Nick Roark's Blog, page 21

“Faith is always the beggar’s outstretched hand” by Horatius Bonar

“The work of Christ for us is the object of faith; the Spirit’s work in us is that which produces this faith: it is out of the former, not out of the latter, that our peace and justification come.

Faith is not our saviour.

It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on Golgotha for us.

It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us.

It was not faith that bore our sins in its own body on the tree.

It was not faith that died and rose again for our sins.

Faith is one thing, the Saviour is another.

Faith is one thing, and the cross is another.

Faith is not Christ, nor the cross of Christ.

Faith is not the blood, nor the sacrifice.

Faith is not the altar, nor the laver, nor the mercy-seat, nor the incense.

Faith does not work, but accepts a work done ages ago.

Faith does not wash, but leads us to the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.

Faith does not create; it merely links us to that new thing which was created when the ‘everlasting righteousness’ was brought in (Dan. 9:24).

And as faith goes on, so it continues; always the beggar’s outstretched hand, never the rich man’s gold; always the cable, never the anchor; the knocker, not the door, or the palace, or the table; the handmaid, not the mistress; the lattice which lets in the light, not the sun.

Without worthiness in itself, faith knits us to the infinite worthiness of Him in whom the Father delights; and so knitting us, presents us perfect in the perfection of another.

Though faith is not the foundation laid in Zion, it brings us to that foundation, and keeps us there, ‘grounded and settled’ (Col. 1:23), that we may not be moved away from the hope of the gospel.

Though faith is not ‘the gospel,’ the ‘glad tidings,’ it receives these good news as God’s eternal verities, and bids the soul rejoice in them.

Though faith is not the burnt-offering, it stands still and gazes on the ascending flame, which assures us that the wrath which should have consumed the sinner has fallen upon the Substitute.”

–Horatius Bonar, The Everlasting Righteousness; or, How Shall a Man be Just with God? (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1873/2020), 86-89.

“The glorious spectacle of Calvary” by Horatius Bonar

“Faith does not come to Calvary to do anything.

It comes to see the glorious spectacle of all things done, and to accept this completion without a misgiving as to its efficacy.

It listens to the ‘It is finished!’ of the sin-bearer, and says, ‘Amen.’”

–Horatius Bonar, The Everlasting Righteousness; or, How Shall a Man be Just with God? (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1873/2020), 91.

“Arms outstretched to embrace us” by John Calvin

“When the gospel is daily preached to us, Jesus Christ is offered in it to us, and He, for His part, calls us to Himself.

To be short, He has His arms outstretched to embrace us. Let us understand that.”

–John Calvin, Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians (trans. Arthur Golding; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1562/1973), 183. Calvin is preaching on Ephesians 2:11-13.

“In Christ we have been brought from the deepest hell to heaven itself” by John Calvin

‘And raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…’ (Ephesians 2:6)

“The resurrection and sitting in heaven, which are here mentioned, are not yet seen by mortal eyes.

Yet, as if those blessings were presently in our possession, he states that we have received them, and illustrates the change which has taken place in our condition, when we were led from Adam to Christ.

It is as if we had been brought from the deepest hell to heaven itself.

And certainly, although, as respects ourselves, our salvation is still the object of hope, yet in Christ we already possess a blessed immortality and glory.

And therefore, he adds, in Christ Jesus. Hitherto it does not appear in the members, but only in the head; yet, in consequence of the secret union, it belongs truly to the members.

Some render it, through Christ; but, for the reason which has been mentioned, it is better to retain the usual rendering, in Christ.

We are thus furnished with the richest consolation.

Of everything which we now want, we have a sure pledge and foretaste in the person of Christ.”

–John Calvin, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, Volume 11, Trans. T.H.L. Parker (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965), 11: 225-226. Calvin is commenting on Ephesians 2:6.

“Jesus is the delight of all believers” by John Owen

“The saints’ delight is in Christ.

He is their joy, their crown, their rejoicing, their life, their food, their health, their strength, their desire, their righteousness, their salvation, their blessedness.

Without Him they have nothing; in Him they shall find all things.

‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.‘ (Gal. 6:14)

He hath, from the foundation of the world, been the hope, expectation, desire, and delight of all believers.”

–John Owen, “Communion with God,” The Works of John Owen, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1684/2000), 2: 124.

“He is the great center of the Ephesians” by Henry Alford

“Again and again he repeats this ‘in Christ Jesus.’

HE is the great center of the Epistle, towards whom all the rays of thought converge, and from whom all blessings flow; and this the Apostle will have his readers never forget.”

-Henry Alford, Alford’s Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical Commentary, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Guardian Press, 1976), 3: 94. Alford is commenting on Ephesians 2:7.

“I saw so much grace in His grace” by Thomas Cole

“The object of the book is to draw more attention to the great subject of connecting at all times the Person of Christ with His work. This is a point which the experience of the most solid believers has testified to as of vast importance.

Augustus Toplady quotes the following case from the diary of one who afterwards preached Christ, Mr. Thomas Cole. Listen to his interesting statement:

I was convinced I could be saved no other way than by grace, if I could but find grace enough. But at that time I saw more in my own sin than in God’s mercy.

But this put me on a further inquiry after the grace of God, because my life lay upon it: and then I was brought to the Gospel.

When, however, I came to the Gospel, I met with the law in it; that is, I was for turning the Gospel into law.

I began to settle myself upon Gospel-duties, such as repentance, humiliation, believing, praying; and (I know not how) I forgot the promise of grace which first brought me to the Gospel.

Soon, I found I could neither believe nor pray as the Gospel required. While I was in this plunge, it pleased the Lord to direct me to study the Person of Christ, whom I looked on as the great undertaker in the work of man’s salvation!

And truly here I may say, as Paul did, ‘It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.’

God overcame my heart with this. I saw so much mercy in His mercy, so much love in His love, so much grace in His grace, that I knew not what to liken it to. And here my heart broke, I knew not how!

Before this faith came, I knew not how to secure myself against past, present, and future sins: but there was that largeness of grace, that all-sufficiency of mercy, that infinity of righteousness, discovered to me in Christ, that I found sufficient for all the days of my life.”

–Thomas Cole, quoted in Andrew Bonar, The Person of Christ: Finding Assurance by Walking With Jesus (Ross-shire, Scotland, UK: Christian Heritage, 2023), 7-8.

“The life of faith is one of living union and communion with the exalted and ever-present Redeemer” by John Murray

“Believers are called into the fellowship of Christ and fellowship means communion. The life of faith is one of living union and communion with the exalted and ever-present Redeemer.

Faith is directed not only to a Redeemer who has come and completed once for all a work of redemption. It is directed to Him not merely as the one who died but as the one who rose again and who ever lives as our great high priest and advocate.

And because faith is directed to Him as living Saviour and Lord, fellowship reaches the zenith of its exercise.

There is no communion among men that is comparable to fellowship with Christ—He communes with His people and His people commune with Him in conscious reciprocal love.

‘Whom having not seen ye love,” wrote the apostle Peter, ‘in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory‘ (1 Peter 1:8).

The life of faith is the life of love, and the life of love is the life of fellowship, or mystic communion with Him who ever lives to make intercession for His people and who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

It is fellowship with Him who has an inexhaustible reservoir of sympathy with his people’s temptations, afflictions, and infirmities because He was tempted in all points like as they are, yet without sin.

The life of true faith cannot be that of cold metallic assent. It must have the passion and warmth of love and communion because communion with God is the crown and apex of true religion.

‘Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ‘ (1 John 1:3).

Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation.

All to which the people of God have been predestined in the eternal election of God, all that has been secured and procured for them in the once-for-all accomplishment of redemption, all of which they become the actual partakers in the application of redemption, and all that by God’s grace they will become in the state of consummated bliss is embraced within the compass of union and communion with Christ.

As we found earlier in these studies, it is adoption into the family of God as sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty that accords to the people of God the apex of blessing and privilege.

But we cannot think of adoption apart from union with Christ.

It is significant that the election in Christ before the foundation of the world is election unto the adoption of sons. When Paul says that the Father chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy he also adds that in love He predestinated them unto adoption through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:4, 5).

Apparently election to holiness is parallel to predestination to adoption—these are two ways of expressing the same great truth. They disclose to us the different facets which belong to the Father’s election.

Hence union with Christ and adoption are complementary aspects of this amazing grace. Union with Christ reaches its zenith in adoption and adoption has its orbit in union with Christ. The people of God are ‘heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ‘ (Rom. 8:17).

All things are theirs whether life or death or things present or things to come, all are theirs, because they are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1 Cor. 3:22, 23). They are united to him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and they are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power.’

It is out of the measureless fullness of grace and truth, of wisdom and power, of goodness and love, of righteousness and faithfulness which resides in Him that God’s people draw for all their needs in this life and for the hope of the life to come.

There is no truth, therefore, more suited to impart confidence and strength, comfort and joy in the Lord than this one of union with Christ.

It also promotes sanctification, not only because all sanctifying grace is derived from Christ as the crucified and exalted Redeemer, but also because the recognition of fellowship with Christ and of the high privilege it entails incites to gratitude, obedience, and devotion.

Union means also communion and communion constrains a humble, reverent, loving walk with him who died and rose again that he might be our Lord:

‘But whoso keeps his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. By this we know that we are in him. He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked’ (1 John 2:5, 6). ‘Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me‘ (John 15:4).”

–John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1955/2024), 179-182.

“Arise” by George Herbert

“Arise, arise;

And with His burial-linen dry thine eyes:

Christ left His grave-clothes, that we might, when grief

Draws tears, or blood, not want an handkerchief.”

–George Herbert, from “The Dawning” in Herbert: Poems (Everyman Library) (New York: Knopf, 2004), 131.

“Our Savior has gone before us” by Matthew Emerson

“The most important practical application of the descent, at least in my opinion, is that it means that Christ experienced death in the same way we do and also defeated it.

His human body went to the grave and His human soul went to the place of the (righteous) dead. This is not a natural state for humanity.

Death is an effect of the fall (Gen 3:17–19; Rom 6:23), and Jesus became fully human to the point that He experienced the fullness of death. He did not die one moment on the cross and rise the next moment but remained dead for three days.

This is a great comfort to those who are facing death or those who have lost loved ones. And those two categories encompass everyone on the planet.

When we, or those we love, face death, we can find assurance in the fact that Christ, too, has experienced death in all its fallen fullness. He really, truly died.

His soul was separated from His body for three days. This is just as we will remain dead and just as our souls will remain separated from our bodies until Christ returns.

Our Savior has gone before us.

Just as the Ark of the Covenant went before the people of Israel through the wilderness for three days to find a place for them to rest (Num 10:33), so Christ has gone before us through the wilderness of Hades to prepare a place for us to rest in Him.

But He has not only experienced the fullness of human death; He has also defeated it. Death does not have the last word.

Those of us who trust Christ do not have hope only because Christ experienced it as we do, but because in it experiencing it as the God-Man He defeated it.

And one day He will expel it fully and finally from His presence and from our experience.

We do not remain dead, just as Christ did not remain dead, because Christ has defeated death in His death, descent, and resurrection.

Because Christ rose, we long for the day when we will rise with Him and dwell, bodily, with Him forever on the new heavens and new earth.

This should also bring believers comfort here on earth as they experience evil, suffering, oppression, and all other effects of sin. Christ’s descent answers the problem of evil because in it (and His death and resurrection) He has defeated the principalities and powers (Col 2:15).

The descent, then, ought to be a great comfort to those facing death, whether their own or a loved one’s. It is part of the reason we grieve, but not as those without hope (1 Thess 4:13).

When we cite Paul’s statement in funeral contexts, it is usually to point to the resurrection. And that is right and good, and the ultimate grounds of such hopeful grieving.

But in the meantime, while we think of our departed dead, while we walk in their graveyards and look at their ashes and remember their lives, while we ponder our own deaths, and while we consider how long it is, O Lord, until the Second Coming, we do so with hope.

We hope because Christ also remained buried in the grave, buried with us and for us. We hope because we have a High Priest who has experienced death as we all will, if the Lord tarries.

We hope because we have an advocate who has experienced the pain of death and yet has done so victoriously, rising from it and drawing us with Him on the last day.

We therefore dig our graves, facing toward the East, knowing that as our bodies decompose, our souls remain with Christ, awaiting the day when He will with loud trumpets return and reunite our bodies and souls so that we can live with Him forever by the power of His Spirit to the glory of the Father.

Charles Hill summarizes this hope well:

Christ descended into Hades so that you and I would not have to. Christ descended to Hades so that we might ascend to heaven. Christ entered the realm of death, the realm of the strong enemy, and came away with his keys.

The keys of Death and Hades are now in our Savior’s hands. And God His Father has exalted Him to His right hand, and given Him another key, the key of David, the key to the heavenly Jerusalem.

He opens and no one will shut, He shuts and no one will open (Rev. 3:7). And praise to Him, as the hymn says, “For He hath op’ed the heavenly door, and man is blessed forever more.”

All praise and honor and glory to the Lamb who has conquered! “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth” (Rev. 14:13).

And blessed are we here and now, who even now have this hope, and a fellowship with our Savior which is stronger than death! Thanks be to God. Amen.

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.”

–Matthew Y. Emerson, “He Descended to the Dead”: An Evangelical Theology of Holy Saturday (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019), 219–221.