Nick Roark's Blog, page 3

“Delight yourselves in the Lord who is your portion” by Wilhelmus à Brakel

“Having considered how one ought to make use of Christ as Priest, it is necessary in the second place that we be exhorted to be spiritual priests, in harmony with our name Christian. God has given the name priest to believers. “But ye shall be named the priests of the LORD” (Isa. 61:6).

“And hast made us unto our God … priests” (Rev. 5:10). They are priests, but not to sacrifice for their sins or the sins of others, for such is attributed to the Lord Jesus alone. “By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).

Rather, they are “an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5).

Their work as priest is first of all to approach unto God, to enter the Holy Place, and to be continually engaged there in the service of God. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart” (Heb. 10:19, 22). Thus our conversation must be in heaven (Phil. 3:20).

Secondly, the priests had no inheritance in Canaan, but God was their portion. They must likewise also turn away from all that is of the earth, leaving this for the men of this world, and look not at the things which are seen (2 Cor. 4:18), but rather delight themselves in the Lord who is their portion (Lam. 3:24).

Thirdly, they must be engaged in sacrifice:

(1) They must mortify the old man. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth” (Col. 3:5); “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24).

(2) Their prayers must be sacrificed upon the golden altar which is before the throne (Rev. 8:3). They must do so for themselves: “In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6); as well as for others: “Pray one for another” (James 5:16).

(3) They must sacrifice their goods to the Lord by being generous to the poor, “for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:16).

(4) We must sacrifice ourselves to God with heart, tongue, and deeds, confessing, “Lord, here am I. I surrender myself entirely to Thy service. I am Thine, and whatever I am, I shall be for Thee. I offer myself to Thee as a thankoffering.” The apostle exhorts us to do so in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

(5) If therefore the Lord leads us in difficult ways, and brings us in a situation where we must lose our life for the truth’s sake, may we then not love our life and deem it precious, but offer it willingly to the Lord as a sacrifice. Paul said, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Tim. 4:6). There is no more glorious death imaginable than to die as a martyr for Christ.

Oh, how blessed is he who may thus use Christ as Priest, and who himself may be a spiritual priest!””

–Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, Volume 1 (God, Man, and Christ), Ed. Joel Beeke, Trans. Bartel Elshout (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 1700/1992), 1: 559–561.

“The preaching of John Flavel” by Joel Beeke

“The Holy Spirit richly blessed Flavel’s preaching.

Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843) tells of an American immigrant, Luke Short, who remembered listening to Flavel preach in England when he was fifteen years old. The text was:

‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha‘ (1 Cor. 16:22).

Eighty-five years after hearing Flavel preach on the horror of dying under God’s curse, the Spirit of God effectually converted Short at the age of one hundred as he meditated on that sermon!”

–Joel Beeke, Randall Pederson, and Fraser Jones, “John Flavel, (1630-1691),” Meet the Puritans: A Guide to their Lives and Books, 2nd Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2006, 2025), 366.

“Embracing the Christ graciously offered to us” by Scott Swain

“Before Christ’s coming, God’s grace was experienced in shadows and types. But Christ is the substance (Col. 2:17; cf. Jn 1:17). In and through the Mediator, God becomes our God and we become His people.

In light of this perspective, we may appreciate at once how all of God’s covenantal words in Holy Scripture (tota Scriptura) are profitable and how they are only so in and through Jesus Christ (solus Christus).

The various forms of God’s word bear the force of a blessing to us because they are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ through His incarnation, death, resurrection, enthronement, and bestowal of the Spirit.

Christ alone is the Mediator of every covenant blessing.

Consequently, it is only the faith that receives, rests, and relies upon Christ alone that is able to respond to God’s multifaceted covenant word: acknowledging its truth, obeying its commands, trembling at its threats, and embracing its promises.

By embracing the Christ graciously offered to us in the gospel, we are enabled to respond in gratitude to the full scope of God’s covenantal word.”

–Scott R. Swain, Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and Its Interpretation (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2011), 52.

“Friends must speak the same language” by Scott Swain

“God speaks to us in our language in this book as a consequence of his covenantal purpose.

God desires to be our God and to make us his people.

The one who dwells in a high and lofty place, who inhabits eternity, has been pleased to dwell with lowly men and women (Isa. 57:15).

God condescends to us in covenant communication because God condescends to us in covenant friendship.

And friends must speak the same language.”

–Scott R. Swain, Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and Its Interpretation (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2011), 69.

“A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God” by Robert Murray M’Cheyne

“DUNDEE, October 2, 1840.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I trust you will have a pleasant and profitable time in Germany. I know you will apply hard to German; but do not forget the culture of the inner man. I mean of the heart.

How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his sabre clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care.

Remember you are God’s sword– His instrument– I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success.

It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.

I am now almost well, but have not yet got my full strength. We had a sweet night last night, though there was no external movement.

Some waited after; one from St Andrews, awakened deeply, she knows not how. God is still working here, and I look for far greater things.

I am very anxious to know how I could do more good to many people and to the whole world; and not to know only, but to do it.

It is our truest happiness to live entirely for the glory of Christ— to separate between “I” and “the glory of Christ.”

We are always saying, What have I done?— was it my preaching— my sermon— my influence? whereas we should be asking, What hath God wrought? Strange mixed beings we are!

How sweet it will be to drop our old man, and be pure as Christ is pure! I hope you will come and see us again before your departure for your mission station.

The Lord direct all your steps, comfort your heart, and stablish you in every good word and work to do His will.

Yours,

Robert Murray M’Cheyne”

–Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne, Ed. Andrew A. Bonar (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1844/1966), 282.

“The rock to which they cling” by Herman Bavinck

“Believers are nothing other than normal human beings, whose eyes have been opened again to the eternal and heavenly, whose hearts have learned again to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 13:11; Luke 8:10)

Christians do not build their knowledge of the truth from faith, but through faith they penetrate ever deeper into the secrets of salvation.

The word of God is thus always the firm ground on which they stand, the rock to which they cling, (Matt. 7:24; Luke 6:47-48) the starting point for their thinking, the source of their knowledge, the rule for their lives, the light to their path, and the lamp to their feet. (Ps. 119:105)”

–Herman Bavinck, The Certainty of Faith, trans. and ed. Daniel Schrock (Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1901/2025), 88.

“The doing and dying of Jesus” by Robert Murray M’Cheyne

“Be diligent to grow in grace. A growing tree is a living tree.

When a tree ceases to grow, it is in danger of being blown down. So with a believer. Get more knowledge, faith, love.

Seek daily likeness to Jesus. We are not justified by our sanctification.

And yet without sanctification we cannot have abiding peace or communion.

We are justified entirely by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus.

And yet, when justified, He will change us into His image so that the longer we are justified we should be the more sanctified.

Study holiness, if you would have peace now, and be found of Christ in peace.

The holiest believers are evermore the happiest.”

–Robert Murray M’Cheyne, The Works of the Late Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne, vol. 2 (New York: Robert Carter, 1847), 2: 462.

“The church sings the wonderful works of God” by Herman Bavinck

“At the creation the morning stars sang together and all the children of God rejoiced.

At the birth of Christ the multitude of heavenly hosts raised the jubilee of God’s good will.

On the birthday of the church that church itself sings the wonderful works of God in myriad tones.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 373.

“A triumph of the Holy Spirit” by Herman Bavinck

“In the Spirit and through the Spirit Christ gives of Himself and His benefits to the church.

It is not by might or violence, therefore, that Christ rules in the kingdom given Him by the Father.

He did not do this in His humiliation, and He does not do it in His exaltation.

His entire prophetic, priestly, and kingly activity He continues to carry on in a spiritual way from His place in heaven.

He fights only with spiritual weapons.

He is a king of grace and a king of might, but in both kinds He leads His regiment out through the Holy Spirit, who, in turn, makes use of the Word as a means of grace.

By that Spirit He instructs, comforts, and leads His church, and dwells in it.

And by the same Spirit He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8–11).

The eventual victory which Christ will gain over all His enemies will be a triumph of the Holy Spirit.”

–Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God (trans. Henry Zylstra; Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 1909/2019), 369.

“Holiness is His crown” by Stephen Charnock

‘Who is like You, O LORD,
among the gods?
Who is like You,
glorious in holiness,
fearful in praises,
doing wonders?‘
(Exodus 15:11)

“The expression I pitch upon in the text to handle is “glorious in holiness.” God is magnified or honorable in holiness; so the word יאדיר is translated: “He will magnify the law and make it honorable” (Isa. 42:21).

Your holiness has shone forth admirably in this last exploit against the enemies and oppressors of your people. The holiness of God is His glory, as His grace is His riches.

Holiness is His crown, and His mercy is His treasure. This is the blessedness and nobleness of His nature. It renders Him glorious in Himself and glorious to His creatures that understand anything of this lovely perfection.

Holiness is a glorious perfection belonging to the nature of God. Hence He is in Scripture styled often the Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel.

More often is He entitled “holy” than “almighty,” and set forth by this part of His dignity more than by any other.

This is more affixed as an epithet to His name than any other. You never find it expressed, His “mighty name” or His “wise name” but His “great name” and, most of all, His “holy name.”

This is His greatest title of honor.”

–Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, ed. Mark Jones, Updated and Unabridged, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 2: 1046-1047.