell." If David had been where he should have been, instead of at leisure, the death of Uriah would not have occurred.

The lesson is simple: You cannot plead the strength of the temptation as cause for your sin. You must admit you allowed it to occur. You must be rapid in your response to the evil when it pops it's head up. No 12 step program here, active avoidance is necessary and a reliance upon a faultless Holy Spirit when the lusts arise, as they will.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

A PURITAN QUOTE FOR CHRISTMAS DAY
(Which is an oxymoron since the Puritans didn't celebrate Christmas)
by
William Sprague

"Impress the young convert from the very beginning with the conviction that God has called him into His kingdom to struggle with the corruptions of his heart."


Herewith are we reminded that it is to be an ever endeavor to teach those dear hearts, while they are still tender in years, unsullied in their depravity by the world's devises, that they too need the Savior borne on this day.

Have a blessed Christmas day and know that the point is to point people to Christ, even on this humanly invented occasion.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

A gift for all who want man to be co-equal in his salvation, with God. Notes by C.H. Spurgeon in your weekly "Spot of Spurgeon".

Here Spurgeon affirms his agreement with what are usually called "The Five Points of Calvinism." Spurgeon's own summation was much shorter: A Calvinist believes that salvation is of the Lord. Selections from his sermons and writings on these subjects make his position clear.

Regarding Total Depravity and Irresistible Grace:

When you say, "Can God make me become a Christian?" I tell you yes, for herein rests the power of the gospel. It does not ask your consent; but it gets it. It does not say, "Will you have it?" but it makes you willing in the day of God's power....The gospel wants not your consent, it gets it. It knocks the enmity out of your heart. You say, I do not want to be saved; Christ says you shall be. He makes our will turn round, and then you cry,"'Lord save, or I perish!"

Regarding Unconditional Election:

I do not hesitate to say, that next to the doctrine of the crucifixion and the resurrection of our blessed Lord--no doctrine had such prominence in the early Christian Church as the doctrine of the election of grace. And when confronted with the discomfort this doctrine would bring, he responded with little sympathy: "'I do not like it [divine election],' saith one. Well, I thought you would not; whoever dreamed you would?"

Regarding Particular Atonement:

[I]f it was Christ's intention to save all men, how deplorably has he been disappointed, for we have His own testimony that there is a lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, and into that pit of woe have been cast some of the very persons who, according to the theory of universal redemption, were bought with His blood.

He has punished Christ, why should He punish twice for one offence? Christ has died for all His people's sins, and if thou art in the covenant, thou art one of Christ's people. Damned thou canst not be. Suffer for thy sins thou canst not. Until God can be unjust, and demand two payments for one debt, He cannot destroy the soul for whom Jesus died.

Regarding the Perseverance of the Saints:

I do not know how some people, who believe that a Christian can fall from grace, manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe in the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men most miserable, because I should lack any ground of comfort.

Rest peacefully, o saint of God, knowing that "Jesus paid it all all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow."

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them"
Romans 1:19

It is sad when that which portends to represent God maintains that truth about Him and from His word cannot be dogmatically asserted. Such is the tenor of much of the Emergent or Populist church movement of today.

They reject the capacity of the bible to authoritatively declare God's mind. that no one can for certain assert Scripture says or does not say anything. All of Scripture becomes what one wants it to mean but don't insist that anyone else will arrive at that conclusion.

Well, my problem with that process and the end of it is that that is not what God says. The single great cry of saints through the ages, that which drove men and women to die for the sake of getting the bible into hands, of going abroad from homes of comfort, for being martyred at the stake was that God is knowable. Paul's yearning, again and again was "That I may know Him and the fellowship of His suffering". As Christ walked on the road to Emmaus He asked them "Do you not know me?".

Beloved, if Scripture becomes whatever we want it to be then there are no more definitions in this life and it all becomes some existential endeavour to arrive at a point of satisfaction with this "god" that's out there, maybe, since I can't express anything with any certainty, by their definition. This is what happens and is the child of experiential Christianity rather than biblical Christianity. I would ever be chasing the tail of "security" if my belief system were based on my thoughts rather than His truths. Have we come so far in our race to reach everybody that we are nothing ourselves anymore?

Guard your hearts and minds because this attack is subtle and has many edges that appeal to our depravity. I don't know the many arms of this "evangelical" octopus heresy but the Spirit seems to be warning with a loud cry "To the testimony and the truth".

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"Pray with understanding"
I Corin 14:15

Perhaps more than any other spiritual exercise, praying is misunderstood. It is an elemental process to those that are truly redeemed just as is breathing to those that have physical life. Therefore I believe it is so attacked with bad definition and mocked with wrong exercise.

There is among the current church movement toward so called "relevance" a group teaching what is called Lectio Divinia. They believe the prayer process involves reading a text of scripture, chosen by chance and then meditating, concentrating on that section in prayer until the "true" meaning of the section is given to you by divine teaching, lectio divinia.

This is a rejection of all the tenets of good, solid bible study processes. It is the child of the charismatic rejection of the authority of scripture to mean one thing to all, instead they say it means all things to one. I hope you see the inherent danger of this thought process. Its a return to Genesis 6 where "men did what was right in their own eyes".

Beloved, guard yourself from these thieves of truth, that lie to you in favor of their own goals. They would steal the truth of His word from your minds with a practice that is as old as the Tower of Babel or the Garden of Eden. They attack God's word as knowable and applicable.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"My son, keep your father's commandment, and don't forsake the law of your mother."
Prov 6:20 (read 20-24

This is not a complex command. The lesson here is of ongoing parental oversight and right. Children are not intended to be independent of parents. They aren't dropped from the womb as some animal and them expected to make their way alone. Parental oversight is a responsibility and a right.

Will they buck at and try to avoid parental instruction....of course, they are depraved. God's order is parent to child, even though the world is offering many sources they primary is parent to child.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"And this we shall do, if God permits"
Hebrews 8:3

Oh, that we would make every decision with this caveat in the background, "Lord willing". Not as an excuse but as a reality in the process we use in making every choice.

I'm afraid that we too often blurt out a promise or a decision without a thought toward what He would have us do. I don't mean that the process of consultation should slow us where speed is necessary or vice-versa, I'm simply saying we need to always understand that our choices need to be made with the thought there that He may have another option or route awaiting.

I cannot help but recall the Apostle Paul's process as he sought to go any direction to evangelize and was told by the Holy Spirit in that dream what God's route was. Even when His direction seems out of the usual, which it usually is because we seek the comfortable way, always seek it fearlessly.

Go into today knowing He has a way for you and "Lord willing" you'll enjoy the joy of traveling it.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him"
Prov 6:16 (Read through v19)

A strange thing happens when man seeks to fill in that hole in himself God created, in which He alone belongs. Psalm 1:21 says man makes God "such as one himself". In other words he wants to have a God who will look with indifference at his sin, so he makes a God of tolerance.

Here is a short list of just how God is against all sin. Read it & see where you may have hedged your bet against God. Ask if He will tolerate these in His children for any length of time or will He correct instantly.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again."—C. H. Spurgeon

And I would add, this is the only gospel that will clearly display the glory of God and the sinfulness of man. All else is "another gospel"

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"How Deep Is Your Love?"

Is there anyone other than the church of Christ which rivets your attention? I have a totally natural desire that is supernatural for the Bride of Christ and her purity. Now, that attitude has gotten me into some hot spots over the years but I can rightly say that I have a holy desire, unadulterated by any selfish motive. Follow this link to an article done by Nathan Busnitz of the Master's Seminary staff to see just how some guardians of God's church will go anywhere for the sake of so called acceptance. Almost makes me want to spit.

Click Here for Nathan's article

Remember, we've been left a charge to defend the "once forever delivered to the saints faith". Let's be at it, guardians.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"And he arose and went..."
Acts 8: 27a

So many of us will be traveling this season (we were in Utah for Thanksgiving), to visit various friends and family or we'll be the recipients of such visits. Much time and effort will be spent on these journeys. Last Lord's day we noticed in our class that half a dozen families will be under way.

Don't think all the activity is coincidental or by chance. As we go, as we welcome, there is a Divine hand controlling all that here and there. Just as Phillip was led by God, so are we.

I would advise all to be especially prayerful now and be prepared as you can to speak here and there of the wonders of your salvation. Such conversation won't spoil the conversation it will elevate it away from the mundane and temporary of football, food, presents, children and work. If it quiets some cacophony for a few minutes you've added to the setting more than you'll ever know. And if they say "there's goes grandpa again on his rant about Jesus", then you've struck the necessary nerve. Beloved, if you don't inject Jesus, who will? After all that's why they are there and why you travelled all that way. Go ahead, be a nuisance.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

Grace Beloved,
The following is excerpted from the salvation testimony of Peggy O'Neill, an ex-Catholic nun. Most enlightening and inspiring.

Click Here for a website to read her testimony in full


"I served as a sister in a religious order for about fifty years and during all that time, I had never heard the true Gospel. Certain things may be let ride, but when it comes to the Gospel there can be no compromise, because the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. A false gospel cannot have that power and any church that preaches a perverted gospel is depriving its members of the foundational and most essential message, the message of salvation.

False Teachers in the Early Church

In the Bible we read of the churches in Galatia where false teachers were leading people into another gospel. They were going back under law, for as well as believing in Jesus Christ, they had to observe certain religious laws making Christianity a set of rules and laws whereby they had to earn heaven. Galatians Chapter Three tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law and that He is the end of the law for righteousness. If we take Jesus plus any religious law as a means of salvation we are fallen from grace. We cannot trust in law and grace at the same time, so trying to combine the two, we put ourselves under law. By adding anything to the finished work of the cross, Christ will profit us nothing. Galatians 3:21 says that if
righteousness comes by the law then Christ died in vain. This is the seriousness of being under the law--we have to be our own saviors and the Bible says that no man can be saved by keeping the law. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians used strong words to say that if anyone, even an angel from heaven were to preach another gospel, let him be accursed.

My Attempts to Live by the Law

Like the Galatians, I was trying to save myself by a combination of law and grace. I was putting my faith in Jesus but also in my own actions, trying to earn heaven and the things of God by doing the best I could instead of receiving salvation as a gift. The Gospel was no longer Good News, for the burden of salvation was on my back. In the end, I could only hope to be saved in spite of all my attendance at Mass, the sacraments, prayers, and other good works. By offering my own righteousness as a means of being accepted before God, I was, according to Galatians 5:3, making myself a debtor to the whole law. I was obligated to meet a standard of perfection that equals that of God. I had never understood how to trust Jesus and Him alone as my Savior.
I had not known that it was not by my performance, but by just believing and accepting the perfect price Jesus paid when He shed His blood for me on Calvary that I would be saved. When I heard the true message of the Gospel, the truth set me free. I praise God that I am learning to depend more and more on the Lord Jesus for my needs, both in this life and for eternity."

"A worthless person, a wicked man, is the one who walks with a false mouth, who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who points with his fingers; who with perversity in his heart devises evil continually, who spreads strife. Therefore his calamity comes suddenly; instantly he will be broken, and there is no healing"
Proverbs 6:12-15

Notice the totality of involvement with the individual that is natural, by himself, unredeemed. Solomon is not speaking of a particular type of individual but of all of mankind when it is consumed with self.

His feet, his eyes, his hands; all are indicative of the character of the heart and what alone can help that heart?

"You must be born again" John 3:7; Titus 3: 3-5. Then will a man truly be useful to purpose.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

Death At New Life

Jesus was asked about the horror that happened to the individuals upon whom the tower fell in Luke 13:4. His response is most telling for those who look at life through what I call the fairness window, those who assume nothing untoward will ever happen to men who are "innocent". Listen to Him....
"Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:2-5

Beloved, there is not one among us who could ever accuse God of being unfair toward us. Instead, grace covers our sins and controls all we are.

What is happening of late in American society is the outworking of the effects of Romans 1: 18 - 32. Go read there and see what scripture promises for this country and all others.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

stop for a moment, consider this Puritan prayer and see if you find yourself in it.......

Sins



Merciful Lord, Pardon all my sins of this day, week, year, all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle, and advanced years, of omission and commission, of morose, peevish and angry tempers, of lip, life and walk, of hard-heartedness, unbelief, presumption, pride, of unfaithfulness to the souls of men, of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ, of deficiency in outspoken zeal for his glory, of bringing dishonour upon thy great name, of deception, injustice, untruthfulness in my dealings with others, of impurity in thought, word and deed, of covetousness, which is idolatry, of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered, not consecrated to the glory of thee, the great Giver; sins in private and in the family, in study and recreation, in the busy haunts of men, in the study of thy Word and in the neglect of it, in prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld, in time misspent, in yielding to Satan’s wiles, in opening my heart to his temptations, in being unwatchful when I know him nigh, in quenching the Holy Spirit; sins against light and knowledge, against conscience and the restraints of thy Spirit, against the law of eternal love. Pardon all my sins, known and unknown, felt and unfelt, confessed and not confessed, remembered or forgotten. Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive.

By Valley of Vision

Your weekly Spot of Spurgeon


"If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor."
John 12:26

The highest service is imitation. If I would be Christ's servant I must be His follower. To do as Jesus did is the surest way of bringing honor to His name. Let me mind this every day.

If I imitate Jesus I shall have His company: if I am like Him I shall be with Him. In due time He will take me up to dwell with Him above, if, meanwhile, I have striven to follow Him here below. After His suffering our Lord came to His throne, and even so, after we have suffered a while with Him here below, we also shall arrive in glory. The issue of our Lord's life shall be the issue of ours: if we are with Him in His humiliation we shall be with Him in His glory. Come, my soul, pluck up courage and put down thy feet in the blood-marked footprints which thy Lord has left thee.

Let me not fail to note that the Father will honor those who follow His Son. If He sees me true to Jesus, He will put marks of favor and honor upon me for His Son's sake. No honor can be like this. Princes and emperors bestow the mere shadows of honor; the substance of glory comes from the Father. Wherefore, my soul, cling thou to thy Lord Jesus more closely than ever.

Sometimes the simplest remark will be the most profound. Listen to John Flavel in the 17th Century:

"Guilt is to danger what fire is to gunpowder."

Let that be your guide for confession throughout today.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"Go to the ant, o sluggard, observe her ways and be wise"
Prov 6:6 -11

Why this counsel to a son? Why go to the creation order with not sense of soul or self...why go to the subservient universe to see wisdom at work?

Simply put because God has set it in place with all that is necessary to fulfill its role in this ordered universe and it goes about it without deviation or diversion. It has no high minded thought of itself and blindly serves its role.

What of man then...how about the one in all of creation created in the image of God? Man has an end, to glorify God and to enjoy Him. Does he do so...no. Instead he spins off center in his depravity and sluggishly spends his years and days in diversion of thought and purpose. Until that instant that the Divine hand sets upon him and creates anew the purpose for being and then begins a life lived to purpose and fulfilled.

Oh, thank God for His intervening timing and work. Thank Him for the mercy that gave your day purpose.

"My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor, have given a pledge for a stranger, if you have been snared with the words of your mouth, do this my son and deliver yourself; since you have come into the hand of your neighbor.
Do not give sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand and like a bird from the hand of the fowler."
Prov 6:1-5

You've just warned your son about the dangers of association with and allowing a stranger to lead him around. Now comes the sage advise in relationship to those near and trusted. Oh, for certain you will be led astray by those you trust most and you must be ever on guard lest you think that they'll always be good counsel.

The counsel; once you realize the foolishness of the promise, regardless of the person leading you, get away from it and disavow any promises rashly made without consideration. That's wise counsel. Don't hang on just because its someone near you. When you see the sinfulness of the act, get away!! A bad vow is always a bad vow. And to foolishly stick by it because you trusted the one leading you to it only compounds the mistake.

Again, we are led to the only true source of wisdom, God and His word.

Have a blessed day beloved, and seek His kingdom throughout.

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

"For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress?"
Prov 5:20-23

The proof of human depravity is practical atheism.

Why would any right minded person leave the blessings of God, in a union developed by God, in favor of that "seemingly pleasant" joining with a harlot. The only answer is he doesn't believe the true God. Without regard to reason the sinner will act as if the All Seeing God does not exist and his wanton pleasures are all that matter.

Oh, fool of a man......

The Lord is Risen, Maranatha,
Howard Isa 51:1 <><

A dear saint sent me this yesterday and I thought it would be appropriate for today. Have a blessed Lord's day.


CELL PHONE vs. THE BIBLE

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?

What if we used it when we traveled?

What if we used it in case of emergency

This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.

Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities?'

And no dropped calls!